22 May 2009, Friday
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The last couple of weeks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has been rather nice - a bed to sleep in, en-suite bathrooms, kitchen, television, toys and friends and family. Mama (Mum's mum) was with us throughout, which was great. She looked after me and played with me lots. She headed home to Taiping yesterday, and I miss her already.

Today, Mum ran some errands in the morning, then we had lunch at home before packing up and going to say goodbye to Tok Mak (Dad's mum). From there, we headed to Aunty Ami and Uncle Rahim's home for tea with Godpa and Godma before we were sent to the airport for our flight to Abu Dhabi, then on to London. Aunty Ami gave me a Ben 10 Activity Book and some comics to keep me happy on the plane - I love them!

23 May 2009, Saturday
Maidstone, UK
I slept for most of the flight, as I usually do. I didn't even watch any of the movies on board the plane! We arrived in London Heathrow ahead of schedule and made our way for the Immigration. It was chalk-a-block in the hall, but on seeing Dad and Mum with me, one of the officers let us into the priority lane for families with young children. I do have my uses! We collected our baggage and had a drink in the arrival hall while waiting for Kakak Hannah and Abang Reg to meet us.

Back at their home, we settled in and met Jasper the Cat's new friend, Nigel. I helped Reg sweep up the leaves from the hedge he trimmed in front of the house. We had some pizza for lunch and a lazy afternoon.Mum cooked some curry noodles for dinner, but I opted for some toast and cereal and went to bed early

24 May 2009, Sunday
Maidstone, UK
I was up at 5.30am. Mum kept telling me to go back to sleep as it was still early, but when I pulled back the curtains and looked out, it was already bright - who is she kidding? Anyway, once I pulled Mum out of bed, she fed me and the cats.
Eventually, everyone else woke up, and I enjoyed the morning playing in the garden. It was quite nice out in the sun. After lunch though, Mum forced me to have an afternoon nap, maybe because she wanted to have one, too. We slept for 3 whole hours, so I guess we must have needed that nap.
This is the first time since we left Cape Town that Dad and Mum actually seem to be doing nothing much.

25 May 2009, Monday
Maidstone, UK
We lazed around in the morning. It's a Bank Holiday in the UK today, so Hannah and Reg were off work. In the afternoon, while Reg was preparing a roast, the rest of us went to the Hobbycraft shop in town, where Mum got me some sun catchers to paint. Mum and I used to love going to Hobbycraft when we lived in London. It's got lots of fun arty crafty stuff.

26 May 2009, Tuesday
Isle of Dogs, London... and an issue about a dog
We had an early start today. We dropped Reg off at work and took the car into London. We stopped off at Asda on the Isle of Dogs to pick up some bits and bobs, before heading to Lockes Wharf, where we used to live to collect our mail.
One of our neighbours told us that our tenant apparently had a little dog in the flat which did not impress Dad and Mum at all! After speding some time with Uncle Tariq, the Development Manager and bumping into some old neighbours and friends, including my friend from Muddy Boots, Mikayla, we headed out to Canary Wharf.

At The Wharf, Dad went to the Vodafone Outlet to get his upgraded mobile phone. We had lunch at one of the eateries and I had a Sugar Glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut.
Back in Maidstone, Mum cooked some Nasi Goreng for dinner, then called up the tenant to speak to them about the dog. They assured us that they will have the dog removed by the end of next month.

27 May 2009, Wednesday
Maidstone, Kent
What a miserable British Weather Day...cold, wet, dull. Mum had some errands to run, so after breakfast, she put on a raincoat and headed off to the laundry to get our clothes washed and dried, then into town to check out some stuff for Dad's new mobile phone and to get some meat to cook for lunch and snacks to eat on the plane tomorrow.
She came back with some Ben 10 chocolate lollies for me from Marks and Spencer. I had all 3 before lunch of nasi lemak.
Mum made me sleep early tonight, saying she was going to have to wake me up very early in the morning. Tomorrow is the day we finally take the plane to the USA!

