Everyone leaves the country except for Quddus and I

were this really the case, Quddus and I would have likely split the country up evenly and concurrently begun ruling the newly formed "Quddasia" and "Rushdystan". It was only the case, however, that the remaining friends from our group at Roshan's place departed a few at a time, to the point of my being left alone, and Quddus still chillin' in Singapore.

Everyone leaves the country except for Quddus and I (Quddus is still in singapore)
My dad and Shaku arrive, my dad gives a coupla talks on SRD
I go to the Ludher's and hang out with Dad and Shaku for a bit
I go to the Jayagopan's
I go to singapore

So Quddus and I had planned to stay some extra days in malaysia to attend this Science, Religion, and Development colloquium that was supposed to go down, but it didn't pan out. What did pan out was a short presentation on what the SRD discourse is all about, and how any puny human can involve themselves in the discourse. It is, in fact, an enlightening presentation, and I will, in a future post, recount some of the basics of SRD for you guys (giving me just enough time to really learn them ;P).

I got to spend some time with my dad and shaku, not a lot, seeing as how they had a crazy schedule of medical tests (full-physcial with stress tests and everything), and I had a crazy schedule of social tests (full-social with stress tests and everything). Jokes, malaysia was all chillin'. We went to a mall and wandered down to a coffee shop, and basically hung out for a bit. I did feel like, having been away from the p-units for a bit, we were all more appreciative of each other...but this seems to me to be an axiom of (family) existence.

Later that day, I made my way, via rail, to the Jayagopans (aka "the Gobus"[pronounced "go" "boo"]). Originally, Quddus and I had intended to spend some time there, but then it was too busy a time for guests, but then, right before I came, they invited me to stay just for that night. Either way, I had a change of clothes with me when I got there. Temily, Taraz and Temira are the three chilins of the Gobus, and Taraz was actually the stylish cat who supplied the beat for the mamak music video. So I checked out some more music, and showed Taraz some of my old Dialektika-days stuff on myspace, and some of karim's stuff on facebook. Then, Counsellor Gobu arrived. The man was tired, stressed, and in a hurry.

He had to make a flight the next day, and needed to go get his passport and pick up his visa and make it to his connection in bangkok. His stuff was with a friend in/on the way to Singapore...realizing that he had to make a crazy drive, he looked around and saw in me someone who could likely make sure he didn't fall asleep. So he asks "have you ever been to Singapore?" I was like "nope...but I'm so down". So we make a trip back to the Ludher's place, where I left my passport. After retreiving it, I get home and we plan the next day. Leaving at 4:30 am, hoping to get there by 8, and try to catch the 3pm flight to bangkok. Sounds easy to do, it is very hard.

We leave in the morning, making great time all the way down to JohoBahru (sp?) on the border near Singapore. we meet a friend, drop the bags at his place (to ensure less delay at the border), and roll into immigration (after eating a quick dim-sum). I forgot my departure card...I felt horrible, delaying the man on his quest against time, but luckily, the guy at immigration just had me fill out another one, and reminded me not to lose it again. We finally pull into Singapore, and it's quite nice. Tall trees lining every street, nice tall buildings, nice short buildings, a nice park or two. Very nice, but kinda boring after a while. We hustle to the Embassy, get Gobu's visa, and make our way to a travel agent to confirm the bookings/book new tickets, I don't even know. By this point, Gobu is smiling like a man who's won a great victory, and he has, but it's 12:30, and we have to make it back to Joho Baru to get his bags, AND get to the airport by 2:10pm (because he needs to buy his final ticket at least 40 mins before the flight). Our friend/guide Zoran goes all need for speed on it, and gets us there in time (not without some of us in the back seat getting a little woozy from the curvy roads). It was a fun ride.

Long story short, we make it. Then we have a 5-6 hour drive back to KL on the traffic-congested highways of malaysia. I got to talk to Gobu's wife Pohyean a lot, in fact, I can't remember the last time I talked to one person for 6 hours solid (because it somehow did not stop).

I watch jackie chan's latest film, and, somehow, escape from witch mountain
I go to Riyaz's again
We leave malaysia

I ended up another night at the Gobus, and basically hung out, watched movies, helped with a children's class, etc. until Farshad came to pick me up. It was fun to spend another day and a half with Riyaz and Farshad, but I felt bad because Quddus and I had lost contact in the middle of that time somewhere! It was all good in the end since we both had fun in our respective locations.

Then, we flew back to Bangkok.