We left Eugene, Oregon on the afternoon of January 6th, Epiphany in the sky! It was so nice that George's travel agent booked a flight out of Eugene because that airport is smaller and less stressful in every way! It is also closer, and we don't have to fight the Portland traffic to get there. The reason why George had a travel agent is because we are here for Hewlett-Packard business. So, we booked my tickets to coincide with his.
So, we couldn't sit together, but he was kind enough to give me his window seat, and I sat next to the most delightful 20-something who was so curious about what I do, "What is spiritual direction?" she asked, and then I found out that she is a follower of Jesus, and we talked non-stop on our trip from Eugene to Portland. She is a Stanford student from Bandon, Oregon, and you can probably guess that not too many people from Bandon, Oregon go to Stanford. She is brilliant and beautiful, and we are now Instagram friends. :) Delightful and joyful for me.
Speaking of JOYFUL. I helped lead a Discernment Retreat for the 2HC from the 4-6th, and two hours later, we were on our way to the airport. My discernment question was, "Should I bring my computer and work while I am in Southeast Asia?" I had to bring something as a question for discernment. I thought what I brought was a stupid thing, but I had such a delightful time listening and discerning in community with David and Naty! The discernment was, "Do what you love and what brings you joy," and my work brings such joy. Then Naty sent me a picture that she saw. (I will post it here after my freewrite because the rule is to keep typing, not stop, and not pay attention to grammar or punctuation.)
So, Naty sensed I would bring joy and have joy on this trip, even on the airplane (I do not like flying being so tall, and those "over the Pacific" trips can be grueling.) And that first leg was a joy.
Then we got to the San Francisco Airport, and they really helped you to know where you should go. I asked about the United Sky Lounge because David G. and a childhood friend, Lorrie H., gave us passes to go there, and we had a looong layover there (about 5 hours). They said, "Don't go to the International one. Go to the Domestic one. It is much bigger with more selection of food." So it was so nice to have a meal and enjoy the lounge. There were more people there than normal because an Alaska jet had lost part of its fuselage on take off, and they grounded all of that model plane. So there were people stuck there for hours.
With a five-hour layover, it was so nice to have my computer, and I did a bit of work (that brought me joy).
Then the plane flight was delightful with delightful flight attendants (after my traumatic encounter with a United flight attendant, we had sworn off United, but we had to fly them because that is what George's work booked). And the miracle was: I SLEPT ABOUT SEVEN HOURS! Say what? I have never slept that long on a plane.
We landed in Singapore and flew through the airport (We had to do a digital entry that we didn't know about until after we had no internet access, but we just stopped outside the gate and let the crowds from our plane pass through and went right through. Although I could go through the computerized part because I was too tall when the camera took my picture. For some reason, it took George's but not mine. So I had to go through the person contact one, and there was no line by then.)
We got to our lovely Shangri-La Hotel. You know it is a nice hotel because the Crown Prince of Jordan stayed there while we were there. It is a bustle of activity, and I loved watching all the kids in the pool every day we were there.
George went right to work, and I rested in the hotel and worked a bit too. Then, when he got back, we went to the lounge and had Satay, Rendang, and Teh Tarik! We are home! The staff was so friendly too (our waitress was from Brazil).
We fell asleep early, and the next morning George went to work. He used the Southeast Asian version of Uber called Grab. (Grab bought Uber out - my friend's brother used to work for Uber in SEA, and he lost his job during that buyout.) It was so easy for George to get to and from work. Shi-Ane picked me up in the early afternoon, and took me to lunch and the Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling. Then, we went back to her house to meet up with long-time UO Navigator friends, and their spouses: Wini and Victor, Prakash, Jackie, Shi-Ane and Ka-Choi. So lovely. We had a wonderful time, and Shi-Ane was so kind to "send" us back to our hotel late that evening.
This next day, Shi-Ane picked me up, and we went to the Botanical Gardens for a lovely walk. It was hot, and I should have worn shorts or a skirt. I am so hesitant to wear shorts, but things have loosened up a bit since we lived here 25 years ago! The Gardens were lovely.
