Following on from how the English pronounce 'Chandler', is their equally hilarious pronunciation of 'Flanders' (as in Ned). Friends is on all the time here and they're really gearing up for the final series.

They weather is slowly getting warmer but last week it actually snowed! Yay. It was really nice snow which fell softly and covered the whole area in about three inches of powder. It was the kind of snow in which you could roll a snowball down a hill and watch it get bigger as it went. And all this time I thought that was just something cartoonists made up. I managed to roll a snowball which was about two feet wide before it got too heavy and I gave up. All the neighbourhood kids were out in force throwing snowballs as passing cars as they gingerly weaved their way through the narrow, slippery streets. One car actually bumped into the car which was parked directly in front of my aunts. The driver got out and proceeded to berate a child for throwing snowballs at her car. Of course, the child's mother returned the volley of abuse and then some. I haven't figured out what the British equivalent of the word 'bogan' is.

For a country so accustomed to crap weather, England really has trouble coping with a bit of snow. There was traffic chaos, the trains all stopped of course, schools were closed the next day and many people just decided to take the day off. The morning after the snow was as ugly as the previous night had been pretty, what with all the icy, dirty, messed up snow. Since then we haven't seen any show and I don't think we will for the rest of winter. I'm happy enough with the improving weather though. 

The pace of uni is starting to pick up. I've never had to write such long essays before. I'm sitting in the uni library typing this now. On Mondays I have a 3 hour break between classes.

Apart from the unquestionable excitement of the weather and my university program, I'm happy to say that I have a job (yay!)... in a cinema (rhubarb...rhubarb...). It's quite close to home and next to it is a steakhouse which looks like Lonestar but is called the Outback Steakhouse. I'll have to check it out for a laugh. It's got Aussie flags in the window and everything. The cinema I'm working for, UGC is a French company and I cant for the life of me remember what the acronym stands for. The complex is big, frequented by more punks than Century City (or Knox for that matter), very blue and staffed mainly by black people. The pay is woeful and somewhere in the vicinity of £5/h. I don't think that what I earn in a day is enough for a day travelling around Europe. It'll be alright though. Adam and I will probably stop somewhere in Europe for a month or so and work at a bar or something. I think I might also have a job as a mystery shopper. They haven't exactly said 'congratulations you've got the job' but they have sent me all the paperwork and asked for bank details. Bonus.

I've worked two shifts at the cinema so far, both behind the bar which occupies the entire first (out of 3) floor. The first, a day shift on Thursday, was a cruisey introduction to the place. The second, a Saturday night shift, was one of the worst working experiences of my life. From about 7pm til 10pm we got absolutely hammered and what's more there were food orders to take as well as serve drinks. It's strange how at a normal (stand alone) bar people wait relatively patiently and accept the fact that the bartender is going to serve the hottest chick first, but at an equally busy cinema bar people complain about having to wait for ages. All things considered, despite being the newbie shmuck that I am, I think I coped quite well. I can almost froth milk properly and can swiftly and satisfactorily pour a bottle of beer into a glass. All I need is some bottle slingling practice and I'm Tom Cruise in Cocktail... not that we serve cocktails.

The day before my first shift (Wednesday) was an interesting one. There's a live daytime quiz show on Channel 5 called Brainteaser. Being the sucker that I am for 'fairly easy money which can be attained through skill rather than luck' and in line with my present money making/saving endeavours, I applied to appear as a contestant. The turnaround was really quick and it was only about 10 days between my making the initial phone call to tramping out to Oxford (about an hour north west of London by train) for the filming. The set is way cheesy and not unlike that of Burgo's Catchphrase. The show comprises two elimination rounds comprising a series of word puzzles and general knowledge questions, culminating in a solo round with the chance to win up to £3000 (A$7500).
AIESECers, the host looked a bit like a blonde Nick Smith but extra cheesy and with a chin implant. (no offence Nick). So, there were four of us (two head-to-head rounds leaves two, then a semi final leaves one for the last round) and everyine was doing their level best to prove how dumb they were in the green room (which was actually white. Is it ever green?) There was an African woman who was very nice and had brought her husband along for the ride, a girl from Glasgow with an awesome Scottish accent, a Sri Lankan dude in his final year of Medicine at Oxford and little old 'I've only been in the country 6 weeks and know nothing about Eastenders or Coronation Street' me. Can you pick the winner yet? Here's a hint. He has appeared on Countdown (without doubt the nerdiest gameshow in the world) several times and plays Scrabble in a league. That's
right! It wasn't me. I dropped out of the Scrabble league when I was 19.

