Port Dickson and ayam curry for breakfast

September 2014

Following our stint in cyberspace, we moved into the house staff accommodation in time for the new school year.  Being a new build, there is a snagging list as long as your arm.  As long as two arms, if I'm honest.

Furniture arrived in drips and drabs.  As did the water in the shower.  Small things made such a difference.  The arrival of a coffee table was an achievement.  The arrival of a couple of wardrobes was amazing.

Being on site has as many advantages as disadvantages.  It is clean and new - bye bye Bangkok headboard - and you have your own space to begin to make your home.  Also you can rock out of bed at 8am and be teaching at 830am, if you so desired. Or, like me, if you leave your laptop charger in your classroom, no need to fret as it's a less than five minute stroll from your house.

But there are disadvantages too.  We are in a small and new township called Bandar Enstek, with little shops near by, in the middle of nowhere.  Without a car it is difficult.  We need to rely on public transport and the local bus stop is miles away, so it's down to the use of a Teksi. But there aren't that many here.

In Malaysia they have this great system of booking a cab through your smart phone.  myteksi allows you to put in your location by GPS and your desired destination and cabs in your vicinity bid for your fare.  You then get an offer and you accept the price up front.  It's amazing.... but only in the big towns and cities... not in Bandar Enstek!

Luckily a local man, Mr Richard, came to our rescue.  The friend of a friend of a friend of a colleague, he has become our life line to nip to KLIA2 Jaya Grocer or Nilai for shopping at Tesco.

As typical of  the massive supermarket Tesco, they cover a range of basics we can buy in the UK so that keeps us all happy.  From HP Sauce or Marmite to Tesco Finest granola or Weetabix, most needs are covered.   Most importantly, they have a non-halal section selling bacon, wine and beer. A slab of 24 x 330ml cans of Guinness is 202RM (£50.50) or Tiger Beer at 175RM (£35) if we are feeling flushed.   Wine ranges from 50RM to 200RM (divide it by 5) a bottle - my favourite at 54.99RM (£11) is the Yaldara Estates Shiraz.  Although, with the festive season coming around soon, I've currently got my eye on a bottle of Baileys for Christmas at 130RM for 70cl - yes £26!

Apart from Tesco, it's not as if we have many places to go.  We eat in the Dining Hall with the boarders and are on duty every other evening, so it's not like we can just swan off for a meal with family and friends at Shaftsbury Square at will, as we did when living in Cyberspace.  We also work until 3-5pm Saturday and on a Sunday rota.  At best we might get a Saturday 5pm till Sunday 9pm 24 hours off.

24 hours off site - we tried that once.  Back at the end of September, when I was fit to throw the towel in, we decided with 48 hours notice that we needed an overnight away.   Little did we know it would be more stressful than staying here.

The local beach and coastal town of Port Dickson seemed the best place away for 24hrs. It is only 30 mins away (just not on a Saturday evening as our journey took 90mins in the weekend traffic).

We booked into a hotel on the outskirts of town. The Paradise Spa Hotel.  Typical of here the hotel was not paradise nor did it have a spa.   Before you ask, yes, I did read Trip Advisor.  Yes, I did know all of this before I booked.... but I wanted to escape and all the better hotels were booked at short notice.

The hotel was lovely and clean and a family room was a two-bedroomed suite with TVs, ensuite each, a small fridge (unclean and not cold) and very limited wi-fi connection.  The roof top swimming pool was lovely and the view was as good as it gets for this area.

We asked the reception staff to book us a taxi into the main town area as we wanted to eat at the El-Cactus Mexican restaurant which had been recommended to us.  The receptionist had other ideas.  She refused.  Yes - point blank refused.  She told us the chef was very good and would cook our meal.  Talk about being press-ganged into it.  We were tired, and didn't have the energy to argue.  We were pleasantly surprised.  We had four steak and chips - cooked beautifully - with a lovely black peppercorn sauce.  Well done chef!

However, our favourite was breakfast.  It was a buffet with something for everyone.   I had the noodles, rice and ayam (chicken) curry.  It was delicious!

Before we knew it, it was time for home and school.  24 hours had flown by and we were no further relaxed but had tried curry for breakfast - magic!

