Tuesday, 29 December 2009
The Run Up to Christmas...
After saying our goodbyes to Zara (who was jetting off back to Brisvegas) and Sarah (who was heading back to Saltburn for Christmas), we started preparing for Christmas, Malaysian-style a.k.a visit a number of large shopping centers, wander around the multitude of shops and go away empty handed! Needless to say we spent quite a bit of time buying last minute presents when secretly (or not so secretly), both Leon and I were dreaming of lazing by the pool and topping up our tans. On Christmas Eve, in line with tradition, we went to T-Club which has been our local bar for the last 10 years! Leon said that it was akin to one of the bars you'd find on a popular Greek island, but even with it's new refurb I still feel like it's my home away from home. A bit like Cheers, where everybody knows your name. Everyone was in the festive mood and we were given a bag of goodies by the bar staff to help us celebrate Christmas Day when midnight came around. Armed with shot glasses that lit up, party poppers and drinking dice, Sian, Pete, Leon and I sang through a number of timeless Christmas classics while sipping on some cocktails and beers. As we left T-Club, we were greeted with a mini street party, as people (including very young, naughty children!) started spraying us with fake snow in a can. Aaaah... Christmas has arrived!
Malaysia 20th December: The Hangover
Headache, sickness, lack of appetite and lethargy... Nothing to report!!!
Monday 28th December – Tourist yet again!
Our previous days misadventures in Malacca clearly didn’t put us off as after a healthy few hours under the 30C sunshine with cloudless skies by Alicia’s pool and a tasty late Lake Club lunch of marinated roast chicken, steamed rice and a pallet cleansing slice of water melon for Leon and Egg Noodles with fresh water prawn for Alicia, we made our way to Sian’s house for a 3pm rendezvous prior to,”lets play tourist”, part two.
Alicia, Sian , Pete and I chose the LRT from Bangsar to make our way in to town. The LRT is a driverless monorail with one main line and several smaller connecting lines similar to the London DLR. Its price tag (1RM or 15p for a 2 stop journey) and it being driverless makes the LRT a cheap and efficient way to travel and I was surprised by the cleanliness of the carriages as well as the presence of air con.
A 15 minute ride and we arrived at Central Market, an indoor market specialising in official, genuine Malaysian arts and crafts. There are several excellent stalls selling quality goods ranging from Batik shirts (Malaysian national dress which is colourful, heavily patterned and roomy, I presume to allow for the sometimes cuff air) and Songkok (traditional hats which look like smaller oval flat topped fez without the tassel), as well as various crafts and home ware. However, I failed to feel at one with the authenticity of the market due to the abundance of typical tourist tit-tat and the hard sell of some of the shop owners. Still worth a look in if you after looking to decorate your home or buy souvenirs.
From here we took a 5 minute walk round the corner to the China town market. If you want, “genuine imitation very good quality sir”, bags, watches, polo shirts, trainers, pens, wallets or belts, this is the place to go…If your bartering skills are up to scratch and you can hold your nerve, it is easy to walk away feeling like you’ve struck a good deal, even if the product purchased disintegrates, falls apart or simply doesn’t work within 24 hours. I managed to walk away with a Gold Casio watch, Mont Blanc ballpoint and Lacoste polo Shirt for under 50 ringgit (about GBP9). I am happy to report that 24 hrs later and all my purchases are still functioning as they should do!
More shopping loomed courtesy of Sungei Wang Plaza followed by a mediocre to bad dinner for both me and Alicia at the Pavilion food court.
A hairy cab ride took us from town to The Social, a bar/eatery/pool house in Bangsar, for a few glasses of beer a game of pool and some cards with Pete and Sian. A few defeats at both pool and cards later for Alicia and it was time to take my ultra competitive/ ever so slightly bad loser of a girlfriend home to sleep………..
Alicia, Sian , Pete and I chose the LRT from Bangsar to make our way in to town. The LRT is a driverless monorail with one main line and several smaller connecting lines similar to the London DLR. Its price tag (1RM or 15p for a 2 stop journey) and it being driverless makes the LRT a cheap and efficient way to travel and I was surprised by the cleanliness of the carriages as well as the presence of air con.
A 15 minute ride and we arrived at Central Market, an indoor market specialising in official, genuine Malaysian arts and crafts. There are several excellent stalls selling quality goods ranging from Batik shirts (Malaysian national dress which is colourful, heavily patterned and roomy, I presume to allow for the sometimes cuff air) and Songkok (traditional hats which look like smaller oval flat topped fez without the tassel), as well as various crafts and home ware. However, I failed to feel at one with the authenticity of the market due to the abundance of typical tourist tit-tat and the hard sell of some of the shop owners. Still worth a look in if you after looking to decorate your home or buy souvenirs.
