A Slice of England in the middle of Malaysia

When I awoke, I could scarcely believe that I was still in Malaysia. Gone was the oppressive heat and smothering humidity. In its place was a cool breeze and a refreshing dew. The sounds of chirping birds replaced the constant hum of traffic that I've grown accustomed to hearing. I looked out the window and saw a view that could pass for England. Tudor cottages dotted the hillsides, and a quiet mist settled in the valleys. It was such an idyllic, serene scene, that all I wanted to do was sit on the balcony and read Wordsworth (on my iPhone since I don't usually carry around books of poetry). Of course, since I'm a mother to three kids, this little poetry fantasy never panned out.

Like many locals, we had escaped the tropical heat by spending the weekend in the Cameron Highlands, a Malaysian hill station with roughly the same elevation as Denver, Colorado.  The area is known for both its agriculture and tourism. I knew we were nearing our destination when I began to see valleys covered with rows and rows of greenhouses. The roads were lined with numerous fruit and vegetable stands, cactus nurseries, strawberry cafes, honeybee apiaries and butterfly gardens. We stopped at a few to get out and stretch our legs. 

Scar tissue graffiti on a Prickly Pear at the Butterfly Farm
I didn't have the heart to add to it.

After we settled into our family suite at the Strawberry Park Resort, it started to rain, so we decided to stay in for the night. One of the hotel restaurants was having a Barbeque Buffet. The hostess offered us the A la Carte option, but when I saw the dessert table behind her, there was no question that the buffet was the choice for me.

Mmmmm... just how much dessert can I eat?

The next morning, the family split up. Hubby and my oldest boy were supposed to take a guided jeep tour up to Mount Brinchang and then hike down with a guide through the mossy forest to the tea plantation. When they showed up, the guide really tried to dissuade them. "It's challenging! Steep climbs, slippery slopes, jumping over rocks and crawling under fallen trees..." When hubby reassured them that he and the boy could handle it, the guide finally admitted that they didn't have a 4-wheel-drive vehicle available that day to take them up there. So, they ended up taking a shorter, Hill Forest Walk instead. The guide turned out to be very knowledgable about the local plants. He pointed out a place that just seemed like solid ground but was instead a bouncy build-up of leaves and tree roots. He also showed them the Drunk Plant. If you eat or smoke it, you get drunk. Hmmmm.... No, they did not bring any home.

The younger two kids and I headed out on an easy hike along Jungle Trail #4 to Parit Falls and past it for a little ways. It was just my type of hike — clearly marked, not too long, and semi-paved.



Reminded me of the Chocolate River in Willy Wonka's Factory
but not as delicious smelling

After we emerged from the jungle, we spent some time at the popular playground along the main road.

And I thought things were big in Texas!

Then, it was off to the BOH Tea Plantation in Sungai Palas. If there was ever a time in my life when I needed a flying car, this would be it! I really did not enjoy driving along the narrow, curvy, one-lane road leading to the plantation. I swear that at one point, I actually questioned whether or not the pavement was wider than the wheel base of my van. At least the view was beautiful.

Tea bushes as far as the eyes could see

The tea plantation is the largest in SE Asia and is definitely one of the must-see places in the Cameron Highlands. As we walked among the bushes, I rubbed some leaves between my fingers to see what they smelled like. It didn't smell anything like tea! I guess that fragrance must develop during the drying process.

The Face of BOH

Like many of the hotels in town, the Tea-ateria offered tea and scones. After our snack, we did a short walk-through of the factory.

The rolling machine breaks leaves up into fragments.

Dinner that night was at The Smokehouse, a Tudor-style inn set amidst a proper English garden. We relaxed and played cards in the fireside lounge while our dinner was prepared. The cozy room seemed just like a place where English gentlemen of yesteryear might retire after dinner to drink port and talk about foxhunts. My boy was happy I let him order the roast duck (no kids menu here), and I was glad he nearly finished his plate. The chocolate crepe for dessert was scrum-dilly-umptious.

