Epilogue #wetookit #thegirlwiththeglitterbackpack

Hey readers, Happy Sabbath! 

I am typing this at my church in the same area I wrote my first blog exactly three weeks ago. I know, that's extremely cheesy, I roll that way occasionally. I cannot believe this trip went by already, and quickly to say the least In my first blog I stated the fact on how nervous and excited I was to go on this trip. Now I can say without a doubt, I took Malaysia. Better yet, WE took Malaysia. Yes, cheesy without a doubt however, what we lived these past weeks there were unforgettable. We got to see the world in a whole perspective. We got to experience and witness many different things when it comes to this type of culture. It is open minded if we weren't already to the different  religions in Asia. Sure there were mishaps,maybe  every single day. There were some moments of tension as well, but in the long run we all embraced the culture and each other. 

When I started the class last quarter, I did not know most of the people in my class due to me not being able to take Honor's classes until this past quarter. I came out of this trip with with more friends than I started with. I made awesome, unforgettable memories with them. All of us come from different backgrounds and and places. We all have different travel experiences as well. Yet, we all were new to Malaysia, Singapore and its culture. We all got to be apart of some crazy adventures. 

When it comes to traveling I guess you can say I was only familiar with the U.S. And my parents' homeland Mexico. Being able to explore Malaysia and Singapore has opened a door to all the possibilities of being able to travel the world. I was able to experience cultures and was able to respect and adapt to them as much as I can. Will these places be my last stop? No, this is only the beginning. This girl with the glitter backpack is on the move ready to experience the world on a whole different level. With God all things are possible. Thank you to all who read day by day on our adventures. Maybe a new blog will come soon, who knows. I'll keep you guys posted. In the meantime, it is back to reality, this is Sandra logging off. Until next time readers. 

Blessings and until next time,

Sandra

P.S. I should really get a new glitter backpack ;)

Day 17th #lastday

Hey Readers, I guess you can I'm caught for good now. You probably will get one more post, but that'll be once I'm at home rested, and editing all the blogs. 

Our day consisted of heading back to Singapore and spending our last day in South East Asia. We woke up early  to head to the bus at 8am. We boarded the bus for a 4 hour ride to Singapore. It wasn't that bad. I listened to music and took a little nap. We had to go through immigration at Johor Bahru and fill out the paperwork before hand. Once we reached we reached Singapore we were dropped off to use the MRT to head over to the the SDA Union lodge. We also observe that Singapore looked different than the first time we saw it. This time Singapore had fog and haze. We were explained that this was caused by the fires happening in Indonesia and how all the smoke is being brought away to Malaysia and Singapore. When we got our to our rooms, we were able to rest for a bit. Some of us headed to the lobby for Wifi. 

By 2:30, a group of us decided to just explore one last time around the city. We took a public bus to got to lunch at the Nevana Mall. We also exchange our Malaysian money to Singapore dollars. We headed to the Bay Area by using the MRT and took pictures when we got there. We also found Durian Ice Cream. The taste was interesting and people acknowledge the smell very well. However, they went to the trash can. We then headed to see the helix bridge that was by there. We saw that the view wasn't as mesmerizing as before, there was too much haze. We decided to board the the MRT to head to China Town. Taking the MRT is not as hard as we thought it would be. 

We got there and started to shop to spend our last of what we had. We bought our last Souvenirs of the trip. I was able to get random gifts for people and to seal the deal.  Once we were done we had dinner and headed back to the MRT to go back to the lodge. As much as I respect the MRT, I miss have easy transportation in which you just go in your car and go. We got back to the lodge and told ourselves that we were going to stay awake to control our jet lag when we go back. So far we have stayed up and have watched a movie and listened to music. I guess you say it will be a pretty long night. Can you believe that the trip is about to be over. There are so many memories to share with each of you. I have learned so much, academically, spiritually, socially, and all in between. I cannot wait to come back and share the experience I have had. God has been really good to us. Please wish us luck on our flight in a few hours as also prayers! 

Blessings,

Sandra 

  P.S. New Hashtag #SandratookMalaysia 

Day 16 #thetest

Hey Readers, we are so close to the ending of this trip. 