From here we took a 5 minute walk round the corner to the China town market. If you want, “genuine imitation very good quality sir”, bags, watches, polo shirts, trainers, pens, wallets or belts, this is the place to go…If your bartering skills are up to scratch and you can hold your nerve, it is easy to walk away feeling like you’ve struck a good deal, even if the product purchased disintegrates, falls apart or simply doesn’t work within 24 hours. I managed to walk away with a Gold Casio watch, Mont Blanc ballpoint and Lacoste polo Shirt for under 50 ringgit (about GBP9). I am happy to report that 24 hrs later and all my purchases are still functioning as they should do!
More shopping loomed courtesy of Sungei Wang Plaza followed by a mediocre to bad dinner for both me and Alicia at the Pavilion food court.
A hairy cab ride took us from town to The Social, a bar/eatery/pool house in Bangsar, for a few glasses of beer a game of pool and some cards with Pete and Sian. A few defeats at both pool and cards later for Alicia and it was time to take my ultra competitive/ ever so slightly bad loser of a girlfriend home to sleep………..
Malaysia 27th December - Finally a real tourist.
Today marked the first true tourist trip of our Malaysian stay to the historic UNESCO World Heritage site of Malacca (Melaka for the Malaysian speakers and Malaysia’s 3rd smallest state of 13). The once initially frowned upon Hyundai in the Ariffin fleet of cars was to be our trusty steed for the day.
Having been escorted to the highway by Mr and Mrs A it was a straight 1hour 30 min drive down the pleasant 3 lane E2 highway. Were it not for the disturbingly erratic driving which was referred to later in the week by a taxi driver as the “Malay Way” and the buffering of huge palm trees on either side, mostly palm oil plantations , you could have been on the M62 on your way to Hull!
On arrival at the port town and having miraculously happened upon a free parking spot in a place where there must have been at least 20 cars per available space, we made our way through the main sites. Having being conquered by the Portuguese colonial fleet captained by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1511 and later taken by the Dutch in 1611, the majority of the architecture in the town centre has a European feel to it, with the main influence being Dutch and therefore terraced buildings that feel they should belong by the side of a Canal in Amsterdam. We quickly ticked off the main tourist sites including A Famosa, two Dutch churches, Jonkers Walk and some newly excavated remanence of the original colonial 16th century town walls which lie directly next to a mock up recreated fortification complete with plastic cannons to show what it “would have been like”, before retreating to the local Mall for some necessary air-con to off set the midday sun. Our intent was then to continue the tourist trek post our cool down and refreshment period but were beaten in to submission by the hoards, and herein lies the problem with Malacca. I can understand why and how the town was presented with an illustrious UNESCO award on account of it being the first landing point for European colonial forces and for the bits of left over architecture, but this has unfortunately led to an unprecedented number of guests visiting. This obviously in turn means there are rafts of street traders selling their wares (including amongst others, a very fat Indian man charging 5 ringgit for the pleasure of you having your picture taken with his dog eared looking chameleon) as well as an army of brightly ordained rickshaws blaring out tunes from their on board speakers from Britney Spears to Happy Hardcore To give some first hand perspective on this, Alicia and I decided we would try and see at least some of the “real Malacca” and headed of in the trusty Hyundai to find a still surviving Portuguese settlement where they speak an ancient form of the now modern Portuguese language. The die hard romantic in me had visions of us sitting by the port in a traditional local restaurant with only the din of the dinners behind us and the birds by the sea front to our side and eating all manner of immediately sourced fish followed by traditional custard tarts, all washed down with a Super Bock (Portuguese Beer). The journey was 1km; ordinarily it would take you no longer than 5 mins. Following 25 mins shuffling between 5 lanes of traffic trying to fit in to the two lane road we admitted defeat and took the first turning with a sign to KL.
We both discussed our day trip( during our 5 hour journey home) and mutually concluded that were town just a tad less busy giving us more time to take in our surroundings our enjoyment levels would have been considerably higher and we would have happily recommended the destination as a day trip for any Malaysian visitors. What should also be noted is that we did go on a Sunday which is a day popular with tourists indigenous to Malaysia and it also landed between Christmas and New Year when most people are still off work so there may have been an unusually high number of people visiting….
Upon arriving home it was a 25 min turn around before being picked up for dinner at Full House in central KL with Azlan (Alicia’s older brother) his wife Sophie and the rest of Azlan’s go-karting team. Our fellow dinners were inclusive of Alicia and I, very chatty and generally a very fun bunch. The menu was simple and on paper looked enticing but unfortunately food was below par for my experience of dining elsewhere in Malaysia, the service average at best and both these points suggested that the restaurant was is unable to cater for large parties which was in our case roughly 30 people. I also found the restaurant come coffee shop come clothes shop come home décor set up slightly weird especially given the building was completely open plan and door less (apart from the toilets) with the clothes shop upstairs. Maybe I was missing something but the thought of a grilled salmon scented trilby, or a roasted chicken chop flavoured skirt really wasn’t that appealing to me…….
