Dear family and friends, Gong Xi Fa Cai!! – Happy Chinese New Year! It is now the Year of the Ox and so far, the ox is treating me very well. Despite some terrible ‘fortunes’ I’ve received lately (one from the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple in Singapore told me to "Be prepared for the worse"), good blessings have fallen upon me. Firstly, I want to share some news from the trip that Kate and I took during our Chinese New Year time-off. We were gone for a total of 10 days: 3 nights in Singapore, 1 night on a sketchy sleeper-train (I do not recommend traveling this way!) and 5 nights in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. All followed by an unexpected but warmly welcomed up-grade to first class on the flight home! (I maintain it was because when we got our boarding passes we looked like lost gypsies, unshowered and wearing all of the mis-matched clothing we had purchased during our travels).

Singapore is a clean, friendly and very easy-to-navigate city. Coming from Taipei where everything is in Chinese (with English words scattered here and there though usually used in the wrong contexts), it was a treat to read English billboards, overhear English conversations and ask directions in English again! Out of all the experiences that we had in Singapore, here are my top two:
One – living in Little India. Our hostel was located smack dab in the middle of Little India. (Singapore also has a Chinatown section that we visited on the last day; it felt like home) We visited many Indian eateries and shops and though we weren’t truly in India, the culture was all around us. It was so nice to be away from all that’s familiar (Western and Taiwanese) once again. This picture is of Kate and I eating at the Banana Leaf Apollo. In keeping with custom, we ate our food directly off of the banana leaf “plate” and used our hands as utensils. (on my left wrist you can see the henna that I got)

Two – Underwater World on Sentosa Island. Sentosa Island is an island strictly designed for tourists and entertainment. Regardless of how touristy it was I really enjoyed walking through a tunnel under an aquarium and watching a shark feeding. We also saw a pink dolphin show on the island! The picture below is the view from the gondola that we took from the mainland to the island.


As I mentioned before, from Singapore we took an overnight train to Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. There are a number of reasons why I wouldn’t recommend this type of transportation, but mostly because: a) you never know who you’ll end up sleeping close to/who might watch you all night while you sleep! And b) lets just say the cleanliness of the sheets is less than satisfactory! Anyways, we arrived in KL at 7am on a Sunday morning and found our way to the hostel quite easily. Malaysia’s signs and street names are in Malay, but luckily Malay uses the Roman alphabet, so the city is still very easy to navigate. I slept for a few hours that morning and then we set off and started exploring KL! I want to make a top three list for Malaysia, but there are far too many ‘tops’ to narrow it down to just three! Our activities in Malaysia included: visiting cultural centers of the city (government buildings, mosques, the Petronas Towers, etc…), beautiful orchid and hibiscus gardens, a butterfly park, the Batu Caves (famous Hindu worship caves near the city), an Elephant Sanctuary and taking a day-trip/bus tour to Melaka, Malaysia’s historical city. A highlight of the trip was meeting up with friends of my family who live in KL, the Lims. Marge, her husband KC and one of her daughters, Nique (the other daughter is at university in Ontario), welcomed Katelynn and I with loving, open arms and really gave me a much-needed sense of home and family during the time that we spent with them!

The famous Petronas Towers at night

42.7 meters high, the world's tallest statue of Murugan, a Hindu deity - this was at the Batu Caves, just outside of KL

Feeding deer at a sketchy place called "Deerland"

Red Square in Malaka, Malaysia

All in all, and despite being a little sick during the middle part, this trip really recharged me! Interestingly, one of the coolest things was the feeling I had upon returning to Taiwan. It was the first time that Taipei filled me with such a strong sense of home. The familiarity of the city, the smells, sights and sounds all resume as they had when I left, but somehow they have gained new meaning with me. I left with an optimistic attitude, believing that teaching, finding a morning job, making friends, etc… would be easier once I had a fresh perspective… and they really have! I’m enjoying teaching more now than I had ever before, I got a morning job very quickly and I start next Monday (yay!) and new friendships (and even tutoring jobs) are blooming all around me. I am really thankful for this new outlook as loving where I live is very important to me. Despite this new dream of mine to become a professional backpacker (inspired while staying at hostels with some really cool people), I am happy to be home in Taiwan.

On the North East coast of Taiwan last weekend