Final Preparations to leave

Are you sitting down for this? It’s been crazy hectic trying to get ready to go to KL full time.  Here’s what I’ve been doing between blog postings, which was essentially once I got back from my last trip to Malaysia.  After I left KL in April, I flew directly into Georgia to spend Easter with my family.  I stayed in GA until Wednesday morning.  My mom came back with me, and we took the 6am flight out of our regional airport which is a short flight to Atlanta for our connection back to Houston.  Because of all the tornadoes in the States, there were massive flight delays in Atlanta.  So instead of getting home at 9:30am, we arrived around 6:30pm.  The next day, I went to work and went directly into month-end closing and training my replacement.  I finished closing on the following Wednesday, Thursday I got more vaccinations and then saw several people at work.  The next Friday through Thursday, I prepared my house, mind, and belongings to be gone for an extended time.  It was exhausting and the subject of my prior post.  I think there were a lot more items that I did that didn’t make the list, but I didn’t go back and revise my posting.  You get the idea.  J

On Thursday, May 12, I sold my car at Carmaxx.  I rented a one-way rental car to be returned in Georgia.  Mom, the cat, and I drove straight through to Georgia the next day.  Total trip was approximately 850 miles we left around 9:30am and arrived at 2:30am the following morning.  Rather long day.  I spent a few days with extended family, and hitched a ride to Atlanta for a work meeting, with Holly from my old work site.  We spent a few days in Atlanta in a business accounting conference.  I flew back to Houston Wednesday night.  And ended the day by eating a ridiculous amount of crab at Joes’ Crab Shack.   I mean ridiculous!! 

The next day, I had to make the FINAL preparations to leave.  Completed packing, air shipment packers came by, lawn sprinkler man came by and we made final arrangements for an system installation, I picked up one last vaccine that I had to travel with, dropped on the internet modem & TV box at the cable company, picked up one last precautionary prescription, got a haircut, packed up the rental car, drove to the airport.  Got on the airplane and flew Houston to Moscow, Moscow to Singapore, and Singapore to Kuala Lumpur.  It’s been hectic, but it’s behind me now!

Final Preparations to leave

It takes a lot to get out of town for a while.  Here's a list, in no particular order, of what I'm doing to prepare for my leave.  There's probably more, this is what I've done or plan to do for the move:

• Give away fish and clean aquarium
• Sign up for paperless invoices & statements
• Setup autopay where ever possible for bills
• Unlist Amazon & Ebay items for sale
• Prune the landscape plants
• Add mulch to the flowerbeds
• Get annual termite inspection
• Install a front door mail box for flyers, etc
• Finish getting last vaccine
• Finalize homeowners, flood, windstorm, & car insurance
• Clean the car
• Sell my car
• Get a home & yard maintenance service setup
• Pack and schedule an air-shipment
• Get a sprinkler system installed at the house
• Take everything off the back patio and store in the garage
• Fertilize lawn
• Spray Roundup to kill off the weeds
• Setup and situate checking, savings, and other financial accounts
• Update beneficiaries on all accounts
• Cancel services Netflix, Internet, Cable, Trash, Tollways Tag
• Defrost extra refrigerator.
• Replace front door bell
• Turn off ice maker
• Sign up for global health insurance
• Lock garage doors so they can't be raised.
• Arrange for a rental car after I sell my vehicle
• Remove bird feeder
• Winterize home
• Determine what to do with mail that comes to the house
• Setup contact information while I'm away
• Prepare items in the garage to be gone
• Get someone to "spring clean" the house before I leave
• Home Security system finalization
• Reprogram thermostat for being gone
• Get a roof inspection
• Fix the gate latch
• Unplug everything
• Bleach out the front load washing machine prior to leaving, so it doesn't get rotten
• Get extra bulbs for landscape lighting
• Get "away" supplies for the house (A/C filters, toilet mints, foggers, etc)
• Sort through pantry, throw away perishables and opened products, keep the canned stuff that makes sense, and donate the rest.
• Give away houseplants.
• Clean out the refrig & freezer.  They need to be empty in case of power outage.  Keep baking soda in them and add a jug of water so they have a mass to cool.
• Get the cat ready to go back to Georgia.  Take her and her things (pet beds, toys, food, potty, kennel, etc)
• Get up legal paperwork and put into a safety deposit box.
• Update will, trust, and power of attorneys
• Take pictures of the entire house & contents for insurance purposes.
• Pack things for air shipment; clothes, shoes, a few pots and pans, bed sheets, personal laptop, printer, cameras, random electronics, medicines, favorite spices, etc)
• Get together travel documents, passports, birth certificates, driver's license, employment visas, medical records, etc)
• Make final flight reservations
• Notify apartment landlord in Malaysia of my intended arrival date
• Register my location with local authorities and USA embassy in Malaysia
• Setup utilities, TV, Internet, phone, etc in Malaysia
• Get financial documentation organized and together.
• Cash in all the loose change around the house
• Get lamp timers
• USA & Malaysia Tax Briefing
• Remove batteries from everything
• Fog the house right before I leave

I'M EXHAUSTED, and there's probably more that I haven't thought of yet!!

