tim – Page 23

kuala lumpur

petronas towers - KL

kulala lumpur went quickly but was a great re-introduction into Asia. We didn’t do too much – just tried to absorb some of the colour and energy of the city. Tried some street food – to see what real kuey teow was like – verdict: very good, shared a smelly durian – verdict… so so, visited the Petronas Towers and their associated mega-mall and rode the monorail from one end to the other and back. After a torrential downpour we had dinner with friends from uni on wednesday night – great to catch up and reminisce.

Getting to the airport involved minor drama – set our alarm clock but… (for future reference travellers) the alarm clock on a mobile doesn’t work without a valid sim card!! Luckily chhay woke up – at the time we were supposed to be leaving! Suffice to say that it was quite a smelly trip over to Cambodia – & nobody wanted to sit next to me 🙁 – no allocated seating on AirAsia.

we're off!

20 minutes till I leave for the airport. Finally got all our stuff sorted (we most of it anyway) – although there hasn’t been too much sleep in the last couple of days > at least I should crash on the plane.

Next update will be coming at you from somewhere deep inside Kuala Lumpur – perhaps from the top of the Petronas Towers??? It should be an interesting 2 days – I know nothing about the city or it’s ‘attractions’ (save for previously mentioned towers) a situation that I find can be a catalyst for some enjoyable exploration.

recycle your lonely planets

Have just spent an hour or so downloading travel guides for our trip from travelfish. Can’t be long before paper guidebooks are obsolete. For anyone considering heading to SE Asia it is an excellent resource – will let you know whether it accurate once we get there I suppose 😉

adelaide musings

Great to be back in sleepy ol’ Adelaide. Everything moves at a very pleasant pace here – and everyone is so polite – I’ve had to polish up my Brisvegan idiom. Everyone ambles along at just under the speed limit – it is quite a change to not get out of a car drenched in sweat and feeling like you’ve just lost a year of you life! That being said there is a definite lack of energy in the city, and the flatness and lack of density can be unnerving. Roads go on forever without change and there seems to be no horizon just more low set suburbia, more views of your neighbour’s fence.

The food is still excellent, though perhaps not as cheap as we remembered. Had lunch at a delightful little place on Unley Road today whose name escapes me – a fantastic courtyard space and pleasant food. Followed this up with dinner at the Spice Kitchen – amazing combinations of spices (as to be expected from their name I suppose). We haven’t been back to Ying-chow’s yet to compare it to Brisbane’s Asian House – perhaps tomorrow.

We are still tidying up some loose ends before we leave – it seems that every time I cross something off I remember another task to do! I’m not sure if we’ll get down to the land before we go – I would love to have some time down there to really chill out (quite literally at this time of year I think) but it is looking increasingly unlikely.

There are some interesting new developments springing up around the city – a lot of very good medium density stuff and a few interesting apartment buildings. It is disappointing to see the commercial buildings that have been completed – they feel like lost opportunities, much like most commercial development in the city since the 70’s.

Final thought for the day is this post on worldchanging it is definitely worth a read – although I will have to lower my head in shame as we board the plane on tuesday 🙁

adelaide

Farewelled brisvegas in style last night – moreton bay bugs on the barbie while watching the valley go by. Last few days have been a bit of a nightmare trying to get everything finished. Word for the wise – its worth every cent paying for a end-of-lease cleaner rather than doing it yourself!

We have vowed to not accumulate stuff wherever we next land – but as all the recent arrivals in my office will note – that is very good in theory and much less easy in reality.
We are back in a very brisk Adelaide now (a good practice run for things to come I suppose) and hanging out at home before catching up with the locals.

last days…

Last day of work for who knows how long tommorrow!!! Things are definitely getting closer now. Farewell drinks on sunday at the alibi room should be fun – especially having spent the afternoon barefoot bowling and revelling in beer at 1970’s prices.

gold coastin'

Mt Warning

Back from the city of fast cars and plastic women – we did pretty well on our list for the day. After getting to bed at 1 am had a 4 am start for Mt Warning, Arrived at the base just before sunrise so didn’t see it from the top (apparently we missed out according to the people we passed coming down from the summit but I’m not sure I would have liked to tackle the track in the dark) A 2 hour climb later the view was still pretty amazing. Misplaced Chhay along the way (well actually she was too ~~lazy~~ tired to even get out of the car!!)

Mt Warning Sun

A final breakfast at the Elephant Rock Cafe was suitably pleasant. Called in on Grandma Marge for the last time before a BBQ lunch at Surfers Paradise – thanks Michael, including some serious napping on the grass. We were knackered by the time we got back so gave the spiegletent a miss.

ticking boxes

A busy weekend ahead – not enough time for important things such as preparing to leave or catching up on work missed due to my cold this week but… oh well.

Heading to the bledisloe cup tonight expect that the Aussies will be trounced but as we are sitting with a rabid kiwi are hoping for an upset…update Not quite the thrashing that I suspected but hardly thrilling rugby. Image of the kickoff below.
bledisloe kick-off

Then a pre-dawn departure for Mt Warning with the aim of scaling it for sunrise – not sure if we’ll make it – I suspect that Chhay will have issues with 1000 + steps (expecially in the dark!).

Breakfast scheduled for Currumbin – our farewell to the ocean and the Elephant Rock Cafe. Morning tea with Grandma Marge and then a barbeque with Chhay’s workmates somewhere on the Gold Coast.

After all that if we aren’t completely buggered there is a show at the Spiegletent back in Bris-vegas!

splendour in the mud

Weekend at Splendour in the Grass rocked out. Deluge on Friday night ensured that it was a mud-wrestlers paradise. Was quite thankful we weren’t camping (muchos gracias adam + peter). We checked out the set-up on Friday night – and inaugurated Sera Tonin’s Panel-Van Show – learning more about Cold Chisel than we could ever have asked for in the process!

sera tonin & adam

Sera was staying at the same place as we were & had some crazy tales about the punters who flocked through Australia’s most intimate venue. Saturday was quite low key – Death Cab for Cutie the highlight. Sunday was quite awesome: The Zuton were very danceable at the start of the day, Snow Patrol were better than expected, The Presets were awesome (although a little over played – we heard their single at least 5 times over the course of the weekend). We only caught the end of Matisyahu who had the whole place jumping. We got a fantastic possie for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and were treated to an extended set with lots of old material thrown in. Rain interupted out attempt to see the Scissor Sisters with no chance of getting inside the tent we beat a retreat to the night club before checking out Brian Wilson who had everyone singing along and dancing too.