A thumping headache

Over the road from our building, there used to be a couple of restaurants. We ate there once when we first moved in.

There was a "Snow Wash" there too, and we had our car washed there (for RM12 - or $4) once or twice.

Then they knocked it all down - progress, I suppose.

For a few months it has been a vacant block, and then the blue fence appeared ... I have seen these blue fences around building sites.

Then the monster appeared ... there it is hiding in the corner.

Apparently all of this land used to be pretty boggy - including where our building has stood for quite a few years. I'm guessing (not being an engineer myself) that is why they are using a pile-driver to start this building.



It's one big ugly beast! And it sure can give you a head-ache. We are so glad that we are on the other side of our building!



There they go, picking up another cement pole ready to ram it in. And ... there are lots more still to do!



And here are the ones they have rammed in already. We are so glad that we are away at work most days when they are banging them in. This week, though, is break-time at the institute, and so we are working here at home.

The shell shall be set free

We like to take walks on the local beach. And there is always a 'shell line' made up almost entirely of little white roundish shells. But every now and then you come across something extraordinary.

Like this little collection on Peter's desk.

But - wait a minute ... is that shell tied up? Is it in shackles??

Of course, we always check when we pick up a shell - nobody wants a live-dying-dead-smelly shell on their desk. And this one seemed to be empty and dry.

Except that it disappeared overnight and we found it over by the kitchen door.

Yep. That's what the Australian pet shops used to sell as a "Crazy Crab". So now we need to persuade him to stuff his backside into a different (less desirable) shell.



Well, yes, eventually he did.

And it was time to say goodbye.

Being Jolly Good Fellows

Our job at the IPG (teacher training institute) is full of variety, and we have a lot of fun.

Part of being a "Fellow" for me involves dressing in an acceptable local manner. My problem is firstly that most local women are not my shape, and secondly that their beautiful clothing is generally made of easy-care synthetic fabrics. While this is beautiful, I find I just can't wear that stuff in any climate, let alone a hot sticky one.

So - I buy cotton material (which is readily available), and I sew my own.

I bought this lovely sewing machine right here in Kuala Terengganu just before we went back to Australia for our holiday.

So here I am at work, fitting in.

This was actually during English Week. There were a number of competitions, and we fellows were invited to take part in the judging.

Peter was head judge for the Poetry Recital competition:

This delightful young lady had the task of making sure no one went over time.

And being Head Judge of course has added responsibilities such as giving a speech and handing out prizes.

And then it was my turn to judge the Action Songs competition.

This involved children from the local "Teaching School" rather than trainee teachers.

The entries took me right back to Music Festival days in Rockingham!



Then there was a competition for Skits, and our new fellow Fellow, Will, was a judge.

Yeah, I must admit, I enjoy being a Fellow!

Long Live the Sultan!

One of the things we love about Malaysians is that (just like us Aussies) they love their holidays. Last year a holiday was declared after 'we' won the football - love it!

So this is a long weekend to celebrate the Sultan's Anniversary. (Love the fact that there will be another to celebrate his birthday!)

So ... how to spend the time?

Well that has to account for at least part of the day!

Watching recorded shows on our big TV (cutting out the ads), and playing "Play-and-Pass" Words with Friends on my iPad - that's a holiday.

After a while we felt the need to go out for our walk on the beach. But then there was this:

Raining and raining - like the wet season has returned. No worries, we don't mind getting a bit wet. It's not like it's cold!

But when we got to the car park we noticed that the road below was packed with traffic which wasn't moving at all. Overhead a helicopter was flying low, somewhere a loudspeaker was making incomprehensible (to us) announcements, and there were police everywhere.

That's okay, we've lived here long enough to know the back alleys. We got in our car, pushed our way through the stream of traffic, and snuck into the kampung (village) road behind our building. Winding our way between the old wooden houses, avoiding chickens and ducks, we came across ... a queue of cars!

We were unsure what the hold-up was, so I got out and walked alongside the cars (through ankle-deep puddles) to the front of the queue and found a plastic bollard closing the road. There were police and eager umbrella-wielding citizens lining the road we wanted to cross. The position of the helicopter overhead suggested that the Sultan and his entourage would not be far away.

We managed to turn our car around, pushed back through the stream of traffic, parked back in our building, and set out again on foot carrying our umbrellas.

As we once again approached the blocked-off road, we met streams of damp people, their umbrellas now folded despite the fact that it was still raining, so presumed that the important people had passed.

With umbrellas aloft, we scrambled through sand and gravel heaped in a new construction site to the abandoned beach where we 'played' in the edge of the waves. Coming home slightly damp from rain and sweat, we picked up some KFC (yeah, we get that here!) and settled back down in front of the TV ...

Full Malaysian Breakfast

This one is an answer to friend and colleague Nazeri's blog post.

On weekdays / workdays we are up at 6am, and out the door in the pitch black before 7am to avoid heavy traffic.

But on weekends we get up slowly, and often enjoy our version of a full (cooked) breakfast.

It's not really very Malaysian, but it is what we eat here in Malaysia! The tomatoes are local, and so are the eggs. The hash browns we buy frozen from Giant.

And the place to eat this feast?



Right here in our beautiful airy living room. And on holidays like today (Sunday of Sultan's Anniversary long weekend) in front of the cricket on our big TV.

Now that's a full breakfast!

Fire!

This morning we were returning from a leisurely trip to the Saturday market and the shops (and with all our frozen goods and stuff in the boot), we noticed the traffic was very heavy as we approached our street - in fact the police were turning people around and there were big red vehicles and lots of flashing lights ...

