Going to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I know I'm not keeping chronological order with my blog. But hopefully now that I'm back in the States, I'll have a chance to get everything up to date and I won't have internet troubles next time I go there.

This morning, I just uploaded to Flickr the "Getting There" photos which document my trip from Houston Texas to checkin at the Hilton in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I know it's a lot of Pictures, so I recommend the slide show at Flickr if you want to see them all; or below there are the first 20 or so photos from the collection.

Hope you enjoy!
Carl

Going to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a set on Flickr.  (Click the link to go to Flickr to see the entire set)


Via Flickr:
Phot Documenting my trip from Houston Texas to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

With layovers in Moscow, Russia & Singapore.

Change of (flight) plans / Extended stay in KL

Well I wasn't here but a few days and I was asked to alter my flight plans. It's nice to be wanted I guess. So instead of my original trip leaving on Tuesday I'm going to stick around the entire week. My new flight will leave on Friday midnight local time. I travel from Kuala Lumpur to Seuol Korea to Atlanta Georgia. My cousin will pick me up at the airport and we're going back to see the family in Southern Georgia. I'm looking forward to the trip back. I will only be able to stay a few days and then I'm back to Texas. I have to train my replacement at work on month end closing and wrap up everything before my final trip and relocation to Kuala Lumpur. It's going to be a busy May!

Motorcycle accident

So today I experienced something that was terribly sad and sobering. The weather was very rainy this afternoon and the roads had water building up faster than it could be drained away. Two coworkers and I were going to a local restaurant after work and when we came up to one intersection, we discovered a motorcycle that had overturned and wrecked. It was pouring rain and a guy was laid out on the flooded intersection with people standing over him with umbrellas. We were stopped at the intersection for a little while and I never saw the guy's legs move. I don't think know for sure, but judging by the motorbike, it didn't look good for him at all.

We sat in the car in silence and somewhat disbelief for several moments. There might have been a few words said, but it was strangely silent for our group. It was the unspoken tragedy that was unfolding just a few feet away as we were on our way to eat a nice meal. I pondered how quick a persons' world could dramatically change or be ended. The stop light changed, and we went on our way.

I wonder if I'll Continue to think back to this event, I wonder what happened with the guy. I felt compassion for a stranger I never met, and sympathy for his family, his friends and coworkers. It was strange, I never really ponder on such things. Not exactly sure why it seized my thoughts so strongly today, maybe its the distance from home, maybe it was the visual imagery, or the shear reality of it all. I'm not sure, but make yours days count; we aren't guaranteed tomorrow.

First day at work in Malaysia

My first day at work turned into not actually going to the normal offices.  Instead we went off site to one of our manufacturing facilities, which is about 20 miles away from the hotel.  We will be here all week.  As soon as we got there, they escorted me and the others in my group to a large conference room with over a hundred people in there.  It looked like the space center mission control room.  These people were ready to work!.  After some brief introductions, we were down to business.  It was an entire week of stress and teaching, doing, but I can already tell I've got good colleagues that are fun to be around.  By the end of the week, we were all laughing and joking with each other.  They have a lot of intelligent people working the project.  I know we should be successful with the group that's working it.

Work brought in food each day, plus breakfast, mid-morning & mid-afternoon snacks.  [These are my kind of people!]  I must say, they have some strange things over here.  I've never seen so much gelatin and starch based food.  They also seem to use a lot of coconut and  jellies.  There is always some kind of 'topping' on most of the snacks.  It could be in the form of a spicy paste, fish sprinkles, something salty, or something for texture.  Not things I am familiar with at all.  But they are okay, but I don't think I'll have any crazy cravings for them when I return to the States!

All was well with the first day at work!  [I'm posting this a week behind when I was actually there, the rest of the week went really well also]

Later that Sunday....

After I spent some time in the park, I wanted to go into the City Centre (KLCC) which is the downtown area where the iconic Petronas Twin Towers are.  I must say, I saw many pictures of them before I actually came here, but to see them in person is quite an experience.  They are beautiful! There is also a high-end mall at the base of the towers, Suria KLCC.  I ate lunch at a restaurant that was attached to the mall.  It was pleasant outside.  I also walked about in the general area.  It's a vibrant city.

At the end of the day, I decided to make my way to the office building just to make sure I could get there on my own (before I had to do it for real). 

Took the Subway to KLCC

This is the office building I'll be working in. 26th floor.

Sunday Morning in the Park (Taman Tasik Perdana)

I woke up early today.  I slept really well and feel much better today.  Nothing much is open early Sunday morning around here, so I discovered a city park across the street from my hotel.  I explored around for several hours.  I wish the sky would have been blue because it would have made for better pictures.  But it was a beautiful park.  The KL Marathon was going on that day so there were many runners throughout the park.  [Funny, somehow I always travel to places that have a marathon going on.  I've done that twice in New York City too.....strange].

I thought I'd share some pictures of the park with you.  Hope you enjoy.

FURTHER UPDATE!

Complete Flickr Photo Set of the Park

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carltyson/sets/72157626624560976/