Say goodbye to Wellywood

Well, I wasn’t sure I’d ever see the day but this will be my final blog from the wondrous city of Wellington. The ferry leaves at 230pm Tuesday 10th, and we will be on it ready for some new adventures on the South island! Since I last blogged I have achieved lots, mostly working my way through the library including the entire Harry Potter series. Happy days. We have also been out and about and exploring what there is left – not loads as it turns out! The good thing about Wellington is that even when you run out of sights that you would see as a tourist, you can still just drive for half an hour and get to somewhere amazing and just wander around to your hearts content. The one thing I don’t understand, is that there is so much space in this country but absolutely none in our flat. One of the great mysteries of life that I will never know the answer to. In other big news, nobody was more surprised than me when I ended up at a senior technical tax conference last week. What was worse, was that I actually understood what they were saying! Although most of it was still a blur – phew. Anyway I actually had a brilliant time, for another reason… firstly there was the tea break in the morning. I thought I’d grab a quick tea… but just as I reached for a cup my eye was caught by a huge plate of freshly made scones. And a bowl full of jam. And an even bigger bowl of cream. The poor cup of tea was left abandoned as I got stuck in. Then I had a little break, and it seemed to me the perfect time to polish off my packed lunch, which I did. THEN someone came and got me and told me it was lunch time… and lunch was provided. Upstairs I went obediently, and saw the most food I think I have ever seen in my life. I did what I had to do, told my belly to pretend it wasn’t full of scones and sandwiches, and got involved with the buffet. There were a few funny looks when I came back with a plate full of pasta bake, roast potatoes, 8 different bits of sushi, seafood salad and a Caesar salad, but in my defence I didn’t get any of the veal. I’m a poor backpacker I need to fill up where I can! Did have to take my belt off on the way into the afternoon presentations though… anyway I have decided that I really do enjoy conferences and that I must attend more. We have been doing loads of planning and booking stuff for America, so we have got the itinerary pretty set in stone (allowing plenty of time for Disney World and Universal Studios – don’t worry). We’re both getting pretty excited about that, and have to keep reminding ourselves that we have a little holiday in Fiji before that. Nina told me the other day that she has seen Elijah Wood in Wellington ‘loads of times’ but so far I have seen no evidence of him, which is a bit much I think. There are six days left for him to find me and ask me to live in the shire. That’s pretty much all my juicy gossip, so I will leave you now with this tragic tale of something that happened to me last night. There I was being a domestic goddess and cooking a culinary masterpiece involving quite a lot of cayenne pepper. Forgetting that I had used my hands I adjusted my nose stud, and about 2 seconds later felt a horrific burning sensation. Yes, I got cayenne pepper stuck in my nose piercing. My nose hasn’t felt that horrible since I got a bit of snickers stuck up it. Half an hour later, I couldn’t take anymore and started rinsing my nose out. It was not an experience to be repeated. Dinner was nice though. Lots of love, and not too much cayenne pepper xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

life on the other side

Well, this one is definitely even later than the last one! It just seems silly to write a blog once a week when we are staying put and going to work and coming home again, it would be so boring for you all to read! An annoying thing happened, something brilliant, wonderful, exciting and amazing happened the DAY AFTER I wrote my last blog – so I have been saving it for this one, although anyone who has me on facebook, twitter, or in my phonebook will already know about it… We had decided to go and visit a place called Cape Palliser, which is a very remote spot that you have to drive over mountains and all sorts to get to, but it is well known for being an absolutely beautiful place and further research showed that there was a huge seal colony living there, and a Lord of the Rings location called the Pinnacles just happened to be en route. The day arrived, or at least we think it did – it was hard to tell through the hammering rain and we debated whether or not to bother, but decided that as we are English, we would not let the weather stop us so off we set! After a small stop involving a daredevil hare playing chicken with the car, and a toilet break involving a field of shocked cows, we made it to the Pinnacles. It was still chucking it down, but never mind, off we went and missed the path completely and walked up the river (yes, the wet stuff). Walked past two fellow hikers and looked up to smile at them, and I froze and my jaw absolutely dropped, walking past us was Andy flipping Serkis!!!! (For those not as much of a nerd as I am, that’s Gollum, and the second director of The Hobbit!!) Sean started chatting to him straight away while I stood and stared and hyperventilated – it was not cool on my part, and I couldn’t care less, it’s taken me ten years but I finally met someone from the films!!! The rest of the