Pasar Malam

One of the best things about having our own transport in KL is being able to explore some more of the backstreets. Last week we went across to SS2 on Monday evening which the night that they hold a pasar Malam. We had been told that this is a good night market to go to. And we were not let down.

The dumplings from this lady are absolutely divine

The fish arrives fresh and looks very edible.

As you can see it is not all from the fish farm either.

NZ apples ? These were cheap and they taste better than any we ever bought in the supermarkets back home.

When we returned home we had our own Makan!

Of course, we sat out on the balcony and watched yet another glorious sunset.

Life really does not get a lot better.

We used to go to night markets in Singapore. Mostly they had all kinds of unusual produce. Here the market provides locals with many of their daily needs. The produce is fresh and very reasonably priced. The fish and the meat appeared to be fresher than we see in the local supermarket. I am sure that we will be back to SS 2 on a more regular basis now that we have found it.

Melbourne In June: Sports, Coffee and Catch Up.

 Part 1 
Sports, Coffee and Catching Up

St Kilda Pier.The Melbourne city skyline gives a different perspective to this Marina

Our June holidays arrived and we were ready for a break, so far work is managing to keep us so busy at the moment. We decided that a trip over to Melbourne and some time catching up with yuoungest son Logan would be a good way to relax. We let family and friends know what we were planning, very soon we had Lloyd and Anna able to come over for a weekend and Beth decided it would be good to spend a few days with her sister.

It was great to spend some time with Lloyd and Anna and celebrate their recent job successes.

Two special ladies who got together in Melbourne in June.

We thought to make the logistics of people coming and going easier perhaps it would be good to rent an apartment. We found expresso apartments online, they were able to provide us with a great little apartment in Balaclava. This had two bedrooms and a reasonable living space, so we all had a good sleeping space. The location was perfect, Balaclava Metro was just around the corner on Carlisle Road. The trams ran past and we enjoyed the convenience of catching these to get around.

A clear view all the way to the end of the pier.

Logan has settled into living in Melbourne, he actually shifted into a new flat the day we arrived. He is living in South Yarra. Which is the area where he works, a very nice part of Melbourne. It was not far down the road from where we stayed so it was easy to spend some time catching up with Logan. He was able to carry on doing things that he wanted to do without feeling like he needed to be playing tour guide to us all the time. We really enjoyed the coffees at some of his favourite haunts. We also got out and had some great dinners out in some of the restaurants he wanted to share with us.

A picture perfect day in St Kilda

One of our first stops in Melbourne was St Kilda. We got out on the pier on calm clear day. The backdrop of Melbourne behind the boats was stunning. It was handy to get back to the apartment from St Kilda, so we did return down to the beach here. One of the things we did was to go out to the pier on dark and wait for the penguins to come in to land for the night. During the weekends there is a craft market along the road side near the water front.If you are in Melbourne on a Sunday and using the Metro or trams to get around go to the 7 eleven and ask for a Sunday pass. It works that you get a whole day pass for the price of  a two hour ticket.

The view from the viewing platform 80 storeys up is worth the effort.

A  walk along the river is always fun for people watching.

Beth arrived a day or so after we did and of course we spent our first day with her taking a wander through some of the malls and lanes in Melbourne. This took us up to the Victoria Markets. This time around the markets did not seem as interesting as they were when we were there 5 years ago. However if you haven't been to them they are an experience. We caught a tram back down and decided it would good to go up to the top of the Rialto Tower. This is 80 storeys up and gives good views of the city. It is worth the money if you enjoy seeing where you are and where you have been. At the base of the tower are a number of interesting bars, restaurants and entertainments places that line the river. We found that this area is great for people watching. Also one the outside of the building were the largest bees I have ever seen.

Flinders Station from high above.

Reflections from up high.

