A different life


As I've said before, part of our trip was not just about travelling but changing our lives for the 
better, and I want to record and share some of that.  Over the last few months we've talked a lot about what aspects of our lives we liked and what we wanted to change or improve about ourselves.  It came down to just our family and friends, and our flat that we really liked.  And those are the things that we are really missing now and we wish we could pick up and move with us.


There were several areas that I wanted to examine and try to improve on in my life:


Work: 

I did really enjoy my first 2 years of teaching and I really landed on my feet, in most ways, starting out at OJS.  I met a lot of great people who were extremely supportive and will continue to be good friends and of course the kids were fantastic.  But and I knew after 2 years I wanted a change and that I wanted to go back to working in 'special education'.  This is where my heart is.  I am really interested and passionate about working with young people with Autism, in particular.  Now I am in Vancouver this is the area of work I am pursuing.  I have now added another page, about getting back in to this line of work, my experiences of working with young people with Autism and also anything I've read or watched about this area that I think might be interesting to people!

I also decided that when I go back to being a teacher I need to find a way to have a better work/life balance.  I'd lost who I was apart from being a teacher!

Fitness:


In the year or so before I left the UK, I finally discovered a sport that I enjoyed doing - Pole Dancing.  In fact I became a bit obsessed with it.  So I have added a page to track my progress, when I can finally afford to go classes again that is!  But so far I have added pictures of some pole that I did while travelling and also a video of a pro!  Watch this if you still have a 'sleazy, lap-dance club' image of pole dancing!

Diet and Cooking:


Now, I've always felt that I ate a reasonably healthy diet - 'everything in moderation' being my motto. But I was aware that we could eat more fruit and veg and that some foods didn't agree with me! I knew that my repertoire of recipes was very limited and based on convenience.  So my quest now is to experiment more with cooking, buy more organic food and increase my awareness and understanding of how different foods and minerals can effect our bodies.

I've created a page to add any info I find out about diet and any recipes I think other people might like!

Creativity:


Before I started on the long road (well it was longer for me than most!) to teaching Fine Art was my passion and it consumed all of my time as a teenager.  Unfortunately, this is an area of my life that has almost completely disappeared, especially since teaching.  So I have vowed to spend more time being creative, therefor one of the first things I have done is ordered some wool to make felt!  I plan to make the most of the time I have free while I'm waiting to start work!  I have also been working hard at doing some basic photo-editing of all our thousands of pictures I have taken over our travels and I'm trying to learn how to be more creative with Photoshop.

I've created a new page to show off some of my projects!

The Price of Convenience

In the press recently there has been lots of discussion about whether India should allow foreign investors to own 51% of retail stores. This would allow stores such Wal-Mart and Tesco to open in India. In recent days these plans have been suspended but it is an interesting and ongoing debate and one which the UK's experience should contribute to.

The Indian government claims it will aid competition. For who? For the big brands perhaps, but the fact that a Tesco Express store seems to be opening in every street in the UK is testament to the fact that it certainly won't help smaller independent retailers who simply cannot compete. I would like to compare the numbers of small independent retailers now and 10 years ago in the UK, I bet the numbers have decreased greatly.

Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, also claims that it will help to drive down prices which have risen dramatically with inflation. However this has gone to the other extreme in the UK, where prices for farmers have been driven down so low that many farmers are struggling to stay in business.

Surely India has only to look to England to realise this move can only benefit the big chains and continue to help the rich get rich and the poor even poorer, which seems to be a common theme. I read an article in India Today that advocated the opinion that the Government in India was an enemy of the poor and that by setting the poverty line at 32 rupees per person in urban areas and 26 rupees in rural areas this was actually adversely effecting ordinary Indians. Currently the government claims that 32% of Indians live below the poverty line. This means that 32% of Indians survive on less than 50p a day in urban areas. But the article, in my opinion, was arguing that by setting the poverty line so low they are confirming that it is okay for ordinary people to live on so little, that they need no more than the absolute minimum for survival.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-today-editorial-director-m-j-akbar-planning-commission-poverty-montek-singh-ahluwalia-rs-32-a-day-democracy/1/154070.html

Another argument for opening up the market to foreign retailers was that there would be no end of choice for the Indian consumer. This may be true but at a cost. We are used to being able to go to one store and get everything we need, sorry want. It is irrelevant whether we can actually grow that produce, whether it is in season, we can still get it. That is what we have become accustomed to, we expect to be able to get everything and anything we want. The result is being sold tasteless fruit and veg, that have been imported at great expense to the environment and to us, that have been stored/frozen for weeks in some dock container.

