fuchsia fragments: holiday

Hiatus in Malaysia!

11/02/2016 11:30:00 pm

As with everything, it was a bit of a mad rush before I jetsetted off again... this time for a long time. I had gotten sick a few days before too which really sucked! So juggling work and packing and being ready kind of fell into a blur.

But before Singapore came a week in Malaysia! And it has been one of the most fun weeks EVER! What a great travel bunch we made - a group of core 6 doing KL, Langkawi and Penang. 6 is the perfect number for uber XL, water rides and hanging out in general. Everyone was so accomodating and laid-back... so chillax and what I needed. It was pretty muggy but the weather wasn't as hot as I anticipated so that was even better.

Sadly, did fall ill one of the days in Langkawi. After a 4 hour solid bike tour (and I mean a solid ride) that involved a few hiccups - bloodied hands, dodgy coconut water, flat tyre - I think I came down with a bit of food poisoning. In a stroke of good (or bad) luck, we misread the kayak tour time and missed our pick up. And it was all for the better for me because I was stuck in the hotel room most of the day. Managed to go for a very nice hot stone massage but the rest of the day was pretty blurry... stumbling to the toilet and passing out in bed. But the time that I spent to recover really helped to get me back on track as I was pretty normal the next day. Charcoal tablets and hydralyte helped. Another awesome thing about this bunch: Alex is a nurse and everyone was carrying all sorts of drugs to make sure we weren't down for too long.

Did some things I wouldn't usually have on my own itinerary. Funnily enough, the waterpark was super fun. The guided tour of an old chinese mansion in Penang was strangely educational and taking huge risks at all the hawker centres and roadside stalls was well... daring. I did always remember not to eat any cut fruit or veg though - words straight out of my Malaysian doctor's mouth. Gonna take that as gospel...

A lot of places were 'whelming' - not over, not under, just whelm. A lot of the food was much the same. Chendol, nice but can live without. Assam laksa, different but kind of fishy. Kway Teoh, I think I like the Chinese version more. Fresh coconuts... gimme more!!!

Would consider going back... things are so cheap (based on an Australian income so things are pretty much one third of the price in Australia), they speak English, the food is different and there are so many activities. You can do as little or as much as you want. Experience as much or as little of the culture you feel like. Ubers are super cheap and you can pay cash. Tons of shopping.

Now that home base is Singapore, I can't wait to see the rest of SEA.

big island

The Food

2/15/2015 04:18:00 pm

america

Hawaiian Island Adventures

2/15/2015 04:10:00 pm

A trip of a lifetime in many ways... but aren't all holidays something special? It was my first (perhaps, my only) trip with my sister and my sister only. It was awesome. No tantrums and only minor disagreements. Who would have thought?

The first half of the trip was spent on the island called Hawai'i, nicknamed the Big Island so as not to confuse everyone with the Hawaiian Islands in general. It was the island of adventure and loads of papayas, rambutan and other exotic fruits.

We got straight into in the next morning. Bright-eyed and getting up at 6 AM for a kayak/snorkel tour at probably the BEST snorkelling location on the Big Island: Captain Cook's Monument. You have to paddle about 2 km there and back. It's an easy paddle but with everything surrounding you (i.e. OPEN water, who knows WHAT ELSE is in the water), it can be a little bit scary. We were in a group of 6 plus an awesome guide. Cute too. :P

Snorkelling was the best fun. Who would have known that fish swim so close to shore or there are so so many yellow tangs around. Had a bit of a walk around the monument where Captain Cook fell. He had an altercation with the local people and was caught in a fight. As he couldn't swim, he was unable to make it back to his boat and died. True story.

It made for the best start to our holiday and made us want to snorkel more. We visited Two Step the next day but the waves and current were quite strong there. It didn't stop the masses of people visiting this beach. We went over towards the beach and went snorkelling there instead. A lot easier. The waters here weren't as clear as the day before but still beautiful. We dried off and went for a short walk around the wave damaged historic park which was a place of refuge. A lot of the attractions were closed due to recent wave damage.

We also visited a couple of coffee plantations and did a coffee tour. Very educational and I now appreciate coffee even more than I did before. Even if I disagree with the way coffee is brewed in Hawaii. Plunger vs machine?

On the fourth day, we drove from one side of the island to the other (it's not that far) and stopped along a couple of noteworthy attractions like the Waipio Valley and Akaka falls. Both beautiful and breathtaking. So was our impromptu picnic lunch of chicken, salad and milk shared with the stray cat sitting on the picnic benches outside the National Park. Scavenger! Lucky we had lots to share.

