Denver Colorado

Arrived to Denver from Milwaukee at 3.30 local time just now. From the airport, took a rented car straight to a customer's place, some 30 miles away.

Checked in to the hotel at about 930pm after dinner.

The car is now a Ford Fusion. Although with a much smaller capacity engine, the driving dynamics and handling seems to be much better than the first two cars.

The LaQuinta hotel at East Arapahoe, Greenwood Village is also better than the last few hotels i have stayed in so far. The room is by far the best thus far..

Will be here for three nights until Sunday..

Rental cars

First car i had on Sunday was a elderly, stately Grand Marquis..... It drives like a tank, feels like a tank and probably is a tank!! Huge, but with rather small space for rear passengers and an equally dismal boot space.

At Milwaukee, i told Hertz what i had, and they gave me a Gran Prix instead. a little bit more sporty looking, but steering is very heavy. I will have this for the next three days. Will have to drive about 2 hours tomorrow(Wednesday) and back to Milwaukee airport on Thursday morning. All in all, will have to drive some 350 miles i think.



The Grand Prix looks like this...


The inside front panel...

wonder what will be the next car at Denver.

Airport wait...

For the next 2 weeks, my life will be revolving around airports, hotels and meetings.

the meeting with a new customer this morning lasted less than 1 hour. I m now at Rochester airport waiting for the flight to Milwaukee. Didnt know what to do or where to go, do, returned the rental car and checked in. So, right now, I am seated at the airport, writing this.

I also think my meals will be mostly fast food from now on..

got not so good news from home.. thought should fly back now, but what can i do even if i get back?

Rochester NY

I boarded the first flight from KLIA to Bangkok at 8.00PM, 25th Aug, Malaysia time. By the time i arrived to JFK New York, it was 7PM Malaysia time, 26th Aug.

Finally arrived to the Holiday Inn at Rochester at 5.30AM, 27th Aug, Malaysia time.

The journey took almost 36 hours!!

what a trip...

Leakages, Mercedes E200K, Cycle & Carriage Bintang Berhad

The E200K Estate, with all of 13624km done is back at the workshop for a myriad of problems..

- during heavy rain, water actually seeped in to the A pillar on the driver's side
- during braking, a rather audible sound can be heard from the front wheels
- rear vent for air con suddenly gushes forth hot air, real hot air!!

The result?

- sun roof sealant problem leading to water leakages
- the spring link/struts of front wheel loose, and need replacement
- a change over valve for the air con need replacement
- there was a slight leakage of transmission oil, and gasket needs to be changed

All this repair work has so far taken 3 working days, and the service people (Cycle & Carriage Bintang Berhad) will 'try' to get the car back on Thursday. Just getting to talk to the service people took me two days, and i finally managed to pass on a message to get them to call back.

So far, the quoted repair cost is RM6123.35...

One thing that I am pretty sure is that Cycle & Carriage Bintang Berhad is not worried at all about how they treat their customers. From the first contact of trying to get through on the phone is hard enough already. The so called 'voice activated' system is extremely unfriendly, and even if you get through, you will be left hanging..

If I am the only one complaining, then I am a monkey's uncle.

Wipe the CHIP

No, i am not talking about potato chips.. I am talking about the embedded 'smart' chip found in ATM cards and credit cards.

Last week, I just could not use my RHB ATM card at all. Each time, i tried using it, i just could not execute any transaction, just an error message. I called the bank and was told my account is in order, the ATM card is also in order.

I endured a 50 minutes drive to the bank (normally it will take 15 minutes), round the bank's block three times to find parking, and finally presented the ATM card to the counter. All she did was 'wipe the CHIP', and asked me to try again at the ATM. I did and it worked.....

I dont know what lesson i can learn from this, but i do know my blood pressure was shotting up while stuck in the traffic jam, while rounding to find a parking bay and certainly while all the bank teller did was just wipe the CHIP...

uuurrrrrrrggggghhhhhh

holiday.....

Two priests decided to go to Hawaii on vacation.

They were determined to make this a real vacation

by not wearing anything that would identify them as clergy.

As soon as the plane landed they headed for a store

and bought some really outrageous shorts, shirts, sandals, sunglasses, etc.

The next morning they went to the beach

dressed in their 'tourist' garb.

They were sitting on beach chairs,

enjoying a drink, the sunshine and the scenery when a

'drop dead gorgeous' blonde in a topless bikini

came walking straight towards them.

They couldn't help but stare.

As the blonde passed them she smiled and said

'Good Morning, Father ~ Good Morning, Father,'

nodding and addressing each of them individually,

then she passed on by.

They were both stunned.

How in the world did she know they were priests?

So the next day, they went back to the store

and bought even more outrageous outfits.

These were so loud you could hear them before you even saw them!

Once again, in their new attire, they settled down in their chairs to enjoy the sunshine.

After a little while, the same gorgeous blonde,

wearing a different colored topless bikini, taking her sweet time,

came walking toward them.

Again she nodded at each of them, said

'Good morning, Father ~ Good morning, Father,'

and started to walk away.

One of the priests couldn't stand it any longer and said,

'Just a minute, young lady.' 'Yes, Father?'

'We are priests and proud of it, but I have to know,

how in the world do you know we are priests, dressed as we are?'

She replied,

'Father, it's me, Sister Kathleen.'

Story courtesy of a birder friend.................

US Visa

I am quite amazed with the speed and procedures that are in place at the US Embassy in KL.

I submitted the forms for my visa renewal last Friday, and I picked it up yesterday afternoon without any issue whatsoever.

My visa is now valid until August 2017..

SMART Tunnel not so smart

I had to get my US visa renewed for the coming trip. Having made the appointment to be at the Embassy at 10AM today, i thought two hours to get there from home should be more than enough..

apparently, a car flipped and then a truck stalled just after the SMART tunnel, which led to a massive traffic snarl. They closed the tunnel....

It took me the whole of the two hours to get there, and by the time i parked and all that, it was passed 10.30AM. The security will not let me in eventhough my name was on the appointment list for 10AM.

I had to go back again tomorrow. I intend to to get there before 730AM tomorrow...

Oh, my average speed this morning was about 12km/h...

Non stop Bangkok-New York

The longest commercial flight is currently the 9150 miles flight between LAX and Singapore. Coming in at a not too much less is the Bangkok-New York, flying time of 16 hours and 55 minutes. the return leg, New York-Bangkok is slightly longer at 17 hours and 10 minutes.

I am scheduled to do this soon....

So far, the longest non stop flight I have ever taken last about 12 hours... this will surely be a test of a lot of things...

Passport renewed in 6 hours

While firming up my itinerary for a trip to the States, to my horror, i discovered that my 10 years visa to the USA expired in January 2007. AND, my 5 years passport will also be expiring end of this year.

No choice, had to take time off to quickly get the passport renewed.

Went to the Kajang Immigration office at 11.30, and got a queue number that allowed the submission of documents. Number given to me did not allow submission of documents until after 2pm. So, have to get lunch and wait until 2pm.

Managed to submit documents at about 230pm, and was told passport will be ready by 430pm. Another 2 hours to kill...

I think I know Metro Kajang really well now. I pop in to just about every shop of interest.

Anyway, by 430PM, i was out of the place with my new passport. All in all, i guess, it is quite a big improvement compared to the olden days when it will take at least 2 weeks to get this travel document.

The passport will be used next week, to Bangkok for a cone day trip....