Maybe, but I couldn't fly all this way without stopping to see a dear friend & his wife. Billy and I worked together at Amway, moving work from Japan into a processing center in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. I spent quite a bit of time in KL working on the transition-according to my passport stamps, this is my fourth trip to KL. I also spent quite a bit of time with Billy-it was my job to train him to be a transition coordinator. We had lunch together most workdays for the 5 months we worked together. Billy is a 100% genuinely nice guy. I always thought he & Chris would have gotten along well had I decided to continue my life on the road with Amway.
Billy and I were working together when he met this "amazing woman" and we used to talk about her & he'd ask advice. He never told me who she was, and I learned not to push. I did however question his friendship with another woman on the team, her name was Mun. She was on the bonus team I was overseeing during the transition. I thought they had some chemistry. He insisted he had a girlfriend & I let it drop.
We had a sibling-type relationship, me being the big sister who had a wealth of advice on women, he being the little brother who made me laugh. I was working with Billy when the first Hunger Games movie came out-I loaned him an electronic version of the book & insisted he read it before the movie came out. We bought tickets & went to see it on opening night in KL (I won't tell you the work I "elected" to do that week so he could finish reading the book before the movie debut...). In June of 2012, we had a tearful good bye as Billy knew I was leaving my life on the road. We wouldn't be managing projects together in the future-this was good bye.
We continued to chat about his mystery girlfriend when I returned to the states. It's not like I knew her anyway so not knowing who she was made no difference. I left Amway in August of 2012 after Chris & I were married. Shortly after I received a congratulatory email from Billy and a confession-there was chemistry!! Billy & Mun have are now celebrating their 2nd year of marriage! I joke that I'm coming all the way to Malaysia to see it with my own two eyes. I'm really excited for the four of us to spend time together-it's been a highlight I'm looking forward to since I realized tickets were cheap to fly to KL. I ❤️ Air Asia & wish we had a budget airline in the US. But I digress....
Today is predominately a day of travel. We took a tourist passenger van to the airport. We had to have our checked luggage scanned before we could go to the ticket counter-but our hand luggage wasn't scanned. Chris said the airport was had a slew of security loop-holes, which made going through the hoops all the more frustrating. I'm still not over my scissors.
The good side: I did get a Krispy Kreme doughnut (first time I haven't had them "fresh off the press" and they were below eating baby angles) AND McDonalds. I didn't have room for my hamburger, so I brought it on the plane for later!
Today might have been my most frustrating day of travel-cultural differences came out.
1. Family checking in takes 30 minutes. Is checked in & given back passports, continues to stand at ticket counter & have a family discussion-preventing anyone else from checking in. Ticketing agent doesn't suggest they move.
2. Passport control-person at ticket counter is stamped out & leaves, leaving customs agent open. No one moves from the line. He doesn't signal anyone to come to him. He just sits there with an open window. We continue to wait in line until it's my turn & I go to him. (I think travelers were waiting to be flagged over.)
3. Waiting in line to fill up water bottles: I'm in line, have been in line for over 10 minutes (my Dutch side coming out-for free filtered water), and new people join the line & cut.
4.Disembarking the aircraft: there was no polite waiting for the row in front of you to exit. The people from the row behind us were in front of us, preventing us from getting out, as Chris went to grab our bag from the overhead bin & people shuffled by. He had to be aggressive to get off the plane.
(This is a picture of me stubbornly filling up my water bottle with free water-only to discover it was boiling hot water.)
That being said-we are thankful for the safe, on-time flights that brought us to KL. The airport is different than I remembered-Chris has a friend whose dad was the architect who designed it! Malaysia has the easiest passport/ customs of any place we'd been-fast & free.
