(Countdown: 2 days) A glimpse of Kuala Selangor

Location: The living room, home
Mood: Sweaty, happy, tired
Music: Check on it - Beyonce ft. Slim Thug

Warning: This post is going to have lots and lots and lots of pictures.

Today, at 7:30am sharp, I rolled out of bed. I was greeted by this sight.


Yeah, Kellie the blanket monster waking up Tian (it took a while, too). What?


Also, Kellie was cold, so she came up with a way of putting on her contacts without leaving her bed (check out the contact case on the floor). THESE PEOPLE ARE CRAZY!!!

We picked up some water for the team (about 100 litres) and started the one and a half hour drive to Kuala Selangor to meet Ashok, one of our contacts at the Malaysian Nature Society. Tian, Kellie and I hitched a ride with Min Sern, a Swarthmore freshman on our logistics team, while Sam and Keng, two of our local logistics team members, followed in Keng's car.




Breakfast in the car: Roti Canai and iced Ipoh coffee.

We headed to the Kuala Selangor Nature Park, met up with Ashok, and walked around the site. Together, we came up with a more detailed schedule and a list of environmental activities for the college students and the high school students to do together. We're going to be clearing areas for mangrove planting, planting mangroves, prepping seedlings for planting, picking up litter in mangrove areas, water pollution monitoring, painting handrails, painting a mural, making environmental education posters..... amongst other things. We also got to check out the hostels and the A-frames we're going to be staying in, and I found out why they're called A-frames.


Talking to Ashok


Ashok: Made you look!


Our logistics team. From left to right: Min Sern, Sam and Keng.

Min Sern is a rising Swarthmore sopohmore who lives in Petaling Jaya, about an hour southeast of Kuala Selangor. He sings a capella and he's a pretty cool kid. Sam is a friend of mine from primary school, we've known each other since we were 7. She was my prefect and got me in trouble lots, but now we're pretty cool. Her and Keng go to IMU, a local university - they're both medics. They're our trusty logistics team, responsible for the money, the welfare of our team, feeding us, making sure things go smoothly and checking that everyone is feeling okay.


Our hostels


Us fanning Kellie



There are actually lots more really funny pictures from today, but the internet is down so they'll have to wait. You'll just have to wait to see the crazy car pictures, the A-frames, our mosquito bites and our outing to Luna Bar (we were all pretty stressed out from planning and decided to treat ourselves). Luna Bar is this swanky bar at the top floor of a hotel in KL; its right next to the twin towers and gives you the most amazing view of the city. We got to sit right next to this huge glass window, so that we really awesome. When we first sat down, Diego (accidentally) intruded on the couple next to us by stretching out his arm into their cuddle group. Hahah. And I'm pretty sure there are also videos of Diego eating all the mangosteens in my house. Hanging out in KL after the project is going to be fun. :)

BUT I think the thing that takes the cake today are Ashok's cool crocs. You guys will get to see them later. They're pretty much the most amazing things ever - you guys are really missin' out. Sorry this post is kind of messy, I'll come back and clean it up and add more pictures later.

AHH THE PROJECT IS STARTING SOON! I can't believe this.