Pics from KL

Petronas twin towers

KL, Malasia and home

So we brought our time in the 'far east' to an end in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia. First impressions weren't the most positive as we arrived late at night and made some selections of food from the street hawker stalls in Chinatown that weren't nearly as tasty as what we had grown used to (and spoiled from) in Thailand. Happy to report that being in KL grew on us a bit and we felt lucky to have at least a few days there. It's a big city for sure with the usual diversity in population that comes with an urban setting. Primarily Malaysian, Chinese, and Indian. As far as religion, almost entirely muslim with many women donning the head-covering called a hijab. We found the lebanese part of the city in short order and had several delicious meals of that cuisine (which we know well).

Before leaving, I met with DaVita (the company I work for) counterparts in KL...an american woman based in singapore who is a manager and several malaysian women who oversee operations at one of the three dialysis clinics that DaVita runs there. The clinic we visited was on the 17th floor of a high-rise. Quite a bit different from what we're accustomed to here in the states. We met in person after having a tele-conference months prior while I was in Grand Junction. Marrie and I are tempted by the idea of living abroad for an extended period of time (1-2yrs) and the meeting went quite well. They seemed to like us (we all went together) and made it sound like the choice is ours. And were very excited to hear that Marrie is a social worker, and started viewing us as a package-deal as they are in need of such.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on one's stance on the matter) the standard work-week in malaysia is monday thru saturday, ie 48hrs/week. That's a 60% increase from the 30hrs/week that I average currently. With a pay-cut making about 66% less than what I make now (despite working 60% more!). Though of course, the cost of living is much less than in the US (they estimated that we could get a pretty comfortable condo with gym/pool at about $300-500 per month). But with that work schedule, marrie and eleanor would be on their own much of the time and it would not allow for much travel to nearby countries (basically Thailand and its neighbors...Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam). Which is much of the motive for the plan. Pretty sure you can fly roundtrip KL to Chiang Mai much of the year with little advance booking for less than $100! So although we have not ruled it out, that scenario is looking less likely than likely.

Catching up on some pics, now back home in grand junction. Have to post a quick re-cap at some point and some pics from Kuala Lumpur. For now, a couple people shots from our 3-day/2-night snorkel outting to koh rok and koh kraden.

Eleanor and her 'buddy'/boyfriend Daroon. He was the cook and our guide into/out-of the emerald cave on koh muk

This was our entire group, including guides Ned (2nd from right), his dad to his left who operated the boat, and his uncle Daroon in the middle. A family affair. Then there's the group of 4 others that we shared the trip with...Arama (crouching down), her boyfriend Sebastion (behind Daroon) and his parents Eberhardt and Monica (to Daroon's left and right). I am using Daroon as the reference point not by accident but more as poking fun, as he was Eleanor's reference point much of the time (as illustrated nicely in this shot, notice how focused she is on him!).