Goodbye? Not quite yet.
As my year in Malaysia reaches its end it feels like I need
to begin to draw conclusions of whether experiences have taught me anything and
if my stay was worthwhile. But before I can review my year I need to finish
telling the tale. So much has happened since my last blog from the 11. of march.
March Camp
One of the events that took place was a three day vacation
camp with 35 of our students and about 17 volunteers /teachers. Although this
seems like an excessive number of helpers, do bear in mind that most of these
children have some sort special needs. And so even if you “only” have to take
care of two kids, it can become quite a workout if one of them has ADHD and
won’t stop running around. At some point I found myself wishing that everyone
would just sit down and eat their lunch. Not even 30 minutes passed until I
started to regret my wish. This was when I tried to motivate a 20-something
year old Chinese boy with Down syndrome to walk back to our living quarters
with me. As I tried to get him to walk he just sat on his chair sometimes on
the floor he was clearly the one in charge. After a 10 minute struggle one of
the teachers gave in, and offered to drive my student to our rooms. As soon as
the teacher pulled out his key, the student sprang up and ran to the car.
Thereby I was left alone to walk back blazing 35°C.
Here you see exactly this student walking through the pool
with me. Although it took some persuading to get this particular student into
the water, it was clearly worth the time and effort. His joy was so rewarding,
that this experience compensated for the disgusting food at the camp.
One of my personal highlights of this camp was when a little
girl, diagnosed with selective muteism, started to play and the gradually
started to talk to me. Not only was it nice to see that the little girl (age 6)
felt comfortable enough to talk to me. Which she had only done with one other teacher. The joy in her
mother’s eyes when I told her the last day was worth every hour i sat next to her daughter just talking and playing without her saying anything.
Reunited
After two days of rest in Georgetown I took a bus down to
Kuala Lumpur to pick up my older sister Theresa from Kuala Lumpur International
Airport.
And that is where the fun started! The first stop on our
tour was my house in Georgetown. After having to listen to her complaints at how dirty my room was, we went and explored my new hometown. We walked through the heritage part of Georgetown, stoping what felt like every hours or so in order to eat.When we werent eating we were taking silly pictures infront of streetart.
While I was doing this a chinese woman shouted: "I want do same!"
Although our parents dont approve of riding a motorcycle Thesi gave it a try
I have joined a marching band
We also went to the Tek Lok Si temple that is located here in Penang.
Thesi feeding the turtels.
Older she might be, but I am still the taller one
Temple garden
Sri Lanka!!
Sri Lanka? Yes, Sri Lanka!!
When Thesi first decided to visit me in Malaysia we
discussed where we should go. A lot of options were dicussed… Should we stay in
Malaysia, travel to Thailand or visit Vietnam. And then out of the blue came
the idea of Sri Lanka. And it was the
best choice we could have made. What a great Vacation.
Thesi and I started off in Colombo. After an uncomfortable
taxi ride from the airport to our hostel I encountered my first big shock of
the trip. Instead of being greeted by an impolite employee who sits behind a rundown
desk in a dark and stuffy room, we were welcomed with a smile and offered a
seat.
Something was wrong. I knew it at this moment that this trip
would not be like my experiences in Thailand or Cambodia. And then, while
sitting on a comfortable couch, waiting for the receptionist to confirm our
booking and registration, a man appeared. And with him he brought a tray of
drinks and towels. I was suspicious. Nothing in life is for free, especially
not in a hostel. “We will probably have to pay at least 20 US Dollars for this
later on” I said. But then Thesi laughed
and said: “Ahh now I know what they meant by writing ‘complimentary drinks and
cold towels upon arrival’ ”. In all of my travels in South East Asia I have
never experienced a trip like Sri Lanka. Starting with this experience in
Colombo it became apparent that my older sister had a completely different
traveling style than what I was used to.
While I like to live day to day, decide upon my next destination
the day before I leave and check into the next best hostel upon arrival, my
sister had done actual research and planning. And what a great job she had
done. We stayed in the best rated low
budget hostels/motels/resorts. Instead of sleeping in an overcrowded 28 people
dorm, like I did in Phnom Phen, we usually had a two bed room, without having
to pay more than I usually did. And as
an extra highlight there we had breakfast every day! For a person who has been
skipping breakfast for a good part of a year, because he is too lazy/ disorganized
to buy food in advance, this is like waking up in heaven.
Our travel route, yes I made that all by myself.
First Stop- Kandy
After a great start in Colombo, where we spent our first night, we took an early train to Kandy. The trainride by itself is an unforgettable experience. It takes you from Colombo through the hills and tea plantations all the way to Kandy. And for a price of 2 euros for two people in 2nd class, there is no way that I can complain about the quality of the seats or the lack of aircondition.
Our Train
Thesi enjoying the ride
No wories the train wasn't moving.
Thesi infront of Kandy Lake
At the sacred tooth relic in Kandy, and yes I am wearing backpacker pants.
Next Stop- Udu Walawe
Our next stop was at Udu Walawe, a national park in the south of Sri Lanka. We took a local bus from Kandy to Udu Walawe. It was hot, dirty and extremely cheap. But most of all it was quite a very unique experience. The first thing we did was to sit down on the seat that is reserved for clergy.
Upps...
Safari!
We stayed at a small resort with a pool and woke up the next day at 5.30 in the morning to go on my very first safari!!
beautiful landscape
Sunrise
Our first wild Elephant
And another one.
Elephant Family in the bushes!!
Nothing wrong with a nice haircut.
Birdy
Thesi
Elephant by the lake
Water Buffalo
Dinner is ready
Baby Elephant Orphanage
There are quite a few Elephant Orphanages in Sri Lanka, but they have the tendancy to be very touristic and/or not to treat the animals in a good way. The one that we visited was clean, they treated the elephants as you would expect them to and did not look like busloads of tourists were ever brought here.
We managed to arrive just in time for the feeding of the elephants.
This three legged companion conquered my heart in no time
Who can resist him?
So adorable
What can I say?
Hot Springs
After a morning of elephants and exitement, we decided to lie down for a power nap. After which we took a tuktuk to some hotsprings.
The trip continues...
Next stop on our trip was tangalle, where we stayed in a resort right by the beach.
I just want to go back!
Run Thesi run!
Thesi in the wind
I clearly won this fight
Last stop: Galle (besides Colombo)
Our last stop of our trip, besides Colombo of course, was the dutch fort city of Galle. It is a very nice little town with its historical core still intact. With its little shops and restaurants it was a bit more touristic than any of the other places we had visited so far. These are going to be the last pictures for this rather long blog.
Thesi looking all calm even though she is scared of heights
:)
Thank you so much for reading, or if you were lazy, looking at the picture. I had such a wonderful time with my sister and thank you Thesi for visiting me! As nice it is here, I can't wait to go back home in about 50 days! It has been quite a year! I will write at least one more blog to conclude this adventure of mine and summarize what I have learned.
As always, feel free to write me at: tmvolkmer@hotmail.de
Tobi
