More Tea Vicar

Week 10: 25/06/2012 - 01/07/2012

The big news this week was the amazing house warming gift my colleague Becky gave me. A fire engine red TEAPOT (with built in strainer obviously!). To celebrate the occasion I invited Becky and some friends round for Sunday afternoon tea.

Before that though, I had to negotiate a largely uneventful week, followed by two parties. Firstly Dylan's house party on Friday evening, which was accompanied by some fine home cooked party food. It was one of those events where I only knew the host, and he was obviously busy, so I was forced into accosting other people.... the culmination of which was a highly entertaining conversation between an Englishman, a Frenchman, a Nigerian, a Pole and a German, all talking some version of English and getting very confused if we were talking about Nasi Kang Kang or the Nazi Can Can...... very different topics, but both probably equally taboo in polite society.

Saturday was Lydia's leaving party. After some steamboat dinner, I was dragged kicking a screaming to two hours of karaoke.... TWO HOURS. It was quite frankly absolute torture. But the great news is the pain I was put through means that I will not miss the little blonde Berliner one little bit. Thanks Lydia!!

Campest tea pouring EVER (but I'm blaming the photographer on this one), with Lucy.

So Sunday rolled around and what a joyous afternoon it was. Mita brought her delicious home made scones, Corporal Lucy came with boxes of tasty baked good and Becky "The Teapot Provider" arrived with a brand new hair cut. I provided the finest Cameron Highlands tea, and we spent a sunny afternoon on my balcony being ever so sophisticated.

Ooooh, new hair do for the tea party. Nice one Becky.

Steady hand Becky strikes again... Mita in tea drinking mode.

Escape to Thailand

Week 9: 18/06/2012 - 24/06/2012

I found out just how much I wanted to watch England v Ukraine by setting my alarm for 0230 and heading for the 24 hour MacDonalds in time for the 0245 start on a Tuesday morning. I was rewarded with an England win and a quarterfinal draw against the Italians.

The weekend finally saw me escaping from Malaysia on my first trip outside the country. Despite some half hearted efforts by Dylan and myself avoid the seedy epicentre of Phuket, we ended up staying in Patong. Its a little bit like any Mediterranean holiday destination but with a few more ping pong shows and bit more open prostitution!!

Just what we were trying to avoid.... not hard enough obviously!

Anyway, after a great meal at a place tucked down a back street, we proceeded to drink one or two more beers than was strictly necessary and probably stayed out a bit too late.

Saturday was a bit of a struggle in the morning, but we managed to book ourselves on a island hoping snorkelling trip. Although the snorkelling wasn't great, the islands were pretty idyllic, even if they were slightly spoiled by the array sun loungers laid out.

Dylan and me on an island off Phuket

Saturday night was a bit more low key, with a trip to a night market, some beers on the beech and a gig by a Metallica cover band. Sunday was chilling out on the beach, followed by a full Thai body massage, and then heading home.

My weekend was rounded off by another 0245 start to watch England completely embarrass themselves against Italy. Despite the penalty loss, at least there was no sense of having been robbed!

Cauliflower Ear

Week 8: 11/06/2012 - 17/06/2012

For the first time in 12 years I kitted up for a XV a side rugby match. It may have just been a friendly at RSC, but it felt like the real thing to me. After two minutes my quads were burning, fitness wise it was a disaster, but I didn’t play too badly, made a few tackles, competed at the breakdown, stole some line outs and made good use of the ball on the few occasions I got my hands on it. The only draw back was playing lock. Afterwards my left ear was red and swollen. I really thought I’d developed cauliflower ear within 80 minutes. I followed that up with dinner with a few friends at Fresca, a Mexican restaurant at The Gardens Mall.

Thursday was the Expat Mingle and Internations, and thanks to a lift from Lianne I was able to make an appearance at both. Another fun night out.

Lianne, me and Deborah at the Expat Mingle

On Saturday I joined Choi for a lovely birthday dinner at Tamarind Springs, semi open air dining, great food and a relaxed atmosphere. After dinner we headed to Changkat so that I could watch England v South Africa, where my old school friend Tom Johnson was starting at Blindside Flanker. Our rugby careers took a slightly different course after we left school! As usual, all roads lead to Havanas, where we danced the night away until closing time, then headed to Twenty One. Dylan and I ended up going for some food with some random young ladies before heading home. 

Choi's birthday dinner

I spent Sunday afternoon taking the KL bus tour with Pip and Charlie. None of us had much energy, so to round off the weekend with a session on reflexology was perfect. 

Pip and me by the Palace

Beans Duck

Week 7: 04/06/2012 - 10/04/2012

My long-time friend Emma and her boyfriend Mav are currently travelling round the world Check out their amazing blog). Just because they can. I was trying to arrange to go and meet them in Myanmar, but do to late planning and visa complications we decided that it was not possible. Which was a shame….. but on Wednesday I picked up an email from Emma announcing that they were just about to book flights from Yangon to KL, would I be around. YES, YES, YES!

So Friday evening, with their friend Pip (recently moved from HK to KL), we met at Jalan Alor for some food and a catch up. It felt so normal, as if I’d just got off the tube in London, but instead we were sat eating awesome authentic Chinese food  on the a busy street in Kuala Lumpur. We had a great evening, chatting, sharing stories, laughing and generally having a great time.

