Catch Up and Home

This blog post is not going to be very good. I think I've put a bit too much effort into doing them, so it feels like a bit of a chore and therefore I haven't kept up with it. After Bali, I went back to the UK to visit friends and family for the first time! I got all grumpy because nobody in the UK (apart from my Mum) seemed to know what a big deal it was to me. I couldn't wait to see everyone and had everything planned months in advance, but of course to others, it was just part of their normal lives. I wasn't sure how it would be to see everyone, but as soon as I saw them, it was as if no time had passed. I guess with true friendship, you never really lose touch. I went to a friend's wedding and it was beautiful. Don't want to put up any photos on here to share though because that is his thing to share not mine. After having a lovely time with friends and family, we came back to Malaysia. I had been given a promotion (Primary Maths Leader) and had loads of work to do to get things ready. I really enjoy the role, but did not realise how much time it would take. It has been a tough first term, but a very rewarding one! After working so hard for a the first 7 week half term, we had a week off. Hannah and I had booked, along with a couple of sporty friends of ours, to go and cycle along the East coast of Taiwan, from Taipei to Taitung. I was a little worried we hadn't really trained for it, but then we went for a day out to Putrajaya. We rented battered old bikes and rode them around a tiny park for an hour, so I could see we were well prepared. We got Team Taiwan cycle shirts made and off we went. When we arrived, our hotel looked very nice. The room was tiny, but as we were only staying a night, it was ok. We explored the local area and found some delicious chocolate treats. We also thought it would be a good idea to scout out where the bike shop was, so we could make an early start the next day. We looked up the address on the map and set off through the very clean underground. After an hour or so of walking, we were a bit lost and asked a security guard for help. Evidently the road google maps had pointed to, turned out to be a massive ringroad and we were at least 2 hours away from the shop. We started walking it though, asking directions as we went. Most people could not believe we were trying to walk it. One guy we met on his way from work very kindly offered us a lift. After the courteous "oh no we couldn't", we decided that yes, we could, so all piled into his car. We felt a bit bad when his boy rung him to ask where he was and when he'd be home. But he did take us right where we needed to go which was a plus. After many thanks, we left him and had some dinner near the shop. Turns out it was actually really simple to get to from our hotel. Oh well you live and learn! The next morning we woke up early and got to the bike shop as it opened. We set off pretty quickly and had fun as we were leaving Taipei. We were using my GPS which was sketchy at best, but managed to navigate our way out of the city and on to the main road. The road we were on actually turned into 2 roads. My sat nav said we could go either way so we turned left, but later on in the trip, we found that although we could have gone right, it involves about 20km with no road, so we would have to have trekked our bikes across a hillside! Pretty lucky... The route we took was brutal. It just seemed to be one massive, winding uphill. We spent ages getting up a massive hill and had lunch at the top - a pancake with fruit, chocolate sauce and extra sugar on it. Not the most nutritious, but it was something. After that it was a lot more uphills. Towards the end of the day, I began to get a bit worried. It would be getting dark soon and the road we were on had no lighting. We had lights but not huge ones and it wasn't ideal. We all powered our way to the top of the hill and finally saw the city we were meant to be staying in. The view was beautiful and made even nicer by the fact we'd just cycled 50 or so km to be there. The light was going, so I bombed it down a hill to the city. The hill was possibly one of the most fun parts of the trip, it was a beautiful, winding road and went on for absolutely ages. I was going far too fast, but was having the best time. When we got to the city, we realised that we still had another hour or two of cycling to do before we got to our hotel! With low spirits, we stopped off at a convenience store for a drink and trudged our way to the hotel. When we got there, there was nobody there. We rung them up and someone came and unlocked the door for us. There wasn't any food there and didn't look like there was much food around, so Dave and I volunteered to go to a 7/11 we had seen around 3km back. Then Dave looked pretty worried. He'd lost his bag. In his bag was his wallet, passport and everything else important. We came to the conclusion that he had left it in the shop we'd been at around an hour and a half ago. We couldn't cycle there at that time, so decided to get a taxi. Having no idea about how to call a taxi, Dave and I asked the people in a house nearby, who were just chilling out drinking some wine. They didn't speak any English, but had a girl on the phone who spoke a little. Through various translators and google translate, it transpired that there would be no taxis around at that time (it was now pretty late and in a deserted area). We saw a scooter and asked if we could borrow it. Unsurprisingly, they refused, but one guy did offer to give us a lift to the shop. Looking at it from his point of view, it's pretty funny. We were 2 people who didn't speak the language, asking to be taken to a shop we couldn't name, or pinpoint on the map to pick up a bag. It seemed like a mental wild goose chase, but to this guy's credit, he gave us a lift. Amazingly, we found the shop and as we were going back to our hotel, he asked if