Pangkor to Teluk Intan

Yesterday we very reluctantly left the palm lined beaches of Pangkor Island to catch the ferry back to the main land. Once again, the kids have been wonderful with loading and unloading the gear - they are real troupers, particularly given the heat and humidity.

We headed straight to Teluk Intan (70kms from the ferry port) and checked into our rooms to refresh and get organised for the Town Hall gig.

This show was amazing. There were many dignitaries as well as the public due to our concert being advertised on local radio. We were very, very well received and the concert is haled as a huge success.

We had very little sleep and were up again this morning at 6.15am to prepare for Bethany Home. Words are not going to do justice to the experience we had there. It was such a blessing to have met all the kids, staff and administration at this incredible place. Our kids were spectacular, joining in with Bethany's kids straight away and then performing so beautifully. The director of Bethany was so grateful, but it's us who should be grateful for being able to experience what we did. I can only let your kids explain it to you when we get home. Whilst some found things a bit hard going, I am certain that we all grew a lot today, and hopefully have a greater appreciation for what we have. We had lunch with the kids before we waved and high fived our way back onto the bus to Sekolah, Men. Convent - our last gig of the tour!

Again, our kids were true professionals and put on a spectacular show. Many of the kids are now rock stars (for now at least) and again, many autographs were signed and photos taken by adoring fans. After gifts were exchanged, we loaded the truck and bus for the last time ready to make our way back to Adelaide.

Tomorrow we will travel by bus to KL airport, chack in and fly home to you. As this will be my last entry on tour, just a reminder that whilst our plane gets in at 6.15am, we'll have to clear customs, etc, so there's no need for you to get there before 7am.

On behalf of Jill, Mike, Lizzy and myself, we've had an incredible experience with your kids. You, Concordia and Australia deserve to be very proud of them.See you on Saturday.

See you on Saturday

Pangkor Delights

After a lazy morning which included an awesome breakfast, at 10am we all piled in to 4 separate (pink) taxi Vans to explore the island. Our first stop was a ship building yard in a fishing village. Just fascinating. The kids were intrigued at how the people here would live in this environment, but were very appreciative of what we have in OZ.

We then moved on to a Chinese temple before wondering the main street of Pangkor Town. After another amazing lunch we went back to the resort to rest up and refresh before our gig tonight. The kids all met us at 5.30pm to set up the show in the dining area. We then all ate together before we launched into a 1.5hr show. The kids were great again and our music is certainly feeling more settled and comfortable. This feeling is tranfering into the group as a whole, with different students hanging out together and just all getting on. The multi-national audience were extremely enthusiastic about us.

Once we packed up, we all went for a wonder along the beach before heading back to our rooms.

I'm unsure about internet access at Teluk Intan but I will do my best to chat to you tomorrow.

Penang to Pangkor Island

This morning we reluctantly left our extremely comfortable surroundings in Penang and bussed our way to the Port of Imut to catch a ferry to Pangkor Island.

The kids have got loading our 120 pieces of luggage into (and out of) a truck down to a fine art now.

After a 3.5 hour bus ride to the port, we boarded a 150 seat ferry (loaded with all our gear) and sat back to enjoy the 0.5hr journey to Pangkor. The seas were very calm so no sea sickness, much to our relief.

We then assisted to unload the ferry into trucks, followed by a very short 5 minute ride to our resort. The kids are wide eyed! This place is beautiful. Amazing beach, jungle backdrop and wildlife on our doorstep. Dinner was incredible and then an outdoor movie was viewed from the pool by many of us.

The kids were pretty tired so headed back to their rooms for an early night.

Tomorrow we will take in a tour of the island before preparing for our show in the resort which we are really looking forward to.

Chat to you after that.

Victory and Faith Lutheran Church visit

This morning we all had breakfast at 6.45am so that we could be on the road by 7.30am. We arrived at Victory Lutheran Church by 8.15am to be a part of a combined worship service. Both Faith (a Malay Lutheran Church) and Victory (a Sri Lankan Lutheran Church) welcomed us and we enjoyed a Lutheran service maily in English but also in Tamil. After communion, our "Chapel Band", made up from members of our group, played 3 songs that we sing at Concordia. Then Georgia played her beautiful song "Someone Out There" and this was followed by our entire tour group singing "You Are Good" accompanied by guitar and drums. That's right, they ALL sang! It was great and I think many of them surprised themselves at how good it can be to sing as a group.

