Houston Connection

Week 20: 03/09/2012 - 09/09/2012

Two more departures this week. Probably temporary, but 6 months temporary! Liliana, a Columbian, heading home to Houston and Abhi, an Indian (but living in Houston) now heading off to work in Woking!

Abhi and ALLLLL his wives, Elke, Jags, Steffie and HollyOng!

I managed to have a few evenings out with Abhi before he headed off. Dinner at Passage Thru India was delicious, and made more spectacular by the effort that some of the girls made dressing up in their sarees. The final send off was a pool party with some more great food at Abhi's condo.

Abhi's leaving do

After that I headed out to Havanas to say goodbye to party animal Liliana. A fitting send off!

Both will be missed, both will be back I'm sure!

Liliana in her natural habitat

Hong Kong Isla(nd)

Week 19: 27/08/2012 - 02/09/2012

The best way to see a new place is with the locals, so it was great to be able to go and visit a few old friends in HK. It was absolutely fantastic to see Fredel (old colleague), who very kindly put me up at Chateaux Gibson (Mid Levels), in a 54^th Floor room with incredible views over the Harbour. A good catch up on Thursday evening was the calm before the Storm of a hectic weekend.

My view from Chateaux Gibson

Friday:

• Hike up Victoria Peak - predictably sweaty mess, great view of a rain storm sweeping through the harbour, Peak Tram down
• Walked the length of Hollywood Road to meet Chris (old colleague) for lunch
• StarFerry to Kowloon, chuckling at the amusing names(Li Tit?!) in the Avenue of Stars
• Dinner at The Globe (AMAZING beer selection, great pie), with Fredel, Eva, Jamie, Chris….and the whirlwind of energy and chat that is Isla. Beers flowed, banter ensured. Good to hear that Chris has lost non of his cynical ranting…. Amusing to find out his son had only got a silver medal in teeth cleaning.
• On to Carnegies (Isla forced me to dance on the bar), then Beer Pong at Scratch, and finishing the night at the aptly named Dusk Till Dawn.
• In true RAF style, I used a “Please take me Home” card printed in Chinese to get the taxi driver to take me home!

Sunset from the Yacht Club

Saturday:

• Lazy morning, no Junk ride (Chris and Isla called me a gweilo for wanting to do that!!)
• Alternative Breakfast Debrief over Dim Sum with Isla and Fredel, somewhere in Causeway Bay.
• Fredel showed me round a bit including the Tram and an infrastructure exhibition!!
• Watch the sunset from The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club with a refreshing Gunner,
• Lost Fredel in the metro amongst a sea of chinamen….
• Headed to the night market on Temple Street, met up with Nick (ex-Aztec)
• Fredel took us to a local café for dinner and got super excited with custard for desert. I couldn’t keep a straight face listening to Fredel barking out Cantonese.
• On to Wan Chai, for a quiet beer at Mes Ami, Isla joined us “I’m not drinking tonight”
• 30 minutes later, Isla: “Lets do Jagerbombs at Carnegies”.…. off to Carnegies.
• Trafalgar for beer tower, darts (everyone had a several shots at winning, Isla really wasn't taking it seriously, but ultra competitive Nick won the day), then doubles pool…. Victorious Dom & Isla!
• Finished the night at Solas in Central, the true damage only came to light a few weeks later reviewing my bank statement!
• Again I wafted around a bit of paper with some hieroglyphics on and magically the taxi driver took me home.

Clockwise from top left: Fredel, Nick and Me, Chris and me both dressed by his wife apparently, and Isla and me dancing on a bar.

Sunday:

• Brunch at Brunch Club was just what I needed, the revelation that Fredel was a proper g33k was an added bonus (LAN Parties?! Seeeriously?!)
• Took the ferry to Lantau, beautiful day.
• Bus to see the Big Buddha, lunch at the monastery
• Cable Car back to the airport (fantastic views, camera battery dead, argh!)

PHEW! Epic weekend.  Thanks to Chris and Nick making the time for some beers, Isla for providing so much entertainment (some intended, some not), and especially to Fredel for putting me up. 

Watch out Hong Kong….. I’ll be back.

