Making Easter Special in Malaysia

Each activity over the past few days deserves a post of it's own, but time dictates a brief summary instead...Hopefully, one day I'll be able to remember enough to recreate the memories in more detail.

Elizabeth O'Connor

Thursday night - We are "Warmshower" hosts - couch surfing for bicycles riders - and we hosted Elizabeth, a really interesting English cyclist who has been on the road solo for one year. I so enjoyed her company that we stayed up until almost midnight chatting about her adventures. (And, if you're wondering if she's had any troubles being solo female rider, the answer is "not really." But she did have a similar Lumut pervert experience - like mine and I was NOT alone but with Eric - just minutes before arriving at our house.) So...solo or accompanied, there are just some stupid male perverts out there.

Brunch group

Friday - I invited some friends to "Hop on Over for an Easter Brunch". We enjoyed lots of spring type foods including yummy egg dishes, blueberry muffins and fresh berry salad (amazing that we could find them over here.) Then we decorated Easter baskets and filled them with jelly beans (another surprising find). It's amazing what some dried flowers, ribbon, tissue paper and tiny baskets can become.

Looking from the ferry to Pangkor Island

Saturday - Eric and I took a two-loop bike ride around hilly Pankgor Island. If you want the definition of "hilly", at least 4 of the road signs say 10% grade. And, if you want to understand just how "hilly" 10% is, I fell going up one of the hills because I couldn't shift into a low enough gear and un-clip from my pedals fast enough to avoid a slow speed fall onto the pavement still attached to my bike. (This was my first hill ride on my new road bike and I'm definitely more accustomed to my low geared mountain bike.)

On the bright side, we ended the day trying a new restaurant on the beach and enjoying a beautiful sunset.

Riders - rev your engines!

Sunday - Eric and I attended our first church service in Sitiawan, a village near Lumut. The service was in Chinese but we understood "A-men" (accent on the second syllable) and Je Su (put them together and you'll understand, too.) Luckily, the principal of the school where I teach, sat behind us and translated.

 The title of the sermon "Man - Complete only by Woman."  I learned that Eric is not a "complete" man without me and I should "build his confidence" and "not criticize him in public". ( I think this is a fairly literal translation of the Bible from a Chinese cultural perspective.)  So, to improve my wifely skills, I told Eric that he was a "great motorcycle driver" on the ensuing church-sponsored 100km motorcyle ride. I was "so relaxed and enjoying all the scenery" while he was "working so hard to avoid potholes and other obsticles." I even gave him neck and shoulder messages at the intersections near the end because 150 cc's of power for 100 km at 100 degrees with 100% humidity is very exhausting.

bean farming between palm trees

sorting the fish

Shrimp cracker

Before I close, I should mention the cool sites on the ride: meeting the young farmer of a temporary (2 year) farm planted between rows of palm trees before the trees get too big, block the sun and are harvested for palm oil; watching the dock workers unload a deep sea fishing boat that had just returned full of fish; tasting my first shrimp crackers - a fried concoction filled with tiny shrimp (shells still on) and munching happily on this crunchy, fattening, but addicting like potato chips, treat.

All in all , it was a great Easter and one that won't easily be forgotten.