fuchsia fragments

Not my kind of weekend and not to mention that the tickets for a less than 48 hours trip was so expensive! It's school holidays and I couldn't even pick the airline I wanted to fly! Still no need to fly AirAsia though... phew... actually, I would probably just not have bothered going. Only reason I went for cause I have a friend doing the Asia tour before going home.

So KL: the dirtier, cheaper, nastier version of Singapore. 

No, really. I said it to my colleague last week and he wholeheartedly agreed. Why so many people want to travel there is beyond me (us).

What did we do? Oh, not much cause no one planned anything and someone complained about the heat a lot.

So we walked in the middle of the day when it was the hottest (around 39 degrees) for almost an hour to get to this durian place (I don't eat durian, but I guess you could say it wasn't totally a waste because I managed to pick up one or two souvenirs for people). Here's the photographic proof:


Apparently there's a lot of varieties - sweet, bitter, expensive, cheaper. It's not durian season by the way and they literally sold nothing but durians (and coconuts which I wasn't going to try since I dunno where that knife has been. It had like rust growing on it. I think I'd rather dehydrate). OMG is it supposed to be an attraction?

We also went to a famous Nasi Lemak place - The Village Restaurant or something - which was an uber outside of the city centre. It was okay but again, super busy, super hot. Worth a try. And it's a good thing uber is cheap because their public transport system doesn't work so well.

Nasi Lemak followed by durian followed by rain so we went back to the hotel and the adjoining shopping centre. Went to Jalan Alor for dinner and drinks and I'm glad I suggested it cause it could have turned out to be a sorry evening. The street is always fun and the food we had was decent: stingray, satay, coconuts, fried noodles, coconut ice cream... yummo.

Back to hotel to sleep... a lot...

Sunday... pretty wasteful day. Morning in Chinatown which was nice to see all the food vendors. Wish i tried to Cheong Fun and Congee. But did get to try the egg tarts and soy bean milk which was bang on. We had lunch or brunch at the Old Town Cafe. Very old school inside and had some good Malay chinese dishses. Then it was back to the mall to waste the rest of the afternoon until my flight. Yeah, why did I spend over $300 for plane tickets when I could have done the same thing in SG? *feeling cynical*

Arriving at 5 AM has its advantages such as no traffic in the morning and being able to rest for a few hours and freshen up before the new day. I certainly think red-eye flights are the better ways to go as it saves a potentially a day and if you are travelling, that's potentially one night's accommodation you save. The jetlag is another story but I've been getting use to working to my bones up to the time that I travel that it's not overly difficult to catch a few z's when flying. It doesn't mean I don't have jetlag though but it beats being bored for hours on end. This is the third flight in a row where I have not watched any of the entertainment on-board and declined meals/drinks - maybe I could do the whole budget traveller thing?

So I've gotten through week 1 - settled into my apartment. Got some essentials and realised as I was unpacking that I didn't actually pack as much as I had thought. Excellent news, means I can shop more! Here's the part where I hope the Aussie dollar starts making up its lost ground and fast.

This week has been about meeting the team again and I can already sense a firmer barrier between us that last time. I know that they are shutting me out. However, everyone is telling me to let it go for now and that I should plan lunches instead. So I have been!

I've already managed to secure two harder-to-find bottles of whiskey (Yamazaki 12 & Hibiki 17) so that is a major item off my list. Can't wait to try it. No good wine in Japan means I am learning to drink whiskey. It's not so bad as I am starting off with like 1 part whiskey to 10 parts ginger ale. I happen to like ginger ale. But bad whiskey is well... really bad. My sister is planning to visit in March and I'm wondering if we will have time / want to go and visit the Nikka distillery in Yoishi.

I visited Yokohama on the weekend. It rained out so was a bit boring. Also, the Chinatown isn't as cool as the ones in San Fran or New York. It probably doesn't even stack up to Sydney. It was all about the buns and Shanghai dumplings it seemed and very tourist orientated. I walked into one of the Asian grocery stores and it was really only selling snacks and drinks and a few dry goods. A little bit disappointing. One thing I really wish I'd brought with me is a jar of mum's chilli!!!


I'm not liking the current season's clothes at Zara or H&M or Uniqlo so haven't stuck into the shopping yet. May go and venture out on the weekend. My colleagues tell me it is outlet sale time... I kind of need to get paid first...! Can't bankroll myself forever.

Have already tried a few interesting things in the supermarket. I bought what I thought was fish cake which turned out to be this rice or tofu cake thing. Wasn't particularly pleasant. And then this is my bad as I should have known when it said 700g but still stupidly thought it was milk when it was drinking yoghurt. At least with the yoghurt, I can pour that over my granola!

Generally and especially with the exchange rate, I am finding most things expensive. Except alcohol as you'd expect as they don't have additional taxes etc. But fresh fruit, veg and meat will cost you $$$. Their strawberries are AMAZING though. Got a couple of familiar faces in the office with me this week so should be an interesting week. We have a team dinner tomorrow and then I'm off to Japanese Language school on Thursday evening!

I got an email from my mastercard provider the other day. They're introducing the new paytag thing which eliminates the use of a credit card. And you get to have the app on your phone and access your account at anytime. Convenience much? Not to mention all the bonuses they are trying to throw at me because I no longer use the card. But it has made my will stronger to cancel my Visa in the new year. Because I don't need it and I shouldn't have to pay a few hundred dollars a year for "platinum membership". My two fee-free cards do just fine. So does the line of credit.

In other news, I tried the relatively new Waitan restaurant in Chinatown yesterday. It was really nice! Really nice for a $10 million fit out... ridiculous much? Who has that kind of money? I was actually expecting it to be really high-end, uptight and downright expensive. It was none of that but sort of feels like Spice Temple but more Chinese, discrete service, above average dishes and a modest price tag. In short, I'd go again. Especially because we only had 3 dishes: the smoked fish, mushrooms and english spinach and seafood hor fun (special order as we didn't want crispy noodles). Perhaps it was a quiet evening and so the standards were higher, but I was quietly impressed by the place and the decor. A far cry from Golden Century next door...

I've also discovered that since starting this fruit, veg and the occasional seafood diet that I find meat to have a really strong flavour. Had a little bit of beef tonight in mum's curry and it was so... beefy. I think i'm beginning to understand when people can't handle the 'smell' of certain meats... and my stomach is not thanking me for it just yet... it is doing just fine with all the iron and red meat! Feeling good!