Penang

A love affair with food. My days here were spent thinking about my next meal and trying to convince myself that I am, in fact, hungry... just so that I can go eat again! What a change! Until now, I had been quite disappointed in the food I had been eating (overall). A sample of my new favorites: roti canai, char koay teow, wan tan mee, dim sum, chicken rice and my most favorite: banana leaf rice (that's basically a tali on a banana leaf with a pile of rice).

Besides stuffing myself, my few days in Penang were quite busy. Georgetown is a UNESCO World Heritage city, so just wandering around the city is like being in a museum. I spent my first day doing just that; taking in Chinatown, little India, and the Colonial District (and of course sampling all their food offerings).

My second day I ventured off to see the famous Kek Lo Si temple, under a torrent of rain. I also chose this day to go to the Botanical Gardens. The only "smart" part of that decision is that the rain kept me cool-ish.

My third day was reserved for the Snake Temple (didn't see any "wild" snakes unfortunately). I also finally got some shopping done and went to see a movie is a FREEZING theater. It was quite the experience to watch an animation with two sets of subtitles and a very vocal audience!

Tomorrow I get up early to take a ferry to Langkawi Island, my last stop before starting my long trek down to New Zealand. Looking forward to the sunsets, to getting sand everywhere (again!), and to just lie around...

Perhentian Islands

I will refer to the Lonely Planet's description: The Perhentians are a tropical paradise. Full stop. I agree.

After the beautifully modern and comfortable Singapore and busy, noisy Kuala Lumpur I was extremely glad to arrive in a car-free environment. The chalets were basic, most of the food was so-so; but the atmosphere, views, corals, and company more than outweighed all of that.

I spent the better part of the week being lazy. Strolling the beach, reading, and meeting new people. The big highlight was the day I spent snorkeling. I saw a sea turtle, thousands (if not millions!) of tropical fish -- including nemo, the most beautiful coral I've ever seen, and even half a dozen black tipped reef sharks! Yes, that's right people, I swam with sharks! To be fair, I was very reluctant and while most the other snorkelers were swimming towards the sharks I was beating a fast retreat... but still, I can check that one off the list!

Other highlights include a sunrise this morning just as I was leaving the island; boogy-boarding in large waves along Long Beach; evening bonfires and fire shows; and my first taste of barracuda, barbecued to perfection. Yummy.

Other scary island resident: a monitor lizard!

Other quick tid-bit: on my way over to Penang, while going through a national park, I saw a elephant-crossing warning sign!

32 hours in Singapore

In a word: relief.

Singapore is clean, modern, efficient, big yet walkable, English is spoken widely but its undeniably multi-cultural. The food is amazing (I almost cried at my first taste of coriander in months), the air is fresh (despite cars everywhere, the joy of gas versus diesel), the buildings have color, the public transit consists of a skytrain (sigh for fellow Vancouverites) that's super clean, quick, quiet (can't even compare with jeepeneys...), and the churches have been replaced by beautiful mosques, temples, shrines, and pagodas.

I arrived at my hostel in the late morning of Friday. After checking in and picking up a map I made my way to Little India with the sole purpose of finding some Indian food. Great success! Mattar Paneer with Naan and teary eyes. Then I did a bit of shopping (got totally had like a beginner and paid waaaay too much for a converter) before heading temple hopping. Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, all were easily found here.

After that I went back to the hostel for a catnap, visiting a mosque on the way.

The evening was spent wandering some more and happening upon a light show projected onto the world's largest fountain (apparently). What a tiring day, I had gotten used to the slow-paced afternoons of Tacloban, lazing away at Cafe Lucia!

For my second day, I decided to hit all the "must see" sites of Singapore before heading to Chinatown. According to the tourist map I happened upon and the Lonely Planet, here are the important things to take pictures of in Singapore:

Afterwards I headed to Chinatown, which was a tourist's mecca. All the shopping that we wanted to find so badly in the Philippines at my finger tips. Beautiful wall-hangings; great loose, comfortable clothing; carvings; jewelery... I had to stop myself from spending a small fortune (for all its perks, Singapore is expensive!). Then in the middle of Chinatown, Buddha's Tooth Relic Temple which apparently houses Buddha's actual tooth?!? After visiting many temples in Japan, this one was a surprise, though it goes very well with the impression Singapore had on me. It has a basement parking garage, air-con throughout the temple, elevators to bring us to a lovely rooftop garden in the middle of which is a electrically powered revolving prayer wheel, meanwhile the other floors are full of worshipers, old relics and historic pictures.

After all this, hop back on the skytrain to the airport and then onwards to Kuala Lumpur!

