Life in a Rural Village

Well if I had the illusion of peace and quiet and heaps of space, I would be sorely mistaken.  This is not a place of quiet and private living.  The neighbours are close, and that includes the chickens, oxen, water buffalo, dogs, pigs  and whatever other animals the neighbour may own.  Houses are built on stilts to combat the monsoon rains, and gives shelter to the animals at night.  Water is stored in large concrete urns, some homes are lucky to have a well to pump from.  The mains power sometimes comes on but for how long is anyone’s guess, so solar power is used by those who can afford it.  Trees are planted, but not flower gardens or lawns.  The most common tree I have seen is the mango, whose fruit is in plentiful supply at the moment. Just around the corner and up the road are the rice paddies, where villagers will work in season, preparing, planting, tending and harvesting, to earn an income and provide food for their families.  This is the staple diet of people here, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

village home

Village Market Place

Village houses

Touchdown at Phnom Penh, Cambodia

First impression .... what a fantastic airport!  Second impression .....  this city is more advanced and cleaner than I expected!  Loved being picked up in a tuktuk and driven around with people who knew where they were going.  Third impression ...... for $25 a night, what a great hotel, and that included breakfast!!! Definately 4 star!!!  While the impressions I gained from Phnom Penh were favourable, some of the true stories I heard weren’t, so I would be very wary travelling and staying in the city as a tourist by myself!!!  Stuff goes down you never even hear about!  

Then out of the city and into the country ....  now it is time to see the real Cambodia.

back yard of Peter and Yims

Next door

Neighbouring house

Outskirts of Village

Entrance to Buddhist Pagoda - picking up a  Monk to take back to village

Outskirts of Phnom Penh

An action packed few days in Singapore

With only a few days in Singapore, I was determined to fit as much as I could in without completely demolishing the budget.  So was lovely to be met by Lawrence and Ivy at the airport, lunch Japanese style, then onto Amy’s place for my three nights accommodation.  I managed to fit in a trip to the Night Safari Zoo, to Orchard Avenue, to MacRitchie Reservoir, Sentosa Island, Universal Studios, Thompson Plaza navigating myself with buses and MRT and did the Treetop Walk in a scenic reserve.  And then rounded it off with a superb meal out with Amy and friends at a local well known cafe.  Thank you Singapore for great places to visit and for the hospitality of new friends.

Tree top Walk

Flora 

Monkey Tree top Walk

suspension bridge treetop walk

Treetop walk

View over reserve to reservoir

Hello Clean and Green Singapore!

Here I am at Singapore doing the tourist thing, Night Safari and Sentosa Island with hours spent at Universal Studios.  Definitely worth the money, especially on the quiet days where the queues are short ... my hosts told me they have waited in the queue for 3 hours for a ride!!!! .... and being a single ride meant I jumped the queue most of the time anyway...(it does have it's benefits!!)  I have been on the MRT for the first time all by myself, must say what a great system, and had a big laugh when the advice my 12 year old host's son gave me was "don't litter and don't spit or you will get a fine!"  Classic!!

A cave at Night Safari Zoo

MacRitchie Reservoir

Beautiful park areas of Singapore 

Sentosa Island

Universal Studios icon

Hollywood street Universal Studios

Farewell Malaysia, Hello Singapore ....

Well I got a brief look at a part of Malaysia people often overlook,  East Malaysia on the island of Borneo.  It is the second largest island next to Australia, split between three countries, and the area is huge.  I only saw a small part of it, both on the Indonesian and the Malay side.  It is interesting the differences that can be seen just in crossing the border between the two countries.  Not the vegetation, but the infrastructures in place, like roading conditions, water drainage, and building requirements.  The city of Kuching has a lovely riverside walkway created that certainly lifts the look of the city.  I looked along the roadside souvenir shops selling similar things in each, so it wasn’t hard to work out prices.  There are many food court style areas, with food carts and stands around the outside and a sitting area in the middle.  A meal averages $6.00 MYR, around $NZ 2.50 and drinks around $3.00 MYR.  While Indonesia loves their rice, Malaysian love their noodles!!! Damai Beach is a lovely place to stay and relax in, and if I had more time, I would have looked further into the state of Sarawak and neighbouring Sabah.  My hosts in Kuching for the last two nights were very welcoming and hospitable, thank you Frank and Belinda, and also to Kim for being my city tour guide!  Singapore, here I come ........

The City of Kuching

Here are some shots of my few days in Kuching.  Didn't end up checking out the orangatuns but managed a stroll by the riverfront and a browse in the many souvenir shops selling jewellery, pottery, clothing and random stuff.  And then checked out a shopping mall  ...... worth bringing those NZ $ to go shopping!!! Shame I had no room in my bag for anything.

