Penang Primary

These are the amazing children from the Penang Branch. Since today was our last Sunday, I took a picture of the Primary. There were four children missing. Caitlin and Swan are the Primary Presidency with Caitlin being the President. They have a Nursery leader and her assistant, a CTR teacher and I taught half of the Valiants, Swan taught the older half as well as being the chorister and Caitlin's counselor. I taught the 9 and 10 year olds. I had four children in my class, Addy, Eugene, Eunice and Ewin (not pictured). It was wonderful to teach them from the Book of Mormon. They are a wonderful group of children. It was an amazing experience watching the children learn and grow in the gospel.

Back Row, left to right: Caitlin, Adrian, Eugene, Gabriel, Arron, Addy, NgeeYong, Kelvin, Sabrina and Eunice.
Front Row, left to right: Ichi, Sister Iman and Asani

The children sang "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again" for the closing song in Sharing Time. It was the perfect way to say our farewells. It was hard not to cry. I will miss you all. :)

Penang Branch

We have the most wonderful branch here in Penang!

One of the first things I did before our move was to find out if there was a congregation established and how close it was to our new home. I was delighted to learn that our church had a branch. The branch members opened their hearts and arms to welcome us. We have made some wonderful friends and it is 15 minutes from our home. I knew we would have a support system in place should we need anything. It will be difficult to leave them.

Tonight, the members threw a farewell party for us. We had a wonderful evening. We were so touched by their love. Here are a few pictures of some of our friends.

Danny and Ms. A bonded immediately. Every Sunday she would look for him and then run to him for a hug and some playing time. Whenever we talk about going to church, she'll ask if Danny will be there.

Caitlin and Ms. A were instantly friends. Our first Sunday she excitedly grabbed Caitlin's hand as she took Ms. A to Nursery. Caitlin is the Primary President. Ms. A constantly refers to Caitlin as her friend. She loves to draw pictures for her and will sit with Caitlin during sacrament meeting. Caitlin is an amazing person and has been a dear friend of mine as well. We will miss her dearly.

Here is a picture of some of the members in our branch.
Back Row Left to Right: President Chung, Danny, Ms. A, Ricky, Heather, Sister Yoko (Ms. A's Nursery Teacher), Sister Lim, Papa (Sister Yoko's husband), Brother Lim and Caitlin.
Front Row Left to Right: Asani, Sister Imai, Yuzaburo (he's in Ms. A's class at church), Wendy (Danny's daughter), Reed, and Batbold.

WE WILL MISS YOU!

Our Place

Here are a few uniques things about our home in Malaysia.

Yes that's a gate for our apartment - Major fire safety hazard, but it's one of our security precautions

Our fridge. It's a bit smaller than the one at home.

Yes that's a propane tank under our stove and the toaster oven on the counter - that's the oven!

The tap water isn't safe to drink from, so we have a filter set-up next to the sink. Most people get free standing water purifiers.

Don't you love our wicker livingroom set? We are very envious of Alan and Sonja set. It is much nicer - no wicker!

We have tons of windows in the living and dining rooms. Most of the time we keep them shut to keep out the heat. :)

The air-conditioner - need I say more. It has been hovering between 84 to 91 since we arrived. Each room has one and they are wonderful!

The switches here took a bit of getting used to, which light/fan/air-conditioner does it belong to? What is on and what is off. The one on the end is always on - it's for the main air-conditioner. :)

The water heaters in our apartment are controlled by a switch. You have to turn it on, wait a few minutes for it to heat the shower water, and in the master bathroom - hurry and take a shower because there is no way to balance the hot and cold. If I time it just right I can have a comfortable shower for 7 minutes. :)

Para-Sailing

Here we are para-sailing. We had a great time 'flying.'
The crying in the background is Ms. A. She wanted to go up as well. :) My adventurous little one.

Reed is in the first 14 seconds and I am in the remaining portion.

Rain, rain go away

Sweet Pea and I were taking it easy this afternoon, when the skies started to get darker and the winds started to pick up. Suddenly we were in the middle of a fierce rain and wind storm. We have had storms the past few nights, but it was too dark to see how strong the winds were. It was amazing to see the mainland 'disappear' and then see the winds and rain pick up over us.

Then the storm blew over us and I went to watch it from the front view of the house. When it reached the front, our cable went out. Sweet Pea was very concerned about losing the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show. She kept on telling the rain to 'Go away!' It was so cute.

She was so happy when her request was answered and the cable came back! :)

I love to watch rain and thunderstorms. There is such power in a good storm. I miss the lightening shows from my youth. I'm so happy Malaysia is fulfilling my love of a GOOD Lightening Show! :)

Penang Bridge

We decided to take a drive across the Penang Bridge. Actually we wanted to go to the bird park and needed to cross the bridge to get there. The movie starts at the beginning and ends halfway across the bridge. It took us about 7 minutes to drive across it!
The total length of the bridge is 13.5 km (8.4 miles), making it among the longest bridges in the world, the longest bridge in the country as well as a national landmark. It is also the longest bridge in Southeast Asia.

Clanhouses and More

We visited a couple of clan houses in Georgetown. The Khoo Kongsi is a clan (family) association of the Leong San Tong (Dragon Mountain Hall) clan, whose forefathers came from Sin Kang clan village in Hokkien province. They settled here and built this beautiful temple. The carvings, colors and design are amazing. The original temple mysteriously caught on fire and was rebuilt by 1906. Some say the gods started the fire because the temple was too ornate. 

