Geoff Woodland

2005

Geoff — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:21:39 +0000

“I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” — Mark Twain

Marvellous Malaysia – 2005

Our 2004 holiday had been our first holiday in fifteen years. I was made redundant in 1995, after which I started my own company, so there was little cash left for holidays after funding the company and living. Prior to ’95, with two high school children still at home, we could not afford holidays, so our ‘holidays’ were all based around home – it was cheaper. We enjoyed the Malaysian visit in 2004 on the way home from the UK, so much so that we decided to have a holiday, just in Malaysia in 2005.

During the research period, two friends asked if we wanted company because they liked what we had told them about Kuala Lumpur. Of course we agreed, so I started planning for four. A couple of weeks later another couple asked if they could join us, and I revised my plans to accommodate six. By September the party of holidaymakers had grown to eight. All of us had been friends of the person who died in May 2004.

After checking the Internet prices I approached a number of travel agents for a ‘good deal’ on eight tickets to Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysian Airlines offered the best deal, via one of the agents, so I booked for a departure on Sunday the 13th March 2005.

A timetable was produced, with suggested accommodation and the number of nights in each. The holiday was to be ten days, and I wanted to keep it under $2,000 per person for all transport and accommodation and sightseeing. The group agreed the basic timetable and estimated costs and I was asked to arrange everything.

To get us all to the airport it was cheaper to hire a minibus, with driver, than mess about with separate cars or taxis. At that time there were a couple of companies in our area that specialised in this type of work so by the use of a few e-mails, rates were obtained, and our own dedicated minibus was arranged. The minibus would collect us all from a single meeting point, my home, and return us at the end of the holiday. A single pick up was much cheaper than four individual pickups.

The flight was a Sunday afternoon departure that arrived in KL around 9.00pm. The travel agent had arranged for a local Malaysian company to meet us with a minibus large enough for eight Aussies and their suitcases and hand baggage. We cleared customs & immigration quite quickly, and made our way to the meeting place. Within a short time the area became very quiet as most of the other passengers caught buses or taxis to their destination. This was when I started to have misgivings – where was our transport? It had taken about an hour to clear customs an immigration so it was now around 10.20 pm. I tried to ring the local phone number, that the Sydney agent supplied, but all I heard was the normal message about their opening hours – they would not be open at 10.30pm on a Sunday night!

I left the others, who didn’t seem to be all that concerned, (innocents abroad?) and went in search of transport for the sixty-minute drive to the hotel. My first effort at arranging a group holiday had fallen at the first fence!

Fortunately I met a young Malaysian who could see that I was a little ‘concerned’ and he arranged for another minibus to take us in to the city. Of course we had to pay again (I had already paid the Sydney travel company when I made the booking).

This experience was a steep learning curve for me, and it was the last time I relied on anyone else to handle the meet & greet part of our holidays.

Because Maureen and I had such a pleasant experience in 2004, at our request the agent booked us in to the Renaissance Hotel We were in our rooms just after midnight (our body clock was 3.00 am Sydney time) – the phone rang at 8.00am – it was the original company telling me that they thought we were arriving on Monday i.e that day! The young Malaysian, who helped us at the airport, must have informed them of our arrival. At the end of the holiday I wrote to his company to let them know how helpful he had been and we were not even his clients.

The caller was very apologetic and asked if I had a receipt for the transport. Of course I did, so they sent a messenger around with the cash to reimburse my expenses along with a written apology from the manager. I couldn’t fault their service recovery.

We used this company later for additional ground transport.

In the meantime, we all wanted to see Malacca (now spelt Melaka) so I asked the Sydney agent for a rate for a day trip. The drive to Malacca was about two hours from KL, mainly freeway driving.

The Sydney agent’s rate (which was to include lunch) would be AUD $53 per person, which I thought was rather expensive. I contacted a travel agent in Kuala Lumpur and asked for a a day rate for a minibus and an English speaking driver who would also act as our guide. They came back with RM 380 for the day. At that time, this equated to AUD $129.00 or $16.13 per person – but we would have to buy our own lunch! I knew from my time at sea that in the heat of the tropical day we would eat very little for lunch, but we would need plenty of water. We booked with the KL agent.

