Pulau Lang Tengah

Hello All!

So I know that I haven't posted at all this week (and you've probably noticed by now that I was inexcusably late on the last two posts) and here's why:

View from our room

I WAS ON A REAL-LIVE FREAKIN' TROPICAL RESORT ISLAND!!!

Way better than being on a boat

Yes, my friends. While you clocked in and out at work I was snorkeling (first time ever. woo!), chilling with some piscine pals.

Good to go (minus the shorts)

While you ate Cheerios and thought about all the work you had to do, I breakfasted here:

About two seconds later we busted out Coronas (not)

Wearn, on the beach

Me, with a big rock

Don't hate

In all seriousness though, it was a very long journey to get to this place, Pulau Lang Tengah: A seven-hour bus ride, a one night stay in a hotel, a one-hour bus ride and a 45 minute boat ride.

View Larger Map
Here's the island, by itself:

View Larger Map
Ramadan observance has just begun here in Malaysia, so the bus stopped only once, and only for 30 minutes and all of the food stalls were closed on the return trip, so Wearn and I were starved by the time we returned (I fully recognize that my Muslim brothers and sisters were probably much hungrier than we were, so I shouldn't complain).

All in all, the trip was quite nice. However, I don't think I can recommend this particular resort. There were four resorts on the island, but ours seemed particularly plagued by all manner of garbage on the beach: Plastic bags, rusty soda cans, underwear (wth?), etc. Far more disturbing than this, even, was the veritable bone-yard of dead coral that littered the shores of the island. Not only are they extremely painful to walk barefoot on, but they were an extremely depressing reminder of how polluted and poorly cared for the waters in the area are. We actually only elected this resort after learning that our first choice had closed many of its beaches due to damage to their coral reefs. The view beneath the water's surface was even more sobering, with there being a stark contrast between the vibrant color and dynamism of the few still-healthy areas and the surface-of-the-moon-like deadness of the damaged areas. Also, the food was not nom-worthy.

Still worth it!

Happy Birthday!

I'd also like to wish (yet another belated) Happy Birthday to Wearn's dad.

He got 'em all on the first try (cake looks familiar...)

And now for the birthday noms!

Shrimp

This one's just for you Uncle Russ

Pork with skin with texture and taste similar to brown sugar

Duck!

nom nom nom

Always in My Heart

I'd like to apologize for being absent for the past week. My next post and the two before this one should fill you all in on what I've been up to. While the these posts have all been written in a lighthearted and (attempted) comedic way, my family and I experienced a very difficult loss shortly before I left for the trip I describe in the following post and I felt it improper to post that without at least acknowledging our loss.

On August 7, my grandmother, Mildred Vorse passed away. I'll spare you the very long story that lead up to it, but suffice to say that my family and I will miss her very much. It really hit home for me when I was taking pictures and realized that I would no longer be able to share them with her, through this medium or otherwise.

She was a very special and lovely woman, filled with grace and kindness and she showed me a love so strong, so unconditional, that inspires one to believe in a higher power.

I give my thanks to all of you who have shared my family and I in your thoughts and prayers. Death is a part of life, making life all the more beautiful and precious. The memories we have of the moments we share with our loved ones may someday be all that we have left of them. I hope that you'll consider picking up the phone or paying a visit to your own loved ones, to tell them that you love them and to have another moment that you may treasure with them.

I will always keep my grandmother, the lessons she taught me and the love she showed, in my heart. I would also like to channel my grandmother's capacity for love and tell all of you, my beloved friends and family, that I love you and that you will forever have a place in my heart. I love you all.

Congratulations to Cheng Chuan

I'd like to wish (an admittedly belated) congratulations to A Chuan for graduating (although we never doubted he would). It's a big milestone in one's life and we're all very proud of you and your accomplishment. Never stop learning; graduation is just the beginning.

RAWR!

What I Ate Today: For Lunch

Just got the pics from lunch off of Wearn's mom's phone.

Roti canai (pronounced chan-eye)

Roti telur (roti canai with egg)

This nasi goreng pattaya sure looks a lot like just a bunch of fried eggs...

Holy crap! It's filled with delicious chicken-fried rice!

nom nom nom

What I Ate Today: For Dinner

Tom yum

Chicken with fungus (?)

Sauteed mustard greens

nom nom nom

What I Ate Today: For Lunch

Prawn noodle (spicy!)

Sorry for the gross pic; I started stirring it up before I remembered to photograph it. I assure you it was tasty.

