Well, after two seven hour flights, eight days in Seremban and an eight hour journey by bus, we have finally arrived in Lumut! Saturday night was fun, if a tad jumbled - I'm still not sure if the owner kicked us out or not, though why he would I have no idea - and Lisa swears he was closing up. Ah well, it wasn't too bad - a huge fit of the giggles and Tom being carried home, but nothing was broken, and the owner appreciated the three beer buckets a strange Malay bought us.
The next day wasn't quite as interesting. A late start, and then a trip to the Royal Ujong Club (the Colonial Club mentioned earlier) for lunch and a swim. I decided to follow the traditional Malay route, and considering we were eating 'Banana Leaf' (not literally, everything just placed prettily upon it), it seemed apt. By that, I mean I ate with my hands. Rice and vegetables covered in sauce - and not a drop passed my knuckles. Impressed, no? It is way more refined than the customary 'cram it in your mouth' style you're probably thinking about.
A quick swim, ending in Max smacking his head due to a 'Death Dive' gone wrong, and we departed to the hotel. I was able to get my packing done easily - Mya and Lisa had gone to visit their possible homes - and then we headed out for dinner and a final send off. Which got steadily more depressing as bouts of home-sickness (or something like that) took hold, sending some of our group into hiding. Mya, Geordam and I ended up in the Mamak, where roti chanai was consumed at around three in the morning.
The sad times were necessary I feel - after spending a week together, we've split up to make our way in the world. Tom and Max were seen off before Geordam and I departed to the bus station, only to discover all buses to Lumut were fully booked. Thus began an eight hour journey, requiring five hours to Ipoh, a half hour attempt at finding where to get a bus to Lumut, another bus journey to the Central Terminal, and then a two hour journey in a non air-conditioned bus. (to put this into perspective, the Lumut bus was a five hour, air-conditioned bus, and the man at the station lied to us, a confident 'Ipoh is 15 minutes from Lumut, ye?' proved false, the situation exacerbated by the worrying issue that I had eaten no breakfast or lunch).
I suppose the important point is, we have arrived. Atan picked us up for the fifteen minute journey to Outward Bound Malaysia Lumut (OBML) and showed us to our rooms, before supplying us with dinner. I have my own room in the women's quarters, the bathroom right next to me and the dining room literally next door. About an hour was spent blue-tacking things to my wall (including all my The Flash comics) before a shower and finally bed.
This morning, we met Nazri, the Executive Director, who helped set up bank accounts for us, as well as taking us to the Doctor for check-ups. If anyone's interested, they're going to have to wait for the urine sample to come back to know whether I'm fully normal. This week is basic administration, and appears to have a lot of hanging around the Staff Mess ('no access to participants', I so did enjoy passing that sign!) as we aren't allowed to leave the area without express permission from Nazri, due to health and safety risks. We were also told that we couldn't go swimming in the sea this week, again due to 'elf and safety, but all was well, as a Project Trust volunteer from India (nope, didn't know PT was there either) supervised us while we went kayaking.
Now? I've spent about an hour playing Guitar Hero (I'm bad, it must be said) and talking to Aliff who has promised to help me with Malay in exchange for English lessons. So hopefully, you will soon see a vast improvement in my Malay skills. As it is, my bed is calling to me - I have to be up for a run at seven. Pity me children (then again, I'm by the sea).
Selemat Malam,
Emily
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