I was up against the Scottish girl in the first round and somehow managed a come-from-behind win. The semi went along similar lines but my valiant comeback was cut short by the imperatives of commercial advertising. The Sri Lankan guy went all the way and won the £3000. As I left the studio and walked towards the bus stop with my new Scottish friend, the guy we knew would win all along rode past on his pushbike £3000 richer. The bastard had a five minute ride home while we I had a two hour trip and she had that plus a flight back to Glasgow. Still at least I can say I've been to Oxford... and saw nothing but the train station and a pokey studio. For our trouble we all got a little consolation prize which you can see below and which (can you believe it?) included a very cheesy postcard sized photo of the host. I couldn't stop laughing. I've decided I'll post it to the next person who writes me a nice heartfelt email. Is that a good deal or what?

So that was my 15 minutes of live to air fame. More than I've managed in Australia eh? I think someone managed to tape it. I'll post a segment up when I figure out how to transfer it from VHS to PC... which is probably never. The £20 that it cost me to get there and back was essentially wasted  but I didn't mind so much because rather than heading home, I was heading for White Hart Lane, the home of Tottenham Hotspur and the soon to be site of my first English soccer experience.

The teams here play in about four competitions at the same time. There's the Premier League (in which the Spurs aren't doing too well), the Carling Cup, (from which they've been eliminated) the F.A. Cup (this game) and probably something else I don't know about. The atmosphere at the ground was really good and being much smaller than a footy gound, you feel a lot closer to the action (because you are, duh). The match was a replay against Manchester City and the winner would go on to face Manchester United. The first game ended in a 1-1 draw and Tottenham were favoured to win the replay against a team with a pretty poor recent record. We had really good seats a little over halfway up and right behind the goals. Tottenham scored the first goal within two minutes at the opposite end to where we were sitting. Unfortunately this became the flavour of the night. By half time it was 3-0 to Tottenham and though we had a reasonable view of the other end, it's not the same as having goals scored at your end, right under your nose. At half time a City player was sent off so it appeared that the second half held in store a plethora of goals at our end. In what I'm sure will go down as one of the best comebacks of all time (or one of the worst cock ups of all time depending on your point of view) City managed to score four goals in the second half with only ten men on the field. The last came deep in injury time as Tottenham appeared to be relaxing in preparation for the expected extra time. I heard that someone put £100 on Manchester City to win at half time and got a return of £25,000. The Spurs are notorious for choking but this was really bad. If I was a die hard fan I'd be ashamed to wear my Spurs scarf. But I'm not, so I'll continue to wear it because it's nice and warm. The horde of Spurs fans that filed out of the stadium towards the train station did so in virtual silence. It was a bit eerie. Despite the loss I cant wait to go to another game. They can be quite expensive though and the price depends on who's playing. A game against
Arsenal or Manchester United would cost at least £40 (Spurs v City was £20.)

Here's a nice shot of a City player getting yellow carded.

Wow, this is the longest I've gone without posting something. I bet everyone is thankful for the brief respite. Things have settled down quite a bit and I've started uni so the fun is over. Well, maybe for a week or so while I figure out where my classes are and how to actually get to uni. Out of a group of about 130 exchange students I am the only non American and the only one not living on campus. Orientation was two Fridays and it was quite amusing to hear the various speakers welcoming us and going on about the great relationship between the UK and the US, the cultural similarities, how "our" way of life has been changed forever since 9/11 etc. Thankfully the Americans that I've made friends with aren't as tragic as I had feared. It's a bigger cultural change for them than for me. Australia and the UK have a lot more in common that the US and UK. It's quite funny seeing them struggle with the date format, floor numbers (in the US, Ground floor is Level 1), and just words in general.

So, classes started a week and a half ago and the style of teaching is quite similar to Australia (not similar to the US though). I've only got 8 hours a week but they do expect a lot of reading and class preparation. Class sizes are much smaller and the lecturer takes virtually all the turorials. I've just about reached timetable nirvana by arranging my classes so that I have Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off. Now all I need is a job and I'll be sweet. Went for an interview on Monday but let it slip that I'm only going to be around for about 6 months. I wish I could lie on the spot. I think I'm still half a chance though.