My helpful hint of the day is for international drivers taking on Malaysian highways. If you have ever suffered road rage, try and avoid highways at busy times. The reason being that at busy times and when the traffic invariably starts backing up and bottle necking on the legally allocated three lanes, a good 5% of drivers will “forget” what the hard shoulder was invented for and take it upon themselves to create a fourth lane, which I am told is highly illegal and would come at the price of 300RM for anyone caught, yet tolerated by other drivers!! It is somewhat infuriating to be sat at a stand still for 4hrs whilst cars whiz up the left hand side of you merrily on the way to their destinations!!
Having been escorted to the highway by Mr and Mrs A it was a straight 1hour 30 min drive down the pleasant 3 lane E2 highway. Were it not for the disturbingly erratic driving which was referred to later in the week by a taxi driver as the “Malay Way” and the buffering of huge palm trees on either side, mostly palm oil plantations , you could have been on the M62 on your way to Hull!
On arrival at the port town and having miraculously happened upon a free parking spot in a place where there must have been at least 20 cars per available space, we made our way through the main sites. Having being conquered by the Portuguese colonial fleet captained by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1511 and later taken by the Dutch in 1611, the majority of the architecture in the town centre has a European feel to it, with the main influence being Dutch and therefore terraced buildings that feel they should belong by the side of a Canal in Amsterdam. We quickly ticked off the main tourist sites including A Famosa, two Dutch churches, Jonkers Walk and some newly excavated remanence of the original colonial 16th century town walls which lie directly next to a mock up recreated fortification complete with plastic cannons to show what it “would have been like”, before retreating to the local Mall for some necessary air-con to off set the midday sun. Our intent was then to continue the tourist trek post our cool down and refreshment period but were beaten in to submission by the hoards, and herein lies the problem with Malacca. I can understand why and how the town was presented with an illustrious UNESCO award on account of it being the first landing point for European colonial forces and for the bits of left over architecture, but this has unfortunately led to an unprecedented number of guests visiting. This obviously in turn means there are rafts of street traders selling their wares (including amongst others, a very fat Indian man charging 5 ringgit for the pleasure of you having your picture taken with his dog eared looking chameleon) as well as an army of brightly ordained rickshaws blaring out tunes from their on board speakers from Britney Spears to Happy Hardcore To give some first hand perspective on this, Alicia and I decided we would try and see at least some of the “real Malacca” and headed of in the trusty Hyundai to find a still surviving Portuguese settlement where they speak an ancient form of the now modern Portuguese language. The die hard romantic in me had visions of us sitting by the port in a traditional local restaurant with only the din of the dinners behind us and the birds by the sea front to our side and eating all manner of immediately sourced fish followed by traditional custard tarts, all washed down with a Super Bock (Portuguese Beer). The journey was 1km; ordinarily it would take you no longer than 5 mins. Following 25 mins shuffling between 5 lanes of traffic trying to fit in to the two lane road we admitted defeat and took the first turning with a sign to KL.
We both discussed our day trip( during our 5 hour journey home) and mutually concluded that were town just a tad less busy giving us more time to take in our surroundings our enjoyment levels would have been considerably higher and we would have happily recommended the destination as a day trip for any Malaysian visitors. What should also be noted is that we did go on a Sunday which is a day popular with tourists indigenous to Malaysia and it also landed between Christmas and New Year when most people are still off work so there may have been an unusually high number of people visiting….
Upon arriving home it was a 25 min turn around before being picked up for dinner at Full House in central KL with Azlan (Alicia’s older brother) his wife Sophie and the rest of Azlan’s go-karting team. Our fellow dinners were inclusive of Alicia and I, very chatty and generally a very fun bunch. The menu was simple and on paper looked enticing but unfortunately food was below par for my experience of dining elsewhere in Malaysia, the service average at best and both these points suggested that the restaurant was is unable to cater for large parties which was in our case roughly 30 people. I also found the restaurant come coffee shop come clothes shop come home décor set up slightly weird especially given the building was completely open plan and door less (apart from the toilets) with the clothes shop upstairs. Maybe I was missing something but the thought of a grilled salmon scented trilby, or a roasted chicken chop flavoured skirt really wasn’t that appealing to me…….
My helpful hint of the day is for international drivers taking on Malaysian highways. If you have ever suffered road rage, try and avoid highways at busy times. The reason being that at busy times and when the traffic invariably starts backing up and bottle necking on the legally allocated three lanes, a good 5% of drivers will “forget” what the hard shoulder was invented for and take it upon themselves to create a fourth lane, which I am told is highly illegal and would come at the price of 300RM for anyone caught, yet tolerated by other drivers!! It is somewhat infuriating to be sat at a stand still for 4hrs whilst cars whiz up the left hand side of you merrily on the way to their destinations!!
Saturday, 26 December 2009
Malaysia 19th December - Wedding Day
Rudely awakened by a now unfamiliar sound, ie my alarm, it was a breakfast of freshly apple juice and Nasi Lemak, (a rice dish of anchovies, veg and coconut flavouring all wrapped in a neat little lotus leaf parcel) accompanied by cucumber and lettuce followed by a mega quick round of showers and a reverse superman style change in to a full suit, which I would discourage anyone one from doing in 95% humidity and temperatures exceeding 30C at 10am in the morning. At least the 1.3litre engined Proton death traps the Malaysians call taxi's are air conditioned!!
