DJ Tiësto in Malaysia

Besides going to the office and meeting businesspeople, there's also some room for having fun. I've met some Dutch students here in KL, one of them is actually from the same year/class of my studies back in The Netherlands. So he and a couple of others invited me to do some fun things for the last two weeks. A big succes I might say, because it saves me a lot of time exploring the bars/clubs/parties/other fun things on my own. Although I must say, it's really cool to just go downtown and to your own things, meet your own new friends, get to know some locals, etc. But when you just want to tagg along, it's easy to have some (Dutch) friends over here aswell. So this guy called me, just a few days before the weekend, if I wanted to join him and his group to a concert where DJ Tiësto and some other DJ's were playing. The costs would be around RM 88 for the ticket, RM 4 for the busride and around RM 10 per beer @ the concert, totalling around RM 200 for the whole thing. That's just €40,- for a really cool party! So I sayd YES, and a couple of days later we were on our way. The busride towards Port Dickson, small town at the beach where the concert was, was already packed with fun.

We were just sitting in the back of the bus, like little children, but then with a couple of beverages with us.

Then, all of a sudden, there was a small bang, combined with some bumps. The bus had a flat tire.

Although the flat tire wasn't part of the plan, the bus just went on, with a bit lower speed. On the highway, you might think? No, on the emergency lane, next to the highway. So after the bus arrived at the terminal, we missed our connection with the next bus. So, we called a fex taxi's to continue the journey. Meanwhile, there was some room for more pictures.

After the taxi's arrived, we continued our trip, but not without taking more and more pictures! We had so much fun in the taxi! The cabdriver also, by the way.

We still had some resources left, as you can see...

After all of that, we arrived at the party. It was a really big event, larger then I expected. Some European guys, spinning records, with a funny Dutchman named Tiësto as the main event, how many people would attract that? A lot. This one is from the front.
This one was a bit later, after a lot of fireworks. The opening was superb!
And, I also enjoyed it!
So, that's it, the party was great! Can't wait to tell the people in Holland about this, although some of them may have already seen everything here. Thanks for watching, because this is my last blog here in KL! Next one will be in The Netherlands...

On the move

As I already told in my former message, I've been quiet on the internet for the last few days. The reason was that I wasn't around the office from wednesday untill this morning, because of several appointments downtown KL. Usually, I go on the internet when I come home straight away. But, for the last few days, there have been some problems. All of the sudden, I couldn't connect anymore. The hotel said it was a problem with my laptop first. After that, it was supposed to be the cable that refused to work. After that, they would take care of the problem. What I have learned here, is that if you want to do business for real, you need a Chinamen to get the job done. The Malay are not the most efficient people, the Indians are usually given a bit lower function and the Chinese are on the top. As it has been like that in the businessworld over here, I thought it would be the same in my hotel. So I called and looked, trying to get myself a Chinamen to take care of the internet problem. The problem is that the Chinese are not the ones you get to speak easily, because they are all upper management. So I had to deal with the people at the reception. This was continuing for three days, so I was quite fed up with it.

Yesterday, one of the hotel managers called me on my Malaysian mobile to invite me to dine together tonight. I accepted his invitation (free dinner + free drinks!) to get to know him, and to adress my internet problem. One hour later, I was moved to another room. There was a problem with the internet connection on my room, so I had to move to another room - I thought I told them the same thing over the last three days, but who am I to believe?

To make this (not so interesting) story a bit shorter: I moved to another room. Funny thing is that it's the exact same room as before, only it's on the 13th floor, instead of the 11th. Besides that, it's exactly mirrored compared to my old room! Although that doesn't really sound that radical - it is! Literally everything in on the other side now, even around the sink in the bathroom. Left = right and the other way around... I already bumped into walls and doors, because they open the other way around, etc. I'll survive, but it's just... new.

How things are going

Although it was a bit quiet on my blog for a while, I'm still alive (and kicking). The last days I've been at a big exhibition here in KL, to search for some other players in the market and to widen my network. So far, I've spent my first ammunition of businesscards, already reloaded two times and still had to reach foy spare cards in my other pocket. Man, what a businesscard culture! Even when I was sitting in a bar, just taking a breath from the whole exhibition experience and all, I still needed to spread my cards all over the place. I've been invited to join in for rock climbing next sunday, to go to everyones homes, clubs, etc. I was even invited to meet up with a businessman and take a look at his factory. That was supposed to happen today, but he canceled at the last moment. Too bad, because I was really interested in seeing a big steel processing factory here in Malaysia. Monday I get to see another one, so I can't complain too much.