Apart from uni, not much has been happening. I've been out a couple of times. Though I vowed I wouldn't, I went to a Walkabout bar with my cousin Christine and some of her Aussie friends as some of them were heading back to Oz. And I must say that I might be back there again on Monday since it's Australia day and I want to take some of the Americans along. How weird is that... I hardly celebrate Australia day back home and here I am thousands of miles away and getting excited about it. Back home I'd get excited if I was working Australia day because of the double pay.

The uni is in the East End which is a poor and very ethnic part of London. It is a bit dodgy to say the least but hey, what can you do. It's biggest claim to fame is Jack the Ripper. Michael and I went on a Jack the Ripper walk last week and it was a case of 'oh, my uni is just a couple of stops that way'. It's amazing how interesting the story remains after more than 100 years. It's also amazing how much money the people that run walking tours make. All they have to do is tell a good story and tell you to picture a bit of the footpath as it would have been a hundred years ago with a dead prostitute lying there.

We also went to the British Museum for a short while before the walk. We only saw the Egyptian section and briefly at that but it was amazing and far beyond anything at the Melbourne museum. Admittedly the British plundered, pillaged and stole most of the statues and artefacts... but it was cool. And free too.

I am absolutely dying with the cost of things here. <-- spot the grammatical mistakes! I got the bike Christine gave me serviced and it cost £55. I also bought a jacket and a pair of shoes which I really need and it came to £80. That's quite reasonable here... but it's $200 when you convert. The only thing that is reasonable priced is alcohol.

The weather is slowly getting worse so I've found myself sitting at home and watching reruns of Fresh Prince and Friends on a fe occasions. They seem to be on every day and there's one channel that appears to only show failed and/or old US sitcoms.

It's hilarious how the English say Chandler... as in the Friends character. They say the 'Chan' as they would say 'chance'.

To those who have emailed me, thanks... and a pox on those who haven't. Shame abot David Hookes. Anything else newsworthy?

 

 

For the first time in its 12 (or so) year history, the highlight of the Edinburgh Hogmanay festival was cancelled. Naturally, it was the year I decided to go. So, no new year’s countdown, no music and no fireworks. Well, at least I can say I’ve been to Scotland. I ended up staying for 3 nights and got home yesterday. Edinburgh is a beautiful city and I will most probably go back there and also travel further around Scotland during this trip. I have to see all the castles!

 

I caught the train to Edinburgh on New Year’s Eve at 08:00 from Kings Cross. Michael caught the earlier train and as it turns out almost missed it. I met him at Edinburgh station and we set about trying to find our way to the hostel. The hostel was actually about 15 minutes out of central Edinburgh, which wasn’t so bad considering how busy it gets this time of year. So we caught a bus. Then another. Then waited in the cold for almost an hour for another bus. Then caught some random bus for a few hundred metres. Then decided to walk. Then turned around and saw the bus we were supposed to catch. Then ran back, got on and got to the hostel. The Scottish people we asked along the way were all very helpful.

 

I should mention that it was really, really cold and the hostel was right next to the beach. There was no snow in Edinburgh but I saw quite a bit along the way at nearby towns. It was amazing to see snow right next to the sea. Apparently it doesn’t snow over the sea because there is too much salt in the air.

 

The hostel was fairly new (in a nice old building) and quite reasonable at £14 per night for a bed in a dorm. It had a bar, mini-mart, gym, sauna, spa, theatrette, TV room and internet access. They also had a very nifty smart card system which is used for paying for things. You just put money on it through a machine at the front then pay for all your drinks, food, washing and internet with the card.

 

The number of Australians at the hostel (and generally in the UK) was ridiculous. At least 70%, no kidding. A few Welsh, English, Kiwis, South Africans, Chinese and the rest Aussies.

