Week 3 Penang

Dear Ethel, Family and Friends,

Week 3 brings us to Penang for our month of study, to learn how to teach English to speakers of other languages, (TESOL course).We arrived in Penang from our week long stay in Cambodia on Sunday afternoon at about 4pm. We didn’t have much time to get acquainted with our surroundings before we had to go to school in the morning. We are staying at the northern tip of Penang, Batu Ferrangi is only 2 km away. We are staying in a 23 story unit block or Condo as they call them here, we are on the 18^th floor and have a great view north, towards Thailand, we can see the mainland from here, and I guess Thailand is not that far away.

Going back to school is a great experience, at first we were not shore how we would go, but after the first week, the worst of it is over. We passed our first test, and are waiting on assignments to come back on Monday. Another exam tomorrow, as well as a practical demonstration of how we will teach a class. But apart from that, no pressure at all. Needless to say we have been busy preparing for the test and prac work, so not much of a chance to get out and see things. Only 3 people in our class, Louise and I and a guy named How Seng, a Chinese Malay, from KL. We actually start teaching on Tuesday. We have our prac work at an international school and will be teaching teenagers, so it will be interesting

We have been eating out at the hawker stands a lot, rice and noodle dishes for about a dollar or 2. Have made some friends at the school, Danny is a teacher and is from Coffs Harbour and is in Penang with his wife Barbara and two young daughters. They will be staying here a year or two. We had drinks with them on Friday night and went out to the night food markets for dinner.

Haven’t had a chance to up load any photos from Cambodia yet or do any more video, as we have been busy at school and internet connection is also very patchy here. But we will try to stay in touch.

All the best for now

Ric & Louise

Week 2 - Cambodia

Dear Ethel Family and Friends,
Week 2 passes by as another very busy one, We have spent 6 nights in Siem Reap, Cambodia, seeing the incredible temples of Angkor Wat (see Tomb Raider Movie). We spent the week with the Johnstons as well and stayed in a very nice hotel close to the heart of town, called the Angkor Star Hotel at $30US a night.
The major form of transport around town and the temples are the Tuk tuks, pronounced (took), a motorbike with a carriage attached to the back. They are real cheap usually $1US to anywhere in town, except at night when they double their price.
The food was great as well $3-$US5 for a main meal of a good size, beer $1US and spirits $2US. The locals are friendly and being Buddhists we never felt uncomfortable walking on the street even at night.
The Temples are of course the highlight, we opted for a weekly pass, so we didn’t have to cram it all in 1 or 3 days, so we could have a temple day and a rest day. We ended up doing the temples early, getting up at 5am and coming back at about 10am for swim at hiding in aircon till the afternoon.
The Angkor Wat site is so big, we had a look at it on Google Earth before we left, but wow. The Angkor Wat temple Site is the most impressive, as it is the most intact temple, but we went to 12 or so of the temples and found some of the others more enjoyable because there were less other tourists and you were able to wander around at your own leisure. We did sunrises and sunsets and did the balloon ride as well, although that was a bit disappointing, as it is a stationary balloon and takes you 180m up and attached to a cable and takes you back down again, it’s not really close enough to the Temple. Michael & I did an extra day to the girls and saw a few of the outer temple sites.
While we did the extra temple day, Louise & Joyce did a coffee shop, market and Massage day. They went to a massage place called “Seeing Hands”, massage by the blind. The only complaint they had was that they had to ask the masseurs’ to turn on the lights, as they were left in the dark.
A very enjoyable stay in Siem Reap, well worth the visit. Next stop for us is Penang to do our month long english course, the Johnston’s are off to Puket and we catch up with them next in Borneo. PS writing this in the plane again, a good way to pass the time and recount the events.
All the best for now, will post more photos and some video through the week, I hope.
Ric & Louise.