AdamGiles.com

A Friday night in a resturant in an area called ‘Bangsa’. Very westernised, I have a chicken pie and a bottle of Australian wine. Old habits die hard.

My companions for the evening were two ladies from work, Siok-Hwee on the left and Xiao-Min on the right.

Some people have expressed skepticism that I’m actually here. But look, here I am..

Also of note in the resturant was the clever toilet - the sink was the top of the cistern. When you flushed the tap ran until the cistern was full, and you washed your hands in the meantime. Very clever.

This is more like it.
A trip with the gang to a beach resort. As many of you will know, I have a checkered history/relationship with beaches. Surfice to say that I hid from the sun and applied plenty of sun cream.

This is my chalet, which was very civil, until later that evening everyone decided that I as I had a VIP chalet (i.e. bigger) it should be used for drinking games.

It all got a bit messy at the end, the Chinese and Malaysians not really being known for being able to hold their drink. Several people being sick, a few passed out. Many needed to be helped out of the door!

The following morning was spent sitting on the veranda watching the jungle steam in the sun.

I’ve found the apartment and the office on Google Earth, you can see how close they are from this photo.

You can also see the LRT (Light Rapid Transit) train line running left-to-right accross the middle of the image. One stop is all it takes.

Following on from Hotel Edison in London (which is still open BTW) I’m happy to give a guided tour of the newly opened Hotel Lumpy. The hotel (named after an email from my brother, Steve, entitled ‘Lumpy Kuala’) consists of the sofa in my living room, and people are welcome to come a visit. Rates are reasonable and you can have all the overly chlorinated water you can drink.

If you’ve been paying attention to my Flickr Stream then you’ll have noticed these snaps.

So I get this pink power bill shoved under my door, it’s from the previous tenant so I don’t worry about it. It sits about in the apartment for a few days and then I take it into work to show someone who speaks Malay. It turns out that it’s not a final demand, but a disconnection notice. I should have been turned off on the 13th. It’s now the 28th so something is wrong - I really shouldn’t have any power (which has obvious lack-of-air-con connotations).

I can only assume that the national power company is so inefficient that they haven’t gotten round to turning me off. Hoorar!

Either way, my HR department is now on the case, so if I still have the power for my laptop I’ll provide updates as they happen.

From the apartment I overlook a lake and the freeway heading into town (glamourous!)

It looks a long way down because it is - I’m up on the 27th floor. Better views but longer commuting time in the lift

3 Bags on the plane, 3 boxes shipped by DHL and a trip to the local supermarket to buy some essentials. Net result? All my worldly goods on my kitchen table.

What’s surprising to me is not that I could fit everything in 3 bags/boxes, but how much crap I managed to fit in. The biggest shock was realising that I packed 68 pairs of socks. I mean, seriously, what’s the need for 68 pairs of socks? That’s over 2 months worth of sockage without the need for washing!

In theory I now live here.

But my HR contact has gone on leave without giving me the keys - I might have to extend my stay in the hotel.

O.F.F.S. It’s a good job no parties in breweries need organising - we’d be in real trouble.

My brother, Steve, emailed me to ask if I was living the sterotypical Rich Westener lifestyle in lumpy kuala. It made me think of my dinner on the the first night here. I had to work late and a colleague donated me a pot-noodle.

I’m sure this is not quite what Steve had in mind.

So I’ve discovered a new way to develop jet lag.

Stay up late on Saturday night working. Have a lie-in on Sunday then go to the airport around 3pm. Fly from 5pm to 6pm and grab 30 mins sleep on the plane.

Check into your Kuala Lumpur hotel about 8ish and do some ironing. Go to bed at what seems like a sensible time, but is apprently 1.30am.
Now, here’s the important step. It is important that you fail to notice that the previous occupant of the room has set the clock two hours fast. That way, when you wake up at quarter to seven in order to have a shower before room service delivers breakfast, you’re actually getting up at 04:45. That way you can start the day complaining about how the hotel hasn’t delivered your breakfast.

What makes it worse was that I was 30mins into a skype call with Kate before she worked out that it must be early for me. Too early.

What the F(£”%$%E$%$%$£”"^*^&%£”£%^%K?

Too late to go back to bed as the hotel delivered breakfast right on time.

Sigh…….

What a way to start my assignment.