Lovely Langkawi and Precious Penang

Staying in Langkawi was a nice and quiet transmission from the Western world to the Eastern. As it was a place with loads of tourists, we got the feeling that we were on holiday and we got a fairly easy start.


On Cenang Beach in Langkawi, were we stayed. Take a look at Margrethes blog for more photos of this.

Dancing Limbo on the beach

Mamma – you said it didn't look like I was studying, but here you are! We read when he get the opportunity! ;)

Learning to dance Merengue , Salsa and Bachatka from a German guy. Great fun!
The shops don't only sell small bikinis, they also sell swimming costumes for Muslims, that ensures that all “critical” parts of the body are covered. Margrethe was wondering whether she should start the same trend for non-muslims.

Now that we have come to Penang, the second largest city in Malaysia (Number 1 is Kuala Lumpur, the capital), we finally get the feeling that we're on a different continent.

A man selling sweets etc by the restaurants
The salesman was happy to pose for the camera
A proud young girl helping her parents out in the restaurant.

A big food court where we could get all kinds of food

Lots of food
Man walking around with his helmet.
Woman selling newspapers and magazines.
The view from the 19th floor where we have our lectures in Penang


As mentioned earlier, Malaysia is a Muslim country, and the majority of the population are Muslims. Today we were lectured by a Malaysian Hindu, who is ethnic Indian, but has a Malaysian nationality.

Our Hindu teacher

To be called Malay, one has to be a Muslim. Consequently this is a big dilemma here in Malaysia, since there is a large number of people from China and India who also feel they are Malay... In the Malaysian constitution it says that the Malay people (only the Muslims) get special treatment. Only they have the right to get a scholarship at universities, they get a bigger loan when they buy a new house etc. Our Hindu lecturer had quite strong feelings about this, but the only thing the minorities can do, is to accept it. The alternative is to convert to Islam, but then it is almost impossible to convert back, and they have to follow very strict rules...
Sitting on the boat to Penang with my Nugatti (Norwegian chocolate spread) under my arm, with a Sikh next to me.
Lunch. Tandori chicken which is completely red! Delicious!

Here in Penang the majority is either Buddhist or belongs to the Chinese religions. After lunch today we went around in Penang to get a look at the city and to visit Buddhist and Hindu temples. Photos of this will come soon. :)

More pics.

Don't have much time on the net, but here are some photos from our trip with a boat to different small islands. We met some nasty monkeys who stole one of our bags, and we had to chase them and almost fight them to get all the stuff back. On Friday we are going to Penang, another island in Malaysia. We will stay there for over a week (I think)...

PS

Don't forget to check out Stine's and Margrethe's blogs to see more photos! Their links are on my page to the right! ;)

Roundtrip on Langkawi Island

Here are some photos taken Sunday on our trip around Langkawi Island. I got to drive one of the cars - great fun! :) On picture no. 5 you can still see the Chrsitmas decorations on a hotel by the beach!

Finally in (Mal)A(y)sia

As I stepped out of the aeroplane in Langkawi, an island in Malaysia, I had three thoughts: Hot, Beatiful and Exciting. This green island is going to be my home until the 13th of January.



Islam is the main religion in this country, which became obvious to me as soon as I placed my feet on Malaysian soil. Compared to Norway where it is unpopular for Muslims to wear a hijab (“tudong” in Malay) at work, in Malaysia you see women wearing this hair covering clothing everywhere. Even the policewomen carrying heavy weapons wear this under their police hats. I find it interesting that many Westerners (i.e. Norwegians) tend to think that this isn't suitable when it is so common and important for the Muslims. I'll have to reflect more upon this as I get to know the different cultures and religions better...

Our motel is situated one minute from the beach, where you find green palm trees, clear water, sail boats, restaurants etc. As we only have 3 hours of lectures every day (from 9am-12am), we have plenty of time exploring the market place, the beach and the facilities around. When we first arrived Wednesday afternoon, we had two hours before our first lecture. Jet-lagged and sweaty we got out our pens ready to learn new things. Here's a picture of half of our class during one of our first sessions.