we wanted food. We were starving and didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, so said yes. He then took us to a noodle shop and then drove us home. What an absolute legend! The next day we set off early, to go along a nice coastal road. Or so we thought... The road was really hilly again which our tired legs did not need and was also full of lorries. We had to keep in and at times the route felt pretty dangerous. There were narrow tunnels to go through and the day was a hard slog. Near the end of the day though, we were near our hotel. The only problem was, we had gone to where google said it should be - and it wasn't there! We went into a police station and asked there, showing them the address. Excruciatingly slowly, an old police officer put on a shirt and got on a scooter and motioned for us to follow. We were all pretty tired, so when he started going up a hill, I was pretty worried about losing him. Han and I powered through the jelly legs to keep up with him and he went down hill and along a long bridge. At the other end of the bridge we asked him to stop as we'd lost our friends Jenny and Dave. I ran across the bridge to find them, but couldn't. Then I went back, left Han with the police officer, and took my bike back along the path we had taken. I found Jenny and Dave off a side street. They had got lost, but stumbled upon the hotel and had checked in. It turns out that the police officer didn't know where we were going and was taking us in the completely wrong direction. I cycled back and told Han this. We awkwardly said thanks and bye to the police officer and went to the hotel. On day 3, there was a bit less drama. We cycled along a beautiful coastal road for a bit, before coming in land. This was the first day we'd been on a more cyclist orientated path. We barely saw any cars, had only minor little hills and saw some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. It was a brilliant day and we stopped off at our hotel at the end of the day. At this point, I should mention that each evening when we were eating out, the places we were going to were getting less and less touristy. Most people did not speak any English. One night we found someone to translate and other times we managed to use a mixture of charades and google translate. Each place we went to though, the people were amazingly friendly and wanted photos of us. It didn't seem weird, just seemed lovely. The people out of the main cities are the nicest I've met. For day 4, we only had a short was to go, but it looked like it would be quite hilly. Before we set out, I found a dumpling shop and we got a breakfast dumpling, as well as another one for lunch. When we set off, we climbed a hill for a while, then had lunch at the top with beautiful scenery. It turned out there was a tunnel through the big bit of the hill and even better - it was downhill all the way!! We blitzed it down and made our way to the coast, where we found a nice place for a coffee. They gave us a complimentary ice cream each (we don't know why) and it was weird but amazing. It seemed like shavings of mango, but when you ate them, it was like ice cream. After this, we found our hotel and had another nice evening of wandering around the local town, meeting some locals and having a nice meal. The final day was only 20-30km, which by now felt like nothing. There wasn't even a major hill to climb! We took it very easy and made our way into Taitung. We made sure to get a photo at the city sign, and then got into town. We found things like Starbucks and McDonalds and although I'm ashamed to admit it, we loved it. In Starbucks, we talked to a guy from Colorado who had set up a hospital in Taitung. There was also some cool art work on the street. We had a nice pizza for dinner, as we had missed western food and got a good nights sleep. The next day we got the train back to Taipei, returned our bikes and enjoyed the sights. We tried to find some bars and ended up in a gay part of town. Some locals were very drunk and one puked all over himself and a table near us. Was a nice night though! After the holiday, the next half term was as brutal as the first in terms of work load and I don't really feel I made the most of life. I tried to carry on the healthiness from the holiday so tried to do running more. The only problem was, I felt I deserved more food, so I'm not sure how much good it did. I did go on a lad's mini holiday with Dave and John to run a 10k. Dave had a spot on the half marathon too, and we thought it would be funny to put a vote up on facebook and the loser has to do the half marathon. I lost (thanks to John and Dave's votes) and ended up doing it. I'd never run more than 10k before and not even run that distance outside. I managed to do it though in a respectable 2:05. My target was to not stop running, which I didn't! The race organisers mucked it up though and the course was actually 28km, not 21km. I stopped and walked the last 7k because I was absolutely dead. Nobody mentioned the mistake and lots of runners were just there looking bewildered. I've just got back from the UK where I had an amazing time seeing everyone. Highlights included badminton with mum, a Cornwall getaway with Han, an awesome night out with Ash and Dex and an entire day of rocket league with the Bristol guys. I took part this year in "The Wellest Man" where I got absolutely annihilated by Lee, Shane and Josh at various different physical challenges. I was so pissed off I didn't even complete the second half and got absolutely rinsed by everyone. I felt better about myself though, when I went to my old school in Slough and all the children I taught 2-3 years ago were really happy to see me! I can't believe how much they actually remember me. I don't remember my Year 1 or 2 teachers at all, maybe I just didn't like them! I'll try and keep up with this a bit more and will add photos of Taiwan soon.

