March 2, arrival

Malaysia again! The occasion is the first International Endurance ride in the state of Kedah (just south of the Thai border in northwest Malaysia) in conjunction with the celebration of the 79th birthday of the Sultan of Kedah, Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah. He was Malaysia's 5th King after Malaysia became a sovereign nation in 1958. Also Malaysia is celebrating it's 50th year of nationhood - 'Celebrate Malaysia 2007", so it's a very big deal. Royalty from other countries are attending the ceremonies. And Malaysia's King, HRH Mizan Zainal Abidin, is going to be riding!

March 10, all done!

March 3, travel notes:

We arrived yesterday afternoon, 30 hours of travel (Phoenix to Keday). Ahmod Shah and Mr. Mahadi picked Merri and I up at the airport and the adventure begins- including side trip to a garage in some town along the way because the 'smart' BMW indicated a tire problem. but it was just being too smart, all was fine, still fun to have a reason to see a little slice of 'normal' life (such as a mechanic shop in Malaysia). We had a quick stop in the hotel, dropped off luggage and showered, then whisked off to the weekly night market in Alor Star (the town we're staying in). Bustling, busy, families, vendors, really a fun atmosphere. all types of fruit and produce and malay food being cooked everywere. Had to sample the satay and little tiny fried donut things, and a cold corn custard. Lots of fruits to sample, and the finale was to taste durien , the 'king of fruits', a local Malay/Thai favorite fruit that often sends foreigners running in the opposite direction. One of our hosts (member of the Kedah Equestrian organization, whose name escapes me at the moment) responded to my innocent question about the fruit, and the night market, by organizing our night excursion, complete with photographer from local press to document this 'tasting of the durien' experience. Good fun. And after I got past the initial taste (dirty socks?) and texture (cross between a slug and jello) I actually liked it. Merri also gamely tried it.

Now we're headed to a shopping center, need to buy some nice clothes for the ceremony after the ride. (lots of royalty, we'll probably need more than tennis shoes and tshirt)
later,
Steph

or is it day 3? ... days blur after 30+ hours of travel, night is day, day is night. This day started very early. Both Merri and I woke up at 4:30am (who knows what time that would be in the US) and decided we might as well get up. The internet wasn't working so we fiddled with the computers some and had coffee in the room.

I decided I'd had enough sitting (travelling is mostly about sitting) and needed to get some excersize. The hotel reception guy (another nice young Malay) said the hotel didn't have an excersize room, and it might be better to wait a little bit before jogging the streets, so I did the staircase - 5 times up and down from basement to 8th floor, a little boring but so early in the morning there's not a lot of brain activity anyway.. and it felt very very good to work up a sweat and get physically tired. After the last trip down, I decided to go outside anyway. Still very dark, but warm. A little activity in the streets. I jogged a little, and then just stopped to take it all in. Malaysia, warm, humid, sweet smelling. Chinese lanterns hanging in front of a house/restaurant, trees casting very black shadows, jungle feeling even in the city. A rooster started crowing off to one side, and then the Islam call to prayer came over a distant loudspeaker. Wow, all the senses were filled.

We had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel - buffet - we had to guess at some of the foods, but Merri is as adventurous as I am, so it's fun to try it all together. Some vegetables in curry coconut milk, a wonderful peanut sauce, a rice porridge with assorted condiments (looked a little too fishy for breakfast), some wonderful fried bread - like Indian nan, with a curry sauce to put over it. I like the food here very much, a lot more Thai influence than Terennganu. Kedah borders Thailand to the North, only 30 miles to the border.

At 10am Shah came to pick us up. We have a Liason Officer, Ahmod Shah, a 23 year old student of International Affairs at the University in Kedah. He will be getting Univerisity credit for his time working for the Kedah Royal International Endurance Ride, helping with the foreign guests. Very nice guy, (all the Malays are nice!), and his job is to see to it that we are settled in, find our way around, get what we need, etc. This morning Shah and the driver took us out to the Pusat Equin (Equestrian Park) Darulaman. Darul Aman means 'city of peace', Kedah Darul Aman is the full title to this state (sultanate) of Malaysia. Also know as the 'rice bowl' of Malaysia.

We were hoping we might be able to ride at the Darulaman Park Pusat Equin, but ended up just visiting. Ar Raudah, the stable outside of Kuala Lumpur which hosts the Edaran Classic, is here in force - they brought over 23 horses for the event. Four 8 hour trips by truck to bring them all here. I recognized most of the stable hands from before, they had their hands full with all of the horses - excersizing, feeding, bathing. The Edaran Classic is the FEI event hosted at Ar Raudah by Edaran Digital Systems. The Edaran-Endurance folks have been the primary organization behind the Royal Kedah event, helping them set up the course, manage all facets of the event - including trail, timers, etc. They have been busy! They also helped with the Terennganu Sultan's Cup. Tansri Tajuddin's company (Edaran), his patronage of the sport, his loyalty to HRH Misan (the new Malaysian King) is making a huge difference to the sport of Endurance in Malaysia, and to the success of their bid for the 2008 WEC. Very professional and competent, and after 4 years of managing the Edaran Classic, a world class event in itself, very experienced.