Because the KL agent’s Malacca rate was so much cheaper than the Sydney agent, we also used him for a three and a half hour morning sightseeing trip around KL – the cost was $8 each for our own air-conditioned minibus.
We were shown the Sultan’s Palace, War Memorial, the main Malaysian Mosque, the meeting of the two rivers (the Klang and Gombak) which gives Kuala Lumpur its name – Kuala means junction and Lumpur means muddy – KL means ‘muddy river junction’.

Sultan’s Palace War Memorial Main Mosque

We also visited a batik factory, Selanger Club, the Old Railway station, drove through China town, visited an Indian temple and then back to KLCC (the Petronas Twin Towers) for lunch.
We all thought that the $8 cost was well worth the trip.

The following day was Melaka

Christ Church Flor de la Mar

Our time in Malacca was all too short and we vowed to return one day and book over night accommodation.

Inside the replica of the Portuguese sailing vessel Flor de la Mar, is a maritime museum, which I found very interesting. If you feel energetic, and the heat doesn’t bother you too much, a climb to the top of St John’s Fort would give a great view across the town and out to sea. The whole town is steeped in history – if you have the chance, do visit Malacca.

Back at KL it was happy hour – buy one and get the next one free – around the Renaissance pool – a great way to relax after a long day and the heat.

One can not visit KL without visiting the shops – at that time Times Square was advertised as the largest shopping complex in Asia – I have my doubts, but they did have a full scale ‘thrill ride’ i.e a switch back ride, all under the one roof, which is called the

‘Supersonic Odyssey’

The only way to go shopping!

In the afternoon we visited Petaling Street – the street famous for its fakes, from DVDs & CDs to famous named handbags. I think the only thing that was for sale that was original, was the beer in the Swiss Hotel, which is right on Petaling Street.

We decided to have a cold drink at this hotel and were sitting outside on the pavement when suddenly the stallholders started to frantically dismantle the stalls and pack up their goods. It was a raid by Malaysian customs. The ‘genuine’ fakes disappeared faster than snow in the summer. During the raid a crowd gathered near us and seemed quite agitated. It turned out that one of the stallholders, an elderly man, in his rush not to be caught had a heart attack and died on the street.

Within an hour the raid was over and the stallholders were setting up their stalls once again. It had a feeling that a shower of rain had caused the close down and now that it had passed it was business as usual.

If one is buying DVDs the stalls have portable DVD players to allow you to check the quality. Some copies of major films have been filmed with a hand held camera in the cinema, which includes the coughs and sneezes of the audience. Buyer should beware.

Of course, as one of our group works in the funeral industry we had to take photographs of the local coffin supplier.

After four nights in KL we packed our bags and left in two hired vehicles for the Cameron Highlands. These Highlands were very popular with the British during the colonial times. The building of ‘imperial belvederes’, as Robert Aiken, the hill station historian, called the bungalows and hotels, were practical as well as symbolic.

The original idea was for sanatoriums to preserve the health of the British in the tropics. In time these bungalows and hotels, miles away from the tropical heat of the low land areas, became a world of their own. The highlands were named after William Cameron in 1885.

What used to take days before the road had been hacked out and upgraded, took us four hours from KL to the Strawberry Park Resort.

We did a two hours drive on a freeway and then climbed the highlands via a very winding road that took a further two hours. A few of us were affected by the vehicles swing around curve after curve of the road. Once at the top the view was spectacular and the sickness soon left us. The hotel was my choice, but booked by the travel agent. Each room had a small balcony with bougainvillea flowers around the railing.

The local town, a short taxi ride away, was Tanah Rata.

The following day we hired a local minibus and driver for a four and a half hour drive around the area. We visited a flower and cactus farm, a tea plantation, a butterfly farm with insects and the local flower and veg market.