Beautiful Bali

This Summer, we decided to go to Bali. We had it all planned out, we'd go straight after school on Friday when we broke up and we'd be sitting on a beach sipping cocktails by sundown. Then the volcano decided to erupt which annoyingly closed the airport. We frantically tried to get through to air asia and the hotels we had booked to re-arrange. We were able to get flights out on Tuesday and delay our return flights by a few days too. Also, one of the hotels we were staying at very kindly allowed us to change the dates, so overall we didn't miss out on much. That didn't stop us from having a few very nervy days when we wondered if we'd get out there at all. We even had a backup of going to South Korea, but in hind sight I'm glad we didn't. I was a bit nervous on the flight over due to the ash which could evidently corrode aeroplanes. My mind was taken off this though, by an adorable Indonesian lady who sat next to Han on the plane. She was a pretty nervous flyer and grabbed hold of Han's hand as we took off. The hand stayed there for most of the flight and there was even a bit of leg grabbing. It was pretty funny to see the awkward look in Han's face as she tried to be polite, but without speaking each others' languages, it was a bit of an awkward flight. As we landed in Bali, they vowed to become facebook friends (which never happened) and then off we went. The first place we were staying in was Ubud. The first thing that struck me was how far away from the town we were. It was a good 10 minute drive out of town, but it was cool. They had a religious ceremony going on over the next few days, so there were these massive arches made of bamboo all around. The people were all dressed up too. We got to our room which seemed nice, but a bit basic. There were a few insects in the room which put me off a bit, but oh well. I saw a line of ants taking away a dead insect in our bathroom, and thought that it had looked a bit more luxurious on the website, but then again they were hardly going promote this. We went into town and met a lovely English/Aussie old couple. They recommended somewhere to eat which was lovely. It's nice how everyone you talk to and mention you are a teacher living overseas seems to think you're awesome for doing so! When we got back to the room, we tucked the mosquito net (complete with massive holes) around us and pretended like the animals wouldn't make it in. On Day 2, we decided to take a trek along the rice paddies to town. It took quite a while, but was very beautiful. We saw some massive spiders along the way which freaked me out a bit, but it was a nice walk. There were loads of people at the side of this small path selling things. It made me think. I can fully understand why the guy selling coconut milk was there, because we were thirsty and there wasn't another shop around. I do have to wonder though how much trade the art sellers got. It was inaccessible by road and you'd have to be committed to carrying around a massive painting all day if you were keen. They weren't even that cheap. I don't get how they made any money. We wandered down to a river and had some nice photos taken beside it. I'm glad we didn't go for a swim because we later found out that further upstream, people pee and poo in the river. Nice. When we got to town, we just pootled around a bit, went to some shops. The roads there were mental. Motorcyclists were just up on the pavements and most roads were 2 way but only really were 1 lane wide, with people parked both ways. It wasn't the best for conversation as when we walked places, the pavements were nonexistent or very narrow so I had to walk behind Han. I didn't mind though. In the evening we went to a place called Mozaic for dinner. It was properly awesome. You sat outside and had a taster menu. They brought a bowl of some of the different ingredients you would be having from the menu for you to smell. The waiter talked about them when they introduced the dishes. I felt properly posh and we had a great evening! Back in the hotel, we found one of the massive spiders in our bathroom. I decided not to shower that night, and made sure to tuck the mosquito net in extra tight around us that night. On Day 3, we went to the Monkey Forest. Far from me to be a judge but some of the statues there were just ridiculous. They seem to have an obsession with massive cocks and there were loads of statues of very excited animals. In addition to this, lots of them looked just plain nasty as if they wanted to do you damage. I can't imagine wanting to worship anything that looked like that, but it seems to work for the people of Bali so that's good. We went to a nice spa. I got a massage and Han got some foot stuff done. Mine was a bit awkward as an old woman in the cubicle next to me was moaning a little bit with her massage - I just tried to ignore it and thought how awkward it must be for the massage therapist! The monkeys were pretty grim. We know how aggressive they can be so kept our distance. We did see them take a woman's sunglasses though. Han and I both thought she was an idiot and smiled smugly to each other