The church then gave us a simple, but lovely lunch before we headed back to the hotel. The 2 churches were in awe of the kids talents and we were again invited back for a future visit asap.

For the rest of today we will enjoy our beautiful surroundings at the hotel (post card quality!) until we hit the night markets for the last time tonight.

I didn't manage to get any photos from the church but will have some emailed to me which I will distribute on the tour DVD - these are from yesterday.

Will talk to you tomorrow from Pangkor Island.

Penang Day 2

Firstly apologies for the delay. Yesterday we had some misplaced luggage and it took many phone calls and the 4 teachers 2.5 hours to check through 120 peices of Concordia luggage ID numbers (cross referenced with receipts) to work out which number matched the lost one (unfortunately as a group we don't get individual names and numbers on tags when checking in at the airport). However on tour, these hurdles sometimes occur.

The kids had a wonderful time this morning on our 1/2 day tour visiting temples, George Town and a 400 year old British fort. We then had an incredible lunch at a Chinese cafe before coming back to the hotel to refresh before heading to the Butterworth RMAF base.

The performance here was another amazing event. Concordia was so welcome and the audience absolutely loved us!

This is the All Ranks Club for those Aust. Air Force members based in Penang. It's a club/recreation facility for service men and women and their families. They had never had such a performance as they were dancing in the aisles and had the largest attendance to an event since the AFL Grand Final. The kids again felt like rock stars and the CEO has already asked us back!

Talk to you soon.

Leaving KL - Arriving in Penang

The following web site conatins a video about our visit to the school yesterday
http://www.eduwebtv.com/index7.php?pageSelId=21&idmod=41&vidgrp=1&vidid=1277981268393773&fileid=1277980854041478
it is Modern school India focussed, but it has us too! If the above address doesn't work, go to www.eduwebtv.com and we are on the 3rd video at the top.
Last night we let the kids loose on a large shopping mall called "Time Square" - this is the equivalent of our Myer Centre, only about 20 times bigger and with an amusement park on the 7th floor (the biggest indoor amusement park in Malaysia). While some of the students were intent on spending your hard earned in the hundreds of shops, others of us went straight to level 7! There is a roller coaster and other crazy but fun rides in there and so once we were all feeling sufficiently unwell, we headed back to our hotel to get some much needed rest. All in all, a great way to spend our last night in KL.

Early rise this morning - 5am - to pack the bus and hit the road to the airport ready to fly to Penang. After a short 50 minute flight, we arrived on the island of Penang and checked into the most wonderful beach front resort. The kids can't believe how beautiful this place is! Right on the water, 2 pools, an amazing foyer with shops (very expensive shops), beautiful rooms and all within 20 metres of the night markets.

We all headed out to lunch once everyone was settled into their new accommodation and then met back at the pool for stories, catch up and pool volleyball.

Tonight we will hit the markets with a vengance!

Talk to you tomorrow.

Sekolah Seri Puteri

Well, after another evening of fine dining and bargain hunting, the kids had an early night to get some rest before todays concert.
We got on the road just before 8am and headed to Sekolah Seri Puteri - and all girls boarding school that hand picks their students according to their academic results. This school is the show piece of Malaysian education and they are constantly visited by officials from around Malaysia and the Asian region. While we were there, there was a delegation from Modern School of India. We were their first Australian visitors though and they were extremely excited to have us.

Our kids again played extremely well and were a credit to our school. The big band was especially popular as the audience seemed to really enjoy the solos from individuals.

We then were treated to some Indian Culture (dance and song), before Seri Puteri's band played for us. They are outstanding and it was great for our students to hear them.

After the concert (all 3.5 hours of it), we had lunch in their dining hall. It was wonderful!

Following this, our students got into sectionals with the girls from Seri Puteri and shared their talents. It was an amazing sight to see this meeting of cultures sharing one music voice.

We sadly left the school after many more photos and autographs to head back to our last night in KL.

Tonight we are heading to a mall called "Time Square" for dinner and some last minute shopping before and early morning rise (5.30am to be at the airport by 7am!!).

For now, the kids are sad to leave KL and the wonderful performance experiences that we've had, but are looking forward to Penang.

I'll talk to you when we get to Penang tomorrow.

PS in addition to the photos, I just had to include Will, Lily and Tom rocking out Cyberjaya!