Snazzy Snaps & Travel Tales
Welcome to my travel blog! I've visited 30 countries (kickstarted by Remote Year) and 38 U.S. States. Click SUBSCRIBE to receive an email when a new post is published.
Chiling Falls with Mr Baby
MEMORY MONDAY - One of my favorite days on RY was the Chiling Waterfalls in Malaysia. We took buses ~1.5 hours outside of Kuala Lumpur and I was lucky enough to sit in front with our driver: 'Mr Baby'.
MEMORY MONDAY - One of my favorite days on Remote Year was the Chiling Waterfalls day trip in Malaysia. We took buses ~an hour and a half outside of Kuala Lumpur and I was lucky enough to sit in the front seat with our driver: 'Mr. Baby'.
I have no idea what his real name was, because he introduced himself to us as Mr Baby. He said all his friends call him that because he has 10 babies.
Mr. Baby lives in a village outside of Kuala Lumpur near a gorgeous area called Perhentian. He said it was common in their village for men to have ~20-25 children! But, "Mr Baby only 10 children. And, only 1 wife, because Mr. Baby is good man." He was quite proud of the fact that while his religion said that he COULD have 4 wives, he only has 1 wife and loves her very much.
Mr. Baby made my day! He is a solid driver, not shy of steppin' on it. And he doesn't like it when other drivers are slow. "See, this driver is sleeping. Mr. Baby don't like this."
And, he thinks "Indian drivers are the worst". Not sure if he realized Abe was in the back seat, but not sure he really cared anyways. He didn't say it mean spirited, just matter of fact like.
The Chiling Falls are located near Selangor Lake, which is a really beautiful cool blue.
We had to trek through the jungle ~1 hour to get to the falls. It was SWELTERING HOT. I was sweating the second we got out of the air conditioned Mr. Baby-mobile. Welcome to Malaysia!
One thing I've learned on Remote Year---I love the jungle / rainforest. I love the outdoors in general, but the jungle has a bit more vibrance than the typical green forests I'm used to. The sounds of crickets and insects are constant. And, there is just a buzzzzzzzz that you can't describe unless you're in it.
In order to get to the Falls, you have to cross the river 4-5 times. Wading through the river was so fun! The main reason is because it was SO HOT and the river was so refreshingly COOOOOOL.
But also, it added a bit of extreme danger to the trek. I had my good camera with me, and one slip would be fatal (to the camera).
I love adventure!
When we finally got to the falls, I was so excited to see that we could swim in them! It was a great reward for the sweltering trek. The water was so cold and refreshing!
When you get into the water you realize you are swimming with MANY fish, and YES, they do nibble at your feet n legs a bit!
And, we could jump off the rocks!
Some of us were a little afraid of takin' that leap, like Heather. :]
But, I was in it to win it! Here's my plunge with the GoPro in hand.
We could even swim UNDER the falls! I will say, being inside a waterfall is not very fun. It's like being in a washing machine or a tropical storm. It takes your breath away and feels a little dangerous. But, our fearless leader TRAVIS is the waterfall KING!
Couple groups shots:
And then we had to trek back.
I think these are termites, not ants.
We made it back!
Thankfully, Mr. Baby stopped at Selangor Lake on the way back and let us snap a few shots of the lake, which was stunning.
Jungle + Waterfalls + Adventure + Camaraderie + Mr. Baby = 1 of my favorite days on RY!
Motivating Malaysian Middle Schoolers
I met some of the brightest leaders from KL at an RY networking event with YSEALI (Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative). One young lady, Sherry asked me to speak to the students at her middle school (15-16 yr olds). My mentor once told me, “Take every speaking opportunity you can get, Matthew.” CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
I was super inspired meeting some of the brightest, hungriest leaders from Kuala Lumpur at a Remote Year networking event with YSEALI (Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative). One young lady, Sherry asked me to speak to the students at her middle school (15-16 yr olds). My mentor once told me, “Take every speaking opportunity you can get, Matthew.” OK, I can't say no!
It is a challenge trying to sell Malaysian teenagers on the importance of communication and public speaking for their future. Of all the things on a teenager's mind, wanting to be up in front of a group is uuuuusually not one of them. Not to mention, there is a slight language barrier here. Most kids speak basic English, but some are more fluent than others.
But, CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
Last May, I spoke to a group of high schoolers in La Paz, Bolivia. It was a bit of a snooze fest. A yawn-a-thon. I feel like I lost ‘em halfway through and couldn’t reel ‘em back in. Up to that point, all of my workshops had been with adult audiences. Speaking to students is a different ball of wax! I vowed to learn from it.
Waiting to get picked up...confident, yet excited!
The event was at a secondary school here in KL: The SMK Taman Maluri School. Before I was about to go on, the students seemed a little antsy. It was hot outside (at least to me, they're probably used to it) and they had been sitting for a while already, listening to local filmmaker, Sham Sunder. I was feeling the excitement, bigly! I knew I had to keep the energy up if I wanted the crowd to stay with me. And I was expecting them to talk over me---especially the kids in the back.
But, I was pleasantly surprised! ~100 students seemed dialed in. They listened attentively, and participated whenever I asked them. I spoke for an hour. Once or twice I felt the audience was getting a little antsy---but I switched things up and was able to reel ‘em back in.
It was an incredibly exciting experience, interacting with these young Malay kids...finding out what their hopes and dreams are...and trying to motivate them to achieve their dreams!
What am I doing here, demonstrating how to cradle a coconut?!!?!?
I met a future Oscar winning actor, “the next Angelina Jolie”!
I met the future President of Malaysia!
I met a future Marketing Manager for a beauty products company!
I met future software engineers.
And, I met students who simply said, they just wanted to work hard and make their parents proud. :]
I learned a LOT from these students! And I think they seemed inspired. Overall, the energy was amazing.
And after I was done, the school presented me with a beautiful fruit basket and a certificate of appreciation.
If the amount of selfies requested is an indicator of success, I’d say the event was a success!
I left there elated and inspired. I realized I want to focus more of my time on working with the youth. This is way more fulfilling and exciting than adult training. I know my colleague Joshua C. Jackson knows exactly how I feel. He has traveled to 88 different cities in the U.S. this past year talking to students. Seems like a blast!
It was only my 2nd time speaking to kids, but I already know I will make the next event even more successful, and entertaining!
Thank you to Sherry and the SMK Taman Maluri school for having me! And, thanks to Travis in Remote Year for setting up that YSEALI event, which led to the event!
Here is Sherry and her sweet kids:
Rubber Trees & Duku Fruit
Did you know rubber comes from trees? I must have been daydreaming about Kelly Kapowski back in science class when they covered this, because I thought rubber came from factories. I guess that’s synthetic rubber? Mind blown!
Did you know that rubber comes from trees? I must have been daydreaming about Kelly Kapowski back in middle school science class when they covered this topic, because I thought rubber came from factories. I guess that’s synthetic rubber. Blew my mind.
Our Remote Year Welcome Party was last Saturday and we traveled by bus to a ‘remote’ (#pun) homestay in the country outside of Kuala Lumpur. We learned about Malaysian culture and did a series of fun activities.
We played with slingshots (Here is Ruslan showing us how it is done):
Mike won!
Laura came in 2nd!
Travis 3rd!
We played Sepak Takraw (volleyball meets soccer) with the local kids. This was really hard for me. You can't use your hands, just your feet and head. When the ball came to me, I instinctively bumped it like a volleyball.
If you want to see what hard core, competitive Sepak Takraw looks like:
But one of the more interesting events was a demonstration on extracting rubber from rubber trees. You just carve a couple diagonal lines in the tree, and the rubber seeps out.
If you touch the rubber with your hand and roll it around in your fingers it gums up and becomes---well, rubber. Reminded me of Elmer’s glue.
After a traditional Malay lunch, we were given as many duku fruits as we wanted to eat. Someone said these are langsat. But we were told duku. Wiki redirects them both to the same page, but there are slight differences between duku and langsat. Who knows. Either way---delicious.
Kinda tastes like lychee, even kinda looks like it. But, it's more flavorful and has more of an orange-y taste? Here's a demonstration for how to peel and eat duku fruit.
It was a fascinating Malay day and I learned lots. Like the fact that rubber grows on trees. And people in Malaysia harvest it.
Mind BLOWN!
Next thing I know, you’re going to tell me that a former reality TV star who publicly mocked a handicapped person got elected President of the United States.
Oh wait. That happened.