Surfing superstars

On the world's largest suspension bridge...

Clare and I had exhausted the natural tourism of KL, so we decided to go for somewhere a little more manufactured - Sunway Lagoon, reportedly the world's largest water park. It may have also been the world's largest collection of seedy Indian men leering at Clare and other women in their swimming costumes...

To get to Sunway, you need to catch a 25min cab out of town to this gigantuous shopping mall in the middle of nowhere.

Seriously, this place was massive. If there was ever a hell for a man being dragged by his girlfriend around the shops, this would be it. It's like a spiraled maze of fiery commercial torment.

Inside the shopping estate is the other bastion of devilish commerce and trade - Sunway Lagoon Theme park.

The main attraction of Sunway Lagoon for Clare and I was their man-made surf wave.

I was all limbered up and excited that morning, knowing that many of the sub-continental tourists we were to share the park with could barely swim, let alone surf. It was going to be a great day - we had a good chance of getting a nice long, unique surfing experience.

Oh, but one problem, the wave pool was closed to the public.

Shut the gates, put your cossies away, don't bother buying the wax...bloody closed....

Cerrado...被关闭...Chiuso...закрытый...閉じられます...

I was nonetheless pretty disappointed.

Clare had heard that there was a surfing demonstration on at noon, so we thought we'd go for a bit of a look anyway.

When we got there, we saw four lifeguards, of varying abilities on the board surfing for a gaggle of TV cameras, positioned across various parts of the lagoon.

TV3 Malaysia had set up shop for a live outside broadcast to the nation - similar to a 'Great Outdoors' style of broadcast.

Clare and I cheekily asked if we could have a surf, not thinking they'd say yes...until the producer gave the OK!!!! Yeah!

So we ended up getting the surf AND being the featured surfers on a live Malaysian national lifestyle program. Better give Quiksilver a call to arrange some sponsorship...

To be honest, that was probably the highlight of the day...the rest of the park was pretty lame, but there were many kids and women in their full hijab seeming to have fun on the slides.

This is a picture of the lagoon from the suspension bridge...note the massive hotels and shopping centre in the background.

Clare flying high on a hydraulic raptor ride.

Kuala Lumpur orchid garden

Time for installment three of 'KL by nature'.

The Kuala Lumpur orchid garden showcases more than 800 different species of common, rare and endangered orchids. A coral reef of the botanical world, Clare and I were amazed by their delicate structures and colours.

Did you know that:

• There are about four times as many orchid species than the combined total of all mammal and bird species.
• Vanilla used in cooking actually originates from a type of orchid

Mum - you would absolutely adore this place!
Libby - Does Alan know about this one? No doubt he would - we were thinking of how much he would have enjoyed it.
Everyone else - So you're not out of the loop, my Mum is an amazing gardener, with an encylopaedic knowledge and appreciation for all things floral. 'Alan' is Clare's uncle, who is an expert in orchids.

Here's some pics from our self-guided tour:

The tiered, covered (and refreshingly cool!!) orchid walkway into the garden...

We weren't sure if this one was transplanted onto the tree, or naturally occured. Any help from our experts??

A hibiscus from an adjoining garden...I couldn't help but dig the colour!

Heliconias and the pinkest of pink frangipanis. A first for both of us, we also saw bright fire-engine red frangipanis elsewhere in the city.

One of my favourite shots. Note the small spider on the inside of the front orchid (click the photo to see an enlarged version).

A morning in the butterfly park...

I'd like to say that our time in Kuala Lumpur was a crazed affair consisting of massive nights on the cans and strategically reducing our excess luggage costs by losing our pants during huge booze fests. However, Muslim values filter through to the government's alcohol taxation policies (colloquially known as the 'sin tax'), so even though the general purchasing power of Malaysian Ringget is about a third of the Aussie Dollar, the beers are strangely more expensive.

Even more shocking is that the schmiddy also seems to have formed some roots amongst the draft beer-drinking patronage of Malaysia. Sweet holy baby Jesus, prophet of Allah...what is the world coming to??

However, I digress...

Our time in KL would be better described as more of a hippy earth-loving/cultural affair, more likely to be suited to a retired couple from Northern NSW.

