Butterflies and Bugs

by Buster

A long time ago I went to this butterfly park!!!!:) ;)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Art class

by Child 2

 Well, one day, we wanted to do art. So Mom signed us up for an art class- and that's what this article's about.

    We walked into the door of the art class and looked around. It was a small room, but somehow a lot of paintings fit on the walls. That day the project was blow art, and I'll tell you what that is here:

Paint watered down colors at the bottom of your page in big, wet blobs. Then take out a straw and blow on the blobs. The paint should streak up across the page and look awesome. Use different colors to make it beautiful.

Child 1, Buster, and I had all based ours off of the ocean waves. We have black rocks at the bottom and waves splashing up off of them. Here is Buster's picture:

Buster's looks a little bit more like a garden, with those green and yellow streaks, but it is still awesome. Here is Child 1's picture:

I think that instead of ocean waves it looks a bit like purple coral growing up from the rocky ocean floor. It makes me feel calm and cool. It's really pretty.

Before I show you my picture, I need to tell you this:
It was mostly light blues and dark blues and I think it looked the most like waves, but here's the thing: I dropped a GIGANTIC EXTREMELY OPAQUE blob of deep blue paint on my lovely scene. I poured water all over the blob to water it down, and then blew it out, but it's still extremely noticeable- and kind of cool. It is a one-of-a-kind picture. And here it is:

Cool, right?

    The second time we went to art class with our friends. Their names are Noah, a boy who is a little bit younger than me, and Erin, a girl who is a little bit younger than Buster. Noah, Erin, and I would be doing cherry blossom blow art, Child 1 would be doing still life, (flowers and an apple) and Buster would be drawing some snowmen. We got to work.

After blowing up green, brown, gold, and black, and after painting bright pink blossoms, our friends and I were done. Here is a picture of my cherry blossom blow art:

It took me some time, and was more difficult than the first blow are I did, but it turned out beautiful. Next, here is Buster's snowman picture:

I think this picture is super cute!! Right? Last, but DEFINITELY not least, there's Child 1's picture:

IT'S SOOOOOOO PRETTY!!!! RIGHT? The coloring just looks so good, and it just touches me... It's still life and still awesomeness.

   We haven't had any more classes, but I'll update you if we do. Thanks for reading!!!

-IceCreamRain

High Tea

by Child 1

On Saturday, Jan 19, we went to High Tea at the Majestic Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia was a British colony for around a hundred years, so there are many places around to have high tea. Also, they call it "Afternoon Tea" instead of "High Tea". The British call it "Afternoon Tea", and since it's a British custom, that is the proper way to say it. There seemed to be a wedding going on while we were there.

The tea service had small sandwiches, scones with jam and clotted cream, and small cakes. The hotel and the tea were very fancy, and the other people there were wearing fancier clothes. We felt very underdressed. There was someone playing a piano while we ate.

The overall experience was much more pleasant than any high tea I have had in the U.S. In the U.S, it was loud and crowded and the tea did not taste very good. I look forward to having more tea!

You can see the piano in the background.

Malaysia's Government

by Becky

The Malaysian coat of arms

As promised, this week I am going to tell you a little about the government in Malaysia.  Malaysia is type of representative democracy known as a constitutional monarchy, meaning there is a King but the King's power is limited by the constitution.  They have a Prime Minister and parliamentary system much like the parliamentary system in the United Kingdom.

The Monkey Mountain

by Buster

Today I will tell you about Monkey Mountain!  By the way, the monkeys are sort of greedy!  This picture is one of the greedy monkeys.  He is eating a sweet potato leaf, and I gave it to him!

Daddy has monkey on his shoulder, as you can see, and he is feeding it sweet potato leaves!

This is Child 2 feeding a monkey!  The monkeys like sweet potato leaves, sweet potatoes, and bananas best.  But they do not like green beans as much!

This is me with a monkey on my shoulder, as you can see!

This is also me with a monkey on my shoulder, but I am now wearing Daddy's hat!

This is a huge swarm of monkeys and the little orangish monkeys are the babies!

And that is the end of this article!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PALM TREES & MONKEYS!!!!!!!

by Child 2

Are you ready to go on a wild MONKEY RIDE? Then buckle up, because I'm going to take you through this amaaaaazing adventure!

-IceCreamRain

    Hop into this car, and your adventure will begin!!

You drive for a while until finally you hop out of the car. You are pulled up on the side of a dirt road. Trees stand before you. Strange, purple, sphere-shaped fruits.

You ask, "What are they?" They are oily fruits. You try to climb the tree and pick one, but they are stuck fast.

You pick one of them off the ground and break it open. Orange oozes out of it. You rub it on your hand-- it definitely feels oily!

