THE FAMILY VISITS

How do I describe the last six weeks? Incredible! It was soooo good to have the family here in Malaysia with me. Good for me. Good for them. I think the girls really enjoyed it. Oh, there were moments when Claire had the summertime blues, and Sophie missed her friends. But all-in-all I think they really dug it. Jessica and I got along famously. Our relationship continues improve. I can’t describe how grateful I am.
We went to KL (Kuala Lumpur) and spent the weekend. Toured the sky bridge at Petronas Towers, saw the bird park and the butterfly garden, did some shopping. We stayed at a really nice hotel—the Ascot. So nice in fact, that when I went to check out, it cost me double what I was expecting. No matter how often I asked, apparently the idea that I wanted to know the total cost, not just the daily rate, didn’t get thru. So I paid, and left a lengthy comment card expressing my disappointment. A couple of days later, the manager called me, and arranged a reasonable discount due to the confusion. I was delighted, and between the room and the service, The Ascot gets my recommendation!
One Saturday went to the Melaka Zoo with my driver, Afizul, and his family. The kids had a ball, and the zoo was much better than I expected. They have quite a few tigers, and all the animal displays are set up so that you seem to be quite close to them.

We went to Taman Negara, a national park, which is THE jungle. It’s a long drive, and then a short boat ride, to the resort. The boats are interesting—very long and narrow, sitting low in the water and powered by outboard motors. The boatmen steer them upriver thru some pretty shallow and rocky spots. They form the backbone of a whole river economy. Our first night, we did a night walk, and saw a lot of really large and creepy bugs: spiders, cave centipedes, and a big black scorpion that our guide teased out of a whole in a log. Saturday we “hiked” up Bukit Warisan (Heritage Hill)-but it was more of a climb. Up and up in the heat and humidity. By the time we reached the top I was drenched with sweat from head to toe. But the view of this pristine jungle, untouched by the ice age and 130 million years in the making, was remarkable. It stretches on forever. That afternoon we went to the Canopy Walk, which is the longest and highest treetop suspended walkway in the world. I’ve never been overly keen of heights, and I’ll tell you my toes were tingling a couple of times! On the way back to the resort we were splashed by our guide, who took a paddle and directed an spray of water over us, then pulled the same trick on a couple of other boats that were coming down river. He definitely got the best of his buddies who were guiding the other boats—the just weren’t ready for his stealthy, and exuberant, attack. Sunday was a day of nothing, and I appreciated that. We left about noon, and again it was a long drive home. The food was good at the little resort, and we had a great time.

The girls went to Sunway, a water park and shopping center in KL, and had a great time together. They played at the water park, shopped, and got foot reflexology treatments.
During the week, while I worked, they hung out at the pool at my condo, swimming and reading and generally being on vacation. The last week they were here, they went sight seeing in Melaka, catching all the things they hadn’t seen yet: the Sultan’s Palace, Afamosa fort, the Dutch town square (all the building there are painted an almost lurid pink—really brick red, but it’s pretty unusual!). Jessica even got an afternoon on her own, and browsed her way thru Chinatown, ending up at a little coffee shop.
One other thing they tried was a fish pedicure. This is quite the big deal here. You submerge your feet in a tank, and these little fish come up and literally eat the dead skin and calluses. Sounds a bit bizarre, but it works well, and…it tickles. Claire to an amazing video of Jessica’s reaction—it’s hilarious. Some stills below...

There was a week when I spent every evening working on my “stupid” pond. Once again, the waterfall was leaking, and I felt guilty that all the family saw of me was my hind end poking out of the water. Naturally, there had been no problem for a couple of weeks before they arrived. But finally I gave in, and tore apart the waterfall. Few things better than working all day and then spending 4 or 5 hours in the evening moving rocks, messing with plastic sheeting, and restacking rocks again. And it took several attempts. It was frustrating. I even left the waterfall unfinished when we went to Taman Negara—like a big gaping sore. Yet finally, I stemmed the flow, and for that I’m grateful. In fact, the waterfall is better than ever—it makes a lovely sound. Still, not how I had planned on spending those precious evenings when my family was here.