Taman Tasik Park; Complete Photo Set

Taman Tasik Park; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a set on Flickr.

I uploaded the park pictures to Flickr. There was a previous blog posting which summarized them. Here is the unabridged version, if interested.

Chinatown

I went to Chinatown several times after work.  I must say I entered into a new world of food, smells, people, culture, shopping, petalling, and ambiance.  I don't think I've ever experienced anything like it before, but it was great.  After going a couple times, I decided to go back sometime and document the experience for you. 

First thing I noticed is that everything changed as I entered the general area, the streets got narrower, it seemed darker, the place was loud, and multiple people were everywhere there was no concept of personal space here.  Street vendors and food stalls lined the roads on both sides.  It seemed like a scene from a movie, but I was actually in the middle of it all.

As you walked by food stalls, people would shout for you to come try their food, eat at their restaurant, have a beer, sit at their table, look at their menu, boasting of the best food, and cheapest prices. It was great fun just walking up and down the street.  I really enjoyed the dialog and interaction.  Once we decided on a cafe, they were so excited you picked them and they made you feel welcomed.  The menus came and there were literally hundreds of items to choose from, I think the menu probably had a dozen pages front and back.  It ranged from the exotic, chaotic, safe, and non-translatable [at least for me!!].  Fortunately I think I got the best dish of our group.  I had and can now recommend the "Sizzling Chicken", it was sauteed chicken with onions and a thick sweet soy sauce served with fried rice. It came out on a sizzling cast iron skillet similar to fajitas.  Very good and I was happy with my selection.  My co-workers mainly from Germany were a bit more adventurous with their selection and we all sampled each others food.  They had deer, fish, beef, shrimp, with various sauces, noodles, rice, and random vegetables.  Although all seemed fine, there were some strange noodle textures and sauce flavors some were hot others sweet.

After dinner we went through the tight street vendors selling knock off merchandise.  It was so tight there was only room for one person to pass in each direction, and we pushed through the crowds.  The vendors were constantly trying to interact with you "Sir, Sir...", "Come and have a look", "You want a ....", "You should buy here...", "High Quality", and was constant and coming from all directions and the entire street was filled with this dialog.  If you looked too closely or stopped for too long, you were ushered into the stall to have a look, the sales pitch would begin and negotiations were not only the norm but expected.  The longer the conversation, the harder it becomes to get outta there.  Finally if you can not come to terms on the price, you walk away. Sometimes they will follow you if they can give you a better deal, if they let you walk away chances are they are unwilling to go any lower.  The exchange is fun, although for me I've discovered that I'm more willing to like the purchase before I examine it further.  Usually the longer I see the merchandise during the negotiation, the more I find I wouldn't be happy with the purchase.

Here are some photos.  Since the sun was going down, the lighting and sharpness isn't there, but it will at least give you an idea of the area.

View from the subway station.  The next several are the short walk to the heart of Chinatown.

Indian Temple on the way

In case you're wondering this is "ON THE MENU".  Live eels and bullfrogs.  Bon apetite!

My food, chicken fried rice and sizzlin' chicken.  Notice in the background, instead of papertowels or napkins, I got a roll of toliet paper on the table.  Not sure if this is a sign of things to come or not.....

Meet Lim, in green, she didn't want her picture taken but I got a few in.  She has worked at this restaurant for years.  She works every day.  She waited on me and she seemed very nice.

I took this because of the toilet paper on her shoe.  I guess this is a universal problem....

I think this was a monk of some sort.  ??  He was wanting money.  He must have an area that he patrols because each time I went to Chinatown I saw him.

After dinner fruits.  Mango, Jack fruit, and pineapple.

A video walk through the merchandise station.  They shied away when they saw the video camera, so you don't get the full experience of the vendor interaction that I described above.  But you can at least see the items for sale.

The Flickr photo set can be accessed here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carltyson/sets/72157626498258019/