There were two main attractions on the east side of the island we wanted to see. The first was stargazing at Mauna Kea Observatory. Unfortunately for us, it was very very very very windy and dangerous the evening that we went so no telescopes were rolled out for viewing. We did see some stars with our naked eye but without the telescopes and due to the dust the wind picked up, there wasn't much else we could see so made the slow descent back to the hotel to watch Chicago PD instead!

The second was the volcano. AMAZING day. I didn't think we needed to spend a whole day there but we got there around midday and we spent a good 7 or 8 hours there. We had chips, jerky, bread and water and we were set! We did a 3 km round trip in the scorching sun to see lava artwork. We walked to the edge of the park to see where the volcanic lava turned into lava rock and created a sea arch. We walked a trail of destruction to see the devastation of lava flow. We went through a lava tube which is a bit like a save. And we stayed till dark to see the glow of the active volcano that had erupted last year.

It was goodbye to the Big Island and hello shopping and tourist strip on O'ahu and Waikiki. It was the right decision to stay on the strip. Worth being close to the action. We were up in a high floor so the noise was minimised and this was important on Saturday night when the area turns into nightclub-esqe feel. Loud music, screaming, doof doof. Ew.

We did equal parts activities and shopping. And some beach time too. Some things you can't do in Australia. Like ATV riding. Insurance in Australia wouldn't have allowed to us to do something like this. It was pretty cool to ride around the trails where Jurassic Park was filmed.

We also visited the Palace and some famous statues of their royalty. We had yum cha in Chinatown which wasn't anywhere near as good as Sydney's. In fact, the food was average in comparison. Not much fresh meat and veg. The sashimi products weren't nearly as fresh as ours and hence, we ate it once and decided not to again (read between the lines!).

We were so lucky with shopping - additional discounts and shopping events, etc. Some things were still pretty expensive. We weren't so lucky sightseeing with no barrel waves on the North Shore, no stars at Mauna Kea, wave damage to some of the National Parks, etc.

And the funniest thing was the day that we were leaving. I thought our flight was at 10 am. But it was at 9. We got to the airport at 8 AM and we were thinking, oh we're so early! And then we see the crew check in and we're like.. oh... they're here so early too!! Then, the girl at the counter told us boarding started at 8:45. err... what?! We still had to go through customs and walk across the terminal to our gate on the other side!!! But we made it... phew... and it was refreshing to hear Australian accents and be comforted in the knowledge that we were on our way home.

aeroplane

Flight time: 10 hours

2/02/2015 04:28:00 pm

It's rare that we take a red eye flight out of Sydney. It was a very stress-free experience. The airport was quiet on a Sunday afternoon, we got tickets straight away and we had plenty of time to stroll and look at the shops and think about what alcohol we wanted to buy upon reentry into Australia. It was great!

First purchase of the holidays: 2 for $20 Korjo neck pillows. It also allowed me to check if my Visa Debit works. It does. Phew.

It was a good 10 minute slow walk to our gate on the other side of the terminal but we did not mind at all. Looked at new, super light suitcases, ate maccas and had a couple of toilet breaks. And got the upgrade at the gate. Yes!!!

The flight time was just under 10 hours and it didn't feel like that at all. As usual, the dinner service was quite slow although I was very impressed by the crew. Older crew but very friendly and chatty. I think the whole second half of the business cabin was staff. Lol.

Didn't get much sleep. Maybe 3 hours. The beds don't lie flat and this fligh was particularly hot and the cabin was particularly dry.

Lamb was on the menu and I avoided it like the plague. Funny thing though was that it was the most popular dish. I opted for the fish instead which was a bit fishy. And I didn't really like it with potatoes and sour cabbage. A bit strange. And my tomato soup was sour too. As we were chatting to the hostess, we found out that they are now serving Pepe Saya butter and Brasserie Bread. My buttermilk pancakes for breakfast was much better than dinner although still lacking...hmm.

We arrived pretty much on time to an open air terminal. Everyone is so laid back and relaxed. The walk to the interisland terminal took no more than a few minutes and the check in to the big Island was simple which meant we had plenty of time before our next flight. Better early than late.

Again, arrival into an open air terminal. We hopped on a shuttle bus to pick up our hire car and was pleasantly surprised when we were told we could choose the car we wanted. We picked the Hyundai Accent over the Nissan Versa because it had a real boot and it was a sedan (safer). Would have been happy with either car. Very low miles and a pretty easy drive.

We got to check in around 1 pm at our resort. It's okay. There's not a huge range of hotels on this island. So its either average or fork out a lot for luxury. I think we'll save luxury for last.