That was one of the things that was so wonderful about travelling around India - the fresh, flavoursome food. If you ate at a local place, okay you had choices limited to what they could grow or obtain locally, but the food was all freshly prepared. You could eat a well balanced meal of rice, vegetables and lentils for very little cost. Okay we did not eat a lot of meat and a majority of people in India are vegetarian, for religious reasons. Also it is not so easy to keep meat fresh. But still if meat is used it is sourced locally. It may not look as juicy or each cut as 'meaty', but nor has the animal or the meat been pumped full of additives or water.

I have also heard that a lot of vegetable/fruit produce is rejected and wasted by supermarket chains because of how it looks. Apparently British consumers are reluctant to buy an apple unless it is perfectly formed, there is not a blemish or lump in sight. There seems to be parallels here with our cosmetic/modelling/MTV/ celebrity culture!! But how ridiculous, since when does it matter what a potato looks like? What does it taste like? Where did it come from? Is it fresh? Are surely more appropriate questions? But seemingly people fail to consider this and I have to admit in the past I have been one of these people. Much more concerned with being able to get what I need in as little time as possible, only considering the effect on my pocket and time.

Reflecting on my life back in the UK I realise I have spent a lot of time telling myself and anyone else that will listen, what a busy life I lead. That I order my food online from a big supermarket chain because I don't have enough time and I save money. What rubbish! It's taken this 3 months of taking my head out of my own........life (!) to consider my impact on the world around me. I hope when I return to a working life somewhere, sometime soon, I will remember this and take the time to support local retailers, to buy fresh produce from independent stores and prepare more food from scratch. My sister has always been a great advocate of this and does a great job of preparing fresh exciting meals each day. There is no reason why I cannot do this. I'm thinking about having a family in the near(ish) future and I don't want to teach my children to be selfish or apathetic about what they consume.

Another trend that I hope India does not follow, is being able to buy convenience in terms of ready-made food. A wonderful part of the culture, that is lacking in the UK, is the passing down of family recipes. A huge part of Indian culture, according to families we met, is cooking and eating together. Most importantly cooking meals from scratch, making your own roti etc. Every family we met on the trains had brought entire meals with them, which they without fail wanted to share with us. Working mothers cook fresh meals and take great pride in this. I know many families in the UK still do this, but I believe there is a risk within our generation and the generation after us of loosing this, of convenience winning over healthy, nutricious food. People buy 'diet' meals instead of cooking for themselves, which they can guarantee has no additives etc. I am definitely guilty of buying ready-made sauces and filled pasta as a quick meal. I have a very small repertoire of basic meals that I make from scratch. Must do better! It's also so cheap to buy a 'meal' at a Weatherspoons or similar chains, which can be cheaper than buying all the ingredients and cooking from scratch. It's also cheaper to buy some chicken (in the loosest possible sense) and frozen chips than cook a healthy well balanced meal. This doesn't make much sense to my simple brain. Fresh food has been sent to a factory to be processed and created, you'd think this would cost more! No wonder we are fighting obesity in the Western world.

In the same vein, I often question the 'convenience' of using the internet, especially since we have been away. In the past I'd always rather book a hotel on the net or do my banking online. But I think actually in a lot of cases this is a false economy. I've had situations where I've tried to inform my mobile phone contractor that I want to cancel my contract etc. and this is such a pa-lava online with all the security checks etc. There are so many instances where it is so much quicker and straight forward to speak to someone. And I think actually I lost some confidence and felt deskilled at talking on the phone and communicating in different situations. It's really important to be able to relate to people over the phone or face to face. Anonymity is not always such a good thing. Things tend to get done much quicker and are more likely to be achieved if there is a personal element. You would think as a teacher this would have been obvious to me!!

Of course, there is also the transport aspect of our convenience culture. Jumping in the car to nip to Tesco's, a ten minute stroll down the road, because it's raining or because you've got 'so many other things to do'. Or as I'm guilty of, driving to work to save ten minutes each morning and evening, even though it's probably more expensive to drive. The hundreds of thousands of journeys we make as a nation each day that are unnecessary, the impact this has on our environment. I hope instead of sounding like I am on my high horse I am simply demonstrating how far from a 'good' and 'moral' citizen I am. Hopefully I have countered this in some way in my teaching, even if I am not leading by example and am a huge hypocrite! Must do better, before I can preach.

