MALAYSIA & THAILAND

2023

 

10 March 2023

Awake at 2:30am in Kuala Lumpur, but I am linking to another page for now as this is a significant day.

09 March 2023

I usually adapt well to the 12+ hour time change from the U.S. to Southeast Asia. But, for some reason I’m having difficulty during this trip. I’m waking up between 1:30 and 2:30 am, which causes me to struggle to stay awake during the late afternoon. Hoping this will pass and I’ll adjust sooner than later.

06 March 2023

I am on my first trip to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia where my son and his family live.  My first question here was while traveling from the airport to their residence, Our driver stopped at a red light, however, I saw others on motorbikes just ride on through the intersection. I asked my son “why”, he replied, “some people just don’t care, but it’s not as bad as Bangkok”.  Having experienced Bangkok a few times I will agree.

When we arrived at the apartment I started checking my two pieces of luggage that I had checked through from the U.S. My son noticed at the airport that one of them was damp, well… it turned out that both pieces were saturated inside.  Thankfully, my camera’s zoom lens was not damaged, and all that remained to deal with this was to dry all my clothes and shoes. I don’t know for sure what happened to the luggage as I’m sure they were not immersed in a pool as it seemed they had been!  I suspect that in Tokyo they may have been left out in the rain between transfers to aircraft.

An observation which occurred on previous trips to Southeast Asia is the public bathrooms. In Southeast Asia they are different than what we’re used to in the U.S.  I’ve posted a couple photos of bathroom stalls which have “all the frills” including a bidet, and a shower for your “posterior”.  The process includes a drying phase after the wash.

My most recent experience was in Tokyo where I had a 6 hour layover enroute to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, The bathrooms in the airport are private with the walls meeting the floor, i.e. there’s no open space between the bottom of the wall and floor.  Also, you hear the soothing sound of gently running water from a speaker once you get situated.

In the airport bathroom at Kuala Lumpur I saw a humorous sign.