as she tried to get a local guide to get them back. We're a nice couple. Highlight of the monkey forest was seeing 2 monkeys up on a fence. One was picking stuff of the other's face - no problem so far. Then one of them just turned around and bent over. The other monkey just started poking his ass and then stuck his face in there. It was pretty explicit so of course I got a load of photos. We sent a picture of it to Hannah's parents but I don't think they liked it as much as us. That evening we went to a nice Japanese restaurant. It was lush again and the cocktails were amazing. We got a taxi home and got completely screwed over with the money. We were very passive aggressive about it though, the guy had been friendly and chatty all the way, then dropped the price on us. We just said we didn't think that it was a fair amount to pay because equivalent taxi rides had been so much cheaper. He asked us how much we thought it would be, then Han sighed and said "Don't worry Joe, I guess we'll just have to pay..." I did a very sad and dejected face to the taxi driver as we left to let him know how sad he had made us. Again, we really are a lovely couple. That night, we got all of 2 hours sleep because at 1am we had to get up to climb an active volcano. So on Day 4, we set off with a group of randoms to climb Mount Batur, an active volcano. I tried not to think about how the volcano just down the road was erupting, and just enjoy it. We were told it was cold so to wear our warmest sports clothes. We hadn't really bargained for this, so Han had on yoga pants, a sports vest and a cardigan. I only had chinos, a t shirt and a collar shirt. I looked very dapper going up the mountain. When we saw everyone else, they looked a bit better prepared than us. One keen bean even had those pole things. I was a bit nervous about how far it would be, but we managed to stay at the front the entire time and didn't get too tired out. At the top we watched the sun rise which was beautiful. But freezing. I had (obviously) got a bit sweaty on the way up and now I was cooling off in the coldest temperature we have been in this year. We huddled up and watched more monkeys steal food from unsuspecting tourists. Then we were shown around the crater and saw some smoke, and then it was time to come back down. After the mountain, we got our bags and went straight to our next hotel, near the beach in Seminyak. The room was lush and had a jacuzzi (which I made good use of), so we freshened up and went down to the beach. With all of the travelling in the day (it took around 3 hours to transfer hotels and 2 hours to get back to our hotel from the mountain), it was nearly the end of the day. We watched the sun set from bean bag chairs on the beach. There was some awesome live music and it was a really nice end to a great day. On Day 5, we just a quiet day Hannah wasn't feeling too well and it would have been a bit harsh to have left her on her own, so we just had a quiet day and watched some bootleg DVDs. We did manage to make it out in the evening and got some good sunset photos. On Day 6, we had a chilled out on the beach and then had a surfing lesson. When we turned up for the ultra beginners class, I looked around and saw a couple of larger ladies, an old couple and a family with kids. I felt pretty confident that even if I wasn't very good, then I probably wouldn't be the worst there. I was wrong. All the theory was good, and I managed to catch a few waves, but I just could not stand up on the board. As I fell off, I looked over and saw one of the family's children with a big grin on his face stood up on a wave. One of the large ladies passed me whilst standing on their board. Turns out I'm just not very good at balancing, so need more practice. It was really fun though and we decided we definitely wanted to go again! I think I pissed Han off because I was so grumpy because I wasn't immediately good at it. She was patient though and in the end I stopped being miserable. We got very burned from the beach, we stayed under a parasol all day, but as I later read, this does not stop you from getting burned (news to me). So we were all lobstered up for the next few days. Even as I write this over a week later, I still have some absolutely ridiculous tan lines. We went for dinner in an awesome place called Mama San. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was great too. I had pork ribs for about the 3rd of 4th time this trip! It's not easy to get in KL so I was making the most of it! On Day 7, I made the mistake of renting a scooter. We didn't need to show passports or driving license to get one, just have a small amount of money. I did however pack plenty of 50,000IDR packets for police bribes if we were stopped (as is the custom). We went on a little adventure to Uluwatu temple which is a cliffside temple which overlooks the sea. Getting there was a nightmare. The roads are even more mental than in KL or Ubud. I literally had to go on the pavement at times and had to do an emergency stop when someone decided to turn right in front of us. We managed to make it though (somehow) and went