Malaysia: last days in Ipoh

Another week has passed - here's what we've been doing:

Monday: Lindsey's birthday & our day off. We went to a water park in Ipoh and had the place almost to ourselves. It was great! Water slides, a wave pool, a heated pool, a lazy river, some rides and watching the tigers being fed took up a whole day. We had dinner at Pizza Hut (Lindsey's choice - she would have picked roti (a flat bread dish) but we had had it the night before). While we were relaxing & watching a movie at the Captains' house, Uncle Eddie & Madam Tong dropped by and insisted on taking us out for ice cream. It was fun, and the ice cream creations were amazing.

Tuesday: Work day! From 8:00-3:00, with a break for lunch, we all scraped paint off the playground at the Children's Home and repainted. It was long, hot, tedious work, but it needed to be done & it looks so much better now. In the evening we did a program for the kids at the home.

Wednesday: Since we had nearly finished our work the day before, we took the day off and Captains Ruth & Augustine & their two kids took us to Penang again. We spent the afternoon on a beach behind a residential area, so we had it to ourselves (Malaysians in general don't go to the beach). Some of us rented jet skis, but most of us were content to swim or sit in the sun. We wrapped us the day by going to a couple of malls and then eating at a Thai seafood market.

Thursday: We went to the Boys' Home to work, but were given nothing to do until 3:00, so we spent the time putting together a photo album for the Captains, organizing team bags, and planning programs. We actually did a bit of work - we put up borders on the walls of some of the boys' rooms. We were supposed to go get rocks to make a rock garden, but when the Major took us to where the rocks were, there were no rocks! So instead he left us for half an hour at the cave with the garden that we had been to the week before. We saw a bunch of monkeys and walked barefoot on the rocky path again - it's supposed to be good for your health, but it's pretty painful. In the evening we did a program with the boys.

Friday: We girls finished painting at the Children's Home, and the guys did some work at the Boys' Home. For dinner, we went out with the staff of the two homes to a 100-year-old Chinese restaurant.

Today: we made an American-style lunch for the Captains and then presented them with some gifts (photo album, craft materials they can use with the kids at the homes, etc.). Tonight we are doing a program for the youth and ordering pizza for them.

It's hard to believe that almost three weeks have gone by and we only have a couple more days in Ipoh. We're excited about going to Kota Kinabalu (KK) as it sounds like it will be a totally different experience, but we're going to miss everyone here - they've been so nice to us!

Lauren