Owairaka 20/20

Thank you to Nicki, Joanna and Phelicia for sending me a message from New Zealand. It is nice to hear from people back home.

I would love to hear what other people have done in their holidays too.

I have had a great time. I arrived in K. L. last Saturday. Although I had just had an 11 hour flight and spent an hour getting from the plane to my home-stay, I still managed to go out to town and look around the parks and have some food. I got to bed at 2am KL time, which was 6am NZ time. Next day we were up and touring around. We went to Batu caves, a Hindu temple site. There are lots of steps to climb and lots of monkeys running around. I also saw a python draped over some one’s neck. There is a large gold statue guarding the entrance way. Then we went to the Royal Selangor Pewter factory. We had a very knowledgeable tour guide. Then we went to the Kuala Lumpur Memorial. It is similar to our cenotaphs and war memorials although it did have a much more striking and interesting statue of soldiers than ours have. People were very surprised when I informed them that NZ also sent soldiers to World War 1 & 2.

The next day I visited my first school. They were very welcoming. I saw children doing environmental “green day” type activities. I joined their assembly and spoke a bit about New Zealand.

Tuesday I went bright and early to the Twin Towers to get a ticket to walk the sky bridge. When I arrived at the ticket opening time of 8.30am there was already a que a mile long. I had a plane to Kuching to catch in the afternoonm so had to give it a miss. I hope to do the sky walk when I get back to KL. The flight to Kuching is about an hour and a half. Air Asia is the budget airline but it was a clean, comfortable flight. My new host family comprises of Mum, Dad, and three girls.

Wednesday I had an amazing day. I visited an arts school. 605 of the day is devoted to the arts and 405 to academic subjects. Their assembly performance was outstanding. They sang, danced, and played instruments like professionals. They were so confident and proud of their work. Robyn Mc Queen from my school would have been blown away. I then went on the the Kuching Arts Village to watch the real professionals. They were good but I still enjoyed the childrens performance better. I got to walk through some native Sarawak long huts and have a go with a blow dart. I hit the target in the bulls eye. Lucky there weren’t any wild animals around or they might have been history.

Thursday and Friday I relaxed a bit after my hectic week. I have been to the museum and the market. I have also seen one of the world’s biggest deer antler collection. It is valued at 30 million ringgits or 15 million NZ dollars. It is owned by the father of Hasfa, the mum of the family I am staying with. He is an amazing man and told me stories about his life for three hours.

Today I played cricket with the boys at the local school and then watched them play rugby. They were very impressed with my All Black jersey. It was a stupid thing to wear in this heat. Tonight I am going to be Simon Cowell at the school’s talent show. I don’t know how mean I should be. My instructions are to give comments about the style, beat, and tempo of the performances. I can hear Robyn in NZ choking with laughter now!!

Tomorrow I am going to the World Rain forest Concert. I know i will die in the heat but this is pretty special. Performers from all over the world are coming. I can’t wait…

Hello everyone. I am having a wonderful time in Malaysia. The flight over here wasn’t very exciting because there weren’t any good movies to watch. So I had to play games  and read my book for 11 hours.

I am being treated like royalty by everyone here in Malaysia. I have tasted the delightful food and cuisine of the Malay people. When I went to India earlier this year I was so careful what food I ate in case I got sick. I still got sick, so this time I have decided to eat everything I am offered. I have tried some very unusual food that I wouldn’t normally try.

Before I left New Zealand Samantha suggested I should try the king of fruit, the Durian. I have. I can’t describe it. It smells foul, like something rotten. It feels like gooey slime. It tastes strange and unusual. I can’t say I loved eating them, but then again, I didn’t hate them either. I have some photos I’ll put on some time showing the Durian fruit. I have also eaten other fruit that I have never seen before.

I have also been to Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur. You have to climb up 272 steep steps to enter the cave. There are monkeys running around everywhere. The cave is huge. There are Hindu temples inside where people pray. At the foot of the steps there is a large gold statue.

I am now in Kuching, surrounded by the rainforests. It is very hot here and I am drinking lots of water, having lots of cold showers, and enjoying any air-conditioning I can find. I have visited two schools so far and will see some more over the next two weeks.

I hope everyone in NZ is enjoying their holidays. Let me know what you are doing….

I know the narrator is speaking in Swedish but the visuals in this short clip are very interesting.

Borneo Orangutan Sweden from Borneo Orangutan Survival Sweden on Vimeo.

I am taking a scrapbook about New Zealand, Auckland, Owairaka School, and the children of Room 20 with me to Malaysia. I want to show them what life is like here. I want to share stories about us. I want to present photos and pictures showing what our wonderful country is like.

Have you got any photos of places in New Zealand or Auckland that would be interesting to show? If you do, I would love to have a copy. You can send them to me at school or email them to me as an attachment.

Thank you.

Yes, Joanna, the scrap book will be about the whole school.

I have won an AFS scholarship for New Zealand teachers to live with a Malaysian family for three weeks. I will give out more information later. I feel very humble and privileged to have been selected.

What do you think I should do while I am there? I am looking for exciting, creative, interesting ideas…

Thanks for starting this off Ethan. He suggests I could go to LEMBAH Bujang in the foothills of Gunung Jerai. This is the location of an old Malay Langkasuka empire, holding ruins that may date back 1,500 years.

Geleta suggests I go to a tower and jump off. I won’t do that unless I have a parachute on.

Samatha has some ideas. She says “u should go to…

the jungles of Perak
government agencies protect the jungle, but you can visit it. it is beautiful and has amazing wildlife. Jungle tours are available.
it is recognized for its orangutan population.
it is also a home to other animals which are not found anywhere else it the world, there have been some “big foot” sightings!!!!

and u can try some…

Durian (the king of fruit)
in South Asia they call it the king of fruit because it tastes like all the fruit mashed together!!!!!
but the only problem with eating this fruit is that your breath will REALLY stink afterwards!!
they say eating it for the first time is an unforgettable experience
some people think the fruit itself smells like onions!!
they say it tastes bitter at first and then goes into a strawberry, custard, butterscotch and banana flavour.
(make sure you video yourself trying one!!!)” Thank you Samantha. I think I will try and do both.

Some more of Samantha’s ideas… “Batu Caves”

The Batu Caves are tunnels and chambers set into limestone cliffs just out side Kuala Lumpur.The caves are one of Malaysia’s most popular attractions. But you have to climb 272 steps to get there.

Laska is a spicy noodle soup and a signature dish in Penang, it’s main ingredient is shredded fish.It is also a native dish to Malaysia and Singapore.

I have tried Laska but I am wondering if the Laska I have tried here is the genuine thing or not.