round the temple. It was very beautiful and a bit scary. The path was just casually next to some bushes which concealed the cliff. Then you got to a part where you were on the cliff edge. I tried to be all brave and go near it, but the photo showed that I was still a good 3m back from the edge. We went back home after and had a delicious dinner in a place called Watercress. Day 8 wasn't the most cultural, but was possibly the most fun. We borrowed bicycles from our hotel and set off early to Waterbom water park. Even cycling was a nightmare on the roads, but we got there in 1 piece. We managed to get there before the park was too busy, so got virtually no queues for the first couple of hours. We went on a few which were pretty standard for water parks, sharing a rubber ring, going down a fast ish slide. Then there was the race on a mat one. I've done these before. You each get a mat, go on your front and go down a bumpy but generally quite gentle slope and see who wins. This one was different. As both Han and I are competitive, we were going for it. All the tricks, like lifting the front of the mat up for more speed, leaning into corners. Anyway it was going pretty well, we were going fast in a completely covered tube, then from nowhere appears this drop. It was the steepest drop I've ever been down and I'm not exaggerating when I say that I came away from the slide for the entire drop. It was terrifying. I beat Han though and managed to bag some man points for being brave so it's all good. The other scary on was a trap door one. You stand in a case and it counts down, then a trap door below you opens and you drop into a slide. We did the less scary one. The scary one was mental. The tube was pretty much vertical and open the whole way down. I always worry that these things are build for people with slighter body sizes than me, and that I would overload the system by being too tall or heavy and fly out the side. After Waterbom we went back and relaxed for a bit. I can't remember where we went, but according to the photos we got some nice cocktails and looked happy. - UPDATE - I believe the cocktails were at a beach club called Potato Head which was really cool. The waiter was so friendly. It overlooked the sea, played awesome music and had cool cocktails. On Day 9, we were idiots. We were walking into town when a man stopped us, saying he wasn't selling things. He gave us each a ticket and I "Won" a promotional T shirt for a Hotel he was working for. Hannah won the star prize!!! It was either: a 7 night stay in a hotel in Bali (decent prize as we want to come next year), or $500 US which is awesome or an Ipad. All of them looked good. All we had to do was be shown around a new hotel which was around the corner for 1 hour and then we'd claim our prize. I knew it was a sales meeting but all 3 of the prizes looked good, and it was only 1 hour.... When we got there it turned out we weren't being shown round a new hotel, but a dickhead named Gavin was going to hard sell a holiday membership to us. We were there for over 2 hours. It started off very genial, he was obviously trying to make small talk and connections, but as the meeting wore on we grew more and more pissed off. The trouble was, he was showing us how we could stay at 5 star hotels for a cheap price, but the problem is we really enjoy the cheap boutique hotels we pick out ourselves. All the resorts he showed us looked soulless. We politely declined, but he carried on his talk, then eventually we told him we really liked what we currently did on our holidays and didn't want to go to any of the resorts he showed us irrespective of price. Then he turned a bit nasty and basically slagged off our choice of holiday and said that the prize we are going to get will not be great as they don't waste their time sending people to their nice hotels. What a bloke. Anyway, we won the holiday, but think we will give it to mum as if we went on it, we would be reminded of what we did to get there! After that we had a lovely lunch and another bit of spa. This one was less moany and awkward, so we had a great time. On the way home we went to the famous Hog Wild restaurant and had some delicious ribs. As I'm writing this I'm asking Hannah if we can go to their KL branch for dinner tonight - they are that good. - UPDATE - she said YES!!! Boom get in! On our final day, we just chilled out by the beach and went surfing again. we did it for a couple of hours, and I kind of managed to stand up twice. It was a lot more fun without trying to compare myself to everyone else and I had a great time. Han was a lot better than me, but I am hoping that won't last long. We went back to Watercress for dinner because it's lush. I felt really lucky, because although I was feeling a little bit of the blues to be leaving the next day, I love it so much in KL that it didn't really feel that sad. It's only a 3 hr flight so it's not a massive whole day of travelling either which is nice! To top is off, here are a few photos of us on the last day. We both agreed it was the best holiday we've ever been on and can't wait to back next year!!!!

