The Fellowship

Flying to Kuala Lumpur was not terribly adventurous ... Malaysian Airlines are very particular about weight allowance, at least on the surface, they even weigh everyone's carry-on baggage.

But it was a case of

"go over there, take some things out, come back and have it weighed again."

And then? Well, you go back over there and put it all back in I suppose ... well, that's what I understood, and it seemed to work just fine.

So the trip was "pleasantly uneventful" - except that there was just enough turbulence for them to cancel all hot drinks, just when I could have really done with a coffee after eight hours of semi-sleep.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport

We had received an email telling us we would be picked up at the airport ... we were quite excited about that because in all our travels it never seems to happen, at least not when it is supposed to. Of course, this time turned out to be no exception.

After an hour and a half waiting we managed to ring someone in our new organisation, and find that another email had been sent (after we left!) telling us we would not be picked up and giving instructions about catching a taxi.

Catching a taxi at the airport involves buying a ticket at a booth first, and handing this to a taxi driver - takes all the hassle (and the fun!) out of the usual haggling!

So, we would be staying at the Klana resort, quite a ways south of Kuala Lumpur.

Lovely spot, beautiful pool etc - but we spent most of our time locked away in meetings.

Onward and Upward

We noticed the carpark was full of identical cars - for us 'fellows' and the 'mentors' with the organisation.

We were offered a car each, but decided to accept just the one. So with our other fellow team member, a convoy of two cars, we set off across Malaysia to our new location.

The first bit, north through KL was the main problem. Despite purchasing a local 3G SIM for my iPad so that I could use it as a GPS, we missed the vital turn ... and the GPS promptly went on the blink leaving us floundering around in heavy city traffic.

Several tolls later we found where we were on the west side of the city and retraced our steps (paying all the tolls all over again) and finally, thankfully, escaped onto the East-West road.

We stopped and negotiated the intricasies of buying petrol - it's not quite the same as we are used to, you have to talk to the man in the booth and tell him what you want first. Here are Peter and Lloyd filling both cars.

Reaching the East coast, we again missed a vital turn (it just wasn't there!) and ended up taking the scenic route along the coast through dozens of tiny villages with slow traffic lights. Interesting, though.

Kuala Terengganu

So here we are in the city where we will work.

The view from our hotel window ... interesting for so many reasons when we are sitting here watching.

And yesterday we took a bit of a drive around to some of the other beaches.

Looks like it's our kind of place!!

Work

Work?!

We are about to visit our first workplace for the first time. So ... more later.