Cambridge

I had originally only planned to spend only an hour or two in Cambridge, picking up Adam and his stuff, and having a quick pub lunch. Once we were sitting in the sunshine enjoying our beer, it seemed like a good idea to make the best of the perfect weather by taking a punt up the river. Adam had become quite proficient with his punting technique (sign of too much leisure time?) and had also leaned much of the patter that the professional punters use with tourists, so I was treated to a potted history of the main Cambridge river landmarks. I also took my turn on the pole and managed OK, only once nearly falling in when the pole got stuck in the mud. A very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

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Bangkok again

Some time to kill on my last day in Bangkok before flying home, so visited Lumpini Park - one of the few green areas in the city. Very tranquil, but lots of iguanas on the prowl, so I would not want to go to sleep on the grass for too long. Not sure if they eat tourists.

Diving in Phuket (not)

I am currently staying in Phuket, where I was planning to do some more diving. Unfortunately much of Thailand is currently suffering from typhoon winds, and diving has been suspended for at least the next 2-3 days. I am thinking of upping and heading over to the gulf coast were the conditions are apparently slightly better. Meanwhile I have been making the most of the enforced idleness by working on the paper that I will be presenting at the cosmology conference in Seattle this September. The abstract is all done now. Just have to get the results to tie up with my predicitions!

To fill in time today, I took a taxi to the south of Phuket where they are constructing a massive Buddha statue. Still work in progress, but should be impressive when finished.

Property in KL

I have spent most of the past two days looking at condos in the KL area, to assess what would be the best investment opportunities and/or somewhere I might actually want to live. First impressions are that, not surprisingly, you get a lot more for your money in KL than in even a relatively low cost area of Greater London like Brentford. I would estimate that prices are roughly 1/3 of the West London equivalent. The internal build quality is excellent, although the exteriors tend to be unimaginative concrete slabs. The communal amenities are also very comprehensive, usually including swimming pool, gym, sauna, tennis and swash courts, etc. One downside is that you need to own a car wherever you are located as public transport to the suburbs is nonexistent. All of the expats I have talked to say that they have found it very easy to settle in to KL and now consider it as home. We shall see.

A Day at the Races

I have never been to a race meeting before in my life, but yesterday I was persuaded to join my host John and his Chinese girl friend for a day out at the Selangor Turf Club. We kicked off with an excellent Dim Sum lunch at a totally over-the-top Chinese hotel next to the race track. Then on to the main event. John and I were literally the only two Westerners in a sea of Chinese men, all glued to the betting screens in the stadium. Many of them never even ventured outside to see the race itself, preferring to get their information from the TV feeds. Apparently there are no external bookmaker shops outside the race track so this is the only place they can indulge (unlike Brentford where there are at least three betting shops on the High Street). I managed to pick the second place horse in 2 out of 3 races, but had bet to win, so no luck for me. John managed somewhat better being reasonably well informed about these things, and managed to win on one of his races at quite good odds, so that paid for the beers and a bit more for the whole party. All in all, quite an enjoyable day out, but I don’t think I will be doing it again in a hurry.

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Hash day

Yesterday was Hash day. If you are not familiar with the concept, the Hash is a sort of drinking club for expats with a bit or running thrown in. The original Hash House Harriers (Hash House was a local KL eating place) was in fact established in Malaysia back in 1938 by the British, of course. It has since expanded to become a worldwide institution, with thousands of local hashes in every country where you have expats working, i.e. most. John runs with the Petaling Hash, which is one of several in the KL area, and I was expected to join him on this occasion as his guest. I had in fact one this once before with John so knew what to expect.
The run itself was less of a run than a gruelling jungle trek, at not more than walking pace for most of the time. The first half was virtually all uphill though dense tropical jungle. It was interesting to pass though the old rubber plantations, now mostly disused I think, and see the latex collection cups on the trees. Totally exhausting for me at least, being unused to exercise in this sort of humidity. The downhill half was less tiring but required a different skill set to mange descending a steep muddy slope. My vine swinging technique became quite good by the end of the descent.
The après run part of the Hash consists of various drinking routines and ritual humiliation of random participants for infringement of some rule or other. All good fun if you like that sort of thing. The Hash actually serves several purposes: it is a business networking opportunity – many job offers are made as a result of Hash contacts. It is a social club, and it is a dating agency, with about 40% of the participants being local Chinese and Malay women looking for a rich western husband. This all makes for an entertaining evening out.