The way people do business here really differs from what I'm used to in The Netherlands; first you eat, drink, just make an easy conversation. After that, It's business time. A funny thing is that almost everybody wants to be your future partner, or has a brother/friend/family who would be able to become "my" businesspartner. Even if people are in a totaly different ballgame, they still know everything about everything and still want to become partners. At first, it looked interesting and fun. But after a while, it's just too much. Some really big consultants say it's best to have a local partner, some say you really don't have to. Other ones just want a grasp of the loot by already proposing a good price for offices, land, etc. I had it a couple of times: I just started a conversation, and after a minute or two I was able to buy a whole factory, including officespace, staff, etc. I really need support from professionals, otherwise I could end up owning half of the Klang Valley... No serious, people talk about setting up companies very easy, like it's just playing poker. So I really have to be carefull and look for the right people to talk with, because everyone has a double agenda over here.

More about that and a lot of other stuff, coming soon! Have to go now!

Ow and, tomorrow I'll be at a very cool Freedom Festival, where DJ Tiesto will be spinning records for two whole days. Lots of fun, lots of expenses... You'll here everything ASAP!

Pictures

As promised, some pictures. They're all taken by my mobile phone with a 2.0 mp camera, so it isn't top-notch, but sufficient to give a small impression, I think.


The icon of KL: the Petronas Towers. Until a few years ago, these two towers were both the tallest and second tallest buildings in the world. Really, Really cool building, as well as the whole complex beneath and around it, The Kuala Lumpur City Central. This is a picture by night, I will also make a few during daytime.







Here are the same towers, at the same time, from a different angle. The bridge between the two towers is flexible, so it doesn't break off when the towers move a little bit. The bridge even has a restaurant in the middle, and it also indicates the highest floor visitors are allowed to (the 41th out of 88).


Outside the KLCC, there's a nice park, with fountains, nice trees, etc. Many people come here to relax besides the water, as you can see on the picture. What's also very nice, is the fact that it's very cleen around this area. No littering or anything that disturbs the coolness of this place.

These pictures below are made from the same position, to the left and to the right. It shows a little bit of the "old" KL centre, where many Indians affected the architecture. They even build sort of a mini-Big Ben, can you see it? On the bottom picture, to the right on the background, you can see the KL Tower, which has a revolving restaurant. It provides a stunning view of the whole of KL. I'm going there next friday with some collegues ;) And that dark building on the top picture, on the background? It was something cool aswell, only I can't remember exactly what it was. Problably a hotel or telecom building.

Forgotten items

Ok, I now realise that I forgot a thing or two. I can just add everything to this thread, to see how long the list is at the end of my first visit to Malaysia. Hopefully, I'll learn from it for the second visit.

- Bluetooth usb adapter to upload pirtures
- Ties
- Spare lighter
- Small knife
- CD to use as a mirror under the shower while shaving

The arrival

*** Note - I forgot my usb bluetooth device, so I have to buy a new one to upload pictures ***

Last weekend was kind of hectic, but in a nice way, eventually. After working on Saturday in the retaurant, I rushed home to finish backing my bags. After thinking of all kinds of scenenarios (especially worst cases), I descided to leav some stuff behind to make room for new clothes, gadgets, etc. I even left my Playtation home, so I mean it (I did brought my Gameboy with me though). After that, I promoted a room-mate to the rank of captain for a few weeks, to see to it that our home in Groningen is going to survive my absence. I hit the train to Amsterdam to visit my brother for the last night in The Netherlands, and since he just bought a cool, big, classic house in one of the better districts in Amserdam, that was the place to kamp out for the last night. I was so damn comfortable that we only slept for an hour or four, but hey; that way I would be able to sleep a bit in the airplane.

After a short tour the next morning, I found myself on Schiphol International Airport, three hours before departure. Man, what a crowd! They kept broadcasting over the speakers that, because of "extreme passenger flow" (extréme drukte, klonk nog ernstiger), there were some changes. Entire flows of passengers were rerouted from terminal to terminal and I was kind of cought in the middle. Well, I don't want to make it sound like as if it was terrible, but when you do Narita Airport in 12 minutes, you think you should be able to do Schiphol in 30. Luckaly I was invited to check in at business class, since I was the only cool guy in the row. They said I could check in because I traveled on my own, so they could let me slip through quickly, but I know better. Still, thank you Malaysia Airlines. I also found my beloved world traveler's plug, the exact model I was looking for, for the last days. So I was ready to get on the plane and make myself comfortable.

