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Saturday, October 18, 2008 |
Nate and I just got back from an amazing trip to Malaysia! We went to visit and spend a week with my parents who are serving a mission in Melaka. My parents did a great job planning every moment of the week with exciting and interesting events. The best part was just being with mom and dad and getting to experience life where they live. I can't believe they live halfway around the world in a place so different from Utah.
We dropped Avery off to Nate's mom the afternoon before we left. Being away from her was definitely the hardest part of leaving. We flew to Vancouver, Hong Kong and then Kuala Lumpur, where my parents picked us up. It took about 30 hours total travel time before we arrived at their apartment. We were exhausted!! There's a 14 hour time difference and it took a while to get re-adjusted. My parent's apartment was nicer than I expected. It has 4 bedrooms and three bathrooms and a beautiful view of the ocean from their front room. The first night we went to dinner with the Ho's, a newly baptized family, and with the two Elders. Throughout the weekend, we enjoyed meeting most of the branch members either at church or in their homes.
We spent the second day touring the city of Melaka, which is surprisingly a very touristy town. In one hour, I experienced my first time inside a Hindu, Chinese and Muslim temple. There are so many cultures and religions in Malaysia, but the primary religion is Muslim. I am definitely not used to seeing so many different kinds of people in one country. We really stuck out being caucasion and Nate being so tall. Most people were surprised to meet someone that was actually taller than my dad! We went on a boat ride on the Melaka river and saw several large montior lizards. Our taxi cab driver, Hendry, is a good friend of my parents. He drove us to most of the sites and activities throughout the trip and took quite a liking to Nate and me. He is hilarious and we enjoyed his company.
On Sunday, we took the bus to church. Having only been to church in Utah and Idaho, I have only seen ward buildings. My parent's branch meets in a building that would typically be a retail shop, where the first floors are stores and the top floors living areas. The church meets in the first two levels and they have done an excellent job making it into a recognizable LDS meeting place. My parents were so excited to "show us off" to all the members. They are truly in their element at the branch. I saw that my parents make a huge impact in the lives of the members and that they are very loved. It was funny that we traveled halfway around the world to church in Malaysia, only to watch General Conference! As they watch conference, they take notes and then pass out candy after each speaker. I brought a few bags of candy from America and shared it with them. People there love things from America.
After church, we spent the rest of the day traveling to different church member's homes. I was amazed at all their stories, especially the ones of their conversion. It made me realize how easy it is to take the Church for granted in Utah, where most people are members and church buildings and temples are so near. The closest temple for those in Malaysia is Hong Kong, and not many members have ever been able to go. I enjoyed meeting so many remarkable people. I was also amazed at how extremely generous they were. I was given many beautiful gifts from people I had only met moments before. Aggie Ho, the mother of the Ho family, owns a jewelry shop and she gave me several necklaces and bracelets, Hendry also gave me some nice bracelets, an indian woman, Shanti, gave me a purse, and David Ho gave me a green elephant figurine. It's hard not to fall in love with the people instantly.
The next few days we visited a butterfly park, bee farm, and an animal safari park. It's interesting to see such different species of animals. The animal safari park was the most fun. They had a bunch of different shows to see, such as a Wild Wild West, multi-animal, bird and elephant shows. In the multi-animal show, we watched various animals perform silly tricks and at one point a guy brought out a huge yellow python wrapped around his neck. My mom is DEATHLY afraid of snakes and BOLTED out of the arena once the guy brought the snake into the audience. The announcer even commented on "the woman in blue" being so afraid that she ran out. ROFL. I shouldn't laugh at her fear, but it was pretty hilarious.
Between the shows, we rode an elephant! They are so hairy yet gentle. We also took a ferry to a "monkey island" where we fed some cute little monkeys who jumped all over us. Then we attended the elephant show and watched them play soccer, basketball, dance and ride bicycles. As we were watching, one of the elephant riders came into the audience and pointed to me to come out front to participate in the show! As I walked out to the elephants, I heard the announcer call me a "beautiful Australian princess." lol Malaysia's white visitors are mostly Australian, so he must have assumed I was too. They had me ride on two elephant trunks. How many people can say they've done that?? :)
The final day on our trip was spent in Kuala Lumpur. We took a tour of the Petronas Twin Towers, which are the 3rd largest buildings in the world (for now). We also visited the Buta Caves, a Hindu site where you climb 272 stairs to a temple inside of caves. While we were coming out of the caves, there was another man standing at the entrance with a huge snake around his head. Nate coaxed the man from the opening and paid him to stay there while I led my very frightened mother out. Poor mom. Finally, we took a taxi to a place called Templer Park where we hiked through the jungle to several beautiful waterfalls and got to feed some wild monkeys. It was such an adventure!
We really had great time with my parents and will miss them. It was so hard to say goodbye, especially knowing that we had another 28 hours until we were home again. After what seemed like an eternity, we arrived in Utah, only to drive another 2 hours to pick up Aves. When we saw her for the first time in a week, I barely recognized her and became very emotional. We hope she will forgive us for leaving her for so long but really appreciate Carol for watching her for us.
Click the link below to see pictures from our Malaysia adventure!
http://picasaweb.google.com/michellegrange/MalaysiaTrip?authkey=AT2yAgGy8sg# |
Michelle at 3:05 PM |
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