I started my day by eating breakfast at the hotel. Our bus was heading out to Melaka around 9:30. The bus ride was about two hours long. Most of us were studying for the test in the bus. There were some that were studying, and some that were sleeping. As soon as we got to the hotel in Melaka we all got to our rooms and and came back down to the lobby to meet with Dr. Perumal to take the test. The test was at the 30th floor in an executive lounge at 1:30.Once we were taking the test, Dr. Perumal went and got us snacks since we had not lunch, and we were all starving. 

Once we were done with the test we had a break until 3:30. By that time, we were on our way to a Portuguese Museum near Malacca. There we got to see a it of history on how Melaka was developed. We spent about an hour there, before going to dinner.

We ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant. I also accidentally tried duck by mistake. I thought it was chicken. I honestly have to say I wasn't fond of that dinner, however I ate because I was starving. Once we were done with dinner, Tessa, Brianna, Cresencio, and I went off to explore to fin Durian Ice Cream. We also decided to see what was around. Unfortunately, we could not find Durian Ice Cream, so we got Haägen Dazs instead. We spent time there chatting and hanging out. We returned to the hotel to rest. An hour later, Tessa, Brianna, and I headed to the hotel mall to shop around. I bought a gift for a friend and a pair of sunglasses for myself. 

When we went back to the hotel, we were invited to have a tea party with Nikki, Zoë, Ariela, Matt, and Cresencio. We were there from around 8 pm to probably 1 am. We talked about the great memories from the trip, what could be better for next year's group, and just about life. I'm glad we had that time to just relax and and bond more. We all went to bed pretty late that's for sure. Now to enjoy our last day in South East Asia back at Singapore. 

Blessings,

Sandra

P.S. Deep conversations usually happen in evenings. 

Day 15 #KualaLumpor

Hey readers, sorry for the delay! I guess you can say I'm having so much fun to be able to keep up with the blogs. So here's what happened.

We woke up and ate breakfast at the hotel we were staying in at Kuale Lumpur. We met up and had reflections about the trip. The reflections are one of my favorite parts of the trip. I just feel that we take the time to sit and listen to each other's thoughts on how the trip has made us view things. Everyone shared how the Long House Experience was going to be an unforgettable. I completely agree. 

Once we were done with the reflections, as we headed out, it started to rain. We got our rain gear and headed out to the MRT. Our destination was the Batu Cave Temple. Once we arrived it had stopped raining. We saw that the Temple was on top of a hill with more the 700 steps of stairs. At first it seemed a little drastic, yet we all made it up there. We made it up there despite the monkeys and the large amount of birds flying around on top of everyone. We saw that the cave was a little damp and there was a lot of people. I think we even saw a few bats flying around. We also saw that a Hindu My friend Royce and I even tested out the acoustics by doing small echoes. We all took pictures, then started to head back down. Heading back down was such a struggle for because my left knee gets really weak due to previous injuries with it in the past. As I was going down I tried hanging on the rails beside me. Suddenly something happened, I touched a bird, well more like grabbed. I was trying to hold on to the rails going down and instead of the rail, I put my hand on the bird's body and and grabbed. Once I felt the feathers and saw what it was, I freaked out. I immediately let it go. I freaked out a little bit. I thought it was going to attack me. Thank God it didn't.  I kept walking down and monkeys appears near where we were. It's so amazing and scary how monkeys just there trolling around.

 After going down the stairs, most of us decided to go eat in a restaurant near by. When we were done, we headed back to the MRT to go to our next destination, the National Mosque. As we got there I got the urge to the restroom. I asked if I can go to the ones available there. I was denied restroom access due to the fact that I wasn't Muslim. So I held it. We were told to go to the visitor's side of the Muslim temple to get the garments we need to wear to go inside. The robes were purple(everyone wore one) and the Hijabs were black  for the women to wear. We took pictures of ourselves and headed towards the Mosque. We walked around and asked questions and read many pamphlets. 

We then headed to a Historical Museum in the city. I did not take pictures during this due to being able to observe everything gracefully.  After we headed back to the hotel to start studying for the final exam we were going to have the next day. I was able to meet up with Cresencio, Tessa, and Brianna at the lobby to study. We then decided to order pizza, which is always a struggle(location in a foreign country). Royce, Ariela, Meggie, Nikki, and Matt met with us a few hours later. We were able to study, however some of us decided to take a break and shop. We were studying for so long we lost track of time and saw that all the shops were closing.  Despite the amount of walking we did, it was very fun. We enjoy our last day in Kuala Lumpur. 