We ended their stay with 5 nites at Tiomon, an honest-to-god south sea island. Beautiful, and relaxing. We stayed at a lovely resort, and it’s a sleepy little island—no casino or disco or nite life at all. Perfect! In fact, it’s so laid back that the ferry was 2 hours late taking us across, and 2 hours late on the return as well. We laid on the beach and read, snorkeled, and ate at a local Tomyum (Thai) place. The food was good and the girls wanted to adopt the “herd” of cats who live there off of table scraps.

While we were there we all got massages, and I’ve gotta admit mine was the best ever. I even went back for a foot massage, and that was, frankly, a little rough.
One day, we took a boat out to Tulai Island (Coral Island). It was amazing. The coral was beautiful. We saw turtles, rays, puffer fish, a whole school of young barracuda, and even sharks. The beach was pure white sand, and our guide scooped some into a bottle and by now that little piece of paradise is in Portland.
That Wednesday we left, and went on to Singapore—an amazing city. Thursday we went to Little India, and the girls all got henna tattoos on their hands—intricate and elegant. We walked on thru the Esplanade, and had Indian food at Boat Quay. Then we strolled thru Chinatown, looking at temples, and buying trinkets. We traveled by MRT—their subway system. Clean and fast. That evening we went to the Night Safari at the Zoo. They’ve done some sort of magi with the lighting, and the animals think it’s dark, yet you can see them quite well. And they are up and moving about, not hiding or sleeping as is so often the case in the day time. It was really great. But whew—what a long day!
Friday we hung out at the pool and relaxed. Then we went to Orchard Road, a shoppers Mecca. I was amazed by a new mall called Ion, which from the street is bulbous curving marvel of steel and glass. Inside, it’s more than a little confusing—and crowded! We ended the day having dinner in classy Chinese restaurant.

Again we stayed up late. But this time it was packing. We slept for a bit, got up at 2 a.m., caught a cab to the airport, and had them checked-in in plenty of time for their 5:30 flight. Then the waterworks started. It was a tearful and desultory farewell. Somehow it was much harder to put them on a plane than it has ever been for me to leave. We were all very sad to have the big adventure ending. And it’s tough to be alone again.

But we had a lot of fun, made a lot of new memories, and mostly--we were together. And that was great. I’m so grateful for their visit, and I feel certain it will be something they all remember for the rest of their lives. Let’s face it, when I was the girls’ age, going a couple of hours to “the lake” for a week was big deal. 6 weeks in Southeast Asia never entered my mind.
Their visit also served to balance my priorities, and work did not seem quite so important, or so trying. And it has been a bit trying. Things are going, but not necessarily well. It’s difficult when you can see a problem, see a solution, but don’t have the power to effect the necessary change. And it’s compounded when that happens time and time again. It’s an on-going lesson in acceptance for me. So I continue to try an be of maximum service, to stay positive. And to be realistic, and share, calmly, what I see with my client. That isn’t always good news, but we do seem to have developed a good rapport, and I feel accepted as part of the management team. I continue to challenge myself to find ways that I honestly can be part of the solution. At times it’s trudging thru deep mud, but it’s teaching me a lot about cultural differences, and differences in approaches to business practices. In fact, there have been times when I would have said that Jacobs is a little “over the top” with regard to our emphasis on quality, planning, documentation, and safety. Never again. If nothing else, this experience is a microcosm of all the experiences that must have led, cumulatively, to our approaches.
It’s also noteworthy that Jacobs now has about 20 people working on the SunPower project. 4 or 5 of us from Portland, and the rest from our office in Singapore. I think we now have more people on staff than the primary consulting engineer. It’s made me feel good to be the “point man” for this effort, helping keep people busy when the economy is down and workloads are suffering a bit. And it’s helping SunPower to have quality people here to help get the work done well, and in a timely fashion.
I continue to mountain bike, and that’s paid off. I’ve lost maybe 30 pounds or so. That made Jessica very happy indeed. And a happy wife is always a good thing.
So now I turn to August, and my focus will be once again on work. But I have my pond, my bicycling, and my friends here. Life is good.

CLAIRE SAYS "HI!"