Tales from the antipodes...
Happy New Year everyone! I realise I am rather late but please forgive me....
Bradley and I had a ball in Paris (so much wine... so much cheese...) but I was quite excited about crossing over the channel and reaching London town. Now while we had been travelling we were a little nervous about crossing the channel as the Eurostar was being a bit temperamental but thankfully come new years eve there were no issues and we made it across in one piece.
Our first stay in London was in a lovely hotel called the Corus opposite Hyde Park in Lancaster Gate. We were upgraded to a 'superior' room which after our room in Paris was welcomed very enthusiastically. We had a great view of the park, a decent (clean!) bathroom and were only 2 minutes from the tube station. Bradley and I had a few hours to kill before meeting up with our friend Chet so, keen to relive my past haunts, we headed straight for Oxford Circus for some nye shopping. Seriously - the amount of people there was ridiculous and the majority of stores had more clothes on the floor than on the racks but I managed to find a couple of bargains. NYE was spent bar hopping, lamenting the closure of my favourite club, but enjoying the semi familiar sights and delights. Half of London is under construction in the lead up to the 2012 Olympics (I assume) so a lot of the usual places I used to go seemed very unfamiliar. The tube stations were also getting a bit of a tarting up which meant delays, lots of construction dust and general public confusion.
We ended up at a random house party a bit before the new year started which was nice, and the gin went down a treat. Felt a bit fuzzy the next morning as you would expect.... actually I felt really quite crappy but managed to come good by the afternoon. As neither Brad or I had any desire to do sight seeing (as I had lived here some years ago) we enjoyed some down time in our room before deciding that yes, we really do need some fresh air. Cue one trip to Pret (a great sandwich place) and a walk along the Thames we headed back to the hotel for NYE day festivities. Again there was a bit of bar hopping, a bit of drinking too quickly and late night sandwich run.
Much of the same followed the next day, though thankfully our heads weren't so cloudy. We acted more like tourists the next day and headed down around Piccadilly Cirus, Trafalgar Square and Kensington gardens. Brad and I split up and I headed from Convent Garden towards Soho. Discovered a brilliant store called Concrete (and another called Unconditional or something like that) which, had my credit card looked a bit healthier I probably would have spent up big! One hair cut squeezed in and then we met up again for a gorgeous tapas meal in the heart of Soho. That's one thing I've really enjoyed about this trip - after the initial 'oh my everything is so expensive' we adjusted and found a way to eat really well! This was definately a splurge... That evening we met up with our fabulous friend James (whom I worked with at Mecca Bah all those years ago) and his partner who showed us the sights of Shoreditch (and by 'sights' I hope you all know that is code for cocktail bars....). The clock struck twelve and I was in danger of turning into a pumpkin so we sadly said our goodbyes and headed back.
As a last minute addition to our holiday we decided to head up to Dublin for a couple of nights to stay with our friend Jackie (also a Mecca Bah ex-pat) who had been living there for a year and a half. Some way through our travels we discovered to our delight that she is moving back which was rather exciting. However because she was moving back there was no room for us to stay with her... Cue a couple of emails and we discover she has booked us in at the best hotel I think I have ever stayed in. If you are ever in Dublin please check out the Dylan Hotel (voted Dublin's best boutique hotel) - it was a designers dream. Gorgeous, well appointed room, great bathroom, fanastically designed bar and restaurant (with a very healthy cocktail selection) and great mix of facilities. We could have stayed there without leaving the premises and been happy! We had arrived in Dublin quite late in the evening and so met up with Jackie and her work mates for their combined Jackie's Farewell / Christmas Party. Cue so many rounds of beer I lost count, a trip to late night curry house 'Tandoori Bites' and one very sick staff member later we called it a night at some late hour.
The next couple of days followed suit - breakfast, beer, a trip to the Guinness factory, beer, shopping (I've discovered a clothing brand called Complex Geometries that I think I may purchase their entire range when I get home...), beer, lunch and beer... We all met up with an old London work mate Paul who took us out for a Monday evening drink. We all headed to Jackie's workplace Juniors for a fantastic dinner and walked home slowly (trying to avoid the black ice) with very full, satisfied bellies.
On the 5th we started our daily flight schedule.... Dublin to London, then London to Singapore (where we freaked out over weather conditions that were wrecking havoc on British rail and plane services - when we landed in London from Dublin it was snowing the largest snow flakes I have ever seen - the size of a 20c piece - it was crazy!) and then Singapore to Penang on the 8th. We had some delays flying from Heathrow (due to leave at 11am, then delayed as people came on, then we had to be 'de-iced', then we had to queue for a runway as only one was open due to weather, then we were delayed so long we had to be de-iced AGAIN, then we were back at the runway ready to take off...) The three hour delay was fine once we were in the air. I was paranoid that we would be grounded due to the awful conditions but thankfuly we weren't. Since arrive in Penang I have heard of quite a few Heathrow delay horror stories so I'm counting myself lucky!
We met up with my parents late on the 7th in Singapore and started trying to adjust to the heat. Now that we are sunning it up in the heat in Penang I am really looking forward to losing some of this European white and coming back to Melbourne with some sort of colour (though I did spend too long in the sun yesterday and am suffering for it today.... It should clear by tomorrow in preparation for the next sun session by the pool! The food is what you really come to Malaysia for however, and it has not disappointed! Hopefulyl my pants will still fit when I get back...