Cameron Highlands is famous for the strawberry farms. We tasted strawberries with real taste, on their own, with cream and scones, as a milkshake – the berries grow all the year round. About 7% of the land is used for towns and farming, the remainder is still tropical jungle. We found the area very interesting with its own mystery of Jim Thompson, the founder of the modern Thai silk industry. On Easter Sunday 1967, he was 61 years old, and staying at Moonlight Cottage, which is very close to the Strawberry Park Resort. He liked to walk alone and left the cottage at 3.00pm and was never seen again. A massive search with local trackers took place but they have never been able to find his body or any signs of where he went. Thompson’s sister, living in Philadelphia at the time was found murdered in August of 1967. This helped build the ‘mystery’ of the missing man. It was a year to the day that Thompson’s dog, in Bangkok, went missing and has never been found.

As much as we enjoyed the Cameron Highland, we only allowed ourselves two nights at the Strawberry Park Resort before moving on to Penang. It was a four and a half hour drive. For the first hour and a half we descended the Highlands, via a different route than we used to get to the top. It was a much better road, wider and with far less bends, more like a mini freeway.

The new (to me) bridge joining Penang Island and the mainland of Malaysia is magnificent. It is 13.5 km long. Although opened in 1985 it has already been expanded from a four lane to a six-lane highway. Click on the bridge link for more details.
Malaysia is in the process of building another bridge between Penang and the mainland, which will be 24 km long and will be the longest bridge in S.E. Asia

Our destination was the Bayview Beach Resort at Ferranghi Beach. We had a ‘side on’ room, which gave us a view of the ocean, and also allowed us to look inland to the hills.

The beds were huge, and one member of our group commented that he was glad that he had two mobile phones as this allowed him to talk to his wife when they were in bed. The bathroom was one of the largest I have seen with a full size bath with a shower over the bath and a separate shower, which was big enough to invite ‘friends’ to join you. The hotel was right on the beach with plenty of lawn to separate the sandy beach from the hotel’s pool area.

We stayed for four nights at $79 a room per night, which included breakfast for two; it was great value as the hotel was listed as a four star.

After checking in to the Bayview we strolled around Batu Ferringhi (it means ‘foreigners rock’ in English) and decided to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant a short walk from the hotel. The tables were outside in a courtyard area, where we were entertained by a large number of monkeys running along the power and phone wires, which were strung across the road. At least they kept their distance and just shouted at us during our meal.

As night began to fall the stallholders started to rig their stalls. Some were lit with kerosene lamps and others, with the help of a small generator, electricity. Trestle tables piled high with goods for sale soon attracted us. The market stretched for two or more kilometres along the beach side of the main road. The other side of the road was a mixture of small bars and restaurants. If you didn’t feel like walking trishaws were available for hire. The atmosphere of the place encourages slow strolling, fingering the goods and buying after bartering with the stallholder. Although enjoyable, the choice of goods offered was not as comprehensive as the market in Pateling Street, Kuala Lumpur.

There are a number of travel agents along the road, so, during our stroll we booked a minibus for a tour of Penang Island for the following morning.

The tour was four hours. As today was a Sunday we visited a flea market, which is only open on Sundays – it was more for the locals than the tourists, but the batteries for cameras, torches etc were cheap. This was followed by visit to a snake farm, a snake temple (quite interesting) and China Town. It was hot, so four hours sight seeing was enough, back to the hotel for a lazy afternoon at the pool.

The following day we hired another minibus to see the botanical gardens, they were beautiful, but we had to keep an eye out for the monkeys, as they would steal handbags etc.

Next stop was the Peak Railway.

The ride to the top was about thirty minutes, with stops at a couple of small stations on the way. Although the view on the day we arrived was not as good as I have seen in photos, due to air pollution I think, it was still dramatic and well worth the trip. In 2010 they stopped the service for an upgrade and now, according to reports, the trip will only take ten minutes. It is a shame as the ride in the train is a big part of the pleasure of visiting the Peak. At the Peak there are old wooden rail cars that were used many years ago. Check this link for some great photos of the Peak railway system.