day was brilliant as well, big fat seals and stunning views as far as we could see. Hmm, what other exciting things have been happening… the weather here is turning horrible day by day as winter sets in, which seems very unfair as I keep seeing people’s pics of them at the beach etc. it’s hard to believe its June tomorrow when I can see snow topped mountains out of my office window. Although I can’t be too jealous, because let’s face it, I bet none of you can see mountains, snow topped or otherwise! This weekend just gone I surprised Sean and took him to see a game of rugby. All Blacks aren’t playing here until August so we’ll miss them, but it was a pretty good game with some of their players in it anyway! The score was ridiculous, 66-24 to the home side, plus one person broke their sternum and another got stretchered off unconscious – I will never understand what possesses people to play rugby but it is definitely fun to watch! Other than that, the only news is that we have finally got the remainder of our flights sorted so now know all our dates and when we will be back in England (October 14th, put it in your diaries). It’s weird to think of the end of the trip, but knowing when the end is means that we both appreciate the time we have left and have been plotting and planning how best to use it – we are both getting pretty excited about the South Island now, and also about America! We have decided to go whale watching when we get to the South Island, which I absolutely cannot wait for! Apparently you get to see ‘real whales’ (sperm whales) and not just orca, which you can see any day in the harbour outside my office (note to self, no swimming anywhere in New Zealand… EVER!). That’s about all the news I have at the moment… but all your news is welcome as are your emails so keep in touch please!! Lots of love and woolly hats xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ducks, but no elves...

Hi strangers! Just about to go to bed but thought I could probably squeeze in a little blog as need to put in some updates on our kiwi life! So I had finally left the horrible bar, as it has officially become known in our house. Horrible because of everything previously reported, but even more horrible because they tried to get away without paying me for the two weeks work I did! I finally got the money on Wednesday this week, only a month late. After quitting there, I decided to only look for day jobs... and spend a lot more time in the library as I no longer need to be nocturnal (anyone who knows how much sleep I need should know that was never going to happen). I bought some wool and needles and have got about a quarter of a scarf, and have also been doing lots of drawing, painting and oil pastelling with the help of a talented long distance tutor in the form of my big sis. The internet is an amazing thing. At the weekend we went to Rivendell and had a picnic. The signposts say kaitoke national park, but I know it really is rivendell. Had a close encounter with a horde of ducks, but the elves must have been hiding as we only saw an old man with a fetching hat lurking in the area. I had my first drive in Ron, our Mitsubishi, on the way home, and decided that driving an automatic is like driving a go kart. I think me and Ron will get on fine, but Cyril will always be my first and only love when it comes to cars. In other news, I started a new job two days ago! I'm working for the inland revenue for a month and already love it. The people are so friendly and helpful, and the girl I sit next to has a passion for backstreet boys and britney spears. Think we are soulmates. The most exciting thing is the offices. They take up 13 floors and every floor has two kitchens, complete with panini grills etc and its all brand new and gorgeous and over looks the whole of Wellington harbour. One floor is dedicated to a cafe, library and massive seating area just to sit and have lunch in, and on every floor there are numerous comfy lounge bits in case you want a change of scenery from your desk. As if I wasn't loving it enough, today I got shown where the stationary section is (two on each floor and a massive one downstairs in case you're interested). I may have mellowed on this trip but I will always love stationary! So far have managed not to do anything too embarrassing, although when my boss mentioned that I'd worked in boots (he used to live in London and has fond memories) I did tell him it was the thing I missed most after family, but I think he understood as New Zealand just does not have an equivalent! Oh and Sean recently found out they don't have central heating over here either! Wierd country. I think that's all I have to say, not been so much a news blog as a rambling train of thought mostly about a random building most of you will probably never see, have tried to take pics of the kitchens but don't want to look like a wierdo taking pictures by myself of other people having lunch! Any way, hope everyone at home is ok and got all the stationary they need, I know I have! With love and highlighters xxxxxxxxxxx

Bodger and Badger