You get back in the car and drive for a little longer. Soon it's time to get out again at a bottom of a mountain. You do, and gasp. A little stand with stuffed animal stands before you, but that's not the amazing part-- about ten silvery-colored monkeys are scurrying around on top of the shop! You get in a bus and it drives you up to the top of the mountain. You stand out at the edge of the mountain with bags of monkey food in your hands.

You look around. A street, which at the moment is covered in adorable monkeys, stands before you, and behind it is a little grassy area with a couple trees in it. You walk up to a monkey and try to feed it some food, but a lot of people are offering it food at once and it's already eating. You imagine it feels a little overwhelmed.

Next thing you know you're feeding monkeys by the dozen. They reach out and take it from you; it's almost like they're human!!! You soon figure out that if you hold the food out over your shoulder, the monkey will climb you and sit on your shoulder. Then you can just hand the food to the monkey real easily!

Myself, I was trying to get a tiny, adorable monkey to climb me, when suddenly I feel something extremely heavy jump up my back from behind me and grab my food! After I see the picture that my Dad took I realize why the monkey felt so heavy...

AND I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS WIIIIIILD MONKEY RIDE!!!!!!!!!

-Icecreamrain

Fireflies

by Child 1

On Saturday, Jan 12, we went to see the fireflies in Kuala Selangor. These fireflies live on the Selangor river and live on the kind of mangrove trees called berembang. We boarded the boat a few minutes before sunset, when it was still light out. The sky in Malaysia goes from light to dark in only a couple minutes, so even though it was a short boat ride, by the time we reached our destination it was pitch black.

Along the way we passed some trees where white birds decorated the branches like flowers. They sat on the floating branches on the water, too.

When we reached the part of the river with fireflies, the boat steered close to the edge of the river and the trees seemed to sparkle. At first, they all flashed on their own time, but soon larger and larger groups began to flash in unison. At one point, the driver climbed out on the front of the boat and caught a firefly. He showed it to everyone before he let it go.

I hope you have enjoyed this article about the twinkling fireflies of the Selangor river. Until next time, Bye!

Putrajaya Boat Tour

by Becky

If you read Buster's article last week, "The Sightseeing of Malaysia", you might have asked yourself, "What and where is that boat tour that Buster is on?".  Well, we took a 45 minute boat cruise around the Putrajaya Lake in the city of Putrajaya.

Putrajaya is a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, and very close to our home suburb of Cyberjaya - much closer than KL itself.  While Kuala Lumpur is the official capital of Malaysia, and contains the seat of the King, the Parliament, and the foreign embassies, most of the Federal Government administrative offices were moved to Putrajaya in 1999 due to overcrowding and congestion.  It is a planned city, conceived in the 1980's and constructed in the 1990's.

Over a third of the city is dedicated to green space, and it includes a man-made lake, Putrajaya Lake, designed for cooling and recreation.  It forms a kind of moat around the city center, so you can take a boat ride in a circle and see the beautiful buildings, lakeside parks, and fancy houses.

Here is the lovely Putra Mosque, near the boat dock:

District 21

by Child 2

In 2066, us humans have destroyed ourselves, polluting  the world beyond belief, but you'd better believe it now.

Welcome to district 21, the apocalypse- themed adventure park.

YOU MUST SURVIVE DISTRICT 21!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you've read my article "Malls in Malaysia", you would've heard a brief summary of District 21. Super cool thing behind the arcade? Yeah, that's it.

We arrived at the arcade with our friends. My sister, Child 1, and I looked at the video they played to tell you the rules. The rules were normal, like, "No cutting the line, listen to people, etc.". Then they told the story of District 21. "In 2066, us humans have destroyed ourselves, polluting  the world beyond belief, but you'd better believe it now.

 Welcome to district 21, the apocalypse- themed adventure park.YOU MUST SURVIVE DISTRICT 21!!!!!!!!!!!!" After watching the rules for a while, we went back to Mom. She had socks and gloves for us and our friends. Once I was done fitting my gloves on, I looked up and gasped. This place was huge! There was soooo much stuff! 

Once my friends Noah and Erin were done getting their socks and gloves on, and my sister Child 1 and my brother Buster too, we decided to go through "The Maze". For the entrance, there was a large rusty robot crouching down and we went through its feet. Everyone except for Erin, our friends Noah's sister, was too old for the kid one so we went though the adult one. As soon as you got in, there was a metal fence-like thing with a small gap underneath. We crawled through. After climbing though rusty tunnels and deserted, fiery rooms with empty chairs, we climbed and crawled out of the robot and into light.You see, the maze has two parts: inside the rusty, creepy robot, and outside of it but in these glowing blue wire-y robot-y things.

