A relaxing day

This morning we woke up reasonably early - about 8.30 - and headed to the restaurant for breakfast. After breakfast, we laid on the day bed in our room and read our books and magazines for a couple of hours.

Just before lunchtime, we headed to the adult pool and met up with the Millers and the Perrys. Again we spent the afternoon in the pool, getting some sun and chatting. I went back to the room and brought back some snacks to share.

Just like yesterday, we all staggered off to our rooms in the afternoon. While we were relaxing on the day bed, a massive storm came through which was very cool to watch for a couple of hours. We made plans to meet everyone up at the bar when the storm had eased off. Ross and I braved the rain with our umbrella and found ourselves ankle deep in water! By the time we got up to the bar, we were pretty soaked.

We played some "Shithead" while we waited for the others. The Perry's came with their Mahjong set and soon after the Miller's arrived. Ross played Mahjong with the Perry's while I played "Shithead" with the Miller's.

About 7, we decided to head down to dinner - another BBQ. We stayed chatting at the table for quite a while after dinner. We were going to head back down to the beach but there was a wedding going on so instead we sat by the pool. Sonja kept us entertained by asking questions from the Ladies Night Out game. It was certainly a discussion starter!

Again we headed to bed about midnight.

Off to Port Dickson with friends

This morning I woke up about 8.30 and started getting organized while Ross slept in for a bit longer. Once he was awake, we finished packing and then headed to Delicious to meet up with Phil, Julia, Lewis, Brian, Sonja, Emma, Maddie and Ian. We enjoyed breakfast together and then headed off our own separate ways to the Avillion Resort at Port Dickson.

The traffic was pretty busy. It seems that everyone wanted to leave the city for the Eid long weekend. Ross and I got to the resort first and by the time everyone arrived, we had sorted out the rooms.

We dropped all our stuff off in one of the rooms that was ready and then headed to the adults pool while the kids headed off to the kids pool. The rooms were really nice and were on stilts over the water. The bathroom had an open to the sky shower.

We spent the afternoon by the pool and gradually people drifted off to their own rooms. Ross and I relaxed, read and showered in our villa before Sonja and Brian came over for a drink. They left and Phil and Julia came over shortly after.

We all walked up to the restaurant together and had a seafood BBQ dinner. After dinner, the kids amused themselves while the adults walked down to the little beach with some booze and some music to while away the night chatting. Ian came down with us too and played a few tunes on his guitar.

We headed back to the room about 12 and fell asleep. A great first day to the long weekend.

A good start to the weekend

We both woke up about 8.30 this morning and we made smoothies for breakfast before heading out and about to do a few things. We drove over to Pavilion and went Hugo Boss to try and get Ross' watch repaired. They were really good and since it is covered under warranty they will fix it for us.

After, we had a coffee at the Coffee Bean before walking down Bukit Bintang to try and find a 70s/ 80s costume for Ross for next weekend. We ended up at BB Plaza and although Ross has an afro wig, we couldn't find anything 70s; it seems the 80s are back with a vengence fashion wise! We didn't really find anything that we liked so he will have to go back tomorrow.

We picked up some groceries at Mercato before heading home again. We spent the afternoon watching AFL again and relaxing. About 4, Ross headed to the office to pick up his computer and came home with a beautiful bunch of flowers for me (see photo)! We did a few chores around the house before watching the tri-nations game. It was nice to see the Wallabies win!!

We cooked up burgers and snags on the BBQ for dinner before heading back inside to watch the last AFL game of the day. A great start to the weekend!

A pretty good Sunday

This morning we walked over to KLCC for breakfast before the shops opened. We went to Chinoz on the Park and we both had omelettes. Mine was an egg white omelette so it looked a bit weird but tasted pretty good.

After breakfast we began looking again for golf clothes for Ross. We checked out a few stores with no luck but finally in Isetan he found some shorts and a shirt. Afterwards we walked home and relaxed for a while before walking over to Low Yat to buy a new wireless router to improve the internet signal in the apartment. As always, it was chock-o-block! We did a quick hit and run at our usual store and on the way down I checked out the new Nokia N97 mobile phone. I think it is about time to change mine. I liked it but will have to think some more before we get a new one.