The oldest mosque in Penang was our next stop followed by Chinese Clan houses, and then Fort Cornwallis and the Francis Light Museum.

Fort Cornwallis,

The end of our sightseeing was at the Farquhar Bar at the Eastern and Oriental Hotel. This hotel is a real oasis for those suffering from the heat of the day. We were so impressed with the E & O that we promised we would return one day to stay overnight. The E & O has now become one of our favourite hotels.

Farquhar Bar at the E & O.

Being from Australia we had heard so much about Butterworth in Malaysia that we just had to go and see the place where our forces used to be based.

We caught the ferry across to the mainland and passed through waters that brought back many memories for me. As a young man, in my teens and early twenties, during my time at sea, a regular port of call was Penang. At that time we anchored off shore and worked cargo in to lighters and barges. After forty years ships still anchored off Penang and worked cargo.

Ships working cargo. Penang ferry to the mainland.

The ferry trip is about ten minutes and on arrival at Butterworth, after passing what appeared to be a type of railway museum, we found a couple of taxis to take us to the military camp. The town is not a tourist destination. The military base is now a Malaysian base.

The following day was our last day in Penang. The island is called the Pearl of the Orient, and it is a pearl of a place. During our time in Ferringhi we met a Dutch couple that had just arrived for their 26^th or 27^th visit. We were told that Penang grows on you; I think this is true.

Penang is a cross roads between the East and the West. Fortunately many of its building have been preserved and to walk down certain streets is to walk in to the past.

Clan Houses One of the many older buildings

The smell, the ambience of the place took me back forty years to my youth. With such scenes it was easy to imagine being a spice trader a hundred years ago.

Tomorrow we leave for home.

We were away for eleven nights and the cost per person came in lower than my original estimate of $2,000. It came in at $1,747.00, which included airfares, bed and breakfast, tours and all transport to the Cameron Highlands and from the Highlands to Penang. Airport transfers to the city and from Ferringhi to Penang airport, I was happy with the price as it was cheaper than similar travel agent packages, and we controlled the pace and places that we wished to see.

We were in the minibus from Sydney Airport to our homes, when someone shouted ‘Where are we going next year?’

It was nice to know that people enjoyed themselves so much that they were willing to risk another holiday arranged by an amateur.