... (that's our little grey Proton Saga just past the fire truck - we wanted to go into the driveway where all the people are.)

This is the front of the building - our apartment is around the back, facing the ocean.

It looked a bit smokey up the street that way - we thought maybe the grotty-looking building next door was on fire.

But there it is on the fifth floor of our building, just above the 'belly-band'. At this stage it is just very smoky, but an hour later while the alarm bell still jangled and the crowds had started to wander off, we could see that the window frame was all twisted and glass-less, and the surrounding outside wall of the building blackened.

Time for Teh!

We heard an announcement over a loudspeaker - thought it was the mosque at first but it was less sing-song - the police were telling people to get out of the building as some had started to wander back in (after all, only a very small section was affected, and it was not like the whole thing would explode.)

Seeing others wander off down the street we decided to go and sit in a nearby restaurant. We ordered drinks:

Peter has 'teh tarik' - or pulled tea. That's how they get it all frothy, pouring it from one jug to another over a distance. It's yummy, but very sweet ... So I asked for 'kopi' (coffee) which is really another way of saying 'surprise me'. So this looks like thick, black coffee ... the white bit on the bottom? - "sweetened creamer", or condensed milk! Also very very sweet, so best not to stir it too much!

And of course with that - 'roti canai'. Sort of pancakey things (not sweet) with a curry-ish sauce to dip bits in - quite delish.

After our snack we wandered back out to the street. The alarm bell was still ringing, and people were sitting around in tired-looking groups. We waited near the entrance to our building, and saw some people nipping in and coming out with iPads and other small items. Then we saw some sooty firemen come tramping out. The bell was still ringing but people started driving their cars in, so we did too.

We grabbed our shopping bags and - feeling relieved that we hadn't done a big shop - started tramping up the stairs, being careful not to slip with the water trickling down. We pushed our way past another fireman on his way down.

The building has a slightly funny smell, but back in our apartment we couldn't smell it. And soon after we came back in, the alarm finally stopped ringing.

Talking of restaurants



When we were down at the shops we noticed this little establishment. Hmmm.

Camping IN

Camping OUT can be so much fun especially somewhere like Kapas Island. Over the Chinese New Year holiday week the monsoon seemed to disappear and the days and nights were balmy and beautiful. But the islands are still closed (yes, the monsoon will come back again yet, they assured us), so we relaxed and went for lots of walks on the Kuala Terengganu beach instead - no swimming though!

About 9pm on the Friday evening, with one more day of freedom before going back to work, we were relaxing in front of a good movie ... and it came back (the Monsoon!). There was a loud 'bang' that reverberated through the building, as the wind blew in through our bedroom window, caught the door (somehow shifting the rubber wedge out of the way) and slamming it shut.

No big deal - we hear doors slam in other people's apartments all the time, ay? But somehow it LOCKED itself. We never close that door (even when Bea stayed with us), have never locked it, and had no idea where the key was. We sorted through all the keys we had - 2 for each of the other two bedrooms and front door, but nothing for that room.

Peter drove into the main street to our (non-English-speaking) landlord's shop in the vain hope that he would still be there. Not. He found a general shop open and bought a chisel ...

In the movies it's always so easy!

We thought we would be able to remove that little bit of wood from the door-jamb, and then poke something through to push the tongue back. Well, first of all, the door frame and door jamb were not separate pieces of wood - it was all one piece of hard, hard timber. But with drilling and hammering and chiseling Peter did manage to remove the appropriate section of wood, and we could peer through and see that 'tongue' poking into the door frame.

A neighbour dropped by to complain about the noise (10pm), but he didn't speak English and I couldn't manage enough of his language so he wandered off muttering but without helping.

All that stuff with just poking a credit card in to open a lock - rubbish! We tried knives, we tried the chisel, all sorts, but nothing would persuade that door to unlock.

So, tired and frustrated, we realised we would have to camp in in one of the spare rooms. We chose the least mouldy-smelling one, and grabbed a couple of the less mouldy-smelling pillows, and tried to imagine we were sleeping on Kapas Island on the sproingy-springed mattress. Fortunately we also have a second bathroom, although there is only a cold shower.

The wind howled some more, and then it poured with rain all night. Remembering the open window that had caused the problem, we had visions of a flooded bedroom and all my clothes on their rack near the window being soaked too.

In the morning about 9am Peter went down to our landlord's shop again ... but of course the shop didn't open until 10am. However, once he did arrive, and one of his young shop assistants translated for us, he came around straight away with a spare key and let us into our bedroom.

What a relief! The window was still open - but no water had come in. It was lovely to get back to our pillow-top mattress, and our warm shower. The little things can give so much pleasure!

Eating Again - :)

Back at work. And it's the first week of the year, so there must be eating to do.

There was a birthday - so food had to be shared. And someone is celebrating a promotion - more food sharing. And then it's just good to be all back together again after the holiday, so it's good to sit down together and partake of something tasty.

Today's treat was delivered to us as a packed lunch.

We've been here a year, and already this seems very normal. But you may be wondering what to expect inside one of these packages.

I'm sorry I can't give you a taste, but I will open it up and give you a peek.

There's some sauce (in the bag), and a couple of pieces of chicken - unfortunately with tiny pieces of burning chili all over it (so no good for me!), under the chicken there is half of a salted egg in its shell, and then there are some vegetables (leaves, and something that looks like cucumber but is bitey hot), and of course there is rice.

Lunch, a little bit special.