Rotary Fellowship

Its three hours from the airport to Ipoh by bus, the lads and lasses from the Uk were worn out after their twenty hour flight from Newcastle via Dubai, so we can’t blame them for catching up on some much needed sleep on the bus.

We are staying with Dr Madhuri Majumber, (Dato), an impressive lady of almost eighty who is a dermatologist among other things. She still works, treating patients and teaching her specialty, but she also looks after mental health patients, is president of their society, president of the children’s association, and involved with the local RSPCA.
I don’t know how she finds time for Rotary, as she also travels all over the world to seminars about her specialty and mental health- she has been away four times already this year!.

She has the Malaysin equivalent of a Knighthood, as well as numerous other awards, including one awarded just the previous night, "A Woman of Inner Beauty".
There are those in life that make a difference with everything that they do - the Doc is one of them.

She has a lovely house, in a beautiful garden, with a cook and an outside boy, as well as a couple of maids. So we are well looked after!

 But there was no rest when we got to Ipoh- the club’s weekly meeting took place just one hour after arriving, so it was a quick shower and change.

As always the fellowship in the club was tremendous, we were welcomed by all with a handshake and a hug. It was great to meet everyone again, to chat about our adventures and to hear what the club had been doing since our last visit in August.

Workington President John Mather gave an address after dinner- about the links between 1190 and Greentown club, and as it was his first visit Roger presented a banner.

A fairly early night was in order, even we were wilting with the heat and humidity, much worse here than in KL. Fortunately our room has aircon- so we were very comfortable.

The following day was a bank holiday here- May Day, so this morning we were up and out at 9am for a special ceremony in the park.

In Centennial year,2005, the club planted 44 trees in the park to provide shade for picnics, and as the old sign had deteriorated over the years it was appropriate to make a new one, and the two presidents unveiled it in a short ceremony. Afterwards we walked to another part of the park where the President Sushil and John jointly planted a tree to commemorate our visit. Almost all of the Greentown club and their partners were there, and after a short walk round the park, in which there were many children and their parents enjoying the holiday, we retired to an area where we enjoyed an al-fresco brunch under the trees.

Once again, the fellowship was superb, this club really knows how to lay on a spread!

A restful afternoon was followed by an outing to the state hall, where 600 people were gathered to enjoy an Chinese vegetarian dinner, and Indian dancing. Dr Madhuri is a patron of the local Hindu temple, and this evening funds were being raised for a new temple devoted to the poor in Ipoh. The food was surprisingly good for me, I have great problems with local food here, the spices and seafood etc, so I was delighted that I was able to eat most of the dishes.

Being on Dr Madhuri’s VIP table I was seated beside a former first minister of the state, who I found very interesting to talk to. He told me details of the Temple and it’s works, and we discussed his present job of senior advisor to the present first minister. He was interested in what we are doing here and our trip to the convention, and indeed our Australian adventure.

The entertainment for the evening was Indian music, dancing and singing, which, I have to admit, I would have been bored to tears with ten years ago. However it was extremely enjoyable, the dancing in particular, and although it was a late finish we were both very happy to be able to witness how the Malaysians go about raising funds for their religious buildings.

To bed- an early start tomorrow for the Cameron Highlands, a full day.