Teacher Conference in Malaysia

At the resort restaurant
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March was a busy month! I signed up to go to the EARCOS (East Asia Regional Council of Overseas Schools)teacher conference in Malaysia with my professional development money. I decided that since I was going to Malaysia, I wanted to plan for some beach time and some city time. The conference was in Kuala Lumpur, a decent sized city. The students had 5 days off around the Easter weekend. I was going to miss 3 days of school to attend the conference. In the end, all primary students in Hong Kong had a solid 2 weeks off around Easter because the government decided to take precautionary measures to stop the spread of the current flu. Middle school and high school was still in session, and all primary teachers still had to go to school. After SARS, Hong Kong is over cautious when it comes to illnesses. This 2 weeks off for the kids was good for me because I did not have to write 3 complete days of substitute plans!

Making Malaysian sweet treats in the market with coconut and papaya
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I traveled to Malaysia with three other teachers from my school, Jen, Jill and Mayen. We flew to Langkawi, an island on the northwestern part of Malaysia, not far from Thailand (one hour flight north of Kuala Lumpur). We were there from the 20th to the 25th to get in some beach time before the conference started on the 26th. Langkawi is a beautiful island that is about 15 miles wide, and about the same north to south. Malaysia has a tropical climate and it was hot the whole time we were there. It was a great place to relax. We stayed at two different hotels on the island, the better one being the Tangung Sanctuary Resort. We stayed in the Pantai Cenang and Pantai Tengah areas of the island. We saw many monkeys on the resort property and other locations on the island. The problem with the monkeys is that people have been feeding them for so long they can be aggressive. They will eat anything and pick through trash cans. We went on an island-hopping boat ride to see a mangrove forest and see wild eagles being fed, to swim in a fresh water lake and to enjoy the scenery. The island name is related to the eagle: "lang" is short for helang or eagle, and "kawi" means reddish brown. The eagle is the island's mascot. One day we took a ride on the Langkawi Cable Car which travels about 1 1/2 miles up to about 2,323 ft above sea level. The views were amazing up at the top! We also walked along their 656 ft long suspension bridge to see more of the views of this forest which sits on top of rocks that were formed 550 million years ago. We also spent a little time at an Batik Village while were there, learning about this art process. We were able to try our own hand at batik painting at the hotel one night!

...the famous Petronas Twin Towers, the world's tallest twin structures.

Batik demonstration
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It was then time to move on to Kuala Lumpur for the EARCOS conference. The workshops took up most of our days, so we didn't do a lot of sightseeing, but we did get to see some main attractions. Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia. The official religion is Islam, but there is freedom of worship in this country. Central Market was a great place to people watch and see people from all over the world. One day we went up the famous Petronas Twin Towers, the world's tallest twin structures. They are striking to see all lit up at night (although I don't like to think about how much it cost to light them up every night!). One morning we snuck away to do a little shopping and visit the Blue Mosque. This was a beautiful mosque to see, but we did not enter. They were getting ready for their big Friday afternoon worship. Muslim women must cover their entire body, only their hands and face can be visible. This was true for Muslim women I saw at the hotel pools and on the beach. The reason for this strictness is so the woman is protected from the lustful gaze of men.Most woman wore beautiful, colorful scarves. Occasionally, I saw women dressed in full burqas, which were black and required all but the eyes to be covered. It was a challenge for me to understand this dress at the pool when the woman stood beside her husband in shorts and a t-shirt.

Monkeys everywhere!
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After 10 days away, I was ready to head back to life in Hong Kong!