Redang

The water is turquoise and warm, the sand is white and fine, the beach is clean and idyllic...in short "perfect."

Sunday September 16 we were up at 5:30 and left for the Subang Jaya airport at 6:30. We arrived at 6:40 and found a deserted small airport. We wandered through and located the Berjaya Air check in. We had to wait until about 7:30 for the check in to open and we had our baggage scanned and walked through to the departure lounge. This was like walking through the island airport but with a whole lot less formality. We boarded the Dash 7 at 8:15 and were on our way at 8:30 (right on time). The flight was a little over an hour and we landed in Redang. A hotel bus picked us up and took us to the hotel where we checked in but the room wasn't ready. We sat around in a wood lined British colonial style open air lobby. The wonderful atmosphere was starting to relax us.

We had been told that we were upgraded to a deluxe room and we were shown by an attendant to a second floor room in a chalet accommodation by the beautiful beach side garden. It was quaint and the only thing we had concern about was the twin bed arrangement. With a shrug we got changed and went down to lie on the beach. We met Steve and Pam who raved about their room (superior which is a step down from ours). Kim decided to take a look and led Pam to our room followed by a trip to Pam and Steve's. A few minutes later Kim was back saying "Get up, Bill, we're moving!" We stopped by reception and they very kindly and quickly assigned us the room next to Pam and Steve. It was larger, newer, and had a king size bed. The only drawback was the many many stairs we had to climb to get to it. It became our exercise program given all the great food we enjoyed.

We spent Sunday afternoon settling in and hanging around the beach. At dinner that evening we were entertained by d'island Quartet. They became our personal band. They have a large and eclectic repertoire so we played a lot of name that tune among our group of friends.

Monday was another day of beach resting and reading. We tried out our new masks and snorkels by paddling around in the bay. It occurred to us that all those tropical paradise post cards that we've seen were probably shot right here. It was perfect for a mid semester rest. We made arrangements for a scuba tour and a snorkeling trip that we had built into the package: snorkeling on Tuesday and the three dives split over Wednesday (2) and Thursday (1). More beach time and reading (or napping). It's a good thing that they built the cabanas because the sun was high and intense.

We went out Tuesday morning for the 3 island snorkel adventure and at each stop the scenery got better. We saw huge varieties of fish and a lot of exquisite coral. The trip took about four hours and we enjoyed four stops. We also got to see the entire perimeter of the island from the boat. It is an environmental paradise. There are few resorts on the island and the shoreline could have been used to film any tropical island movie. We only hope there is the political will to keep it this pristine.

Wednesday we were up early to report to the dive centre for a check dive in the pool. That went well and we were ready for the real thing. After a briefing from the dive master, Toh, we boarded a converted fishing vessel and were off to the first site. Because it had been a long time since our last open water dive we struggled a little with the skills. Buoyancy was difficult for both of us and Kim's mask kept fogging up, but the reef and its life were spectacular. We were both surfaced early because we over used our air. We were joined by a couple of new divers who burned their air quickly as well.

After everyone was aboard we set up new tanks and the boat moved to the second site. Again the reef was wonderful and we felt like we were in a scene from "Finding Nemo". Kim had difficulty with her buoyancy and about thirty minutes into the dive she popped to the surface (slowly) and could not get back down. Bill joined her and we both got picked up by the boat. The rest of the divers were up a few minutes later and we had a little extra time aboard so on the way back to the resort we got to do some turtle watching. "Nemo" again!! The turtles cooperated by breaching in several places and we got a good look at many others on the bottom. The water is so clear that we could see the bottom clearly in 15 to 20 meters depth. Basically the visibility was unlimited. The afternoon was spent on the beach.