Penang Paradise

It's been a while since my last post but loads has happened. Mainly I've been busy at work and been putting far too many hours in at the school I work at. It's all good though and I'm really enjoying what I'm doing. Instead of a normal week long half term, our school opted to break up the last 13 weeks of term with a 4 day weekend. Feeling shattered from the long but amazing year, we decided to make the most of it and booked a trip to Penang - somewhere which had been recommended to us from practically the first day. Pushing children out the way as we rushed to make our 5pm flight on Friday, I couldn't wait to get there as it was meant to be an amazing place for food and street art! We got there quite late on the Friday. We were staying at Campbell House which was an amazing place. The room was lush and the hotel staff were really friendly - it's alway a good sign when they are happy to recommend the street food even though they had a restaurant attached! For the first night we went out near our hotel and tried some street food. We were a little nervous at first as people seemed to be coming and going and there was a very angry looking Australian guy in his 60s seating people. We got some Satay and some noodles with stuff in (I don't know what). It was lush. On the way home we got a pancake which was pretty sweet and thick. Very lush! The next day, we went for a wander around George Town. It was very nice, although I was out in the sun too long and got a bit burned. There was loads of cool 3d street art like half a bike sticking out of a wall with children drawn on the wall so it looks like they are riding it. We went out on the pier bit then up to the old colonial clock tower. We found a trick art place and went in to see what it was like. The people who worked there were lovely and told us the best positions to go in. When we were on the ET bike, we did silly poses, then they said "No, Sweet, sweet" until we hugged. I pretended to be a panda and my favourite one is when I was making out with a snail as Han cried on a toadstool. The highlight though was when a girl asked Han to be in a photo with her. This was bizarre as it was just in a corridor. It was all a bit awkward - I can't imagine just walking up to a stranger and asking them to be in my photo. After the trick art, we went back to the hotel then our for a lovely dinner in a place called China House. The food was delicious and they gave you crayons to draw on the table cloth. Most of the adults there were keeping it cool, but Han and I went to town! We got some strange looks as they brought over the food but oh well. The next day we went to Penang Hill. We got a ticket up this MASSIVE climb and I couldn't believe how steep it was. Once at the top, Han had some Henna done and we wandered around taking photos. We got a cream tea, which was nice and went along the top. We saw some monkeys and one chased me when trying to take a photo. It looked a bit overcast but we decided to walk down the "Jeep Track" to the bottom. I didn't realise it was a 5k mission. After about 10 mins it began to rain, but I didn't realise how far we had left to go, so we ploughed on. After 2 hours of sporadic hiding in trees from the rain, blisters and tired legs we made it to the bottom. Han wasn't best pleased. I was slightly annoyed as quite near the top, I'd seen an old woman walking up the hill pretty quickly. I would have been crawling by that point if I'd have been walking up, not down the hill, so I made a mental note to get more exercise. That night we went to the Eastern and Oriental Restaurant and we saw Ron Weasley's mum! I took this photo whilst pretending to take a picture of Hannah's sushi - we must have seemed a very cool couple. As lame as it is to admit, I spent the whole meal feeling as if I was in some kind of an audition for a part in whatever TV or movie thing she was making so in my head I was critiquing all of my expressions. It was so hard to act natural and I'm not even a particularly big fan of hers. I made a point to look everywhere except straight at her and must have been a right idiot. Anyway the meal was nice - they did a buffet including duck. I got so much duck. To top the night off we saw some jazz in a bar. It was open mic and it was always cringey when someone came up to join the band - we both sat there judging how good we thought they'd be. After that, on Monday we went around town again. We made it our mission to see the list of art places on a tourist map we were given. We went all over town and managed to find most of them. We also found a cat cafe. You go in and eat cake and a coffee, then you go and chill out in a room full of cats. A cool idea, but the trick is that the cats are upstairs. We didn't know until we'd gone up that it was nap time and they had rules about waking the cats up. We ended up spending time with one we weren't that fussed about simply because it was the only one awake. I wish we'd have been able to cuddle the big ginger one. The last thing we did was go to somewhere called the Blue mansion. For a small fee, you got a tour around the place. Seemed like a good deal. We went in and some lady, who was a tourist like us asked if she could take a photo of us. Very weird. Quite rightly Han said no, then I spent the rest of the time trying to avoid the lady. The "tour" consisted of a lady talking in a very difficult to understand accent about the person who built the house. We stood in the waiting area listening for around 20 minutes as we waited for the tour to begin. Then we went through to a second room. The place looked cool. Then she talked for a further half hour - we both switched off - and that was about it. We were allowed upstairs but not to see any other rooms, but to see an exhibition of clothes they used to wear. I wanted it to be like Longleat and Arundel castle where you properly got in to see all the different rooms. I think it's a hotel though so they make you pay extra for that. Overall I would say it's my favourite place I've been so far. The food was lush, it is close and such a relaxed place. Will definitely be going back there! Just a short crawl to the end of the year now and then we go to Bali and home for the first time in a Year. Exciting stuff!!!

Going Mobile

So I feel like an old person just chilling out trying to work out howthe blogger app works. Will be an easier way to get photos on here.

Parents

Went to Shanghai first of all - it was pretty rubbish until we got to the wealthy part of town then it was a beast.

 The Bund was awesome - it was a little like being back in the UK. On one side of this winding river was some quite colonial looking buildings which could have been in the UK and on the other side was a collection of massive skyscrapers. One of them was not lit up but towered over the others. I read on Wikipedia that this one is going to be finished sometime next year and is going to be the second tallest building in the World. I really want to see the Burj Khalifa now as I expect that would be awesome.

 I've been up to quite a bit lately and I'l try and remember it all on here. One of the first things that happened was going to Shanghai - it was an awesome time and the kids did really well and were very well behaved.

 When I came back I was straight back into it as I volunteered to give a talk to parents about the KS1 maths curriculum - was pretty nervous but it went well.

 After all the craziness, it was lovely to see mum and Gil come over to see us. We had a wonderful time and managed to do so many things. Mum wants an itinery so (to the best of my memory here it is: Met at the airport then took them for dinner at Pelita's. Was very proud of Gil as it turned out to be pretty spicy, but he powered through it. We all enjoyed the most sugary mango juices I've ever had. We had some awesome mojitos at Souled out too.

Oh and on the way to the airport, we got a lift from a friend. It was going pretty well until the Sat nav took us down some random road. The road got smaller and smaller till it was a lane and then it told us to go straight on but there was a massive water pipe going over the road. Luckily the car was small enough and I drove and managed to sneak it under. Some friendly locals then showed us the way to the airport and we had an awkward moment as we tried to give them some money for helping us and they refused.