During Chinese New Year and the Hungry Ghost Festival (July/August) the clanhouse is full of celebration and people. The Hungry Ghost festival is a time when they feed those who have died in order to protect the clanhouse members from incurring the anger of the spirits. They also have performers come to entertain the spirits. The opera house creates the perfect location for performers to sing, dance and entertain.

The Theater

The Cheah Kongsi temple was one of the locations Anna and the King was filmed. Apparently the Thai government did want the filming to take place in their country, so Penang was used. We drove all over the place where the movie was filmed.

Detail of the Clan House

Portions of "Anna and the King" were filmed here {school scenes I believe}

The Chew Jetty is another clanhouse. It's known as the floating house. This one is built on stilts along a portion of the coastline. Tradition typically has generations of people living in the clanhouse. Sons marry and stay with their family sometimes in the same home as parents and grandparents.

The Clock Tower

Fort Cornwallis was a star-shaped fort built by Captain Sir Francis Light.

It was quite impressive walking on top of the battlements, unfortunately the location of the fort didn't provide mush of a defense.

More Cannons

Kapitan Keling Mosque is a mosque built in the 19th century by Indian Muslim traders. The land was donated by Captain Light. The mosque was simple, but so beautiful. I loved the white decor and the beautiful arches.

The Beetle Nut Sculpture

After leaving the Khoo Kongsi, we hired a trishaw driver for a two hour tour of the area. Ms A was so excited to go for a ride. I was a bit nervous to ride the bike in traffic. Our driver had 32 years experience and took a few risks that made me a bit nervous (like driving into opposing drivers or easing into the perpendicular traffic to cross the street), but we were safe and Ms A had a great time.

Kek Lok Si

The Kek Lok Si project was inspired by the chief monk of the Goddess of Mercy Temple of Pitt Street. This temple built in tiers culminates the beautifully crafted ''Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddhas'' or the Pagoda of Rama VI, named after the Thai king who laid the foundation stone. It towers just over a hundred feet and is reputed to be the largest pagoda in Malaysia. Construction commenced in 1915 and upon its completion in 1930, it was opened with a series of grand ceremonies every seven days over a period of forty-nine days. This pagoda combines a Chinese octagonal base with a middle tier of Thai design, and a Burmese crown, reflecting the temple's embrace of both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism.

Normally the temple is not so decorated, but since we visited it during Chinese New Year the Chinese lanterns and the colored lights were up. One of Reed's co-workers mentioned they light up certain buildings each night, so by the end of Chinese New Year celebrations {two weeks} the entire temple complex is lit up. We had a marvelous time wandering around this immense temple built on the hillside of Air Hitam, which means black water. Reed walked up to the top of the Pagoda of Rama VI. It was a fun evening. We look forward to seeing it in the daylight. :)

Kek Lok Si lit up for Chinese New Year. To the left is where they were working on a HUGE Buddha.

Tons of Little Buddhas

In front of the pagoda

School and Prayer room

I love the rows and rows of Chinese Lanterns

We had fun taking pictures of the lanterns and the moon.

Reed climbed up the Pagoda and took a few pictures.

Ms A and Mommy below

Botanical Gardens

We met this wonderful family, Alan and Sonja, a couple days after we arrived. They are members of our church and are amazing. We even have some mutual friends, but we have never met. What a small world. They have taken us all over the place showing us different sites, introduced us to all sorts of new adventures and have answered questions about our new home. Overall they have been FABULOUS! :)

These pictures are from one of the first places we visited. It is called the Botanical, Waterfall or Monkey Gardens. It is a huge garden with several smaller themed gardens. As we parked the car, we were greeted by a group of monkeys climbing the fence.

We saw an ice cream stand close to the entrance, so we purchased a little treat for us, but we were warned to eat it before we entered. We quickly complied. After we finished we started walking. There was another group that came in shortly after us. One of them had an ice cream cone in hand and was walking into the gardens when out of the blue this monkey who was 3-4 feet away, leaped in perfect Michael Jordan form grabbing the ice cream cone and landed with everything in one piece! We quickly learned why you eat the ice cream before entering. :)

This last picture is of us in front of a Cannon Ball tree. Notice how the fruit is shaped like cannon balls. We were told the fruit wasn't too appetizing, but the flowers are fragrant and the exterior of the fruit is unique.

Daddy - Daughter Day

Reed and Ms A shared Saturday morning and afternoon together. They hiked Penang Hill, also known as Bukit Bendera. The hill is 830 meter high (2,750 foot) with the hike being about 6km (3 and a 3/4 miles). I had read how long and strenuous the hike was, so I decided to stay home. I had so much to catch up on and having Ms A around, it would have taken longer to complete. I also enjoyed the alone time. :)

Reed ended up carrying Ms A up 3/4 of the hike, which took three hours to complete. When they arrived at the top, Reed let Ms A run around. Apparently, his energy was drained and hers wasn't. The parking attendant at the bottom suggested using the tram to get down. When Reed first heard about it, he thought he'd be alright. Once he reached the top, he changed his mind.

The view was wonderful! I'm not sure if it was worth the hike, you'll have to ask Reed. :) They also saw a temple at the top of the hill.

On the top of Penang Hill

View of the buildings, strait and mainland

Hindu Temple

Detail on temple

View of the island

The bridge to the mainland is in the background.