Thursday was somewhat more relaxed. We got up late, read on the beach, and in the afternoon went to the dive centre for another dive. This time were were further away from the island and there was a bit of a swell to deal with at the surface. At depth we had a current to fight. Michael, an engineer and a dive instructor from Scotland, took us under his wing and held tight to Kim who latched onto Bill so we all stayed close together with another rookie diver. Michael was great. He managed to drag us through the current by finding the soft spots and we had an excellent view of the reef. Visibility was down from the other dives because of the current and some offshore storming that stirred up the sediment but the coral reef colours, shapes and varieties were outstanding. We saw amazing, exotic fish life but no sharks or eels (thank goodness). This dive was shorter because of the current as well. We surfaced and were picked up by the boat both tired and exhilarated.

Good news!! We had purchased an underwater camera and we will post the dive and snorkel pictures. Its a 35mm so we have to have the films developed. We'll get them burned to disc so we can post them to the right side of the blog. We have also prepared and posted the land based pictures for you to have a look at.

Friday was check out. We slept in some and then went to the beach. Kim took a dip in the ocean and Bill took a swim in the pool (so did his wallet). Kim enjoyed a fabulous aromatherapy "spa" treatment. Late check out, a short ride to airport brought us back home to Subang Jaya by about 5:00 PM. This was a most wonderful restful vacation and we will try to get back in the spring.

Mid Semester Break is Here

Since we returned from Singapore it has been really hectic. First of all we had to get our mid term marks in to our department heads. Although we use Markbook to track student marks the college has not yet taken advantage of the export function whereby we can export an ASCII file to the college database. Instead we manually transfer student marks to a hard copy and submit these to our department head who then manually enters them into the database. Too many opportunities for mistakes. We have approached the IT department about mapping the necessary fields and it looks like this will be ready for finals.

Second, we have conducted parent teacher conferences on Saturday, September 8. I wonder how that would fly in Ontario. The parents were generally very nice and supportive. When a student is not doing well they tend to place the onus on the student to improve. It is much less confrontational than we often see back home. There is, however, pressure to maintain a positive approach and help the college retain and recruit students. Some students here are on government scholarships and must maintain an 85% average in order to keep the scholarship. If they do then they get four years support at a Canadian university. There is very real stress for these students.

We joined a gym. There is a very modern gym at Subang Parade (a local mall) that is within walking distance of the college. We also booked eleven sessions each with a personal trainer. The negotiations were exciting. We dropped in to have a look and were immediately accosted by a promoter. He was very nice and he was into hard sell. There were joining fees, processing fees, training fees and a monthly membership fee. We negotiated some reductions in the fees and Aarron, our promoter, went to find a trainer to discuss that service with us. We had seen a colleague working out and decided to consult with him. Carl asked what the charges were and when we told him he said that they were ridiculous. He immediately joined us in the negotiations. But Carl doesn't negotiate, he bulldozes. He's not rude, just very forceful. He 'instructed' the promoter and one of the managers to delete the joining and processing fees; they did so. He gave them the option of having two new members or having us go across the street to another gym. In the end we paid the monthly fee and the trainer fees. The gym is not cheap even by Canadian standards. It is a high end gym, very clean with many options for exercise including extensive classes, machines, cardio area, and free weights. The cost is about the same as what we might pay at Bally or Good Life. That's pretty expensive in a country that has a minimum wage of about $2.00 per hour and many employers ignore that.

We've had several sessions with the trainers and our muscles are telling us that they are working. We are almost through the assessment part and looking forward to getting a program to work on our own. After that we'll meet the trainers intermittently to upgrade the program and check our progress. We walk to the gym a couple of times a week and follow up with dinner and a little shopping. We also try to get there on the weekend.

The past week (on Thursday) was the start of Ramadan. It is the Muslim month of fasting. That means that adults cannot eat between sunrise and sunset, not even to sip water. There are some exceptions but most of our Muslim students are pretty rigorous about the fast. On Thursday evening we went to the gym and then out for dinner. While at the restaurant at about 7:00 PM a young Malay Muslim couple sat down next to us and ordered dinner. The dinner was delivered to the table at 7:10 and they just sat there chatting; they didn't touch the meal nor did they taste the water placed on the table. The man had his cell phone out and checked it regularly. At about 7:20 they both started to eat and we looked around to notice that the rest of the people had also started to eat. Again on Friday evening we were out to shop before our holiday and we sat among an entire restaurant of people doing the same thing as the young couple the night before. This time at about 7:20 waiters and waitresses went table to table informing the guests that the sun had indeed set; the meal began.

