Day One...

Today was the first day in Penang and luckily no jetlag... Lucky or meticulously controlled sleep during the flight will stay a mystery. I woke up after my 6 hour sleep and decided to try the gym... (it was too dark to go outside for a run). Mission accomplished for day 1.

The first two things that struck me about Altera Penang were - cleanliness of the carpet and the inviting brightness inside the building. As I observed and learned more I discovered that both had specific reasons - the reason for the later was the fact that all lights were on :-) I had forgotten how it feels with all lights turned on!

Meeting everyone was the best part of the day. 10 of us went for lunch together and thanks to a colleague who is also vegetarian all the meat-eaters were forced to eat veggie food for the day! But I am sure I need to find more hybrid places if we are to go out together for more than a week.

Dinner was with a colleague and a friend and we tried an Indian place. The food was pretty good except for the oil but more than anything we had a great time chatting and getting to know each other.

The most thoughtful gesture for the day was that by Tat Hui though, while I was trying to gather information on which pre-paid phone service to get and looking for someone with a pre-paid phone, he pulls out his old phone and passes it on to me - charged and ready to go with all our department contacts loaded. He it up just a day before for me and I hadnt even mentioned it, much less ask for it. A shout out to him for being to considerate!

Now time to get some sleep so that I can make it to my 7AM meeting!