Arrival

Here I am on the other side of the planet. My entry into Malaysia was totally hassle free, which was a total surprise given my last day in the US. Last week I unblocked my VISA and ATM cards so that I could use them in Malaysia. I went on to make a room reservation in Penang. The credit card was blocked 5 times! Doug and I rifled through our file of never used credit cards, found a Master Card, got it unblocked, and I got my room. In between failure and success were long intervals and several calls to the Credit Union. I held my breathe when I accessed the ATM at Kuala Lumpur. The machine performed its usual magic and spit out Malaysian ringitts in less than a minute.



The second US adventure was at RDU, the ticket agent said that I could not board the plane. Her computer screen said that if a return ticket was more than 3 months out a visa was required. She went to see her supervisor who confirmed that I could get a social visa when I arrived in Malaysia. Still, I was amazed that no travel forms were handed out on the plane from Korea to Malaysia. The immigration officer took my passport asked what plane I took into Malaysia and that was all. It makes you wonder what is stored in the computers and who made or cares about the three month rule.


Today I took the monorail to get to the Old Train Station, took a taxi to the Old Train Station, where I bought my bus ticket to Penang, took a commuter train to the Central Train Station, and took the Monorail back. Each piece of the trip required directions - lots of directions. I was very grateful that everyone seems to speak English and virtually everyone knows how to get around. Things fell a bit apart at the end of the day when I realized that I wasn't sure where my hotel was and neither did a 7-11 clerk and several parking lot attendents.



I spent a substantial part of the day with the hotel's maintenance staff to get my computer linked to the Internet - we gave up and decided that somethings weren't meant to be. I also got a SIM card for my phone. My conversation with the clerk about what plan I wanted to buy must have convinced him that I was a complete idiot. I hope that by the time I reach Penang I have gotten on top of all things electronic.