This was probably the day mum and Gil first discovered La Casa, a bar downstairs. Next day we went out to Fatboys burgers for a nice dinner. Gil got a Malt Stout milkshake and it was surprisingly good! I think we also went for a lush cocktail at Bens.

 On Friday we went to Chef low after school. It's a lovely little Chinese restaurant and we went with friends. We meant to order a few small dishes each for one person, but I think they brought us small dishes for 3 people as the whole table filled with our food. The people we were out with couldn't believe how much we had ordered, but in fairness to us, we polished it off nicely!

On Saturday, we went to town and mum bought some lovely shirts from Brickfields. Gil and I got a lesson all about Saris and a lot of other things, none of which I remember. The jetlag and heat stroke caught up with them a bit and we had to dive into a nearby story to grab some water.

 On Sunday we went to town again but this time went to Jalan Alor. We had a lovely dinner in one of the restaurants and again over ordered. Still managed to eat it though!

On Monday Hannah and I went out and bought a scooter. It's a red beast but we don't get it for a while because the current owner needs to be in town on a week day to sign it over to us. In the mean time the store gave us the "work bike" - a beaten up old one to ride around on. Apart from leaving the keys in the ignition when we went to go shopping (a security guard gave them to us when we came out of the shop), it has been really fun. We've gone loads of places on it and the freedom is amazing. The only problem is parking - where we park it in our condo, is next to 2 Ducatis, a Harley and a Vespa. I feel as if we bring the whole tone of the place down but oh well.

When we came back we went to Petaling street to look for bargains but every stall pretty much sells the same thing: T shirts, perfume, bags, jeans, headphones. We didn't get anything but had a lovely Sour Plum and Lime juice - a favourite of ours!

On Tuesday and Wednesday mum, Gil and I went to Malaka. We were only there a night but managed to cram a lot in. We saw a thunderstorm, got some dim sum, mum bought some street art. The highlight though was a bar we went to. The guy let some people do karaoke and he played piano or guitar to accompany. As we'd all had a few beers, with a little encouragement Gil got up and sang a wonderful song. I followed afterwards and then the bar was treated to all 3 of us blazing out the most ridiculous rendition of a Simon and Garfunkle song ever! On the way home, Gil stumbled a hotel to ask for water but was turned away by the guards. Turned out our hostel was only next door. We chose the night the roads were being re-done too so between 2am and 8am there was beeping, drilling and shouting outside mums window!

On Friday was my Birthday and we went to a lovely restaurant called Fuego. We had the most amazing food and cocktails there - and it overlooked the Petronas Towers! Hannah quickly booked it for her birthday next month it was so good! I think it was probably one of the best birthdays ever - I really felt as if I was enjoying the high life!

After that, I met up with a friend and we did a home made milkshake session. We got a ridiculous amount of chocolate bars and put them in a blender with a bit of cake, ice cream an milk. The results were amazing and we had loads of it. The only worry was when I got home my foot went numb and I worried I'd given myself diabetes. It's still here though so all is good - and we've planned round 2 soon!

For the rest of the time mum and Gil were here, we did animally things. We saw the aquarium, the bird park, butterfly park and went to Frim. All of these were amazing, I couldn't believe the range of butterflies and birds and Frim was incredible. The canopy walk feels so flimsy and is pretty high up, but I still managed to take a few photos! The bridges were made of ladders tied together with rope and with netting either side to hold on to. You have to stand a certain distance back from other people otherwise it might break. I worried if they had taken into account that I'm heavier than most people who live in Asia, but it went ok.

As mum and Gil left to go, the bar that they had been to pretty much every night came out to say goodbye. They brought out a slice of cake to say goodbye to them. They didn't bat an eye lid when Han and I went on holiday, but evidently mum and Gil had been their favourite customers. It was pretty awkward because we live there and they've never got us anything. Perhaps a few more free cake slices and I'd consider going a bit more.

After mum and Gil had gone, we were back in school. I managed to get myself a promotion! As of next Year I'll be maths subject leader which is awesome. It's a big job so I've been spending all my free time since reading maths education journals to try to regain some of the knowledge I had when I was at uni. Hopefully it will go ok!

We have the Viper Arena coming up which is a 7km run along with 12 different stations where you have to complete a task. It seems pretty tricky so we've been out running trying to get the fitness up. I also tried out some new hairstyles and found a shop with my name on it! Happy Days!

