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 sermon is conducted in Malay, while the prayer takes place in Arabic. After the prayer, we enjoyed some ice cream and a traditional cold drink called cendol, containing pandan-flavored green rice flour jelly, coconut milk, and palm sugar syrup. We learned that people donate food and treats every Friday for worshippers to enjoy after the prayer. The young kids at the mosque were especially excited, and they ran to get the sweet treats as soon as the prayer ended. We were honored to be included. 

After our snacks, we met with the mosque leader, called an imam, and learned a bit about Islam from his perspective. He shared that he had lived in Switzerland for a few years and then decided to move back to his hometown of Kuala Tahan. We felt like celebrities at the end of our visit when people at the mosque took lots of photos of us as a group. 

From the mosque, we walked back down the hill toward the town and got some boba in many flavors, such as green tea, Thai tea, and strawberry, before heading back to the resort. After experiencing the sweltering sun, we were all eager to head to the pool. There, Benjamin and Leotei pushed our amazing local Malaysian nature guide, Andrew, into the pool (with his permission), since yesterday was his last day with our group. After spending a couple of hours in the pool, we all went into town to get burgers, fries, and ice cream. After we ate dinner together at the hotel, we gathered for movie night (Crazy Rich Asians, which includes a lot of the sights in Penang that we will be seeing and actors from Malaysia) and to sample Malaysian snacks.

Benjamin and I are in the same house, and we have working air conditioning, a Western toilet, and delicious food, all because of our amazing homestay family. Our family includes four brothers, two parents, two nieces, and a nephew. Our incredible host is named Fadil. He speaks fluent English and checks up on us very often. He works at a local hotel and has taken us to meet his close friend Danial, who taught us a cool Malaysian card game. Most nights and mornings, we eat with our host mother Ma and host father Ayah. Benjamin also enjoys talking with one of the youngest of the four brothers, Choki, who works as a nature guide at Taman Negara (the national rainforest). Neil loves playing with Mohammad, our young nephew who is the child of the second brother. We have loved staying here and learning from our homestay family.

-Benjamin and Neil