28 May 2009, Thursday
From London Gatwick to Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Mum wasn't kidding when she said she'll wake me up early. She and Dad were all dressed and ready when she got me out of bed at 5.30am. I was washed up, given some cereal for breakfast and before we knew it, the cab arrived to take us to the airport. We said our goodbyes to Hannah and Reg and were on our way.
At the airport, we had to clear a security interview before checking in for the flight and then the long process of having to walk from one xray machine to the next and on to the departure gate. The flight to Atlanta took more than 9 hours and I played a little, ate a little, watched a little TV and slept for a couple of hours. There's nothing more you can do on a plane, without driving everyone else mad.
We had less than 2 hours at Atlanta to clear Immigration, collect our luggage, clear customs, recheck in the luggage and then head for the next plane to Norfolk. Luckily, we managed to make it to the gate with 7 minutes to spare! Dad's feet were doing well - not swelled up, as it had been the time we flew from Cape Town to Kuala Lumpur, which was good. Thanks to Dr Nik Halmey in KL and Scholl's Flight Socks.

When we arrived in Norfolk, we collected our luggage and grabbed a cab to the motel Dad had booked us into, not far away. As soon as we settled in, Dad checked his email and saw a message from the clearing agent here in the USA, saying that the Carnet we had for Tuah was not valid for the USA.  Dad spoke to the agent but had to wait till morning, because of the time difference to call Paul Gowan, our Carnet man from the RAC in the UK to see what was wrong.
In the meantime, we walked over to the McDonald's around the corner for some dinner and then came back to the motel for a shower and some sleep.

29 May 2009, Friday
Norfolk, Virginia
I was up at 5am, but Dad and Mum had an earlier start to the day than me. Dad had confirmed with Paul Gowan of the RAC in the UK that we did not require a Carnet for the USA, so it was a happy morning. Then the clearing agent here dropped another bombshell - he said we needed a clearance letter from the EPA (Enviromental Protection Agency), which could take up to 20 days.
Anyway, Dad got all the documentation prepared and fingers crossed that it will take much less than the 'up to' 20 days. Mum recalled Jon and Linda, who we met in Poland, with their luxury bespoke truck, Taffy, saying that it took them more than 2 weeks to clear their truck when they had it shipped to the USA sometime back.
We walked across the road from the motel to Popey's Chicken and Biscuit for lunch. The first time we came across one of their restaurants was in Aqabar, Jordan. The rest of the day was spent in our room watching TV and waiting. We'll be doing a bit of waiting for the next few days, I guess.

30 May 2009, Saturday
Norfolk, VA
We decided to take the bus into town after breakfast. It wasn't a long wait before the bus arrived and we got our day passes. It was an awfully long ride downtown, though, including a change at the Cedar Grove Parking for the bus to the Waterside
We had a bit of a stroll around and headed for Nauticlus, which housed the Hampton Roads Naval Museum and had the large WW2 battleship USS Wisconsin docked next door. We went on board the battleship, which was about the size of some of the ships Dad used to command in the Merchant Navy. It was rather interesting, with huge guns called Turrets.

After the battleship, we had a poke around the Naval Museum, which was quite interesting, and then walked up the road to the waterside. Nothing as plush as Cape Town's Waterfront, but I did have a nice huge soft pretzel, which was very nice.
We caught the shuttle bus back to Cedar Grove parking, but had an hour wait before the bus we needed to get back to the motel came by. And Mum used to complain about the D3 from Island Gardens to Canary Wharf!

31 May 2009, Sunday
Norfolk, VA
It wasn't a good start to the day. We went for breakfast, with more than an hour before the buffet was closed and found that there was nothing left on the counter besides a couple of muffins and some cereal. The receptionist at the Days Inn was not very helpful, telling us that all the food was finished and that we were lucky to be given any at all, as it was 'free' and not included in our room rates.
Anyway, eventually some bread made it's way to the counter and we had some toast. After breakfast, Mum asked for the room to be hoovered, as it had not been done since we arrived. We went for a walk down to the Marina nearby, and when we got back, were suprised to see the two cleaners in our room, with another lady who was carrying a baby, having a discussion inside our room. Needless to say, Mum was even more unimpressed.
For lunch, we headed out again, across the road and I was treated to an ice cream sundae after. We sat outside, enjoying the nice sunshine, watching the cars and trucks, many of them even bigger than Tuah, go by. Hopefully, tomorrow or in the next few days, we will have a better idea when we will be reunited with our trusty truck again.