Once on the plane, it was a Malaysian Airlines 747-400, everything on it, I felt lucky to have gotten an isle seat, 46c to be exact. Next and averywhere around me were some cute kids, so it promised to be a smooth ride. Besides that, I was tired from the short night (and the insanly short hungover night before that one), so no problemo. After takeoff, I and some people around me expierenced some difficulties with the ultra cool entertainment system; the menu wasn't working. Luckaly, all the desired cool movies were still accessable with the remote, so that was just a minor setback. To bad most of the kids around me had different thought about that and started crying and shouting for the next 12 hours... It was the food, the movies and my Gameboy that let me survive the flight. In a moment, I reminded myself at a text message I send to one of my friends about flying, that it isn't that cool anymore. He replied that is was bollocks and that I should just enjoy. Well, thanks man, I did. Not. I mean, if you have kids of age between 1 and 6 years old, why on earth do you have to go to the other side of the world!? Please do us all a favour and get a transavia filght to Spain, or take a caravan and go camping! Besides all of that, Malaysia Airlines rocks bigtime.

After landing, I wished for the well known heatbang effect; after hours of airconned terminals, trains, stations, etc, you get outside and get an instant smack on the head with a good old 33C* combined with 80%+ humidity. Well, it was there again, but I was too tired to feel it. I bought a taxi coupon to get me to my hotel, and 40 minutes later I was there. After I unleashed all my stuff out of my bags, I installed everything in closets and in the bathroom. I sat down on the bed, and then I realised. I couldn't reach for the two sides of the bed with my arms streched. Nice. There was a full minibar, as well as a nice table, a desk, some closets, a cabinet and even a very nice chair. So I installed all of my equipment, sat down at the table with my laptop and called the reception for codes to log in. I had to wait for 5 minutes, so I had some time left to call the company to say hello and call in for the day. It was just around 9am, so the timing was perfect. I told them I was albe to be there in an hour, so I could shower and enjoy some drinks while internetting on my room. On that moment, I looked outside my window and saw the stunning view... Awesome... at 11 high, Malaysia looks even better than on the ground. Then I realised: this 30 square meter hotelroom is going to be by home for 17 days! That's isn't too bad at all! I found some brochures of the hotel complex to see how I could entertain myself during the days I'm "home". Well, enough. Anyway, I had to rush to make it to my cab in time. So, after I confirmed the fact that my new home was going to be quite nice, it was time to see the office.

From the outside, it looks a bit shady, but on the inside, it's realy nice. I work with five middle aged Chinese people, all really nice and a bit funny. We live on Chinese products, like Chinese instant coffee, Chinese water, Chinese snacks, Chinese lunch, Chinese sigarettes and a fridge full of western soda's. I have my own private 4x3 closed office so I don't have to listen to the quick salesman Mandarin all day, with all kinds of cool maps of the region on the walls. Everything here is painted in a happy baby blue, my favourite colour, so that makes me even happier. An ashtray on my huge desk, next to some newspapers, paperwork, businesscards and empty cans, glasses and cups. I drink a lot of coffee to wake up (learned that at the office in The Netherlands), a lot of water to flush it, and some cokes to really enjoy drinking something! I nearly dozed into sleep behind my desk a couple of times, but these Chinese people still keep me awake by showing some strange things and asking funny questions. After another funny conversation, we all realised that none of us were really doing something at that moment, so we went out for some corporate lunch around the corner. After that, I was sent home to take some sleep, but I rejected to do so. I thought it was a test to test my personality, so I wanted to pass that one. Besides, after some wired/wireless problems, a fight with the copymachine and some drinks and sigarettes later, the office was already about to close. An hour before closure, the main man of the office took me out to see the real Kuala Lumpur (from now on called KL) and enjoy some cool sites. We talked, drank, walked and drove around from 5pm till 11pm. At that moment, I couldn't take any more information or what soever. I needed to take some sleep, after 6 hours in 3 days, 10 hours in four days. Obviously, I stopped by at a bar inside the hotel complex, "just to check it out" (I even believed myself when I was thinking that). There was a live band, Tiger beer from the draft and some drunk Asian business people going crazy, so that was funny to see. On my way back to my room I took a wrong turn. I entered another bar, pretty cool looking, but it turned out to be a strange karaoke bar. I think you know what kind I'm talking about. If not, let's keep it that way. I rushed out to find the right elevator and went to my suite. After a last glance at KL by night, it was time to go to bed and get some sleep. Finally.

*** note - I forgot my usb bluetooth device, so I have to buy a new one to upload pictures. Will do that ASAP ***

The countdown has started!

Since everything is now official, I can now really start a countdown! If you're really going to miss me, I can also install a "Countdown till Comeback", but only on special request.