And while at the Equestrian Center, I heard that HRH Misan placed 2nd at an Invitational 160km ride in Doha,Qatar, and another Malaysian rider finished 3rd. So HRH Misan now has his COC (FEI Certificate of Capability) and is qualified for the 2008 WEC. It's not every country whose King rides Endurance! This is a very big deal for Malaysia, and for the sport.

After spending time at the park, and a quick curry for lunch in the open air eating area (everything here is open air it seems - no need for walls!) we went to see the Museum Paddi - the Rice Museum. It was fantastic!! Kedah is well know for its rice production, both historically and currently, and this was a fantastic museum tribute to the states agronomy. The museum is 4 years old, a project of the Kedah Sultan. The top floor is a huge revolving theatre, where viewers in the center can sit or stand and watch as a beautiful mural appears to revolve around them. The designers incorporated actual props (rocks, trees, sheds) in the foreground with an incredibly realistic and seemingling 3-dimensional painting in the background, floor to ceiling, which depicts the landscape in perfect perpective and accuracy as if one were standing in one point and turning a slow circle to see 360 degrees of Kedah life and landscape. And in addition the landscape changes seasons as one revolves, from golden rice harvest time, to wet monsoon planting seasons, and scenes from Kedah 'life' - the harvests, markets, social times. One of the most incredible things I've seen. We were totally in awe.

After the museum we wound our way back to the hotel, our driver took us by a pretty park, where we sampled 'rojak' a wonderful mix of pineapple, mango, cucumber, some crunchy type of chinese fruit, and a mango/soy sauce, topped with nuts. A Malay favorite, and very tasty. We had cold drinks, a stroll through the park, with towering Jawi trees (roots and branches intertwined and indistinguishable) spreading up and out, so very jungly...

Back to the hotel, back to the computers and internet. Merri is working on the photos she took, I've been catching up on email and gettin the Royal Kedah page updated. We ordered up a couple of Tiger beers. Thinking about wandering outside soon, to walk the streets and look for something to eat, maybe another pair of shoes...

later,
Steph

I woke up early again, and dug in to the computer. Lots of work to catch up on, setting up the even page for the Kedah ride, fixing Merri's photo and story pages, running the stairs again, with a cool-down jog in the early morning streets outside the hotel. Work and work, breakfast, more work. Finally we met Shah and Mr. Rusi, aka The Sherrif, downstairs and off to the market we go

The hotel is smack dab in the city center, so everything is close. We went to Pecan Rabu, a very old native market, tons of great little shops, crammed into a 4 level open building. Shop keepers at every shop, color everywhere! We had a great time shopping, and Shah and Mr. Sherrif bravely kept up with us, carrying our filling bags, and offering comments and suggestions. So, do I look better in this gold shirt? or is the green better? Shah's answer "You look good in both" (he's studying foreign affairs, on the path to being a diplomat!). Mr. Sherrif's answer "The gold". A straight shooter, right to the point!

We search endlessly (it seems) for shoes for me, by US standards my feet aren't that big, but in the land of tiny Malay women, finding something to fit was a challenge. Finally gave up on the shoes, and we decided to go to the Menor Tower, the 9th tallest tower in the world, I limped along in my blistering feet (wearing flip-flop sandels I had purchased before, wearing a blister on my toe), but the 360degree view from the tower was fantastic! We could see the ocean off to the west, the mountains, Kedah's highest peak, the rice padi's surrounding the museam we had visited earlier, the air was cool up there, an ocean breeze, I was a little chilly, Merri was happy.

Afterwards I decided one more attempt at finding comfortable walking sandals. Concentration and perserverence - I had to find some shoes! We went back to the mall (sort of western style, but still very Malay feeling). The first shop upon entering the mall was a shoe shop, and I tried on dozens of shoes - the women's shoes just don't fit me. So Shah, the charming diplomat, suggested perhaps some nice men's sandals.... I swallowed my faintly feminie pride and tried on a couple pair of men's sandals... ok, yes, not so pretty, but it's time to move along. I'll take these! And I also bought some pretty black beaded slip on shoes, a litte snug perhaps, but it made me feel a little better. and everything is so affordable here! the USdollar goes a long way.

A collective sigh of relief and we decided to go celebrate with a curry dinner. It was late, almost 7pm, and we were starving. We went to the wonderful open air curry diner again, and gorged. Conversation froze while we wolfed down the incredible assortment of flavorful foods. Shah and the Sherrif ate Malay style, with their hands, and did an admirable job of cleaning their plates and picking the bones. Merri and I struggled with a fork and spoon, but managed to eat our fill. and then some.

Back to the hotel, happy, full, bags of goodies in the trunk, back to the hotel just in time to see the Sultan and his family arrive for an annual charity function (the Sultan's first wife had started a charity organization for the needey). We watched as the beautifully dressed men and women, all silk colors of the rainbow, paraded in, warm greetings and smiles, and the Sultan finally arrived, walking the yellow carpet to the elevator, smiling. A very kind looking man.

Now, it's almost noon, time for a little more shopping. John arrives this afternoon, and we'll go out to dinner again, maybe the same Indian curry!

later,
Steph