Penang and good-bye KL

The week we spent in Penang made me slightly regretful that we didn't get to explore some of Malaysia's more out of the way spots. City life definitely has many advantages and we were all very glad for the social scene in KL, but to really get to know a country, the smaller cities and towns and natural areas offer a better glimpse. Penang was part of the network of small British power  islands. The British created a trade hub on Penang in the late 1700's, much before Hong Kong became a major player. The new trade importance of the island attracted Chinese and Indian merchants and labourers. Penang only became part of Malaysia after world war 2. It was fun to get to explore a place steeped with both history and food culture but also home to primary rainforest (the British interest was trade not logging) and beaches. Over the week we explored the historic core, walked old clan piers, went to a science fair, hiked Penang hill, played at a theme park in the jungle, went to parks, ate, and of course swam and studied. 

Tova has a lot to say about one part of our visit so here she goes:      

Escape was very very very fun and there were lots of things to do. One of them which I think was the funnest is the trapeze you had to do the small trapeze first which is just you swing out hook your knees on the bar hang by your knees put your hands back and hang by your arms and then let go and do a backflip but nobodys backflips were ever that great except for mamas. Once you had done the small one if they said you were good enough you could do the sow which is the same thing just on a higher one and another person catches your hands. Another really fun thing was a water slide it was called the longest because it was the longest it was over a kilometer long and was very fun! Another thing that was fun was to go under the tipping bucket because it was the biggest in the world so it made a big wave. Another thing that I am happy I did but was only alright was the zipline it is the longest one in the world people say but I thought someone could have made it longer. There were lots more fun things to but it would take to long to tell you them.

And then with a final week in KL for a last exam our time in Malaysia came to an end. The bustling urban life of KL took awhile to get used to and we are all glad for a change towards more nature, but, the city still won our hearts and the girls say they would definitely come back.

Great seatmate on the train to Penang

Exploring the clan jetties

Interacting with street art

Lots of temples and historical buildings

My favourite street art

Making herself at home in the Peranakan mansion

Running down Penang hill

Beautiful Kek Lok Si Temple

Looking cool at escape

Trapeze superstars

Beautiful the way the water slides were interwoven with the jungle - not many places where you can see monkeys while water sliding

Eating is very important in Penang

My favourite meal in Penang

Favourite dessert - shaved ice and silken tofu with toppings

Penang park

Sitting exams

We never meant to adopt the British education system. It just kind of happened. None of us had ever  heard of the British exam system aside from in Harry Potter, though even then, I never realised that the books' exams were based on the real system. When exploring ways in which to help out Aurora's university application chances the British system of exam taking was the most versatile and travel friendly. Thanks to colonialism there are many countries in the world that use the British exam system either as their main form of education or as the most popular option among the private schools. There are not many other education systems that have such a global method of evaluation that is also globally respected. I like that no matter what continent we are on we can generally find others who have gone through the same set of exams. 

Last set of exams Aurora completed in Lima, Peru. This time we are writing exams in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Same exam board and same exam content but entirely different experiences. In Lima we went through the British Council, which despite its name, was very Peruvian in organisational approach. Aurora was always the only one taking the exam with a preceptor and the location would rotate among a few co-working spaces - except we would have to call them the night before to find out the location of the next day's exams. Aurora would show up to her exam three minutes before hand, as would her preceptor. Her preceptor followed the rules to the word, except when she felt it didn't really make sense or matter. In Kuala Lumpur the girls are registered with a private international school that accepts independent test takers. They are hyper-responsive and organized. The girls are required to show up an hour before the exam time and they take the exam with the schools students. The rules are followed precisely and the school sends out regular notices reminding exam takers of the rules and requirements. The night before the exam they send me a reminder message of the next days exam time and subject. Aurora smiles when she talks about sitting exams in Peru in numerous rooms alone with the same preceptor whose name she never learned -  but - she says she prefers the system here. 

The British really take their exams seriously and there are so many exams over a six week period. Sophia this time around had 10 exams and Aurora 7. Six weeks kind of feels like a long period of time. I am sure both girls are excited to be done with exams next week and move back into study mode. Still, it has been a good experience and all the kids have had a great time in Kuala Lumpur. Though we are all excited for something more natural, the city has grown on us. 

Studying hard

Things that happen in Tova's head

I am going to miss the industrious women who sell home baked goods

Pocket of nature in the city

Tova's comes to the science museum for this

Tova's inktober drawing for 'ragged' really appeals to me

That leaf is way bigger than Levana

She tells everyone her name is Anna

Oh Levana why are you so cute?

Who says you can't ice skate in the tropics

One of my favorite meals here: Leicha (thunder tea rice)

Tofu dessert

I wish I got a free meal like this with all my doctor's visits

Living in Malls

 Kuala Lumpur has taken awhile to grow on us. We immediately could see all the strong points the city offers. This is a metropolis that has every amenity a person might need while still being affordable. It is very multicultural with a strong base of Malay, Indian and Chinese with many additional international expatriates. This background means comes with a high level of tolerance and acceptance for differences. In Malaysia citizens are granted public holidays for Christian, Muslim, Hindu Malay and Chinese holidays. The few people I discussed religion with divulged that though they identify with a certain religion they celebrate all the holidays. Similarly, they eat all the food. The city is rife with eateries that are both of local and international flavours. Tova joked that grocery stores in KL are so great because they stock the junk food from so many different countries. Even though Malay is the official language of the country school is also provided in Mandarin and Tamil and of course English. Because of the British history of the country English is spoken everywhere making life quite easy for expats and visitors. Still, there is another side of the city that took some getting used to.