New Year

Sorry I've been rubbish at keeping up to date with blog posts - we have to do weekly ones at school and I usually put loads of photos and videos on there, then can't be bothered to do anything on my personal one after that. I haven't really taken many photos so it may be a bit of a dull one. First off I went to Hong Kong on a work trip. As I got to the passport check at KLIA2, instead of the usual lack of emotion, a security guard asked to see my passport then asked if I was a teacher. I said "Yes" and he then asked me what I taught so I told him, then he let me on his way. After this I went to the passport check point and there were a couple of middle aged attendants just chatting there. I gave over my passport and then they talked to each other in Bahasa but kept saying the word "Teacher" to each other then smiling at me. I have no idea what this was all about but I'm pretty sure being a teacher is like being a minor celebrity. Needless to say I felt like a beast. Hong Kong was pretty awesome. It was quite pricey though. I got in late on Thursday and went to the training session on Friday. Afterwards, in the spirit of being an expat and socialising, I went out for a drink with another bloke from the course. It turned out he was seeing a friend who lived in Hong Kong so I was in effect gatecrashing their catch up. I just smiled politely and made the most of the cider that is on sale in Hong Kong. We wandered round for a bit and I couldn't believe how clean and expensive everything looked. It looked like a great place to live, although there were quite a few seedy looking bars with middle aged white men being quite loud and drunk. It's pretty funny watching them try to flirt with locals but a bit sad too. Hannah turned up at 11pm and we went for a night out on the Friday. We found a place called Soho and went to a few bars. We randomly went into what we thought was a club and it turned out there was a pole dancing show. It wasn't particularly great, but some of the guys there were going a bit mental to see it. The music was good though and it was nice to be able to drink proper cider for a change. The next day we saw Jane and Evie (Hannah's aunt and cousin) and had a lovely time. They live on a boat so it was pretty cool staying there and they live in a lovely area just outside of Hong Kong Island. I couldn't believe how nice everyone was there, kids were just playing in the street without any worry and when a girl fell off her bike, people actually helped which was nice. The next few weeks at school were pretty non eventful (I'll try and do more regular posts as I'm sure stuff happened, I just can't remember it now). The big event though was when Hannah's parents came out to visit. It was lovely seeing Alan and Elma and in the first couple of days we showed them a few good local places to eat. After that we went to Langkawi for 4 days. We stayed in a lovely place called Frangipani. We didn't realise that it was actually Valentines day on the day we arrived. As it turned out, we had a lovely evening, although wasn't all that romantic. After dinner with my in-laws we went back to the room and got into our twin beds with an adjoining door to Hannah's parents' room. Not the most romantic Valentines day I've ever had but it was a lot of fun! We mainly just chilled out on the beach and as you can see from the photos had some fun getting photos from the setting sun. It was beautiful and the water was pretty warm. After a bit we headed up to the cable car which took us to the top of a hill. It was terrifying as it got really steep towards the end, but we went with a tour guide and he was brilliant. He showed us all the different types of tree, animal and plant growing in the forest as well as teaching us about some black magic and superstitions. Highlights of the tour included seeing a sleeping bat, a sleeping frog and the skin of a grasshopper like thing. We also went on the sky bridge which is a curved suspension bridge with views over Thailand. It was awesome so we did a little dance on there, because I had set the children in my class a homework task to learn a dance we are doing for our school play - Hannah, Elma and I led by example http://youtu.be/hqNaGxi7edw . You could see through the floor of the bridge in some places because it was glass. This terrified me but I went and had a look through all the same! After this amazing trip, we got entry into a cinema inside a dome. I was expecting a planetarium style thing or something but instead it was the most bizarre experience I've had in Malaysia yet. It was a virtual rollercoaster set on Mars, only the seats didn't move or anything. What made it though was the fact that some of the audience were screaming as if we were moving. Idiots. Anyway after that we went on our way. The holiday manly consisted of amazing food, trying to follow the map to tourist places which were not sign posted at all and swimming on the beach. It was good fun and I even got to swim in a waterfall! I rediscovered my love of table tennis and spent an afternoon playing that. We ate in a lovely restaurant called "Fat Cupid" which seemed pretty British tucked away from the main road with a lovely lawn and swimming pool. We had dinner on their sister restaurant "Sugar" which was right on the beach. Trying to not come across too much like an alcoholic, I resisted the urge to make the most of the duty free and we then went back to KL. The taxi ride back from the airport was terrifying as our driver skidded around, but thankfully we did get back safely. We had a lovely few days back there with Hannah's parents and we took them to my favourite burger place, "Fatboy's Burgers". It is probably the place we have eaten at most and it is lush - you can make your own burger and everything! We said goodbye to Alan and Elma then enjoyed a lazy couple of days before school started again. Finally, last night I went to a Karaoke evening in a proper Karaoke venue. It was amazing but bizarre. The place was in a shopping mall, next to an indoor rollercoaster. We went in this little room and they had a tv, 4 mics and lots of choices of song. There was an interesting/suspicious £1 all yo can eat buffet and a good amount of beer. It was fun singing along and I managed to beast out a version of "Perfect Gentleman" by Wyclef. That's pretty much it, I'm off to Shanghai next week on a school trip which should be fun. I'll try and take some photos and do a little post about it in a couple of weeks time!