Then, Shi-Ane took me to their Country Club for yummy Asian dishes. The view from there was so great. The golf course and forest beyond. I really enjoy Shi-Ane so much. She is such a kind person. It is hard to believe I have known these Singaporean friends for 40+ years! How did we get old?
The next day, I worked all day long from four in the morning until George came back at 9 pm that night because his coworkers took him out to dinner. I got my whole PowerPoint updated for a talk I am giving on the 6th of February and a handout to go with it. I didn't even exercise that day, but it was good to be focused. All I did was go down to breakfast with George (The Line restaurant at the hotel was amazing!) and had a Teh Tarik and Satay at lunch in the lounge (working the whole time).
On Friday, I ate with George and then walked from the hotel to the Botanical Gardens. It was so much cooler than when Shi-Ane and I walked, and I had such a lovely time with God as I walked. So many people go there to exercise. Seeing all the walkers and joggers at this free attraction was fun. Then I came back and worked a bit more. I was even able to practice my talk (so GLAD I brought my computer, and I didn't even have to carry it - George did). I treated myself to the Waterfalls Italian Restaurant and had an exquisite lobster pasta dish. It was spendy but my biggest splurge after being treated by our friends.
Speaking of being treated by our friends. Jackie took us out to a group of restaurants on Friday night called Dempsey. WOW! We settled on Mediterranean food, and it was so delicious. We had a full meat platter, fried cheese with honey, bread, and a divine Greek Rose. I wish I had gotten the name. It was so good. What was better than the meal was Jackie! She is also a spiritual director! One of my dreams was to talk to spiritual directors in Singapore (and possibly Malaysia, but I have found none in Penang), and one of my dearest Singaporean friends is one (we found that out on Tuesday so I pursued this one-on-one with Jackie)! How cool is that? We talked about our similar journeys. She has even done the Spiritual Exercises. Say what? It was like living in a dream (as the Malays would say, "Seperti Mimpi") to talk to this soul friend of mine. I think we have always been connected in that way, but this cemented it even more. She even said, "Have you ever heard of the Enneagram?" I laughed (that is all the work I have been doing while here in SEA). We had such a great talk about that too. It was a delightful evening (until 11 pm)!
By the way, George had BIG talks at HP Singapore. The first one had 90 people. It is so great that he could meet all these people he has worked with for 18 months face-to-face. It was a joy, but it was a lot of work to give those talks.
On Saturday, we woke up and got ready to go to Malaysia! The flight was easy on Singapore Airlines, and as we waited at the Changi Airport (the last time we were here in 2011 there was MAJOR construction - it is so nice now), I looked up travel documents, and we filled them out on our phones. Most of our plane did not know about the documents so we breezed on ahead of the other passengers and went through immigration very quickly. Also, the flight attendant came to the back of the plane and said, "After the last passengers board, we would like to take you and your husband up to the Exit Row so you can have more legroom." Say what? How kind!
We arrived in the little airport of Penang. We found a taxi right away and settled in. It was Saturday. So George did not need to work until Monday. So, we settled in and walked to the Dandy Restaurant because we could not figure out how to get across the street to the restaurant we wanted to go to. So, we chose one with a sky bridge over the road. We are in Malaysia. Of course, the smaller towns don't make allowances for crosswalks and lights. LOL! The Dandy truly was dandy though. A delicious fusion of Asian and American food. We had divine watermelon smoothies. We came back and went to bed.
On Sunday, we got up fairly early. My breakfast is not included in the price of the room like at the Shangri-La. So, we had gone to a grocery store the night before and got some breakfast food. Plus I had some leftover Chicken Sharma to munch on. So, I was content.