No pictures of the Hash (I may get my GPS track on line sometime if I can work out how). Instead, here are some pictures of artwork in John’s apartment, which is furnished in an exceedingly minimalist style. The living room looks much more like an art gallery with the walls covered in Daliesque paintings from two local artists that he patronises.

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Kuala Lumpur

I flew into KL yesterday, from Bangkok. Some problem getting a taxi at the airport as they tried to charge me 700 MYR for the journey to Damansara, where I was supposed to be staying (should be about 75 MYR). In the end, I took the bus to KL Sentral (8 MYR), as I could not get any sense form the taxi booking people, then took a taxi from KL to Damansara (only 25 MYR).

I am stating with John, a friend from work (Azure), who lives in splendid duplex condo in this residential area a few miles outside the centre of KL.

I had a look round another new condo development which is going up next to John's block. All very luxurious and at a ridiculously low price compared to London.

Last night he took me for 'quick drink' in town which ended up in the excellent The Duke blues bar. We did not get home until after 4:00 am. (Sorry, late nigh photos did not work too well!)

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More Koh Chang diving

Today’s dive outing was to much the same location as the previous trip; in this case, a small island called Koh Tong Lang. Conditions were good and there was reasonably visibility for most of the dive. We swam over some spectacular coral gardens; certainly the best I have seen in Thailand, and we saw a fair amount of marine life, including a couple of moray eels. I managed to get some passable pictures, although I don’t think my camera or technique does justice to the real life colours that are out there.

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Exploring Koh Chang

Today was spent exploring the interior of Koh Chang. Koh Chang means ‘Elephant Island’ in Thai, so naturally, I had to see some elephants while staying here. There are several elephant trekking operations on the island, so plenty to choose from. However, having tried something similar elsewhere in Thailand on a previous holiday, I was in no hurry to repeat the experience. Getting around on an elephant’s back has to be one of the most uncomfortable ways of travelling yet invented. I compromised by visiting one of the elephant stables and paying to feed the animals and have my photo taken.
My main expedition for the day was a mini-trek into the centre of the island. Most of the interior of Koh Chang is National Park, consisting of dense tropical rainforest covering some quite substantial peaks. I decided to visit the nearby Klong Plu waterfall, which is on one of several rivers that carry the rain away form the centre of the island. This involved a relatively short uphill walk along a path through the rainforest, which eventual lead to the falls. Luckily there had already been quite a lot of rain at the start of the rainy season, so the water flow in the falls was reasonably impressive. I took the opportunity for a swim in the pool at the base of the falls, which was refreshing after the jungle track, and surprisingly, not too cold.
In the evening I visited another of the restaurants on the river opposite my guesthouse. After the meal, the boatman took me a short distance up the creek to show me the firefly display that takes place every evening on a particular tree next to the river.

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Diving in Koh Chang

Today I went on my first diving expedition in Koh Chang. All the dive boats and ferries to the outlying islands depart from the port of Bang Bao, which is on the southern tip of Koh Chang. This is a somewhat unusual place in that the entire village, including shops, houses, etc, is built on a series of interlinked piers over the sea, rather like a Thai version of Venice. The dive boat took us on the one and a half hour journey to Koh Rang Yai, which is one of the uninhabited islands in the Koh Chang archipelago. The diving itself was good, if not spectacular. The coral is generally in very good condition, although the marine life seemed to be less varied than on the Andaman coast of Thailand. The final dive of the day took place in a major tropical thunderstorm, which reduced the underwater visibility, but did not make us any wetter.

In the evening I went to Ka Ti (means Coconut in Thai), a local restaurant recommended by the guesthouse owner. This is also a Thai cookery school during the day and is reputed to serve the best Thai food on the island. Based on my experience, I would say it is possibly the best in Thailand. Their Thai KaTi curry has to be experienced to be believed.

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