We've Gone Again!

As most of you know, Tyler and I have made the trek across the Pacific again! We left Canada on Thursday morning, traveled across several timezones and landed in our hotel in Kuala Lumpur some 35 hours later. Needless to say, getting to KL was a bit more of a jaunt than heading to Korea (not to mention the 17 hrs on China Eastern without in-flight entertainment..) but all is a distant memory now. I have to admit that since we had traveled to KL a year and a half ago for a vacation, our overall preparation/forethought about making the move was minimal, and it only really dawned on me that we were returning to Asia while we waited in Shanghai for our connecting flight. I had a sinking, homesick feeling already, wondering if we had made the right choice.

Where in the world are we?

Fast forward three days later, and to no surprise, we LOVE Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!  It's tropical, multicultural, multi-lingual, and home to some of the most friendly people we have ever met, with of course, an exception to the East Coasters of Canada ;) . With the country being so multicultural, almost everyone speaks English, so immediately it proved to be easy to get around, ask for advice and begin to set up our new lives!

We arrived during a holiday marking the end of Ramadan (Hari Raya Puasa/ Eid al-Fitr is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.) so many things were closed, which was totally okay as we slept and lounged at our hotel, only to wander to eat delicious curry at any number of street vendors (Definitely more on the fantastic food in Malaysia later).

After the holiday and our jetlag was wrapped up we were able to hook up our cellphone (BIG thank you to our friends Jack and Amy) and come Monday, looked at several apartments. Looking for apartments was super exciting for us, as up until now, Tyler and I have either stayed with family, or in Korea, have been appointed an apartment; We have never actually gotten to 'apartment hunt' together. We were also excited to see what kind of place our budget could get us. Since we were looking in KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre) we were warned that apartments would be expensive. After chatting with friends at home and hearing about rent in cities such as Toronto and Calgary, as well as remembering the hurting rental situation in Busan, Korea, we were prepared for the worst...and initially, we saw it. However, the real estate gods shined down on us, and we found a killer apartment with amazing facilities (pools, gym, gardens, etc.) more than within our price range!  Again, since Malaysia is more used to foreigners than say..Korea, we simply flashed our passports, and signed the necessary documents to get ourselves hooked up (workvisas/residence cards to follow).

So, after a mere 4 days, we have set ourselves up with the basics; an apartment and phone...and for the remainder of the week, we'll be poolside, enjoying the last week of our summer vacation before school starts on Monday! Trust assure friends, we are happy, safe, excited...and sweaty in KL.