The end, with a long slide on it.

Soon we got to the end. You can see me in a tunnel in the top-ish right of the picture, I'm wearing a white T-shirt with a blue circle on it and black shorts. The end has a really big circle with a large spider net made out of elastic in it. We jumped into a super long yellow slide, which you can see in the picture

After we were done with that, we headed toward the "Free Fall" area.  We all lined up for our turn to jump off of a balcony and fall a loooong way down onto a cushion thing. I went first! A man put a helmet on me and a bit of gear. Then we climbed up a tall ladder and looked down. My insides flip-flopped. I suddenly realized how sweaty the helmet the guy had given me was. He counted down. "Three, two, one, jump!" I squeezed my eyes shut.

Me falling to my death

But when I opened them again I was still standing there, my legs not wanting to move. The man asked me if I was okay. I said yes. He counted again. "Three, two, one, jump!" I shivered for a second, but then forced myself off the platform. I fell, spinning, and landed on a soft cushion at the bottom. Two men helped me get my gear off, and then I watched my friends as they jumped.

After succeeding in that, we went to the Trampoline. We took off our socks and shoes and ran around, bouncing and laughing, racing and daring each other. We threw balls around and tried to get them through the hoops. 

Really big

Soon we grew tired and went down to get our shoes and socks back on. It was fun, though!

After the trampoline, my friend Noah and I went toward the Ninja Course. We took off our shoes and began to do the obstacles. First we walked along lots of balance-beams, trying hard not to fall off because then we would fail the course. Then we put our legs on one wall and our arms on one wall, and side climbed over some foam. We weren't allowed to touch the foam, of course. After we had climbed across the pits of foam blocks, We had to step across some wooden platforms that were suspended by ropes.

This is hard

After that, we had to sort of monkey bar across some wheels, which you can see in the picture. Then we either had to monkey bar across or climb a spider net upside-down across to the next part. Then we had to climb these plastic slices that had little holes in them for your hands, so they looked like cheese. That was the cheese, but who cut it? The next part we had to climb across by just gripping these metal bars that were hanging from the ceiling. (I failed that part.) Then we had to run up a wall and get to the top, then come down by sliding down a pole. It was fun!

    After that, we went into a line of the "Power Station". We waited ten minutes and then we finally got our turns in it! We got some gear on and then we went to climb stuff. The first thing I did was go over to a tall square thing that had climbing walls on each side. Well, 3 of the sides at least. The last side had a door that led into the pitch-black inside. There were hand holds on the inside and you could climb it! I went in there and climbed it. it was fun! Then I went over to a climbing wall where the hand holds were these big blocks shaped like gears. Sounds easy, right? But here's the catch: the gears TURNED. If you grabbed onto one of them with only one hand, the gear would spin and your hand would slip. I made it to the almost-top after a long time of struggling! Then I climbed the one next to it, which was pretty normal, but the hand holds were pretty far apart. Then I climbed this one that was really easy and was on the front side of the huge square-ish thing with climbing walls on each side. The hand holds were big and shaped like tetris blocks.

That was easy.

After that I went and climbed some ladders that were surprisingly hard to climb. But then my time ran out and I had to go out of the power station.

    After that, we went up some stairs to the "Tube Slide". We each grabbed a tube and climbed into it.

Buster sliding

Then a man would give us a push and we would go speeding and spinning down the track. Fun!

WE SURVIVED DISTRICT 21!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed my article! If you have any questions or suggestions post them in the comments or contact me on my email.

Malaysian Flag

By Child 1

Every country has its flag, and that does not exclude Malaysia. Flying high, the Malaysian flag is a beautiful sight to see. But what do those stripes and symbols mean? Let's take a closer look.

The Malaysian Flag has 14 alternating red and white stripes, representing the 13 states, and the 14th stripe for the federal territories. You may not be able to see the last
white stripe at the bottom of this flag due to the white background, but it is still there. The blue in the upper right hand corner represents the unity of the Malaysian people, and the yellow for the color of the royals. The yellow crescent represents the country's official religion, Islam, and the 14-pointed star, like the stripes, represents the unity of the 13 states, with the fourth point for the federal territories.

Now you know a little more about the Malaysian flag, and you can walk away feeling a little smarter. And now every time you see that flag, you can say "Hey! That's the Malaysian flag!"

Street Food @ Jalan Alor, KL

by Holly

After visiting the Museum of Illusions, we got out on the street in Kuala Lumpur at about 6pm, a perfect time to be outside in Malaysia. Not so hot or so bright as during the day, but still light out. We walked down Jalan Bukit Bintang, which was crowded with pedestrians and shops.