The fast does take a toll. We saw an elderly gentleman on Thursday who was clearly in some distress. He was holding on to a lamp pole and seemed to be feeling faint. Bill's trainer at the gym asked to reschedule their appointment because he was not feeling well. He explained that this always happens on the first day of the fast, but his body adjusts in a day or so. We rescheduled. Ramadan here is a lot like Christmas back in Ontario. It ends with the celebration of Hari Raya (October 12 to 15 this year), much as Advent ends with Christmas. In the store right now there are coloured lights and Happy Hari Raya cards. In Bhasa Malayu it is written as Selamat Aidilfitri. Specialty foods are also all over the stores. Dates and Hari Raya cookies are for sale in large displays in the stores and malls. Hari Raya is like American Thanksgiving and Canadian Christmas too in that everyone travels home for the holiday. It's a great family get together. We're looking forward to it. The catch is that there are no flights available anywhere because we left it too late to book; we only started six weeks in advance and everything was taken.

This next week is mid-semester break and we have a week off. We are travelling with colleagues to Redang Island on the north east coast. It is a SCUBA diving and snorkeling destination. We are really looking forward to a restful five days. We'll re-certify our diving and take several outings to view the local underwater flora and fauna. The rest of the time is beach and rest.
Watch for pictures.

Feeling a Little Shakey

It was a really interesting morning. You may have heard about the earthquake in Indonesia. It happened about 6:00 PM local time and was 8.2 on the Richter Scale. The aftershocks were running about 6.6 and a tsunami warning was issued for the entire Indian Ocean basin. We're protected from the tsunami threat because we are sheltered by Sumatra and the quake was on the south side of that island.

As we sat in our office at 7:45 this morning everyone got the feeling that their office chairs were moving. It turned out we were feeling an aftershock. The veterans tell us that these sometimes occur and last a few seconds at most. This morning's tremor lasted well over a minute and the entire building was swaying. Not a great deal of movement but we did feel a continual pulsing effect. Nobody got too excited so we tried to stay calm as well. In the end it stopped and nothing more happened.

So all of you calm down ! We're fine!

Our Condo

We keep saying that we love our condo and the other day Mike said he'd like to see pictures. We realized that we hadn't posted anything. So take a look at the photo links on the right.

The Condo is in an older neighbourhood called Wangsa Baiduri. It has a gated entrance staffed at all times by several security guards. The neighbourhood was established in about 1985 as a development of what we would call town houses. There are a couple of streets of very large single family homes and one that even has its own guard house. The houses are all walled and gated and the properties are generally quite small by Bolton standards. The construction is brick with a coat of stucco. The rooves are terra cotta tiles (maybe some kind of synthetic.

Our condo (Boulevard Condominium) is a new building, less than two years old. It is still largely unoccupied for a number of reasons. Many of the units are owned as investments and rented out to people like us who need a longer term place to stay. The buildings (two towers) have their own security with several guards on duty at all times. The guards patrol the grounds at regular intervals. The development also has a gardening crew that takes care of the flora. The lawns and gardens are impeccably groomed. Kim probably wants to get out and tinker with the gardens but here would be nothing for her to do.

Our unit is a two bedroom that was partly furnished and had never been lived in. We have added some homey touches and are very comfortable. If any of you choose to visit (please!) you have your own bedroom. We have a small kitchen but we use it for breakfast and the odd dinner. it is so inexpensive here we often eat out in one of the many ethnic restaurants. As you can see there is a set of gates on the vestibule. This is common practice in condo and apartment buildings here. It is an extra level of security and allows for more space inside...not thgat we need a whole lot more because it really is a rather large two bedroom place.