Whoops! I blinked and another 3 weeks has gone by... so much for blogging every week. The trouble is now we have slowed down a bit there is a lot less to report back on... I haven't fallen down any toilets, been accosted by any foreigners or locked myself in any where, its all been very average. So let's see, last time I wrote we were on the hunt for a house and job and had just arrived in Wellington. A fair bit has happened since then I suppose, we switched hostels and made our first friend since leaving England - a girl from New York called keynisha, who is very straight talking and funny so we get on pretty well, she calls us the brits and I tell her when she's being too loud and have taught her how to queue properly ready for when she goes to London in the summer. We stayed in the new hostel just long enough to meet the smelliest man in the world, and then thankfully we signed for our lovely little (emphasis on the little) studio flat. I got a job in a fancy bar where I promptly began to get in trouble for doing terrible things like put the straws on the wrong side of the glass. I was given a 14 page drinks menu and told to memorize it by the next shift... I'm guessing you all know that I did not do this. It has come in useful to use as a tray when I'm eating though. It also turns out that people struggle to understand my accent even more in a noisy bar, I spent a good 5 minutes trying to say badger to a customer, while he repeated back 'mad dog' and looked baffled. Had to resort to saying baaahdger before he understood. (just so this story makes sense, there was a stuffed badger in the bar - don't even ask) 3 shifts in I had an epiphany... I didn't actually want to waste my year off working somewhere that I absolutely hated. And more importantly we are not as poor as I thought! I walked straight into the bar and quit, definitely getting a lot more spontaneous, I've never done anything like that before! Any doubts I had about my decision where wiped away when two of the managers spent a shift trying to guess my bra size. Definitely not the place for me! Sean has got work in a Telesales sort of place, it sounds like one of the least organised places in the country but he has been put in charge of spreadsheets so seems fairly content with that! It's good money as well which is always nice. Not sure what my next step will be. Not a bar though, I know that much! Maybe some sort of hermit that lives in the library? That's kind of it on the news front (i told you it wasn't going to be exciting!) We are just pottering along as always, Sean laid back as usual and me waiting to be asked to star in the hobbit at any moment. Fingers crossed everybody please! Lots of kisses to everyone! Xxxxxxxxxxx

The search for hobbits begins...

Sorry its been a while everyone... time seems to keep sneaking past me out here and I didn't realise it had been so long! Lets see, last time I wrote I was hoping to find some lovely Australian wildlife to boast about. Well, karma got me for that one as I got bitten on the foot that very day and proceeded to swell up and pus up like a beauty! Consulted some of the natives and they seemed to think it was a spider bite, and I agree that that is cool enough so I have decided it definitely was a spider! Plus, when it had deflated a little I am pretty sure I could see fang marks in there. Other than that the rest of Melbourne was very lovely and pretty uneventful. We went to the Museum and I got let in for free as the man thought I was under 16 - Sean and his friend Tynan thought it was absolutely hilarious until I said that he must have thought they were a gay couple and I was their adopted daughter. That shut them up! The only other bits to report were that me and Sean have been introduced to the delights of Chinese dumplings (I believe we ate over 50 of them between 3 of us) and that I went back and got another ceasar pizza. Okay two. Our next stop was Ayers Rock, our christmas present from my lovely Pops. Now this my sound pretty stupid but the one thing I could think as we flew over the outback was... its HUGE! And very very empty, except for one or two big red rocks that is. Our hotel was lovely, and even had a bath in it, so I made sure I had three baths over the two days we were there, just to make the most of such a rare treat. The rock itself is just mind blowing. We walked most of the way around it and there are bits of information about what certain sections are used for in terms of the rituals and traditions which was pretty interesting for us anthropology geeks. There are a lot of rumours about not being able to climb it but you can. The Aboriginal people that own the land don't say don't climb it, as long as you don't think that the purpose is to climb it and ignore the views, sounds and experiences than you can. We climbed about a third of the way up and then sat taking in the surroundings for a while, definitely a once in a life time experience. Following on from there we went to Sydney to stay with Sean's friend Rich from Uni, and his girlfriend and friend. Had to get the ferry to the part of Sydney where they live, little did we realise that the ferry leaves from between the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House! More free views and pinch yourself moments. We must have taken that ferry at least 10 times while we stayed there and I don't think there was a single trip where we didn't take a picture. On our first day we went to Palm Beach where they make Home and Away. I don't watch it but took some pictures to make Jenny jealous! Over the next few days explored the sights of Sydney - aquarium and Sydney Tower on Monday and Oceanworld and Wildlife Centre on Tuesday. Oh and Chinatown for lunch on both days- seems we are not ready to leave noodles behind! Met some