Kuala Lumpur Revisited

I got back to Kuala Lumpur early evening - and Marianne meets me at the front door with a cold glass of white wine! She had been worried because the flight got in a bit delayed, so she wanted to make sure I didn't miss cocktail hour! It was so good to see her and Annabelle again, John was not going to be home from a business meeting until late that evening, so we had dinner and chatted about my trip and what had been going on at the house while I was gone. I was happy to hear that Annabelle's "show and tell" about the letter P for Painting had been a success!
The next morning I helped the Nanny Linn with the background for the next week's project - N for Nature, so I painted backgrounds for Desert - Jungle - Polar - Beach scenes that Linn had so cleverly designed. Then it was off to the pool with Annabelle and Marianne, and Annabelle and I had fun with some of the new toys Marianne had bought, and we practiced looking down into the water to spot various marbles, etc. Lots of fun!
In the afternoon Annabelle baked cookies for her class for the next day - and she looked like she had fun!
John came home for dinner, so I had a chance to catch up with him as well, and we had a lovely evening enjoying the warm, pleasant night on the deck. I will miss those evenings with John and Marianne!
I am getting ready for the next leg of my trip, which is Borneo, so I will fill you in as internet access allows! It should be a fantastic time visiting many of the Humana Schools - Torben has made quite an ambitious schedule for me, so I am very excited!

Leaving one Paradise for Another!

Today I am taking off for three days to Tioman Island, which everyone is telling me is paradise on earth - so I am very excited, even though I have lived in paradise for over a week now here at Marianne and John's! I will be staying at the Juara Lagoon on the remote side of the island, so probably no email access, but I will be sure to fill you in when I return to Marianne and John's house on Wednesday evening!

Dinner Party With Substance

It was a beautiful evening, the sky was a pretty pink and lavender as the lights of the city started blinking against the evening sky. I was looking very much forward to an evening with our hosts and dinner guests - Torben and his lovely wife Roselyn who were in town from Borneo to visit schools in Kuala Lumpur. Torben is the director of the Humana Schools that educate more than 8000 children of the plantation workers on the big plantations on Borneo. These children would otherwise have no possibility of an education. John and Marianne are very closely involved in this wonderful project and I am so thrilled to get the chance to meet Torben and Roselyn before my visit to the schools next week. It was fascinating to hear what the schools have accomplished, and how they have grown over the years. John told about the plight of the refugee children from the former Burma, and how he and Torben are trying to find ways to help these children get a chance to get educated as well. Please check out the website for the Humana Schools to see what a wonderful program it is!

http://borneochildaid.org

I am so grateful to get the chance to go over myself to teach an art class for the children, and you are sure to be reading all about it in the coming weeks!

Of course it was a wonderful evening, the food and wine was great as always, the company delightful and the conversation inspiring! I could not fall asleep for hours, my head was so full of all the information and ideas that had filled our discourse and I am so grateful to know great people who not only cares, but actually do something about it!

Pony Princess and Annabelle

This time the weather cooperated - no heavy afternoon rains - maybe the rainy season is finally over! So I went along with Marianne and Annabelle to the equestrian center to meet pony Princess and see Annabelle canter!!
It was a beautiful late afternoon to be outside, and it was so much fun seeing how comfortable Annabelle is around the horses, and how fond she is of pony Princess. Soon she was mounting and off to the big field with Mommy and the caretaker Rashid holding on to the bridle.
First they trotted along to warm up, and then it went at neck breaking speed galloping with Marianne and the helper running as fast as they could to keep up, while I took photos. I could hear Annabelle shouting "Faster, more power, faster!" She was quite obviously having a blast!! I predict she is taking after Marianne when it comes to horsemanship - the signs are obvious!
Marianne certainly got her exercise, the polo field is really long, and they cantered back and forth about 4 times, before it was time to trot back to the stable and give Princess kisses and hugs, as well as some nice big carrots!

