This is what is was all for....

Well it has finally been launched, the thing that took 6 months of my life to help get into production.

This is my (Ex) Boss, Evan, with the first ever DC17 that was produced. This is what we called an EB1 machine and was produced on 20th May, start of production was in August, then a long boat ride to the USA for launch.

For those of you who are interested, I was in charge of the cleaner head, bloody thing caused me lots of late nights and long weekends, and a trip to China for a tool trial that ended up being run at one o’clock in the morning!

Any way, I can’t wait to go back to Malaysia, I miss the food, especially Banana Leaf………………

Homeward Bound

Thursday 14th September 2006, time to go home.

I had the most wonderful time in Malaysia. It was very hard to leave. I have made some good friends, and met some wonderful people. Everyone has been welcoming and very friendly. The main thing I will miss though is the food. Banana Leaf for lunch, Tom Yan for dinner, with Lime Juice to drink.

I flew home on the eve of my 40th birthday, landing on my birthday. As I flew through 7 time zones I am not sure if I am 40 years old, or 46!

As the clock stuck 12 Singapore time, I was sitting in BA Club Class, eating smoked salmon and drinking champagne, not a bad way to celebrate. When it was midnight UK time, I was asleep!

I landed at 5 am BST, it was bloody cold....

Well that concludes my 6 months in the Far East. I still can't show you what I was there for. You will just have to wait a few weeks to find out.

I just can not wait to go back, hopefully it will be soon,if Catherine wil let me

And don't forget........

This is the Life.....

You just can't beat sitting on the balcony in the sun, reading. Life is just too hard he he he......

Desaru Again....

Well after are the disastrous trip to Tiomen, we decided a day on the beach was the order of the day.

Desaru is the nearest place so we packed up some food and took of in the faithful Wira on another mad trip to the beach. This time we took the right map with us making the trip a lot shorter than the previous time I went.

The beach was great. We found a relatively quiet spot under some trees and the kids and I went for a swim in the warm South China Sea. E then spent the rest of the day just lazing around doing nothing but reading, getting bitten by ants, and getting sunburn. It may not be the best beach in the world, or even in Malaysia, but it is clean and the sea is lovely and warm.

Tropical Island....

Off to Tiomen Island 1.5 hours by 'speed boat' off the East coast of the Malaysian peninsular in the South China Sea. We went to Minang Cove for a three night, four day break

I booked it all over the net, had several emails detailing that I wanted 2 rooms, preferably a 2 room villa, one room for Catherine and me and one for the kids.

We arrived and were greeted by Alex, who gave us an introductory talk, telling us all about the resort etc, etc. He then showed us to our accommodation. A one room wooden structure that had seen better days.

There was a double bed, a single, and a camp bed squeezed into a room no more than 15 foot square, that included the bathroom. The camp bed was across the end of the double bed making it very hard to get between this and the wardrobe. The bathroom door had a broken lock, and the handle on the outside was a zip (cable) tie. The shower only just worked, and was warm, the sheet on the double bed was torn, and the camp bed had no top sheet, just a blanket. On one wall toilet paper had been used to block up a hole.

We said about having booked two rooms, and as we had already been told the place was full, was most surprised when they said that they would ask the guest in the room next to ours to move so we could have two rooms. The problem was, it would be the room we had, plus the one next door which was just as bad.

The food was supposed to be traditional Malay. It was not. It was just like school dinners, bad school dinners…

We asked to leave the next morning, why pay good money for something worse than a garden shed. Alex ignored us from then on. The next morning Catherine went and asked if we were booked onto the ferry back to the main land. He could not even bother to look up at her when he spoke. How rude!

Tiomen Island looks a beautiful place; we just chose the wrong hotel. Go to Berjaya, that’s where all the rest go, I just wish we had listened…….

Minang Cove or was that Minging Cove?

The Family Arrive....

On Friday 28 July Catherine, Sam, and Zoe arrived. It has been 4 and a half long months since I have seen them. They flew in to Changi Airport, Singapore at 7:30 am local time (+7 hours BST). They flew Singapore Air, which sounds so much better than BA. It seemed to take and age for them to get trough immigration, and get their bags, far too long.

The trip across the Causeway was most uneventful, 9 am on a Friday looks to be a good time to come back into Malaysia. They go to the condo and stayed awake for a while, but the inevitable happened……

Proton Wira

This is my Wira. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My Wira is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My Wira, without me, is useless. Without my Wira, I am useless. I must drive my Wira true. I must drive straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me.

All right it is the US Marine Rifle Creed but like the US Marine Corps, Proton produce a lot of machines that all look the same, perform the same and probably kill as many innocent people!

As a car they are rubbish. The one I have as a hire car is an automatic, most are. The only other automatic I have driven for any length of time was a good old JCB (them again). You can guess which has the better acceleration and handling. To be honest the cornering is fun. The tyres screech so easily, they roll on corners to one hell of an angle. Fuel economy is awful, but when petrol is only 30p a litre it is not so bad, though compared to salaries here it is probably nearly expensive as the UK. Petrol prices are set by the government, so it costs the same every where. Instead of putting in your fuel, then paying, it is the other way around here. If you want to fill up, then you have to go up to the cash window and give them far more than it is going to cost, then go and get your change once you have filled up.

The roads are bad in places. Main roads have potholes the size of small communities. They are also very congested. The laws regarding driving seem to be very similar to the UK, they are just not enforced in the same way. It is not unusual to see a whole family on a moped, both adults with crash helmets, but not the kids. Seat belts are only compulsory in the front seats so kids are just loose in the back. Reversing up motorway slip roads, driving down the hard shoulder, in either direction, all seem quite normal here.

All the Motorways, of Highways as the call them, are toll roads. This means the majority of Malaysians do not use them. Toll charges can either be paid in cash or by using a pre-paid card called a Touch And Go. Though Touch And Go works really well, it is no where near as good as the Singapore system.

To drive in Singapore you have to have an Autopass. It is registered to the car not the person, and again is a pre-pay card. It is used to pay all your road tolls, done by an ERP system not toll booths, this is after all Singapore, as well as the tool for using the Causeway or Second Link to Malaysia. Not much different I hear you say. One thing an Autopass allows you to do that a Touch And Go does not, is pay your parking charges so no scrabbling around trying to find change while there a people queuing behind you.

4 months down, 3 to go.....

Well on Thursday I will have been here 4 months, and I could still have 3 to go.

Doing something like this is a big learning experience. Apart from learning a lot at work, you learn a lot about your self. You find what is important to you, you usually know it already, but being away from all that is familiar confirms it.

So, I hear you ask, impart your words of wisdom to us, teach us what you have learnt. You know it already though. Family and friends, they are what is important. Yes it great to live in a nice house and drive a flash car, but they do not keep you company at night. They are not the ones who listen to you moan about work, and as you can guess, I do that a lot. I have the nice place to live here, I don’t have the flash car, more about that another day. So what is the thing I miss most being here in Malaysia??