Thaipusam Festival

The true beauty of working in Malaysia is that there are so many public holidays recognized. This past week we were at school 3/5 days as we recognized the Birthday of the Prophet Mohammad on Tuesday, and on Friday we celebrated Thaipusam. The Thaipusam festival that is held in KL at the Batu Caves is one of the biggest in the world, and the general buzz is that it is quite the spectacle. As Ty and I love our festivals, from the Fireworks Festival in Busan, to Applefest in Brighton, we were eager to add another to the list!

We were warned by coworkers that the insanity starts early, and that about a million people visit the Batu Caves during the one-day festival. Having experienced some pretty claustrophobic moments while at Korean festivals, Tyler and I set our alarms and did our best to beat the rush (with no real luck). Taking the already crowded train too early on our day off and feeling slightly off as per the Korean bbq and soju from the night before, Tyler did the faux-pas of jumping on the illusive 'ladies only' car. Feeling awkward, we found the other rogue males on the train car to stand near and tried not to make eye contact. Once arriving at the Batu Caves it was pretty apparent that this was unlike any festival we had been to. Sure there were the food tents, others selling clothing and jewelery, the music was pumping and there were hoards of people. The biggest difference was however, that it was all fueled by religion, and everywhere we looked people were expressing their faith in spectacularly colourful ways.

**Before I go on, I'd like to add the disclaimer that, although completely captivated by Indian culture, and learning more about the Hindu faith, I am pretty vague on the facts. Most info is based on observations, a bit of internet reading, and by and large conversations with my great co-teacher Magesh. For the most part, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Thaipusam is one of the largest Hindu holidays in the year, where in the lead up people fast, or give up certain things (much like Christian's Lent). On the day of Thaipusam, Hindus visit the temple to pray to Lord Murugan for help in the future or in order to rid themselves of their sins. They make offerings, mostly of fresh milk. Once finished, they feast with their families. Seems pretty mundane, right? Like the case in all religions, the practices that one follows depends on their personal relationship with the deity. People practice their faith based on what works for them, and what brings them the most comfort. As we watched the droves of people making their way through the gates of the temple, as mentioned, we certainly witnessed many expressions of faith and interpretations of the festival.

For some people, walking up the steps to the Batu Caves with their families and pots of fresh milk works. Others will shave their heads, make pilgrimages, carry very heavy colourful offerings on their shoulders, dance, and most notably pierce their cheeks, backs and chests with metal hooks and skewers. Again, it is really whatever works for the individual and the family at that time in their lives.

We watched the steady procession of people and chariots for over two hours!

 As far as festivals go, Thaipusam ranks pretty high! With the basis of the celebration being religion it certainly offered a more dimensional experience than some festivals we have gone to (not that Applefest wants for sophistication or dimension!) If you're interested, check out an interview with a Thaipusam participant to hear his perspective on some of the practices carried out at the festival. 

In other news, the count down is on to Chinese New Year! Nine more working days until we ring in the Year of the Horse with a week's vacation..Let's paint the town red!

A Mixed Bag in Semporna, Borneo

Because of Malaysian tax laws, we had to be back in the country by December 30th. Since we still had a week left of holidays, we decided to check out the island side of Malaysia; Borneo! Although a bit of an emotionally conflicting trip (more on that), it was fantastic to have a look at another dimension of Malaysia..not to mention, being able to show Catherine Barker a bit of our host home (although not KL).

We flew into Tawau and made our way to the coastal town of Semporna located on the east coast of Borneo. Again, without doing any research, and taking for granted that we would be in Malaysia (meaning our bank cards worked and we could could confidently order from a menu) we had few preconceptions. We arrived in Semporna in the evening. Everything was closed, it was dark and the town seemed pretty dead. Having the excuse of wanting Catherine to sample everything Malaysian, we had a large feast of Chinese Malaysian food and as Tyler and I had spent the night before in the airport, we went to bed.

