We Love Malaysia

It is crazy how fast these 3 months flew by.  We head home on Thursday!  It has been so wonderful here.  We love Malaysia!  We have really enjoyed our time here and will never forget the things we saw, people we met, and the memories we made.  We are happy to be heading home, but we will miss Malaysia!!

Isabelle's Birthday

Isabelle turned 11 on January 4th

Pangkor Island

Happy New Year!  Here are pictures from our visit to Pangkor Island.  Pangkor Island is about a 3 hour drive north from Kuala Lumpur.  We went there for 2 nights while Chris had a day off of work for the holidays.  We parked our car in a town called Lumut.  We took a ferry over to the Pangkor Island Beach Resort.  It dropped us off there and we took a 2 minute bus ride to the resort.  It was very relaxing few days.  We tried many different types of food at the buffet.  Some of our favorites were: spring rolls, banana fritters, chicken and rice with yummy sauces, Malaysian pancakes, baked fish, veggies in garlic sauce, mango pudding, and tons of fresh fruit.  It was amazing how many different people we saw from all over the world.  We heard languages we've never heard before, not even sure what they were.  The kids had fun playing in the sand, kayaking, swimming, catching crabs, and feeding monkeys. They've had a lot of time together over these last few months!!  Only 11 more days and we're heading home.

Elephant Sanctuary

On Dec 26th we went to the Kuala Ghanda Elephant Sanctuary.  It's northeast of where we live, deep in the jungle. The kids have been looking forward to this since before we even came to Malaysia.  They were so excited to spend the day with elephants.  The sanctuary is funded by the government and free to the public.  It is focused on elephant rescue, bringing the injured elephants to the sanctuary and relocating healthy elephants to the Malaysia National Park.  The people from the sanctuary have been called to Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore to help with elephant rescues.  They are really good!  We were able to set up our visit with a guy who the locals refer to as "The Elephant Man".  He's famous for rescuing elephants.  He's been doing it for 20 years and plays a key role in taking care of the elephants at the sanctuary.  He was our guide for the day.  We learned a lot from him.  He arranged lunch for us, made by a local woman's association (see pics below, Patrick loved the watermelon).  It was quite an experience.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  Santa made it to Malaysia so the kids were excited!  :)  It was quite a different experience, having a warm Christmas this year.  We went swimming yesterday on Christmas Eve!  We had a great sacrament meeting today and have had fun hanging out, enjoying the holiday.  We miss our family and friends at home though!  Only 18 more days and we'll be heading home!

Christmas Eve...