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 ***