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Australia via KL

October 2019 - March 2020
  • Andy n Bunny Briggs
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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAndy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KL
    Durian cendol
    Bun had already eat one section of the prawn thingyLove the tea potDrwing in the white rice to create the patternFilling in with coloured riceStill raining

    Diwali and Pho Viet

    October 17, 2019 in Malaysia ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    Went back to 1-Utama for a Vietnamese dinner. Other than the food was fantastic, we were most intrigued by the tea pot and how the handle actually makes it easy to hold.

    In 1-Utama they are preparing for Diwali by producing a large Kolam using coloured rice

    Diwali, Divali, Deepavali or Dipavali is a four to five day-long (varying as per Hindu Calendar) festival of lights, which is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists every autumn in the northern hemisphere (spring in southern hemisphere).

    One of the most popular festivals of Hinduism, Diwali symbolises the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance." Light is a metaphor for knowledge and consciousness. During the celebration, temples, homes, shops and office buildings are brightly illuminated. The preparations, and rituals, for the festival typically last five days, with the climax occurring on the third day coinciding with the darkest night of the Hindu lunisolar month Kartika. In the Gregorian calendar, the festival generally falls between mid-October and mid-November.

    Forgot to mention dropping off for a combination dessert of two favourites, cendol and durian ... yes a durian cendol!    Read more

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAndy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KL
    Oh dear, never mind
    Mr Sun BirdMrs Sun BirdCake - not exactly as its glutenous rice.Guess where we areIew from the monorailChinese take away2Symphony LakeLittle things ... may take up train spotting

    KLCC Symphony Lake - and more rain

    October 18, 2019 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Decided to use the day to go sightseeing. The rain last night had left the gold paint washing off onto the black. Forecasting more rain, may as well be tourists.

    We’ve looked around the Petronas Towers before as they were built on the site of the old race course and Bun’s old house. However, we’d never been around the Symphony Lake

    “Within KLCC Park, sited at the esplanade outside of Suria KLCC, lies the 10,000 sq ft man-made Lake Symphony. Two musical fountains display over 150 unique programmed animations in a magical performance of sound and water. KLCC Lake Symphony Light and Sound Water Fountain showtimes are 8pm, 9pm and 9.45pm daily.

    The park is lovely because of the native trees and the birds. Mr and Mrs Sun Bird were whizzing about the trees. The lake was unimpressive, but then it wasn’t showtime. We nipped into the complex below the towers to find a coffee and to decide where to go next. A walk to a mall where we used to go with the kids, via the aquarium seemed a good idea, only to come out into daylight to find another storm pouring down. Plan B, a taxi to the mall.

    The mall was going through a revamp. Somehow it just wasn’t very interesting. There are hundreds of shops and this year’s main merchandise was optical glasses. Previous years it’s been cameras, games machines, computers etc. While all of that is still available, glasses shops predominated.

    Decided to ride the new monorail 🚝 to have a different view of the city. It’s certainly different being above the streets with nothing either side of you. I wondered how they changed the trains over from the up line to the down line and was fascinated by the track swapping over.

    Rained most of the afternoon. Streets in KL were flooded. Is there a theme to our holidays. Will areas of desert in Australia experience the first rainfall this century when we visit? Never mind, should get a few hours painting done tomorrow morning.

    Dinner was unusual. Rather than a food hall we went to a stall for a takeaway. Nothing was priced, nothing was weighed and people put what they wanted into varying sizes and shapes of containers. At the end a young woman looked at what you had and told you how much to pay. No one argued.    Read more

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAndy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KL
    Back to work on the gates, fingers crossed it stays dry
    If you're going to paint the gates ... may as well be thoroughLooking goodOh poo!RambutansTastes good ...

    Putting my foot in it

    October 19, 2019 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Forecast was to be dry. It actually stayed dry until late afternoon. Hopefully the paint will stay on the gate this time.

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAndy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KL

    1-Utama Secret Gardens

    October 20, 2019 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Not just secret, but hidden😡 “... the 30,000sqft Secret Garden, the largest rooftop garden in Southeast Asia: it is a popular tourist attraction with over 500 species of exotic flora”

    Today’s Sunday, Jan goes to the temple for prayers. We were on a mission to find Jan something she can listen to music from her phone on.

