Thursday - Kuala Lumpur

On Thursday we travelled to Kuala Lumpur for a day of culture, training and shopping.

We started off at the famous KLCC shopping centre, in the Petronas Towers. These twin sky scrapers dominate the KL skyline and are a famous image of the city. The shopping centre in their base is vast and packed full of designer labels, along with shops we're familiar with seeing on the British high street, such as Top Shop and Accessorise.

After wistfully window shopping our way around KLCC, we went to the Islamic Museum of Art. This beautiful building is packed with examples of art, scripture, fashion and jewellery from around the Islamic world. The students really enjoyed learning more about Muslim culture and I think the KYUEM students enjoyed the opportunity to show off and act as tour guides.



Unfortunately this was the last of the sunny weather we saw on Thursday, as shortly after lunch, which we enjoyed in Little India among the market stalls, it started to rain in a very serious way. Umbrellas were purchased where necessary but they didn't manage to keep everybody dry. Thankfully, we went off to our leadership seminar at HSBC at this point, where Elizabeth Wee, Head of Group Communications and Corporate Sustainability, gave us a talk on HSBC's position in the world and the sort of skills they look for among their leaders.

This took place at the top of HSBC's new building, which offered panoramic views of the city.

After this, we went to Central Market for further shopping opportunities. There was a 10 ringitt challenge among some students, who were tasked with finding something they could buy for 10 ringitt or less. Some impressive items came back, including a wooden flute, a back scratcher and even a walking stick.


After a scramble back to the bus in the rain, we returned to college in time for the annual Christmas party. This included carol singing and some traditional party games, all outside in the 30 degree evening heat!

I hope you've enjoyed looking at some of our pictures and hearing about our antics. Unfortunately I don't know if I'm going to get another chance to blog between now and when we get back; so I'll take this opportunity to say (touching wood!) that it has been another very successful and enjoyable trip. All the students have acquitted themselves well and represented their schools and county in a very pleasing way.

Today, we've been watching presentations and looking forward to this evening's events, which include the college feast, with a short cultural performance from the British students, and this...

I must say, having seen the Malaysian team practising last night, I am not convinced of our chances!

Wednesday

We spent Wednesday in College, working on presentations. It was the day that the KFC van came to visit, much to everyone's delight.

In the evening we were treated to a traditional D'vali celebration in the grand hall. This included a lot of colourful lights and a great deal of traditional Indian dancing.

I was proud to see that the British students were among the first wave to rush the stage for the finale and some of them evidently loved the opportunity to get in amongst the Malaysian students and practise their Bollywood moves.


This was followed by extensive visits to the hennaing booth, where everybody - including myself and Mr Dark - succumbed to the lure of a henna tattoo. Some were more traditional than others, it has to be said.



(For those of a nervous disposition, please let me reassure you that these tattoos are most definitely temporary!)

We also had the chance to sample some traditional Indian foods and some of our students borrowed Indian clothing from their new Malaysian friends, so they really looked the part!

Day 2: Cameron Highlands

Yesterday we went on a long trip up to the Cameron Highlands. This is a plateau region in the mountains where Malaysia grows fruit, vegetables and tea. The air is fresher up there and, in colonial times, British visitors to the country used to go there for some respite from the humidity of the lower regions.

The bulk of our time there was spent at the Boh tea plantation (above). The bus took us up a windy road until the road became too poor to support it, whereupon we got out and walked the final km up the mountain to the tea shop and processing factory at the top. We were rewarded with cups of fresh tea and cakes, and a tour of the factory, as well as an opportunity to buy tea to bring back to the UK. Even as a non-tea drinker I find the tea served up there to be very refreshing and delicious, and managed two cups while we were there.

After our tour of the tea factory and our walk back to the bus (all downhill - much easier!) we stopped at Brinchang for a late lunch and a bit of shopping. This area is particularly renowned for its strawberries which grow extremely well in the climate, and there is an awful lot of strawberry related swag to be had from the local shops. We spotted plush huggable strawberries, key rings, door mats, ear muffs, bags and slippers in the shops we saw. Everybody had a chance to sample some local food at the cafes, although some preferred to stick with what they knew!

West Wilts in Malaysia, 2010: day 1

We've all arrived safely! The flight over was comfortable for most, although I think I was in a minority in that I slept most of the way and arrived feeling much better for it.

Much excitement at KL airport and lots of taking of pictures already. It's a large and busy place and there was quite a lot going on. We were delayed for a while at immigration, as it seemed that a couple of international flights had arrived at the same time, but finally everyone had their passport stamped and had fetched their luggage.

We were greeted at the airport by Tony and Cherry Beadsworth, British teachers working at KYUEM; Fauzi, who looks after much of the pastoral side at the college; and a number of very excited Malaysian students, who will be working with us this week. Several had gone off to pray at the airport prayer room while they were waiting for us.

A bus ride to the College later and we were greeted by the college principal, Neil Sutherland, and his wife Carol, as well as a number of other staff and the rest of the students. We had a delicious supper of local fruits, sandwiches and noodles, as well as fresh coconuts and juice.

After that we went to our accommodation to get ready for a well-deserved night's rest. I think a lot of people found it difficult to sleep, since it was mid-afternoon UK time, but the chance to stretch out and rest from the journey was well-received by all. This year we are all based in the apartment blocks on the edge of the campus, with girls on the top floor and boys on the middle floor. There are a lot of unusual insects which caused some nervous reactions! Luckily we have all been equipped with anti-bug spray.

This morning we had a greeting from the principal and a little getting-to-know-you session in the staffroom before moving to our classroom and beginning work. It's been sunny so far today and is very humid, but the rooms are all heavily air conditioned and I think everyone is enjoying the break from the cold dark of Wiltshire.

Tomorrow we're off to the Cameron Highlands for a spot of tea!