I found a waterfall near our hotel: "Air Terjun Sungai Ara." (Ara River). It looked like a nice hiking trail up the river. So we used Grab, and we had a sweet older Malay gentleman who didn't know where he was going, but he drove very safely, and that is all that matters to me. We had wanted him to drop us off at the trailhead, but Grab maps are not as detailed as Google Maps, and he couldn't figure out where it was. So, we had him drop us off at the bottom of the hill in town, and we walked up and MISSED the trailhead and walked up a pretty steep hill until I realized that Google had been telling me to turn around the whole time (I had the volume down). So, we turned around and found the very crowded trailhead. We had thought that it was just the parking lot for the Hindu temple, but it was where all the hikers were parking.
What a delightful hike! It was in the shade along the river. George kept saying, "Oh, I so needed this." He was in an HP office the whole time we were in Singapore. I had at least been to the Botanical Gardens and walked through the streets to get there. He had no exercise and no nature for days. This Oregon boy needed his green! We ended up climbing past the waterfall and found a lovely vendor with cool drinks about halfway up Bukit (Hill) Sungai Ara. We decided to keep going to the Emporer Villa at the top. There is a hotel there! I cannot imagine getting supplied up to it, but there is a big restaurant there. I think the hikers hike up, eat breakfast, and hike back down. We had already eaten. So, we just turned around and came back down. We hiked a total of 6.6 miles. YAY! On the way down we got some great pictures of the waterfall and of a big spider (my favorite picture of the trip).
We came back, showered, and rested for a couple of hours until I found a Nasi Kandar restaurant. Nasi Kandar is what Penang does. We had a great driver who took us to the bustling city of Georgetown, but the "best" one was closed (even though Google Maps said it was open). But our driver knew another one: Hameediyah. (And it is the OLDEST in all of Penang. It has been there since 1907!) We had to queue up for this one. We waited in the heat for about 30 minutes, but we made friends with a sweet Malay family, and they even ordered for us. It was so delicious. Everyone ate with their fingers there! We had conquered a Bukit (Hill) and Nasia Kandar in one day. Well Done Weavers!
On Monday, George went to breakfast, and I ate the yogurt we had purchased at the grocery store. Then I sent him off to work, and I walked around the Setia (Loyal) Garden that is connected to our hotel (Setia Spice Hotel). There is a Bamboo Garden and walking that is mostly covered. Every day there is a group of people (mostly Chinese women) doing low-impact dance (mostly arms and very little movement of their lower body) in front of the big colored ball of the Setia Convention Center. They all wear the same shirt. Yesterday, it was blue and today it was white. I walked for about 20 minutes out there (75 degrees). Then I did elliptical and weights in their nice, deserted gym. (I had done a bit of the treadmill at the Shangri-La, but it was very crowded there.) Then I came back and stretched in the room and worked the rest of the day on a PowerPoint and handout for Enneagram Harmony Triads until George came back at about 7. I had found a place where we did not have to cross the road, but Google Maps was wrong, and when we crossed the road, there was no restaurant there. LOL! Ray's Grill was there, but it was closed. So, we broke down and went to the hotel restaurant. Sangat mahal (very expensive) but convenient since I had not eaten very much all day. The food was just OK. I would have preferred a little outdoor local place.
So, I am here typing away on my computer, and this freewrite has taken 72 minutes! There was a lot to recall and love about our time. Today, George is teaching for the last time. The group here is much smaller, but he is loving it. Cassity, a friend of my friend, Firah, is coming at 1:30 for tea at the hotel, and then we will eat maybe at Awe Nasi Ayam Budu (another famous Northern Malaysia dish), but we would have to cross the street to get there, and sometimes that is impossible here. LOL! So, we might order it through GRAB and have it delivered to our hotel instead. Or we can cross the less busy street to Ray's! So, now I am off to work. When I have a break I will post the pictures. If you are reading this and don't want to wait, go to my Facebook: Carol Ann Weaver or Instagram: Carolfosia. the pictures and videos are there.
Ta ta for now.
Total Freewrite time: 77 minutes (perfect since I graduated from high school in 77)
Oh, by the way, our arrival back in Malaysia was the day we left 25 years ago! How is that for timing?
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