The Smokehouse has the garden of my dreams.

We drove back to the tropical island of Penang the next day, stopping to pick our own strawberries along the way, with William Wordsworth's poetry running through my mind.

While here I stand, not only with the sense
      Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts
      That in this moment there is life and food
      For future years.

from "Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey"

* Kudos to you if you picked up on the super geeky sci-fi reference in this post.

Temple Lights at Night are Big and Bright

This doesn't even begin to capture the scope of this place.

Kek Lok Si (Temple of Supreme Bliss) is the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia and one of the major sightseeing spots in Penang. Chinese New Year is an especially good time to visit it because it is lit up by thousands of lanterns at night. Imagine the biggest Christmas light display in your town. Now, imagine that it's the only light display in town. That's how magnificent the site is perched on a hill above the city.

I had heard that Kek Lok Si is extremely crowded this time of year with some people waiting in a traffic jam for hours to get in. So, I somewhat justified my lack of planning and total disregard for children's bedtimes when we drove right up at 9:45 p.m. and immediately found a parking spot. The boys were reluctant participants (to put it mildly) but my little girl thought the lights were beautiful.

Prayer lamps hung in remembrance of those who have passed on.

This temple complex is huge. There are several large halls, prayer rooms and courtyards with a dizzying array of Buddhas, Chinese gods and Bodhisattvas. Steps lead us up higher and higher through the terraced levels.

Swastikas?

I even learned something when I went home and Googled the swastikas that were painted on the ends of support beams for one hall. The swastika symbol represents eternity and has been used by Buddhists since centuries before Jesus walked the Earth. In East Asia, counterclockwise swastikas often mark the location of Buddhist temples on maps. At least, that's what the collective minds at Wikipedia tell me.

At one point, I reached a man semi-guarding a partially closed door. "Can lah?" I asked which is perfectly acceptable Manglish (a mix of English and Malay languages) to find out if we could go through. He shook his head no but proceeded to permit pushier people to enter. So, I just barged ahead through the door, too.

These joss sticks filled the air with incense.

We made our way up into a hall filled with joss sticks and pineapple-shaped jars holding oil candles.  The kids were particularly attracted to the wishing tree. For a small donation, you could select a ribbon pre-printed with a wish. Each of the kids selected one to hang on the tree. My sweet, little girl picked out "World Peace." My younger boy picked out "Everything as You Wish."

Well, he must have some mighty strong wishing power because the lights in the temple started going off. At first, I thought it was some fluke since there were still plenty of tourists around and that they'd turn them on again. Or maybe they'd flash them on and off a few times to let us know it was time to leave. Nope, they were being turned off for good. My boy who had been asking "When are we leaving?" ever since we arrived 15 minutes earlier was getting his wish. Perhaps I should have listend to that guard.

We started making our way down through the many terraces and stairs. At first, the remaining lanterns lit our way, but after a while, even those were off. Luckily, some well-prepared tourist had brought along a strong flashlight and was kind enough to shine it on the stone steps for everyone.

On the drive home, we listened to Whitney Houston singing "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" on the radio, not realizing that she'd be gone the next day.

I tucked in the kids hours past bedtime and asked my oldest if there was any teeny-tiny redeeming part about our excursion. He thought about it for a second then replied, "Well, if my wish for 'Success in Everything' comes true, I guess it was okay."

May all your wishes come true, too.

Hong Kong: Classic Tourist Day

My trip to Hong Kong ended near where my family's story began.  Ages ago, after The Great War, a young man from Guangdong province in southern China began working in a department store on Des Voeux Road in Hong Kong's Central District. There, he met the store owner's daughter who would grow up, move to the Philippines, and one day become his wife. I wonder if back then, that young man ever dreamed that his granddaughter would be born in America and that she'd one day journey back to Des Voeux Road with her family.

No visit to Hong Kong is supposedly complete without a trip across Victoria Harbour on the Star Ferry. So, that's how we began our last day of sightseeing. Just boarding the boat was exciting. It was bobbing up and down so much from a passing ship's wake that they had to momentarily pull up the gangplank so passengers wouldn't fall into the water. Crossing the harbor, a bigger boat came close to us — probably too close.

