Travels in Malaysia Pt. 1

[Guest guest]

It's hard to give a travel log of our journey through Malaysia, without giving

an

understanding of the Malaysian People. They have to be the most wonderful and

generous

people on the planet. Everywhere We went, We were welcomed with the most loving

devotion. I have experienced similar in India, but not to the extreme as in

Malaysia. This

does not, however come without a price. As Krishnananda says they love to

squeeze the

juice out of you, and they do. It's great, but tiring.

 

As our Jet lag started to diminish, Rukhmini (my other half) wanted to go to a

Catholic Mass, as it was sunday, and my luggage had not arrived (thus I had only

my

traveling cloths), Veni, and Krishna dropped us off at a local Church. We came

in at the

end of the English Mass (mostly attended by Tamil Christians), and stayed for

the Chinese

Mass. The service was a little more progressive than in the US, but not by much.

Afterward, we walked to the local Mall, via a Vegetarian Chinese restaurant we

found on

the way.

 

Mother must have been ready for me to get to work, as our luggage arrived

sunday

night, just in time for me to prepare for the first Puja class. The Class was to

be held at

Ram's sisters house, Shamala. It was scheduled with both her family and another

family.

This class was going to be more advanced class as all who attended had been at

least one

class the last time I was there. The class went well, and covered a broad range

of topics.

We spent the night there and returned the next day.

 

It is normal for our schedule not to be set until the day of the event. Thus

was the

case with our visit to "Captain's" house. On Wednesday, We took a bus to

Mentakab (about

2 hours), and was met at the Bus terminal by Captain. Mentakab is in the center

of the

Malaysian part of the peninsula, and on the edge of the most beautiful jungle.

When we

arrived at Captains house, we were greeted by his family. Sarada, his wife, and

there

children: Jai Kumar, Jaya Lakshmi, Jai Shri Krishna. A very remarkable family.

Sarada is the

daughter of a Swami, and has infused that devotion into her children. They do

Puja three

times a day, with the parents in the morning and in the evening, and by them

selves when

they get home from school. There form of Puja is to give offerings with bhajan,

and

mantra, in a manor that is really great for kids. It gives the children an

opportunity to sing

there favorite bhajan and engrossed in the Puja, in the same manor as adults. It

produces

a tremendous bhav.

 

Our first outing (Thursday), was a speed boat trip across a lake in the

National Park.

It was not the usual open expanse of water. It had thousands of small islands,

some with

no growth, and some covered with vegetation. The vegetation covers the islands

so

completely that it creates small tunnels between the islands, just big enough

for our small

fiber glass boats to go through. Currently the lake is in a drought condition,

as the rains

come in the fall to fill the lake. At one point, we had to leave the boats so

they could be

carried across a small section of land. The land was extremely soft, and could

not hold my

weight. I had to look for small patches of grass to stand on. Smaller people in

our party

had little problems, but still had to be careful. Shortly, after we resumed our

travel, we

came to a dead end, and had to return. The original goal was to go to an

aboriginal

village, across the lake. After we turned around we decided to go to another

village, one

that was slightly more modern.

 

The next day (Friday) we went on a river cruse. This time we took a wooden long

boat, that was designed for more than just us. Up stream it took about 3 hours,

just

relaxing up river, and looking at nature. The Jungle in the national park, was

pretty much

untouched, except for the occasional fisherman, and other log boats coming down

stream,

there was little in the way reminders of modern world. When we arrived at the

park center,

we took a trail into the heart of the Jungle. It was spectacular, ancient trees,

many varieties

of birds, red ants an inch long. Just beautiful. The funny thing about our walk,

was the way

it ended. While we were dropped off at a unmarked river bank, the trail ended at

a 3 star

resort. Where we had a light lunch and returned by boat.

 

More to come