So to finish....watch this space! Will the Indian government continue to block foreign companies having considered the effect on ordinary Indians or just out of the inability to get anything done as a congress? And will I take the small step of changing my own behaviour? If I can't then this may be good news for a nation that are already doing things 'right' (in terms of not living for convenience) and terrible news for the UK who are loosing the battle to a nation of convenience nuts, which in turn is having a detrimental effect on health and our economy.

Ipoh

25.11.11-27.11.11

We had decided to stop off in Ipoh for a couple of days before taking the bus

to the Cameron Highlands, which not many people decide to do. However we

really enjoyed our stay here, particularly for the food (notice a theme here?!).

On our first night we made a bee-line straight for a Lonely Planet recommended

eatery where they served boiled chicken and beansprouts. On this occasion LP

were spot on. The chicken was tender and succulent and the beansprouts were fat

and juicy. It doesn't immediatly strike you as a particularly appealing meal but

this was one of the best meals we've had on our trip so far. As we sat outside

on the street the rain cam hammering down on the corrugated roof above us and

the thunder and lightning began to come closer and closer together. Until

there was a huge 'CRACK' and a flash and we realised the lightning had struck the

pavement a few feet away from us. It certainly made us jump and added a bit of drama

to our meal!

Once the rain had eased off we walked back towards our hotel stopping off at

an upmarket bakery for some treats. We were so excited at the

selection of pastries, cookies, cheese cakes and gateaux before us. We managed

to reign in the impulse to purchase one of each and instead bought a cookie each

and a slice of cheese cake to share, which we eeked out through the course of the

evening, savouring every mouthful. I have to say they weren't up to standards at

home but nonetheless still an adequate replica!

On the theme of food, we also tried the famous Ipoh White Coffee while we were here.

It was really cheap and good, quite sweet. With our coffee we also enjoyed some

small crumbly pineapple pastries. 2 coffees and 2 pastries for about £3 - bargain!

One evening we went to the children's playground which is surrounded by food stalls.

There we had some chicken satay and nasi goreng with fried chicken while watching a

mother cat and her 4 tiny kittens frolicking around her.

Earlier in the day we had visited a nearby pet shop which I had had to drag Martin away

from as they had lots of adorable puppies. They also had Hippo Guineapigs, which I

had never seen before, strange looking bald guinea pigs! In addition the shop had a

large selection of reptiles, snakes and terripins and persian kittens.

Ipoh isn't a large town but has quite alot of character. It is organised in blocks of

traditional merchant houses, most quite scruffy looking retaining their original

shutters. Hence it is quite an interesting town to wander around and interest is added

when you stop off at the wide range of eateries around town.

We got lucky and happened to be there during a rugby tournament between university and

college teams. Not the first sport you expect to see being played locally in Malaysia.

And I have to say many of the team members didn't seem to have the ideal physique for

rugby, many being rather more skinny and short than you would think ideal, or over weight!

Never-the-less the standard improved thoughout the afternoon as the tournament progressed

and made for an entertaining afternoon.

And that was Ipoh!

Kuala Lumpur

22.11.11-25.11.11

Kuala Lumpur was not as dirty and dingy as I remembered from my last visit

but I'm not sure if this is because it's been cleaned up or because I've visited

other dirtier places, namely India, since! Anyway we really enjoyed our few days

in KL. It's just the right size to get around and with plenty to do. Although

the transport system is a bit confusing at times and not properly connected.

Different services, MRT, LRT and Kommuter, have obviously been added piecemeal at

different times and don't quite link up. It doesn't compare to Singapore's transport system

but it is negotiable and with a bit more time and effort get you most places in the city.

We'd made a friend on the way in to KL - Anders from Denmark and we spent a very

full first day doing the sights with him. Our first stop was Batu caves which was

easily reached by Kommuter train. These are Hindu caves, with colourful icons and

several temples inside. To get to the caves you pass a huge golden statue, that

unfortunately was covered in scaffolding while we were there. There are then 200+ steps

up in to the caves. Along the way there is a small army of monkey guards who are very edept

at sniffing out any food you may be carrying. If you are suspected they will acively block your

path and pull on your clothes until you hand over your precious cargo! There is no

denying what is in your posession -they know! Once you have been vetted you can enjoy

the view back over the city as you climb and watch others being hijacked!

All the way in to the dramatic lime-stone caves you are escorted by chattering, playful

monkeys. Several of the monkeys had young clinging to their stomachs and we witnessed

frequent displays of intimidation from older monkeys.

The higlight of the rest of the day was making our way to the Petronas Towers, which I

have seen before but are still very impressive. Unfortunately the sky bridge was closed

so we couldn't go up it. We went to see the towers during the day and at night, which

I would recommend. Although they are a more formidable and dramatic sight at night when

they are lit up. It is also worth walking around to the other side of the Towers to the

lake and park where you can enjoy the view in the shade and with your feet in the cool

water of the paddling pool!

