Monday, June 16, 2008
In KL
Got to KL today with no worries. Thai Airways has a nice lounge in Bangkok o had a little breakfast there then ate again on the plane. I ended up with only 90 minutes of sleep Saturday night because when Raberd returned me to the hotel the desk clerk said "oh, you didn't get your free Thai massage, let me send someone up." I figured a Thai massage was better than the 2 hours of sleep I would get so I let myself get twisted like a pretzel before catching a short nap.
Once in KL my friend Eddie came to meet me. Eddie lives and goes to school outside the city and is currently doing an internship with a company around there (I think it's just a way for the company to get some engineers working for them cheaply). Anyway, he's only off on weekends so he came in Sunday and will come back next Friday after work. We had a great dinner and spent a few hours getting caught up...it's not as if we don't talk when I'm back home, but stories always seem better whe told in person. Anyway, I have missed seeing Eddie so it was really god to reconnect.
Monday I had my first round of meetings with some of our government folks based here. That was very useful, as I'm comparing what our folks in-country say with what the people back in DC say to see if they match up (and so far, they do). My research is centered upon the US approach to this part of the world so it's good if everyone involved in it says the same things. Unfortunately, my eetings with the Malaysian government didn't work out, but I still have plenty of academics and NGOs to meet.
Monday night Jason and Alex picked me up for dinner and YAY for that. We spent about 4 hours together getting some really good Chinese food and drinking a few pots of tea. They are doing very well and looking cuter than ever and got me updated on folks here as well as sharing tales from some great travels over the last few months.
You know, it doesn't really feel like 9 months since I was last here. Once again these guys are making me feel incredibly welcome.
One unfortunate thing about this trip is that, since it's a business trip and my schedule is changing daily, I don't have the flexibility to see everyone I want. Ikanbills and I talked about him maybe coming to town from Penang but with my meetings and interviews changing everyday it was impossible for me to suggest a good time for that, so Iwill see him later this year. I also want to meet Nase but again, I think that is going to have to wait until my next visit because he is such a nice guy and I know I will want to spend quite a bit of time with him, and that time just doesn't exist on this trip. :(
Once in KL my friend Eddie came to meet me. Eddie lives and goes to school outside the city and is currently doing an internship with a company around there (I think it's just a way for the company to get some engineers working for them cheaply). Anyway, he's only off on weekends so he came in Sunday and will come back next Friday after work. We had a great dinner and spent a few hours getting caught up...it's not as if we don't talk when I'm back home, but stories always seem better whe told in person. Anyway, I have missed seeing Eddie so it was really god to reconnect.
Monday I had my first round of meetings with some of our government folks based here. That was very useful, as I'm comparing what our folks in-country say with what the people back in DC say to see if they match up (and so far, they do). My research is centered upon the US approach to this part of the world so it's good if everyone involved in it says the same things. Unfortunately, my eetings with the Malaysian government didn't work out, but I still have plenty of academics and NGOs to meet.
Monday night Jason and Alex picked me up for dinner and YAY for that. We spent about 4 hours together getting some really good Chinese food and drinking a few pots of tea. They are doing very well and looking cuter than ever and got me updated on folks here as well as sharing tales from some great travels over the last few months.
You know, it doesn't really feel like 9 months since I was last here. Once again these guys are making me feel incredibly welcome.
One unfortunate thing about this trip is that, since it's a business trip and my schedule is changing daily, I don't have the flexibility to see everyone I want. Ikanbills and I talked about him maybe coming to town from Penang but with my meetings and interviews changing everyday it was impossible for me to suggest a good time for that, so Iwill see him later this year. I also want to meet Nase but again, I think that is going to have to wait until my next visit because he is such a nice guy and I know I will want to spend quite a bit of time with him, and that time just doesn't exist on this trip. :(
Comments:
Links to this post:
<< Home
Ah well, you can't always have what you want, eh? anyway, thanks for the thought. Hope you managed to accomplish your true mission here, hehe :-)
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
<< Home