 

We found out that the hostel ran a free shuttle bus into Edinburgh at regular intervals. Information which would have been great at the time of booking. For New Year’s they were running it all night, which was quite considerate. We couldn’t get one before 7:45 so decided to have dinner at the hostel. Paid about £3.25 for a lousy microwave roast dinner from the mini-mart. I learnt as we went that the cheap and nasty stuff at the store was actually better. Had an awesome breakfast on Friday straight out of a can for only $1.29… Sausages, bacon, pork, baked beans, mushrooms and potatoes. Anyway, it started to rain quite heavily and everyone began feared the worst (nothing had been cancelled at this stage). When we got into town at 8 it was still cold, raining and very windy. Picked up a little bottle of vodka from a bottle shop and (Victor, Claudette and Peter will be pleased to know J) decanted most of it into my new hip flask. We were there for the Royal Bank Street Party, which involves closing Edinburgh’s main road and having a lot of live entertainment, fireworks, overpriced souvenirs and assorted junk food. Apart from the overpriced souvenirs and assorted junk food nothing much was happening. There were quite a lot of people around and almost as many policemen and port-a-loos. It was really blowing a gale and I believe the temperature got down to (don’t quote me) -7. It was so cold that despite not drinking much at all I had quite a case of Riepsamen bladder (almost no one will get that but I’m sure you can figure it out).

 

At about 11 a voice rang out over the PA and apparently said that the party had been cancelled (the crackling PA and thick Scottish accent meant that I couldn’t understand a thing that was said) due to inclement weather. There were rumours of terrorist threats etc but the strong wind was most probably the reason. The temporary stages wouldn’t have been save and the fireworks were probably wet and in danger of being blown off course if they were lit. We hung around and moaned about the whole affair for a while and about how much we’d all spent to get there etc. It seemed such a waste of an occasion. Edinburgh Castle was magnificently floodlit as always, there were carnival rides, heaps of people and a pretty good atmosphere. We ended up at a bar/club called the Walkabout. It was one of a chain of Aussie bars around the UK. It’s a bit sad really and I’ve decided not to make a habit of going to the ones in London. There was no real countdown as such at the bar but we were all having enough fun. Michael and I ended up partying with a group of girls from Sydney. They seemed quite nice but the initial shine kinda faded as the night wore on. Just after midnight the DJ put on a strange Scottish track, a word of which I could not understand. It sounded awesome though so I’ll have to find out what it was. We decided to call it a night at about 2 but had to brave the cold once more and trek from one end of town to the other to catch the shuttle bus.

 

The next day I woke up quite early and felt lousy though probably more from the cold than anything else. Went for a walk along the shore (cant really say beach) which was really nice. We finally got our acts together and got to town at about 1:30. The whole day was more or less gone as it starts getting dark at about 3:30. There were quite a few activities going on at Holyrood Park as part of Hogmanay. Among other things there was a huge flying fox, ‘indoor soccer’ in a big inflatable court and these hilarious dog races where anywhere from 1-4 dogs (mostly huskies I think) pulled their owners along on little chariots. It was all the more hilarious due the crazy old Scottish woman who was commentating and kept on screaming and kinda yodelling throughout the races. The park was right next to a bluff called Arthur’s Seat (no chairlift) so we decided to climb it like everyone else. It took a good 20-30 minutes and the view from the top was great. You could see the whole of Edinburgh, the coast and mountains in the distance.

 

Just as we decided to turn around and come back down I slipped and fell on the muddy ground. It probably would have been quite funny if my head didn’t hurt so much as it was one of those ‘cartoon’ falls where your feet just go right out from under you and you land on your back rather than your bum. So, half coated in mud (well I was anyway) we went back into town to check out a walking tour. There were daytime history oriented ones and night time ghost story ones. I thought that the ghostly ones were a bit wanky and thankfully Michael did too so we went on the historical one. It was basically a tour of a section of underground vaults which were used for storage and housing about 200 years ago. It’s a bit hard to explain but the tour was great as our guide was very engaging and told us heaps of stories and interesting historical facts… and he made fun of the English a lot.

 

For dinner we went to a tiny pub called the Halfway House and had a traditional Scottish meal of Haggis, Neeps and Tatties. (Haggis, mashed turnips and mashed potatoes). Here's a (lousy) photo!

             

Haggis was actually quite tasty and even a bit spicy. You don’t eat the stomach bit as I had originally thought and in fact a synthetic material is now more commonly used than sheep’s stomach. Added a cider glass to my collection, bought a silly hat and headed back to the hostel.

 

Karaoke night at the bar at the hostel and the DJ was having real trouble getting people up. He had to sing one himself then offer a free drink before the first person got up. It slowly got going after that and Michael and I even got to sing songs that were completely beyond our already limited capacity (Summer of 69 and Livin’ on a Prayer). I had a sore throat and could hardly talk at the time so I shudder to think how I must have sounded. The plan was to have an early night and do a lot of sightseeing the following day but we didn’t get to bed until about 3:30.

