KL comes alive!!

There are objects of natural beauty like Mt Everest or Heidi Klum.

There are objects that are man made that are awe-inspiring such as the Great Wall of China or Pamela Anderson.

Then there are objects that just rise above anything you could imagine..

I'm talking about the Petronas Towers.

When i first laid eyes on them i couldn't believe how big these towers were. I've seen them in books, tv and even in film ('Entrapment' with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones) and here i was looking at these two 452 m high steel and glass giants dominate the Kuala Lumpar skyline. I couldn't take enough pictures.

Following our adventure getting here, the towers were the first thing (and the reason for coming here) that we wanted to see in KL. The sky was a beautiful blue which you cannot get in Hong Kong anymore and the weather though slightly warm, was perfect for exploring the city. After making our way down to the concourse we found out that the limited number of tickets to gain access to the Skybridge (the bridge that connects the towers) were all sold out.

Luckily in the gift shop Sab found a guy who had two spare tickets for the upcoming tour and he was nice enough to give them to us. So we made our way up to the bridge and the view was amazing. This whole building is amazing. Not only are there 2 towers over 450 tall connected by the worlds only skybridge, there is also a 6 level shopping centre at the base of the tower and an 850 concert hall. Sab and i had a little peek inside the hall and wer enjoying a free afternoon organ recital but our hunger pains were calling us to get food.

So we headed to the shopping centre food court whereby we ate the best kebab i have had in a very long time followed by 6 donuts from Dunkin' Donuts (there are no donut shops in Honkers so we had to take advantage of the situation)and followed that up with a quick visit to the PC fair being staged across the park. I'm looking at buying a PC in the next couple of months so there was a little browsing that was being done by i fully knowing i won't be going back to a mac ever again!

We spent most of the afternoon around the Petronas Towers whereby we enjoyed something all to common but all to rare in Hong Kong; sitting under a tree lying on the grass. I had found copies of Wheels and Motor magazines so i purchased all the bookstores copies and started reading in the shade the delights of the new Toyota Aurion V6..oh the bliss of it all! :)

Our journey took us back to the hostel and then onto Little India whereby it started to rain..actually i take that back. It pissed down like no tomorrow and Sab was doing her best not to look like an entrant in a wet t-shirt competition. At Little India we found goods galore ranging from silks to scarves and all things Indian..even Bollywood Films (we picked up a couple). We also had some gorgeous Indian street food ranging from Roti to a very nice vegetable curry.

With the rain still pouring down it was time to go back to the hostel and end what was a very long yet enjoyable first up day in KL. We spent the night watching 'Crash' and then fell into bed.

It was a great day yesterday..everything went right for us.

Forget Good..try Great Friday!!

"Why do it the right way when you can do it the fun way"

This is our new moto in life these days. It came about after we got lost on a walk and the philosophy still rings true today. Though it did get tense at times.

Yesterday Sab and I had the bigest travel nightmare we had ever come across. Yes even bigger than Tiger Leaping Gorge! Yesterday was the bigest comedy of errors and rather than throwing you more cliche's let me get to the story.

Yesterday morning we left Tin Shui Wai about 10am on our way to Macau to catch a 2.45pm flight from Macau. This time around we took the Macau option as the prices for the ticket were a lot more competitve then flying straight from Hong Kong. We have been looking forward to this trip for a few months now and our spirits were high as we rode the 969 into Central.

After getting to the Macau Ferry Terminal we found a massive line of people. Now this is where the "fun" starts. I thought being a Catholic holday there would be no real need to book tickets beforehand for the ferry, boy was i wrong. There was a bloody big line of people waiting to get to Macau to gamble their lives away and it seemed every minute that went by another ferry was sold out.

By the time we got to the ticket window the next avaliable ferry was at 12.30 and it takes about an hour to get to Macau and it was cutting it too fine, then we came across Heli Express.

Being the spontaneous (well not really) kids we are, we thought lets spend 1800 dollars on a 15 minute helicopter ride rather than prebook a 150 dollar ferry ride. Sure the price was steep but the views over Hong Kong were the best we had ever seen plus it was Sabs first time in ahelicopter and she had a big big smile on her face. The trip was put in the "you only live once" category.

We got to Macau 15 minutes later and headed straight to the airport. It's about 10-15 drive from the city so we got there with time to spare. We walked straight up to the check in window ready to start our adventure......"You have missed your flight."

"Excuse me?"
"You have missed it. It was at 2.45AM this morning"
"Shit"

Yeah we stuffed up big time. We managed to miss out flight bu about 10 hours and even though we both triple triple checked all the details, even the night before, somehow we missed the fact that 0245 is not 2.45PM. Even typing this i still cant figure out how we stuffed this up but we did. Even still who uses 24 hour time in daily life? I sure as hell don't and if i asked for the time i don't expect a reply of "Yeah, it's quarter past twenty one."

So six hours we spent at Macau Airport before we checked in and of all the airports to be stuck in, we had to pick the airport that had nothing..nothing!! at all to do. At least if we got stuck at Singapore or Hong Kong you can do things to pass the time. Macau had only a buffet restaurant open so we sat there for about 5 hours.

This Good Friday was turning into Very Very Very Bad Friday.

After check in we had to wait another 2 hours for our flight which was not only delayed but th aiport changed our departure gate without any announcement, we were lucky enough to see it on the departures screen an hour before we left. Macau airport is by far the worst airport i have come across and our gate was actually right next door to another gate so there were two flights full of passengers waiting in the same area. It was packed and tensions were getting high.