We walked back towards home and stopped in at Lot 10. I had seen that there was a Tony & Guy hair salon in there and Ross needed his hair cut so we thought we would check it out. While we waited for his appointment, we had some lunch at 'Jackie Chan Cafe' which is a pretty cool cafe with big couches that you lie on (see photo). I had seen this place with Dad and Ann last year but had never had anything there before. Ross and I climbed onto the couches and ordered some lunch. We enjoyed our lunch in a great atmosphere with chill-out music and a disco ball! :-)

Ross went off to get his hair cut and I tooka walk around the shops. By the time I got back he was almost finished. He walked out with a great haircut! I thought they would be good as I know all their staff are trained in the UK and know how to cut Western hair. So I think I will be going there from now on.

From there we walked back to the Pavilion to pick up a couple of things before walking home. I spent the afternoon trying to connect the router with no luck as we don't have all the passwords etc. from the old one. Ross drilled some holes and hung up the ceremonial robe that I brought back from Hanoi. We also hung our new wedding portrait - the one I got for Ross for our anniversary. It was nice to get those things up!

We pulled out some meat and veggies for a BBQ for dinner. We used Ross' new baking dish for the BBQ to cook the veg and it turned out great. As we were finishing our dinner, Brian and Sonja came round for a chat and a drink. We sat out on the balcony until about 10 before saying goodbye to the Millers. Ross and I stayed up a bit later watching the cricket. About 11 I couldn't keep my eyes open so we went to bed.

Health and Fitness Check:

Weight: 70.1 kg - just can't get under 70!!

Exercise: (not much)

- General walking around KL
- Driving range: 80 mins
- Walking around KLCC Park - 40 mins

Finding out new things in KL

I pottered around the house this morning while Ross went to the gym. About 11, we decided to walk over to Pavilion to do a couple of things and to have a coffee. I had been meaning to get to the Chow Kit Wet Market for about a year so Ross and I decided today was the day.

While sipping our coffees, we rang Brian to see if he wanted to come with us and he met us at Coffee Bean not long afterwards. From Pavilion, we walked up Bukit Bintang to the monorail station and got off at Chow Kit. It was pretty easy to spot the market from the monorail so we walked 100m or so and entered the under cover market.

At the front were lots of little stalls selling household goods, toys, accessories etc. As we walked deeper into the market, we passed sidewalk food stalls and within the depths, we finally found the fruit, vegetable and meat stalls.

As with any wet market in Asia, it had a pretty pungent smell but nothing too bad. There were a lot of stalls selling fruit and veg and I was amazed to see how some stalls were displaying their few bits of produce carefully on coloured plastic plates. It seemed that a lot of these stalls were from home gardens.

Some stalls sold fruit, some salad vegetables, some herbs, some onions, potatoes and other staples. Before long we walked into the meat section. Butchers selling all manner of meat were everywhere. We saw massive tongues, livers, cows tails, massive hooves and many other things we didn't really stop to ponder!

We also found the fish mongers and we decided to buy a fish, some squid and some yabbies. We think the fish may have been a coral trout - not sure though. For a decent sized fish (about 50cm long), 1 kg of yabbies and a couple of squid we payed 47 ringgit - bargain! I also bought some banana leaves to cook the fish in. I bought a huge bundle for 2.50 ringgit.

We walked around a bit long before the heat became a bit too much and we headed back to the monorail station to start our trip home. We walked back to the apartment from the monorail station and put the seafood in the fridge. Ross and I spent the afternoon relaxing before Brian came back over about 3.

We watched the AFL game and prepared the food and at half time, the boys began cooking. I whipped up a salad and some coconut rice as well as a few of mango/ pineapple daiquiris. We sat outside and enjoyed our feast eating off banana leaves as plates (see photo) which was great idea as it saved on washing up!

About 9, Brian left and Ross and I watched some TV before heading off to bed. It was good to discover something new in KL and see a bit more of the authentic KL rather than the Westernized side we see every day.

