KL

I've only been to KL once before, and it was sunny and clear and rather lovely. Yesterday and today, it was neither. The porter assures us that Kuala Lumpur is usually smoggy like this. From our window you can see Petronas Towers, the feted tourist drawcard that were, for a time, the tallest building in the world. Today they are not, and frankly, today, I can barely see them. At night the lights of the city present a rather prettier version of the smoggy outlook, which I can admire from the large picture window in the room. The room itself is apparently not much like the top-floor room the inventor last occupied, and though it's clean, it is fairly small. Having said this, the room is larger by order of magnitude than  the one I stayed in last time I was in KL. Its unusual odour, we have decided, must be the result of some poor soul having laid here for some days after their final one on this earth.

The hotel itself stands above the Mid-valley Megamall. Since we arrived yesterday, we have visited hundreds of shops but not left the building. In fact, Apart from brief moments of open air as we exited the airport, then again as we entered the hotel, I have not been outside since early Saturday.

The eight hours on the aeroplane were challenging. I managed to catch a cold last week, and I was hoping that I'd weathered the worst of it, however the dry air in the plane and the pressure variations proved that this was not the case. I had a few uncontrollable coughing fits that had everyone in the vicinity glaring, or staring, at me, before I realised the solution was to keep my throat moist with butter menthols and constant sipping. With a handful of butter menthols to spare, we landed in KL not a moment too soon, in my opinion. As for the big man, he had a good flight, reading, napping, and reading some more. Mohammed was waiting for us as we stepped out of the airport, somewhat anxious, as it transpired he had another pickup from the airport after ours, and as we had taken so long to get through immigration, he was running late. We covered the 70km into KL in record time, Mohammed driving just as The Inventor had described. He is D's driver and seems like a lovely man, and they had hired a luxurious new Tarago for the three airport pickups that had to be done yesterday.

Breakfast in the hotel was spectacular. We were impressed with the vast array of cereals, cooked western foods and hot Malay food, as well as juices, fresh fruit and pastries. After some time, however, I was shocked to discover that we had failed to notice that on the other side of a glass wall was a further array of Chinese food- rice porridge and soups to make up, a dumpling selection and an egg counter where eggs are cooked to order. The other meals we have eaten in the mall, and there is no shortage of choice there either. Our selections have included a Malay set meal, fried Wontons, a noodle dish, and bubble tea. We are somewhat more relaxed about the food sampling than we would usually be. There is no frantic rush to experience and try everything- for now, we have time.

Tomorrow we meet with D, then the General Manager will drive us, and as many of our six bags as will fit, to Kampar in his Camry. Did I say six bags, you ask? I was not being entirely honest here, as the total of luggage we currently carry is as follows:
6 bags of checked luggage from yesterday, 120kg (we prepaid for this amount)
1 bag of luggage that I sent a few months ago when The Inventor came over
4 pieces of hand luggage, smaller, but no less significant.

The outcome of our plan to bring enough of home to make a new home, is that some of it will likely be left in KL until Wednesday when the accountant visits Kampar. This isn't a problem at all- I should imagine that we will settle in over the course of a few weeks. The enormity of our move has just hit me, and as I gaze out at the thrumming lights of KL, I pray that we will be happy in our new lives, and look forward to the newness and reality that Kampar offers tomorrow, away from the surreal, disjointed and dispossessed existence that we have lived for the last three weeks. To life!