Blogs from Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia, Asia

Geo: 3.97, 103.439First, thanks to those who sent us greetings of all sorts.We celebrated by attending church with wonderful people.Then drove east about 4 hours, stopping at reststops we were indeed the only caucasians, but we are used to it by now. Incredible jungle, palm and rubber plantations, stairways leading from the road into who knows where. We stopped to prepare sandwiches at a waterfalls - what brown water!As we arrived in the state of Pahang, and neared the coastal cities of Kuantan and Pekan, we noticed differences - durians sold everywhere for one thing, along the roadside. And lampposts with Kris designs (the ceremonial daggers) and photos of the Sultan and his wife (would she be a sultana?)The Ancasa is only 2 years old and luxurious and right on the edge off the big river, ... read more

Every year, Indonesia has a lot of fires from the burning of palm oil trees. It's something I'd never noticed until this year, now that I'm far enough south for the smoke to reach me. My friend refers to this as the annual Haze Festival. (Last year the fires weren't as bad/didn't last as long, so I didn't notice them.) Despite complaints from neighboring countries, Indonesia hasn't done anything to stop it yet; but supposedly they will in the next few years. Until then, we get to choke when we go outside. It certainly doesn't look as bad as what I saw in China many days, but it's still bad enough to close schools several times. And for me to decide that going to the mall (with closed ventilation system) sounds like a pretty good idea. ... read more

I love getting email. Well, I love getting emails with news, stories, or a friendly hello. When I saw that I had an email from my friend Candy I was pretty excited. Candy had been one of my closest friends when I lived in Shenzhen and the last time we saw each other was when I traveled to Xi'an in 2012. Candy had written me a short email that can be summed up with, "I'm coming to visit you! I arrive in KL Sunday. I can't wait to see you!" My excitement turned to panic as I realized that Sunday was 3 days away and I had plans to be out of town all weekend! (As luck would have it, I had a speech contest in KL.) When would I prepare or clean? Sufficed to say, ... read more

Sports days seem to be a popular tradition in Asia. I experienced them in China and in Thailand, and now, also in Malaysia. Schools in my area do it a bit differently. There are practice days, where the students learn new games and do trials, and then there's the actual sports days that determine the winners. Both are two day events. They're usually held earlier in the year, but many of my schools delayed them until the end for one reason or another. The school year ends in a week or so, so it's actually a nice break before exams. The students compete by gender and grade in a variety of events. Some events they do compete across grades. There's high jump, long jump, relay races, sprinting, shot put, and one school asked me for help ... read more

I stopped at my local fruit stand today. The supermarket nearest to me doesn't have a lot of variety and I really wanted something besides apples and oranges. From a distance I knew I would not be disappointed. A chatty woman who helped me showed me the mangos. In the US, there's only one kind for sale usually, and it's red and green. Since moving to Asia I've discovered there's yellow mangos. Now I know that Malaysia has three types of mangos. Probably more. But she sells three kinds. She showed them to me and told me their names. (Which I didn't write down, of course.) And how they're each a little different. And how I should try one of each to see what I like best. I think that was the most easily I've been ... read more