We arrived at the Catholic Church of St Francis Xavier a little after 10.30am where my plan to play paparazzi was quickly scuppered by the air-con-less-ness state of the church. Alicia had to stand in and took some excellent pictures of the bridal party walking the isle as well as the rest of the ceremony whilst I sat perfectly still for the 2 hour service trying the stem the flow of sweat which cascaded out of every pore....
With the formalities over, it was a short bus journey to the lunch reception for the congregation where we waited and then greeted the wedding party. We wished we had been pre-warned of the machine gun rapid Chinese fire crackers that also greeted bride and groom, queue heart attack potential for the elderly and a wake up call for the rest of us.....Whilst the wedding party attended a traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony, Alicia and I took advantage of a generous buffet made up of a fusion of different nations foods including satay, noodles, chicken etc etc.....sadly no mini sausage rolls as I was hoping for! Alicia and I snuck out with her other friends around 2.30pm for a healthy 4 hrs of relaxation time for the boys, and hair appointments, make up sessions and dress changes for the girls for the evening meal.
Upon arriving at the One World Hotel we had pre dinner drinks and made our way to table 26. Despite earlier exaggerations by Alicia which suggested there may be 1000 guests, I was still impressed by the fact the hotel would be offering a 10 course banquet for the 270 actually invited.
The dinner was grand affair with music, dry ice and an MC to welcome in the wedding party one by one with the now Lucas and Kristy Kong being saved for the final entrance. As the feast greeted us one course after another ( accompanied by a free bar for the entire night!), there were different forms of entertainment for the guests which included a Chinese lion dance, the speeches and various toasts, a video montage put together by one of Lucas's friends and a mass Chinese toast which consisted of everyone raising the their glasses to a cry of YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM, and the downing of the drink on a SENG.
With the 10 courses finished and speeches and entertainment over, it was time for disco disco which began around 9pm. I do recall dancing and drinking some whisky but I am afraid my memory of the rest of the evening becomes very hazy around 11ish........I would be paying the price of excess in about 10 hours time....badly.
We arrived at the Catholic Church of St Francis Xavier a little after 10.30am where my plan to play paparazzi was quickly scuppered by the air-con-less-ness state of the church. Alicia had to stand in and took some excellent pictures of the bridal party walking the isle as well as the rest of the ceremony whilst I sat perfectly still for the 2 hour service trying the stem the flow of sweat which cascaded out of every pore....
With the formalities over, it was a short bus journey to the lunch reception for the congregation where we waited and then greeted the wedding party. We wished we had been pre-warned of the machine gun rapid Chinese fire crackers that also greeted bride and groom, queue heart attack potential for the elderly and a wake up call for the rest of us.....Whilst the wedding party attended a traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony, Alicia and I took advantage of a generous buffet made up of a fusion of different nations foods including satay, noodles, chicken etc etc.....sadly no mini sausage rolls as I was hoping for! Alicia and I snuck out with her other friends around 2.30pm for a healthy 4 hrs of relaxation time for the boys, and hair appointments, make up sessions and dress changes for the girls for the evening meal.
Upon arriving at the One World Hotel we had pre dinner drinks and made our way to table 26. Despite earlier exaggerations by Alicia which suggested there may be 1000 guests, I was still impressed by the fact the hotel would be offering a 10 course banquet for the 270 actually invited.
The dinner was grand affair with music, dry ice and an MC to welcome in the wedding party one by one with the now Lucas and Kristy Kong being saved for the final entrance. As the feast greeted us one course after another ( accompanied by a free bar for the entire night!), there were different forms of entertainment for the guests which included a Chinese lion dance, the speeches and various toasts, a video montage put together by one of Lucas's friends and a mass Chinese toast which consisted of everyone raising the their glasses to a cry of YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM, and the downing of the drink on a SENG.
With the 10 courses finished and speeches and entertainment over, it was time for disco disco which began around 9pm. I do recall dancing and drinking some whisky but I am afraid my memory of the rest of the evening becomes very hazy around 11ish........I would be paying the price of excess in about 10 hours time....badly.
Friday, 25 December 2009
Malaysia - 18th Dec - food and mall number 1....
Firstly, sorry to our biggest blog fan (Grandma Crossley) for the lack of posts in the last week or so, I would love to be able to say we have been too busy to write or that we have not been able to get close to an internet connection.....In actual fact, it is more a case of us (me, Leon in particular) enjoying the slow passed lifestyle of KL living a little too freely, which has led to a week of general sleepiness and inertia. Alicia calls it laziness, I prefer catching up on 10 years worth of lost sleep, needless to say the 7am wake up swim on day 1 in Malaysia has not been recreated since.