lovely cuddly koalas and fell in love with a big fat wombat. Sean said it wouldn't fit in my bag though so didn't steal it. Next time. Decided to take a little trip to the Blue Mountains while we were so close, so on Wednesday last week took the train up to Katoomba to see some sights. Saw some. A coffee shop called Morgan's and a shop called Woodys. Oh and a mouse infestation in the hostel. Went walking the next day to Echo Point, a lookout and took in some pretty impressive views, and then wound our way down into the valley to Katoomba Falls. Got caught in a slight down pour en route but didn't mind too much as it meant we could shelter in a cave and eat our sandwiches - every cloud! On the way home saw some wild kookaburras chilling out (and yes I only recognised them because I had been to the wildlife centre two days before), which was quite exciting! On Friday we spent the morning travelling back to Sydney, and the afternoon making the most of our last dregs of Aussie sunshine on the beach - Sean went snorkelling and then exhausted himself on the boogie board while I exhausted myself watching him and worrying that he was going to be swept out to sea - may have been watching too much Australian news. Saturday finally arrived and so did the day I finally (after 10 years of waiting) made it to New Zealand! Our flight wasn't quite as smooth as planned as there was a school rugby team on there, and not one of them, including the teachers, had sat in the right seat. Chaos ensued when they were told they SHOULD be in the allocated seat and after a good 15 minutes a few of them swapped seats and then the teacher got told off by the hostess as he was using his phone. We watched and were smug that we had done the British thing and sat in the allocated seats. Aside from that the journey went ok, and before we knew it we appeared to be flying over the Yorkshire Dales. Checked in to our hostel in Auckland and went out for a Chinese (I think we might be addicted...). Our first day on the other side of the world we decided to go to Auckland Museum and get some culture and knowledge. Who did we see outside when we got there? Some MORRIS DANCERS. Was ashamed to hear a boy say 'oh look, England Dancers' so went in and hid in the museum until they had gone. Museum was really good, surprised myself by remembering a lot of my Pacific Societies Module but we were both a bit upset that the Volcano simulator wasn't working :( Then went for a lovely stroll around the park land and along to the harbour where we discovered that Sean's bank card has stopped working. Chinese Curry for dinner! Next day decided to be even more cultureful and go to the Art Gallery. Really enjoyed it, although still not convinced by a lot of this 'modern art'. Luckily there were discreet little signs that explained what the video of a man screaming meant, and what the piece of sofa with a plug hole in it meant, so that a philistine like me could at least nod and pretend that I 'got' it. Some of the other bits were great though! On Tuesday we got the coach to what will hopefully be our home for the next few months (and yes it also happens to be home to the filming of Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit - what a lucky coincidence!) Wellington! Coach journey was long, about 12 hours overally, but made better by the jolly driver who in his welcoming speech forgot where we were going ("oh balls") and then when people were late back from lunch made a speech into his microphone about how selfish they were, that they had made everyone else late, and if any of the on time people wanted to have words with these naughty people he would be only too happy to point them out for us. We loved him! Coach was a double decker and we got prime seats on the top at the front - first few hours was like being on a bus through the Shire and in the afternoon we went past Lake Taupo which is VAST and then drove over the Volcanic Plateau - best coach journey ever without a doubt! Although am pretty sure an elderly german lady was stalking me throughout. At the first toilet stop she wanted to know if we were leaving so she could have our seats, fair enough. At the lunch stop, I came out the toilet cubicle, guess who was there. We sat on a wall to eat our lunch, guess who came and sat next to us. I got a hot chocolate from the machine, guess who was waiting behind me to use it. I wouldn't mind but she looked at me like she wanted to kill me throughout these little meetings. Got to Wellington after dark, my joy was hampered by desperation for a wee - I was a fool not to go when we stopped at 430 and he warned us it was the last stop. Misplaced faith in my bladder. First two days have been a bit of a muddle as we try and work out what we are doing - managed to get NZ sim cards sorted yesterday and do some serious house hunting, and think we may have found somewhere nice, got to go and confirm on Weds though so don't want to jinx it! Will be pretty scary as we have to sign a contract for three months and pay upfront, so as soon as we do that the pressure will really be on to find work :( already applied for a bits though, but everything will shut down over Easter so will be put on hold a bit! Now if you don't mind I need to go out and look for hobbits. I know there must be some around here somewhere! Lots of love, and missing everyone lots. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

the return of the toilet traumas...