Bye Bye German Guy

Week 18: 20/08/2012 - 26/08/2012

My experience of the Expat lifestyle so far has been one of socialising, meeting people and generally having fun. I have enjoyed myself greatly and met some awesome people. It’s kinda like freshers term at uni. The problem is that here people come and go (business, holidays, returning home) and you can go months without seeing people, and maybe never see them again.           

I have been truly blessed over the years to have made many long lasting friendships (shout out to school, uni, football and MM peeps!!) and the transient nature of my social circle in KL makes it challenging replicate what I enjoyed back in Bristol.          

Sometimes you meet someone who you just get on with, and Nils was one of those guys. Food, beers, Hashing, banter… all great fun… Then BOOM… he goes and gets a job in Kota Kinabalu. So it’s Bye Bye German Guy.          

Nils and KGB

As a send off he threw a bit of a house party at Anton’s place to try and drink his collection of duty free. So, to the soundtrack of Jon Lanjoie, we gave it a pretty good go…. Especially Jags! Things got a little bit wild as we headed to Zouk….. great night ;-)            

It seemed like it was only a matter of hours after getting home that it was time to get up to go out Hashing with the Malaysian Bar Hash, a great way for Elke, Jags, Anton, Nils and me to run off our hangovers. Jags and Elke had so much energy they “got lost” and ran for twice as long as everyone else.          

In The Circle Anton got given his Hash name, KGB, and I got interrogated over Prince Harry’s recent Las Vagas exposure (which I had no idea about!). The food, drink and banter afterwards was great.         

Anyway, farewell Nils. Catch you some time in Borneo. I’m going to miss you greeting me with a cry of “Hey! Brwittish Guy!” 

Lang-Hari Rya

Week 17: 13/08/2012 - 19/08/2012

The week included more over indulgence. I’m not sure I’m ever going to manage to control myself when faced with Free Flow! Anyway, Friday evening I was back at KLIA for a trip to the romantic island of Langkawi with my friend Christine.                  

With it being a holiday weekend, lots of people were getting away, and during the trip we bumped into Gavin and Ann-Marie, Jags and Rick and Helen. Jags very kindly let Christine and me join her on the outings she planned.                   

Christine taking a photo of a monkey

First up was a ferry ride to Pulau Payar followed by some snorkeling. Although it wasn’t a patch on the snorkeling I did in Western Australia, it was quite fun, especially with all the little baby sharks about.                         

Saturday evening the whole group of us met up for dinner at Orkid Ria. Not only did we get to marvel at Gavin’s incredible sunburn but we also shared some amazing seafood. I, of course, was complete pig, still eating long after everyone else had finished. Afterwards we retired to a bar on the beech.          

Team Hiking

Sunday was Hari Rya, the end of Ramadan and the start of a month of Malaysian feasting! We started the day with a great breakfast, before heading off to hike up some leech infested mountain. It was a nice climb, except for when 'Wrong Way' Rick led us up the wrong path! Thank goodness for 100 Plus. The weather started to close in, so we didn’t get great views from the top.         

Sunday evening Christine and I had more fantastic food at Cliff Restaurant just managing to catch the last of the sunset, before heading off to the airport. 

Shooting Star

Week 16: 06/08/2012 - 12/08/2012

Now fully back to strength after my week of fasting I managed to fit in a game of squash with Jon and a trip to the driving range with Charlie.       

The weekend featured a trip to the countryside for hiking and camping and watching the Perseids meteor shower. I turned up woefully under-prepared. Luckily I was travelling with Jags, Steffie and Abhi, and between them they ensured I didn’t starve or get eaten by racoons.

Abhi and his two Wives Steffie and Jags, one for cooking and cleaning, one for fun stuff.... apparently.

The weekend was not quite as we expected, as after setting up camp we only had a short hike to see some waterfalls. And that was it for the hiking. The Jarankang Waterfalls were stunning though and it was quite therapeutic to sit beneath them. Abhi taught me a lot about using my new camera too.    

Steffie, Abhi, Jags and me under a waterfall

The evening was perfect for star gazing and it was great to be away from the light pollution of KL. We laid ourselves out on a rock under the star lit sky and waited for the meteor shower. And waited. And waited. And chatted. And slept. I think I may have seen one shooting star. But I may not have. I couldn’t tell.      