The Philippines - last thoughts

As my time in Tacloban City is nearing it's end at a neck-breaking pace, I thought to include here a few odds and ends that I didn't have the chance to blog about. My whole experience here was incredible. I've learned so much about myself and human nature. So many experiences, revelations, friendships, emotions, trials... I look forward to picking my way through it all at my leisure once I wash up on a Malaysian beach!

The dumpsite.

A few weekends ago I got to visit the city's dumpsite where VFV does work with the children that work there. They collect plastic and other valuables to trade in for a few pesos. This was an incredible eye-opener for me. The heat was oppressing, the smell was horrid, the ground soggy, yet still even here we were greeted by smiling faces.

Tanauan beach.

This is the only "local" beaches that I had the opportunity to visit. Most beaches here are part of resorts, and though many locals do go to these beaches as well, they are mostly catered to tourists. The beach was nice, the water gorgeous, but the real gem was the children that came and played around us. It was obvious that not many foreigners ever came to this beach and we were the children's entertainment as much as they were ours!

RHU Tanauan.

I've already blogged about my time at the health clinic, but here are some pictures to give you an idea of what the clinic looked like! These were taken during a "down" time, so there are no patients milling around.

Waiting room

Filling system

The "lab" -- that's a real genuine type-writer!

The nurses and I

Rain.

It rains a lot here, just had to acknowledge this fact. Not Vancouver-spitting-in-your-face rain either, crazy downpours that flood the streets!

Donations.

Thanks again to my Uncle B. and Aunt E. who donated enough to rebuild a home for one of the sponsored kids of VFV! Below is a picture of the build site. Thanks also to all those who donated after my post "Helpful ideas". The combined donations bought loads of meds plus all that you can see in the orphanage picture below. The kids were ecstatic when they saw the 350+ books arrive. It was one of the most emotional and beautiful moments here.

A Filipino book adventure

I'll be leaving the Philippines on Thursday. Part of me is sad since I will miss Tacloban, the volunteers, my home-stay parents, and just the general feeling of having a "home". However, I have to be honest and say that I won't miss some things, one of which is the annoying fact that everything here seems to take forever. Everything takes more time than anticipated, from travelling to waiting in line for a cashier to getting laundry done to buying stamps...

Today my mission was to sell back some of the books that I've finished while staying here so that I don't need to schlep them around the Pacific. In anticipation of this mission I ask at my favorite second-hand shop whether they bought back books during a recent visit there. The cashier said that they did with great enthusiasm, which gave me a false sense of confidence in the easiness of the mission.

Unfortunately, when I arrived there early this afternoon with my six books in tow this same cashier looked at my blankly and said that she couldn't buy them back. When asked why she replied that I'd have to wait for her boss, who was due to arrive 2 hours later. So I asked if I could just donate them to the store -- free of charge, to which she replied that she wasn't sure! So then I asked what to do with them and she suggested to "just try" at another used books store, Booksale.

Somewhat annoyed I got on a tricycle and made my way to Booksale. Once there the same scenario occurred. The employees would not buy the books and told me that they were not allowed to accept donations! (what kind of used book business doesn't accept a bag of free used books?!?) After a long discussion they told me to try my luck at the local public library, near Sto. Nino shrine.

Slightly more annoyed I got on a jeepeney asking for Sto. Nino shrine. Once there I had to ask for directions. The locals all answered me with vague hand-wavings which made me even more exasperated. Finally after wandering around and around a big white building I realized that the library was on it's second floor. I made my way up the stairs (by then I was very warm and more than slightly annoyed -- I'd been wandering all over town for over an hour and a half) and the site that greeted me took my breath away: floor to celling bookshelves, bursting full, amid huge windows. The librarian was friendly and my donations were enthusiastically received!

The popular Filipino bumper sticker says it all: "Always late, but worth the wait".

Indulgence

Just in case you all are thinking that my time is spent doing work-work-work.....

Today I woke up late (around noon) drenched in sweat. Apparently sleeping past six a.m. means that your bedroom becomes a furnace! A quick bucket shower, then a dash to meet up with a bunch of other volunteers to go to have amazing Italian food for lunch. Spinach ravioli with meat balls with a side of thin-crust pizza -- yum!

Then, off to an indulgence-filled afternoon: a spa package. I went to Body and Sole with a fellow volunteer D. We each got a relaxing foot massage, a full body massage, a facial, and a pedicure... all for the amazingly low price of 580 pesos (that's about 13$)!!

The evening was spent at my favorite outdoor café, near the water with an ocean breeze. What a wonderful Saturday it was!