Kuala Lumpur is a city made for cars. We like to walk and make every effort to walk wherever we can but this is an instance where making walking work has been tricky. The city is not set up for walkers and there are frequent busy roads and highways with no crosswalks. Walking from point A to B involves long arduous detours to navigate across and around busy roads. Often pedestrians are forced to J walk as the sidewalks on offer are isolated concrete loop islands. I am an avid J-walker but still it is daunting J-walking an 8 lane road with children.If you download app programs to really understand the KL roads and potential crosswalks at the end of the day it still just isn't that nice walking on the side of the loud busy roads. Even taking public transportation is often a futile exercise as the pinwheel shape of the transport is ideal for commuters heading into the centre of town and less ideal for urban explorers. And so we have acquiesced to this life style of taking taxis. The taxis are prevalent and affordable and efficient, and yet, I still prefer the longer slower life walking places. Turns out walkability of a place rates extremely high in my personal livability index. 

Kuala Lumpur is a city dominated by malls. Life is conducted in the malls. The mall are where you would go for dinner, meet friends, go for a haircut, workout, buy groceries, celebrate a festival, take music classes, seek legal advice, got to a theme park, visit a doctor, buy clothes, go for a climb, furnish your house, do your banking, buy a hammer, and on and on. Even many schools are in malls. In some ways this is an efficient and nicely air conditioned system. But it does all get a little awkward if you are a person who just can't seem to love malls; The lighting too bright, the ambient noise incessant, the crowds of people milling around aimlessly daunting. We have developed some coping mechanisms. We have learned which mall entrances are closest to the point we want to get to to minimise the journey through the mall. We try to frequent the businesses that operate outside malls. We have identified malls that are smaller and easier to navigate. We are slowly developing a mall life even if our love is malls is taking longer to develop. It is interesting for us to live a different kind of life. Mall life in some ways is an easy and convenient life, and yet, we are not yet convinced we require so much convenience. 

Oh the luxury of this city!

Rainbow stairs up to the Batu caves

Magic in the malls

River of life. Cleaned up at this spot but further down is lethally dirty and full of street dogs and large monitor lizards.

Malaysian food

His and Hers blood tests. Good to know if anyone needs a second honeymoon destination

Malls can be cool

Cute in a mall

Socializing in the space between IKEA and the mall

How can there be so many shops!!!

Mall living

Kids favourite breakfast

Festival preparation in the mall

Chinese chess

Also in a mall

View from our apartment

Happy mid-autumn festival!

Shenzhen Economic zone

Hong Kong is one of those cities where nature is never too far away from the chaos of city life.  It is made up of beautiful large island and coastal mountains lush with green and bustling city nestled between. Doing one of the longer Hong Kong hikes has always been something appealing to me. I convinced the girls that what we needed were a few days of hiking and eating in Hong Kong. Somehow, though, our five days hiking in Hong Kong turned into a five day foray into Shenzhen. Whether or not you have heard of Shenzhen, everyone has a relationship with the city due to its high levels of manufacturing - especially in electronics. While Hong Kong was at its peak Shenzhen was still a small fishing village until it was designated, and constructed to be, an economic zone in the 70's. Shenzhen was China's first experiment in capitalism. I would deem the experiment successful given that the rest of the country followed suite and Shenzhen continues to grow and produce. 

Our days in Shenzhen were all a bit of a jetlagged haze. Still, we got a feel for how life is different in China. We used a whole new set up apps, navigated a different set of norms, and navigated a maze of high rises. The museums we went to were large and impressive. We especially enjoyed the art museum which was a hangout for grandparents with toddlers. Little Levana fit right in to the group of two year olds running around as their caregivers smiled benignly. The dafen oil painting village sure did have a lot of reproductions. We were impressed at the range of quality of reproductions. We went to a revamped old town. It was very tastefully revamped and we enjoyed the mix of old buildings with cute modern shops. We also enjoyed making a friend in the old town - it was an unexpected gift to get to eat lunch with a local family. Our hike up Wutong mountain was cancelled due to a typhoon that decided to visit at the same time as us, but, it is always nice when there is a thing left undone that might draw you back to a place. 

What really impressed us all the most about Shenzhen was food delivery. So so so much food delivery. Shenzhen is the home of drone food delivery. Drone food delivery seems both novel and unnecessary until you have seen the food delivery situation in Shenzhen. There are food delivery motorbikes everywhere. Everywhere everywhere. For whatever reason the government is on board with the importance of citizens not having to cook as the food delivery vehicles have permission to use the sidewalks as well. Either too many food deliverers were dying in accident on the roads or it is just very important to everyone to get their food as fast as possible. Maybe it is the second option as food delivery motorbikes also seem to be exempt from any stop signs or lights. These deliverers are the ultimate j-walkers. They seem to be above any rules and regulations. I imagine at their briefings they all sit in a huddle and their boss strikes his fist in the air while declaring "whatever it takes." If you stand at the exit of the mall you can see the food deliverers jump off their bikes race down a set of steps and ten seconds later they are running back with their arms full of food, their legs pumping, their chest heaving and in one fluid motion their put the food on the back of their bikes rev up and streak across the sidewalk in a blur of 'whatever it takes.' If food delivery was an Olympic event the Shenzhen time would get gold. Walking on the sidewalks is sometimes a life or death situation. Thankfully the sidewalks tended to be wide and we were reassured in knowing that we were playing our part in ensuring all Shenzhen residents can have hot delivered food for breakfast lunch and dinner. 

Old and new. Cute little surveillance robot.

Thinking this one is definitely an original what with it being in a frame

She really enjoyed doing pottery

So much variation on the same repoduction!

If I had a house maybe I would have left with art

Pretty glitzy at night

View from our window

Food delivery lockers outside an office building

This was a very impressive museum

We liked how lifelike the people looked in this museum. 

Thank you Cathay Pacific for putting Frozen in your movie selection on long haul flights