Chicken skewers cooking in Kampung Baru

Saturday we had a leisurely breakfast in Bangsar, Banana Leaf curry, and then instead of sightseeing, Em, Mav and Pip accompanied me to Low Yat, the technology mall, to help me buy a DSLR. It was an epic couple of hours of research and negotiating, but finally I left with a new toy and an empty wallet.

Saturday evening we enjoyed the local delights on the Kampung Baru nightmarket, including amazing chicken satay, a cackling shop owner, and Mav and myself squealing like girls whilst under attack from cats, cockroaches and a gecko!!

With all the photographic fire power at our disposal, this was the closest we can to a group shot!!

Sunday was a chilled out affair, lazing by the pool and more food. Pip’s other half Charlie joined the fun after his weekend in Singapore.

Random Stranger to the Rescue/Sepuluh Jam!!

Week 6: 28/05/2012 - 03/06/2012

After rugby training on Thursday it started to rain. Hard. Despite calling 5 different taxi companies, no one would come to pick me up. After 30 minutes calling round, I decided I’d be better off trying to flag one down on the highway. I got absolutely soaked waving frantically at every cab that whizzed passed. After 30 minutes I was reaching the levels of despair that had me considering sleeping under a bridge until morning. In my darkest hour, however, a white sports car, with tinted windows pulled up. The window rolled down and the driver, a young chinese chap, asked if I wanted a lift….. without a second’s hesitation I said yes and jumped in his car! Luckily for me I didn’t end up as another crime statistic. Alan offered to drive me all the way home, and as a thank you I took him out dinner. All in all a slightly random, but ultimately a pleasant evening. Faith in humanity restored!

Friday evening I hit Chankat Bukit Bintang with some friends, had some nice food with Dylan, Sara and Kaylah in Pinchos, before ending up in Havana. I stayed out slightly too late considering I had to be up at 7am for a road trip to Cameron Highlands…..

Mani 2.0, Mani 1.0, Hanisa, Me, Wajih, Lydia (out of shot Abhinav)

…..so at 7am, badly hungover, 7 of us set off in two cars bound for the highlands. A journey which should have taken 3 hours too us took 10 hours. NEVER try to drive anywhere on the first day of school holidays!! With tensions running high, the trip could have made a very interesting anthropological study. Anyway, our overnight trip included a pleasant trip to a Boh tea plantation. I bought some loose leaf tea, but they didn’t sell tea pots!! The hunt continues.

 

God Save The Queen

Week 5: 21/05/2012 - 27/05/2012

Another fairly busy week included the following:

1.  my first rugby training session at RoyalSelangor Club (RSC),
2. watching The Artist (pretty good),
3. getting measured up for tailored trousers,
4. having my cash card swallowed up by the cash machine (thanks HSBC)
5. Celebrating Lydia’s birthday, and subsequently getting thrown out of my swimming pool at 2am for making too much noise

By the end of the week I was feeling pretty drained, but I dragged myself along to Choi and Marcello’s poolside BBQ to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee. It was a great evening, awesome food (thanks to Jasper for slaving away on the BBQ), Union Jacks and Pims everywhere. 

Jasper (BBQ King), me, Marcello (before Jasper threw him in the Pool) and Gavin

On Sunday I had a big day out with Eyna and Hanis. We took a trip up to Batu Caves so I could buy a ukulele from Ukulele Malaya, climbed up to the temple, had curry, popped home to beat my boss, JND, at squash, then headed out again to watch the National Flag Football Final, which was pretty entertaining. Finished up the weekend with dinner in a Persian restaurant with Hanis, Eyna and Abhi.

Batu Caves and the 272 steps up to the Hindu shrine

Ikea!!

Week 4: 14/05/2012 - 20/05/2012

Moving to KL allowed me to cleanse my belongings. 37kg soon gets filled up with a few clothes and some books. Despite getting a fully furnished flat, there were still a few things that I needed to buy to complete my minimalist life. So on my things to get list were the following:

1. Iron
2. Ironing board
3. Towels
4. Bathroom Cabinet
5. Laundry Basket
6. Tupaware
7. Tea Pot

Exciting times right?! I managed to get a few of things on my list, but what I really needed was a trip to Ikea. My friend Hanisa very kindly offered to drive me to the Ikea on the other side of town, to meet up with Christine for a fun afternoon of Expats Buying Boring Stuff in Ikea.

Ikea is the same all over the world:
1. Enter.
2. Follow the predefined route to ensure that you see every product Ikea stocks.
3. Become disorientated.
4. Have any female you are with try to make you buy something completely pointless that Ikea stocks.
5. Discover the reason Ikea's flat pack furniture is sturdy in the store is that they have attached it to the wall.
6. Lose the will to live.
7. Pay for all the cheap stuff you have bought only to discover lots of cheap stuff adds up to a large bill.
8. Leave.
9. Drown your sorrows with food.

At Setu Malaysia in Merdeka Square with Christine and Mani

As an interesting aside, the Malaysians don't usually like order, instruction, process.... but in Ikea, they were as well behaved as I've seen them.... if only they could learn to drive like that the country would be a lot safer!!

So having spent what felt like the entire weekend with Hanisa and Christine I finally got home with everything I need for my life.

Except a teapot.