If you saw all of the photos that have been taken you would probably think that we are obsessed with the pool. In fact it is lovely. Kim loves to get her swim in every chance she gets and as a result Bill is getting some of that exercise form as well. The pool is situated at the front of the condo right above the guard house and over the parking structure; so it is three floors above the ground. It's made up of a beautiful lawn and garden area with a nice deck and a small gym attached. The pool is about four feet deep and the water is always crystal clear and warm. At one end is a shallower wading pool that is separated from the main pool. In the main pool there is an underwater deck at one end and the return jets can be used for a whirlpool effect; it feels wonderful. It gets a little chilly if we have rain; this means it drops to about 80 degrees. That's cool when the evening temperature is around 80 plus as well. The pool has an infinity edge so we have the sensation of it going on forever.

We welcome any who can get to Malaysia to rest with us. We look forward to seeing each of you.

Photos

On the right you will find links to more of our photos. We've set up a 'FILCKR' account that allows us to upload our photos to the web. We've added the Singapore photos now and will add others as we have the time. They are pretty raw since we haven't taken the time to touch up most of them but we though you might enjoy seeing more of the visual record of our adventures. Once you click on the link of the set you want to see then check the "Details" button above the main picture to see what each is.

Let us know how you like the feature. We're always happy to hear from home.

Kim and Bill

(in a trishaw...this driver really earned his pay)

Singapore

As you'll know if you've been following our adventures and keeping up with your reading, Friday, August 31 was the 50th anniversary of independence (Merdeka). Since it was a holiday we booked a trip to Singapore for the long weekend. The Merlion is the symbol of Singapore and this statue is a fountain that stands over the river from which the city derives its name.

We had to get up at 5:30 on Friday morning. Because of the Merdeka celebrations we knew that the trip into KL was going to be slow. The people were bent on celebrating and the parades began forming at 8:00 AM because they wanted to get underway before the full heat of the day. To compound matters the taxi drivers in KL went on strike on Thursday. It seems that it has been years since the government allowed a change in rates. This also explains the protracted price negotiations when one wants to use a taxi. Our bus was schedule for 10:30 AM from a terminal in the heart of KL. It's kind of like the Bay Street terminal but bigger, more crowded, dirtier,noisier and full of hawker stalls selling just about anything. Okay, it's nothing like Bay Street except the dirty part. We took the local commuter, a version of the GO train, from Subang Jaya to KL and the LRT (the elevated rapid transit) to a nearby stop. From there we waded through the crowds for about five blocks to the bus depot. We arrived at 8:45 so it went more smoothly than expected.

The trip was scheduled for five hours but traffic out of KL was horrendous and it was a good hour before we cleared the city limits. Stop and go traffic lasted about another hour. The bus was large and comfortable so we both caught a little sleep and a little reading. On reaching the Malaysia/Singapore border we disembarked to go through Malaysian exit customs. We boarded the bus and crossed the straights (about two minutes) where we disembarked again to go through Singapore entry customs. This time we had to take bags and all. The customs declaration includes a large red notice that "The penalty for drug trafficing in Singapore is death." Scary!! The rest of the trip took another hour and all included we were in transit for seven hours.

The bus terminal was simply a large parking lot in a park with a few transit company ticket booths along one side. We asked about getting a cab to the hotel and were told to go to the roadside and stick out our hand and a cab would stop for us. We did; he did. Once on our way in a very clean cab the driver asked us if we had been to Singapore before. Our negative reply prompted a string of "well, here's what you need to know..." verbiage. We learned about the buildings along our route, the way fares for cab are calculated, sights we MUST see and a seemingly endless patter that kept us informed and smiling. This man was a wonderful ambassador for the city; he was so obviously proud of his country. We were warned about the very strict laws and advised that low crime doesn't mean no crime.

We stayed at the Bencoolen Hotel. Its on Bencoolen Street (surprise) and is an older hotel. The room was small and given the climate (hot and humid) the carpet caused the room to have a musty odour. It was OK for a short stay but we probably will not return to it. The hotel is located on the edge of downtown and is an easy walk to Orchard street, the shopping district. We could also walk to downtown locations but tended to take cabs because they are so clean efficient and relatively inexpensive.

