Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The trip is almost finished. At least the international part. Instead of heading directly back to Houston tomorrow from Los Angeles, I'm connecting into Denver to spend the week at our main office in Colorado. I'll be back in Houston on Friday, August 20th. Thankfully, I'll have all of Monday to relax before meetings and field visits on Tuesday through Thursday. On August 26th, I fly back to Minneapolis and then turn around and drive with Rachel, the three dogs, and our cat to Houston where we all will be finally settled. Can't wait for that.

The trip is, frankly, quite a blur. We only really spent about a full day and a half in Jakarta and I feel like that was just a blip on our path across Southeast Asia. Luckily, I've had a chance to see and enjoy more of Kuala Lumpur. Today, we spent the morning at Royal Selangor, the largest and original Malaysian pewter manufacturer. It was founded in 1885. I didn't think I'd be that into it, but the visit was actually quite enjoyable. We toured the manufacturing factory and then, of course, hit the retail shop. We headed back into the city center and had lunch at Kuala Lumpur's Central Market. Best Asian food I've ever eaten. Afterward, we walked through the market stalls and bartered with the locals. Tonight, we're headed out to dinner at an open air crab restaraunt.

It will be a long travel day tomorrow. We leave the hotel at around 9:00 a.m, and have an 11:30 flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. Our flight from Singapore to Los Angeles leaves around 4:30 pm. I have an 8:30 p.m. connection from LAX to Denver. Kuala Lumpur is 12 hours differnce from EST (13 hours from Houston/Minneapolis). Right now, it's 3:00 a.m. in Houston on Saturday morning. It's 4:00 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur.

It was a great trip. Tiring and a whirlwind, but a great trip. I'll probably be headed back to Dubai and KL in late September. With another trip scheduled to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in December. My frequent flyer miles will be greatly expanding.