We survived the water park and made it to Penang! Coincidentally, we went to Penang at the same time my family were going to Arran. I know which ferry I would’ve rather been on!!

Yes, the ferry was…erm…interesting but we got there so I’m not complaining!

It was a full on week, exploring snake temples and monkey beaches.

Unfortunately, it was too full on for me and I was the unlucky one that managed to fall ill. I’m on my second course of antibiotics now so hopefully I’m on the mend!

If I’m being perfectly honest, the whole week was a bit of a blur. But I do know I had a great time and that Penang is beautiful – a must see for everyone. 

But me being the stupid, non forward thinking idiot that I am, deleted the pictures from my phone so I can’t share them here for you all to see. They are however on my Facebook page so if you’re interested in seeing them, just go stalk me!

I’m back in the classroom this week. So far, classes have been going pretty well and all the kids are excited to have us helping them.

In Malaysia, you will be told that everything will only be 5 minutes.

Buses are 5 minutes away; people will only be 5 minutes; food will be ready in 5 minutes.

Do not be deceived. Do not believe them. It is all lies.

Buses are 5 light years away; people can range from 30 seconds to 30 hours; and food is always ready.

DO NOT BUY THESE LIES.
Update: Finally got a bus after waiting for almost 3 hours. It’s an improvement at least!

Last night, we packed our bags and gave our room a decent tidy. I even got round to properly unpacking and sticking all my pictures up. 

There are still plenty of pictures I could stick up, but there’s no wall left!! So if you made it to the wall of memories, congratulations. You can now say you’ve been to Malaysia!

The school driver picked us up this morning and drove us to Ipoh. He dropped us off at a shopping mall, where Lyall decided it would be a good idea to knock over and break a shelf of rather expensive looking after shave. Ipoh 1 – 0 Lyall.

We managed to get a taxi to our hotel and checked in before the other volunteers arrived. We went up to take the nicest rooms, however, Lyall decided to leave the key in the room we dumped our bags in when she left. Yes, she locked us out the room, but locked our bags in (just in case they decided to run away ya know?!).

I sent her down to get a new key and it’s fair to say everyone laughed at her.

Currently, it’s Ipoh 2 – 0 Lyall but we’re going to a water park tomorrow so that might change. Wish us luck!

They’ve also just found Westlife.. 

Please get Shawn Mendes back on!

I know you opened this expecting me to tell you I am now able to play a musical instrument and that I’m a natural at everything.

I can’t. I’m not. And I still sound like a choking walrus fighting a screeching cat whenever I attempt to ‘sing’. I’m sorry for getting your hopes up.

 

What I did want to share with you, however, was that I am listening to the radio in the staff room, and a song that wasn’t Shawn Mendes, Selena Gomez, Aerosmith or Jessie J came on! Imagine that!

I’ve just realised the number of commas in that sentence and I have no idea if that’s grammatically correct or not. I’m bad at English, don’t judge me!

 

Anyway, there are 4 songs here in Malaysia, and 4 songs only (‘Stitches’ by Shawn Mendes; “Can’t Keep My Hands To Myself” by Selena Gomez; “Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” by Aerosmith; “Flashlight” by Jessie J. If you like these songs, DO NOT come to Malaysia!), or at least so I thought..

This one radio station has just discovered Fun! Yup, that’s right, Fun as in the Fun that me and my sister laugh at for some of their ridiculous songs. The Fun that graced the majority of the world with classics like ‘Some Nights’ and ‘We are Young’. The Fun that Malaysia has just discovered!

I’m still working on introducing them to The Killers and The 1975, but this is a start!

 

All I have left to ask for from Malaysia now is hot water, a proper shower, and the extinction of cockroaches.

 

PS – Please enjoy these pictures of my shower..

Yup, it’s just a tap and plastic pipe. I’m still trying to figure out the purpose of the ‘basin’ too!

Did I mention that the tap likes to fall off?

We decided to head down to KL for the weekend to get some city air. We left on Friday with Amy, and came back yesterday.

On Friday, we were invited to a Potluck at Jothee’s nieces house (who also happens to be Amy’s best friend!). I’m still not sure what exactly a Potluck is, but there was praying and a lot of nice food! It was great meeting everyone and to see how gatherings work over here.

Our hotel was a bit of a shambles (meaning it was terrifying and we were fearing for our lives), so Jothee let us stay in her spare room for the night. She told us that’s the room she lets the volunteers who contract Dengue Fever recover in, so hopefully we’ll never have to stay there again!

Saturday was spent shopping. We went to KLCC Mall which is filled with designer brands. Lyall and I were getting ourselves a little too excited over the Mac, Urban Decay and Sephora stores (yes dad, that is makeup, but it was cheap so it’s cool!). We managed to find another hotel (this one was Jothee recommend) so headed there.

Lyall and I headed out for a walk as Holly Skyped back home. We somehow ended up looking for Krispy Kreme donuts, but returned with Papa Johns pizza. We’re still confused by that one too!

Sunday was spent visiting temples. We went to Sri Mahamariamman Hindu Temple, where we were lucky enough to see an Indian wedding. We walked about 100 yards down the road, and ended up at Guan Di Temple – a Taoist Temple. If I’m being perfectly honest, I couldn’t tell you much about these temples, so if you’re interested, check out Lyalls blog (namasayalyall.wordpress.com). She knows a lot more than me and is patient enough for this wifi to load and research them both.

Chinatown was just around the corner, so we took a wander through there before heading to Little India for lunch.

Before we knew it, it was time to meet Amy and get our train back to Kuala Kangsar.

It was nice being away for the weekend, but it’s great being back in Lenggong and surround by the cheery faces of our pupils. Back to work for this week, before our next trip to Ipoh and Penang on Friday.