Candlewood Suite, Lake Forest

01 Nov 2008 (California Time)

It took about 45 min in quite a bumpy ride from the airport to the place which I will be staying for the next couple of months. The place is called Candlewood Suite, and it looks like quite new and well maintained.

On entering my suite, felt like the room was slightly smaller than what I would have expected. But after a while, I think it is quite fine with all the necessary survivor tools that I ever needed. There are a mini kitchen, huge fridge, queen size bed, bath tub, heater/cooler, hair dryer, iron, medium size TV, table, internet connection, reclining chair, etc...

It took us some times to unpack our thing. Afterall we were not yet feel tired or sleepy, maybe because we had slept a lot during the flight, or even due to the jet lag phenomenon.

From KLIA to LAX

01 Nov 2008

The day has finally arrived... For the first time in my life, I'm going to United States!

Well, this time I'm not going for vacation, but on a business trip for 4 to 6 months. Of course within this time period, I'll try to take the opportunity to explore as many places as possible while in US. Since this might be the only chance I'll ever come to US, I'm bringing my beloved wife together to explore the place which is totally strange to us. Oh ya, I'm now a married guy! Talk about that next time...

Since I will be away for quite some time, I would need to leave a lot of things behind. My rented house in KL, my car, my fishes, my plants, my not so well father-in-law, my friends, etc... But hey, I have my wife coming with me, that should be enough! :)

At the airport, after a goodbye to my mother-in-law, brother-in-law and his gf, the journey to an unknown land in my dictionary has begun. In my heart, I started to feel anxious, the same feeling that I had about 4 years ago when I went to UK for short study. But I guess the curiosity to explore a new place that had helped me to calm down my anxiety.

Our flight departed at 5.55pm heading to Hong Kong International Airport for transit. The stop was like a short rest before aboarding a flight which will take forever.

Finally after about 12 hours of flight time, we arrived at Tom Bradley International Airport (a.k.a LAX) around 10.00pm on same day! At the US custom, I were stop by the officer because I was trying to bring some Chinese dried sausages into the states. They were then confiscated, but I was lucky there wasn't any fine for it. Outside the airport, we managed to get some photos while waiting for the person who should be picking us to show up.