My Asia Trip: The Halftime Report

When I last left you, I had made it to London and was waiting to connect to Kuala Lumpur.  The flight to KL was 12 hours from London which would have been a disaster had it not been for my seat being able to convert itself into a full bed.  It was literally like a scene out of Transformers watching my seat turn into a California King.  In fact, I told the flight attendant on Malaysian Air to refer to me as Optimus Prime.  She had no idea what I was talking about but I had fun with it.

She brought me sheets, pillows, and blankets and that was all I needed to sleep for the next 10 hours.  I woke up to breakfast being served with 2 hours to go.  I can’t even imagine doing that flight in Coach.

Anyway, I arrived in KL at 9am Malaysia time on Tuesday, March 6 which was 8pm Monday evening (13 hour time difference) on the US east coast.  After waiting for my bags, going through immigration, and making the hour drive from the airport to the hotel, I was finally able to check in around noon (a quick 30 hours door-to-door).  What’s the first thing I did?  Check out the gym of course! 

It was really sweet…great pool, awesome facilities, etc.  Workout number 1 of the trip took place at 1pm local time (midnight the night before EST).  I did a quick 15 minutes on the bike, 15 minutes on the treadmill, 30 minutes in the pool, and then 30 minutes lifting.  Schmeis35for35 Asia was off to a good start.

The next morning I was scheduled to go into the office.  All I knew was that it was located at “Menara Weld”.  The concierge pointed me in the right direction and said it was a 15 minute walk but I ended up walking for 45 minutes and still not being there.  Keep in mind, the temperature was literally 90+ and the humidity was about 16,000%.  I was absolutely drenched in sweat and hadn’t even made it to the office.  I kept seeing the word “Menara” on buildings so figured I must be getting close. I was guessing that Menara was the neighborhood or something.  I later found out that “Menara” means “Towers.”  Ha, no wonder that word was pretty much on every damn building I saw!

I finally asked for directions and the locals were all very friendly but everyone kept telling me I was “very close” when it turned out I wasn’t at all.  The joke is always on the white guy.  I finally got a cab and realized how lost I really was…I was in the cab for about 25 minutes (KL traffic is obnoxious) before reaching the office.  In the end, my cab ride was literally less than $3 US…really happy I tried to save that by walking. 

When I told people in the office how long I was wandering the streets, they pointed out that motorcycle theft is extremely common in KL.  No, they weren’t talking about people stealing motorcycles…they were talking about thieves on motorcycles zooming by and ripping off purses and laptops from people walking along the sidewalks.  Women have been literally dragged to the ground and even killed from this when their purse is hooked to them.  Crazy.  Luckily, the motorcycle thieves noticed I’m built like Thor so I didn’t have any problems.

After work that day, a few people from the office took me around to see the city.  We walked to the Petronas Towers which are still today the tallest twin towers in the world.  Seeing them in person, I can verify that they are indeed very tall. 

After some quick site seeing, we stopped at a bar for a few beers.  As the night went on, there was a mix of girls from Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines, and Vietnam that kept walking through the bar trying to make eye contact with every guy.  Let’s put it this way, I don’t think they were doctors or lawyers.  

When one Thai woman stopped at our table, I took the opportunity to ask whether there were South East Asian rivalries…turns out, our table then had a fascinating conversation where she told us that Vietnamese women are really mean, Philippines women are nice, and Cambodian women are “in middle.” 

I said “it sounds to me like Thailand and Vietnam are kind of like the Red Sox and Yankees.”  No response, but I laughed.  I have a great time saying things to people that I know they don’t understand.  The things you learn while traveling… 

Yadayadayada, the next morning I had breakfast at the Shangri La hotel where I was staying and had a phenomenal meal…an omelet, a banana, some chicken fried rice, 1 piece of wheat toast with peanut butter, 2 pieces of sushi, a yogurt, and a glass of orange juice…breakfast of champions! 

I spent the week in KL with my body being completely confused what time zone it was in and what foods I had been feeding it.  I had one workout at 4am KL time because I couldn’t sleep.  The gym was open 24 hours (probably because so many foreigners stay there and are on different time zones) so that wasn’t a problem. 

Overall, I had a few productive days at work and really thought the city was cool.  It is mostly a Muslim country but seemed very progressive and diverse.  English is very widely spoken even though Malay is the official language.  Most people seemed to be from China, India, or Malaysia but it wasn’t uncommon to see Europeans and Americans as well.  It would be a very livable city for English speakers and extremely cheap.

Saturday morning came around and I woke up with a ridiculous plan to somehow find a place to watch the Big10 Basketball tournament.  No joke, I turned on the TV in my hotel room that morning and before the picture was even on, I heard the voice of Gus Johnson announcing…it felt like I just saw a long-lost friend for the first time in forever.  I nearly cried.  I never would have guessed it, but the Michigan vs. Minnesota game was somehow on in my hotel room in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.   

I watched basketball for awhile and then went to check out and wait for my car to the airport to head to Hong Kong.  After 15 minutes went by with no car anywhere to be found, I called the company and waited on hold for 20 minutes.  When I finally talked to someone they said they were having trouble locating the car…no shit.  After my car was an hour late and still hadn’t shown up, I finally ended up jumping in a taxi and barely making my flight.  I called the company again furiously and the lady told me that the good news was that if I called their billing department I may not be charged for the car.  Wow, that’s awesome…I have to call billing to tell them to not charge me for a car that never showed up and that I was never notified was nowhere to be found.  Sweet service. 

Anyway, I made it to HK and it is very different from KL.  People often compare it to NYC and it’s very obvious why…skyscrapers everywhere, expensive, beautiful views, lots of diversity, etc.  Very cool place.  My hotel is pretty amazing.  To say it has embraced Apple would be an understatement.  Macs and Ipads were used at check in and my room has a built in iPhone in a dock to use for the alarm clock, music, weather etc.  I’m pretty sure Apple would have been a good investment at $6 in 2003. 

Currently in HK it is about 13 degrees Celsius (~55 Farenheit) and the hotel I’m staying at has an outdoor pool.  Both mornings here, I swam at 6am outside in the cold.  The pool was about 70 degrees which is definitely not warm.  The first day was pouring rain too.  The staff looked at me like I was nuts…I told them “I’m not nuts…I’m going to be an Ironman.”  Ok, obviously I didn’t say that…

So, for the official halftime stats, I’ve worked out 6 of 7 days so far in Asia…pretty solid.  Here is the breakdown:

·        

      Day 1 Arrival in KL:  30 min swim, 15 min bike, 10 min run, back & biceps &abs (in KL)

·         Day 2:  30 min swim, 10 min run, 40 minute chest & tris & legs  (in KL)

·         Day 3:  45 min swim (in KL)

·         Day 4:  Rest Day

·         Day 5 Departure for HK:  20 min bike, 10 min run, 10 min swim, 30 minute back & biceps (in KL)

·         Day 6:  1 hour bike, 40 min swim (in HK)

·         Day 7:  15 min bike, 10 min run, 30 min swim, 40 minute chest & triceps (in HK)

Not bad all things considered!  I’m still having knee pain which is preventing me from running more but my biking and swimming are coming along. 

I’m off to Japan on Wednesday and then head back home on Saturday.

Until next time,

Schmeis