Hopefully everyone is doing well wherever they may be and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone when we get back! Not long to go now....
Bradley and I had a ball in Paris (so much wine... so much cheese...) but I was quite excited about crossing over the channel and reaching London town. Now while we had been travelling we were a little nervous about crossing the channel as the Eurostar was being a bit temperamental but thankfully come new years eve there were no issues and we made it across in one piece.
Our first stay in London was in a lovely hotel called the Corus opposite Hyde Park in Lancaster Gate. We were upgraded to a 'superior' room which after our room in Paris was welcomed very enthusiastically. We had a great view of the park, a decent (clean!) bathroom and were only 2 minutes from the tube station. Bradley and I had a few hours to kill before meeting up with our friend Chet so, keen to relive my past haunts, we headed straight for Oxford Circus for some nye shopping. Seriously - the amount of people there was ridiculous and the majority of stores had more clothes on the floor than on the racks but I managed to find a couple of bargains. NYE was spent bar hopping, lamenting the closure of my favourite club, but enjoying the semi familiar sights and delights. Half of London is under construction in the lead up to the 2012 Olympics (I assume) so a lot of the usual places I used to go seemed very unfamiliar. The tube stations were also getting a bit of a tarting up which meant delays, lots of construction dust and general public confusion.
We ended up at a random house party a bit before the new year started which was nice, and the gin went down a treat. Felt a bit fuzzy the next morning as you would expect.... actually I felt really quite crappy but managed to come good by the afternoon. As neither Brad or I had any desire to do sight seeing (as I had lived here some years ago) we enjoyed some down time in our room before deciding that yes, we really do need some fresh air. Cue one trip to Pret (a great sandwich place) and a walk along the Thames we headed back to the hotel for NYE day festivities. Again there was a bit of bar hopping, a bit of drinking too quickly and late night sandwich run.
Much of the same followed the next day, though thankfully our heads weren't so cloudy. We acted more like tourists the next day and headed down around Piccadilly Cirus, Trafalgar Square and Kensington gardens. Brad and I split up and I headed from Convent Garden towards Soho. Discovered a brilliant store called Concrete (and another called Unconditional or something like that) which, had my credit card looked a bit healthier I probably would have spent up big! One hair cut squeezed in and then we met up again for a gorgeous tapas meal in the heart of Soho. That's one thing I've really enjoyed about this trip - after the initial 'oh my everything is so expensive' we adjusted and found a way to eat really well! This was definately a splurge... That evening we met up with our fabulous friend James (whom I worked with at Mecca Bah all those years ago) and his partner who showed us the sights of Shoreditch (and by 'sights' I hope you all know that is code for cocktail bars....). The clock struck twelve and I was in danger of turning into a pumpkin so we sadly said our goodbyes and headed back.
As a last minute addition to our holiday we decided to head up to Dublin for a couple of nights to stay with our friend Jackie (also a Mecca Bah ex-pat) who had been living there for a year and a half. Some way through our travels we discovered to our delight that she is moving back which was rather exciting. However because she was moving back there was no room for us to stay with her... Cue a couple of emails and we discover she has booked us in at the best hotel I think I have ever stayed in. If you are ever in Dublin please check out the Dylan Hotel (voted Dublin's best boutique hotel) - it was a designers dream. Gorgeous, well appointed room, great bathroom, fanastically designed bar and restaurant (with a very healthy cocktail selection) and great mix of facilities. We could have stayed there without leaving the premises and been happy! We had arrived in Dublin quite late in the evening and so met up with Jackie and her work mates for their combined Jackie's Farewell / Christmas Party. Cue so many rounds of beer I lost count, a trip to late night curry house 'Tandoori Bites' and one very sick staff member later we called it a night at some late hour.
The next couple of days followed suit - breakfast, beer, a trip to the Guinness factory, beer, shopping (I've discovered a clothing brand called Complex Geometries that I think I may purchase their entire range when I get home...), beer, lunch and beer... We all met up with an old London work mate Paul who took us out for a Monday evening drink. We all headed to Jackie's workplace Juniors for a fantastic dinner and walked home slowly (trying to avoid the black ice) with very full, satisfied bellies.
On the 5th we started our daily flight schedule.... Dublin to London, then London to Singapore (where we freaked out over weather conditions that were wrecking havoc on British rail and plane services - when we landed in London from Dublin it was snowing the largest snow flakes I have ever seen - the size of a 20c piece - it was crazy!) and then Singapore to Penang on the 8th. We had some delays flying from Heathrow (due to leave at 11am, then delayed as people came on, then we had to be 'de-iced', then we had to queue for a runway as only one was open due to weather, then we were delayed so long we had to be de-iced AGAIN, then we were back at the runway ready to take off...) The three hour delay was fine once we were in the air. I was paranoid that we would be grounded due to the awful conditions but thankfuly we weren't. Since arrive in Penang I have heard of quite a few Heathrow delay horror stories so I'm counting myself lucky!
We met up with my parents late on the 7th in Singapore and started trying to adjust to the heat. Now that we are sunning it up in the heat in Penang I am really looking forward to losing some of this European white and coming back to Melbourne with some sort of colour (though I did spend too long in the sun yesterday and am suffering for it today.... It should clear by tomorrow in preparation for the next sun session by the pool! The food is what you really come to Malaysia for however, and it has not disappointed! Hopefulyl my pants will still fit when I get back...
Hopefully everyone is doing well wherever they may be and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone when we get back! Not long to go now....