Here and There Blog

Nothing new. Life continues on in Malaysia with the hotel to work to hotel routine. I'm in the homestretch of this assignment. Three more days here then I get to do a very short stopover in Taipei on my way home. I'm looking forward to Taipei and even more so, my home!

I had an unexpected "get caught up on work day." Technically, it's Saturday and my day off but I thought I was going to have prep work for next week's class. Turns out, the other people cancelled so I made it a hotel office day. Hotels on a golf course, with open lobbys and tropical breezes with palm trees swaying don't make a good incentive to work. Long lunch with a blueberry smoothies was one of the most relaxing things I've done in a while. I could have fallen asleep in the chair. Tomorrow's Sunday. I have no plans. There's the city with traffic, pollution, and the craziness of a hot city. And I did clean out the inbox and get quite a bit of work done today. Palm trees in the breeze win. See you on a lounge chair in Malaysia!

If I was a tourist who golfed, and braved mosquitos to go swimming, I'd probably enjoy staying here. The hotel has a big tourist crowd along with a sizeable business crowd and you can tell the difference between the t-shirt and sunburns and the work clothes. Somehow the sunburned people look happier. My life consists of the usual early morning departure to the meeting room and the evening return. Not much time to do anything in-between. That's okay since this isn't a do stuff part of town.  The lobby area really is relaxing though.

Out of the city this time at a golf resort. Seemed like the best hotel choice for the area.

Rooms on the even numbered side of the airport Marriott overlook the airport. There's even a golf course so if you golf and your layover is long enough, you can do a round!

Destination: Malaysia. Stopover: Hong Kong. Routing: Did it for fun but won't do it again: Carlsbad-Los Angeles-Honolulu-Guam-Hong Kong. Tired. I arrived at 10 pm last night and managed to sleep enough. I have a few hours to relax this morning and then it's off to the last segment of this to Kuala Lumpur.

Of course I ran out and saw Star Trek yesterday morning! I fought the urge as long as possible but at 9:30 am, I grabbed my wallet and car keys and found myself a few minutes later inside the theater.  So much happens in this movie that it is not safe to talk about it until Monday when every hard core Trekkie has seen it. The movie delivered. It had action, the Enterprise crew together, bad guys, good guys, and explosions. Everything you need from a hit movie. And the humor was right on target. Small details were included to give a nod to long time fans while not detracting from knowledge that new fans need. I loved the revamp on a classic story but in the new universe. Parallels, changes, dialogue was perfect (for me). Downsides. The aliens shown in the first few minutes were annoying. It won't spoil anything and it will relieve you to know that you don't see them again. A couple of the "save the day" sequences were way out there and it was hard to suspend dis...

Took this back on May 1 from my hotel window. The hotel was nice and gave me a full ocean view room!

Somehow between coming home from the UK and right now, I have all sense of time. I turned around and headed off for 5 days of meetings in LA and then headed to Vegas for a conference. Somehow at last I am home and packing for another few days of meetings followed up by an overseas trip. Life's lesson this week is that 20+ pairs of underwear are not enough. Three suitcases are now scattered about for different trips and different clothing needs. The only thing in common is underwear so I can enough to pack in all suitcases for a drop and go. 30+ is what's needed if one wants to avoid laundry. Tip for everyone - buy stock in Victoria's Secret. They're the best for businesswomen on the go. Yes, it's TMI but that's the way life is sometimes. I have a one-way ticket to Kuala Lumpur for a two week stay. I could return home June 2 or I could end up in Dubai. Don't know yet. I might be in South America in July. Or I might be in New Zealand. Or it can all ...

Welsh Cakes had escaped my notice until I was websurfing for things to do in Cardiff and came across the eating page. The Cardiff Market was right down the road so I decided to pop in and try a fresh baked Welsh Cake and eat it in the nearby park.  Step one - go into the market and buy a Welsh Cake. Step two - walk a few steps into the park. Step three - unwrap and eat! The cake was soft, somewhat sweet, and a perfect snack in the middle of a power sight-seeing day. Last step - you are in a garden after all. Stop and pretend to look at the flowers as your brush the crumbs off your clothes.

Dating from 1859, Cathays Cemetery was also designed as a Victorian walking park that is still used today for both people crossing town and people wandering about. Parts in the older section are becoming on with nature. The below gravestone was once the top part of the marker.  Moss is doing it's best to make this area look the part of a haunted cemetery..  In Spring, the purple blooms of the flowers match the gravestones. Several sections favor the monolith type markers. A bit hard to see but the tree on the right had a branch break and it's close to falling off onto the stones. This Parks & Gardens site has a nice write up on Cathays.

Caerphilly Castle is impressive with double river protection outside and inside the castle grounds. Building began in 1268 and was carried on over many years when it was finally left to decay in the 15th century. Restoration began in the 1930's and today the exterior provides a loop walk/bike trail and the interior is for tourist exploration. You can go inside the buildings but there is only one top point to climb. There is no walking around the tops of the walls.  Looking down from the top.  The storage building is now leaning more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  The Great Hall Caerphilly is an easy trip from Cardiff. I took the train (5 stops) and it was under 7 GBP for the round-trip fare. I took about one hour inside and outside the castle. There were less than 10 people exploring while I was there so crowds in April are not a concern. Click here for more info.

As you walk along the outside of Millennium Stadium there is a section devoted to countries that have played in Rugby Cups at the stadium. They didn't really catch my eye until I saw French Fries at the top of the USA mosaic. Fries, really? Might as well have a Big Mac on there. Oh wait. The burger is on the right of the fry. I agree the rest is us. Not sure about that stretch limo though. Here's Wales. I have seen wind power generators, castles, sheep and bridges. Not sure about that palm tree. Canada gets a cat. At least, I think that's a cat at the top center. I don't recall Canada being famous for cats. Mounties and Moose, yes. But cats?