I begin my long overdue update on the morning of Friday 18th December, in much the same way every day seems to start at Alicia's parents house, with one form or another of gastronomic breakfast delight. If it is not dining out at one of the local street restaurants feasting on Roti Cannai (a delicious savoury, slightly crispy fried bread similar in taste to a Naan from an English Curry house) with accompanying dishes of Dahl (a mild to medium thin vegetable curry which is mainly sauce) chicken curry (slightly spicier to the Dahl and a darkish red in colour again devoid of any chunks of meat and more a dipping sauce for the bread), and fried chicken and fish, it’s a carefully prepared sit down breakfast by Alicia’s Mummy Noraini of fresh local tropical fruits including papaya and mango or a fry up of some description…This particular morning starts with freshly squeezed apple and carrot juice (courtesy of Alicia’s father Ariffin), fresh seasoned beef sausage and egg on toast….yum yum…..
Post a much needed lie down to help the breakfast settle we dress the Christmas tree, (a perfectly shaped conifer that lives in the gardens until Christian guests join around this time of the year) take some photos and head off to Alicia’s friend Sarah’s for a brief spurt of girly gossip (I choose to read my book at this point) sunshine and swimming followed by a trip to one of the countless shopping malls, in this instance Banksa Village 1. At this stage, I feel I must apologise in advance, as shopping malls will be featuring quite heavily in my excerpts of the next few days overview. Being in a hot climate and in what still feels like holiday mode as apposed round the world trip mode and having never been away around this time of the year, I hadn’t really given much thought to Christmas. Being the token white boy (and therefore excuse for Christmas festivities) it appeared we would be having a traditional “Leon English Christmas” for which the giving and receiving of a bounty of gifts would feature heavily (hence a last minute shopping frenzy in many, many, many shopping malls………great)…anyway I digress. As Alicia and Mummy settle in to a few hours of manicure and pedicure pampering, I set off in search of adventure and Christmas pressies in Banksa Village 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc etc……….2 hours later and a little lighter in the pocket I make a few observations about my first Malaysian Mall experience. Firstly, if you enter a shop, any shop, expect to be accosted immediately and hounded by over zealous assistants, deep breaths and courteous leave me alone smiles necessary. Secondly, there seems to be a disproportionately high number of provocative ladies underwear shops for the size of the Mall and the number of other outlets. My favourite is creatively named, “Brutal”, I am presuming the owner didn’t reference the Oxford English dictionary literal translation before choosing. On picking up the now perfectly manicured mother and daughter we head of back to the Prima residence for tea before dinner with Alicia’s oldest and best buddies from her schooling days in Malaysia, all of which now live in various parts of the UK but have jetted over to be together for the first time in a long time for the first major wedding within their peer group.
We take a taxi to “La Bodega” (a tapas restaurant in Bangsa the area next to where Alicia lives) for sangria and refreshingly cool lager with Zara, Sian and Pete, Sara, Nathan and Derren all of whom (apart from Pete who is the other token boyfriend) went to school, and in some cases dated, one another at some stage in the last 10 years. Dinner was provided by the restaurant next door and girls old haunt, Chilli’s , whose menu is similar in style to TGI’s ie, fajitas, steaks, ribs etc…..as well as quality, the slightly over cooked steak and soggy chips not really hitting the spot. Following a free chocolate fudge pudding on account of the fact it was Zara’s 30th birthday…..she is 26, tut tut…….we go for a quick drink in a bar next door and then retire for some much needed beauty sleep for the big wedding!!!
I begin my long overdue update on the morning of Friday 18th December, in much the same way every day seems to start at Alicia's parents house, with one form or another of gastronomic breakfast delight. If it is not dining out at one of the local street restaurants feasting on Roti Cannai (a delicious savoury, slightly crispy fried bread similar in taste to a Naan from an English Curry house) with accompanying dishes of Dahl (a mild to medium thin vegetable curry which is mainly sauce) chicken curry (slightly spicier to the Dahl and a darkish red in colour again devoid of any chunks of meat and more a dipping sauce for the bread), and fried chicken and fish, it’s a carefully prepared sit down breakfast by Alicia’s Mummy Noraini of fresh local tropical fruits including papaya and mango or a fry up of some description…This particular morning starts with freshly squeezed apple and carrot juice (courtesy of Alicia’s father Ariffin), fresh seasoned beef sausage and egg on toast….yum yum…..