The city is extremely clean. The transit system does everything that Toronto has talked about for years. It is safe, clean efficient and responsive. For example, there was a concert at the arts centre downtown and they actually ran the trains later and put on extra trains to accommodate the people. They have some interesting ways of controlling traffic too. Every car carries a transponder and certain areas of the city are classified as restricted zones. In these areas there is a surcharge (a toll) during peak periods. If you want to drive during rush hour it costs you. Furthtermore you need a special permit to own a car and these are sold at auction. A permit might go as high as 50 or 60 thousand Singapore dollars and that translates to $40000 to $48000 Canadian. Afterwards you need to buy a car and these prices are also inflated by taxes. The drivers here are very polite and cooperative and as a people Singaporeans seem most compliant and always helpful.

Orchard Road is the shopping capital of Singapore. We shopped and then headed over to Clarke Quay. It is a redeveloped section of the river front. There are several such areas along the Singapore River. This one is an entertainment centre that thrives on clubs, bars, restaurants and outdoor cafes. The latter have tables hanging right over the river edge. We walked the entire length of the quay and back looking for a restaurant (there were plenty and we were overwhelmed by the choice). We wanted a seat right over the river but this was Friday night - party night and just about everything was full. Eventually we found a place a little away from the river and had a terrific, small meal. We took a bumboat ride to view the city from the water. We cruised past the Merlion , the symbol of Singapore and back to the quay. It was a beautiful ride and a fabulous way to see the city.

When we got up Saturday morning we had breakfast on the sidewalk at the front of the hotel. It was much like a sidewalk cafe or patio in Toronto and we had the opportunity to people watch. The breakfast was an interesting mixture of western and eastern fare.

It has always been our habit to take a bus tour to the various sights and then decide what we want to come back to later. So, we took the Hop On-Hop Off bus. This was similar to the one we took in KL when we first arrived. It hits all the tourist high spots with a small commentary. The driver again, was an ambassador for his city. There are 22 stops and the tour takes about 90 minutes. The ticket is good for the entire day. We disembarked at the beautiful Botanical Gardens and fascinating little India. It has been preserved with the colonial facades and the bright colours preferred by the Indian people.

Sentosa Island is a resort Island just off shore in the straits of Singapore. It is connected to the mainland by a bridge/causeway. Sentosa is a destination for the people of Singapore to vacation or just rest up. We rode the sky tower (another wonderful aerial view of the city) and then visited "Images of Singapore". This highlighted the aspects of Singapore's history and culture in holographic. visual, audio, panoramas and live action. We only had about 30 minutes but we will return to this extremely interesting exhibit in the future. At one point we met a coolie. The young man playing the part stayed completely in character and he was quite a character. He explained where and why the coolies originated and their role in the development of Singapore. He explained that coolies were transplanted Chinese criminals. He claimed he was a reformed pick pocket...telling us that today was his last in that trade. Bill checked his wallet :-) We hurried out and caught a cable car back to the mainland. This had a spectacular view of the area. We then caught a cab back to the hotel to freshen up for an appointment we had set up.

We then went to meet a colleague (from Brampton) Aunt and Uncle. Well, Aunt Terese and Uncle Joe had made all sorts of arrangements for us. We had a delightful afternoon tea with them and then they took us to Mass on Sunday morning then on to lunch with the family. Aunt Terese is a well know figure in Singapore and Uncle Joe made his engineering mark on bridges around Singapore & Malaysia and the Sydney Opera House in Australia. He was so interesting. One daughter works in the financial district in downtown Manhattan and another daughter and her husband have their own architecture business. They launched their business by winning a top Asian award for the design of a multi complex housing development that is now being built.

We had a wonderful time with the Haung's.

We had time to meet up with friends for Saturday dinner at a Indo-Chine restaurant which had the most delicious food. It wasa fusion of Asian and French cuisine.

All in all - we loved Singapore. It is a wonderful country. We can't wait to go back.