We have been spending the week with guests from India, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Scotland and Japan. Harvest Haven, one of seven Capernwray school's in the south pacific, is hosting the regional conference this year and it's been a truly cultural buffet for Brian and I. Of course, Brian was stoked to have some fellow All Blacks fans on hand for the World Cup victory this week and I've come to learn that a majority of the 30 people visiting this week have frequented Estes Park, Colorado -- my home town. Through conversations here and there Brian and I have found some amazing connections with people from around the world. Rajni, from India, has fillings from my childhood dentist... how we got to talking about teeth, I'm not sure...
While the group has been here, each night we have had a traditional dinner from each country. It's been exciting... and at times, interesting... trying food from around the region. Brian and I have always loved Asian-style cooking, but it's only been two weeks and we have probably consumed our weight in rice. We get to work in the kitchen a lot so it's a great chance to learn some new recipes. But I don't think either of us will miss cook and hand-washing dishes for 35 people, three times a day. I've also been spending some time hanging out with 9 month old Kezia who's parents are Canadian transplants to Japan. I think Brian's growing on her.
Yesterday, our whole group piled into a few vans and took an afternoon trip into Ipoh (the town we first took the bus to when arriving). We ate at a really neat open-air restaurant, Foh San -- meaning "heart's delight" in Chinese. Malaysia is made up of three different groups, the Chinese, Indians and Malays. While the three cultures have blended together, it's really interesting to see the clear separation between them, be in the food, religious preference (Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist) or even housing styles. The food at this restaurant was primarily Chinese -- we sampled a variety of prawn (shrimp) dumplings, beef noodles, cow stomach lining (really rubbery) and duck esophagus (crunchy... looked like honeycomb cereal).
After lunch we headed outside of town to Gunung Lang, a nature preserve in the Dragon Mountains. Eagle Lake, which was man-made during the tin mining era, sits in the valley. For three ringgits, or $1 US, we took a boat across the lake to a lush island on the other side. It was really lush and beautiful, tons of flowers and fruit trees and different animals -- fresh water turtles, monitor lizards (similar to komodo dragons, minus the deadly part) and WILD Macaque monkeys. For a lot of us, it was the first time seeing monkeys in the wild, so we took full advantage of being tourists... kind of made my think of all the elk back home and those poor people from Kansas and Nebraska who are witnessing nature for the first time outside of their fish tanks.
As the group leaves on Friday, there will be a lot of cleaning up to do in preparation for the next group coming in. The following weekend Brian and I are hoping to head North to Penang Island -- finally, the ocean. Until then, it's washing dishes, cleaning toilets, mowing lawns, moping floors and 88 degree weather. Oh, and rice. Wish you were here? Well, we love it.
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