We woke up the next morning really excited for a day of diving and New Years Eve celebrations! We were super pumped, as diving was the main reason we chose to visit this small town and the surrounding islands. The waters and marine life were to be second to none, as most people venture here to dive in the world famous national park, Sipidan. We had been warned the night before by our friend Hutchy who had arrived a few days earlier, that the waters were absolutely stunning, however that the amount of garbage was equally staggering. After we geared up and cruised out of the harbour (where there is always a certain amount of garbage lingering) we marveled at the absolutely brilliant clear blue waters. The sun was shining, the water was relatively calm and we were in good company. As we made our way out into open waters however, it was amazing just how much plastic was floating on the surface of the water. So much garbage that our boat had to stop several times to rid its motor and propellers of the trash before continuing on its journey. Still the garbage didn't seem to hinder our day of diving too much. We did three dives seeing some beautiful coral, fish, turtles..and of course were serenaded by Hutchy's underwater rendition of the Mission Impossible theme song..which makes it seem like we we are on an important mission ourselves :)

 
That night, we geared up for New Years Eve celebrations! Again, we gathered to share a feast of seafood, Malay, and Chinese food before hitting up a (the) small pub in town. We danced, chatted with randoms and rang in the New Year. As far as New Year's goes, it was pretty typical. The next day we were all feeling pretty lazy (myself in particular) so we sought out the only pool in town. We wandered into the hotel like we were guests, eventually were sussed out, and paid the fee. Little did they know how much we love a lazy New Year's Day. From the pool, we all visited the spa for massages, ate at the lobby restaurant, then watched a movie in their cinema room. We totally loitered and lingered perhaps too long.

The next morning we sadly had to say goodbye to Catherine Barker, as she was heading back to Qatar. Danielle, Tyler and I were off the spend the remainder of our holiday on Mabul Island, an hour trip from the mainland. After we arrived and got our rooms all sorted out, we were in utter awe of the beauty of our surroundings! The water was unlike anything I had seen before! We hung around our little resort for a while, then decided to venture to the beach. To get to the beach we needed to walk through the village. Walking through the village was a bit of a shock. The amount of children in the streets was overwhelming (Ty later looked it up..about 2000 people live on the island, with about 1000 being under the age of 14). Furthermore the amount of garbage piled up was heartbreaking. We made our way through to the gated resort, enjoyed the beach and made our way back. As we sat out drinking beer and enjoying the sunset, small children would float by in their canoes asking for money. When we gave them money, they would then ask for food. It was a heart breaker. Over the next few days we did some dives, swam and relaxed.We also spent a lot of time reflecting on topics such as poverty and trash.

Thanks to Danielle for some of the great photos! (Follow her on Instagram @daniellecorbett. Her pics are fantastic!)

 Although in the most beautiful place I have ever traveled to, I had a lot of trouble really enjoying it. It was hard to encounter naked children rubbing their tummies and asking for food, then turn our backs to head off to the gated resorts for an afternoon of spa treatments, ice cream and tanning. This isn't the first place we have gone where poverty is overtly apparent, but something seemed different about this one. I think (although I have no idea) it was that the children didn't seem to smile all that much. In other countries we have gone, the children seemed to play, and engage a lot. Perhaps they are just sick of tourists clicking photos. Again, I have no idea, nor presume to know what the true inner workings of the island, village or its inhabitants are. I do know, that it was not easy switching on and off the vacation/reality mode.

The second issue that weighed heavy on my mind was the apparent problem of garbage disposal. Since kids we have all heard about campaigns that read slogans such as 'Save the rainforest', 'Clean up our oceans', etc. We all know that these are important initiatives and serve a purpose. However for me, they didn't really mean very much. Yes, have seen the result of industrial pollution in Lake Ontario, and know all about the collapsed fishing industry in Atlantic Canada. I am well aware that I could be criticized as 'the pot calling the kettle black', however until seeing the ocean environments in East Borneo and the tangible damage that is being done firsthand, it was nothing I felt passionate about.
While in Mabul, we sat up scratching our heads about the devastating amounts of garbage in the water in contrast with the breathtakingly beautiful ocean. We discussed ways the problem could be irradiated, but nothing really seemed viable. In developed countries we create the same amount of garbage (if not more). Yes, we bury it, burn it, collect into one place. We are lucky enough to be able to put it in an out of sight location, and therefore it is out of mind. Ignorance is truly bliss. In a place like Mabul, they do not have the infrastructure to deal with the garbage, so everything is chucked in the ocean. Again an issue that I have really been now awaken to, however left unsettled and unsure of any solution. I suppose there is no one solution, but an array of possibilities; The simplest ones being, stop creating so much garbage, recycle, and educate. Don't be ignorant to where your garbage is going and what the long-term affects of it are. Tyler and I are as guilty as the next person, but now it's time to decide what we are going to do about. Before we left the island, we were in a gift shop looking for some souvenirs. I picked up a marine life book, and read this quote that seemed apt;
 “The oceans are the planet's last great living wilderness, man's only remaining frontier on Earth, and perhaps his last chance to prove himself a rational species.” -John L. Culliney 

The homes in Mabul were amazing!