We stopped in at a Sports Direct to pick up a pair of safety shoes for me to use at work. These are Dunlop brand and despite having steel toes and toughened sole look like cute trainers. My coworker bought some the other week and I thought they looked sharp, so I wanted to get a pair to replace the too large pair of Oscars I had been wearing. RM 209! These would probably have been three times more expensive at home.

We then headed to Jalan Alor, which runs parallel to Jln. Bukit Bintang. This is a street famous for street food carts and basic streetside restaurants. There were also numerous carts selling fruit, drinks, and ice cream.

Here we are at the beginning of the street

There were many carts selling durian, which perfumed the area. The scent of durian entwined with barbecue, roasted nuts, cigarette smoke, and motorbike exhaust overwhelmed Child 2 quickly. You can see her above putting her shirt over her face and preparing to have a mental breakdown. The thing that pushed her over the edge was seeing a stack of skewered frogs in one of the stalls.

There were a few dumpling and fish ball stands that looked appealing.

Buster got a lemonade made with fresh sugar cane juice, pressed out by this machine linked by V belt to a little gas engine.

After canvassing the street most of the way down, we decided to go for this skewer bbq place.

The model is that you put all the skewers you want on a dish, then they cook them for you and bring them to your table. We got some marinated ribs, okra, bok choy, enoki mushrooms wrapped in chinese bacon, chicken skewers, tofu, and eggplant.  At the table, there were three sauces to try: spicy, sweet, and bean. The bean sauce was tasty. I think it was some kind of fermented soybean based sauce.

Child 1, Becky, and I enjoyed our dinner very much. Child 2 was having a mental breakdown and hiding in her shirt, weeping. Buster was a little put off by the scene and felt bad for Child 2, so he didn't eat anything either besides the lemonade.

A gecko was hanging out on the wall by our table.

Our bill was tallied by counting how many of each color skewer were left on our plates at the end. 

On the way out, I got an outstanding coconut ice cream topped with coconut milk in a half coconut shell. Becky bought a fruit cup for dessert.

Child 2 recovered her senses during the Grab ride home. I really enjoy the bustle, sights, smells, and foods at a place like this, but it is clear the kids are not exactly loving it. Child 2 says she would much rather go to one of the perfectly good malls which are around in such abundance!

As street food places go, Jalan Alor was pretty good, but obviously mainly patronized by tourists. Most of the street traffic was tourists, and the prices are not that cheap. Our dinner for three people was about 75RM. We've had plenty of meals for 5 for under 50. The upside of it being mostly a tourist spot is that it was not as crowded or filled with sketchy foods and vendors as a more locally oriented place would be. I figured that would be the best case scenario for the kids, but it didn't work out. Oh well, plenty of good food to be had at restaurants too.

Museum of Illusions

By Child 1

On Saturday, Jan 5, Dad was home so we went to Kuala Lumpur to visit the Museum of Illusions. Though it was not very big, its two floors were packed with mind-boggling puzzles and dizzying illusions.  And now, you get the chance to be guided through some of the most interesting illusions in the museum.

What's this? An endless void of heads? Perhaps it's some cunning trick of photo editing. But no, it is in fact just a long triangle shaped tube with mirrors on all sides. Whatever you can see through the opening at the end is reflected over and over until all of eternity is filled.



And here, my head has been chopped off and put on a plate, and I am smiling as I'm about to be eaten. Or am I? No, my whole body is still in good health, but the table beneath has mirrors that reflect the wall and floors next to them. This gives the appearance that is is just my head on that plate.

This next optical illusion is due to our brain's keen sense of motion. Things in our everyday life are always moving, and so our brain can see and detect motion very well. Sometimes, it can even see motion where there is none!

Look at the picture on the right. Don't the blue dots appear to be moving? The shading on these particular dots against the bright lime background tricks your brain into seeing motion where there is none.

Another thing we see in our everyday lives, no matter where we are, is perspective. Since our world has 3 dimensions, it is important to grasp how far back something is, so our brain has ways of helping us see perspective correctly. However, your brain can sometimes mislead you...

What's happening here? How can a person possibly be that small? In fact, no one can. The three legs you can see resting on the black square are actually far in front of the rest of the chair. But because they line up from this angle, and because a chair is a regular object we are all used to seeing, our brain connects the pieces of the chair. And that makes anyone sitting on the seat appear smaller!

Huh? What's happening here? The answer is, another trick of perspective. This room is actually tilted and twisted, but viewed from this angle, our brain can line up the walls to make the room appear

normally. That makes whatever or whoever is in the left corner appear larger, and whoever is in the right corner appear smaller.

That's it for our trip to the Museum of Illusions. I hope you had fun!