Hubby remarked that the interior was just as he remembered from his childhood vacation here. He was the same age that our oldest boy is now, so I'm hoping that our kids will look back fondly on this time and want to bring their own children back to explore.

Heading from Kowloon to Hong Kong on the Star Ferry

On the other side, we boarded an open-air, double decker Rickshaw Sightseeing Bus to whisk us to Victoria Peak Station. I amused myself by yelling, "Duck down!" at the boys whenever we went under a bridge. I'm not sure they saw the humor in it.

I giggled at the sight of the giant canopy on the back of this "rickshaw."

Next up was the Peak Tram, a funicular that had its start in 1888. It didn't take us long to climb the 0.89 mile railway up the highest mountain (1,656 feet) on Hong Kong Island. At some points, the angle of incline was 27 degrees, and my eyes played tricks on me as I watched the passing scenery. The buildings are upright of course, but to me, they seemed to be leaning over like a scene out of the movie Inception.

Pretend "Funiculi, Funicula" (aka "Larry's High Silk Hat") is playing in the background. 

Even though it was a hazy day, the view from Victoria Peak was amazing. Imagine looking down at 88-story office buildings far below you.  We ate lunch at one of the touristy restaurants at the top (Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., if you really must know) before heading back down on the tram.

At the bottom, we embarked on an excursion that I've been plotting for decades. I think every kids' fantasy of futuristic cities involves moving sidewalks. With the Central-Midlevels Escalators, the future has arrived! This covered system of 20 escalators and 3 moving sidewalks traverses 2,600 feet with a vertical climb of 443 feet, enabling pedestrians to quickly travel from the residential Mid-levels area to the commercial Central District.I think I read about it as a teen and always thought it'd be great to try out.

View of the SoHo district from one of the escalator landings

Before we left the hotel that morning, I told the concierge my plan and had her scribble the destination in Chinese on a business card to hand to the taxi driver. After the taxi left, I realized that the escalators were running in the opposite direction than I wanted to go. Nooooo!!!! It turns out that they're one-way. They run downhill from 6 - 10 a.m. and uphill from 10:30 a.m. to midnight. Is this how the Griswolds felt at Walley World? So, we took an unplanned hike down LOTS of stairs. When we reached the bottom, we went up a couple escalators to somewhat appease the child in me, then walked back down again. Oh well.

The escalator's downhill terminus is on Des Voeux Road, the street where my great-grandfather had his department store in pre-World War II Hong Kong. Even back then, I think it was a hustling, bustling kind of place. Today, numerous double decker streetcars run on tracks up and down the street, connected to the powerlines overhead — like a San Francisco streetcar on steroids and not as quaint.

Des Voeux Road and its streetcars
Could this be where great-grandpa's store was?

After our long hike downhill, we were ready to head home. Since we'd already rode on a boat, bus, taxi, and funicular tram that day, we rounded out the transportation experience by riding the subway back under the harbor.

It was a wonderful day made even better by the opportunity to connect with my heritage coupled with the (somewhat) realization of a childhood dream.

Singapore Sights: Part 1

I first visited Singapore in 1997 when my dad was working there as an expat. It was my first trip to Asia, and everything seemed so exotic and different. When the kids' school had a mid-semester break last month, I couldn't wait to take them there and show them around. After living in Malaysia for a few months, my first thought upon arriving in Singapore was how much it reminded me of America. I guess it's all relative.

The Republic of Singapore is an itty-bitty city-state at the tip of the Malay peninsula. Like Penang, it was controlled by the British as part of the Straits Settlements for over a century. After gaining independence from the British, it was briefly part of Malaysia before breaking off in 1965. What a difference a few decades has made! Singapore is like the over-achieving sibling to Malaysia. They share the same heritage, but Singapore has clearly pushed itself to succeed.