Our second installment of 'KL by nature' was at the local butterfly park...some of these creatures were simply amazing. With pangs of Joseph Banks, I felt like I was discovering a lost world of butterflies and amazing natural beauty (bar the 30MYR entry fee).

OK, so you my be getting over the pictures of the flora and fauna of Kuala Lumpur and surrounds, but its tropical environment has simply developed so many amazing lines of evolutionary success that one can't help but marvel at it's delicious beauty. Here's a few of our favourite snaps...

One of Clare and my favourites...we called it the 'Dalmatian butterfly'. It was about 12cm across and really stood out amongst all of the garden's colour.

This one matched Clare's outfit...

Clare receives a few 'butterfly kisses'...

Hot birds and monkeys on heat

In the centre of Kuala Lumpur is the world's largest covered bird park, which boasts an impressive 200 different species of birds from across the world. This time of year, KL is around 30C, so the walk around the park was quite a sweaty affair...

Some of the creatures there were amazing...they had quite an Australian contingent as well. Was funny to see tourists treat the humble cockatoo with such reverence, when the first thing that came to my mind was "I hope the bastards don't eat any of the passion fruits". I loved the Toucans and some of the smaller finches and budgies.

Native to Malaysia, the Great Hornbill is an imposingly majestic looking bird at around 1-2ft tall.

Check out the beautiful colours!

Little do they know that we eat these in Australia. Clare even had a couple of emu snags on Australia Day this year.

There were monkey's humping everywhere.

Some pink flamingos...

A peacock shows off...

Clare has a way with animals.

The guy at the front took a dump. We thought that was gross. Then they started eating it. Oh God.

Two hot birds.

Kuala Lumpur!

En route to Thailand, Clare and I decided to break the journey up and spend four days in and around Kuala Lumpur (KL).

Our first ever overseas trip, we got into KL at a time when even the sparrows don't bother getting out of bed. I think it was about 3:15am. 

The taxi driver taking us to our hotel was a good bloke, helping us with suggestions on what to do during our stay here, as well as running red lights at around 130km/hr. Helped make the trip nice and fast. 

The roads here are just brilliant...they've done some major upgrading, which has connected many of the mini cities (or 'jaya') surrounding KL (the airport is about a 45 minute drive from the city).

We got upgraded to a sweet suite in our hotel with the biggest bloody bed I have ever slept on...there weren't any non-smoking rooms left as we had requested...we also managed to negotiate a terrific view of the KL tower (more about that in a later post).

By the way, it's 5 star. Yep, doing it in style...it's quite plush - it sounds a bit la di da, but it was great to be able to walk straight out of your cab and to have someone take care of your luggage from car to crib.  And there's nothing quite like checking into your hotel at 4am!!

After a bit of a snooze, we went to the Malaysian national museum...a little bit remedial, however I enjoyed the colonial section, learning quite a bit about the Portuguese, Dutch, English and Japanese eras of occupation. It came across that each were pricks in their own right, with the Portuguese seeming to be quite an imposing bunch.

Also managed to have a delicious traditional Malaysian curry for lunch for around $4 AUD...came with a whole heap of sides and had a flavour that would make many Malay curry houses back home seem pretty weak.

My first impressions of the capital?

• Extremely friendly people
  
• A good public transport and road system
  
• Islam everywhere, from architecture, to the bellowing loudspeakers at prayer time
  
• Malaysian youth dress like their about to audition for Popstars.

Stay tuned - there's more to come on our Kuala Lumpur adventures...

Naiiiiii! Wireless!!!

Allllriiiight!!

Welcome to the world of wireless, baby. Willis would be proud - this post marks my first ever using a wireless connection!

So I'm sitting here in the Beach Hotel in Byron Bay, a little bit waxed and salty after a morning in the surf with Clare. There's a bit of chilled jazz playing in the background, I'm a third of the way through a schooner of XXXX Gold and there's a handful of people across the other side of the bar wondering who the two wankers are with their laptops open on the table.

There's also some old guy coughing like a madman behind me. I think he may have emphysema...or maybe he's choking on his fish burger after checking out some of the hotties with their surfboards wandering toward the beach.