I think one of the most memorable occurences during our stay in KL was our meeting of a

man living in KL. In hindsight it seems he had probably been sat at Masjid Jamek waiting

for some tourist to come along that looked approachable. He started chatting to us as we were

waiting for the MRT, got on the same train as us and told us he was getting off at the

same stop as us because he lived nearby. When we told him we were going to visit the Masjid

Jamek he led us there and then insisted on taking us inside amd taking us around. The Madjid

is not a great feat of architecture but it is an airy and graceful building surrounded and reflected

by glass panelled tower blocks.

When we were getting ready to leave he handed us his business card and we thought with relief this was his signal that he was leaving. Apparently not! We began to realise that he was very lonely and didn't really have anywhere else to go, so we ended up letting him tag along for the rest of our day. Once we had left Masjid Jamek and turned the corner we came across some break dancers. One in particular was quite impressive - incredible upper body strength, standing and hopping on one arm. The audience were suprisingly subdued about their performance and were more concerned with taking photos. That's one thing that has struck me while we have been away, that there is a real balance between trying to get a good shot and just enjoying the moment. I find if you are concentrating on taking a good photo you miss something of the experience, you're not living it in the same way, you are trying to record and observe instead.

We also visited the Central Market, which was a disappointment. I thought it was going to be an

actual food or locals market but instead it is an upmarket tourist market with lots of knick-knack stalls and overpriced food stalls.

Early evening we headed to Bukit Bintang, which is part of the Golden Triangle area, much more

commercialised. The proximity of Christmas was very prominant here! Especially in the mall where was well as huge, elaborate christmas decs there was also a huge toy fair with various characters performing, presumably with the aim of emotionally black-mailing parents in to buying the most expensive gift on behalf of santa! We ate dinner at the malls food hall which had a vast selection of food.

Our day was finished off by a 2nd visit to view the Petronas Towers. It was a very busy day and

we really enjoyed Anders company. As to our other 'guest', he was a very sweet man and made us feel very fortunate to have each other and such good friends back home.

The next afternoon we headed to the Lake Gardens. We made our way to Masjid Jamek and then walked for about 30 minutes from there in to the park, then following the road south through the park past all the attractions. The walk felt very long and sweaty!! I expected the Lake Gardens to be more park-like (maybe it is if you get off the main road) but from the road it was not very open, no vast green space as I'd anticipated, after the entrance. We made our way to what is supposed to be the main attraction; the Bird Park, passing about half a kilometre of net enclosure. It did look very exciting but the price was extortionate! So unfortunately we didn't go in. We thought we would stretch to a cold drink in the attached restaurant that was also housed in a bird enclosure, for the experience. But again decided against

it when the price of can of drink of 8 MR instead of the usual 1.80 MR!

So we continued through Lake Gardens for another 10-15 minutes until we reached the Islamic Art Museum.This museum is very well put together. The first exhibition is of Islamic Architecture and includes beautiful detailed scale models of mosques from around the world and detailed explanations. There is also a beautiful exhibition of clothing, scripture and jewellery. The museum is well worth a visit.

As seems to be typical in Malaysia, we had some delicious meals in KL. But the highlight was going to a small pavement cafe that only served Beef noodles. We both had a bowl of Beef noodle soup and it was so tasty. Lean slices of rare beef in a delicious broth soaking oodles of sloppy thin noodles! We also frequented a different very basic pavement cafe on the same road as our hotel, a couple of times. There was a choice of about a dozen different dishes cooked by individual stalls. We enjoyed the popiah (vegetable spring rolls) and roasted pork and rice.

Capitol Satay.

21.11.11 Melaka

This morning started with a move to our third hostel in Melaka and the

best! We have moved in to Roof Top Guest House, which is number 1 on

Tripadvisor and it's not hard to see why. STill a shared bathroom, but

plenty of clean spacious shower/toilet rooms. Our room is large, immaculatly

clean, wifi in our room and the bed is properly made up with a top sheet!

This is something I will nolonger take for granted!

We dropped our bags off and headed for a recommended eatery -Jonkers 88.

We ordered sour laksa and seafood laksa. This was the first meal we've

had in Malaysia that we didn't really enjoy, not because it was a bad

meal it just wasn't to our taste.

We spent the rest of the afternoon, exploring the surrounding quieter

residential streets of Chinatown, decorated with traditional red lanterns.

