Greetings from Sunny Malaysia!
Hey everyone! Hope this finds you well!
Here's a quick version of my trip to get here:
The itinerary: Leave Toronto on Wed. June 28th. Take a 5 hour flight to LA, 3 hours later take a 19 hr flight from LA to KL.
What actually happened: The lady at the check-in counter in TO argued with me for nearly an hour. Said I couldn't fly becuase I needed either a return ticket or a VISA to work in Malaysia. I did not have a return ticket, but did have an ongoing ticket -to Singapore- which should have been good enough (according to the travel agent). Eventually I made her get the manager and he let us through. By us, I mean, Mike, another teacher from Ontario that will be working at Sunway -I met him at the airport when I was causing a fuss. Ok, so we got on the flight, but it was delayed by 3 hours becuase of thunderstorms; you can see where this is going. Yep...missed our connecting flight in LA. It was taking off as we were landing. And by the time we got our luggage, all the Air Canada and Air Malaysia desks were closed so there was no-one to talk to. We lived in the airport until one opened. They couldn't book us for the flight the next day becuase it was full. Oh yeah, our tickets were non-rerouteable, non-refundable, non-everything. So the only flight we could take was from LA to KL on Air Malaysia. Anyhow, the next available flight was two days later. So we eventually (not without a whole lot of hassle -they didn't actually make the reservation for us like they said they did), we got on the plane and flew to KL, with a quick 1 hr stoppover in Taipei. So, I was at TO airport on Wed. June 28th at 8pm, landed in KL on July 2 at 12:15pm. Not too bad. I guess I can't say that it hasn't been an adventure so far. Really I can't complain, I got to spend 2 days in LA. About 20 hours of those were spent in the airport, but we did get to check out the beaches of Santa Monica. That was lots of fun. I do have pictures, but I cannot get them off my camera yet -I don't have a computer and I can't use the school's machines -they will not let me install the software I need. I will post photos soon.
...So much for making this a quick version.
Tomorrow is the first staff meeting, so I will meet the other teachers then. So far I haven't met too many people and for most of my questions, the answers have been: Oh, you will meet person X and person Y, and he/she will help you with that. So basically, I haven't really got much done yet. But I did get here. And after all that, I am PUMPED to be here.
One last thing to all ye o' little faith: I actually posted to this thing. Yay me.
Here's a quick version of my trip to get here:
The itinerary: Leave Toronto on Wed. June 28th. Take a 5 hour flight to LA, 3 hours later take a 19 hr flight from LA to KL.
What actually happened: The lady at the check-in counter in TO argued with me for nearly an hour. Said I couldn't fly becuase I needed either a return ticket or a VISA to work in Malaysia. I did not have a return ticket, but did have an ongoing ticket -to Singapore- which should have been good enough (according to the travel agent). Eventually I made her get the manager and he let us through. By us, I mean, Mike, another teacher from Ontario that will be working at Sunway -I met him at the airport when I was causing a fuss. Ok, so we got on the flight, but it was delayed by 3 hours becuase of thunderstorms; you can see where this is going. Yep...missed our connecting flight in LA. It was taking off as we were landing. And by the time we got our luggage, all the Air Canada and Air Malaysia desks were closed so there was no-one to talk to. We lived in the airport until one opened. They couldn't book us for the flight the next day becuase it was full. Oh yeah, our tickets were non-rerouteable, non-refundable, non-everything. So the only flight we could take was from LA to KL on Air Malaysia. Anyhow, the next available flight was two days later. So we eventually (not without a whole lot of hassle -they didn't actually make the reservation for us like they said they did), we got on the plane and flew to KL, with a quick 1 hr stoppover in Taipei. So, I was at TO airport on Wed. June 28th at 8pm, landed in KL on July 2 at 12:15pm. Not too bad. I guess I can't say that it hasn't been an adventure so far. Really I can't complain, I got to spend 2 days in LA. About 20 hours of those were spent in the airport, but we did get to check out the beaches of Santa Monica. That was lots of fun. I do have pictures, but I cannot get them off my camera yet -I don't have a computer and I can't use the school's machines -they will not let me install the software I need. I will post photos soon.
...So much for making this a quick version.
Malaysia isn't as hot as I expected. It is warm and it is quite humid, but I was expecting worse. All the vegetation is very green and lush. Apparently it rains here everyday for about a half hour or more, but so far it has only rained at night. Palm trees line all the roads. I really like that. The place I'm staying in, I get for a month, and then they give us the boot and we have to find our own accomodations. The place, a townhouse that I have to share with Mike, is nice, although Malaysians in general do not take care of their homes -from what I've seen and been told. A lot of them are quite rundown. At this point I haven't had a chance to figure out where I'll be moving to, or even what all the options are. I have had a chance to go out and sample some local curry dishes. I'm loving it. All the roadside stalls (that the guidebooks tell you to avoid) are awesome. The food is good and cheap -I've bought meals for RM5. (The current exchange rate is about $1CDN = RM3.29. RM is the Ringgit of Malaysia.) But if you are a white person, they will try to charge you more. I had dinner at one of these roadside stalls with the director of the school, and then the next day I went back by myself for lunch and they brought a menu with all the prices three times what they were the previous day.
Tomorrow is the first staff meeting, so I will meet the other teachers then. So far I haven't met too many people and for most of my questions, the answers have been: Oh, you will meet person X and person Y, and he/she will help you with that. So basically, I haven't really got much done yet. But I did get here. And after all that, I am PUMPED to be here.
One last thing to all ye o' little faith: I actually posted to this thing. Yay me.
posted by Leon at 12:31 PM
4 Comments:
what a journey...congrats on making it there. How was flying anyway? -- airports we know.
I'll be back to read in a week - have fun.
Oh Leon!! Leave it to you to turn a routine task like flying to Malaysia into a huge adventure! I think you do it on purpose just so you will have lots of stories to tell. Not that we mind - you are keeping us very entertained here at home. Keep them coming!
Fletcher's Fan: Flying was a lot of fun. The flight was a bit long, and most of it was at night, but during the daylight, I couldn't get enough of looking out the windows.
jennie: I worry a little about writing too much and boring people. But, I guess they don't have to come back and read it if they don't want to.
OMG Leon leave it to you to have a problem with something so simple as getting on a plane and reaching your destination. :P
Glad you made it alright and sooooooooo happy to see entries!!!! You've made my night.
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