Leaving the UK

Wow... where have the last two months gone?  I can't believe that we have had parties, packed up our home, moved continent, enrolled in a new school and have already had a short school holiday break. It's been amazing yet exhausting.

August 2014

To add to the whirlwind of emotions, the daughter also dyed her hair: just to stress me out further.  It looked amazing when it was bright pink, but I kept thinking about the uniform policy and would begin to breakout into a cold sweat.

The journey to Manchester Airport was less stress thanks to our very good friend, Caroline.  She drove us to the airport, to make sure we got on the plane... maybe she thought the only way they would ever win at the pub quiz again was to ensure I couldn't join them!

The family also turned up to see us off.  Again, I think this was to ensure we didn't change our mind.



We arrived at Departures with plenty of time to spare - or so we thought - but then we had to tackle airport security.


I never realised that lipstick and a small tub of lip gloss are classified as a liquid... how inept of me to not read the paperwork properly.  We were too concerned with weighing the baggage to ensure that we each only had 30kg of luggage - wow all of our needed possessions in 120kg - that I failed to realise the lipstick rule.



As we had swapped and changed around possession from one bag to another, we had the odd rogue lipstick or lipgloss in three of the four hand luggage. Along with the normal queue, this delayed us in security for over fifty minutes.  Its so embarrassing for your bag to go through the machine again and again and again.  I was beginning to panic that I wouldn't have time to buy my duty free.

Travelling to a dry-ish country (or very very expensive booze) would not be pleasant without a bottle of gin from duty free.   Eventually, we were through, in duty free (gin, make-up and Marc Jacob's Daisy) and walking to the gate... not long now and we would be arriving in our new home.   

With a brief stop in Dubai - wow the heat sure hits you as you leave the plane - we had soon travelled 6,600 miles from the UK to MY and had arrived in KL.

After a good night's sleep we were soon put to work:

Reception

Yes - we have an actual office here.  We have our own desks (no hot seating), a photocopier / printer and a terrific view.

Epsom College in Malaysia

And before we knew it the next few weeks, of living in Cyberview Apartments, surrounded by friends and colleagues, and setting up the school, flew by.  

Cyberview Hotel

Ben and Jack

The lovely Miss Katie x

The offending headboard: would have been more suited to a Bangkok whore house.

Wake me up when July ends

Wow, what a month.  So much has happened.

Following the wedding in Wales, we came home to non-stop, back-to-back events at work and play.  It was beginning to feel like there wasn't enough hours in the day to fit everything in.  A few that stick in my mind are:

The London Trip: 

The London Eye Selfie

Taking 98 excited kids and 6 amazing colleagues to London shouldn't be a problem for a trip veteran like me.  They all turned up, dressed as requested, with food, water, and resources to keep them entertained on the bus.  They were, as expected, impeccably behaved, and ready for a great day out.  We took selfies at 745am at school, on the bus, at the Eye, on the Clipper, with the river and Shard in the background, at the Tower, eating lunch, in the queues for the exhibits, and on the bus again.  I think they finally lost the selfie bug on arrival back home.

And when the last one had been collected from front reception about 9pm, I could finally breathe and reflect that, yes, it was a great day.  My final trip at my current school, and it was a great memory to take with me.

The handbag:    Never, never, NEVER leave your handbag (containing your house (£70) and car key (£170), your notebook with all your lists for the move, your wallet, payslip, driving licence and counterpart (£34), 3/4 bottle of Marc Jacobs Honey (£50), make-up (£50?), glasses (£85), Spies by Michael Frayn (£8), etc etc) in the foot well of a car....  

One very expensive and important lesson was learnt, but also one organisation was introduced to me.  If you ever find yourself in my shoes, contact CIFAS Fraud Protection Service (£20) without delay.

The last day and night out weekend:   So the day finally arrive, albeit cut shorter than anticipated, with lots of big blobby tears, and the final walk out of work, box in hand, was quite uneventful.

Not so for the night out, which finally ended about 10pm on Saturday night.   Starting at 7pm Friday at the KPH, the Dirty Dancing started early on.  Tewy was in his element with 20 ladies to lift and jive around the dance floor with, bruising their toes and damaging his back in the process.