We felt it would be great to complete a wine tour so Logan got us booked into a wine trail that one of his friends new about through her work. We trook the one day package with lunch. First we left Mlebourne on a big coach with 7 people on board. this travelled out and up through the Dandenongs to pick up more people who had been on the Puffin Billy ride. The day started out raining and wintery cold and the busdriver said it would have been a chilly ride on the open air carriages of the train. It was off to the Yarrah valley for lunch in the first winnery. Lunch was from the carvery spit roasted pork and roast vegetables. The tatsing here was difficult as there were at least 3 bus loads of tourists all having lunch at the same time. Next stop was the Rockford winnery. Here we had a great tasting and education session. Logan stunned us with his ability to talk different wines. The lady doing the talk also seemed to be impressed and she made a point of ensuring we tasted some nice wines. We did buy a couple of bottles for enjoying later with Lloyd and Anna. We went out to third winnery and enjoyed yet another different wine experience in a smaller winnery that was into organic wine. This was a little more laid back and we ended up waiting around for the bus. which then rturned us to the city. The drive back in was really interesting and we did enjoy scenery as much s the winneries.

We had a great time hanging out with Logan in his corner of the world

Melbourne is well set up to cater for sports events. It has a number of stadiums which can cater for large crowds of people. Last time we were in Melbourne we did not go to the MCG so I was determined to go and watch a live AFL game there. Ruth and did go down and spend an hour in the Sports museum, we were too late for the stadium tour. The sport museum needs more than an hour, but it is totally worth any time you want to spend in the museum. After our visit to the museum I was more determined than ever to see a live game. So with Friday night looming the stage was set for a pretty good weekend of sport. Friday night Logan and I took ourselves off to watch the Melbourne Rebels play the Stormers. This was in the new stadium, and what a stadium we bought our tickets at the gate and managecd to get tickets right on the goal line. I felt close enough to the action that I could reach out and score the tries for the players. We were entained by some reasonable live Super 15 rugby and the Stormers dominated. It was just great to be at a live rugby game. This was a great stadium to watch live rugby in. Next game on the weekend was New Zealand playing Australia in football, but before this we were off to a Cuban Jazz Show. Max, Ruth's brother had managed to get ticketsfor us to see the Bueno Vista Social Club Jazz Show. These guys were amazing, especially the 94 year old singer. After the show we were outside and they all came out. They chatted with people, even though they had no English, and played up to some photo shoots.

Rocker meets Jazz Musician

After the show we made our way to Dinner at Steers where Logan works. This is in South Yarra and it has an amazing menu of steaks. The waiter brings around a steak board with the different cuts available. I think one of the steaks here would feed a family in Asia for a year. This dinner was pretty special because we got to share it with some very special people. First Logan,  Lloyd and Anna, Beth, Max and Marwin and their great kids, and Adam and Nicola. It was a great meal with some very fine wines included. Well done Logan!
The Saturday night dinner capped off a pretty special day.

Light on the Yarra river.

Sunday was the day we decided to go to our MCG AFL game. The Hawks were playing the Dockers in an afternoon game. After spending some time down in St Kilda Logan Ruth and I headed back to the G as the locals cal it. Once again we rolled upand bought tickets at the gate. We wlaked in and found a good vantage point, the game had already started. We found ourselves sitting amongst Hawkes Supporters. By the final quarter the Hawkes just took off with game. All in all we got swept up in the excitement and enjoyed the game. The atmosphere inside the stadium was everything a live sports game should have and more. If I was living in Melbourne I could imagine getting along to regular games. Sports is very much a part of the Melbourne culture.Sunday night Beth went to stay with Max so she could get out to her early flight back to NZ.

Stopping for a moment along the river

The weekend seemed to roll past so quickly. But it was really great to have such a great time watching live sport and spending time with family and friends catching up. Monday morning we went down and had an early morning coffee with Lloyd and Anna before they rushed off to catch their flight home. Ruth and I couldn't help but realise hoe blessed we are to have such a great family. We had just experienced a  very special week of fun and catching up which helped us celebrate 30 years of marriage.