One of Kuchings architectural designs

Riverside Walk

Side street by the river 

there are lots of old historic buildings in the riverfront area

Chinese temple very common in Malaysia due to diversity of ethnic groups

Sarawak Cultural Village

This village portrays the state of Sarawak’s rich cultural diversity, with seven authentic ethnic houses and furnishings built around a lake, demonstrations of skills and cooking, and a show showing the different dances of the Sarawak community.  

Melanau longhouse

Malay house

Orang ulu longhouse

Cultural Show

Cultural Show 2

Welcome to Damai Beach in the state of Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia

Seven hours and four buses later, here I am at Damai Beach.  I must say it is so wonderful to see the coast again, and even find cleanish water!!!  Everywhere is tropical jungle, green and breathtakingly beautiful.  Went on a jungle trek, over lots of tree roots and rocks, down a rope ladder, over logs, a suspension bridge and little creeks (just as well I got over those before it rained, because the water began to flow and it got very dark.  Luckily I was only 5 minutes out from the end)  Was pretty easy actually and didn’t take the two hours suggested, only one hour ten minutes for this grandma!!! And I stopped to take photos!!! 

Damai Beach Resort is a lovely place to stay ....

beachfront Damai Beach Resort

Sarawak coastine, Damai Beach

Top Pool at Damai Beach Resort

View from my Balcony

Suspension bridge on Jungle Trek Walk

Waterfall on Jungle Trek Walk

Farewell Mt Hope

It has been a wonderful experience here at Mt Hope.  I have met so many special people who are making the world a better place for others, and who have taken on board the task to develop and grow a dream for the future despite limitations of time, money and resources.  We take for granted simple things, like popping down to the shops to replace something that has broken or buying something we have just run out of.   Here you can travel for hours to find what you need, and then you may not find it at all!!  And then there is the question of quality of goods and suitability to the climate.   Even the staples in my notebook went rusty!!! And the soil here is very heavy clay, so has poor drainage and is very hard to work with.  Yet there are gardens being developed and fruit trees growing (yummy papayas and soursop)  The young people have an hour of chores each day which includes maintaining the gardens, so is a community affair.  Hats off to the amazing people who are making Mt Hope all that it is and will be in the future!!!!  It has been a pleasure and privilege to work alongside you and be welcomed into your lives!!

Davin helping out with the sweeping

Well how else do you get to Senior High school when the bus breaks down??  Oh that's right, use the dump truck!!!

Grade Three Posers...yes kids are the same wherever you go in  the world!!!

Ademis, isn't he the cutest?  He stole my heart!!!

Junior High Assembly

The Kindergarten class I taught in

Balai Karangan shots

One of the things I did before I left Mt Hope, was pull out the sewing machine in storage (no one knows how to use it) and revamp these good quality cotton teeshirts, 18 of them in all.  Now they will be able to be worn, and I have to say, they look pretty cool!!  I should have added my designer signature label to them!!!

Not exactly the most encouraging thing to give to disadvantaged kids

Hence the transformation!!!

While a visitor from Singapore was here taking a two day photography clinic for a group of children, we took them out on a photo excursion to the local river.  Note how clean it is.......not!!  This river is often used for bathing and washing, but Mt Hope has bore and spring water with the help of a pump that works if the right amount of electricity gets to it, so thankfully the children do not have to have trips to the river that often!!!  The river is used by local fisherman who use the boats that are shown here in the photos.  The fish eaten here is NOTHING like the fish we eat in New Zealand, in fact, I think we would probably use their fish for bait!!  It is cooked whole in spices and seasonings, etc, then eaten with rice (rice is eaten with everything!!!  If you haven’t had rice with a meal, you haven’t finished your meal!!! ... and we are not talking about a spoonful either, try half a plateful at least!!)  It is a matter of picking out the bones, and trying to find all the meat you can without breaking the main boneline up too much!!!  Too bad if your portion is the fish head .... unless you want to be very adventurous your fish meal will be light, as you will have slim pickings on finding much white flesh!!

The boys checking out the local fishing boats in the oh so clean river!!

Balai Karangan town centre

View up the river from the bridge

The Bakery

The process in the bakery .... it has been fun working alongside these women and getting to know them a little, despite the language barrier with most of them!!!  The Bakery is a great source of income and employment opportunity for Mt Hope.  The bread and buns are distributed through out the region for sale within the local shops.

Making buns

buns cooling ready for bagging

Senior High Students helping out

Bagged and now Sealed ready for delivery

School Canteen