Typical of a few rogue elements (the Ks), the escape to town began about 1145pm.  They were the advanced party to suss out the best place to socialise until the early hours and locate somewhere that wasn't going to continue to swindle each of us out of £27.50 for a bottle of bog standard Prosecco.  Little did we know, as we followed along behind them, that we were in for an interesting insight to the No1 Disco Venue in Kettering - Decades!  Actually, it couldn't have been that bad, as it took us from 1230am to 2am until we finally threw in the towel and called Superman to rescue us.  

Following a good ten hours lull in proceedings, we commenced again at 2pm with coffee and cakes and a 50th birthday tea party.  Moving into the garden, we feasted on toast, tea and biscuits for the afternoon, then rounding off the evening, with Himalayan Chicken, at the award winning Royal Tandoori.

It took a few days to get over the handbag and leaving do, and finally after spending what seemed like hours, even days, on the phone, on Wednesday I surfaced and faced the world again.
 
The lazy couple of hours at Foxton Locks:  Having nipped around the bookshops of Market Harborough trying to locate a replacement copy of Michael Frayn's Spies, I decided that a couple of hours on a park bench was needed. Just outside MH is the beauty spot Foxton Locks. An elaborate array of locks stepping down (or up, depending on your direction) the Grand Union Canal. There is a shop selling essentials to the boating holiday makers, a small quaint pub (favoured by Superman) named Bridge 61, and, following a refit a few years ago, a trendy watering-hole serving food and drinks, aptly entitled The Foxton Locks.   The latter gets very busy on a fair weather day, although there is a constant flow of traffic so you never have to wait too long for a table in the sunshine. 

The daughter's leaving do:   Before I knew it, it was time to pack my new book into my new bag and rush to meet son, and get the food and drink ready for the before and after party revellers. 

The main event, at The Loft, was a fab night.  Attended by nearly 200 under 18s, the staff managed the music, dry-bar and door professionally and without too many hiccups.  In fact, less contraband was confiscated from them then from the Friday Dirty Dancing event...  

Before we knew it, the party was over and we were on our way home, via a refreshment break for a sneaky McCafe Frappe Mocha - 500 cals of loveliness, and the gaggle of sleep-over teens could begin to work their way through my fridge (to include my 'On the Beach' pre-mixed cocktail) like a plague of locusts.

The next day, The son's leaving do, was soon upon us, and I had to start again, this time with Paint balling and pizza for 17 teens.  Again the venue, Alpha Bravo, was amazing in organising a gang of boys in no time at all.  They all had a great time, some with more bruises than others.

The daughter, the only female of the species in the group, is definitely the most deadly.  She was labelled as the most vicious and a crack shoot; obviously taking after the female side of our family, as her cousin, Pip, has just returned from the European Youth Cup in Russia with a silver medal shooting for Archery GB Recurve Junior Women Team.    

To round off a busy week, today saw a visit from our tenants.  I love them.  A young family to whom we will entrust our Northants home, hopefully, for a good long period of time, without hesitation.  They will clearly fit into the neighbourhood as they are friendly, chatty and like people.  Our neighbours are important to us, and to have found a family who will embrace life in the cul-de-sac makes that element of our move simply run smooth.

Now, with only one week left till the 31st July, and a million and one things still to do, I just wish that I could go to bed tonight and wake up when July ends...

Social media: Love it or hate it, some of us NEED it!

Social media:  Love it or hate it, some of us NEED it!

Well I haven't been on here for twelve or so weeks; In the past three months a lot has happened.  The migration is ticking on, I've had a blast from the distant past, a family gathering

and I've made some new wonderful friends.

How is that fair?  I've been a economic migrant of middle England for 24 years and in the past twelve months have made some fantastic friends, just in time to leave some of them and move 6000 miles away.  And I worry every day how we will get by without them.

One thing is good, that some of these said new friends - made via social media -  will be coming with us.  They are the next stage in our network of friends and colleagues... I wonder if they realise what they are letting themselves in for?  The responsibility they have , the shoes they have to fit into?

If anyone ever says Spacebook or Slap Chat or Bicker are the bain of the 21st century then don't believe them.  I've supported and councilled friends, found long-lost family, and insulted colleagues, and these interactions have all taken place within seconds of each other and without leaving my living room...  it's great!  Best of all, I've rekindled relationships with sisters, cousins, nieces and old RAF and school friends.

