We're Alive!

We made it!

Overall, we’d have to say things went off without a hitch. We left NYC in style on Thursday morning in a limo arranged by Brian’s dad. 

We boarded a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong and hunkered down for a 16 hour flight. This plane was designed for kids. Unlimited movies on demand (Tyler watched ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ 3 times), all the noodle soup you can eat, lots of pudding and ice cream, and best of all, enough space to build a “bunk bed.” (One kid lays on the floor in front of the seats and the other lays on the seats). Since Violet is the oldest (and the biggest) she got to have the top bunk.

Before we knew it we were in Hong Kong for a 2 hour layover and then boarded another Cathay Pacific flight to Kuala Lumpur. This time Violet had the bottom “bunk” which worked out fine until the guy in the seat in front of her dumped an entire Tiger beer on her head. Not exactly the way we wanted to sample our first Southeast Asian beer!

We arrived in KL around 9 pm and once we cleared immigration and customs (by the way, easiest clearance ever), Shah from Perdana picked us up in the official Perdana van and took us to our new apartment in Mont Kiara.

It was delightful to see Charlie waiting for us – and he invited us for dinner in his apartment (a bottle of wine for us and scrambled eggs for the kiddoes).

The new apartment is great. The kids love their new bunk bed (a real one, not like on the airplane), we have a great view of the city, and the facilities are simply amazing. The wrap around pool is better then any resort we’ve ever stayed at, and there is a waterslide just for kids (we know it’s just for kids since the security guards have kicked Brian off of it twice already).

We’ve only been here 48 hours but have already had some amazing food including Malaysian laksa soup, great Korean bbq, really good sushi and intensely spicy Indian food. Charlie introduced Mary to her new favorite breakfast, Kuey Teow, a thick, fried noodle dish which she has had every morning so far! Tyler has made it 2 days without a chicken nugget although he did spot Charlie’s peanut butter so he knows that it’s available in Malaysia. 

We spent most of yesterday shopping to set up basic provisions in the apartment before our (delayed) household goods arrive in early August. We are grateful to Nicole for taking Mary and a nearly-comatose, jetlagged Violet out for shopping. Note Ikea in Malaysia looks just like Ikea anywhere else. Violet was delighted that the ice cream cones at Ikea are 1 ringgit (~33 cents).

We don’t yet have internet in our apartment, but it’s coming in the next week or two and then we will be able to be closer in touch. Thanks again to everyone who helped make our last weeks in the U.S. phenomenal.  

Thinking of you all,

Brian, Mary, Violet and Tyler