A bit of pampering

This morning I woke up to have breakfast with Ross and then fell back to sleep until 11! I think my body is trying to fight off this sinus infection that keeps trying to break through. Anyway, by the time I did a few things around the house, had a shower and talked to the cleaners it was already 2 o'clock.

I thought I should get off my butt so I packed my book and walked over to KLCC. I thought I would try to see if I could get in for a nail appointment at the new salon - The Nail Parlour. I went straight up and they could fit me in straight away. I opted for the hot mud mani/pedi with masque (even though Ross and I just had hand and feet treatments on Monday in Broome!).

The treatment began as normal with a soak of my feet, then she scrubbed them with an exfoliating scrub before applying a red mud all over my feet. They were then wrapped in cling wrap and placed in these hot electric booties (see photo)!

While my feet were heating up she moved on to my hands. She did the same treatment there and before long I had these massive mittens on both hands - not easy to read a book with those things on!

Back to my feet and she went through the normal pedicure routine and soon I had gorgeous coral coloured toes. Back at my hands, she removed the mittens, washed and moistuised my hands before getting on with the manicure.

When she was ready to paint my fingers, I moved to the manicure desks out the front where she applied the nail colour. I sat by the drying machine for a while before I was ready to leave. I was pretty impressed by this treatment as it was about the same price as the spa treatment at my old nail salon but was alot better. The only thing I didn't like was that she cut my cuticles too short and so now I will have to be really careful that they don't dry out and split. There is one more nail salon I want to try before I commit to any so we'll wait and see how that goes.

By the time I walked out of there it was already 5.30. Ross walked up to the park and met me and we walked home together just in time to start watching the footy. We watched until quarter time and then started thinking about making dinner. We decided to make and BBQ some beef kebabs and I made a mango and corn salsa to go with it. At half time, Ross fired up the barbie and we sat outside looking at the towers enjoying our meal.

Back inside, we caught the last quarter of a pretty dismal game between Carlton and Collingwood. We watched Boston Legal and then decided it was time for bed.

Practice makes perfect!

This morning started a little slowly with Ross and I easing into the day by doing a few things around the house. Ross cleaned out his closets and ended up with two garbage bags worth of clothes to give to the cleaning ladies.

After leftover pizza from Friday night for lunch, Ross and I headed out to KDE in Ampang for our golf lesson. Eric divided us in two half hour lessons. While Ross had his lesson, I hit a few balls. Eric gave him a few simple changes to make and he improved instantly! Ross was now hitting all his balls within a 15 degree arc rather than all over the shop.

Next came my turn. I knew that my swing was messed up after the disasterous lesson with Mr Ado during the week - Eric was also surprised I think how bad it got. I was now swinging my hips too much and rolling my wrists - not good. We spent the entire lesson relearning everything - pretty much back to square one! I was so pissed off with myself and Mr Ado. But we'll continue to work on my swing next week and hopefully it will come back pretty quickly.

From golf, we headed to Great Eastern Mall to do some shopping. We had invited Brian around for dinner to try out a couple of recipes from Robert Rainford's seminar yesterday - prawns with love sauce and rotisserie chicken. We bought all the ingredients and headed home for a shower and to get started with the preparations.

First on the agenda was fixing the rotisserie to the BBQ. Ross headed out to BBQ and wouldn't you know it, the bloody rotisserie we bought doesn't fit! It's about 20cm too short! So no rotisserie chicken then. And to top it off, the oven stopped working on Friday (we had to cook our pizzas in Brian's oven!) so we couldn't simply chuck it in to cook.

Luckily we still had the prawns. I marinaded them and made the love sauce by throwing all the ingredients into a blender. Pretty easy! By this time Brian came over. We gave him the head's up about the chicken and he offered to cook it in his oven. So we headed out to the BBQ to cook the prawns. I left the boys to it and within 5 minutes they were back inside - the gas had run out! So much for our BBQ!!!

Brian came to the rescue again and brought over his little weber BBQ for the prawns and also put the chicken on to cook. I got busy making a grapefruit, fetta, avocado and rocket salad while the boys waited for the chacoal to burn down a bit (see photo). The prawns came up a treat and were so good with the love sauce and salad! We were almost full by the end of it.

