It’s been a day and a half since I returned from Malaysia, the other side of the world, yup twelve hour time zone difference and I’m powering through the jet lag.
It was a fabulous trip. My hosts were so hospitable!!!
I think Malaysian people are some of the nicest in the world!
I remember last time I went to Kuala Lumpur I felt that way and this time the feeling was even stronger.
The lady in charge of COMEL, who put it all together is a lawyer who works for one of the largest firms in KL. Such a nice lady, she runs her own small publishing house as well.
She was in my session at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore back in 2012.
How she managed to pull it all together I have no idea! She spoke to people who ended up donating almost everything including the hotel rooms and the airfare.
Here’s a picture of me with one of the donors, this is Princess Elena who is the daughter of one of Malaysia’s royal sultans (they take turns ruling the country).
She runs a school in Kuala Lumpur and owns the hotel Impiana where I stayed.
Was also hosted by the charming daughter of Malaysia’s third prime minister. Her name is Hanis which somehow reminds me of honey, and she is very sweet and lovely!
It took two days to get there. I left on Monday September 19th, at around 10 pm and got into KL on Wednesday morning around 9 am exhausted!
She had arranged for a massage for me at the spa in the hotel #Impiana. My first massage! And it left the middle of my back a bit sore because the tiny Asian lady who was pummeling me did a thorough job. My friend told me that sometimes happens if you’re not used to massages.
The hotel was beautiful! We had a view of the Petronas twin towers, Malaysia’s most famous landmark, from my hotel window.
She had a bunch of volunteers helping run the festival and there was even a rehearsal the night before that I didn’t go to because I didn’t have any technical requirements.
I’ve found it’s better to ditch the powerpoint and just speak from the heart. Most of the time powerpoints are not better than just good old fashioned storytelling!
There were many people gathered to hear us. Most had committed themselves to either come for the morning or the afternoon, but many in the morning enjoyed themselves so much they stayed!
I began speaking about my journey from being a poor immigrant to becoming an international author and the audience was amazing. Didn’t move, didn’t get up to get coffee. Just sat and listened and then stayed for more.
At the end of the day there was a standup comedian, apparently Malaysia’s finest, who wound up the program. He was a very big local celebrity.
I had people come up to me and say that I’d been funnier. *g*
The organizer wants me back for next year. She’s already booked Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) to headline it, and she wants me back.
I said of course!!!
Who wouldn’t want to share a stage with Yusuf Islam!!!