Day 14#Petronas

Hey Readers, just letting you know that the wifi is so much better here. I am reporting myself from Kuala Lumpur, also known as, KL. 

Before we got here we had to take a train ride. At the hotel in Penang we woke up around 5:30am to be ready by 6:30 to head the train station. We also had to take a ferry to get to the station. By the time we got to the train, we were already sweating. Once we were on the train we were doing our blogs, sleeping, or watching the Jackie Chan movie they had on. The train ride was about 5 hours. When we got off, Dr. Perumal said we missed our stop. We didn't know what to do for at least 5 minutes. In the end it was all figured out, we took the metro station to get close to the Hotel.     

When we got to the hotel, we saw that  it was in China Town. It also looked like a great place to shop. We checked in to the hotel and saw that they had wifi. The wifi was actually pretty good. It was so good I got to post picture from the past few days on Facebook, which I couldn't do before. Ariela and I caught up with Meggie, Tessa, and Brianna to eat lunch. 

By 4:30, we caught up with the rest of the group to go out and explore. Dr. Perumal showed us around and took us to the central market to look . After we headed to the metro station to go where the Petronas Towers were at. We all got to see that there was so much pollution in the city. We could not see the sky at all. I thought Los Angeles was bad. However, we still got take pictures of the towers. We had already heard thunder and saw lightning. We knew we had to head inside at least until it stopped. Some of us grabbed dinner at the mall, we went around and killed time. We then decided that it was time to go outside because it stopped raining. We saw that it got darker and the lights were on in the buildings, we also saw a light show by the fountains. We got to take picture of the towers while we joked around with each other. 

We decided to go back to China town and see what going on there. We took the metro to head back and everything went out smoothly. We got to China Town and saw that it had all its shops open. Most of my friends wanted to get specific items. However the sellers were giving a ridiculous price. I went along and did my own thing, and I have to say, I am very good at bargaining. If I pretty much don't get the price I want, I don't bother. Surprisingly every time I said no, the sellers would adjust to my price. Pretty amazing right?  I saw that some of my friends were going to get ripped off so I helped them out a bit. I guess you can say Americans are an easy target. Other than that I got pretty tired and went back to the hotel for a good rest after a few good hours of shopping. I'll keep you updated tomorrow on our few last adventures. 

Blessings,

Sandra

P.S. The wifi is Bae here. 

Day 13 #wholenewworld

Hey Readers! 

As the days go by, we are getting closer to the last day. 

There are so many stories that I wish to still share, however due to lack of time and space I can only do so much. 

Today we started by finally going to a Mosque. At first, we saw that there was a strong dress code to go inside. There was no one there to attend us. We decided then to wait for someone to let us know what to do. Someone appeared and let us know that we can wear the given clothes on the side of the door. We all got the clothing, got our head coverings, and we're ready to go. This was mainly for the women, since we had to be conservatively dressed and most of us came in pants or shorts. It was a cultural experience. We got inside and looked around. The acoustics were amazing!!! I even sang a snippet of the Hallelujah chorus which sounded well, I guess. Singing a song about Jesus in a Mosque, well that's definitely a story to tell. Good thing Indidnt got caught. When it was time to go we took off the borrowed clothes and placed them where it was. Then we saw a Muslim man passing by with a face looking angry or defensive. We quickly walked away to the bus to our next location. 

We headed to a fishermans' village. It wasn't really a village, but a mere old wooden bridge that was also a dock. It was pretty scary to go through it, since it was literally falling apart. After the half hour we were there, we headed to a Batik Factory.

Once we got there, we were able to see how they made the prints by hand and to hear about the process.  The person showing us told us that they use Cotton and mostly silk because polyester is hard to get the wax on. After we looked around the store they had. It seemed a bit pricey due to it being legit and hand made. 

We later went to see a Buddhist temple in which it had Poisonous snakes close to the statues. At first I thought they were fake or dead, but then our tour guide demonstrated that they were most definitely real and should not be disturbed or they will bite. We walked around an saw they many snakes were hanging about. The strange thing is that they stayed in place. The snakes seemed harmless, yet better safe than sorry. 