After Air Asia finally decided to arrive in Macau we had to wait even further for the plane to be cleaned. During this time passengers for flights that were supposed to leave 30 minutes earlier were still checking in and walking right past us. One kid said "This is the worst airport in the world" and Sab agreed with me.

Finally we got into the air about 8pm. About 16 hours late but after our flight we got to the hostel in KL about 2am this morning. We had a fantastic day out at the Petronas Towers and tonight we are off to Little India for some great street food.

So as i said earlier, if we did it the right way..then we wouldn't have had another little adventure.

Why can't things just go right for us once in a while?

Easter in Malaysia

It's a very good Friday indeed.

Sab and I are about to leave the house for a weeks sightseeing in Malaysia. We are actually flying through Macau this time around as its a lot cheaper then flying through Hong Kong.

We are spending Friday to Tuesday in Kuala Lumpar and then we are going up north for three days to the island of Penang.

I'll update Peps Place while we are there and we'll be taking plenty of pictures.

Take care everyone and have a fantastic easter.

Time to Walk the Walk

For a long time now Sabrina and myself have been a bit lazy when it comes to seeing the sights of Hong Kong. The reason? We have been here so long that rather than thinking of this place as a pitstop on our journey of life, it became home.

The winter months made me feel very lazy in terms of being fit and getting motivated. So last Wednesday Sab, myself and our friend Kate decided to take advantage of the public holiday we had and decided to go out into nature and discover some of the natural beauty of Hong Kong.

We decided to do the Dragons Back Walk, which was voted the best walk in Asia in Time Magazine (2004). It was a fine and humid day in town yet the three of us went ahead with our walk and well before we even started we were in trouble. We actually started our walk at the finishing point and after about 30 mins, lost the trail that we were supposed to be on. We found ourselves on the side of a mountain high above the city walking in dense vegetation up the side of a mountain following a dirt trail.

Sabrina purchased herself a video camera for her birthday and we took it its test run and it was fast developing into a “Blair Witch Project’ situation. The humidity made my t-shirt stick to my skin and the hike was fast developing into a comedy of errors. After climbing half and hour up the side of a mountain we came across a path which we found out later was the path we should have taken if we actually started at the start and not the end…confused? So were we.

After another hour we made it to our starting point only to find out that the walk we though we were doing (the Dragons Back) wasn’t that walk at all! We had spent three hours on a walk, getting lost and going the wrong way around only to find out that we weren’t even on the right walk. All of this was captured on Sabrina’s camera too.

After an afternoon down at Stanley Market, it was just the day I needed to feel good again and with our newfound enthusiasm, Sab and I went for another walk yesterday armed with her trusty camera. This time around we stayed in town and decided to do the Hong Kong Heritage trail, which took us to all the older, meaningful buildings that this vibrant city’s past was built on.

Our three hour tour took about four and a half as we decided to amble around the streets and take a quick trip up to Victoria Peak. If you haven’t been to Hong Kong you just have to go to the peak as it is the best view of a city anywhere in the world. The great thing about this the tour is that you really get a sense of the history of this place and we didn’t get lost and also we had another great walk. I picked up an authentic Bruce Lee movie poster from a little back street antique shop as well! With two big walks in half a week Sab and I are determined to walk as much of Hong Kong as possible before we leave.

By the way, Sab and I are off to Malaysia for a week on Friday. Yeppo, we are off to Kuala Lumpur and Penang which is at the north of the country. We are both really looking forward to this trip and if this new found enthusiasm I have continues past Malaysia, its going to be a hectic three months in Hong Kong. It’s nice to get back the feeling that at the end of the day I’m here to take part in new experiences and learn from them.

Sometimes you really do have to stop and smell the roses.

You Tube Classics : Volume One

Here is a classic from our friends at YouTube.com

Enjoy the modern classic "Brokeback to the Future"

Sabrina's 27th Birthday Celebration

She had a bloody ripper.

Hong Kong turned out a humid night and combined with the hysteria of the Hong Kong Sevens tournament being played the city was awash with colourful costumes and a party atmosphere.

The night started at Gary's house whereby Candace, Gary, Sabrina, Kate and yours truely shared numerous mudshakes and laughs. Sabrina was a bit toey during the week as i reminded her that she had to complete her birthday dares. During the week she said "so stripping and no kissing women" which takes the fun out of it considering i got my boosies out on the dancefloor at my celebration.

We then ventured down to a lovely "Australian Fusion" restaurant called Jaspas which is one of the city's favourite eateries. My rack of lamb was cooked to perfection and considering the prices i ate every last thing on my plate (including the broccoli which to anyone who knows me , thats a fair effort) and then managed to destroy a delightful blueberry and apple crumble.

The party atmosphere took us to Lan Kwai Fong which was packed with rugby revellers and anyone else who embraced the party spirit of the weekend. Sabrinas dares were complete which included "doing the brokeback" with a guy dressed as a penguin and dancing like a homosexual Mexican. For anyone who has seen the show 'arrested development' well seeing Sab dance like a chicken was very funny stuff. When the DJ plastered her face across the screens of the pub her reaction was to clock me in the jaw and scream. In fact she did a lot of screaming and dancing which is great to see.

The party continued into the night where once again i caught up with the two Irish girls Fiona and Nicola. They are on their way to taking over the partying title from Cassidy and Amy. It great to see those girls out and they had their little group of friends there as well so we all blended into one big group whilst Sab was dancing away and living up the evening to the max.

It all ended up about 3am with that lovely hour bus ride back to Tin Shui Wai and all in all Sab had a fantastic birthday and i had a great night out as well.

Happy Birthday Sab