Gong Xi Fa Cai

Hey, all. We are off to Cambodia bright and early tomorrow morning. We are leaving with mixed feelings actually. We are really excited and can't believe that the trip has finally arrived but we are also very sad. Sarah, our good friend and the stimulus for this whole vacation, won't be able to join us as planned. Just over a week ago, only a week before she was set to depart, she slipped and fell on the ice that coats the sidewalks of Montreal in the winter and broke her tibia and fibula at the ankle. The doctor told her she would not be traveling anywhere for two months! So we are leaving tomorrow without our friend. We aim to bring her along in spirit but we are really going to miss her.

Before we head out, we wanted to post a short goodbye and some pictures from my weekend adventures with a group of Malay twenty-somethings. It was actually a really great time and I wish I had time to share more about the experience. Maybe later, but for now I will just stick to a brief introduction and some explanations of pictures.

So my friend Ani invited me to join her to 'balik kampung' (go to the village) this past weekend. The trip was organized by a group of 20-something Malays called Excobar. They are active outdoorsy peeps who like to arrange big hiking and camping trips for just about any young folk who are interested in following. This trip was unique though because instead of camping we were going to be 'adopted' by different families in a small village about 2 hours from the city. There were lots of other activities planned but much of the weekend centered on making ourselves at home in the kampung. Surprisingly that was pretty easy.

Everyone was super friendly and welcoming. The Excobar members made me feel like we were all old friends and my adopted family really made me feel like one of their own. My Malay sucked and I understood only about 50% of what was said to me (a percentage that dropped off significantly as the weekend went on and my brain grew tired and useless) but somehow we managed to get along quite well.

So here are the pics.

This is my keluarga angkat (my adopted family). They were great and invited me to come back with Ben anytime and I think I may actually take them up on it.

There was much celebrating during the weekend but my favorite was the kenduri Sunday morning. This party begins early in the morning with everyone getting together and cooperating to make a giant feast. It is pretty amazing to see. The women all sit in circles prepping all kinds of food, while the men man the giant vats of kari on the fire. For this kenduri they slaughtered a cow and made beef curry. I brought some home for Ben and he ate it all greedily. Seriously, just about all the food I ate this past weekend was beyond delicious. I definitely had not tasted how great Malay food is until I went to the village.

This is Ani and her real brothers Shah and Sobri. It was great that they all came because they are my orginal keluarga angkat here in KL so I felt like I had a few people in my corner before we even left Friday morning.

Like I said, we did lots of celebrating this weekend. On Saturday we had a party with a live band and Excobar was asked to perform for the village. Having nothing planned they quick decided to do a dance. None of us knew what we were doing but it seemed to entertain.


We did do one outdoor outing to Smile Mountain, where we got to explore some pretty cool caves, though truth be told caves are just too dark for me to enjoy. This is just about the whole group. We were forty six strong.

Finally, my last and favorite picture. We have mentioned before that Malays are huge fans of getting their pictures taken and all have a huge stock of fun poses for the camera. Well, the Excobar members were no exception. Their antics for the camera kept me smiling all weekend. But I discovered a new tidbit about Malays and cameras and that is that they are also the kings and queens of random mugs. If they see a camera no matter what it is directed at they move like lightening to get their faces in the frame. All weekend, I found myself snapping two or three unexpected faces. This picture was the best though. There were four of us in the back trying to have our picture taken in front of this sign. Can you even see us? Seriously, within seconds this group materialized and commandeered our picture. It was something.

So that is it. We are finally heading beyond Malaysian borders into other parts of SE Asia and really can't wait to see what we find. Our first stop is Angkor Wat. All I know is it is an ancient Buddhist/Hindu temple, the biggest in the world actually. I have not seen a picture so have no expectations but am pretty sure I will be blown way. We will take lots of pictures. Take care and check back in two weeks time.