Kuala Lumpur High Life

The days just seem to fly by - and I am enjoying every minute! Saturday evening John invited us out for dinner at the prestigious Royal Selangor Club (the oldest club in KL) where we sat outside and had a lovely Chinese dinner enjoying the ambiance and the view.
Today I went with Marianne to the equestrian club where she keeps her price stallion Lancaster. The club is absolutely lovely with huge grounds and beautiful stables. It was fun watching Marianne work with Lancaster and her trainer on her jumps and to see how her and her horse are a team. No wonder she has won a number of prizes in competitions.
Afterwards we stopped by a bookstore to get a bird book of SE Asia and a book on the fish of the seas here. We also had time for a coffee before it was time to go to Annabelle's school to see her "Show & Tell" - Annabelle did B for Body Parts, and she had been working with Marianne and the Nanny on a life sized version of herself complete with various body parts made of felt, and with Velcro attached so she could attach them in the correct spots! She did a great job, and Marianne could relax!
After Annabelle's nap it was time for her trampoline class, and while she happily hopped we had reflexology - it was great and we almost floated up to pick Annabelle up from class!



We ended the day as always with Marianne reading stories to Annabelle before bedtime, and then a delicious dinner served on the deck overlooking Kuala Lumpur! How lucky am I!!

Keeping up with a 3-year-old!

It's been a while since I had the chance to hang out with a little kid, and I am just having way too much fun trying to keep up with Annabelle's hectic schedule! Saturday is swimming lessons in the pool. Marianne and John had hired a new swim teacher to see if he could coach Annabelle into being more confident and learn to swim without her wings. She doesn't like to get her head under water at all, so the first order of the day was to get her more comfortable in the water. I had talked to her about diving with my goggles, and she was all up for that after her swimming lesson was over. She insisted on using my goggles and snorkel, and before you knew it she was head down in the water with my goggles and snorkel that were way too big for her - looking for the glass marbles she had just earned with her new swim teacher!
Another hit was my binoculars - I am trying to turn her into a bird watcher!
I went to see her play Monster Tennis, and today was the ballet lesson - unfortunately it rained too much yesterday, so we only got to go to the Jungle Gym, the riding lesson on pony Princess had to be rescheduled! Instead Annabelle and I painted and had fun experimenting with mixing colors to see what happens when they flow together!

Lazy Days in Kuala Lumpur

I arrived in Kuala Lumpur after an uneventful flight via Singapore from Bali, and was met in the airport by the driver Marianne had sent to pick me up, and soon I was on the way, enjoying the ride and trying to see if I could recognize Kuala Lumpur and surroundings from my last visit some 14 years ago - the city really had changed, and even the airport was new, and it's about 1 hour's drive to KL - the old one was much closer, that much I did remember.
When I got to the house Marianne was waiting up for me, and it was so great to see her again after almost 10 years!
She showed me my room, super comfortable with TV, own bathroom and she had even laid out all sorts of things for me - sun screen, mosquito repellent, etc. So very thoughtful! We had a glass of wine and chatted for a bit, before we said goodnight, and I snuggled in to my comfy bed and soon dozed off, after watching a bit of CNN - the first TV I had watched in about 3 weeks! I haven't really missed it, and it looked like the world is still in a big pickle, so I soon turned it off again.
The next day was a workday so I took it easy and got myself organized a bit, while Marianne, John and Annabelle were off to work and school, etc. Their housekeeper Vangie is a sweet Filipino lady, and she took such good care of me, made coffee, fresh papaya and orange juice, homemade, freshly baked rolls, took my laundry, etc. I feel so pampered, it's ridiculous (but very, very nice!) Then I went down to take a little swim in the pool, and before long Marianne and Annabelle came home for lunch. I finally got to meet Annabelle, who is now a big girl of 3 years! She is a doll, of course, and I am looking forward to get to know her better over the next few days.
That evening I gave Annabelle the book I had brought for her written by Robert Lewis, who runs Le Beau Soleil art gallery in Pacific Grove. She liked it, and wanted to read it again the next day - it's so simple that no doubt she will be able to read it herself soon!
After Annabelle was put to bed John came home from work, and I finally got to meet him in person - we had a lovely dinner out on the deck overlooking the skyline of Kuala Lumpur, and it was great getting to know Marianne's husband better - I really enjoyed his company, and they are both such gracious and generous hosts.