So I can now cross sleeping under the stars off my list of things to do in life…… being dazzled by meteors is still on there for the time being. 

Not a shooting star in sight

Mini Ramadan - Mega Blow Out

Week 15: 30/07/2012 - 05/08/2012

I’ve never been round Ramadan before, so I thought it would be an interesting cultural experience to join my colleagues in their annual Muslim fast. 

Ramadan involves spiritual reflect and a heighten emphasis on the teaching of the Islam. The most obvious challenge is the fasting (not eating, drinking, smoking during day light hours). So I spent the week getting up at 0520 to ensure that I had eaten and drunk as much as I could before the 0545 prayers. Then nothing passed my lips until sundown at 1930. I found that I was tired most of the time, particularly in the mornings, and concentration was more of a challenge than usual. Strangely though, by the time Iftar (breaking fast) I felt that I could go on a bit longer.

This is the only picture I can find of Nils and me. Taken after a Hash Run. Officially Titled "Why is Dom Naked?"

On Monday, before going to watch Man City v Malaysia, I went to a Ramadan Buffet, and stuffed myself silly. Mistake! About an hour later my stomach felt like it was going to explode, and I sat in considerable discomfort watching the match worrying about which end was mostly likely to discharge first.... Luckily I made it home before suffering from any public mishaps!

The rest of the week was pretty low key as I conserved my energy, bar a little trip to the driving range with Charlie. 

On Friday, my final day of fasting, I managed to have a quiet meal with Marcello, before heading home for an early night. I was just about in bed when I received a text from Nils “Hey English Guy. Beer?”. Well it would be rude not to, so I headed out to Changkat…. And was still out on Jalan Alor with Nils and Dylan at silly O’clock the next morning having a high five competition with some of Nils's friends!!!!

Random photo including Me, Dylan and Zainab (to the left of the pic)

Saturday was take two for a quiet night, catching up with Dylan, Marcello and Zainab to watch some Olympics…. When Marcello arrived in his dancing shoes I knew Smash Up was inevitable. In KL you are only ever a short taxi ride from Havana….. great night!!

A Bit Chili

Week 14: 23/07/2012 - 29/07/2012

I headed to Bangalore for the weekend to see my old colleague Tim. It was great to be able to fly with my friend Abhi who was making a weekend trip to see his folks. It was lucky I did travel with a local, because without Abhi's local language skills I would never have found my pre booked taxi!!

Abhi with a bracelet made by his cousin

Friday night involved some sensational food at Samarkand Restaurant (Tim and I massively over ordered), followed by a trip to the microbrewery called Toit. I thought is was excellent, good selection of beers, a good vibe, and some eye candy too. The most memorable part of the evening was my first ride in a Tuk-Tuk..... those drivers are crazy!

KA05..... yes, absolutely!

Saturday was a carefully crafted flying tour of Bangalore via foot and Tuk-Tuk. Tim took me to see:

1. Mahatmah Ghandi Park
2. Cubbon Park
3. High Court
4. Tim's Metro construction sight
5. ISKCON Temple (bizarre opulence followed by begging for money (to build a bigger temple...))
6. Lunch at some awesome little Indian restaurant (unbelievable Dosa... Pelita will never be the same again)
7. Tipu’s Summer Palace
8. Avenue Road (post heavy shower, water cascading down the streets, live stock jostling for position with people and scooters.... just how I imagined India would be like).
9. Coconut Grove for a well deserved beer!!!

In the evening we headed out for dinner at Ente Keralam, which was absolutely ace, and then headed to Brigade Road for a few quiet beers. Bangalore is not a party town.... 11pm is hometime.

Tim and me outside Infantry Hotel (not as good as I was hoping....)

Sunday involved an epic journey to find brunch at Herbs and Spice, an indoor buffet bbq which delivered all sorts of meaty treats, followed by a superb brownie! Then off to airport to meet up with my travel companion Abhi for the flight home.

Some Observations of India

• The food was awesome
• Cows ambling through the streets whilst people run for their lives
• The head wobble happens.... as far as I could tell is means yes/no/maybe!!

Thanks very much to both Tim and Abhi for showing me India.

Tim's blog of this weekend can be found here.