Well the run of luck in going to the toilet without any dramas has ended, so I have lots of toilet related news in this edition. I wouldn't put these stories in, but every body seems to find my woes amusing! Let's start at the beginning though... after I wrote my last blog we got our first McDonald's. I only put this in because I feel it is important to tell everyone that in Malaysia you can get TRIPLE cheeseburgers. England needs to get involved! Anyway, we left KL on Monday morning bright and early. Bus was the nicest yet, but unfortunately there was a man on there determined to cough up every possible bit of phlegm on the way so headphones went in quite quickly. Tea was served, a nice touch but a bit of a health hazard on a coach bombing it down the motorway! Singapore is expensive. We had to resort to dorms for the first time on our trip, scary times! As it was our last stop in Asia we counted up all our pennies and realised that we had come in well under budget, so treated ourselves to a few nice days out! Singapore is literally mall after mall, if I was there on holiday I think Sean may have gone a little crazy, but as it was I didn't have any money to be spending (not that I let that completely stop me mind you...) On Tuesday we went to universal studios. I was pretty excited, squeaked a few times and only pushed a couple of small children out the way to get to the front of the queue. I've never been to such a magical place! There was a far far away land where shrek (my new bff) lived. Got about a zillion pictures and Sean went on all the rollercoasters, but wouldn't come on the Madagascar themed merry go round with me! The rollercoasters were brilliant and we never had to queue more than 5 minutes! My favourite was shrek 4d, a film in 3d but then it bumps your chair along, blows air on the back of your neck when the ghost appears and squirts you with water when donkey sneezed... gross but brilliant! It was around this time when the toilet visits started to go a bit wrong... maybe I deserved it because I insisted on visiting the bathroom in every different themed area, I don't know. The first incident occurred when I apparently failed to lock the door (not my fault, the lock was covered in hieroglyphics, ancient Egypt theme). As someone tried to get into my cubicle, I jumped up to stop the door, and off went the automatic flush. I wouldn't mind so much but in the fairytale teamed toilets the automatic flush didn't even work, lulling me into a false sense of security, so that as I sat in the Madagascar themed toilets I had a nasty shock when the toilet flushed as I sat perfectly still. What is wrong with a button, that's what I'd like to know?! Anyway, we spent the next day exploring the parts of Singapore that aren't malls (not a lot) and sampling the cuisine of little India. The day after that we went to the zoo and night safari, where the toilet related dramas took a turn for the worse. There we were admiring the free roaming oragutans from below, and just as I said 'oh no, its starting to rain' Sean said 'look out that big ones doing a wee'. Yep, I got weed on. On my face. Lovely. Other than that, the zoo was lovely! The animals seem to have a lot more space and looked happy and content. I even saw manatees which are my very fave, and we watched them get fed and the little baby swimming around - another billion pics to upload. We also went on the night safari which was pretty cool! Our flight to Melbourne was the day after, so we had a little visit to Chinatown, as we needed to sample the cuisine! Then off we went to the airport, where we also sampled some more food, just to be sure we had tried everything. Lucky we did as our flight kept getting pushed back half an hour at a time so we left at 2am instead of 1030pm. Lucky they had a Disney classics section on the little screens or I would not have been happy! Got to Melbourne in the afternoon and met Sean's friend Tynan, who we are going to stay with. Went out for a pizza that evening which was pretty life changing if I'm honest... imagine the nicest Caesar salad you've ever had, but on top of a pizza. I still dribble a little when I think of it... Melbourne is really nice, it reminds me of the nice bits of London but much less crowded. We accidentally became members of a casino yesterday, but in return we got a shiny gold card with our names on and 5 dollars (the boys gambled theirs but I saved mine, obviously), yet another new experience! We also went and had a little picnic at the beach yesterday as it was a beautiful day. Then we came home and had our first bbq - complete with kangaroo! Sean bet I wouldn't finish my steak, so I ate it all AND the biggest sausage left, just to prove a point! Felt a bit bad about eating a kangaroo before I had seen one, but not bad enough to hold back. This morning our phones arrived so have spent the morning being lazy and playing on draw something, think we are going to go and see the creek later, am hoping to find some snakes! That's all for the moment, hope everyone is alright and coping without us. Lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxx

The return of Road Signs and Traffic Lights!