My newfound wireless capability results from the purchase of a brand spanking new Apple MacBook.

It's hot. It rocks. It will hopefully let me glide through cyberspace using the underground, unsecure networks of Bangkok city, reporting back to those at home and abroad the random, mundane and plain insane of Bangkok and beyond.

Yeah!!

Surf's up!

I'm really digging my surfing at the moment.

For those that don't know, Clare and I decided in October last year that we'd learn how to surf over summer. I've loved every single minute of it...some may even remark that I am now a bit of a findick waxhead who holds a personal account in the greenroom.

I've managed to go from being pretty shit, only being able to stand up on 20% of small 1ft waves, to being OK, able to stand up on most waves up to 3ft, turn across the face both ways, and am getting more confidence jumping onto some of the bigger ones.

My parent's live just north of Coffs Harbour - it's absolutely awesome for the surf. I've managed to get out a few times since I've been up here, each time being as they say in the business, totally gnarley. The 'sea tractor' (my large, 8'2" plough of a mini-mal board) and I have had some good times together.

Being home means I can have a beach to surf all for myself, in pristine surrounds, without the worries of my surfing lines running into and dismembering small children on body boards, or some local giving me a steely 'piss off' look for entering his sacred wave zone (in truth, I've only ever gotten this at Queenie on Sydney's Northern Beaches).

Nearby Woologoolga Beach has to be my favourite (see picture above), with its nice long, even break...here's a few pictures from the last few days surfing around Coffs:

Beautiful day, beautiful surrounds...

Probably not close enough for this one, but I had a go anyway

Nice size for the Sea Tractor...

Finishing up after a two-hour session at Park Beach

Buggered...

29th

It only happens once every four years, so happy birthday to all of those 'leaplings' born on the 29th of February!!

...including Ja Rule who is 8/32 today.

Reactions

I've received a heap of different responses since announcing that I'll be heading over to live in Bangkok.

My parents, whilst seemingly a little reserved that another one of their children is venturing overseas, know and support how excited I am about finally being able to do something I've wanted to do since I left school. My sister Cass has been one of the most supportive people, recognising the sea of opportunity waiting for Clare and I when we touch down. And my other sister Amelia, well, I don't think it's so much Bangkok, more the movement. Judging by our final farewell the other morning before she flew back to Sydney, we'll miss each other's company like two peas being pulled from their pod.

My mates have all been really supportive too. Most showed some surprise at Bangkok being the city of choice, as opposed to London or Edinburgh. "Random", many have said...but all in all they know that Clare and I will have an absolute rip roaring time together.

Work was also a little surprised, with some superiors questioning Bangkok as a career destination, but understanding my adjacent personal motives.

There has also been the odd negative reaction as well. Whist at a recent family birthday celebration, a cousin of mine was incredulous as to why I would ever want to go and live in a city where the traffic, heat, taxi drivers, smells and food were beyond recognition. Needless to say, the poor bloke only spent four days in Bangkok...all of which being dragged from shopping mall to market to shopping mall by his wife in search of gifts for the kids and crew back home!!

After four days of continuous shopping anywhere in the world, I'd probably want to extricate my eyeballs with a credit card as well!! Maybe he'll come back and visit me one day for some $1 beers...

And I also went into a local sports store the other day looking for a mouthguard and a new set of studs for my footy boots (I'll be resurrecting my rugby career!!). The bloke at the store asked who I was playing for; I mentioned that I'll be heading over to Bangkok to play for a local rugby club. His response?

"You'll be able to smash a few of those slap-heads, eh?"

Riiiight.

And one older guy also asked me the other day, "Do they had tar roads over there yet?". What the!!

Now those reactions are right at the other end of the spectrum. But it does demonstrate a small vein of ignorance that I've noticed in some people toward our northern neighbours. I wonder if Thai people with hold similar misconceptions about Australians?

Can the different reactions be segmented along generational, experiential or simply personal lines? I'm not too sure. Probably a bit of it all.

Either way, I can't wait to find out for myself.

Call me old fashioned, but blogging sucks!

OK, so you may notice some slight changes to my blog. Like my links are no longer there, or the fact that the lovely photo of the couple drinking a beer has decided to disappear.