The first thing we learned about was how important the life after death is to the Muslims. They believe that life consists of four phases: 1) life as a foster 2) life on earth 3) life in the grave (where the angels and demons find out where you belong afterwards) 4) life after the grave (Heaven/Hell). Some Malaysian Muslims believe that some people often come back as a ghost after they have passed on (Note: this is not a very common thought among all Muslims!). The chairs you can see on the following picture, are situated outside one of our motel buildings. A local person apparently said that he had seen a ghost there a couple of weeks ago. He was convinced of this, and it seems that nobody doubted his credibility...



We have a very good teacher with us, who tells these stories as if they were true, although he is a Christian himself. That makes it easier to see the religion from the inside, and not just from the outside as we often tend to see it at home. Levi (our teacher) is very committed to his job, and is an inspiring teacher with loads of enthusiasm.



He is also a kind and helpful “caretaker” when we're not feeling to good. In the middle of the night on Friday I woke up feeling nauseous. The red bucket in our bathroom became my friend from that minute on. I counted the times I vomited that day, and was up to 6. Friday is the day the Muslims have their Friday-prayers, so all the shops (including the doctor's clinic) are closed. Friday is to Muslims what Sunday is to Christians. So as I lay in my bed listening to the invitation from the Minaret (the tower in the Mosque) to come to prayer, I realized that I am far from home. This was my first time to hear this in real life, so I was quite fascinated. Sadly enough, my bucket filled up a couple of times, so I couldn't listen too carefully. Levi said that I might need to go to the doctor when it opens on Saturday, but luckily I feel a bit better today. He wasn't too worried as I didn't have a fever, which apparently is quite promising. :-)

Tomorrow (Sunday) we are going for a roundtrip on the island. We will rent cars and drive around to different places, go swimming in crystal clear water etc. Those of us who have brought our drivers licence can drive the cars. I haven't made up my mind about this, but think I'd like to try it. They drive on the left side of the road, so it can be a bit difficult. But apparently Malaysia isn't the craziest country in Asia when it comes to traffic.

I think I will leave you with this for now. Feel free to send me messages or call me (or ask me to call you back) on my Malaysian telephone number: 0060143003862. Just keep in mind that the time difference is as follows: 7 hours ahead of Norway, 8 hours ahead of England and 13 hours ahead of Florida (!). And if you would like to leave a comment, you will make my internet-experiences more exciting!! :-) To this I say: terima kasih (= thank you), which in Malay/Indonesian means, word by word; “accept love”.

Here are some pictures of an evening on the beach.

On my way already!

Hey ya`ll. This is a live update from the B&B in Stansted. Arrived this afternoon swetty but cold (don`t need warm clothes in the South-East of Asia) and sad but excited. Saying goodbye to my beloved boyfriend, family and friends was dreadful. But the best is yet to come! :) Our flight to Kuala Lumpur is tomorrow morning at 8:20. We have to leave the B&B at 6 AM. (*Yawn*) And won`t arrive at our final destination before Wednesday around 1 PM. Happy New Year, everyone!! Hope you`ll love it as much as I already do! Finally I`m traveling again! :)
This is a very updated picture of Margrethe and me, sitting in the bed in the B&B updating our blogs.

Sneak Peak

Not long now! In 16 days I'll be leaving for Malaysia. With a new year comes a new journey and new experiences. I will be faithful and update my blog as often as I can, and I hope that you will be faithful and follow me...

Here's a little teaser so you can see how much I'll be reading when I'm away. Just so you know that I'm not going on holiday, but actually taking a full course study. :) The interesting thing is to see how I'll get all these books in my luggage, when I can only have 15 kilos in my checked suitcase...



For those of you who wonder why I'm writing in English: because I have friends and family across the Globe who don't speak Norwegian, I have chosen the language that most of my readers understand. Hope you'll enjoy my blog and ignore my grammar mistakes if there are any (it's been way too long since I wrote proper English)...

Who knows - next time I post something, I might be in Asia already! :) But for now I'll leave you with a quote by St. Augustine: "The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."