We went for a walk to the small farmer's market. Pretty sure we got ripped with the fresh drinking coconut. And the ABC store was selling water for cheaper than the shop. Boo!!! Lucky only bought one bottle. We picked up papayas, passionfruit and rambutans. Was contemplating a pineapple but thought my little swiss knife probably wouldn't be able to cut it up. :(

Sat by the pool / ocean for a couple of hours and napped before an early dinner. We ate Subway cause it was cheap. We're finding things really expensive on this island. Expensive and/or full of sugar. Not cool!!! Had to resort to buying cup noodles for breakfast cause the bread was all with sweet filling and overpriced!

hawaii

We're going to

1/19/2015 08:06:00 pm

beach

Margaret River, check!

10/08/2014 10:09:00 pm

holiday

My mid-year trip

8/08/2014 09:53:00 pm

10 days, perfect length but wasn't on my list. At times wanted it to be shorter and at times longer but it was enough for 2 countries, modest shopping trips and time to eat up, sleep in and recharge.

Starting off with a rainy morning on HK Island and brunch with this gorgeous girl. Can't comment positively on the food or coffee but I could have been eating chalk and cheese and still be grinning! Miss her so much but rumor has it... that she may be back in October...

Was also the weekend of shopping up and getting those things I really wanted. Wasn't much but at least I wasn't going to go home empty handed!

Monday, we got on a plane to Taipei for some sightseeing and eating. It was so hot and humid and I am grateful that a lot of the places were close to the Metro station and not too far of a walk in the sun and heat. Din Tai Fung was good but I don't think it was exceptional. There's definitely something special about visiting the very first restaurant but I think the quality of food in Sydney is so good in general that it takes a lot to impress (cue degustations at Tetsuyas, Sepia, Quay, etc). I can have xiao long bao, pearl milk tea and hot star fried chicken here. Costs a lot more but its not so bad.

I did really appreciate the white milk pineapple, the super ginormous mangoes and especially the white bittermelon juice. The stinky tofu and oyster omelettes were nice to try... but not an everyday food.

We visited Longshan Temple at sunset and the nuns (?) were in the middle of evening recitals (prayers?). Bought some beautiful flowers from a lady on the corner as a small offering.

Night markets! Loads of yummy street food and exotic fruit, fried chicken, strawberries dipped in toffee, oyster omelettes, big sausage in little sausage, stinky tofu, noodles, mochi, pancakes, etc etc. They even have little theme park / arcade games for those who don't want to eat?

Fisherman's Wharf and Lover's Bridge. This was pretty boring. I think also because it was a weekday and it was so warm. We walked across the bridge and visited the few shops that were open. Not very exciting.

Taipei 101. The most famous landmark in Taipei and can be seen from almost every place in Taipei. I have to say that the food, supermarket and shops inside the building were a lot more interesting that the building itself! It houses residences, offices, high-end retailers, parking, a food court, an awesome supermarket and of course the observatory deck for those wanting to be overcharged and going up a lift to see the city from the top floor (actually, I don't think its the top top floor).

National Palace Musuem. Same name as the one in China but with the extra "National" in the front. Have to say, a lot of these "treasures" were smuggled / shipped / stolen from the Mainland? The most famous pieces being a jadeite Chinese Cabbage and a piece of rock in the shape of Pork Belly. Confused? Yeah, so am I. We had a lovely afternoon here even though it was quite crowded. Felt like I was learning a little bit of Taiwan's history (I wasn't really) and we missed the bus so we had to wait 40 minutes for the next one.

Shenkeng Old Street aka, Tofu Street. Everything sold sans a couple of tourist traps was tofu. Ice cream, mochi, fried, frozen, steamed, boiled, etc etc. We tried the ice cream and tofu fa with shaved ice, brown sugar, red beans and barley. It was a good lunch!

I'm glad we got back the time we did - both back to HK and then subsequently back home. We missed the explosion in Taiwan by a day. Missed ebola (not that we were at risk) as it became known that it was more severe and managed to dodge the two typhoons that were circulating rather close to HK.

Luckier so that we were able to get on a direct flight to Sydney on Saturday evening. I am so thankful to be home. HK is one of those places I love in small doses. Once the shopping is complete and the food is eaten then I kind of get over the pollution and the people and the humidity.

Until October...

bbq

Recent Posts

fuchsia fragments

Hiatus in Malaysia!

The Food

Hawaiian Island Adventures

Flight time: 10 hours

We're going to

Margaret River, check!

My mid-year trip

can see the finish line?

New beginning tomorrow!

Homeward B-Bound!

The string of bad luck continues with hotels...

Tour Group Notes

hello

About me

recent posts

Blog Archive

their two cents

Instagram