 

Naturally half of the next day was lost but we still managed to get to Edinburgh Castle which was great. It was a bit rushed as we didn’t realise how much there actually was inside. Apart from all the castle-y things there were 2 or 3 museums and the Scottish Crown Jewels on display. Seeing Edinburgh has made me want to see other castles even more. Ate dinner at a pub and walked around some of the shops before heading back to the hostel at about 7:30. Watched Xmen 2 and went to bed relatively early. Michael left at about 5am for Spain. He’ll be back in London for a couple of days in a week or so. I got up leisurely, checked out and got to town at about 10. I had a bit of time to take a few photos, visit Jenners department store, which is Edinburgh’s answer to Harrods and buy a haggis before catching the train at 10:45.

I don't know why, but I took it for granted that it snows in London at Christmas time. In fact, it's hardly even rained. It is cold though, especially today. I think the maximum temperature is 4 degrees. Yep... I'm staying put.

 

Had a great Christmas with the family here. Ate too much of course.

 

Went to a pub with Rachel and some of her friends a couple of days before Christmas for someone’s birthday party. It wasn’t as happening as I expected but I'm reliably assured that they're parties are normally much more exciting. It was ok though because I was half asleep and really only went so that I wouldn’t fall asleep by 8pm and wake up at 4am...as I had been doing. I did pick up my first souvenir of the trip though... a very nice Hoegaarden pint glass compliments of the house. Well, you know what I mean.

 

A lot of the post Christmas sales start before Christmas here. We went to a big shopping centre called Brent Cross... I forget what day it was. Despite the sales things are still quite expensive. I got a jumper (acrylic, *sigh*) and a long sleeve T for £20 which is a bargain over here but its $50 when you convert it.

 

I cant remember what else I did before Christmas so I'm going to skip to Boxing day. Caught up with Michael, Ina, Karen and their Japanese friend Keiko on Boxing day. They got back from their Contiki tour on Christmas day. Sounds like they had a lot of fun but it was all quite rushed. (2 days per city/country.) Not for me I'm afraid. I might go on a small Contiki tour but I wouldn’t like to spend less than a week in any given country. We spent most of the day trying to organise theatre tickets for the night. The plan was to see Phantom of the Opera which I didn’t mind although it wouldn’t have been my first choice. There are heaps of discount ticket outlets around Leicester Square so we visited a lot of them and also had to go to the theatre itself because Ina and Karen had some theatre vouchers which they got from Contiki. Free piece of advice: never buy anything from Contiki that you don’t have to. The theatre pass of course had conditions on it which rendered it useless. Would have had to fork out about £35 for half decent seats so decided against Phantom. I was quite keen on Fame, We Will Rock You or Jerry Springer the Opera. That’s right Jerry Springer the Opera. Back for its second season and I thoroughly intend to see it. The must see show is The Lion King which is still going strong after 4 years. I want to see it but will have to book well in advance. We ended up getting decent seats at a reasonable price to Fame ($19.50, dress circle, halfway back). Tickets finally bought, we decided to walk around and see the sights. I really talked up Harrods as I had been there a couple of days before. Ina and Karen were  quite excited so we decided to check it out. Lo and behold Harrods was closed and til the 29th at that. Quite disappointing really as I reckon that Harrods is one of those places that you absolutely have to visit at least once in your life. I mean, you wont be able to afford anything save for a couple of pastries (which is what I bought) but still, its an awesome place.

 

As it turned out just about everything of note was closed. Westminster Abbey had closed for the day shortly before we arrived. It was fun roaming aimlessly around London though and it will help me get my bearings. Went for dinner at pub near the theatre. Three of us tried a traditional english dish called gammon. Actually, all it is is a pork steak. It was way too salty for my liking... kinda like a fat slice of bacon.

 

The show was really good. The only gripe I had was that the girl that sang the title song didn’t quite have the lungs to really belt it out. I didn’t realise how crude some parts of Fame are. I can barely remember the movie actually.

 

The day after was spent with the family and their relations who were visiting from Switzerland. It's cool how they speak English, French and German. There was enough food left over from Christmas that 14 of us could eat comfortably.

