Doug Arrives (or at least part of him)

On Sunday morning I met Doug at the airport. I glimpsed passengers grabbing their luggage and assumed that Doug was one of the gray-haired, 60-plus men who had descended into a comfortable largeness. I was surprised when Doug emerged 60 pounds lighter. It was like getting a new husband.

We first stopped at the Guest House. Doug wanted a shower, which wasn’t the best idea since that shower was down to one thin stream of water. (The Guest House was fully occupied with lots of young men. Instead of feeling like I was living in a monastery it seemed more like a men’s locker room. Between showers and washing their clothes I assume that they had seriously challenged the water pressure.)

Our next stop was mansion. A great change from the Guest House. It was cool and airy and had a great bath tub. We got lunch, purchased ferry tickets for Langkawi and went to check out a cheaper hotel for our next trip in. We gave up on the hotel quest and had a light dinner at the hawker’s center across from the hotel. E b

Lina picked us up and dropped us off at my office. We started my leaving my suitcase and a bag of items to go to Borneo in Ch’ngs office. I distributed a few small gifts and delivered the books we were bringing for Soon. (Skipping international postage saves a ton of money.) Next we went out to lunch at the New World Center. It was a bright hawkers center – I don’t know how many times I passed it not even knowing it was there.




After lunch I went to the Guest House to leave a small gift for the cleaning staff. I was surprised and touched when the staff gave me a piece of batik! Next we rendezvoused with Lina who took us out for tea and cake. Later we stopped to deliver an Obama tee-shirt to Abu, the nasi kandar man. Then we headed out with Soon for another small feast. The food and conversations made it a very remarkable day!