    A quick lunch and then Bun and I were dropped off at 1U while Jan continued on to the temple.

    The Secret Gardens are not well signposted but Bun had a rough idea of how to find them, other than the obvious - they are on the roof. Only a couple of lifts go to the roof, the one we found was a service elevator with a checker plate patched floor and walls that had been well bashed. It was a surprise to arrive at a clean and bright lobby before walking into the gardens that were well kept and receiving a constant dose of fine mist from a spray system.    Read more

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAndy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KL
    Brown sugar any way you want itMaking satay

    Night Market

    October 20, 2019 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Some things never change and others things are changing so quickly. The night markets don’t appear to have changed all of the time we have been coming to Malaysia. Some of the goods that are sold are traditional, some are modern and much is food. Sugar cane is still squeezed and the juice collected for a drink. Similarly coconut water is drained from the coconuts and bottled in front of you.

    What is changing is the approach to litter, waste, plastics etc. Bins in the malls ask for waste to be separated for recycling. Plastic straws are (should) no longer be served with drinks, but you may request one if you want one. There are campaigns about the environment in many places. I wasn’t aware that - if food waste was a country, it would be the third largest contributor to carbon dioxide after USA and China.

    The food available is becoming very westernised. Major chains are in all of the malls and many of the streets. “Tiger Sugar” that sells a whole range of drinks, but all with lashings of brown sugar. I guess it won’t be long before they catch up the rest of the world with the “diabesity” epidemic.    Read more

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAndy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KL
    Dates before they have dried. Sweet and crunchy
    How to peel a rambutanMaking a sticky dickMedan SeleraAll packed up againThe train between the two terminals at KL airportAndy srruggling with the Australian visitor questionnaireSunrise over AustraliaTouchdown

    Thank you Mr Sneezy

    October 21, 2019 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Our last day in KL and a 10:15pm overnight flight to Brisbane.

    The weather is still threatening storms. Jan wants to visit a friend so will drop us off at a mall for us to get lunch and then collect us to go back home to pack before being collected by a private hire to take us to the airport, approximately 1 hour away.

    The mall was nondescript, same range of shops, but plenty of space to be able to wander and a good range of food. We went into the Medan Selera and were hit by an extremely hot, humid, spice-laden atmosphere. The food on offer was predominantly curry. We decided to eat back in the mall, Bun electing for a build-your-own soup and I had a nasi lemak.

    Back home to pack and then an uneventful journey to the airport, loading etc. The flight was not full and I thought I’d managed to get four centre seats to myself only to have one of the last people on board take one of the seats 😩

    So, Mr bloody Sneezy who was behind us on the from flight Heathrow and sneezed over us for most of the journey, you infected me. Part way through the flight the sneezes started and my nose started running. Extreme Asian man flu (the worst kind) came on all at once. What a bastard that man was. I left KL feeling well, I arrived in Brisbane with nose streaming, eyes all red and feeling miserable. Not a great condition to arrive in bright sunshine and warmth.    Read more

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAndy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KL

    Brisbane

    October 22, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Arriving at 08:15, we were expecting a long delay getting through immigration, partly because of the questionnaire asking if we’d been in contact with farm animals in the previous 30 days. We ere directed to “quarantine” wondering how long we would be kept there, hours, days , weeks? We were asked two questions, had we been in contact with pigs and were our shoes clean? Happy with our answers we were sent on our way. We were out of the terminal by 9:30.

    Mike, Bun’s brother, was waiting and drove us home. The day was spent (for me) sneezing and blowing my nose, getting through a box of tissues very quickly.

    The Butcher Bird came to be fed a bit of meat. Mike feeds a variety of birds, the butcher, kookaburras, cockatoos and lorikeets. Magpies and other birds are sent away. Renate is not so keen, the birds poo everywhere and can be quite destructive, especially the cockatoos.

    Early dinner, bed by 8:30, wait for the down chorus!    Read more

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAndy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KL
    Anyone for an avacardo?

