New name

I guess I need to think of a new name for this blog - we no longer reside in Malaysia, and in fact have no real residence at the moment. From the start of October it will be Hong Kong for me, and from November for Sonia. Until then we are vagrants.

And the new blog begins

Have a look here: http://asricktour.blogspot.com/

And that's it! However...

And that's the end of the time in Malaysia (almost). It's Saturday and we've just finished handing back the apartment keys to the landlord. Having spent the morning sweeping and mopping to make sure the place was clean when we handed over, the landlord's agent tried to deduct some money from our deposit to cover cleaning. Of course that was a red-rag to Sonia, who promptly reminded the agent that the place was filthy when we took over. We had to pay for a cleaner to come in a sort it out before we moved in! There was no way that Sonia was going to pay for them to "clean" the apartment! Needless to say the landlord did not argue - maybe he did recall the email that Sonia sent him explaining the problem when we moved in. However, they did ask for RM 30 (about NZD 12) to cover replacements for the four lightbulbs that had blown. I guess they went away feeling like they'd got something out of us.

As of last night we are officially on holiday. Today is haircut (both of us) and nails (Sonia only!) day. We fly to Singapore tomorrow afternoon, staying over for one night. Then leaving at 10:00am to Vancouver. Last night was spent out with work colleagues to say goodbye - a good time was had by all. I will start up a separate diary for the actual trip - try and put photos into the entries to record where we went and what we did (just in case anyone is interested). Earlier today I was reading the BBC news site and looked at the articles about air travel and packing bags. Looks like small bags (briefcase size) are now ok, which means we'll be able to take the day pack with the notebook onto the plane. Better than trusting things to the vagaries of baggage handlers of dubious honesty. Remember the Auckland Airport scam?

By Monday we will be in Vancouver. Worked out the other day that it's been more than 12 years since we actually looked around Vancouver, so I imagine it will have changed somewhat. We will see.

Its the final countdown

A blast from the past.

Today is Sunday. Next Sunday at this time we'll be getting ready to go to the airport to catch a flight to Singapore - this is the first step of the journey.

A night in Singapore starts the trip, and we then settle into a airplane seat for a mammoth sixteen hour flight from Singapore to Vancouver. The flight stops in Seoul for about an hour after the first six and a half hours of flying. Another ten hours flying gets us to Vancouver, where we're booked into the YWCA in the middle of town.

It will be good to have another look at Vancouver, as it has been more than 12 years since we were last there. I guess the place will have changed. Sonia's brother is now living in Vancouver (avoiding getting a job from what I hear), so we'll catch up with him and the various cousins or distant relatives who have migrated to the northern hemisphere. After a week in Vancouver to have a look around we fly to Edmonton on the Friday.

This week will be focussed on packing (both bags for the trip and the house to be moved), handing over work stuff, and saying goodbye to people. It is likely that I'll see some of them again, but it might not be for a while... Also need to get tax and immigration closed off so we don't get into trouble. So much to do, so little time, and we're still sitting in the coffee shop.

2 more weeks to go...

The old song "two more weeks to go, two more weeks to Christmas" is running through our minds. 10 working days.

This afternoon was taken up with some sorting through the stuff that we've accumulated and throwing things out. Amazing what was still stuck at the back of the cupboards. Of course it's important to sort stuff into piles and throw things out that are not worth shipping between countries.

The news of the terrorism plot raised questions over how easy our flights to Canada (and on to UK) will be. If we cannot take a book or laptop onto the 16 hour flight to Vancouver, I think we'll end up going mad on the way. I hope we'll be ok on the trip to Vancouver and will not need to check so much in. But the flight from Toronto to Heathrow will be a challenge.

We now need to get organised with places to stay (Vancouver and Toronto are booked). We realised that we arrive into Milan at the start of Fashion Week, so we are expecting that it's going to be busy and difficult to find places to stay. The trip has also changed slightly, and from Milan we're flying back through Paris, stopping for a couple of nights before we fly back to KL. Milan-Singapore flights were full, so we had to find an alternative route back to Asia.

Mid-week

Two more working days until the weekend! Saturday morning catching a plane to Phuket for the weekend. Being our wedding anniversary we need to do something, so a weekend (with Monday off) in a hotel on an island away from the office will be nice. As if we need an excuse?

Just watched the re-run of Rockstar Supernova. Being in Malaysia, when I get to see it we are long past it actually being run live. Interesting performances - as last week as well. Some of these people are really strange... Truly amazing what they will do. It will be interesting to see who ends up as the singer for the band. The band itself appears a little unusual, although really, a manufactured rock band? It's one thing to script out a boy-band or a girl-band (Spice Girls anyone?), but for a rock band - a bit too forced for my liking. Well, anything that makes money I guess.