Temple Street is the home of at least 3 temples, including the beautiful

Cheng Hoon Teng Temple and Masjid Kampung Hulu.

The hostel owner recommended a place called Capitol Satay which is the

original restaurant serving satay celup. When we arrived in the drizzle

there was a long queue, thankfully under cover, which we took as a good sign!

We ended up waiting nearly an hour for a table. Once we got a table we went

up to a fridge cabinet, where there were an array of skewers and plates to choose

from. You could choose from different meats, seafood, tofu, wontons. We

took a selection of a dozen or so back to our table. In the middle of

our table was a metal pot full of a 'satay soup' bubbling away. We were told

to place the skewers in the soup for 2 minutes for it to cook. The soup

was rich and full of flavour and it was all part of the experience as you

picked a skwer each time not sure what delight would be on the end of it!

Part way through the meal one of the waitresses brought over 2 skewers with

a huge king prawn on each one, for only 80 cents! We could not resist! This

time we had to wait 7 minutes and the tricky job of peeling the prawn before

we could sample this delight! The whole meal was a real experience!

Jonkers Walk buffet!

19.11.11 Melaka

First things first - we had to move hostels to Sayang Sayang 2 this morning,

which is much newer. But I couldn't help feeling they've cut corners and a

lot of the thoughtful little touches were missing here, even though the

price was higher and the bedrooms/beds/showers are all smaller!! But, hey,

it's clean and the lady that runs it is helpful and friendly.

Next we crossed over the murky brown river in to the 'historical old town'.

Melaka has a interesting history and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Melak first grew as a trading port and developed an interesting cultural

mix because of this. Melaka has been under the rule of the British and

Dutch in recent history.

As we crossed over the river we came to Town Square or Dutch Square where

tens of competing trishaws are waiting around the Stadthuys, which is the

old dutch-builty town hall and governors build. It's hard to miss as it's

a rusty pink colour. The trishaws surrounding it are solely for tourists and

are all in competition to be the most wacky. Most covered in gaudy plastic

flowers and some even blaring out western music.

When we walked behind the square and around Bukit St Paul towards Porta de Santiago

we discovered there was an arts festival going on this weekend, due to start

in a few hours. We ducked in to the nearby mall for some much needed air-con,

on the way passing an outdoor paint-ball centre. Inside the mall there was

a cinema, acquarium, roller disco and small archery centre. What more could

you need?!

Out of the mall and strolling to the sultanate palace we came across a small

crowd forming around a lone performance artist that to be honest came across

a bit deranged. She was doing some interpretative dance of some sort,

neither of us could really follow what she was doing, work out of there was

any narrative and wasn't very impressed with the actual dance, but it was

interesting!

The Sultanate palace is a wooden replica of a Melaka sultans palace and houses

a cultural museum, that tells some historical stories about personalities

important in Melaka's history and explains how the sultanate is governed.

Not a particularly scintilating museum!

Next we went back to Jonkers walk and one of the hawker stand cafes where

where we had a guess at what we wanted to eat, Ice Ice. We enjoyed a cheap

late lunch of wanton noodle soup. Afterwards we went back to the festival

and listened to a local singer-songwriter, who mixed it up with, of course,

a cover of Jason Moraz! Then we went to sample a cendol each. In Lonely

Planet they describe this delicacy as an ice monstrosity and they're not

wrong! You can have different flavours but the orignal one is coconut with

ice, with a kind of syrup over the top and then strangest of all, at the bottom

are green-bean looking jellies, sweetcorn and kidney beans (of course!). We also

sampled a mango falvoured one, which was a little more familiar tasting as it

was sweeter and fruity!

This evening, we had en exciting dinner! We spent a happy few hours walking up

and down the night market sampling food from different stalls. We tried Tiwanese

sausage on a stick, a 'tornado' crisp (which is a potato cut in to a big screw

and put on a skewer and then cooked, so it becomes a cross between a chip and a

crips) and a popiah (spring roll). We also shared a mango milk tea with pearls,

which is like a milk shake but with small balls of chewy jelly. Later we had

japanese oyster balls. These were delicious parcels that melted in your mouth

hiding chewy oyster. Next we shared a sweet potato cake and finished with a bag

of dim sum.

After we had filled our bellies we clambered up St Pauls hill to the church to

watch some performance artists. Unfortunately we were too late to be able to

fit in to the church,but glimpsed a half-naked man, painted white prancing

around under blue lights and flapping flowing fabric around and thought it may

not be to our taste anyway!

Never mind!

Melaka melting pot.

