Bukit Subang Hash

Yesterday was the only hash run that I managed to fit in on this trip, as I seemed to be out of town on most of the other weekends. Anyway, it was a good opportunity to meet up with some old friends again for a beer or two after the obligatory 10k run through the jungle. As usual, the event was followed by a particularly good Chinese meal at a nearby restaurant, before some of us head off to the Backyard pub for some live music to round off the evening.

Now for a sport packed evening, watching the European Grand Prix, then England getting kicked out of the World Cup by Germany! I am told that there is also some tennis tournament going on back in England, but that does not seem to feature much here in Asia.

Eating out in KL

I can't think why I never did a blog entry on eating out in KL during my last trip here, considering it is the number one pastime for most Malays. Its easy to see why as Malaysia (and Singapore) has arguably the widest selection of international cuisines at ridiculously low prices, compared to what we are used to in Europe anyway.

Normally when looking for a cheap and tasty meal, I will head for Jalan Alor, otherwise known as food street. This is full of Chinese and Thai restaurants, end to end, each with a slightly different take on Asian cooking. These restaurants are so popular that the dining takes over half the road, making it difficult for traffic to get though. You can get a good meal and a beer for the equivalent of about £5 a head.

KL also contains great examples of Indian and Western cooking, but it proved surprisingly difficult to find a good restaurant serving traditional Malay food. I can name at least three good Malay restaurants in London, but until recently, only knew of one in KL and that is way out in the suburbs. Anyway, after a bit of research I located one which looked promising, Bijan, so Alison and I decided to check it out. It turned out to be a good choice. Although rather full on the night we went there, they managed to find us a table, the service was excellent. The food was also very good, if somewhat too much for us. Highly recommended.

Meanwhile, back to Jalan Alor, where I had another good meal last night followed by a drink in one of the many bars nearby, watching England scrape through into the knockout stages of the World Cup.

Langkawi, Malaysia

From Langkawi 2010

I am writing this blog on my iPad, lying by the pool at the Bon Ton resort in Langkawi. This is the second holiday I have had here, the first time being four years ago. Langkawi is not a particularly attractive island, being rather overrun with large resort hotels. However, Bon Ton provides an oasis of quiet sophistication in the middle of this touristy destination. It's main feature is the accommodation, which consists of eight traditional wooden Malay buildings that have been dismantled and transported from their original locations in various villages throughout Malaysia, to be rebuilt here in Langkawi. They are all furnished with traditional Malay hardwood furniture, but have been fitted out with modern appliances such as water heaters and air con. The end result is attractive individual rooms of character, with the luxuries of modern life.

We decided not to bother with tedious trips to the islands various tourist spots, and instead concentrated on serious lazing by the pool, followed by sunset cocktails and the excellent cooking of the Bon Ton restaurant, which is reputedly the best on the island and also has the distinction of serving the world's best mash potato (according to Radio 4 presenters, and me).

On the subject of the iPad, I originally bought this thinking it must come in useful somewhere, sometime. It turns out that the killer app, for me at least, is the new downloadable version of The Times. Being able to download and read the paper whilst abroad is almost worth the price of the iPad on its own. Also turns out to be a great platform for playing Scrabble!

Tioman Island

From Tioman

Just got back from a three day mini-holiday to Tioman Island, which is located off the Eastern coast of peninsular Malaysia. No phone or internet coverage where we were staying so this is my first opportunity to blog for nearly four days. We could not get accommodation at our preferred resort, Bagus Place Retreat, for the first night of our trip so had to stay at another much inferior place towards the North end of the island. Once we got there, Bagus Place turned out to be as good as advertised on their website, with delightful individualistic accommodation, catering for a maximum of five parties. We were staying in the Boat House, which as you can see, was built in the style of a boat, inside and out. Add to that good food, friendly staff, beautiful beach and warm sea, and this adds up to pretty much the ideal get-away-from-it-all holiday.

I had originally chosen Tioman because it is supposed to have some of the best scuba diving sites in Malaysia. In the end, we decided not to go diving because of the limited time we had on the island. Instead, we went snorkeling off the end of the Bagus Place jetty. There was some interesting coral to be seen, but the visibility was rather poor so not ideal condition. The most entertaining spectacle was seeing shoals of small fish swimming in the shallows and being chased by a pack of reef sharks.

Today we had a rather wet boat ride through choppy seas to the airport at Tekek, before catching our short flight back to KL.

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KL House Swap

I am now installed in KL, in the home of Gordon and Marinella, which is located in the diplomatic quarter of the city (Gordon used to be in the diplomatic service). The in turn are now living in my humble apartment in Brentford. I think I have probably come out best out of that deal, but then a surprising number of people from all around the world do seem to want to stay in Brentford, so perhaps its not that bad after all. I have not done anything particularly interesting this week, just working in my new home and the occasional trip into town for an evening meal. Tomorrow I'm off to the airport to pick up Alison, who is flying in for a week or so holiday with me in Malaysia.

Khon Kaen

From Khon Kaen 2010

I am coming to the end of a long weekend staying in Khon Kaen with friends David and Anne, or more accurately, in a small village outside the city. Apparently the Khon Kaen Town Hall was burned down by the Red Shirts during the country-wide rioting last week, but no sign of that when I was in town on Saturday.

The village life here is all very slow paced, which is perhaps as well in view of the heat at this time of the year. Not much to do except watch the world go by over a Singha beer (which is brewed just down the road). The weekend highlight for most farangs is a trip to Home Space and Index, the Thai equivalent of Homebase or Ikea. You can tel the extent of the western influence in this part of Thailand by the roaring trade they do in electrical extension leads with square pin sockets!

Time now for the 6 hour coach journey back to Bangkok and then on to KL.

Bangkok, from the frontline

From Bangkok 2010

With the business part of this trip just about finished, I decided to have a quick tour around some of the hot spots featured in the recent Red Shirt confrontation. First stop, my HSBC branch on Rama IV road, until recently closed because of the blockade. Luckily still standing and unscathed, so I was able to pick up my new PIN and use my card again. Then on to the Skytrain at Silom, site of a grenade attack a few weeks ago. Two stops along the line to Siam Square, and the heart of the Red Shirt sit-in. Lots of malls gutted, including the massive Central World Plaza, as featured on the news last week. But still masses of shopping opportunities in the area and very much business as usual. Apart from the burnt out buildings, no sign of the recent troubles. All the street barricades have been swept away, and Wat Pathum Wanaram, site of a number of shootings, all looks serene again.

Let's hope they hold new elections soon to avoid this ever happening again.

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