How else would I know that Jase has just had a beautiful little girl, Rach had moved back to Poola or that Rich is married to my ex-BIL's step daughter.  Nor would I know that J is now doing an amazing and heroic job.  One incidentally, I never expected from the pretentious undergraduate who ripped out my tender small-town teenage heart and, with his intellectual girlfriend, stamped on it to the joyful songs of 1988.

Not that I hold a grudge or anything....  but let's just say I might not be able to stop myself from mounting the kerb if I'm ever in the same street ;-)  Actually, being sensible, in light of the fact that if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be the successful graduate I am today, who served with HMF, moved from said small town, on my own, to middle England, married Superman and had two beautiful children, so in retrospect, Superman and I have concluded that maybe we should pop to the borders to shake his hand and buy him a pint?

Talking pints, the Road to KL has spurred a new past time amongst New friends.  As we are all reluctantly counting down the days, and have realised what little time we have,  we have started to meet up every Thursday for the pub quiz.

With high aspirations and the motivation to do well, we model ourselves on Cj, Daphne and Judith. And as such, have also called ourselves a totally logical name:  we are the 69'ers with no name - catchy isn't it?  But don't be dismayed in our endeavor, as it's not all bad. We've managed to win at least three times in the past nine weeks.  But with a total prize fund of less than £70, we are hardly in Judith's million pound league.  And we struggle too, as we have another 10-15 equally motivated teams of tributes to beat.  Therefore, the odds are not really in our favour.  But we are together, having fun, building memories.

Well we only have two quiz nights left as the holiday season begins and we will all be off on travels, visiting, being visited or simple packing the house up for storage. So we need to make the most of our time together.  In my desperation to not miss out on the fun,  I have threatened to Skype them on a Thursday evening between 2100 - 2230hrs.  But with a time difference of approx eight hours - that's 0400-0530hrs on a Friday morning for me - maybe I'll have to wait until school holidays and fit the 69ers in between Thailand, Laos, the Batu Caves, or scuba diving in Borneo with Green Turtles.

But in the meantime, I'm making the most of my family and friends, chatting and sharing missed times or details of key events in our lives.  These past three months have been priceless and I have made memories to keep be smiling on long, light, hot, humid evenings in my tropical destination.  When I look back I will especially enjoy reflecting on ... now to tell you all that would just spoil the surprise for when you meet up with them too.

So until next Friday, when with friends and colleagues we are making more memories by attending my leaving do and eating and drinking and dancing all night at a Dirty Dancing Tribute night...  and I need to remember that it will be okay starting again.  It will be okay becoming an economic migrant of SE Asia, although I'm leaving behind the family and friends who have supported, shaped, inspired, infuriated, crippled, loved, cared, influenced me over the years.  And a little bit if me is scared that without them I might not feel the same, might not be the person I am with them...

Me? I’m scared of everything. I’m scared of what I saw, I’m scared of what I did, of who I am, and most of all I’m scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I’m with you.”

So all hail social media!  You are going to be my life line.


Well what a strange few days it has been...
After the initial shock of the lack of accommodation in KL, the additional visa paperwork and the trauma of the carboot, Ive been trying to focus on my 'things to do list' and slowly pass on as many of our possession, to unsuspecting friends, in a bid to clear the house and get it fit for marketing.

Cyberjaya, Malaysia

Needing to travel 35 mins into work / school every day is a tragedy. But as this is not a April Fool's Day prank, it is time to start looking closely at the town and resort in which we will be staying until at least November 2014.

Cyberjaya, I am told, was opened in 1997 and forms the multi-media backbone or was it super corridor of KL. Like many of the modern townships, it's a new area built around an industrial / business area / science park. This town aspires to be the Silicon Valley of Malaysia. Does that mean there are lots of boob-jobs here? There is also a super-duper mall due to open later in 2014, just in time for the arrival of Gin the super-duper shopper.

The resort, its self, sounds and looks idylic. Our accommodation is an apartment on the Cyberview Spa and Resort. The pool is out of this world, hence our new nickname of Cyberspace.

But for now, it's back to reality in Corby

and the mammoth list of things to do. But as usual, when I have a million and one things to do, what do I do? Pop for a few drinks with my mates. Come on, I have to make the most of it while I can. It's not going to be so easy to just pop to Kettering's Aura or walk to The Raven whenever I want, is it?.