The airport is 70 km outside the city & we needed to take transportation back into the city. This is the first time I realized the shock of not my own budget versus a company budget. Travel into the city was $14 each-one way!! That means we'd have close to $50 in airport transportation costs alone!! Travelfish.org pointed out that if you break up the trip into two legs, it was significantly cheaper. Longer, more of a hassle, but significantly cheaper. The system which uses the swipe cards for public transport wasn't working-so we used a kiosk to buy a ticket to the first stop. We got off at that stop, exited, used a kiosk to purchase a ticket into the city & after a 20 minute wait, got back on. This method cost $5 each. That's like a nice coupon. Chris couldn't believe how nice the public transportation was-and all the English!
We made it into KL Sentral, which is the main transportation hub of KL. The hotel I stayed at in KL was also located across from KL Sentral and being there was a bit like coming home. I didn't feel like I was in a whirlwind of something new-I felt empowered. Except like most things in life, with the passing of time comes change.
There is now a mall attached to KL Sentral. I wanted to exit out the "back" and found myself in a mall. There is a mall in Little India.
This was obviously quite disorienting and Google maps wasn't working properly. And there was now a mall where I thought there should be streets. We made it out & feeling confident in this city (I'd managed once before, I could do it again), we set out. I knew it was a couple of streets over & I knew what the convenience store looked like (the hostel had a convenience store on the first floor). We found our place & checked in. This place had the smallest bathroom we've seen-and narrow hallways. I don't think rolling luggage would have fit.
The room was pretty utilitarian, but we didn't plan on being in it much. (The room had a small bathroom like "tiny house" small.)
We showered & got ready. I love WhatsApp as it allowed us to "text" with Billy to coordinate our reunion. And suddenly he was downstairs, and I ran down them for the sweetest of moments, four years in the making. A hug shared almost in disbelief-that we were really together again-this was real. (Chris was thoughtful enough to capture a photo.)
There are moments in life when you say goodbye and you hope it's not forever, but you know in all reality it's probably the last time you'll see that person. The friendship still continues-you think of them, long to chat over a drink, and wish you could be present to celebrate all the moments together-but you know that it would take a near miracle to be together again. That was how I felt when I parted with Billy four years ago. I desperately hoped I could see him again, but knowing we were half way around the world (and no longer working for the same company), that it would be darn near impossible. This was a hug of shock and disbelief, a heart of thankfulness to be reunited.
We introduced each other to our spouses-although I already knew Mun and headed off to dinner. The car ride consisted of comments of disbelief and major life highlights. They took us to a Chinese restaurant where we ate until we were stuffed. Mun did an incredible job ordering dishes that we shared: vegetables, grilled fish, tofu something delicious, and a Malay pork dish that was my favorite-all over coconut rice (which happened to be purple).
There was a slight rain as we left dinner (las though a rain cloud follows us wherever we go) but we still headed to the touristy Chinese market. This place used to be my favorite when I stayed in KL-I have clothing & luggage & art that I bought here. Tonight it was filled with purses, Dre beats, and shoes. I was surprised to see elephant pants in KL.
Chris had wanted to try fruit. That was one if his few requests for while we were in KL. Billy & Mun took us to a fruit stand & we tried Kedondong and Sengkuang. The Kedondong was like a hard, tart apple and was sprinkled with sweet powder. I loved it!! Chris had the Sengkuang which was a very firm, bland pear. We also had a snack of roasted chestnuts. I remembered them-and now I had locals to show me how to eat them-and master negotiator, Mun.
After meandering through the market we got a table. The boys had beers and we continued to catch up. We had 4 years to catch up on! I asked all my Amway questions-about staff, transitions, and projects.
At about 11:00 we called it a night. We knew we'd have the weekend to catch up. I cannot tell you the sweet joy I had, watching Billy & Mun hold hands as they walked through the market-they had found each other in this world of 6 billion people & were happy together. I knew them as individuals, now I was able to know them as a couple-something email couldn't convey. And for them to know Chris. I met Billy when I was starry eyed newly engaged & planning my wedding (from Asia) and now they could meet Chris.
Needless to say, I went to bed with a full & happy heart. I'm so glad we decided to make a detour to KL.
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