Travel to KL

I arrived in KL earlier this afternoon. It was a long trip (almost 30 hours from door to door) but basically uneventful. My flight out of Austin (to LAX) was scheduled to depart at 7:40 PM, but a big Texas thunderstorm rumbled through just about the time we were due to leave the gate so we sat about an hour and a half waiting for the storm to pass. It was easy to tell the Californians from the Texans because the folks from LA were freaking out because they don't get much thunder and lightning out there.

It didn't take too long for me to show that "I'm not from around here". The cab driver couldn't fit both of my bags into the trunk so he said that he would put the second bag in the seat. I assumed that he was going to put it into the back seat so I headed over to the passenger seat (" got shotgun!"). When I opened the door the driver started to laugh and asked me "are you going to drive?" Damn the British for teaching people to drive on the wrong side of the road!! I am glad that I got off to such a good start.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport is about a 45 minute drive from town, so that is the only part of Malaysia that I have seen so far. Many of the things I saw were very foreign, but others are surprisingly familiar. The radio station the cab driver was listening to could have been Mix 100 from Lubbock (except for when they announced the bird watching competition that they are having here later on in the month). I have no idea what 90% of the signs are talking about, but I had to chuckle when the bumper sticker on the car in front of us was an add for 7-11 "Slurpee- I'm cool, are you?". I am pleased to see that we have exported the best of American culture. My favorite advertisement sign said "Mr. Mark - Professional Tool" (what a difference an "s" makes). I wondered which of my friends had called ahead and warned them that I was coming.

KL skyline from my hotel room - We're not in Lubbock any more Toto!

I have a hotel in KL until I get settled. I have meetings scheduled with people at UM and MACEE next week so I have a couple of days to catch up on sleep and get oriented. Right now I am watching the replay of game 1 between the Lakers and Celtics. (isn't it great to see how I have jumped right into studying Malaysian culture?)