What I Ate Today: For Dinner

Tonight's noms: Teochew-style braised duck, salted fish with bean sprout and spinach

All cooked by Wearn's mom <3.

nom nom nom

What I Ate Today: For Lunch

Duck and Pork!

Delicious, delicious duck

The skin on this pork had a taste and texture exactly like bacon!

The duck and pork were served with sweet and spicy sauces. Also, I finally remembered to photograph the establishment.

Soon Lok Restaurant Entrance

nom nom nom

Skytrex Ropes Course

What did I do today? I completed an awesome ropes course, complete with ziplines! What's a zipline? One of these:



I'm afraid of heights, so I challenged myself today by swinging on ropes 50 feet off the the ground! I had a harness, of course. It was quite scary at first, but as the course wore on, I felt more comfortable with the height and obstacles. Pretty much everybody in Wearn's family (except for Wearn's parents and Siew Theng; also including Phyllis) took on the challenge and were triumphant.

Fun times!

To Singapore and Back

Early Friday morning, I hopped a bus with Wearn and her dad to travel to Singapore.

View from a high-rise apartment building in Singapore

View Larger Map

Sadly, we weren't traveling for pleasure: Wearn's father's older sister's husband passed away earlier in the week and we were traveling to attend his wake. So while I wasn't able to more fully explore Singapore, I was able to honor Wearn's uncle's memory and participate in something very special.

The bus ride took about five hours and then we took a cab from the station to the apartment building where Wearn's aunt lives. We quickly met up with some of Wearn's other relatives, grabbed a late lunch (chicken rice, sorry no pics) and set out in the building's patio area. The building has a pretty big, open space on the ground floor which was taken up by tables, mourners, banners, a large alter and the coffin. After sitting at one of the tables for a bit, someone brought around boxed drinks and some nuts and candy. The tradition is that when someone passes away, everyone comes to pay their respects and stay up all night with other family members. So, I stayed up until very late at night, playing cards with Wearn's dad and aunt. Wearn's aunt also tried to teach me some mahjong, but she couldn't quite recall some of the rules.

Wearn and I also took a bit of time to meet up with one of Wearn's very old friends, Siew Kee. We all walked back down to the food court Wearn and I ate at before and grabbed some drinks (coffee for me, fruit over shaved ice for Wearn) and chatted for a bit.

Singaporean food courts: They look about the same as Malaysian ones

We walked back to the apartment building with Siew Kee and then waited about thirty minutes for a cab for her (they were all heading into the night-club district, so they weren't stopping for us). Afterward, we returned to the mourners' tables.

There wasn't really a proper place to sleep for the night, so I slept on the floor (concrete. ouch.) until it was time to catch our cab back to the bus depot.

Night-time, from our room's window

And that was Singapore.

Reorganized Photos

Hello All,

So the number of photos in the Malaysia 2010 photo gallery that I originally posted completely ballooned out of control, so Wearn kindly reorganized them into some sub-galleries. Below you'll find all of the reorganized galleries. There are a ton of new photos and galleries here, so there's probably new stuff mixed in.

I've arranged them in chronological order, for your convenience. Enjoy!

Sunway

Putrajaya, I-City and Shah Alam

Malacca

Empire with Davis people

KLCC

Genting Highlands

Mentakab

Kuantan

KL with Wearn's friends

Jake's 24th birthday

Puchong

On the Way to Malaysia

What I Ate Today: For Lunch

All the dishes we had: (from the left) nasi kunyit, prawn noodle (?) and nasi lemak

Nasi kunyit (the yellow rice part) with curry chicken

Prawn noodle (?)

Nasi lemak with rendang chicken

What I Ate Today: For Breakfast

This is going to be the only, "What I Ate Today: For Breakfast" unless I actually eat something different for breakfast. It's usually some variation of this.

Peanut-butter and chocolate spread on toast, cereal (corn flakes) and Milo

More about Milo later.

What I Ate Today: For Lunch

Chili fried rice and salted fish fried rice.

Chili fried rice with iced lemon tea

Salted fish fried rice with black jelly drink

nom nom nom

What I Ate Today: For Snack

After I-City, Audrey, Barry, Wearn and I went to Shah Alam for some Roti Tissue. Despite what Audrey and Wearn will tell you, there's no actual tissue involved.

A guy making our roti tissue

Holy freak! It's like 4 feet of flaky, sugary goodness!

Roti tissue is a very thin, flaky flatbread. In this case, they've sprinkled coarse sugar crystals, sweetened condensed milk and honey on top. Nice!