The first quarter of 2024 is as good as over. Now it's time to finally publish a blog post again after a long time and look back on the last few months, and I'm writing this post from my beautiful apartment in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In January I was still in Colombia, so what happened between the jump to here? Let's go over it in a nutshell:
At the end of December, I went to one of my favorite places in Colombia, Santa Marta, for a week. I rented a motorcycle and discovered new beaches again, far away from the everyday tourism. I found a very quiet and beautiful beach, the photos of which I still come back to admire months later.
After the short vacation, we continued with a somewhat larger project in January and there was still a lot to finish programming. However, we managed to finish everything long before the deadline and so February was a pretty relaxed month. Did it have to be, as I ended up flying back to Europe? Business Class from Bogota to Madrid over to Budapest. Iberia was a dream again, nice seats, modern display and good service. I've only had good experiences with this airline so far.
I spent the whole of March in Budapest, one of my favorite cities in Europe. It's not just the good food and the beautiful architecture that attract me there, but also the fact that part of my family is originally from Hungary and close to Budapest. My favorite restaurant, besides many local restaurants, is a Lebanese restaurant, not far from the large market hall, where you can also look directly at the Danube while you eat. Very peaceful and beautiful to look at.
I went to the standard sights as I do every time, went to a few new churches, checked out and recharged my batteries, and feasted there for the first 2 weeks ;). I love Colombia, but unfortunately there is just no bread there, nowhere that I like or that I really think is "healthy". In Budapest it's easy ... the food there is OUTSTANDING and still relatively cheap compared to many other western EU countries. (Although I have already dropped over €100 for dinner at an Italian restaurant, OOPHS, it can happen).
The month in Budapest was pretty uneventful. I visited my family for a few days and in April I was off to Bangkok. For the very first time with Austrian Airlines, I bought the flight with lots of points. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed with the flight. For the first time in a long time I would be flying a long haul in economy; so I wasn't expecting much anyway and at least booked an emergency exit seat so that there was no other seat in front of me and I had enough space for my height. In short, the direct flight fortunately went by quickly, as the seat was extremely uncomfortable and the service and food were a disgrace.
If I hadn't paid with points and paid the 700+€!!! what the ticket would have normally cost, I would have been up in arms at the counter in BKK. I pinged 30 times and waited forever for a bottle of water, but they said there was none and I got a fingernail-sized cup with water inside, which was empty after one sip. At dinner it was refilled once, that was all for a 10-hour flight ...
Well, lesson learned, just more business on every long-haul flight ... peace of mind must be worth it ;)
After landing in Bangkok and a lovely welcome, I quickly went to my room for the next 10 days. The weather was okay, I was out every day and generally had a good time, but nothing worth mentioning. I visited a nice rooftop bar and an interesting café and relaxed a lot by the pool.
Something has often brought me to places where I was 1-2 years ago, I find it very interesting that I pass these streets again just like I did back then. I could really see myself, still 2 years younger walking in the alley for the first time, hoping that my internet connection still holds enough, for Google Maps haha but meanwhile that's no longer a problem, I actually know my way around Bangkok better than many locals, unfortunately. The cab rides in the 10 days were often a horror, driving the wrong way 10 times, despite the app, can't read, can't even speak Thai (I always had my friend from Thailand with me, she spoke Thai when necessary).
Well, 2 days ago I got up at 5:30am and drove to BKK airport. The check-in was great and very easy with Thai Airways; the service was also suddenly completely different and I arrived in Kuala Lumpur relatively much earlier than planned in just 1h 50min.
I learned from my first 1-day visit here a year ago and took my legs in my hands and literally flew to immigration. I was the only European person on board and felt 1-2 heads taller than everyone at the airport, which meant I was quicker on my way.
I made it! One of the first at immigration, super easy entry in 3 minutes, as I went through I saw the same queue building up as last year. 4h immigration ... not this time!
So now I'm here in a beautiful apartment in the city on the 65th floor. The last 2-3 months have been quiet and relaxed for work, not too much going on. But now in April and May it's time to get down to business. Two very big jobs are here now and I'm full of energy to get everything started, complete it successfully and quickly and start new big projects straight away.
My goal this year is to be able to buy at least one house, cash. Either Colombia or the south of Italy, the research is still ongoing ... A "settling" wish is slowly coming in, let's see if it sticks. I can well imagine settling down in Malaysia or Colombia.
I wish you many opportunities, positive thoughts and experiences as well as lots of strength and success in this new energy.
All the best and much love,
Maurice
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