Time rolls on

Well, my trip to Malaysian Borneo has come to an end. I got home Wednesday night and after a wonderful steak dinner with two of my kids, I crashed hard. Yes, it was great to be home, but I really miss Kuching. I'll tell ya what I don't miss; airplanes and airports! Why is it that everything in an airport costs double? Is it because they know your a hostage until you reach your final destination? I sat down at a restaurant in NYC's LaGuardia and ordered a cheeseburger, fries, and beer. The grand total was (are you ready for this) $24.00! Yikes! It goes on and on because flying to Malaysia takes a couple of days, with a few layovers, and after the second leg you are sick of airline food! Oh I know the airline industry does it's best to serve good tasting and wholesome meals, but there's just something lacking there. I could go on and on about the extra money needed to fly, but I won't. You're welcome!
Back to work Sunday night! Why is it vacation time never seems to last as long as work time? There's gotta be some kinda spacial rift that folds over on itself during weekends and vacations, causing us to accelerate through time.
See ya round!

The final day has come

Wow! Where did the time go? This is my final day in Malaysia, already! It has been a great trip, and I am already looking forward to the next one! I hope you have enjoyed the pictures on Facebook! See you back in the states!

Plans change!

Well the trip to the temple is postponed until tomorrow. We simply ran out of time! Liza, Lucas, and Shannelle went back home yesterday, but we will be visiting them on Thursday! Thursday is Chap Goh Mei (fifteenth night), which marks the final day of Chinese New Year celebrations, until next year! Tina and I will travel to Sibu on Thursday to celebrate Chap Goh Mei with Lucas' family, then we will return to Kuching with Liza and Shannelle on Friday evening! We'll enjoy the weekend together, then I jet off on Tuesday! Wow, time is flying!!
Talk to ya later!

Beautiful Kuching

It is hard to believe I have been here a week as of today! What a week it has been! I have eaten everything I have been wanting to eat since I was last here 4 years ago, with the exception of the wild game, which I will be eating in a few days time! My brother-in-law, Ah Soon, has a friend who owns a restaurant specializing in just this sort of cuisine, and I can tell you from experience that Soon's friend is an awesome chef!
Tina's daughter (Liza) and family (husband Lucas and my granddaughter Shannelle) came for a visit from Sibu, which is a 10 hour drive from here. They actually took a flight (45 mins) though. We all went to spend a couple of days at the Damai Puri Beach Resort, a place that I have been wanting to see since I first came here 8 years ago! I can only say that it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been blessed to see! Please see the photos on my Facebook site.
We have been staying at Tina's sister's (Ling) house. She has a large house, very comfortable, and we are happy to be here with her! Houses here are not like houses in the U.S., as they are built from concrete, nearly entirely! This keeps the house cool since the average outside temp is 90F, and quite humid as this is a tropical paradise! Don't get me wrong, it is still warm and we use fans to keep the air moving, but it is comfortable. Usually it rains at some point everyday, but there has been just two periods of rain in the last week! Very nice for vacationers!!
Today we are going to a very large temple that sits high on a hill overlooking a fishing village. I have been there before, with a guide, but this time we are going with Liza and family, and Armand (Tina's son) and Ling (my sister-in-law) and Ping (my niece).
More to come!

What a ride!!

We are finally in Malaysia, on Borneo! What a ride! We were snowed out of our flight on Tuesday, so we were re-booked for Friday. Thus, I called my boss and told him I could work the rest of the week. He gladly approved! I worked on Tuesday night (Wednesday shift) and went home to bed. Tina woke me in a panic on Wed afternoon at 1:30 saying we had been re-booked for 5:00pm THAT DAY! WHAT?!?!? So we hurried to get ready and make it to the airport. Dad dropped us off and we went to the ticket counter. Guess what, they had NO RECORD of our re-booking. It should be said here that I called Delta to make sure Tina had the right info and was told we were indeed booked at 5:00pm. So here we are at the counter, perplexed. To make matters worse, the Delta agent told us WE had to call and straighten it out on our own because Part of the fight was being handled by Singapore airlines and they would not let us re-book! WHAT?!?!? I called the Delta people and, after much conversation, they got us going. Oh wait, there's more! When we got to Atlanta we had to go through it all over again, minus the 'me calling Delta' part. Well, the Delta girl in Atlanta did for us what the Delta people in Maine couldn't; booked us through to Malaysia with no trouble. They even checked our bags straight through! Awesome! Off we went to Singapore via Japan. After a long wait, we finally got here to Kuching, but Tina's bags didn't! The baggage agent at the Kuching airport was actually waiting for us! Turns out he had been contacted by Atlanta to say Tina's bags were delayed! Luckily she put a change of clothes in my bag! SO, here we are, a few days later than planned but just as happy to be here! So good to see the family, and enjoy what's left of the Chinese New Year celebrations! Needless to say, we crashed hard last night! Our time is 13 hours ahead of EST, in case you were wondering.
MORE TO COME....