At this moment, we can say there is one more day to go. After that day one more night, but then the next morning we will be released! Free! Yes, we can handle another day, no problemo! Just need to make sure we don't test positive tomorrow... Impossible, but hey, just imagine... Nope, don't imagine, not gonna happen, cannot. With only about 36h to go, we can really start to make plans for the next days/weeks/months - insofar that's possible with the pandemic still around of course.
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Today we had this incredible rainstorm coming through, we could see it coming from afar. It was very spectacular, it was so violent there was even some water seeping through the window frame.
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The result was a very swollen drain, carrying all that rubbish downstream - on its way to the ocean...
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Short term, there are some very easy things. First things first: delete those stupid games from the iPhone; it was OK, allowable for the quarantine, but afterwards they will get dismissed with immediate effect! In any case, first of all, Wednesday we'll be going for lunch in one of our favourite little lunch restaurants nearby our condo, Face To Face. Nice noodles (and won ton soup for Ellen, of course!). After that we'll have to do some grocery shopping, after nearly 7 months the house will need some major restocking... Later that afternoon, if we can make it, we'll definitely be going for a hash run with the Harriettes, oh yes! Looking very much forward to that!
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First: HOME
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Then: HASH!
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Next we'll start looking around for a car. I know, we normally avoid having a car, but as we will be staying in KL and Malaysia for a while, it'll be better (and much easier...) to buy a second hand car rather than always getting the short term car sharing rentals. We want to go for regular hikes, trips, get around in KL, go hashing, so we'd need a car too often to rent - and getting around in KL and Malaysia is not always easy without your own wheels. Before we leave Malaysia again, we'll resell it. So in terms of footprint, it won't be too bad...
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Getting to Fraser Hill is almost impossible without a car.
Getting to Pine Tree Hill is only possible on foot...
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Saturday we'll go hashing again, with PH3 this time. Yes, hashing will surely be a fixed item on the menu for these coming months, as much as possible! We're also looking into organising another Belgian run in November, let's see if that comes along. I don't only plan to go hashing a lot but running in general, I really intend to run a lot, as I was doing in Belgium, and seriously build up mileage to 200-300km per month. I hope I can find the motivation to do this, in the hot tropics. We also definitely plan to continue our daily strengthening exercises, core, legs, upper body, abs... We felt it was very good to do this, and we need to continue, we're not there yet. Once home we can do that in the gym, and afterwards go for a nice swim in our beautiful pool!
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Isn't it incredible if you can call this home?
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Hashing, trail running, getting out in nature - as much as possible!
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Then on Sunday we will be meeting up with friends: Wouter, Katelijne, Steven and Felicia. The plan is to go to Kuala Selangor in the morning, make a walk in Taman Alam Kuala Selangor, and afterwards go get our reward: a seafood splurge at the riverside! Food... Hmmm... Dreaming of that! Laksa, roti, tosai, rojak, Thai, Korean, banana leaf, fruit (oh yes, shiploads of food!). And: no apples, no chicken, thanks!
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Lunch in Kuala Selangor, yummy yummy
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From next week onwards, very little real fixed plans. We might be going to an east coast island before the monsoons come in, but that might already be too late, or else too rushed - we first want to be home for at least a few weeks now! There are some plans to go to Langkawi in October, possibly spend a few days with Tom on the boat, possibly a few days with Wouter and Katelijne in Langkawi. All maybes for now. Plenty of places in Malaysia we'd love to visit again (Fraser Hill, Taman Negara, Taiping, Pangkor, and so on and so on), also some places we have not been to yet: Belum and Endau Rompin National Park for instance! There are also some vague plans to go to Sabah and climb Mount Kinabalu with some Belgians, not sure if we'll participate in that. If we do, we'll combine it with a few more places in Sabah or Sarawak.
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Perfectly happy to go to Langkawi!
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Or even Sekinchan!
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There are also quite a few projects that were on the to-do list but haven't been finished (or not even started), which I can work on from home or even when travelling. Ah, of course, we still have a few pages to cover in our little secret book. But besides that... I used to make regular photo books (on Blurb) and have some backlog which I'd like to get through. There's of course also my 1993 book which still needs some finishing, and I'm seriously considering to make an English, public version of it. The current one is not suitable for sharing, sorry folks. Then there is the OVO coaching volunteer job, I expect some screening and coaching work will start to come through in a number of weeks from now. And yes, as I mentioned in a previous post, I will even look for a bit of work.
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We'll have to miss these 2 darlings for some months
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We certainly don't plan any trips abroad for a while - there wouldn't be many choices anyway. In any case, we want to avoid yet another quarantine! 2.5 in 7 months time is enough! It's also one of the reasons why we have not even brought our bicycles back with us from Belgium, there won't be that many options for us to go cycling. Sure, we can do Malaysia and that is very nice as well, but we have already done quite a lot here. I'm getting interested in starting road biking though, might be getting into that. The only real disadvantage of no travel abroad, is that we can't go visit Vere and Jack in Tasmania whom we haven't seen since beginning this year, and this could still last for a while. Very unhappy about that... Lastly, even longer term, we will normally travel back to Belgium in spring 2021 - but that is still very far away, so many things can still influence that timing...
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Happy times in Tasmania "Tassie" in February 2020
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First of all, in all this, the most important thing for now: COMING HOME! That will be sooooo good!