Post a much needed lie down to help the breakfast settle we dress the Christmas tree, (a perfectly shaped conifer that lives in the gardens until Christian guests join around this time of the year) take some photos and head off to Alicia’s friend Sarah’s for a brief spurt of girly gossip (I choose to read my book at this point) sunshine and swimming followed by a trip to one of the countless shopping malls, in this instance Banksa Village 1. At this stage, I feel I must apologise in advance, as shopping malls will be featuring quite heavily in my excerpts of the next few days overview. Being in a hot climate and in what still feels like holiday mode as apposed round the world trip mode and having never been away around this time of the year, I hadn’t really given much thought to Christmas. Being the token white boy (and therefore excuse for Christmas festivities) it appeared we would be having a traditional “Leon English Christmas” for which the giving and receiving of a bounty of gifts would feature heavily (hence a last minute shopping frenzy in many, many, many shopping malls………great)…anyway I digress. As Alicia and Mummy settle in to a few hours of manicure and pedicure pampering, I set off in search of adventure and Christmas pressies in Banksa Village 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc etc……….2 hours later and a little lighter in the pocket I make a few observations about my first Malaysian Mall experience. Firstly, if you enter a shop, any shop, expect to be accosted immediately and hounded by over zealous assistants, deep breaths and courteous leave me alone smiles necessary. Secondly, there seems to be a disproportionately high number of provocative ladies underwear shops for the size of the Mall and the number of other outlets. My favourite is creatively named, “Brutal”, I am presuming the owner didn’t reference the Oxford English dictionary literal translation before choosing. On picking up the now perfectly manicured mother and daughter we head of back to the Prima residence for tea before dinner with Alicia’s oldest and best buddies from her schooling days in Malaysia, all of which now live in various parts of the UK but have jetted over to be together for the first time in a long time for the first major wedding within their peer group.
We take a taxi to “La Bodega” (a tapas restaurant in Bangsa the area next to where Alicia lives) for sangria and refreshingly cool lager with Zara, Sian and Pete, Sara, Nathan and Derren all of whom (apart from Pete who is the other token boyfriend) went to school, and in some cases dated, one another at some stage in the last 10 years. Dinner was provided by the restaurant next door and girls old haunt, Chilli’s , whose menu is similar in style to TGI’s ie, fajitas, steaks, ribs etc…..as well as quality, the slightly over cooked steak and soggy chips not really hitting the spot. Following a free chocolate fudge pudding on account of the fact it was Zara’s 30th birthday…..she is 26, tut tut…….we go for a quick drink in a bar next door and then retire for some much needed beauty sleep for the big wedding!!!
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Home Again!
It's been a year and a half and yes, it is good to be home! We landed yesterday in the afternoon and stepped out onto the tarmac to blazing sunshine. Still wearing my black fleece, I was dying to strip off but obviously had to be respectful so kept it on and slowly boiled to death. We were greeted by my dad who drove us back home and Leon experienced his first Malaysian 'shower' (or thunderstorm, as most people would call it).
We had a lovely dinner at Muhibbah which just serves good, old fashioned Chinese/Malay food and after a skype chat with Gwenda, we decided to hit the sack for an early start. This morning we got up at the crack of dawn (more like 7 o'clock but that's still fairly early!) and went for a morning swim. Hopefully we will be disciplined enough to do this on a daily basis but time will tell. This morning, Leon experienced his first roti canai and curry breakfast - complete with fried chicken and we even ordered tosai, just for the sake of it- and for 4 people the bill came up to 3 quid in total. That's why I love Malaysia! You can always rely on the food! We're off to Sarah's house for some poolside tanning (just need a wee bit more sunshine and I'll be happy) then off to the MegaMall for some last minute shopping. I need a dress and Leon needs a shirt to wear to the wedding on Saturday and that's only 2 days away!
We had a lovely dinner at Muhibbah which just serves good, old fashioned Chinese/Malay food and after a skype chat with Gwenda, we decided to hit the sack for an early start. This morning we got up at the crack of dawn (more like 7 o'clock but that's still fairly early!) and went for a morning swim. Hopefully we will be disciplined enough to do this on a daily basis but time will tell. This morning, Leon experienced his first roti canai and curry breakfast - complete with fried chicken and we even ordered tosai, just for the sake of it- and for 4 people the bill came up to 3 quid in total. That's why I love Malaysia! You can always rely on the food! We're off to Sarah's house for some poolside tanning (just need a wee bit more sunshine and I'll be happy) then off to the MegaMall for some last minute shopping. I need a dress and Leon needs a shirt to wear to the wedding on Saturday and that's only 2 days away!
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Big Buddha and Bye Bye Hong Kong
I remember Sunday being bright and breezy, which made it a perfect day to go down to Stanley Market where we haggled for cheap sunnies and had some lunch on the promenade by the sea side. Janice's boyfriend was playing in Professional 7s (rugby for those who aren't in the know - myself included) so we went to Stanley Fort where the matches were being played. That was a rather surreal experience as the PLA (People's Liberation Army, China) are still based there and were saluting us and made us go through rigorous security checks before we could chill out with beer and burgers by the side of the pitch.
In the evening we went down into Kennedy Town for a Japanese barbeque which should have been renamed the Japanese BANQUET - I have not consumed so much barbecued meat and fish in my entire life!
On Monday we decided to go to City Hall which is infamous for its Dim Sum restaurant. The hall was elaborate, decked out with chandeliers and fancy trolleys that brought the dim sum round like they used to do it in the old days. Full of har gau and spring rolls, we then took the ferry across to Kowloon to view Hong Kong Island from the other side. I couldn't get over how cheap the fare was (equivalent to about 10 p I think!) - I think we need to write a letter to old Boris to tell him how it ought to be done! An hour was spent wandering around the Museum of Contemporary Arts (we like a bit of culture, sometimes) and then to the Peninsular hotel just to say that we had been there!
