Jay's Work Trip to Southeast Asia

EFCO has operations all over the world and this past week, Jay had the opportunity to visit their offices in Malaysia and the Philippines. On the way out, he traveled from Des Moines to Dallas, then to Tokyo (a 15 hour flight!), and then to Manila where he arrived Sunday night. On Wednesday afternoon he flew to Kuala Lumpur and then returned home on Saturday. Jay had a busy week filled with internal auditing, plant tours and a little sight-seeing. Other than the long flights and lack of sleep, he had a great time! The kids and I also had a good week. We made a few day trips to Pella to spend time with Grandma, Grandpa and the cousins, but for the most part, we kept ourselves busy at home and tried not to count down the days until Jay returned. Needless to say, we were excited to have him back home!

From left to right: Ken Thon (the Asia Regional

Finance Manager), Ryan (Jay's boss),

Helen (the Philippines Finance Administrator), and Jay

The first highlight of the trip was lunch at the Josephine Restaurant overlooking Tagaytay Lake. In the middle of the lake is the active Taal volcano.

Living in the Taal volcano's lake (the small lake inside the volcano - not the big lake in the picture above) are the Tawilis fish (a local delicacy). The entire fish is eaten - head to tail fin. Jay thinks they fried the meat right off it and left the bones and scales. Can you believe he ate one of these?!

The hotel in Kuala Lumpur decorates for whatever occasion is going on in the region. While Jay was there, it was decorated for the Chinese New Year.

A view of the traffic in Kuala Lumpur where they drive on the "other" side of the road!

A typical lunch spot - a street lined with shops and restaurants.

The second highlight of the trip was Thursday night when Ken took Ryan and Jay to downtown Kuala Lumpur to see the Petronas Towers. These are among the top 10 tallest buildings in the world - and there's TWO of them right next to each other!

After sight-seeing the towers, Jay had dinner at a rooftop club complete with a pool and live DJ.

The pool at their hotel in Malaysia - the waterfall is coming from another pool on the upper level.

Jay has always liked fountains - this long fountain made its way into the pool.