18.11.11

Today we arrived at our first stop in Melaka. We woke up late with Chris soon

knocking on our door, saying he had to go as his flight was earlier than

he though (5 hours earlier -oops!). Luckily he made his flight home. It's

been really good fun having Chris with us for a couple of weeks, it's

going to take some adjusting now he's gone and feeling like we're back

on the road again!

Anyway it was only a 2 hour bus ride to Melaka. We arrived at the main

bus station, Sentral, and got a taxi to the hostel we had booked. It

was all a bit confusing trying to get a taxi - there was a booth, but

no sign in English but lots of willing drivers. So we told them

where we wanted to go and the guy in the booth consulted his list then

there was a bit of discussion between the drivers and a call out over a

tannoy system and another man appeared who was to be our driver. We

agreed a price for what we had expected (15Mr) and off we went.

Our hostel, Sayang Sayang, is clean and the staff were really friendly

and helpful. Our room is a double decker, so you go in to the

'living room' with a small sofa and then you go up some stairs to

your bed. The bathroom was shared, but this seems to be the case

throughout Malaysia in budget accomodation. Unfortunately this place

is fully booked for the next 2 nights and so it seems are lot of

other places, because it is the school hols and there's a arts

festival going on, so we have to move to their other hostel Sayang

Sayang 2 tomorrow night.

It was now late afternoon and we were told there was a night market

going on at Jonkers Walk at 6, so we did a few jobs on the internet and

then headed out. Jonkers walk was really busy, with loads of stalls

set up along the street selling souvenirs, jewellery, flip flops and snacks.

You know instantly you are in china town by looking at the traditional

chinese architecture and the trinkets on sale. We really

enjoyed walking up and down the street soaking up the atmosphere. We

eventually decided to go in to one of the cafe was some local cuisine.

So we setlled on the famous chicken and rice ball meal. A very simple but

tasty dish in a popular cafe.

So far we are really excited about our few days in Melaka and expecially

about sampling as many local dishes as possible!!

Eating in Singapore.

17.11.11

The last few days in Singapore have been really enjoyable and leisurly.

We've done a fair bit of walking. Yesterday we went to Chinatown, to

find a recommended Hawker centre for lunch. We tried a selection of

food, including Char Sew roasted pork, dumpling soup and crispy fried

wontons for mains. All of which were simple but delicious. Then Chris

went to point at a selection of odd looking drinks and deserts that

he'd seen people having and came back with Jellygrass tea. This is a

clear black coloured cold drink with lumps of jelly floating around!

It has a strange after taste, but is drinkable, until it starts getting

lumpier! We also tried soya milk, which is very popular and beancurd

with warm sugar cane, which none of us could really get in to, the texture

was too unnusual! It was a really lively, bustling atmosphere sat amongst

the food stands in this market. Chinatown was quite interesting to walk

around, but quite geared towards tourists.

We headed back to Geylang to get showered and changed and then got back

on the MRT to Marina Bay. We went to see the casino at the marina, which

is quite a new addition and huge. Gambling was only recently legalised

in Singaore and the casinos opened in 2009. The floor space is about 50% fruit

machines and then tables of Marjong, black jack and some other dice

games we didn't recognise. There is no poker played here much to the

disappointment of Martin and Chris. Singaporeans have to pay 100 SD

to enter and play at the casino.

After wandering around we went to dinner at Cut, which was just an incredible

experience for me (Martin had been before). It is an upmarket steak restaurant.

I'm not really a connosieur of steak so I needed some help choosing the cut of

my steak. The cows are bred specifically and are reared on a particular diet

in order to make the meat really succulent and get a particular taste. After

ordering we were presented with a selection of breads to choose from, including

olive bread, very exciting!! The meal itself was phenomenal. All the cuts of

meat melted in the mouth. I didn't realise there was any difference in taste

depending on the cut of steak. The vegetable side dishes were amazing too and

we also enjoyed a bottle of Cianti.

I felt very spoilt! Thank you Chris x

Today we got the MRT back to Orchard and then walked the length of Orchard

out to the Botanic gardens, which took about 45 minutes, longer than the

boys were happy about! Once we left Orchard road we were in a wealthy area

with plush apartment blocks and then huge mansions, with private security

booths and acres of land, so it was quite interesting gawping at these

properties, trying to decide who would live there etc.

The Botanic gardens were really pleasant to walk around, with various different

types of gardens over a vast area. You didn't feel like you were in a city.

The Orchid garden in particular was worth a visit, housing so many different

types of Orchid. I didn't realise that the Orchid is supposed to be the

largest group of flowering plant.

