archive of March, 2009
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love is everlasting.
As a materialistic person, I tend to think of blessings as things or objects. God blesses us in so many ways and graces us. But today I’m grateful that I had money to buy a used, low-mileage 100cc motorbike, insurance and helmet after walking for miles each day in the past twelve days in Kota Kinabalu and Penang. I shopped for a week for a good deal. »→
Some things I cannot find in Malaysia yet. I can’t buy a flat bedsheet (top sheet), York Peppermint Patties, SAM-e, Rhodiola Rosea, Dr. Pepper, homemade chocolate chip cookies, a good pocket notebook, wadding polish, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol … I found ‘some assembly required’ cardboard roach traps yesterday. I couldn’t find plastic ‘roach motels’ in Philippines or here. Yesterday I thought that I had bought a liter carton of orange juice. At home I found that it’s an orange-juice-based drink which includes pulp, but it’s not all orange juice. If you reside in the U.S.A., be glad that you can buy fresh orange juice, and count your many blessings. »→
For one million rupees: In the 1988 movie Rain Man, where did the character Susanna reside in L.A.?
By the way, I saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire.
After days of hot, sunny weather in which my face and neck were sunburned despite wearing a hat and a visor, today the sky was gentler, and in late afternoon we had light rain when I’d returned home to swim laps in the large pool. I didn’t swim the first two days we were in the new apartment, but I’m in the ‘swim of things now.’ This apartment complex, including the fitness center containing free weights, weight machines and treadmills (convenient in the rainy season) is the best one that we’d looked at. And our apartment is in a very good location in the building, overlooking the smaller, wading pool, rather than having hot sun beaming on it all day or facing the highway, such as another advertised OceanView apartment with the same price. So I’m happy to be here. »→
.
If you desire peace, cultivate justice. But at the same time, cultivate fields to produce more bread; otherwise there will be no peace. ~ Norman Borlaug
The cost to mail a letter, greeting card or postcard from U.S.A. to Malaysia is now 98¢
Transit time from U.S. to George Town, Penang is ten to fourteen days.
E-mail me for my address.
Well, we paid 20 ringgit ($5.40) for a taxi to carry our luggage to The OceanView near the waterfront, where a lady was cleaning our apartment, a plumber was cleaning drains, replacing water hoses attached to faucets near toilets in each bathroom, and the apartment’s owner, Eric, was installing a new light fixture on the balcony which overlooks the water pools. This place is 860 square feet, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, on the third floor, on the ‘inside’ of the ‘u’ if you see this as a u-shaped apartment complex. So we get the sea breeze in our windows and we have views of trees and ornamental landscaping and water pools in the interiour of the ‘u.’ Come to visit whenever you will.
In about half an hour Dominic and I will get the keys for an apartment in east George Town, Pulau Penang, Malaysia. One year has elapsed since we moved into a flat in Tuding, Itogon, Benguet Province, Philippines. One week has passed since we left that home.
The ethnic Chinese Malay with whom we’ll do paperwork and payment doesn’t go to church on Sundays, and I went to (Roman Catholic) Church of Our Lady of Sorrows beside Macalister Road yesterday. So I’m waiting in the hotel lobby, where I can see and hear a ballroom dancing class ten meters away, and Georgian houses, hundred-year-old trees and Island Hospital outside.
After days of looking and inquiring, my friend Dominic and I agreed to rent an apartment in The OceanView, built in 2004, in eastern George Town, overlooking the channel. The apartment is on the third floor, overlooking a palm tree-lined swimming pool. The rent will be $216 per month divided by the two of us. It has three bedrooms, so one is available for guests. Come to visit.
I had asked about nearby Pinang Court, and reportedly that place is older, jam-packed and noisy though cheaper. Across the street, closer to the water, are big buildings, Pinang Court 2 and Pinang Court 3, but they’re not occupied. Many tall buildings on this island — offices, apartments and condominiums stand finished yet unoccupied.
The OceanView a nice place — a ‘u-shaped’ building with two pools in the middle. I’d like to show photos of the complex and the apartment. Some day I will.
My friend Dominic and I flew two hours yesterday, from Clark International Airport in Pampanga, Philippines to Kota Kinabalu International Airport in Sabah, eastern Malaysia. Today we slept late before exploring the city of Kota Kinabalu on foot. Tomorrow morning we’ll fly at 7:00 to Pulau Penang, west of peninsular Malaysia. Penang Island is in Penang state, northwest of Malaysia’s capital city, Kuala Lumpur. »→
At 6 p.m. our Airbus was pushed back to taxi on Clark airfield. Soon thereafter we departed Philippines soil to fly to Malaysia. We had an uneventful, brief flight, arriving at Kota Kinabalu International Airport at 7:55 p.m. I walked briskly from the airstairs to the terminal then breezed through the ‘Imigresen’ checkpoint. Then I waited and waited and waited for Dominic, who had left row 8 of the airplane ahead of me. I got our luggage from a carousel before he ambled away from an immigration booth!
On Monday, March 2, at 7:40 a.m., Victory Liner bus 694 departed the Session Road bus terminal in Baguio City to travel south to Olongapo.
Dominic and I were aboard to ride as far as Dau so that we could get two jeepney rides to Clark airport then fly to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. At 9:15 the bus stopped in the rest-and-refreshment plaza in Sison for fifteen minutes, so we ate a light breakfast there. Though the Victory Liner conductor told me at 9:25 that we had only three more hours of traveling before we’d reach Dau. However, we didn’t arrive there at 12:25 or 12:30. We rode to the nice refreshment and refuelling depot in Tarlac, where the bus was refueled and I ate sushi. Then we resumed rolling to Dau, where we arrived at 1:15.
At 1:15 we had plenty of time to reach Clark International Airport before a 6:00 flight! We could have ridden an 8:45 bus – or a 9:45 bus. While burdened with plenty of heavy luggage, we had to look for a van or jeepney to reach Angeles City, while dirty, barefoot, boys with broken teeth begged us for money and dozens of motorcycle riders harangued us to ride in their sidecars. »→
This morning Dominic and I are riding a bus south from Baguio City to Dau so that we can then ride two jeepneys to Clark airport so that we can fly to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. Tomorrow, after seeing some of Kota Kinabalu, we’ll return to its airport to fly onward, past peninsular Malaysia, to Pulau Penang. Pray for safe journeys, if you will.
Concern for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations. ~ Albert Einstein