 

Caught up with Ina, Michael and Karen again yesterday. Ina and Karen were leaving for Hong Kong in the afternoon so we didn’t really have time to do much. Ina had been jibbed by Contiki again. She pre-purchased a ticket to the Tower of London from them for £11 and the actual price was only $8.50. That’s big money when you're on a tight budget. After Ina and Karen left, Michael and I walked around for a bit. Right outside Piccadilly Circus tube station was one probably the most amusing thing I've seen so far. It was a group of about 20 young people holding signs, playing music and dancing in a sort of protest-cum-vigil in support of Michael Jackson. The signs read slogans like 'Michael is Innocent' and 'Don’t believe the corrupt media'. They had a little boom box set up playing Michael Jackson songs and a couple of the guys were really getting into the dance moves. One of them was actually really good. he was in costume and could moonwalk in every direction. A couple of them were even dancing in synch... they must have learnt a routine from a video clip. Needless to say I stood there for a good 10 minutes not knowing whether to laugh or cheer. They'd have made good money if they were busking.

 

After leaving Michael at 4 I went with aunty to visit my cousin Christine briefly at her flat. It's a very nice little place and I could definitely see myself in something similar. About 10 minutes after we got there a whole bunch of her Aussie friends descended on the place. It felt a bit strange seeing a roomful of Australians but there are a lot of us here. Christine was nice enough to give me her old bike. It's in quite good nick and really only needs a new chain and a bit of oil. I meant to take it to the bike shop today but as I mentioned, the weather was a bit oppressive. I'm quite happy sitting here in shorts and a Tshirt.

 

Will hopefully get to the bike shop tomorrow and put in an application at the local cinema… it’s sad I know but they’re hiring so I may as well give it a shot. Other than that I’ll probably just pack a few things and have an early night. Going to Edinburgh on Wednesday with Michael. Have decided to go for 3 nights rather than the originally planned 1. Should give me a chance to see a bit more of the place, especially Edinburgh castle. Reeeaaalllyy not looking forward to the cold.

Nah just kidding. Like I can be bothered. I did see it yesterday though... and it was great. All you poor slobs have to wait a whole week!

Hey y'all. People are wondering how to contact me so here are the details. I've just gotten a mobile number so u can sms me.

villageidiot@optusnet.com.au

+44 793 2454 580

ICQ: 2208831

MSN: aaronponnudurai@hotmail.com

I've finally made it to London 3 weeks and 8 flights after leaving Melbourne. KL was so laid back that things were virtually going backwards. I guess thats partly why I havent written anything for a while. I'm sure some of you enjoyed the reprieve. Anyway, I think it'll be a while before things get as exciting as Brunei. Although I'm going to watch LOTR tomorrow! It came out here yesterday and my cousin Sarah has already seen it. She is a mad fan and will watch it again tomorrow and probably another couple of times next week.

I cant even remember what I did in KL. I remember that it rained everyday. Went to TGI Fridays the day after I got there with my cousin David and one of his friends. It started pouring so we just sat and drank til it stopped. Ate too much of course... but didnt get any durian or longans.

I'm so sleepy here. 13 hours on the plane from Singapore and I hardly slept. I'm trying to stay awake and get to bed at a normal time tonight so the old body clock doesnt go out of sync.

Went to Hard Rock Cafe in KL on Friday night. Despite a few initial reservations the night turned to be really good. I mean the Melbourne Hard Rock isnt exactly a happening place is it? Plus the ban was Indonesian. Tell me that wouldn't get the alarm bells going. They sang english covers and really mixed it up well. The price of drinks in Malaysia is ridiculous. I dont know how the locals can afford it. Especially when their earnings are fairly well on par with us. A jug of beer was RM60 (AUD 23) and a vodka was RM18 (AUD 7). So even despite the awesome exchange rate I was crying. One thing though is that you can BYO to clubs and bars! Still, they charge you about RM200-300 ber bottle corkage. We hung around near the band but it was interesting to observe the bar area. Mostly white men tending towards middle age. And floating around them... I couldnt pick the prostitutes from the er... non-prostitutes. It was all quite shameless really. Apparently the pros have a good deal with the Sheraton next door.

I really cant remember what else I did.
Went to KLCC (shopping centre in Twin Towers).
Went to Mega Mall (so mega we saw a fraction then gave up).
Planned to go go-karting. Kept being put off til the last day when we found out that they had relocated.