Well, that's probably because I tried to get all geek on myself and mess with the HTML. Now I've lost my widgets and links!!

And what's worse - it's 1am on a Saturday night and I'm at home blogging. Oh god.

To bed!!

Call me old fashioned, but blogging rocks!

I just received a comment from Leslie, a wonderful woman who I stayed with over my last few weeks in Sydney. She's the mother of a couple of mates of mine - she also surprises me time and time again with her super-savvy approach to life.

Despite not being born into a hard drive like the kids of the 80's and beyond, Leslie seems to be willing to learn some new e-skills and give blogging a bit of a go.

And this is what I dig about social media...providing people of all generations, interests and computer abilities the opportunity to communicate the world over.

Naturally, it will be the little friend and family moments I'll miss most when I'm overseas - so seeing a couple of pictures of Dave and James pulling beers down at Picton, an update on the dogs, a description of the latest trip to Bali, or simply a Wednesday morning harbour sunrise will make the distance seem so much closer.

Leslie's first, brand-spanking new blog can be found here.

A Canklism chuckle

This from Pharmacy Daily:


Be vigilant, people.

Fitness First Sucks

Carn straya!!

Happy Australia Day to all of my friends and family overseas...

More big decisions

My Mum has always wanted me to eat more fresh fruit and vegetables. For some time, I've been quite happy keeping to my basic staple of meat and potatoes.

But I think there comes a time in a man's life when he needs to re-evaluate his diet.

I have used PCs for most of my life, but am now considering a fruitier option which has recently popped onto my plate.

I'm looking at buying a laptop for my time overseas and beyond. MacBook's specs are pretty hot, but so are Sony's and Toshiba's.

With all things being equal (except price...MacBooks seem a little more expensive for what you get), I'd like to know from a usability and lifestyle perspective which notebooks people prefer.

Why PC?

Why Mac?

Willis? Mick? Halter? Koilee? Angus???

Burns victim

Before and after - Motivated by his inner rock star, Kevin Rudd is growing sideburns...

This from the SMH online. Does anybody else think Kevin Rudd's new man-fur sideburns are ridiculously piss-weak?

Bravo for having a go, but seriously, Michael Jackson on hormone therapy can do better than these...

I think he needs to look back at some previous PMs who knew what they were doing when it comes to the sacred sideburns, like Alf Deakin or Billy McMahon.


What do you think? Feel free to comment or cast your vote on the right-hand side.

It's a date

The 9th of March - a date for the ages.

1834: French Foreign Legion founded
1945: American bombers attack Tokyo
1959: The Barbie Doll debuts
1987: Rapper 'Lil Bow Bow is born (bow wow wow yippie yo, yippie yay, where my dogg at?)
2008: Belly & Clare's "excellent adventure" commences.

Clare and I will be boarding Air Asia flight D72703 from the Gold Coast to Kuala Lumpur, spending a few days hanging out and eating some delicious curries, then jumping onto another flight into Bangkok, where we will continue our most excellent trip. Maybe we'll even be able to make it to San Dimas.

It was super cheap as well - $330 for both flights including all taxes and meals!!

Purchasing a flight really does hammer home that we're off - Clare's talking about insurance, I'm researching jobs. Clare's even found some sweet accommodation online...it should be an absolute hoot living in our own "sex and the city" style condo (minus the New Yorkers).

I'm looking forward to so much cool stuff...last night we were talking about heading up to Chang Mai for a bit of a look around and maybe a 4-day jungle kayak and camp, whilst I'm really keen to get over to Hellfire Pass again, this time on ANZAC Day - a sort of homage in respect to my late Pop and his mates who toiled there under the Japanese during World War 2.

I've got only a few weeks left in Sydney, so I'm determined to make the most of it. To my friends here, let's have a really good go of it...

It's official!!

I've just resigned from my job and I'm moving to Bangkok.

There - I said it.

And it's happening. In March. With Clare. In the heat. An adventure of a lifetime.

Why this fair city? Well, Clare was offered a job out of the blue with a Thai school teaching English - we though it would be an excellent opportunity to live, work and immerse ourselves in a non-English speaking and extremely culturally rich country.