And that takes us to today. Sophs decided to stay in and do some house tidying and job searching, so Leon and I took the opportunity to visit the Big Buddha on Lantau Island. Off on the MTR and then another bus ride later and we were there, in the corner of the island that was beautiful; lots of secluded beaches, forests and peace and quiet. When we got to the Buddha we were greeted by quite a bit of construction and then, looking up to the skies, there it was - the Big Buddha. Big Buddha is incredibly impressive, and I am glad we went to visit it. I have to go now - off to our last supper in Hong Kong which will be sushi in Causeway Bay.
Saturday, 12 December 2009
dragons and vampires
Our first Thursday in HK began better for Alicia than I, having her managed a good 10 hours of deep sleep inclusive of a good rumble of snoring and me, well little to no shut eye at all. Despite trying to convince myself jet lag is a myth and for big girls, Wednesday night may have gone some way to prove otherwise.
Mid morning and with our extremely hospitable hostess with the mostest on interview with sotherby's to be the next big thing in the world of auctions, Alicia and I negotiated our way to the financial districts heart which is also home to the sky train that takes you to the highest point of HK island. With the weather in the previous days few being misty and cold, and the visibility appalling, it was encouraging to us that the day we were meeting Soph's Granny at the top of the island was sunny, bright and clear.....cue some photo taking opportunities with my new toy!!!
Having made it to the top safely on the virtually vertically inclined tram (despite Alicia trying to convince me the cable to the tram would snap and we would hurtle back down to our deaths) we made our way to to cafe deco at the summit for lunch with Soph, Mummy Soph and Granny. For the purposes of this blog i will omit food descriptions so as not to interfere with Alicias' so far, perfectly maintained food diary (i hope she is not as critical about me as she is the restaurants so far!!!). Anyway, the food was excellent and the company even better, Granny is by far the most switched on 91 year old I have ever met and despite her slight stature and extremely pleasant demeanour, I am told she is still very much head of the family. Despite trying to pay for our own luncheons, our advances were refused and the bill was kindly settled by Granny....thank you Granny!!
Having being dropped off at home by Boyer (Granny's driver of 10 years) it was a quick 20 min power nap followed by a night of food and maybe one too many glasses of fine wine/jelly shots in the heart of HK's expat community, Wan Chai....12pm onwards of Thur evening was somewhat of a blur, but Alicia and I arrived home together (apparently) and both fell in to a deep deep sleep.
Fri we woke up at the crack of dawn on top, ran down to the sea and swam over to Kowloon. No wait thats a big lie, we woke up suffering the consequences of our previous nights endeavours and managed to stumble to a massage parlour for what can only be described as a physical assault..i thought massages were supposed to be a pleasurable experience. It appears this is not the case in HK. Our evening consisted of dinner with some of Sophie's uni mates followed by an early night.
Saturday we woke up bright, breezy and bushy tailed with dreams of hitting the big time in Asia's Las Vegas, the former Portuguese colony of Macau, sadly this dream quickly faded as Simon (our other host with the mostest) failed to locate his British passport. in hindsight, i am glad we couldn't make it as our trek across Dragon's Back (a 2hr hill walk around the island) proved great fun. A near death experience with a taxi driver on the way home left us all a little shaken and this is what Alicia and i used as an excuse for a night in front on a pc watching true blood.....Nothing to do with us being tired and still adjusting to the Asia time zone!!
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Hong Kong Central and the Races
Day two in Hong Kong saw us waking up to another cool misty day. Determined not to be put off by the weather and dressed in jeans and t-shirts (as opposed to the coats that the locals insisted on wearing!), we headed into Central for another day of getting to know Hong Kong.
First stop was Hong Kong Park which is really a little oasis of greenery tucked away behind the huge Bank of China and the like. We met with Jan for some Thai food then headed back into the centre of town to just absorb our surroundings. With Leon's new camera in hand, we wandered up the steep streets, down some alleys, went to the wet market and even came across a cage full of frogs for sale (and yes, they were there to be eaten...)
Away from the old and into the new, we then some how managed to navigate ourselves back to the IFC Mall which is a huge, very modern shopping center where I managed to do a little retail therapy (I didn't have a cardigan and it is Winter in HK - it reallt was a necessity!)
In the evening, Sophs cooked some stir fry and then, having been nicely fed and watered, we headed down into Causeway Bay for a night at the races. Now I've not been to the races since Cheltenham (so that was about 10 years ago) and I didn't really know what to expect. When we arrived there finally after losing our way around Happy Valley a little bit, we made it there for the last 3 races. The atmosphere was incredible; the stands stretched so far across and the stadiums were fully packed - it was unbelievable. We stood amongst the crowd cheering our horses on and although I was $40 out of pocket, it is definitely something I would recommend to everyone. Leon was fortunate enough to leave the races a little bit wealthier, but don't worry, I'll make sure he spends it wisely at Stanley Market today.
