Highlights of Week 5

On Monday (June 25) we visited a local elementary school after classes. While there we were shown around by 5th year prefects. The children were very polite and answered all of our questions (even the hard hitting ones).

On Wednesday (June 27) after our tour of the local arts studio, Theatreworks, a group of friends and I decided to celebrate Hallie's 20th birthday in style. She wanted to go reverse bungy jumping so WE DID! (sorry mom)

Priya, Hallie, and I getting ready for launch...

Later that night we decided to visit Raffles Hotel and try a Singapore Sling. This is on a list of 1000 things to do before you die... so we had to! It was a lot of fun...we all dressed up. :)

Liz and I being goofy...


On Friday we had our second visit with the NUS Muslim Society. We visited Dossalum Mosque to see the school and the Friday prayers.

My favorite part was interacting with the preschool class!

My favorites! they were inseparable...

Later we heard a lecture on Islam...

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Husna, our guide. We hope to spend more time together before we leave!

Friday night some friends and I went to a DJ battle at a local club. It was actually for Angelo's research on the hip hop culture in Singapore. While there we unexpectedly met a VJ from MTV Asia. He was really cool and even put us on TV!! It was so much fun. Then we were just talking to some locals and found out later they were the friends and family of the winner of the competition! We felt like VIPS that night...

More to come...

Lots of Love,
Sarah :)

From the Rainforest to the City...

After recovering from such an exciting day at Taman Negara we packed up and headed out early Saturday (June 23) morning. Unfortunately, it took a little longer than expected to reach Malacca. Traffic in KL was terrible, but it was worth it to see Malacca. As we entered Malacca the first thing we saw were the Straights of Malacca.

I was really excited because the Straights of Malacca is one of the (few things I remember) places we talked about in my Southeast Asian history class at UNC.

After unpacking at our hotel, Hotel Puri we headed out for dinner. We went to a Portugese fesitval for dinner.

We ate at Papa Joe's restaurant which happens to be owned by our tour guide, Eddie's, brother-in-law. (Coincidence, I think not!) It was lots of fun. After enjoying dinner Papa Joes serenaded us and we celebrated Caroline's birthday.

Rivka and Hallie...

Papa Joe...

Happy Birthday Caroline!

After dinner we returned to our hotel and went shopping at the night market behind our hotel. We all spent too much, but had fun bargaining with the locals!

On Sunday we packed up our stuff and left our hotel. For the next few hours Eddie took us on a walking tour of Malacca. We visited a shoe store where they make shoes from hand and also hand bead. An average pair of shoes takes several months to finish.

We also saw shoes that were once worn by women with bound feet.

Then we visited Harmony St. It is named this because on it is a Chinese/Taoist/Buddhist Temple, a Mosque, and a Hindu Temple. We visited all three. At the Chinese/Taoist/Buddhist temple we learned that this was the first temple of its kind built in Malaysia.

The Mosque...

The Muslim cemetary... note the different shape of the statues. The rounded ones are for the men and the angular for the women.

Then we walked to the Hindu temple.

Before we left Malacca we made one more stop. We visited a Christian church established by the Dutch. Inside children were performing.

Then we climbed a nearby hill to see the first Dutch church in Malaysia. It was pretty much in ruins but still an amazing site!

After a great time in Malacca we headed back to Singapore!

Lots of Love,

Sarah :)

Rainforest fun

On Friday (June 22) we began our rainforest adventure! After waking up a bit earlier than most of us would have liked we split up into groups and began our hike into the unknown...

Our guide showed us cool plants along the way.

Check out the color on this one... it is green at night and turns blue during the day!

Nature's shampoo... JUST ADD WATER!

Later we trekked up a hill and walked across the canopy walk. I'd have to say even though I am not really afraid of heights this was a little unnerving. The walk was made with boards and ropes and it was a long way down!

But the view made it all worth it!

After hiking a bit more we headed back to the resort for lunch. Around 3 we headed out for a boat tour.

We even saw natives bathing in the river...

When we reached our destination we docked and met up with the rest of the group. After snapping a few pictures we hiked to a waterfall.

After our hike we headed back to the resort for dinner and sleep. What a day!

Still more to come...

Lots of Love,
Sarah :)

Malaysia (Part Deuce)

After waking up early and enjoying an amazing continental breakfast we made our way to see a different side of KL. Accompanying us was a NGO. He took us to a neighborhood that was getting ready to be torn down by the government for expansion. The neighborhood was a former rubber plantation and was still inhabited by many of the former workers and their families. While there we talked with several locals and heard their side of the story.

We also visited a local Hindu temple in the village. While there we were able to participate.

It was very interesting to interact with locals and get away from the commercialized sectors that we have become accustomed to. The highlight of my experience in Malaysia was when we were able to interact with some of the children. They would come up to their Tamil school fence and smile and speak the only English they knew, “hello” and “goodbye.” But it seemed like we didn’t need to speak the same language, it was enough that we were just there. They were so excited to see us. We took pictures but were hurried along to keep up with a tight schedule.

Later we made our way to a governmental office where we had speakers talk to us about Muslim women’s rights and the growing need for educational reform in Tamil schools. It was very interesting and the speakers were very nice.

After a nice lunch we made our way to our bus for the long journey to Taman Negara National Park. Our tour guide, Eddie, decided that since we were already running late that we should go ahead and take our time. So we stopped at the Batu Caves on the way out of KL. This endeavor required climbing 270 stairs fighting off monkeys to reach the mouth of the caves. The cave compound is a Hindu temple. All around the exterior and interior of the caves are shrines and statues of Hindu deities. As we were climbing down from the caves I was taking my time and snapping pictures of the monkeys that were frolicking around the staircase. When I was about 20 steps from the bottom two of my friends motioned for me to come down quickly. I was confused because I knew that I had plenty of time and had no need to hurry. When I reached the bottom they informed me that one of the guys in our group had been bitten by one of the monkeys. Apparently he was on his way down the stairs and after snapping a few shots one of the monkeys decided to attack. But he was alright and we all got a nice laugh at the situation.

We were supposed to arrive around 7:30 but ended up not arriving until 9:30 or so. In order to get to the park we had to cross a river. This required us boarding a river taxi, 6 at a time, to venture across the rough water. When we arrived on the other side we enjoyed a great dinner that included many of our American favorites (i.e. pasta, French bread, chocolate desserts, etc.). Finally we were given our keys and allowed to go to our huts for the night. It was just our luck that the huts assigned to our group were the farthest away from the main lodge. We figured it was because we were American… :)

Again, more to come!

Lots of Love,

Sarah