April is here but no news on my visa... I sent the paperwork by 'super extra expensive, so it'll arrive in five days, international air postage on 22nd February, but no news of arrival.

This got me thinking about identity theft.  It can't be too difficult to become me, in cyberspace, once you have a colour copy of my passport, birth certificate, marriage certificate, the paperwork for hubbie and kids, and both J and mine examination certificates.  Hence panic.

I decided to call.  The bad news was deliver with nonchalance.  My photographs were the wrong shade of blue.  Worst still, the paperwork needed to be legalised, certified and then sent to KL to support the application....   what does this all mean?  So I called the High Commission... oh!  It's all about money is all I can think.  It means £35 per document, a four week delay and then we can send off the visa app.

VISA = money!

So I need to raise another £140.  Well as standing on my street corner will put me on the prohibited list, I thought how else can I get cold and make a fool of myself haggling over 20p, of course, a car boot.

Well I'm not an expert, having only done one before with my mate, and having only visited two others in the last 25 years, but it was a good morning.   In a lovely rural Northamptonshire village, Holcot was fine.  

Holcot Carboot

What an experience!   I had forgotten how awful it was unloading the car.  Gin was shoved out of the way by two old men who were trying to rummage in the bags in the boot before we had taken them out of the car.  Another two immaculately dressed and pressed men wanted to know did we have any LPs.   The concept of LPs on a 15 year old is lost.  Even though we currently have to step over this box to reach the plug socks in the lounge: 

LPs: Gin didn't have a clue what they were talking about.  

So arriving home with most of what I'd taken and fifty quid in my pockets wasn't too bad for a morning's work.

Next stop Uppingham Book shop to swap my best literature and Gin's vampire plastic  literature for a twenty and we had made it to the half way mark.

My only hope is that this is the last of the big payments for a while.  Shipping doesn't take place for six weeks so that is plenty enough time to sell a limb or two.

But in the meantime, my living room looks like I've been burgled.  Roll on the 9th August.

I want a Rupert!

It's been forever since I wrote here.  I've had so much on, I haven't been able to think straight.

Since my last post, I attended a course in London on 6th March.  I did the commuter's journey, leaving here at 730am to arrive there for 830am.  That was the easy bit.  The tube from St. P to Bank and back, involved being pushed, shoved, stamped on and sneezed at. Lovely!   It was a blessing to arrive back at here at 6pm, shattered, bruised and feeling dirty.

To make matters worse MF told me he had little fuel.  Strange, as I'd put £50 in the day before.... oh no!  Not this again.   The overwhelming smell of fuel carried me half way home when MF decided he would show me his kangaroo impression again.

What again?  I hear you cry.  Yes, this old China!  Although I haven't let him get below a quarter of a tank, it seems the sludge in the tank had been stirred up again.

We stop-started all the way home; It took us until just after 730pm, for a normal 20 min journey.   At least I was home.

Over the next few days the £50 of fuel was soon gone.  This was when I considered checking my fuel receipts.  I had been putting in about £45 every 12 days.  That's a gallon a day for a 7 mile return journey.   Oh dear!

I got him looked at.  The news was disastrous.  He had a fuel line / pump issue.  This made him dump fuel every time he was started or stopped, hence smell and fuel loss.

The car man said £250 parts, labour and no car for three days - so taxi costs too.  Time to cut my losses.

So I called "We buy any shed" and they took him away to the great scrap yard in the sky.

So, I'm car less for the second time in four months.  This time I've spent £1300 (less fuel) for a shed for three months... the Higgs, all sleek and sexy and clean, only cost my £300  a month car loan - great!

This time I put Superman on the case and within days I had another new car.  An older, cleaner, neater, tidy, cleaner, less lumps, bumps, cracks, cleaner car. MOT till Nov and Tax till we go.  Sorted!

She is lovely.  Gin has decided I should give her a girl name this time... third time lucky!   Well, the best part of collecting Victoria - the last owner was  Peterborough United fan - was meeting the owner's Rupert.

He was so excited to see us, he did a little wee.   Both Gin and I have decided that we want a Rupert too.

brown chihuahua (clipped to polyvore.com)