 I really apologize for the negative tone of this blog post. To say that our vacation to Boreno was life-changing might be a bit of a reach, however it was certainly eye-opening and thought provoking. Don't get me wrong, we left Borneo with killer tans, having completed six dives in unreal locations, sharing laughs with great friends and welcoming a New Year. The reason we travel is to educate ourselves, and beyond measure we have been certainly schooled! Just as we are expected to when we graduate, it is now time to do something with our experiences.

Sri Lanka, The Spice of Life

By 4:01 pm on December 20th, I was chalked full of Christmas chocolate and in hyper-vacation mode. I dashed to KL Sentral (yes..with an 'S' and not a 'C') to meet Tyler and we were set to make our way slowly to Sri Lanka. Being frugal (a much more becoming word than cheap) we had booked a very taxing route to Sri Lanka; Leaving KL at 8:00pm, stopping in Maldives, and arriving in Colombo at 4:00am. Did I mention it is a four hour direct flight? When checking in, the Malaysian Air worker was pretty baffled, and would not accept our itinerary. Instead he hooked it up! He got us on a direct flight leaving at the same time and signed off on some dinner vouchers. With our bellies full of complimentary airport food, we booked a hotel for that night in Colombo, feeling good that we weren't going to be sleeping in airports and starting our vacation off with little to no sleep. This was surely a good omen for the trip to come!

I need to mention that we traveled over Christmas with one pretty amazingly, awesome gal, Catherine Barker. Catherine and I had done our Education degree together almost five years ago at UNB. We hadn't seen each other since then. She is currently teaching in Qatar, and as she wasn't heading home for Christmas either, we decided to end the Barker/Mary drought and vacation together! The hilarious conversations, laughter, and company of this trip is a large reason why we are coming back to work feeling rejuvenated. Needless to say, so much love for Barker!

So, a little background on Sri Lanka; Geographically, it is an island country just south of India. Politically, the country just ended a thirty year civil war in 2009. Culturally, most people are Sinhalese or Tamils, speaking those respective languages. Most people practice Buddhism. How's that for generalizations?

So we collected Barker and we were straight to catch the bus from Colombo to Kandy. First lesson learned; Public transit in Sri Lanka is to be way underestimated. What was supposed to be a 2 hour drive lasted about 5 hours with a fair share of interesting smells, near collisions and body contact. No problem; we arrived in Kandy in one piece. When we arrived, I was completely overwhelmed! The trip's planning by and large was left up to Tyler and Catherine (thanks!). I hadn't so much as googled a picture of Sri Lanka, and was going in completely blind and misinformed. For some reason I just assumed it would be another S.E Asian country. A place for us, where at this point, we are still in awe, but more or less comfortable. I was wrong. As our tuk-tuk dodged people, cows, and buses from the 1960's busting with people, I turned to Catherine and said "India!?" In response she said "Uhh yah. Sri Lanka is India's 'Little Brother'". For the first time since we had traveled to Asia three years ago, my head was truly spinning with all the new sights, smells and way of life. A pretty great feeling!

Where's Barker? This trip could have easily been dubbed 'Public Transport Tour of Sri Lanka'.

 We spent two nights in Kandy upon a hill looking out over the city. We hired a driver, Mr. Mo, and he took us to various tourist spots in the area, collecting kickbacks the whole way as we bought tons of souvenirs..and good on him! Our first stop was the beautiful botanical gardens in Kandy. The gardens themselves were amazing, but on top of that, there were tons of monkeys and giants bats flying around (more crazy would have been flying monkeys...I wonder if the Wizard of Oz was actually just Sri Lanka..?) We frolicked, avoided the guano and drank tea. It was a great change from the exhaust and concrete we left behind in KL, and for Catherine, the dry, sandy desert!

