2025 Malaysia- Menlo Abroad

  I know you were waiting for our turn—it’s Ava and Ella! Today we got to wake up late in our hotel rooms and enjoy a nice, big breakfast at the hotel buffet. We had a wonderful time soaking in the air conditioning before getting ready for a community wedding, wearing traditional clothes given to us by our homestays like we did for the mosque, but without headscarves. Before leaving in the early afternoon, we had a small lunch at the hotel buffet with some tasty mango and pink dragonfruit, saving space for more food later at the wedding.  The wedding, located at the village’s community center, was truly beautiful and had hundreds—if not thousands—of people having a great time, since the entire village (population 3,000) was invited. The inside of the community hall was transformed from its usual appearance, filled with colorful flowers and flowing white drapes, and the outside adorned with more decorations and stalls giving out food like ice cream, cake, and other traditional ...

  It’s your favs Ben and Neil coming to you live from Kuala Tahan, Malaysia! Today was our resort day, and we arrived at Tekoma Resort after having a scrumptious breakfast with our homestay family. Shortly after arriving, we got delicious, cold Milo drinks, did our daily check-in, which was focused on gratitude today, and checked into our rooms, taking a break in the air-conditioned room and enjoying hot showers before lunch together at the hotel. After lunch, we went to the mosque for midday Friday prayer, which is the most important congregational prayer for Muslims. To prepare for our visit, we were asked to dress modestly in order to respect the site that we were visiting. For boys, this involved wearing long pants, and for girls, long pants or skirts and headscarves. We walked up the hill near our hotel to the mosque, which is located on top of a hill. Once we arrived, we sat in a shaded area outside the mosque while people prayed together. It is really interesting that the se...

Selamat malam from our lovely homestay in Kuala Tahan! Today was another day successfully spent; it was full of learning and, of course, laughter and light as always. We started off our day with our usual morning routine: a wake-up time of 7:30 and a sizable cup of coffee (lots of condensed milk to mask the bitterness or, in Sienna’s case, sugar as well). Breakfast included orange slices, scrambled eggs, and cheese-stuffed naan. After Jah picked us up from our house, which is the furthest one out from the village, we set off to the boat jetty for a quick morning meeting. Then we took our 15-minute boat ride to the nearby Bateq village we had visited a couple of nights prior.  Our visit to the village was primarily so we could speak more closely with tribe members and dive deeper into learning about their ways of life. With Andrew, Stella, Jah, and Angah as our Malay translators, we listened to detailed descriptions of their day-to-day routines and elaborate folktales about tiger pe...

  Selamat malam! This is Sadie and Kate reporting from Kuala Tahan, Malaysia.  We woke up bright and early (well, Kate did — Sadie woke up 15 minutes late) and enjoyed lempeng dan jem (pancakes with jam) and some sedap (delicious) tea. We attempted to converse with our homestay family only in Malay, but didn’t last long, so instead we practiced counting to 20. Our homestay dad has a challenge for us that before we leave Kuala Tahan, we must have a full conversation only in Malay, no English. Wish us luck! So far we can count to about 5, say thank you, and introduce ourselves.  We live with Din (our dad), Mamarodi (our mom), Emira (our sister — or kakak) who’s 15, and Emil (our brother — or abang) who’s 18. Sadly, Emil had to jet off to his job where he identifies disaster victims, so we mostly spend time with the others. Emira doesn’t have to go to school this week since she is on vacation for Hajj and Hari Raya Haji. Only our dad speaks English, so we asked him about hi...

  It’s Fernanda and Phoebe today! This morning started off with a wake-up knock from our homestay dad (Pachi). We ate a big breakfast of roti, scrambled eggs, chicken, and papaya. At 8:30 a.m., we headed over to home base (Angah’s house) to finish up our eGuide presentations. The eGuide presentations are so that local people can translate the research into their own language to perform tours around Kuala Tahan and the national park, Taman Negara. We split up into four groups–two talked about the national park and two talked about the village. We presented to Roslan, a local park ranger/emergency services officer who works with the Batek tribe. Then we hung out and ate lunch together, with a special appearance from Angah’s two-year-old nephew. After lots of music and rounds of UNO, we all headed back to our homestays. Some of us cut up coconuts or had long chats. Fernanda and Phoebe sat down for some high tea (masala chai and a type of fried banana treat) with our Pachi. We noticed ...

Selamat tengahari! This is Parker, Asher, and Sohum writing to you from Kuala Tahan. Everyone ate breakfast at their homes and met down at the river at 8:30am. After our check-in, we got on boats and traveled downstream to a hiking trail which led us to a big Tualang tree for a group photo and then to a great spot to swim. We had a lot of fun playing in the water. Throughout the trip, we have been recording our experiences through a GoPro until Asher lost his grip on the GoPro and it did not float  On the hike back, Parker and Asher spotted a giant monitor lizard and several leeches. After our boat trip back, where many students took a nap, we ate lunch at the same floating restaurant as yesterday ,but the water level was much higher due to a lot of rain last night (which has thankfully cooled things down today). Our meal included a spicy sauced chicken and rice with vegetables and watermelon. After lunch, we met at Angah’s house (our main host) and began working on our E-Guide pro...