Well, the final two students made it back from Asia, the lost luggage was found, and it appears the trip is well and truly over. As promised, here are some additional photos from the trip. Then the blog will lie dormant until next year, assuming Clarkson sends another group next May.
This sign appears at the entrance to the Dark Cave, part of the Batu Cave system.
We went to Lake Gardens in Kuala Lumpur to see exotic birds and deer, but what we found were two rather scruffy goats.
Turtle money. Early inhabitants of Malaysia used pewter animals as currency. They would break off a portion of the animal equal to whatever they were buying.
Who says money doesn't grow on trees? This is a pewter money tree. People would break coins off the tree as they needed them.
Mark is trying his hand at putting dimples in a straight line on a pewter cylinder. It is extremely difficult. Royal Selangor craftspeople train for a year just to be able to hammer straight, even dimples into pewter.
In the School of Hard Knocks at Royal Selangor, we were given the opportunity to make our own pewter bowl. There were no job offers forthcoming after we finished.
The Cute Fish Spa is where you could spend 5 Ringgits (about $1.50) to have small fish eat the dead skin and toe jam off your feet. No one is crazy enough to do that, right?
Wrong! Charles, Pat, and Darryl all plunked their money down to get their feet cleaned. However the fish tickled them so badly that they spent most of their time with their feet above the water.
In case you don't recognize it, this is Charles' foot. After a week of tramping around Southeast Asia, the fish had a feast, although I suspect some of them went belly-up after we left.
This is a garbage scow, seen from the ferry in Hong Kong.
The tram ride to Victoria Peak is so steep, the buildings outside look slanted.
A few of the gang on an open topped bus.
This is at the Hong Kong Museum. Early fisherman spent most of their lives on boats such as this, only going ashore for special occasions or to trade.
The prawns on this table are alive and flopping.
Since the SARS outbreak in '03, Hong Kong-ers (Hong Kongians?) are acutley aware of personal hygiene. These automatic hand sanitizer dispensers can be found all over the city.
Yes, these are dried pigs legs. Think of them as country ham with feet.
This sign appears at the entrance to the Dark Cave, part of the Batu Cave system.
We went to Lake Gardens in Kuala Lumpur to see exotic birds and deer, but what we found were two rather scruffy goats.
Turtle money. Early inhabitants of Malaysia used pewter animals as currency. They would break off a portion of the animal equal to whatever they were buying.
Who says money doesn't grow on trees? This is a pewter money tree. People would break coins off the tree as they needed them.
Mark is trying his hand at putting dimples in a straight line on a pewter cylinder. It is extremely difficult. Royal Selangor craftspeople train for a year just to be able to hammer straight, even dimples into pewter.
In the School of Hard Knocks at Royal Selangor, we were given the opportunity to make our own pewter bowl. There were no job offers forthcoming after we finished.
The Cute Fish Spa is where you could spend 5 Ringgits (about $1.50) to have small fish eat the dead skin and toe jam off your feet. No one is crazy enough to do that, right?
Wrong! Charles, Pat, and Darryl all plunked their money down to get their feet cleaned. However the fish tickled them so badly that they spent most of their time with their feet above the water.
In case you don't recognize it, this is Charles' foot. After a week of tramping around Southeast Asia, the fish had a feast, although I suspect some of them went belly-up after we left.
This is a garbage scow, seen from the ferry in Hong Kong.
The tram ride to Victoria Peak is so steep, the buildings outside look slanted.
A few of the gang on an open topped bus.
This is at the Hong Kong Museum. Early fisherman spent most of their lives on boats such as this, only going ashore for special occasions or to trade.
The prawns on this table are alive and flopping.
Since the SARS outbreak in '03, Hong Kong-ers (Hong Kongians?) are acutley aware of personal hygiene. These automatic hand sanitizer dispensers can be found all over the city.
Yes, these are dried pigs legs. Think of them as country ham with feet.
