Back scratch fever!

A camel giving himself a body scratch or a massage...Who knows, but he was working that tree quite hard.

Zoo Action !

This trainer used a whistle to command the eagle to fly from one end of the open area to another and land on the arm of another trainer. The wing span is amazing.

Zoo Negara Malaysia

Amy the brave. Yes, that's a Python, a huge Python, wrapped around her body.  This snake weighs 50 kilos. It began wrapping itself around Amy's neck. At one point, she withered as it slithered at her face.  She enjoyed the experience and none of the other teachers took on the Python. Goooooo Aimers!

Slithering Slimey Slug!

I was gonna let that swamp beast wrap himself around my body but my pants were warm and wet...So, I let Amy have the spot light.

We chaperoned our students to the Zoo Negara near K.L. They rose early this morning, 6:30 am, to head to the Zoo. They all volunteered 8 hours of work at the Zoo to fulfill their required community hours for grade 12. Some shovelled elephant dung while others did all sorts of odd jobs throughout the blistering heated day.

Us teachers who accompanied these dedicated students, spent the day wandering around the zoo. We got some cool shots of some cool animals. After this picture, I wrestled that beast to the ground and stole his lunch. I showed him who's boss!

Chanty & Rick R coming!

We are ecstatic! Chanty & Rick, our first Canadian guests arrive December 23rd and will be here with us for Christmas and New Year’s. We plan on showing them "life" Malaysia style with a few trips to other countries close by such as Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Hakuna Matata… Wait ! Hakuna Matata means “no worries”. Well then…we will enjoy a month of no worries while they're here. The picture below is their recovery nest from our daily events. 

It's a Date

I finally asked that cute English teacher out on a date. She showed up all pretty, cute, and smiley. I bit my knuckle silently when she wasn't looking. Wow! what a babe!

We're going to the Zoo tomorrow. I'm hoping to hook up with some old friends and monkey around like in the old days.

Christmas Presents

We just packaged our Christmas presents for friends and family in Canada. We shipped them the other day. It takes a couple of months but they should arrive in good shape because they really pack the shipping vehicles well here. So Merry early Christmas to all!

Lemon Tops

This is one of those pictures that I worked hard for because Curley and Moe turned the other way everytime I directed Jim's Canon Rebel lens in their direction. Eventually I had to hide in the crowd and catch them off guard. They were attending the Motorcycle Grand Prix with their yellow tops. This shot was taken from quite a distance with a zoom lens.

Amy, trees and me

One of our adventures, a very unique, man made tree in Kuala Lumpur, and a little cuddling.

Terry Fox 2009 KL

These students from our Canadian Program, rose at 5:45 am to board two buses at 6:15 am and they volunteered their time until 1:00 pm at the Annual Terry Fox Cancer Research Event in Kuala Lumpur. It was quite impressive to see their dedication to the cause.

Lindsay & Christine are two teachers from Taylor's College who also chaperoned the students. It was well worth the effort. There were wall to wall people running for the Terry Fox cause. I am so proud to be Canadian, especially that day, when the host explained that Terry Fox is a young Canadian who tried to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.

Jimmy Hendrix even showed up..and we all thought that he was dead...I think his time was 7 km in 55 minutes.

 At one point I wasn't sure which way to go.

Mosques

Amy went on a Taylor's sponsored tour of Putrajaya, the new Malaysian city. They visited mosques. They're simply beautiful!

They had to wear this outfit in order to enter the Mosque. A team of little Purple Riding Hoods!

Cactaceae or Cactuses or Cacti..Who Knows?

Anyhow, this is a bed of Cacti...OUCH! Yes, they're all different kinds of the little pricks! I've never seen so many prickly little pricks in the same spot, all together, side by each, like a pair of toast. Oh...wait...maybe I did? There was that group of crusty curmudgeons in that parc in Paris!

Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix

Today we made our way over to the Sepang International Circuit to watch the Motorcycle races. The bikes ranged from 200 to 500 cc. It was quite cool watching these guys lean their bikes almost to the ground while taking huge turns at very high speeds. In March it's the Formula One and we'll be there!

The place was jam packed with people of almost every race watching the race!

Gee...I'm a poet and didn't know it!

Jim & Steve were glued to the action. I was making monkey faces at them and putting bunny ears behind their heads and they didn't notice a thing.