For dinner we went to find another recommended hawker centre in one of the malls

on Orchard Road, Ngee Ann City. Martin and I tried Carrot cake which we think

is slices of a tofu type substance and veg fried, in this case in a black bean

sauce. Not too sure about it! We also tried some deserts - mango pudding,

which was like a mango jelly, really good.

Then this evening we went to the marina to watch the Immortals, and before hand

the boys played a game of bowling while I wandered around the shops.

Arie Smit and smoked duck.

10.11.11

Today the boys decided thay couldn't hack our busy pace (?!!)

so wanted a lazy day which I conceded to (but of course got my

own way in the end!). So we had breakfast then lounged around

the pool for the morning.

We then went to a restaurant called Deli Cat, which was

recommended in the book for Bobby to have lunch and us

a drink. We can recommend the German sausages and chips.

They do a whole range of sausages and cheese, which you

can select from their shop and have as a ploughmans.

Very tempting! That's one of the things I miss-cheese!!

From there we walked up Monkey Forest road up to the main

Ubud Road and then turned left, to walk out of town. It was

a longer walk than we though. WE wound over a bridge and

up hill passed plenty of spa resorts. Half way up the hill

we came to a big artists studio with loads of pop art

style pictures of the Mono Lisa and decided to go in and

have a look. It was a lovely huge light studio space,

covered in large canvases. All very uninspiring, unoriginal

brightly coloured portraits or Warhol style prints...blah

blah. But we were were welcomed by camp, drunk American

guy louging in a hammock, who when we told him where we were

from started telling us how ridiculous the English were, which

was quite funny!!

Anyway we continued on our mission to find an Art Museum, I wanted

to go and had told the boys it wasn't very far. It did turn out

to be alot farther away than I'd though aswell. But we eventually

got there and the boys were rewarded with a beer (or 3) while I

went in to have a look.

Neka Art Museum is well worth a look. It has a fairly large collection

of Balinese art and foreign artists works that are inspired by

Bali. The first 3 or 4 galleries take you through the historial

progression on Balinese art. From very busy canvasses similar om

style to the traditional wayung (puppets) telling traditional folk

or Hindu stories all the way up to western influenced painting from

the 1930's onwards. The most interesting pieces for me were telling

stories or depicting elements of black magic. There were very good

descriptions of each piece.

There was also a collection of photographs taken by a dutch/american

man Robert A. Koke who set up one of the first hotels in Bali in the

1930's. His photos were taken between 1937 and 1941 and he photographed

some of the different traditional dances, some which took place to

ward of evil spirits.

There were also a whole gallery of paintings by Arie Smit, whose

work I love. His paintings really capture the colours and

vibrancy of the culture in Bali. It is such a sistint culture

even compared to their neighbouring islands, from what we have

seen and been told by locals. They are fiercely proud of their

culture and say if you are born in a village, you will die there too.

Anyway, getting side tracked! I collected the men and we walked

back in to Ubud. We were soon back out again as we had a table booked

at the highly recommended Dirty Duck where we had ordered a day in

advance a whole smoked (yes you guessed it) duck. It was delicious,

and came with satay chicken, prawn crackers, veg and rice. The setting

of the restaurant was also very beautiful. We sat on cushions on the

floor, in our own little pagoda with fountains and little ponds around

us lit by lanterns. Very romantic!

Another Epic Journey - Slightly More Epic Than we Anticipated!

03.10.11

Today I woke up feeling a little apprehensive because Martin and I were going to spent a morning at a nearby International school. We were picked up at 7am by the children's school bus and on we got with all our packs, causing a bit of a stir.

When we arrived at about 8, we were taken to the cafeteria for a coffee, where most of the staff seemed to be (novel!)before home room began at 8.20. I was taken to begin my day with PYP1. Martin went to spend the day in the secondary department.

There were 11 children in the class, and 7 of them were just being taken off for their EAL lessons so I stayed with the remainder and we did our diary writing. I was then taken

for a tour of the school and got to find out a bit more about the IB programme. At 10.30 it was break time so I was taken to the cafeteria again for my breakfast! Afterwards I joined the equivalent of a year 4 class who were just beginning a new 'topic'. There were 18 children in the class with 10 or so children with EAL. While I was in the class, there was a class TA, another TA who seemed to be 1:1, a SEN TA and EAL teacher! Afetr the lesson the teacher very kindly talked me through the last unit she taught them and showed me their work. Throughout the rest of the morning I spent time with the SEN department talking through how they are organised and then went to watch an EAL lesson.