Brian went over and brought back the cooked chicken which smelt absolutely amazing with basil, lemon zest and garlic stuffed under the skin. We carved it up and ate it off our laps while watching the last quarter of the AFL game. Although we were all pretty full, we managed to polish off over 3/4 of the chicken!

We finished watching the footy and Brian left. Ross and I cleaned up the kitchen before heading to bed. So today was definitely about practice makes perfect - both with golf and BBQing!!

Health and Fitness check:

Since I forgot to do it last week I will add it here:

Last week:

Weight: 72.4kg - looks like I overindulged a bit in Langkawi!!

Exercise:

- 120 minutes on the driving range
- 60 minutes interval training
- 20 minutes cross-training
- 30 minutes weight training
- 1.5 hours kayaking

This week:

Weight: 21.2 kg - back on track!

Exercise: not that much this week because of my foot

- 45 minutes interval training
- 20 minutes walking around KLCC park
- 2 hours on driving range

Relaxing

This morning we woke up late and enjoyed lazing around the room for a few hours before having to check out. We went up to the club lounge to check out and had a little snack while waiting for our bill. I took today's photo from our room looking down on the pool.

From the hotel we drove out to IKEA to look at a rotisserie for the BBQ that I had seen when I was last there. We had some lunch at Dome and went to the pet store to see what puppies were there before going back to the BBQ store to pick up the rotisserie. While we were there, the lady asked us if we wanted to go to a workshop and dinner by Robert Rainford, a TV chef who does 'License to Grill' - a show that I love because he cooks EVERYTHING on the BBQ. So we put our names down for some tickets.

We drove home, dropped our stuff and headed to the pool to relax and cool off for an hour or so. Once upstairs again, we pretty much did nothing for the rest of the afternoon and night. It was a great anniversary weekend!

Health and fitness check:

Weight: 71.9 kg

Exercise:

- Elliptical trainer: 90 mins
- Strengthening workout (light weights): 30 mins
- FRIM (walking uphill and flat): 70 mins
- Weight machines: 50 mins

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ANZAC Day BBQ

This morning we headed out to get some meat for the BBQ today. I took Ross to the "cheap Chinese butcher" that Julia had shown me last week. We bought a leg of lamb, an entire beef tenderloin and 2kg of mince. Like last time, we took everything to the little room with the two ladies who operate the bansaw. They sliced the leg of lamb into 13 chops, the tenderloin into 16 steaks and the 2kg of mince into 6 pieces and it was all cheap as cheap (well, compared to the supermarkets here anyway). You may see in the slideshow a photo of Ross with all the meat - he was really impressed by Lucky butchers.

About 12.30, Brian arrived in time to watch the last of the dawn service from the Australian War Memorial in France. Simon, his wife Rima and their three children plus her sister Riska and her little boy Ethan all arrived in time for the first bounce of the ANZAC Day clash between Essendon and Collingwood.

It was great to have Simon and all his family around as it had been ages since we had seen them. Their three children are adorable - Amy (8), Hayley (6) and Luke (4). Riska's little boy Ethan (in the photo) was an absolute doll too - not a compaint out of him the whole afternoon.

Later in the afternoon Sonja arrived after picking up Ian. Another couple from Hughes in Perth, Martin and Mel, came over as well. They happen to be on holiday in Malaysia. It was nice to have another couple of Aussies around on ANZAC Day!

We had enough food to feed a small village (thanks to the satays and chicken that Rima brought around) and the kids amused themselves with Singstar on the Playstation most of the afternoon. It was a really nice way to spend ANZAC Day.

Friends in Adelaide

The weather is starting to get hot here in Adelaide. Ross and I headed over to our friends Stan and Kate's place to see them after a year and a half and also to make use of their pool! :-)

The photo is of their lounge room which has undergone renovation since last time we visited. We love the wallpaper and the slick black leather lounge teamed with the lilac wall behind. As Kate said, it takes a while to focus on the TV when you first sit down as the pattern really attracts your eye.

We spent the afternoon drinking bubbles and eating fresh summer fruit by the pool before having a BBQ and then watching the Australian Open Tennis. Another great Aussie summer day! So great to catch up with good friends again.