We were located in one of the curves so we got to see some cool action!

Wasaga Memories

Pictures fromour going away party

Miracle Rescue 911

As we came around a sharp corner on our way to Cameron Highlands, we were met by a small crowd of people waving at us frantically. A car had just gone over the cliff. Yes, those are the tire marks.

I jumped out of our car and yelled "Has anyone gone done yet?" Not a soul had gone. I changed into my sneakers and rushed down the 85 degree slope hanging onto twigs and old tarps as I slid down the side of the cliff. For all I knew there could have been children or adults in that car. I knew that time was critical if anyone down there was badly hurt. As I headed down, I was sure that I would find mangled bodies. The cliff was so sharp and the car was way down. All I could see was the back end. When I say cliff, it was a cliff.

In the centre of that foliage you can see a speck of a blue shirt, that was one of the men who had been tossed from the car. When I arrived at his location, I looked at his forehead and it was bashed in because he had hit the windshield, knocked it out and was ejected from the car on his way down. I checked him for broken bones and asked how many other passengers. The car was another 70 feet down a 90 degree cliff. As I looked down, I saw another guy crawling out of the wreckage. I could not believe my eyes. These two guys were alive.

In this photo I was making my way down to the other guy. His eye was cut wide open. Blood was leaking from his eye. I checked him for broken bones as well. He was good, but very dizzy and he looked like he was gonna faint. I sat him down, told him to relax and checked his cuts. I was still shocked that these two guys were alive. The car was a mangled pile of metal and these guys walked away from it. I was also glad that I hadn't come across death, I was quite thankful.

I kept yelling to the people at the top to send rope and eventually a man had a long, strong rope in his car. He tossed the rope down, I tied it around each of these guys and ushered them up the cliff side.  As we were climbing, it began to pour rain. We made it to the top and they kept thanking me. I kept saying " I'm just glad that you're alive". One fella kept holding my hand as he shook, staring into my eyes, speechless. I stopped at the crash site on our way back. I took this photo to somehow show how steep and how far down this car dropped. It still moves me when I  see their faces in my mind. Bloodied, shaken, but alive.  What a miracle!

Ugly Goon

I attract the strangest people man!

First it was that chick from Aruba,

Then Casper in Chinatown

Now this bug-eyed goon,

all gums and a pair of teeth.

Not to mention his hard head,

he wouldn't listen to a word I said.

Yikes...another sidewalk

No matter where you go,

these deadly sidewalks are in effect.

One foot placed in the wrong spot

and you're sucking your

lunch out of a straw for months.

One minute you're having a

nice chat as you stroll along

the sidewalk in Cameron Highlands.

The next minute someone is

scraping your skull out of the gutter.

It's like that old saying,

Heads up! Or Heads off!

Tea Please

This is what tea looks like before it's

processed into those

little brown sacs we soak in hot water.

Tea Plantation

We visited the BOH Tea Factory

in the Cameron Highlands.

It's one of the two main tea farms.

It is awesome to see acres upon acres of tea bushes.

.

A bed of tea!

A valley of tea!

Another beautiful view of the tea plantation!

Fish Nibbling Foot Massage

I paid $12 canadian dollars to stick my feet in a tank full of

fish for 1 half hour, and allow them to nibbled away the callous on my feet.

They nibbled off at least 1/8 of an inch...seriously! I was there! 

It was an amazing, eerie feeling to have live beings nibbling away at my ticklish feet.

When I dipped the heel

of one foot into the water,

they would all rush

over and begin the nibblefest.

There they are.... having a grand feast

on hard earned western callous!

When I dipped the heel of both feet into

the water, they would separate

into two, almost perfect teams

and begin the nibblefest again.

Our First Car Experience

Amy the Brave! That's right. She rented a car and drove like a Pro here today. We have wheels for the weekend and that will set us free. Driving in Malaysia is quite an experience. One needs nerves of steel and eyes all the way around ones brain. Amy drove like a local. Jim and Shelley were there to enjoy our first driving experience with us. It was fun and we had a few good laughs. They drive on the left side of the road and the turn signal button is also on the left side of the steering wheel. So Amy kept trying to signal with her windshield wipers. Way to go Aimers, we are quite impressed!