Next we headed off to spend some time with elephants. Now this was a longtime tourist want for me, since we had first started traveling around S.E Asia two years ago. I had fantasized about bathing and feeding the elephants, snuggling them and leaving them with big smiles on their sweet faces. However, the places we checked out seemed to be a bit of a harsh reality (I know I can be painfully naive). The elephants, although not being abused, were very much in captivity, and it was not the 'Jungle Book' magical scene I had imagined. Nonetheless, we did get to feed and bathe sweet Nona. I left with mixed feelings, but totally glad we experienced, and as lessons are learned, next time we will seek an elephant sanctuary setting.

Next we went to a spice garden. Kandy is very well known for its spices, and we were keen to taste and buy! By the time we left, we had indulged in a name-your-own-price massage and bought several home remedies. We also left feeling inspired to learn more about herbal medicine...we can now add that to the ever growing list of future careers. Leaving the spice garden smelling of cloves and fresh vanilla beans, we ended the long day with a quick stop to a tea plantation and a seedy underground liquor store. Before leaving Kandy the next day, we made a pit-stop at the market, buying a mass order of fresh spices..but not before sampling the very best fruit we have ever tried. Seriously. The mangoes, lemon bananas, papaya! I am ruined!

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Leaving Kandy, we ventured forth on the train. The train was pretty full, and there was standing room only. We had heard that the views from the train routes throughout Sri Lanka were second to none, as they meander through tea fields and upon mountains. The rumors were true! Truly amazing vistas! We got off in a town called Hatton, and took a scenic hour long tuk tuk ride through the rolling tea fields to Dalhousie where we prepared for a hike up Adam's Peak, or Sri Pada. Depending on your beliefs, this mountain is said to be the place of Adam's (of Adam and Eve) first footprint on Earth (or Buddha's or Shiva's). Adam's Peak is a 5200-ish staircase pilgrimage up a mountain. As we made our way, huffing and puffing, we were passed by babies and elderly making the trip up the steep, steep slope totally putting us to shame. It's popular to leave at 2:00 am, to make it to the top for a 6:30am sunrise..and that's what we did. Although tough and exhausting, the sights from the top were pretty spectacular!

Adam's Peak from afar.

 

 

With no sleep, we headed back to to train station to make our way to Ella. As it was Christmas Eve, the train was packed. So packed that we held our bags above our head, my face was pressed up against the wall, all the while, a man was trying to pickpocket Ty. Oh, and it was a steam-engine train from the 1800's! After three hours, we got a seat on the floor, and rode out the rest of the trip in comfort. As I said before, the scenery was second to none and worth feeling like a sardine (don't get me wrong, a little forethought, and a first class ticket would have been the cherry on top..but where's the adventure in that?) So, after being up for 30+ hours and having our legs feel like jelly from the hike, we finally landed in Ella, where we would spend the night before Christmas!

Waking up the next morning, we reminisced about the best things about Christmas in Canada as it rained in the mountains of Sri Lanka. We suffered from about 30 minutes of pathetic fallacy, then picked ourselves up, had a massage and made plans to get to the beach for the remainder of our time in Sri Lanka! Having had our share of public transit, we opted for a private car for the trip (it was Christmas Day after all..) We made it to Unawatuna Beach and never looked back! Unawatuna was a village that was hit by the tsunami in 2004, but because it is such a loved place by tourists, bounced back really quickly. The spirit and kindness of every person we met in this village was amazing. I can see why it's so beloved.

Boxing Day spent on the beach, pizza and beer in hand!

Our final stop before leaving Sri Lanka was Galle. As we rolled into town, Sri Lanka did it once again! Another completely contrasting, equally beautiful setting. This time it was a colonial European town situated within fort walls, much like Old Quebec City, but with a tropical feel. We wondered the streets, ate the most amazing curries, and prepared to say goodbye to Sri Lanka....but not without one more crowded ride on a bus that broke down every twenty minutes.

I know I say this about every country we visit, but I can say with confidence that we will visit Sri Lanka again. It was genuine, diverse, beautiful ...and not to mention the head bobble is literally the best response to everything and anything! Try answering any question with the head bobble. Don't say a word, and see where it takes you!