More on the planing of this month.

 KUCHING, Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia:

Not just a pretty theme, a little historical whimsy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuching#Etymology 

I'm satisfied that if I can:

A) Find the right town.

B) Expect to survive the first 6 weeks by avoiding the sun like Dracula would; survive the next 6 months shifting to a crepuscular lifestyle; and see what happens then.  (I'll be fine.  Sunburned, thinned, sweating, and smiling.  But, fine.)

C) Seriously plan to learn more Bahasa...Manglish will not suffice.  Need to be conversational at least.

Then, I'll move here as soon as practicable. (Foreshadowing: Google MM2H and S-MM2H - the second is the current goal, a backup plan exists with the former.)

So, what's the deal with this trip?  Simple,  A) Find the right town.

Last trip was Kuantan (Pehang) and Kuah (Langkawi, Kedah) - not the right spots.  Damn, time to go back.

I arrived on Wednesday.  May's trip had a rough beginning - bad logistics, exhaustion, stress, just struggleville for 5-7 days.  Things turned around and the trip was a success.  Good decisions generally followed the initial stretch. 

So, I set aside the first 3 nights in Malaysia for adjustment.  A much better approach.  It could be improved.  

My Autism comes with noise sensitivity.  Former co-workers saw me with headphones years ago.  Kuala Lumpur (KL) is among the 30 largest metro areas in the world.  And probably the quietest of that size.  Earbuds or earphones when visiting a new location (especially that drives on the left) are problematic.  Situational awareness is key.  At no point was I worried about muggings, etc. (cf Quito).  Getting lost because I wandered in to a thought zone happens.  Gotta be able to hear that car coming from the "wrong way."  But, it's still a big city.... amazingly quiet for the size but, 

Next time, I'll allow for 4 nights to recover and stay away from downtown.

Ok, finding the right town....

Lots of research has me expecting to spend time:

3 nights in KL
7 nights in Kuching
7 nights in Penang
7 nights in KL
3 nights TBD.

Amazingly, this entire trip is being done with AA miles and Bonvoy Points - ok, work had a sliver of a silver lining.  Except for domestic flights.  KUL - KUC cost me $60 today.  No extra charges and they served a nice meal!

So, now, it's bedtime.

Tomorrow, I'll wander before the twighlights end, crawl to my coffin computer and write some more.  It wouldn't be fair if I did not express my displeasure with NRT and JAL at every opportunity! (cf last trip).  Then we'll move along to the quality content.  Reading the crap like this is simply the price of admission...