There was nothing interesting on the flight back to LA, except that everyone was made to take off their shoes on the stopover in Taipei. All the shoes were x-rayed to make sure weapons were not concealed within the shoe. I don't think they were scanning for poisonous gases as they let me through.

My belly was a tight round from dinner but they marched into the house with more food. Half the family was over to see me off, to help me pack and to offer me last minute advice.

After dinner, I hooked up with Ariff. We went looking for Syahnaz who was in town on a blind date with some hottie who was still in her early college years. This was not the first time that Ariff and I were tagging along on a Syahnaz first date, and the routine had gotten a bit weird.

We met up with Syahnaz and what's her name at the Twin Towers and headed for D'Orange. Ariff and I had exactly enough money in our wallets for the cover so we were limited to the one free complimentary drink that came with entrance. We had our drink, danced a little, and left within the hour.

Because the night was still young, Syahnaz and what's her name stayed on at the nightclub. Things were going well between the two of them and it looked certain that their night was going to end with hours of uninhibited raw steamy multi-position sex. As for me, I had to go home to pack.

I finally got the two of them on the phone and we agreed on a location. A public place. With Lots of people.

Michelle picked me up at two-ish and Su Lin was already there when we arrived. We got a table and exchanged years gone by over over-priced coffee.

Later that night it was a reunion dinner at TGIF with the goons from Samad.

Yun Wai and I were greeted by the TGIF greeter but we located our party and did not need her assistance to show us to our table.

Hands clenched with hands, "what's ups" were exchanged and friendly insults concerning physical appearance started flying.

As the night wore on we got into details. Chun Fay now works with Lucent and is involved with a Korean girl, Kim Hyun Dai. I can't remember what Keng Han does for a living, but neither can he. I only know that he holds a very generic sounding position, I think something to do with accounting or finance. Su Hung now works as a building materials supplier, although his real job is to complain about his job. Yun Wai has a part-time job as my chauffeur, while Seng Ho and Weng Tuck are working on cracking their bank's safe. And last but definitely not earning the least, Tze Yang is a doctor who gets to treat old people smelling of Cap Kapak Angin.

Mun Kit took a bus from Ipoh to Taiping and we hung out for a couple hours before I got on a bus back to KL. He was to catch a bus back to Ipoh from the same station half an hour after I left but missed the bus because he was looking for a prostitute.

I arrived in Pudu Raya and had to catch the LRT home. A couple cab drivers who did not know I was from KL offered to take me to PJ for $35. Burdened with two heavy bags, one on each shoulder, I was quite tempted to take up their X5 inflated price. Plus, being away from Malaysia so long, my sense of direction around KL was now reduced to following where the rest of the people seemed to be going. As I got closer to Central Market, things got a little more familiar and I was finally able to pick up the trail to the LRT station.

I got off at the Taman Jaya terminal and gave Dad a call to come pick me up. While waiting, I was approached by two Mormon white guys, Elder Hale from Utah and Elder Bob from Arizona. Elder Bob started to preach to me about his religion, but to his dismay I spun the conversation around and started talking about the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Midway through our conversation, another member of their Mormon posse crossed our path, exchanged nods of acknowledgement with the two elders and went on his way . He looked familiar but I could not place his name. So I asked Utah and Arizona and they told me his name.

"Felix," I called out. Elder Felix turned and walked back towards us. Felix used to play chess with me some 15 years ago. The catch up with Felix spared me from a Mormonic sermon as the few minutes that were bought was just enough for Dad to arrive with the getaway car.

For fear that we may be hungry before lunch, Hui Chin's Dad stopped to get us a Char Siu Pau each. An hour later we had shark's fin noodles for lunch. We were stuffed after lunch so we decided to walk it off at the Quan Yin temple where we found ourselves at a roadside assam laksa stall for more food. Busting at the seams, we headed to a Hindu temple to admire its intricate wood work before we stopped to eat again at an oyster fry shop. And except for a huge seafood dinner afterwards, that was all we ate that day.

I gulped down some saliva. Did not work. I gulped down some more saliva. Did not work. I waited for five minutes, and in the process collected as much amilase as my mouth could hold. In one swift motion, I tilted my head back and flooded the back of my throat with saliva. Did not work. I feared then that I was going to have muffled hearing for quite some time.

Nothing I tried seemed to work. I tried jabbing my pinkie as far into my ear canal, I tried pushing my palms hard against my ears and then releasing it to create a plunger effect, I tried humming to myself and holding my breath and turning my head real fast and coughing and sucking saliva up to my nose. Nothing worked, and we were already at the base of the hill.

When your ears get screwed up because of altitude, it's funny how everyone sounds so soft and you sound really loud, almost as though your voice box is miked-up directly to your brain. Just so you know, I regained my hearing over the next hour. Unlike normal circumstances where swallowing saliva takes you from muffled to crystal clear in an instant, the recovery process in my case was gradual where sounds slowly got more and more clear. As a precaution, next time I'll just descend a foot a day.

After driving 2 hours North, Mom, Dad and I met up with Hui Chin and her parents in Ipoh for lunch. After lunch Mom and Dad headed back to KL and I proceeded North to Taiping.

Upon arrival at Hui Chin's, we walked up several dark flight of steps until we came to a metal gate. On the way up, there was a segment that I could have sworn had total light loss and would have been sufficient for film development. I vowed to bring my yellow miners hard hat with a light attached on my next visit. We unlocked the metal gate, skipped up another flight of steps and voila, the place where Hui Chin grew up. Hers wasn't the glamorest of apartments but the place had character and was definitely a potential birthplace of a Keruoac.

Downstairs, Hui Chin's apartment building neighbored a bike repair shop and neighbor to that neighbor was a restaurant of happy half drunks belting out songs from day to night. There were food courts and a market a minutes walk away. And it was 5 minutes on foot to get to the Taiping Lake Gardens. Actually, everything you needed was less than 5 minutes on foot from Hui Chin's apartment.