Whereas Penang has a laid-back island charm, it's also a bit on the rustic side. Singapore is a glittering, big, modern city. All the signs are in English, and it's a model of efficiency. If Disney were to design a country, they would have ended up with Singapore. The mass transit system, both the subways and the buses, were easy to use and clean. After all, this is a country where chewing gum is illegal and a person can be fined for not flushing a public toilet. (I'm totally in support for that second one.)

At the airport - Good to know

Our first stop in Singapore was the amazing Science Centre Singapore where we met up with some school friends from Austin who moved here last summer. Brad and his buddy spent their last few months in America plotting to get together in Asia. I honestly think that having a friend who was also moving overseas immensely helped Brad make the transition.

This hands-on museum is huge and world-class. I really liked the Fire Tornado.

3pm performance right next to the Snack Bar,
perfect for luring in hungry patrons

Afterwards, we went back to our friends' house for dinner. Once again, it struck me how different the expat experience is between the two countries. When I asked the now stay-at-home mom what she was doing with her spare time, she replied that she's working her way through the Joy of Cooking. I was flabbergasted since it seems that I have a really hard time in Penang finding "normal" ingredients I need. She said that in Singapore, you can get almost anything as long as you don't care how much you pay. Also, they were Trick-or-Treating in a BIG way (about 1000 visitors expected to pass by their house), whereas I was still trying to figure out how to put together a little something for our Halloween in Penang.

We hit the Night Safari after dinner. This is the one thing that I loved the most from my last visit, and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Singapore. Unlike the zoo visit in Taiping, I did not fall asleep on this tram ride. Seeing the nocturnal animals striding around was interesting, and the guide's informative and hilarious commentary kept the kids enthralled.

The next morning, we made our way to the Jurong Bird Park. The kids were immediately drawn to the penguin house, primarily because it was air-conditioned. After wrestling them out into the heat and humidity, we walked over to the 9-story-high Lorikeet Aviary. For a few dollars, you could buy a cup of liquid food and feed the birds yourself. Maria figures that the family fed almost 40 birds while we were strolling up and down the stairs and elevated walkways.

Polly does NOT want a cracker. She's on a liquid diet.

Next up was Sentosa Island where we rode the luge and chairlift. This is another must-do when visiting Singapore. When he first saw it, Brad exclaimed, "It's like Mario Kart!" Maria must have agreed because she was quite displeased that I wouldn't let her guide the luge up on the side walls of the track.

The upper portion of the track was much wider and without a lane divider.

As darkness fell, we left the island with the Merlion guiding the way. Half-fish, half-lion, the Merlion is one of the symbols of Singapore.

We ended the day at Food Republic. To bring up the Disney comparison once again, if Singapore had its own pavillion in EPCOT, Food Republic would be what the Imagineers would design. Based on the old-fashioned street food hawker centers that are all over Malaysia, this food court elevated it to new heights. I could still get a variety of Indian, Straits Chinese and Malay foods at the different stalls, but everything was so much cleaner and more sanitary than what I'm accustomed to in Penang. Plus, it was beautifully decorated.

Notice the handwash station in the bottom right corner.

Stay tuned for Part 2: Universal Studios and more good eats

Spice Girls

One of the things Andrew really misses is vanilla extract. I've found vanilla essence and vanilla paste, but he claims that only extract will do. The first week that the kids were in school, my friend and fellow Austinite, Sally, invited me to join her exploring the Tropical Spice Garden. Ah, the perfect place to pick up some vanilla beans to make my own extract. After dropping off the kids, I ran into my new friend, Meredith, and convinced her to come along.

Yoga Spice, Nice Spice and Mommy Spice

Back in the States, one of my favorite catalogs and stores is Penzey's Spices. They have an amazing selection and an encyclopedic listing of all the varieties of various spices and herbs. Sometimes, they'll have pictures from around the world of the plants being grown and harvested. Well, strolling through the Tropical Spice Garden felt like walking into the pages of a Penzeys catalog. If you're a fan of The Amazing Race, you may recognize this as the place where they had the tea challenge last spring.

