My first visitors!!!

Had a great day so far with Mum and Dad here. Their plane was slightly delayed because (as the pilot explained in a disapproving tone) Malaysian Airlines had to eject an inebriated passenger at Perth and then turf off his baggage. Soon afterwards, the air stewards circulated economy class with tumblers full of what looked like urine, but turned out (to Mum and Dad's delight) to be very cold Tiger beer. Kind of ironic for an airline belonging to a Muslim country. Maybe there's an exemptions to the rules while flying...just like my diets have always gone out the window in the air...
Despiting protesting they needed a lazy day after 2am bedtime, Mum and Dad managed to devour 4 massive shopping centres (KLCC, Pavillion, Star Hill, Low Yat Plaza), see 300 Xmas trees, photograph same, endure 300 decibel Xmas carols (the Muslims seemed to be enjoying the amplified orchestra much more than we Westerners), order custom-made shoes and prescription glasses, sample mucho local fare involving lychees, all without getting run over by a moped (not a bad effort considering you have to look both ways - sometimes they drive on the wrong side of the street). Even though we were all tired, we've also managed no arguments so far - even with differing opinions about the germ count on escalator handrails. This bodes well for the 10days ahead. A mutual love of Ted Baker merchandise kept us all happy. Tonight it's champagne on the balcony then off to dinner at Senses for some fine dining. We're taking the underground train which should make Dad happy! It's great having visitors. Mum and Dad notice things that I don't and remind me not to take the view for granted. Mum was almost speechless when she first saw them (quite a feat ha ha!)

Ho Ho Ho

Ho Ho Ho. At the risk of sounding critical of my beloved home country, I think Malaysia does a very classy Christmas. Today in the shopping centre underneath the Twin Towers, I came across a string quartet planing classical music so beautiful that I felt a bit tearful. I can't remember the last time that happened (being inspired to great emotion in a shopping centre), except maybe last Christmas at Karrinyup shopping centre trying to find a parking spot! I am really looking forward to showing my parents all the cool stuff. Like buying a whole coconut with a straw in it as a drink with your meal...

I have joined a Fitness First gym and I'm glad I've started getting fit for Japan ski trip quite early...I found myself puffing in a PILATES class! The gym is very high tech, and I was quite excited to see TV screens on the treadmills and cross-trainers etc, until I've remembered how stupefyingly boring CNN can be, even if you are cycling! I am really grateful for the CDs that friends have given to me recently, thanks a lot guys and Katrina...

It has been a good week. Last weekend had all the pre-requisites for a good weekend - time around the pool with a book, a fair-weather hash complete with obligatory beer skols and bawdy songs, some vodka-fuelled nightlife and of course, MORE SHOPPING.

I've had 7 days at the new job now and it is going well. I am quite motivated and hoping it extends into more than the initial 8 weeks. I feel like I have stepped into Aberdeen - my colleagues are almost entirely Scottish. However, change is NOT as good as a holiday, and I badly need the week off next week.

Something that is amazing me up here is how it still feels like there isn't enough time in the day. I don't have to do any house work. I have no travel time, everything I need is walking distance, I have no kids or pets or hubby to look after, I have a lot less friends up here to share my time with, I never cook because there is a good restaurant about 50 m away (where the yummy meals from the buffet cost about three dollars), and it still kinda feels like there isn't quite enough time to do all the things I want to! "Busy" must be a state of mind...!

all shopped out

I'm hoping I'm all shopped out, but not before the bank phoned asking if my card had been stolen by a Ted Baker fanatic! You know you've shopped too much when you can't carry a single thing more.
Went grocery shopping - had no idea till now that there are Halal and non-Halal aisles at the supermarket. The microwave at work is Halal only too. Impending visitors (parents) are shaming me into putting something in the fridge besides beer and apples. There are now some persimmons and cans of soft drink as well. I still have no desire to cook.
Went hashing on the weekend. Tried to ignore lots of rustling in the undergrowth but towards the end a python popped out!!! Even the locals were scared Some people will never go out on a hash without a stick.
Had the best professional massage of my life for A$10 and can't wait to go back. Spent Sunday PM at the Tivoli Villas pool with friends who live there. All the taxi drivers know the place because it's where the famous alleged act of sodomy occurred (former deputy PM Anwar Ibrahim spent quite some time in jail after a fairly suspect court case in 1999) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_Ibrahim

We had a power failure at 11pm last night. I wasn't too worried because it was kinda time to switch off The Chaser anyway, but when the P.A. came on and they told me a couple of times not to panic ("The situation is ...under investigation..."), I started to wonder if I should panic. Distracted myself by busily sewing buttons onto a shirt with DENTAL FLOSS using my headtorch - can't wait for my boxes to get here! When the power came back on 10 minutes later, they felt the need to get back on the P.A. and announce that a couple of times (I thought the noisy air cons might have been a bit self-explanatory).