And I can't bloody wait to sink my teeth into it!!

The resignation went down quite well here at work, with both my direct boss and General Manager offering me a job if/whenever I come back - the highest compliment I believe a resigning employee can be afforded.

But it didn't go down so well down in North Sydney at Willis' work...see the below video:

Shock manifests in many ways...

So, it looks as though Hotel Bell is going to have to pick up its beer taps and move to another location - watch this space.

Tour of Duty: Intro

It's going to be massive. Bigger than Baryshnikov.

I've just got back from a trip to Vietnam and Thailand with Willis, so over the next few days I'll pull together a bit of a pictorial display of Willis and my 'Tour of Duty'.

I sent a few emails home whilst I was away, so apologies to my family who may have already heard some of these stories...

Can't sleep...think'n.

Confusion abounds tonight.

I just flew back into Australia from a 2-week tour of Vietnam and Thailand...both wonderous countries in their own unique ways...but more about that later this weekend.

Right now, I can't sleep. It's bloody-well 11.30pm, I've slept about 4 hours in the last 41, and I still can't get my mind to rest with my family, love, mates, career and musings of what fate has in store for me all bouncing around my head like a dusty old pinball machine on overdrive.

As Bob Dylan once sang, the times are indeed a'changin...

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.

Sure, the rest of the song was a bit of a period catch-cry for the disgruntled youth of the mid-1960's at the state of the US Administration and social establishment, and Dylan was probably likening the Administration to the water, but what-ev.

I kind of like this verse...it says to me that sometimes you just need to be decisive when the waters of opportunity start to rise up.

Whatever lay ahead, I hope I get absolutely drenched. The next few months is going to be a very interesting time...

My birthday - Part 2: "Checking into the green room"

Dee Why Beach, 6:20 am - 27 October 2007

Clare's big surprise for my birthday was an individual surf lesson with a Dee Why local surfer/businessman named Wayne. Wayne was an absolute character - the ultimate Aussie surfing archetype, like a sun-tipped set of energetic froth and bubble.

He educated us on the benefits of hydration, the expertise of his pro-surfer daughter, the need for stretching and reading the waves before a surf, the amazing skills of his pro-surfer daughter, the best stance and the mode of action when catching a wave, the prodigious technique his pro-surfer daughter holds, and some of the dangers in the surf world, including sharks, rips and cranky locals.

Did you know that until the 80's, Dee Why Beach was only able to be surfed at by invitation only?

Whilst I might take the piss a little about the warm-up, it was perfectly balanced. I learnt that surfing is all about patience and respect for mother nature - a very humbling experience!

As you can see from the photo above, it was a really great morning for surf. As some of you may know, my ass needs a fair push, so the waves were large enough to get a good ride on, but had good enough form and shape not to throw Clare and I around too much. Clare managed to get up a few times - the majority of which she had her eyes closed!!

I managed to get up onto one knee and my front leg most times, and standing two or three times. I 'wiped out' a couple of times, but enjoyed the experience. One of the people on the beach managed to get this photo of me after getting onto a particularly big wave:

Gnarly...

Here's a few more pics of Clare and I after the session:

Totally tubular...

Do I have seaweed in my teeth?

Wayne, Clare and I, spotting some more tubes to shred...

Our beautiful breakfast...Clare's pancakes and my greaseman's feast - a very happy man!

My birthday - Part 1: "The morning"

Ok, Ok...so my birthday has been and gone, and this post is now about as newsworthy as Keating overthrowing Hawke in '91 for the role of Captain Australia. But as the man once said, "this is the blog post we had to have".

All in all, I had an absolutely perfect weekend with friends and family, all rolled into one extravaganza!

I called my sister Cass in Ireland pretty much as soon as I woke up, unwrapping the first of my presents for the day. A cracker of a pressie, Cass gifted me Peter Fitzsimons' Great Australian Sports Champions, which is shaping up to be a very enjoyable and informative read.

Strangely though, I couldn't find myself in the index.

It was about 6am after I thumbed through the back of the book a few times, so I threw on my smugglers ready for a morning of 'tubular' action...