When we arrived at the gardens, they spritzed us with a little citronella oil to help ward off the hungry mosquitos that roam the jungle. And aren't we in luck? They happen to sell it at the gift shop, too. The guide led our little group through the wooded paths, stopping often to educate us about the spice plants surrounding us. He'd pick leaves for us to nibble on such as the sweet tasting Stevia plant and hold up various nuts and tubers while explaining their culinary and medicinal uses. We even saw the betel nut tree that gave Penang its name.

Ceylon Cinnamon

Here's the bark of a Ceylon Cinnamon tree. Shhh... don't tell it that, thanks to Penzeys, I've figured out that I actually prefer Vietnamese Cinnamon.

Botany Quiz: Can you identify this plant?

Vanilla! I was actually a little bummed that it wasn't in bloom, and I couldn't witness the bean growing on this large orchid plant.

I just love how these leaves are waiting to unfurl.

And I'm always a sucker for water lilies.

At the end of our tour, we made our way to the gift shop. Apothecary jars and bins filled with spices and herbs surrounded us. There were also a number of gorgeous handicrafts and cookbooks. I may return to buy some gifts before I travel back stateside. I purchased some vanilla beans, but alas, they were grown in Bali instead of in the garden we had just visited.

On my future To-Do list: Take one of the cooking classes and enjoy a relaxing meal at The Tree Monkey restaurant adjoining the gardens.

Vanilla Extract Recipe roughly based on Martha Stewart's version

1. Go to tropical island and purchase Vanilla Beans plus some vaguely Russian sounding vodka. I used 4 vanilla beans for a 350 ml bottle.

2. Split beans and put into bottle.

3. Download either The Car's "Shake it Up" or Metro Station's "Shake It" to your iPod and ...

4. Store it in a dark place for 2 months, shaking it weekly, and voila Vanilla Extract.

This post is part of Foodie Tuesday on Inside Journeys. Check it out for more delicious inspiration.

Butterflies and Burkas

We gave Maria the honor of choosing our first sightseeing expedition in Penang, and she chose the Butterfly Farm -- or as I like to call it, the Butterfly-arama. "Rama-rama" is the Malay word for "butterfly", so that would turn the nickname into the Rama-rama-arama.

Having read Fancy Nancy: Explorer Extraordinaire, Maria knew just how to dress us for the excursion. After decking ourselves out in flowery, bright clothing (who cares if it matches!) and spritzing on a little perfume, we were ready to go.

Penang is hot and steamy to begin with.  So, strolling around inside the butterfly greenhouse was extra hot and extra steamy. (Good if you're referring to coffee or certain movies, not so good if you're just on a family outing.) For Maria, seeing the butterflies flitting around made it all worthwhile. She even made a friend-for-the-day when she encountered another English-speaking girl from Australia. The boys didn't shrug off the heat as well, but they were somewhat distracted by the snapping turtles, humongous scorpions,

and the foot-long millipedes.

I particularly enjoyed the small theater showing film shorts by Miniscule TV. If you're not familiar with Miniscule, they're a series of films featuring anthropomorphic insect slapstick. Very funny! That the theater was air conditioned and had seating was an extra bonus.

Something else caught my eye at the Rama-rama-arama. Several women shrouded from head to toe in black burkas provided quite a contrast to the brightly colored butterflies. Malaysia is a moderate Muslim country, so I  don't normally see burkas around town. However, Penang is a popular vacation destination for the more consertive Muslim countries, so seeing burkas at tourist hotspots is to be expected, I suppose. My first thought was, "And I thought I was hot and sweaty..."

I assumed they would be meek, nonparticipatory, and silently follow their husbands everywhere. I was wrong. They were chatting while pointing out pretty flowers to their children and taking pictures just like I was. Even though their mouths were covered, I could tell when they smiled because their eyes crinkled up and looked happy. I realized those women and I had a lot in common despite our different religions and dress. I've also come to realize that I can't tell the difference between Americans and Canadians, but that's a whole different story.