St Kilda at Night this spot holds some wonderful photo opportunities

Penang Escape

Our Penang Weekend Escape

 Penang Hill View 

Wow! I can't believe it is already July. The year is racing by so quickly. We started out in Malaysia in January thinking that we would be off exploring Malaysia most weekends. The reality is that we have not really got away on too many weekends. We have been to SIngapore on a couple of occasions which was great because we have caught up with friends and even managed to catch The Lion King Show.

 

 Ruth outside Georgetown Shophouses, 

with the Manchester Untited Hamburger stand just across the street.

Back in May we did manage to get out to Penang for a weekend. We had a Sunday of because it was 1 May and a Public Holiday. This meant that we had a three day weekend. We booked seats on a local coach service to take us from One Utama Shopping Centre to Penang. This is a bonus for us because we can walk down to catch the bus. We used Aeroline Buses. The cost of RM 120 return includes a meal onboard. It was around 4.5 hours on the bus. BUt these coaches are very comfortable. We sat upstairs in the front seats, so we had a great view. We used the mobile internet to keep us busy on the road. Throughout the trip.

 All along the walkway.

This was out first trip to Penang so we had lots we wanted to see. We had booked a room in the 1926 Hotel. It is a boutique hotel that is really quite central to most things. It is on the bus route for local buses so it is easy to catch a bus to get to places. We enjoy walking and exploring new places where possible. SO the walk down to George Town was no problem to us. This hotel was once Officers Barracks, so it is not new, but it does offer reasonable accomodation with a certain rustic charm. But it isn't 5 stars and it does have an OK local breakfast.

 Closed for business but still a captivating beauty.

George Town is the old quarter of Penang. It is a heritage centre, so the old shop houses are being restored with many intereesting developments taking place here. The shutters and shop frontages do make for some interesting photographs. Ruth and I spent a great day wandering the streets and shooting off some photos. A bonus about this part of town is there are so many good eating places, with a range of fine local food available at very reasonable rates. Dinner was taken at restaurant, like a huge hawker centre right on the waters edge. This was plerasant and a very popular spot.

 

 We didn't see any husbands escaping the fury of betrayed wives.

We spent another day exploring. We caught the bus out to the butterfly farm. This was undergoing some serious renovations it was still operating but there were a number of parts closed to the public. We enjoyed a few hours playing with our cameras here. Malaysia has some amazing butterflies and to surrounded by so many at one time was fascinating. We also shot some great up close shots. From here we took the bus back to the beaches stopping off for lunch at the HardRock Cafe. Our first visit into one of these but we had been told to check out the beach infront of this. It was very nice, finally one beach where the sand was clean and we didn't have to climb over piles of rubbish to get to the water.  Batu Ferringhi. beach has an endless run of resorts and expensive condos dotted along it.

 Ruth, popping out of the jungle at the butterfly farm.

After lunch and a play on the sand we returned back to the bus centre to catch a bus up to the Cable car.
 This takes tourists up to the top Penang Hill, it had just reopened on the Sunday after a recent upgrade. We went up on the Monday and it broke down on the Tuesday. That made us very lucky. OUr plan was to ride up and spend the late afternoon and evening up there watching the sunset. We enjoyed being up there with some impressive views. We did ride back down a little early as the sunset was not shaping up to be all that spectacular. We returned down to have dinner across the road from our hotel in a local restaurant. A very nice meal at a very good price.

This Lace wing is very similar to a Monarch

Our last morning was spent back down in Georgetown and Fort Cornwallis. The old area of Georgetown seems to be undergoing a lot of changes. There a number of fascinating little corners to explore and I am sure that when we go back there next time there will be a lot of new shops and cafes to explore. We caught a taxi across to the Queensbay Mall where we grabbed lunch before catching our Aeroline ride back to One Utama.

 On the street and seeing red, but for all of the right reasons.

An easy escape from Kuala Lumpur that was hassle free and reasonably relaxing. Penang is an interesting Island, that happens to be connected to the mainland by a causeway. We really only got a glimpse of a small part. When we get our car sorted we will take a drive up to there one weekend. It is well worth a visit.