    Camper Vans - Tweed Heads South

    October 23, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Our plan .... no, it’s not a plan because we are not allowed to have one, our thoughts are to buy a camper and go walkabouts. Head north, see the barrier reef, do some diving, back to Brisbane for Christmas, see the kids, see in the new year, head south, Sidney, south coast, Melbourne, maybe Adelaide, back to Melbourne, catch a plane back to KL. Simple. Just need a camper van.

    We have been looking at vans on the Aussie gumtree. There are many good looking vans. Some basic, some quirky. The cost is less critical than what we lose on it between buying in Brisbane and selling in Melbourne. The most basic camper will cost us around Aus $50 per day to rent, approval $7,500 for 5 months. However, the most basic won’t allow us to take the six of us when Toby, Jessica and their partners come over for Christmas.

    We decided to go to a dealer in Tweed Heads South (THS) so that we could have a look at a range of.vans.

    THS is across the border in New South Wales. The time zone is currently one hour ahead of Queensland. If we were to fly the airport terminal is in NSW but part of the runway goes into QLD and is, technically, in a different time zone.

    The dealership had about 20 vans, we were looking at the more budget end. The photos on gumtree must have been taken by the same person who does house sale photos and can make a tiny box room look like an enormous double bedroom. We learnt a lot, mostly about what we didn’t want, a little about what we would lik (all round mosquito curtains) but couldn’t find a van we liked. Decided to retire for a coffee and rethink.

    The coffee shop was in NSW, south of THS and shut at 4. We set of and were due to arrive at 3:30 if we got a wiggle on. When we arrive£ we found that, despite being in NSW, they worked on QLD time and it was only 2:30. Very confusing.

    The previous day we had arranged to meet Carl and his girlfriend who had a quirky camper for sale. They had driven it from Brisbane to Sidney bcuase someone had said that they would buy it, but then didn’t. They were driving back from Sidney and we arranged to meet in the IKEA car park south of Brisbane. The van was certainly quirky and had been built to a high standard, but it was tiny. Not sure our marriage would have survived the time in that van. https://youtu.be/dq_TdykIqt8

    We drove back through Brisbane and continued the search for vans on gumtree and eBay.    Read more

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAndy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KL
    1
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    On our own - accidentally "stalking"

    October 24, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Today, Thursday, both Mike and Renate do voluntary work. Mike helps out in a kennels with abandoned dogs, Renate works in the Brisbane City Information Centre. This has given us the opportunity to do a bit of exploring, buy a couple of items, find the house that we will be “sitting” during December etc.

    The temperature here is high 20s - low 30s but a lovely dry heat, it doesn’t feel that hot, there is also a lovely breeze, almost a bit windy for Bun’s contact lenses. Ideal for burning!

    Once everyone had left we ventured down to the swimming pool. Not as warm as we’d hoped, but very refreshing.

    We walked down to a local set of shops to top up two “Go” cards that are prepared-paid for buses, river taxi etc in Brisbane. The 7-11 shop also sold iced coffee .... well a coffee cup with ice in it that needs to be filled at the coffee machine. The resulting coffee was quite tasty, but a bit of a knack to making it as demonstrated by the staff.

    Walked on down to the shops near the house we will be “sitting” in December. The house is situated down a quiet road but we had to cross a major road to get there. A couple of school kids in uniform were stood next to us as we waited ages for the lights to change. The kids set off first and we followed them. We followed the girl across the road, down a small path to join up with the road that the house is situated on. We followed her along along the road as we looked for No 19. The girl crossed the road just as we passed No17, then took the post out of the postbox outside No 19, looking over her shoulder to see us watching her as she walked up her drive. We must have looked like a couple of stalkers. Well we’d found the house and the daughter.

    Back to the shop to buy food for dinner, missed the bus while waiting for the pedestrian crossing lights to change, walked the 30 minutes back to M&R’s house, stopping to take some pictures of cockatoos sat outside a house and appeared to be waiting for someone to feed them.

    At home we cooked dinner for everyone and continued our search for a campervan.    Read more

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