Hello everyone! Have been waiting until I had a bit more to tell everyone... what with all these comments about how jealous people are it seemed a bit mean to write a blog about how we had been sitting by the pool/beach.. although I am going to do that now haha!! We spent a lovely few days at the last resort mention on Koh Phangan lazing by the pool and topping up our tans which is always nice, however we had to swap hotels as our one was obviously a bit of a hot spot for backpackers so was fully booked as it got closer to Full Moon Party. Found a nice alternative although the pool wasn't great - meant that we actually walked an extra 100m and went to the beach though so it was actually good in the long run! The beach was probably the nicest beach we have ever been to - the water was crystal clear and so warm it was like a bath. There were also some nice cheap restaurants along the sand so we got into the habit of buying a couple of beers and watching the sun go down on the beach, and then going back at night time for dinner. Its such a hard life! Stayed on Koh Phangan for almost a week, we both agreed we could probably stay longer but time is ticking and our flight to Australia is getting closer and closer, and still plenty more to see. On our final day on the island it absolutely bucketed down, so we sat on our balcony and watched the rain on and off, as well as massive thunderstorms, it was brilliant, and the first bit of bad weather we have actually had so we thought it was about due! Next day we embarked on our trip to Penang, an island in Malaysia. Was another one of those ridiculously long and complex journeys - jeep/taxi (open air - lovely until it starts chucking it down) to the ferry, ferry to Samui, then on to the main land, then a coach to Surat Thani where we were nearly scammed but caught them out - we are finally learning the ways of Asia!!!! Basically the key is that if someone tells you something is 10km away - they are usually telling porkies! We had already bought our tickets and this man told us to follow him to the tour agency which we did. When we got there it turned out we were at the wrong company (not very convincing display of shock from the man working there) but LUCKILY the man who had brought us there HAPPENED to know where the right place was and ALSO HAPPENED to be a tuk tuk driver. We walked back to the drop off point and spoke to a woman there, who called our company and arranged a free pick up. Scam avoided, we are wising up! Anyway, on with the journey... next we got in a very small, very busy and not very air conditioned mini van, which we were in for a total of 5hours. Ouch. Saw a horrific crash on the way - truck was so mangled you couldn't tell which way up it was. Not surprising considering the way people drive but still scary to see. Eventually we pulled up outside a stall selling toys, and a man stuck his head in and shouted 'Penang? You come in my van now.' So we crossed the dual carriageway on foot and got in a different mini van (air con and leg room this time!) and off we went again to the Malaysian Border. I have never been to such an efficient border! We literally walked in, filled in our arrival card got stamped and walked through. Must have taken a minute in total? Put the two hours we spent last time in Bangkok in perspective! And the people were friendly too and actually smiled, which I thought was against the rules for immigration control! Could tell we were in a different country straight away - roads were so much better, road signs arrived and the houses we were going past was all a world away from the ramshackle huts in the other countries. We had paid for a ticket to Butterworth, the town on the mainland near Penang, but the driver was going all the way and so dropped us on the street we wanted in Penang - cheers mate! Found a hostel (not lovely but a lot cheaper than Samui or Phangan) and a burger van called the Old Trafford, had a bit of food and collapsed in bed, as we had been travelling about 16 hours by this point. Next day we did a bit of touristyness. Went to the Museum and learnt all about the different peoples - again probably not for everyone but we liked it. We also went to Fort Cornwallis, although I think we walked round the wrong way as the displays didnt make a huge amount of sense. They may have just been like that though to be fair... Went out for a curry that night as Sean had been craving one for a few days! Next day we braved public transport for the first time, and went to the top of Penang Hill. You can get a little train thing up there like a cable car, which I thought was ridiculously overpriced but the views from the top of Georgetown, the mainland and the bridge were beautiful. Finally worked out how to use the Panorama setting on my camera - was pretty chuffed but then decided I need to go back to Halong Bay and utilise this new found skill. From the top of Penang