Our Malaysian Get Away

On April 25th, all six of us headed to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the Malaysia Cup Football Tournament that Lance's team and soccer club was playing in. We traveled with the teams and their families. We all stayed in KL at the same hotel and traveled back and forth on Saturday and Sunday on buses to the fields. There is one word to describe the experience - HOT!! I don't know how the boys did it, but just sitting there in the shade not moving was hard to endure. The humidity must have been in the 90s like the temperature. The boys played their hearts out but couldn't triumph. We didn't get to see a lot of KL but what we did see was nice as it was lush with rolling hills or foothills. It was a treat to stay at a hotel connected to a megamall with lots of restaurant choices. The kids wanted Applebee's the first night. They got their much needed american food fix. It was the Chinese labor day holiday and the kids had the whole week off so on the 28th we headed to north Malaysia to the Island of Langkawi near the Thai border. It was a beautiful, mountainous, lush place with water warmer than heated pools. Monkeys were everywhere and the cicadas were deafening. The resort was beautiful and we had a chalet on the side of the mountain with a water view. We tried to spend a good amount of time near the water because of the heat but we had a few great adventures along the way. We took a gondola up the mountain for spectacular views. We took a boat trip through the mangrove river and got to go to a "petting fish farm" and hiked through a bat cave filled with hundreds of bats. A couple of days into our trip another family from Concordia came to the resort and we joined with them for lots of fun including a hike up to the seven pools where the kids were able to go down a natural water slide in a river. We also had a great Thai dinner together on our last night. I did have one harrowing experience as I was alone and filming some monkeys in a tree. Evidentally it was dinner time for the monkeys and I had set my beach bag on the ground while I was filming some in a tree. Well a different kind of monkey started coming down some stairs toward me and were very intent on getting into my bag. I grabbed it before they could get to it but a couple of them continued after me with hissing. I had to back away and "fight" them off by swinging my big beach bag at them. I was scared there for a minute. All this transpired while the video camera was running so I have proof of the event even though much of the ground was filmed and you can hear me yelling at the monkeys... Once again I marvel at the incredible opportunities that we have had here in Asia this past year and am very thankful to the One who brought us here.

Earthquake Experience

First, confessions. Our goal was to add to the blog at least once per month, but I now see that March and April have both gone by in a (silent) blur! And now, the first update won’t even have a picture!

This week had a little bit of new China excitement that we did not anticipate. I (Rich) was sitting at my desk on Monday at work. I realized that I was feeling light-headed and quite dizzy. I thought that I might be sick or pass out. Unsure of what was happening to me, and not wanting to fall over, I put both hands out on the desk for stability. As I did, I noticed that the drawstrings on my office curtains were swaying back and forth like a pendulum. Huh?

I realized that it wasn’t just me -- something was happening to the whole building! It was swaying in circles and making it feel like an amusement ride! My first thought was – uh oh – all the construction around us has done us in. They are building TWO giant buildings across the street, both taller than anything in the U.S. Throw in the subway they are building under the street and the two new skyscrapers on the other side of us, and I figured that maybe our building was destabilized and about to fall over!

Anyway, we were all asked to evacuate. It took about 15 minutes to get the crowd down 33 flights of stairs. When we got outside and found someone to talk English to, I learned that they were on a phone call to Chongqing (1000 miles away) and they had felt an earthquake and hung up the phone there. Then another guy said that he was on the phone to Beijing (500 miles the other direction) and they had felt an earthquake there.

We were safe on the ground in Shanghai, but I realized right then that this dizhen was BIG, and that people somewhere in China were going to be in serious trouble. As you may have heard, the epicenter was out in western China, far from here. And it is very bad. They already have so little in terms of equipment and and expertise and funds, etc. that far out, it is going to be a difficult recovery indeed.

We are safe and sound in Shanghai, but thousands in China could use your prayers and support.

Love to all,
Rich