One of my favorite reality television shows is the Amazing Race because you get to see so much of the world in a short period of time. Exhausting as that would be the thrill of experiencing cultures in an intimate way would be fascinating. One of the seasons had the teams going to a Chinese wishing tree. When a friend from Malaysia, Pria, offered to take us to a wishing tree my heart fluttered a little. We had some good laughs thinking of and writing our wishes. Children have hilarious thoughts, I’m glad they share their thoughts often.
Sekinchan is a small Chinese fishing village located in Kuala Selangor, outside of Kuala Lumpur city center. On the way to the Chinese Wishing Tree you pass by the docks sitting on the bay with brightly painted fishing boats swaying in the harbor. Hundreds of large red, yellow, and blue fish buckets line the road. You will see the fisherman sorting the fish on the docks into the big buckets filled with water. Much of the shore along this part of Malaysia is used for fishing docks and as import and export docks; there are large ports all along the coast. However, in Sekinchan, there is one nice sandy beach to explore named Pantai Redang Beach.
Jake stayed home during this outing to do something responsible like work while the mom and kids played hooky, I mean, went on a field trip. Our friend, Pria, kindly organized the outing for us. The Malaysian people we have met are the most kind and generous people. We are absolutely blown away by their hospitality and genuine desire to help us have a good experience here. It will be thrilling one day to pay it forward; one day, when we have a home base.
What to Wish For?
Pria got for us the red ribbon with the washers tied to each end, for easier throwing. We each got a pen and began to write our name and what we wanted to wish for. Averi had a couple of wishes
, but kept them a secret. Tage didn’t write a wish but he told me later he wished for the Lego Death Star ship. Claire wrote nine wishes on her ribbon, not surprised. I had three wishes: success, health, and safety; that about covers everything.
The next part in wishing entails throwing the ribbon as high in the tree as you can.
Claire got her ribbon the highest and I am not surprised. She probably will get everything she wished for because that is the type of life Claire has. It was really quite fun to throw the ribbons to see where they would land. We added our red raindrops to the wishing tree; our mark is forever left in Malaysia.