Hill, we decided to walk to the Botanic Gardens. In our lonely planet book it makes sounds as though this is a short walk. It is not. 5km of steep hill and I thought my knees were going to explode - comforted by the fact that as we walked monkeys started playing in the tree tops around us which was pretty amazing. We eventually got to the Gardens but were so tired we didn't walk far - just far enough to see some turtles in a lily pond and find a massive Orchid house which made us think of Terri! We then got the bus back to the centre. Ran for the bus as it was about to leave, only for it to stop at the next stop along, the bus driver got off, and did not return for 35 minutes. At first we were a bit baffled, but I think 6 weeks out here has changed the way we think, so we just laughed and got out the cards and played a fair few rounds of Rummy. When we finally got back to the center we walked around a couple of malls and I treated myself to some conditioner and dove body wash - so excited! That night we went to a night market for dinner - it was quite an experience! Really cheap good food from stalls all around, and a bustling place with lots of people watching to be done, our favourite! That was pretty much it for Penang, we got a coach a 1pm the next day to Kuala Lumpur, pretty annoying though as it was by far the nicest bus we have been on so far for the shortest journey! How unfair! We got picked up by Sean's friend Ed in the centre, as we are staying with him in KL. It is pretty nice to be in a decent place to stay - its a condo (aka posh flat) and we have a little room with en suite to stay in! We have definitely made use of the washing machine since we got here, as well as finally seeing everyone on Skype which was brilliant! Weird though, as sitting chatting to Mummy for ages just feel like you are there with them, then you sign off and look around and think 'Oh my god I'm in Malaysia how did I get here?!' First day in KL we went to the middle of town to the HUGEST shopping mall I have ever seen in my life - eleven floors, two wings and more in the middle. Put it this way, its the first occasion since my life began that I have not made it all the way round a shopping centre. Does that put it in perspective?! We then went up the KL tower just in time to get all the views of KL in daylight, sunset and night time. Pretty high up - the lift left my stomach behind somewhere around 150m. Observation deck is 276m up. On the way back down, our ticket included a visit to 'The Animal Zone', which turned out to be a ramshackle shed full of huge snakes and tarantulas. Conclusion: not a place for Anthony to visit. We were both pretty tired by this point, but then discovered that no taxi driver knew where Ed lived... apparently Taxi drivers rely on the passenger to direct them here, which is all very well until you get a pair of foreigners like us who are absolutely perplexed by the layout of this city. In the end rang Ed and put him on the phone to the taxi driver and got to the right place in the end, but I was concerned for a while... Next day we went out for a brunch. Curry. Sean was loving it haha, was really good food, and another dining experience, as you eat off a big banana leaf not a plate, and all these people with dishes of stuff just come over and plonk it on your plate until you say stop! Literally Sean was in heaven. We then went to the Batu Caves (lots of steps) but there were some rather vicious looking monkeys lurking and actually climbing up people, so we didn't stay too long! Last night we went to a 'Thai Bar' which was an... experience. You don't buy drinks, just pay for the bottle and they bring over mixers and leave it all on your table, and the entertainment was Thai women in not many clothes singing half of the words to Lady Gaga. I loved it! Met a lot of prostitutes which is always nice... Sean said he was glad I was there to protect him! Not convinced all of the lovely ladies we met were actually ladies. Some very big feet and deep voices. Not much else to say really, we are on to Singapore tomorrow so next blog will most likely be from Australia. Only thing left to tell is a small toilet related fact for you (no trauma for me this time don't panic). Not all the toilets here are quite the same as at home. Some of them are toilet seats around a hole in the floor so you have to squat, which I think is a bit silly, because if you are going to bother put a toilet seat in then you really should put a toilet in as well. It clearly is a confusing system for everyone involved, as on some of the actual toilets there are signs on the back saying DO NOT STAND ON THE TOILET and a diagram showing you how to sit on it! Found that hilarious, until I found foot prints on a toilet that didn't have a sign!!!!!! Hope everyone at home is alright and enjoying what sounds like some pretty strange weather!!! Lots of love to everyone xxxxxxxxxxxxx