There was some sort of public holiday yesterday and the traffic went bonkers. It's times like that I am extra glad I live 10 mins walk from work. It took my new cubicle neighbour 1h35mins to drive 1km!

moving up...20 floors!

Had a terribly exciting day. I have been seconded to Client B and I start working in the Twin Towers on Monday. It's a dream come true - they might even have a good coffee machine and reliable lifts! (O hang on - I quit coffee 3 days ago. The low fat iced la latte I had today doesn't count because it was cold). Anyway...back to work stuff ...Importantly the new boss is very nice. Basically I'll working on a series of technical documents with some tight deadlines and reasonably important repercussions. The client is delightfully grateful to have found someone to help - I feel a bit like I should be wearing a Superwoman outfit. Since I have to start using my brain again on Monday to appear a Competent Consultant under the watchful eye of a Clued-Up Client, not to mention having to do this virtually at high altitude (level 60+), I'm going to try get lots of ZZZs this weekend, plus some time lounging around the pool...and try knock over that Christmas shopping as swiftly as possible without buying too many more Things for Claire.

Anything but creamer!

I've had a request for explanation of Nasi Lemak, unofficial national dish of Malaysia. The name literally means 'rice in fat'. There goes my waistline *sigh*. The rice is soaked in rich coconut cream and then the mixture steamed. Traditionally, this comes as a platter with cucumber slices, small dried anchovies, roasted peanuts, stir fried water convolvulus (?), hard boiled egg, pickled vegetables, and hot spicy sauce. Nasi lemak can also come with any other accompaniments such as chicken, cuttlefish, cockle, beef curry. See what I mean - tis a weird combo. Even weirder - Nasi lemak is traditionally a breakfast dish!!!!!

I've decided to give up on milk. And since I can't drink black coffee, this means giving up coffee as well (which I was trying to do in Perth anyway, on and off...). The receptionist here has been buying milk especially for me, but we keep having power blackouts overnight and she has to chuck it out. The last straw was on the Malaysian Airlines flight when I asked for milk for my tea and was handed a sachet of creamer powder instead of the usual tub of UHT. Creamer brings back memories of long, hungry days in Algeria and Gabon, also milk-free zones.

My taxi driver could have died on the way to work this morning. He opened the car door while driving along to lean out and have a huge spit, just as a motorbike came flying up alongside. It then took me about 15 minutes to get up to the office on the 46th floor because the lift seems to stop at every floor. I am spending so much time waiting for and standing in lifts that I am having to become a patient person. Good meditation time. I had lunch with the big boss from Perth at a Sundanese restaurant (is that Indonesian?) and dinner at the Aust High Commissioner's house - the first Xmas party of many hopefully. Tested the "Law of Attraction" on the food platters, drink waiters and the charity raffle with little success, but then jagged an unexpected unvisualised unanticipated lift home with friends of friends. Oh well even Murphy's Law doesn't work 100% of the time...

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Christmas everywhere

For a predominantly Muslim country, Malaysia seems to be very excited about Christmas already. I had to hold myself back from buying a fibre optic Xmas tree today at lunch.
Just got back from ripsnorter of a visit to Perth to collect belongings and catch up with the crew in head office. I also managed to catch a wedding, a ball, a housewarming, spa party, work Xmas party and a birthday dinner. Very serendipidous. The BellTower Gods were conspiring to make Perth life look far more enticing than it did before I left. I afeared that I wouldn't want to leave again. Fortunately, I felt surprisingly happy to get back to KL and see those Twin Towers again. While in Perth, got some surprisingly blog feedback. Some people want to hear more about my job! Start reading again at asterix for those not interested.
Much as I am now happy with my career choice, I think there's a good reason why there aren't TV dramas about Engineering and Accounting offices. I think they could be unsexy professions. That's why till now I have spared this blog from work talk. Work's a bit piecemeal at the moment anyway (due to being "between phases" of a project with Client A). I'm not complaining however - it's my first quietish stint in 3 years so I'm trying to recharge a bit. A holiday would probably work better! Luckily there are a few potential hols coming up - Pangkor Island (Dec). Bali (Jan). Japan (Feb). Beijing (Aug). Off topic Claire!! You were supposed to be telling June about work! Something new popped up today (an overworked understaffed Client B that appeals to the people-pleaser in me) so stay tuned. Oh and we are recruiting local graduates so pretty soon I should have someone to handball things to. Oops I mean nurture and develop...
* ok enough work stuff. Time for other important stuff. I am off to try to master my new battery-operated eyelash curler, for which the instructions are all in Chinese.