Went to Seremban on Sunday night to visit my aunty. Stayed there til yesterday, when I left for Singapore via Johor Bahru. Decided to give the bus a go rather than taxi (from Johor to Singapore). Paid RM5.30 for bus instead of RM150 for taxi. Nice.

In Singapore, went to a place called Sim Lim Square to look for headphones. It was amazing. About 5 or 6 storeys tall. About 20 or so stores on each level. All packed with camcorders, digital cameras, TVs hifis, pdas, car stereos, computers, games, consoles, components, mp3 players etc etc. That place must really suck up a lot of power... not to mention money. Visited relos in Singapore.

Plane to London left an hour late. They served dinner about an hour in (2am) so that threw my in-flight plans into disarray. The plan was to sleep. So I ate because it was too noisy to sleep anyway and the guy next to me had the light on so he could read about 10 dirt bike magazines. Spent the rest of the flight drifting in and out of sleep. I think I watched half of three movies. Plane made time and we actually landed on time. Unfortunately bags went elsewhere and we had to wait 45 mins til they finally hit the carousels.

Bought a watch at Changi. A Fossil and quite funky if I do say so myself. Finally bought something that wasnt entirely utilitarian.

Well that's all I have to say for 10 days in Malaysia. Maybe I'll come back and edit this posting after I have some sleep... or not.

I'm in the 'business centre' (I say that because there is one computer in here with a 31k connection) at the Righa Royal hotel in Miri, which is in northern Sarawak. I shouldn't be so harsh as this really is quite a nice place. We're down here for 4 days so in effect my trip to Brunei has been shortened. I am still with aunty Sue and uncle Siva. They've been treating me too well. I'm gonna get a rude shock when I have to start spending my own money.

We're going to Mulu tomorrow to see the caves. There's a picture of the resort we're staying at on the wall next to me. It looks quite good actually. I wasnt sure about it as we have to catch a plane out there and it is in the midle of the jungle. The girls are a bit freaked out at the thought of all the bats in the cave. Altohugh, Sunitra (6 yrs old) would like to pat one.

Went to the shops nearby after we checked in and I finally bought something. Shirt and shorts but I really dont kow how its gonna fit in my pack. Lousy cash registers in the store were playing up and would process credit cards. Gave them a bit of grief about it (well uncle Siva did) so the girl kept trying then finally said that the card had been declined. Now I dont know if she was telling the truth and my card is really screwed or if the system was down and she just wanted to get rid of us. Anyway, just ended up paying cash. Mmm...new shirt smell.

Spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the pool by the beach, in the sun sipping a maragita. Really, all that was missing was a good woman. I'm a simple man.

Well, its time for dinner. I'll write again soon if I survive the killer bats.

You guys kinda stole my thunder with the talk of rain. It rained like hell yesterday. This morning, the watermarks on the outside walls were about a foot high. We also had real trouble driving back from the Empire last night. Speaking of which, I am just about ready to die after eating there. It was awesome. Tuesday is seafood buffet night. There was a guy standing there shucking oysters all night. They had arrived from Sydney that day! I'm generally not a big fan of oysters but these were awesome. Not to mention the prawns, crab claws, sashimi, smoked salmon, scallops and the non seafood section (dont get me started there).

All the cutlery (silver) and crockery was from Asprey of London which I'm told is about as good as it gets. Will have to check it out when I get there. I cant even describe the hotel itself. Took a few photos but gave up trying to capture the grandeur of it all. For example, there is marble everywhere and the escalators are plated gold (not the steps and rails, but the other metal bits like the 'foot rail').

Went to the Brunei museum today which was was fairly small but jam packed. there were 5 sections open but the Islamic artefacts were the best. The stuff in there was amazing: from ancient qur'ans pottery and coins to swords, guns and cannons. Some of it dated back over 1000 years. The qur'ans were quite impressive as the sultan himself is quite into collecting them. They vaired greatly in size and many were inlaid with gold and very intricate calligraphy.

Well I've gotta go pack now. We're going to Miri tomorrow to visit the caves which are so-big you-can-fit-four-jumbos-side-by-side-inside. We'll see. Its in Malaysia and Iwill be flying to KL from there so this is actually my last night in Brunei. At least I'll have my yellow sultan lucnhbox to remind me of it.