Term in Asia 2009 - Week 2

Term in Asia 2009
Ian Butters, Tajhia Cartwright, Bart De Jong, Annika Duveneck,
Natasha Elder, Brett Granger, Tyler Krueger, Edgar Macias


Hello again!

It’s hard to believe another great week has gone by! Picking up right where we left off, we started our journey back to JHL from Kanchanaburi by stopping at the Phra Pathom Chedi,, which is one of the world’s oldest Pagoda‘s. This temple is believed to hold some of Buddha’s ashes. The building was under construction while we were visiting it, but it wasn’t hard to see how majestic it is, and how beautiful it will look once it is finished. From there we traveled to the largest Buddhist Monument in the world . It was an amazing statute, and the whole garden area surrounding it had a very nice and relaxed feel about it.

(Buddhist Monument)

On July 1st, we started our day bright and early with a flight to Malaysia. Upon arriving, we went and met with students from INTI College, a Northwood satellite school. The students were so friendly and hospitable! They gave us a tour of the campus and introduced us to some tasty local fruits while we chatted with each of the students about their culture and school life. This was a great way to begin our trip to Malaysia. We all felt so welcomed!

The next day we took a drive up to the Genting Highlands and enjoyed a cable car tour through the trees in to the main business area of the Highlands, filled with several hotels, restaurants, an outdoor theme park, and the world’s largest indoor theme park. We all looked around the indoor theme park for a while, but before then, we looked around at an outdoor Chinese cultural center. There were many interesting temples and artifacts for us to discover., and the scenery was outstanding.

(Students visiting the Malaysian National Monument)

Our last day in Malaysia involved a half day city tour where we had the opportunity to see saw the king arrive at his palace (through a high security processional, of course) , the national monument, the national mosque, a leather shop, a chocolate shop, and a fabric shop. We also stopped for a few minutes to take pictures of the famous Petronas Towers. Overall, each of us thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Malaysia.

(Petronas Towers, Malaysia)

Next on our agenda was a short holiday on Elephant Island. After a few hours of driving, we took a short ferry ride over to the island, and then took a scenic drive to the Sea View Resort. We were all blown away!. The design, service, food, and hospitality were all fantastic. It was just what we needed before our upcoming travels to Bangkok, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Each day has just gotten better and better! We can’t wait to see what the rest of our trip has in store for us!