There was a great atmosphere at the school and everyone was so kind and helpful towards both of us. It had then been organised for us to get on the school bus back in to Pune and be dropped off at the train station as we were heading off to Margao in South Goa.

When we got to the station we had about an hour to kill. The train was due to arrive at 4.20 and leave at 4;30 and again we knew we had to be ready to get on at the correct carriage. So we were watching the boards in anticipation to find out what platform we needed to be at. 4:20 arrived and no news. Helpful passersby told us we should go to platform 1, but there was a train that was due after ours sat at that platform.

So we waited.....and waited. The train on platform 1 left at 5:10 and then our train appeared on the platform boards. At this time there had been no mention of a delay and a platform still hadn't appeared on the main station boards. Anyway as if by magic(!) the train appeared at 5.30 and we eventually left at about 6pm.

We were in another AC2 sleeper carriage, along with Pandadeep, a middle aged spring manufacturer. He was incredibly friendly and helpful. He told us hie mother was from Belgium and he had gone to university there. He spoke French, English and Hindi

fluently, and had lived for a period in America. We were talking about the economic down turn in the UK and high unemployment and he told us that unemployment should be very low in India, that in his factory he is always short of workers

in all areas. he said it's got to the stage that if someone isn't working to the standard he would expect and picks them up on it, they are in a position to say okay and go and find another job. This came as a great suprise to us as we have encountered

so many able bodied beggars. We told him about the well dressed lady and her son who had been walking past us at the train station, saw us, turned back and asked us for money! Such opportunism! He explained that he usually bought food for beggars,

because there are lots of rackets going on when people are making others beg for them and collecting the money.

So another night on a train passed and our train pulled in to Margao at around 6.30am (late). We were heading to Palolem and knew we had to get a bus there so we jumped in a rickshaw. At the bus station they told us we needed to get on a bus to Panjim and then change buses. We thought this a bit strange because we had been told there was a direct bus. Anyhow we

got on the bus, packed with people going to work, with our backpacks on our laps. All set and then at some invisible/silent signal, from what we could tell, everyone started getting on a bus and on to another smaller (!) one. So we trailed off last and got onto the other bus. Having to fight our way to the back of the bus with out packs and squish ourselves on to the back seat with 3 other people. Off we went.

Half an hour later we arrived in Panjim, where they told us we had to go back to Margao to get the bus to Palolem!! I have to say at this point I felt like crying! We have had many situations like this since being India. In the UK if someone had

cocked up you could vent at the person/company, get an apology or a refund and feel much better! But here you have to just

swallow it, accept it as part of the experience, because no-one would care if you complained here! The people at Panjim thought it was hilarious!

So we got back on the bus to Margao, again squashed on the back seat with our packs on our laps. I was thinking if I felt sick on the journey everyone around me was screwed! Then another man gets on the bus and tells us to move up because he wants to squish in aswell! We were very good and didn't tell him where to go, but dutifully budged up until I was practically sat on the girl next to me's lap, because this is 'normal' here!

Another 40 minutes back to Margao then we found the bus to Palolem. Now, Palolem is 30 km's away, so you might expect that it might 40-45 minutes. Of course not, this is India. Over an hour and a half later we arrived, having only added 4 hours to our journey!! I have to say I was particularlly fractious because at the hotel we stayed in in Aurangabad there must have

been bed bugs because I am literally covered in horrible looking bed bug bites and they are itchy. So I was hot, tired and being driven mildly cretinous by the my bites and the ridiculousness of travelling in India!

Anyway it was all worth it when we had found a room and stepped on to the stunning white sandy curve of beach at Palolem, edged with palm trees!

We walked the length of the beach, immediately relaxed, and had a quick dip. The water was so warm and shallow, you had to walk out a long way before it reached your waist. Once we had dried off we went and sat in one of the only beach side bars that is open, because it is off season. We could sit right at the front on cushions on the floor with a wonderful

unobscured view down to the sea, with only the occasional passer-by walking past, if you didn't turn your head too much! We enjoyed Goan sausage in a rich chilly sauce with roti and a fish curry. Martin even had a beer, as beers are about half the price here in Goa. Afterwards I fell asleep in the sun and then we went back to our room for a siesta before dinner.

We had dinner in an amazing setting, at the other end of the beach. Again sat virtually on the beach. This was a very up-market restaurant compared to what we were used to, and the prices reflected it. However it was highly recommended and we were prepared to spend a fiver on good, fresh seafood!! So we indulged ourselves with Calamari Tikka and a prawn biryiani.

It was fantastic and such a great relaxing atmosphere.