After we headed towards downtown. We had the option to go to the mall, sightsee, and find our way back through taking a city bus or taxi, or going straight to the hotel. All of us chose to go sightsee. I went with, Tessa, Brianna, Ariela, and Matt. We had lunch and stayed at Starbucks for a little wifi. We then decided to look around for Durian Ice Cream. We wanted to know what it would taste like frozen and if tasted any different. I also looked for souvenirs. The mall was also a little confusing because it had so many floors and so many connections. We almost lost Matt as he went along by himself to explore the mall. When we found him we decided to find a bus that'll take us close to the hotel. Dr. Perumal told us that it was either the 101 or 102. I saw that the 102 bus was loading people. We asked if it would take us to Gourney Plaza. We took our chances and it did.   We took a look around that mall to look for Durian Ice Cream, yet there wasn't any. We then walked  to the hotel. Finding our way back to the hotel was easier than I thought it was going to be. 

We all went to our rooms to rest. Ariela  and I were just in our room and started doing our blogs while packing. Around 7, I got a message from My friend Royce if he can hang out in our room to obtain Wifi. His roommate Cresencio showed up a half hour later. We were having fun conversations about the trip, school, honors classes and so on. We even ordered Dominoes Pizza for a late dinner. After a a while,it got late so we all decided to call it a night. Ariela and I finished our packing because our next stop was at the Capitol.

Blessings,

Sandra

 P.S. Everything is better with a little glitter :) 

Day 12 #adventuringPenang

Hey Readers! I am reporting from the city of Penang. 

Now to start the day off, we had breakfast at the hotel before going to church. The church we were going to was the Penang English Seventh Day Adventist Church. It was a good Sabbath since it was the Pathfinder/Adventurer Sabbath. I got super excited to see what they were going to do when it came to the program. Unfortunately, we arrived a little late due to the fact that the service started around 8:30ish. All we got to see was the sermon, and their special music. It was kind of adorable seeing both Pathfinders and Adventurers sharing their activities they did throughout the year. The Pathfinder's even performed a small song with sign language, which was nice to see.

The service ended at 11, so we headed to a botanical garden. The botanical garden was more open than the one we saw in Singapore, plus it had live monkeys everywhere we walked.  I was amazed on how Malaysia is literally a big rain forest. Never in my life have I seen a place with so much wilderness without going to the mountains. We looked around and took pictures. We soon went on our way. 

Our next stop was going to Eugene's house for lunch. It was honestly the best meal I have ever had on this trip. We also just socialized more with each other which was nice. One thing I noticed that many of my friends were getting sick, which caused an internal panic. As we were heading out, we saw that it was going to rain. That's when we decided to just cruise around in the bus before going to our next destination.  

We went to visit a Buddhist Temple with many floors and with 10000 Buddhas. I was amazed of the structure of the buildings and the fact that there were so many steps. I also learned that the symbol that was used for Hitler's reign came from Hinduism and Buddhism representing peace. We took many pictures as we walked up the stepson and we enjoyed our time there.  

Right after, we headed to Penang Hill to go to see if we can see a Mosque. We took a train up to get to the top. We saw the view of the city, and well, it was simply beautiful. We also got to experience many interesting moments. For example, one of my friends was asked to take a picture them by  two girls. The funny thing was that everyone on in the group was watching and just laughing internally.

We walked around and headed to see the Mosque. It was closed unfortunately, again. Our luck with Mosque is not that good since they have all been closed due to remodeling. We saw the Hindu temple and it wasn't as good as the other ones we have seen. Time went on so we then headed to dinner to a Chinese restaurant. It was so cool to see how the tables had the rotating table with the food again. I also tried this Orange-Apple drink which was delicious. Overall the food today was the best I've had so far in this trip. 

We went back to the hotel to rest. However, I attended to a few people in my group who needed medicine. I then also met up with my friend Royce and made a few Video Blogs, which were really funny. I'm also realizing that the trip is almost coming to an end so I'm going to enjoy it as much as I can. 

Blessings,

Sandra

P.S. It has been leg day every day here.