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
From London to Hong Kong
After a very unstressful check in at Heathrow Terminal 5 and a fairly smooth 11 and a half hour flight, we found ourselves sleepily taking the fast train to Hong Kong central. We were greeted by a very happy Sophie who whisked us off to Kennedy Town to her lovely flat with the amazing view of the sky scrapers and bay, with Kowloon buzzing away in the distance.
Leon was very quite in the taxi ride, and after a while managed to say "the reason why I am so quiet is because I am just slightly overwhelmed". Initial impressions is that Hong Kong is an overwhelming city with crazy steep roads and high rise buildings. For our first evening Sophie and Simon took us up "The Escalator" which commuters take to and from their flashy apartments down to the financial district, and we happily grazed away on some vietnamese noodles and crab rolls. A drink in a quiet bar later (which I personally could have stayed in all night, the cocktails were that good!) we then made our way back to The Belcher's for a restful night's sleep. So far so good. Today the plan is to have lunch with an old school friend, wander around Central and go to the Races tonight to bet on a horse or two!
Sunday, 6 December 2009
One More Sleep
Both Leon and I cannot believe how quickly the last couple of weeks have flown by. Each day has been packed with last minute errands and purchases, some ridiculous (every country we are visiting will sell paracetamol yet we seem to have brought a pharmacy with us!) and others more practical (such as our backpacks - can't leave home without it).
This is our final weekend in the UK before our big adventure and we were both fortunate enough to make it to Chris and Hannah's wedding in Crowthorne. Leon, being best man number One, was on great form and conducted his duties as though he had done it many times before. Given that it was his first time, I have to say he did us all proud and above all, I think Chris was incredibly thankful that the speech wasn't as embarrassing as I'm sure it could have been. Hannah looked absolutely stunning and very happy, and the wedding ceremony and reception in the beautiful barn were perfect in all respects. However, since we all carried on partying into the early hours of the morning at the Waterloo Hotel (and rediscovered our appreciation for the classic G&T) both Leon and I are now feeling the effects of post-wedding bash fatigue.
Now that we have said our goodbyes to the new Mr and Mrs Bainbridge who fly off to South Africa tonight for their honeymoon, the attention has now turned back to our impending trip. I think the only thing left for us to deal with is travel insurance but after that, I think we can put our feet up, watch a bit of the X Factor, and nod off for one more sleep before the travels begin....
This is our final weekend in the UK before our big adventure and we were both fortunate enough to make it to Chris and Hannah's wedding in Crowthorne. Leon, being best man number One, was on great form and conducted his duties as though he had done it many times before. Given that it was his first time, I have to say he did us all proud and above all, I think Chris was incredibly thankful that the speech wasn't as embarrassing as I'm sure it could have been. Hannah looked absolutely stunning and very happy, and the wedding ceremony and reception in the beautiful barn were perfect in all respects. However, since we all carried on partying into the early hours of the morning at the Waterloo Hotel (and rediscovered our appreciation for the classic G&T) both Leon and I are now feeling the effects of post-wedding bash fatigue.
Now that we have said our goodbyes to the new Mr and Mrs Bainbridge who fly off to South Africa tonight for their honeymoon, the attention has now turned back to our impending trip. I think the only thing left for us to deal with is travel insurance but after that, I think we can put our feet up, watch a bit of the X Factor, and nod off for one more sleep before the travels begin....
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Two Weeks to go...And I am a Lady of Leisure
After a few relaxing days in Littleborough and some teary farewells, last Wednesday I made my way back down to London for my last 3 days of work. Leon stayed behind to spend some time with the family and on Thursday faced the challenges of getting his wisdom teeth extracted. Normal people would go along and hope for the best but Leon (being the inquisitive man that he is) decided to watch someone getting their wisdom teeth extracted on YouTube!
After a few gruelling hours in a swanky West End hospital, he managed to eat and drink about 3 litres of water and off we went in a cab at midnight back to Fulham. Still suffering but feeling slightly more human, Leon is back to work tomorrow while I look forward to my first week of being a Lady of Leisure. After two days I am sure to be bored senseless, but at least there are visas and injections to keep me busy for a little while yet. Four days left for Leon in the office and then we are both officially on a 9 month holiday!
After a few gruelling hours in a swanky West End hospital, he managed to eat and drink about 3 litres of water and off we went in a cab at midnight back to Fulham. Still suffering but feeling slightly more human, Leon is back to work tomorrow while I look forward to my first week of being a Lady of Leisure. After two days I am sure to be bored senseless, but at least there are visas and injections to keep me busy for a little while yet. Four days left for Leon in the office and then we are both officially on a 9 month holiday!
Monday, 16 November 2009
Three Weeks Today....
After a weekend of 30th Birthday shenanigans and an evening of curry and Attenborough's Life, it has dawned on us that in exactly 3 weeks' time we will be on our first flight, Hong Kong bound.
This is our first holiday together and unlike most people, we decided to skip the niceties and take a 9 month vacation.
This is our first holiday together and unlike most people, we decided to skip the niceties and take a 9 month vacation.
Good bye Littleborough and London... we will miss you!
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