The Equatorial Guineans

Folks,

We're at the end of the winter inter-session, the period of time between the 'Fall' and Spring semesters. We're back to the regular semester from Monday.

The pic of the week shows the group of Equatorial Guineans that I met on my last day in Malaysia. 

The Equatorial Guineans

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On my last day, I checked out of my hotel at mid-day, and I didn't have my flight until after 7pm, so I booked myself on an 'island hopping tour' for the afternoon. The minbus came to collect me, and then continued to another hotel where we collected another group. They arrived onto the bus in great form, complete with cans of Carlsberg and a bottle of Martini. They were African, but when I listened I began to realise that they were speaking Spanish.

They are from the small country of Equatorial Guinea in Central Africa between Cameroon and Gabon. I had only heard of it before because they had a famously hopeless swimmer in the Olympics a number of years ago. 

They were just on a weekend trip to Langkawi, and are studying in Kuala Lumpur. As such, they were students away for the weekend, and they were going to have a good time. Two of the girls had drunk half a bottle of Martini waiting for the bus, and the second half was finished on the short journey to the boat.

I got chatting to them on the bus (a rare opportunity to practice my Spanish), and they rewarded me with cans of Carlsberg.

When we got on the boat they sang and danced their way through the tour. The others on the boat, a Muslim Malaysian couple and an Australian couple, didn't know what to make of them. The Australian couple were bemused, and didn't like that they kept getting splashed as the EGs tried to splash each other, and I think the Malaysians were a bit shocked. I don't think either couple could understand my relationship with them. I'd arrived with them on the bus, was drinking with them, and was obviously entertained by them. I think they assumed I was some sort of 'Daddy'.

I laughed my way through the day because I was so entertained by their optimism and energy. They invited me to have dinner with them that night, but I was going directly to the airport. I'd love to have spent more time with them.

Malaysian language

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The language in Malaysia is Bahasa Malaysia. They use the Roman alphabet, so it's easy to read. And as a tourist, its very easy to find people who understand English. But what I really liked was that they have also taken many English words from their time as a British colony, and they've just spelt them phonetically in Bahasa Malaysia. So from the airport I went to Sentral Stesen, you can get a bas or an Eksekhutif Teksi, shop in the farmasi, talk to the polis, or go to a refleksologi klinik. 

Work

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I've had a great break this inter-session, because I haven't worked since 22nd January. I had 2 weeks holidays in Malaysia, and there was nothing scheduled the following week. I had a one to one class scheduled with the president of the college for the past two weeks. But he was on holidays for the first week, and is too busy this week. 

But next week it's all changing. We are waiting with bated breath for our schedules, because that puts a shape on our semester. The new teachers are arriving and we're having farewell's for those that are departing.

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Well, that's it for now. So until next time,

Annyeong-hi kaseyo.

Éamon

Today's headline in Kookmin Daily: President Lee calls for sweeping crackdown on corruption in education sector

The Year of the Tiger

Well, I'm back in Korea after my holiday in Malaysia. I really loved Malaysia, and would recommend it to anyone. It's a bank holiday for weekend for Lunar (or Chinese) new year. This coming year is the year of the tiger.

The pic of the week shows the sunset on Pantai Cenang beach on the island of Langkawi. I took this just in front of my hotel.

Kuala Lumpur
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I flew Air China from Seoul to Kuala Lumpur, via Beijing. I was upgraded to business class on the first leg of the journey, which didn't seem very communist to me.

When I arrived in Kuala Lumpur I met up with a work colleague.

I wasn't really clear on the geography of Malaysia before I travelled. There are really two completely separate parts of the country. There is 'peninsular' Malaysia, which is south of the border with Thailand, and extends down to Singapore, and is next to Indonesia. Then there are the two provinces Sabah and Sarawak which are on the island of Borneo. Borneo is shared with Indonesia and Brunei. There is about 600km of South China sea separating the two parts of Malaysia, and all my travels were on the peninsula.

Malaysia is the most Muslim country I've visited. A lot of the women wear the veil. There are all different styles, from just a head scarf worn with jeans and t-shirts, and sometimes motorcycle helmets and heavy make-up, to fully head to toe in black with just a slit for the eyes. It was unusual to see the situations where women wear the full head-to-toe garb. I saw two games mistresses in a school, with their dresses right down to the grass as they ran around the pitch, and women swimming in the sea in Langkawi, still dressed from head to toe.

I liked Kuala Lumpur more than I expected. Mainly for the multi-cultural atmosphere and food. There is a Chinese/Indian/Malay mix, and the feeling is relaxed and easy. The food is fantastic in Malaysia, and I put on about 5kg while I was there.

Penang
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I met a guy in Seoul shortly after I arrived in Korea who had travelled extensively in Asia. I asked him what place he would most recommend to visit, and he said Penang, Malaysia. So for the end of our first week we headed there. However, I couldn't really understand why he had recommended it. It was way more built-up and industrial than I'd imagined, and there was a lot of shipping around the port. However, the food was even better than Kuala Lumpur, and our arrival coincided with the Hindu festival of Thaipusam.

Hindu pilgrims travel to a temple near the Botanical Gardens, bringing gifts (mainly milk to bathe the statue of Lord Murugan, a God). We hired motorbikes, and headed there, and went on the pilgrimage up the hill to the temple. We saw the more extreme penitents, some of whom had pierced their cheeks with skewers, and had hooks through the skin of their backs, and were 'towing' someone else up the hill. Not for the squeamish (as in ME), but the whole experience was really interesting.

When we finished in Penang, my friend headed back to Kuala Lumpur for a flight to Sri Lanka, where he was to be best man at his friend's wedding, and I took the ferry to Langkawi.

Langkawi
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I really didn't know much about Langkawi before I got there. I just knew it's the name of a lovely Malaysian restaurant in Dublin. I had heard that the most beautiful Malaysian beaches were on the east coast. But as I was already in Penang on the west coast, it seemed more logical to go stay on that coast.

I absolutely loved Langkawi. It's a lush tropical and quite small island. I rented a scooter, and was able to travel from South East to North West (about the furthest points apart) in about 40 minutes. There are beautiful beaches, and tall mountains. I went on a cable car trip to the top of one mountain, and got a beautiful view of the entire island.

It's also a duty free island, so alcohol was cheap, and there were duty free shops everywhere. In general, because it's a muslim country, alcohol isn't freely available. However, as I was in mostly tourist areas it wasn't a problem, although they recommend that you don't take it into your room if you're staying at a family guesthouse, and it wasn't unusual for it not to be available in restaurants.

I was supposed to travel back to Kuala Lumpur on Friday, for my final night. But I decided to book a flight (€60), which effectively gave me two extra days on Langkawi, because I flew to KL airport on Saturday night, and linked directly with my flight back here.
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So I loved my two weeks away, and the injection of sun and hot temperatures into my Korean winter was most welcome. I left KL at midnight when it was still in the high 20s, and arrived in a snowy Beijing six hours later at -6 degrees!

Well, that's it for now. So until next time,

Annyeong-hi kaseyo.

Éamon

Today's headline in Donga llbo: President Lee stresses 'no more feud' at his party