Working at the Home: The whole experience was both uplifting and heartbreaking. I had to keep telling myself that despite the sometimes dubious care from some of the staff (although there were also cultural differences that came into play)that the children were receiving, it was better than some of their previous experiences. The home itself dominated a hilltop and entire road, there were 4 main buildings, although one had been almost entirely destroyed in a fi...

More strange and interesting quirksd from Malaysia: Favourite saying: 'Small matter la!' - said after being thanked for doing something, a bit liie we would say "no problem!" Aunties and Uncles...: As a sign of respect and part of a greeting any female adullt or male adult is referred to as 'uncle' or 'auntie' this includes taxi drivers! If you are considered young enough you are called 'sister' or 'brother' - glad that I still fall in the younger ...

Thursday 12 March - First day off! Got up quite early today as we were meeting a Uni student Lucy had met through some of the UTAR students, (Wai Keat). He had kindly offered to take us sightseeing so we got a taxi to a local shopping Mall to meet with him. Our first stop was the Lake Gardens, a well known tourist attraction. We had intended to visit the Bird Park, but as they wanted to charge Lucy and I double just for being 'foreign visitors' we didn't go in ...

So, now I have had four full days at the Ti-Ratana Welfare home, it is an incredible place and I have met some inspirational students, children and staff. The project was only started 10 years ago and will accept any one in need, there is a children's home, an old peoples section, a womens sanctuary and even a a dog rescue home. I am working in the children's home that caters for children from birth through to 19.It is fundamentally Buddhist in its approach and ...

So, I am now in Kuala Lumpur (KL) and it is very different from Singapore in as much as the government does not seem to make a priority of keeping the environment spotless and certainly there is more evidence of poverty and the issues that go along with it! However, there are touristy and high class areas, and on the first afternoon I used the KL transit system to get around and eventually found myself at the Petronas towers(in picture) these are quite impressiv...