I'm Back

I'm back in Kuala Lumpur but it has been a long and fruitful day. Went to bed early last night after drifting off while watching the Arsenal match - good thing they drew as we just got beat by Liverpool just now. I did not even bother to pack when I slept.

Woke up super early as to stick to Malaysia time - woke up at 5.30 am which was 7am in Malaysia. Checked out straight after breakfast as I have an early morning trip to do prior to catching the bus to the airport. I went to visit Yangon General Hospital - at least the Haematology wing. What an eye-opening visit it was. Clearly that would be for another entry.

After a morning tree, listening to the tribulations of the local doctors, I realised how lucky the patients and the doctors in Malaysia. We do have a decent health service in Malaysia, but my God, how inefficient it was. The hospital there was surprisingly clean and well-kept, and the main bulk of the upkeep was from donations.

On my way out, my friend from Hospis Malaysia, Ednin was about to take a cab to a local hospice to see first hand the situation there. I was sure he will have plenty to tell when he returns in a couple of days time. I will email him then. Check out and the trip through Immigrations at the airport was smooth. The flight took off almost on time - there was a generator failure, delaying the taxiing. I reached home just after 6 pm, well before the kick-off for the big match tonight.

Rather tired now and about ready to doze off. Will be at work tomorrow, and maybe will go through the photos after work. Will be doing the blogging for the trip throughout the week.

Day Three

At least I managed to wake up a bit later tub yesterday. Got down for breakfast just after 7am, taking my time, and enjoying the glorious morning sunshine. I wish that I can take a walk outside though ....

The morning talk started at 8.30, today mainly covering a different topic from yesterday. In the later session, I was sure that I will enjoy the talk by Ednin, Hospis Malaysia CEO. That should take me to the last session.

So what will I do after that? I really fancy walking about with my camera as there were plenty of nice building in town right next to the hotel. The worry was, my LX3 was down to one bar in terms of power. I hope it will be good enough for 50 or so frames. If not, then it will be the iPhone doing the snapping.

Day Two

The second day in Yangon today and it was such a relief getting my talk out of the way. We arrived yesterday at about lunch time and went straight for the afternoon lecture session after some food. As I was not sure if the food were Halal or not, the organizer had put aside some seafood for us.

The afternoon session was more of a meet and greet although it was followed right after with a talk by a Pharmacist. I was pretty tired by then and was not able to concentrate. Unpacked and was tired enough for a power nap.

The dinner was by the poolside. It was a barbecue and Yangon being by the sea, the grilled prawns was a delight. In fact, I couldn't really complain about the food at all. The food were simple, a fusion of Indo-Chinese food really, but nice. I finally went to bed extra early - Yangon is an hour and a half later than Malaysia in term of time difference. so by the time I finished dinner, I was ready to sleep.

The problem then was I woke up very early - 6am Malaysian time, which was 4.30 local. A quick flip of the TV channel, and a quick tweak on my slides while waiting for breakfast.

This morning's program was rather tight, starting at 8.30 and broke for lunch just after 1.30. Half an hour later, then it was time for some sightseeing which took us the whole afternoon. I will blog that on a later entry, but for now, I had just had dinner - with a cultural show thrown in. Rather sleepy. Will probably head for bed soon. Mind you, it was 10 am Malaysian time. But it was only 8.30 here now.

I'm Off

Even though it was 6.30 in the morning traffic leading out of Gombak via Jalan Genting Kelang was already building up. I don't mind the traffic, but the road bullies were really something I could do without.

Anyhow, I got myself to KL Sentral in plenty of time and now have already checked-in. Got my boarding pass and on the ERL to KLIA when I was writing this. I was still half-way through typing my slides though, even though the spine of the work has already been done. I might get some work done at the airport while waiting to board.

Update on Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 7:30PM by Haris Abdul Rahman

Arrived much earlier and have since checked-in. Internet was rather slow, but available. Will update blog from time to time.

Rumours about Myanmar

I had a couple of talks to attend to earlier in the day, really disrupting the flow for day. In the end, I was not able to finish my Yangon slides and will have to press on with it come Wednesday morning. Just trying to put mud thoughts into slides seemed to be the hardest bit. Am I experiencing a lecturer's block?

Writing for a presentation is an art of its own and my love for writing does help. I heard rumours though. I was told that taking mobile phones into Myanmar would not be a good idea. Therefore, I would not be bringing in my iPhone or Mac Air for the trip. As for camera, maybe just the LX3 rather than lugging in anything heavier. Maybe those been there before can help me with this. I was also told that none of the payment can be made using credit cards, even the hotel deposit needed to be in cash - in USD in my case. At least that will help prevent me from shopping overboard!