2004

Geoff — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 22:45:40 +0000

2004
Rudyard Kipling once said that – The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it – how true was his advice for Maureen & I when we began our DIY travelling in retirement. Having spent time at sea in my teens and early twenties I had often promised Maureen that one day I would like to take her to some of the places that I had visited in the early 1960s. It started in 2004 after a close friend of my wife and I became seriously ill in late 2003. I had planned to surprise my wife with a trip to the UK in 2005, which would be our 25th anniversary of living in Australia. Maureen hadn’t been back to the UK since emigrating and I thought after 25 years it would be a nice surprise for her. I planned to use frequent flyer points, Visa points and as little cash as possible. Due to our friend’s illness it dawned on me just how fragile life is, so I decide to bring forward the 2005 trip to 2004, which coincidentally was our 35th wedding anniversary. I checked as many outlets as I could using the internet and in the end booked Virgin Atlantic, Sydney to London (Heathrow), via a local agent. It turned out that Virgin Atlantic and Malaysian Airlines were code-share partners on the Kangaroo route, so we didn’t actually fly on a Virgin aircraft, but on a Malaysian Airlines B747 – which was the start of our relationship with Malaysia, the people of Malaysia and their airline. The funny thing was that the business class (I wanted the holiday to be remembered) ticket flying Virgin Atlantic, was cheaper than the same ticket on Malaysian Airlines – but we flew on their aircraft. As I said, I bought the ticket from a local agent after doing the internet research and asking the local agent to beat or match the online price. At that time I still liked the face to face connection, as I knew that agents received a commission from the airlines for selling tickets. It would be a couple of years later that the same agent started to charge a booking fee, which could be as high as $100 a person, because the airlines had either dropped their commission fees or lowered them so low that the agent had to charge a fee to stay in business. Included in the cost of the business class ticket was the use of a limo from our home to the airport. At the designated time a large stretch limo turned up, which could seat eight – with a well stocked bar – for the two of us. It was fortunate that most of our neighbours were at work as it was a little OTT! But still a very nice experience, except for me sitting at the back, the motion of such a long vehicle made me feel car sick! I even felt too ill to try anything from the bar. We flew to Kuala Lumpur to connect with the Kuala Lumpur to Heathrow service (we were ticketed all the way on Virgin Atlantic) – overall we were very impressed with the Malaysian Airlines service. On arrival in Heathrow we were met by a chauffeur with a much smaller limo, but no less impressive. The whole of the Virgin Atlantic service was very efficient. The early morning arrival in the UK, and the efficiency of the limo service, had us at our hotel at 7.00 am, and of course our room would not be ready until at least Noon! We left our baggage at the hotel and set off to explore London. Our hotel was at Gloucester Place, near Marble Arch. It was mid April and it was a beautiful Spring day, so we decided to take a walk. We walked and walked for four hours and what the walk did, in the April sunshine, was help our body clocks to adjust to UK time. The gardens across the road from Buckingham Palace. I’d booked the hotel using the internet, Lincoln-house-hotel which was a reasonably new thing to do for me to do – but it worked out well. I checked the various online hotel sites and in the end booked direct with the hotel. Going direct gave me a feeling of security, as I had their confirmation e-mails. I had read of agencies failing to let the hotel know of the impending guest’s arrival and the hotel not have a room available for the length of time that the guest required. Lincoln House Hotel was a converted three or more story terraced building. It was an experience as I have never had to use such a small shower – less space than an old fashioned red British telephone box. Fortunately the bed was OK, and the breakfast was good, but best of all it was within my budget considering the exchange rate was nearly three Australian dollars to the pound. One of my interests is Napoleonic history, so while in London we decided to take the Eurostar for a trip to Brussels, stay a couple of nights, and visit the village (now a small town) of Waterloo. This worked well. The return ticket London / Brussels was £59.00. The day we were in Waterloo it was raining heavily – I managed to see around Wellington’s headquarters – which was a inn in 1815, but is now a museum. I found it very interesting, as did Maureen, even though she doesn’t have the same interest in the Napoleonic times as myself. I didn’t manage to see the battlefield due to the heavy rain as I considered it was a long way to go to get muddy feet. What I didn’t do, (but should have done) was use the internet to book the UK railway tickets from London to Liverpool. I did communicate with Virgin Rail (they run the direct trains from London to Liverpool) about pre-purchase of tickets. I was told that I had plenty of time to book the ticket (this was mid January 2004, for an April trip), but I failed to grasp the 12 week limit. The booking facility and cheap fares come on line about 12 weeks before departure date. I thought the price of the tickets would stay the same until we booked in person – on arrival in London. Wrong – as each day passed more and more of the cheaper tickets were being sold until they had all gone, and only the last minute more (read very) expensive tickets were left. I did receive a quote from an Australian travel agent for $217 per person single trip and thought that was very expensive. The last time I used British Rail was in 1980 when I did a day trip from Congleton (in Cheshire) to London for five pounds – so I thought the ticket prices would not be all that expensive, allowing for inflation perhaps they would be £18 to £22.00 each (this fitted with the discount internet prices) – wrong, the cheapest ticket on the day that we booked was £51.00 (about $155 AUD at that time) for a single ticket to Liverpool, and we would have to change in Birmingham, unless we paid an additional amount for a through ticket. They say that education is expensive – this experience taught me a lot about planning! Many of the UK railway stations were built in the Victorian era, so on alighting at Birmingham station I had to find out the Liverpool departure platform. Of course the Liverpool platform was on the other side of the railway lines and we would have to cross by using the foot bridge. They didn’t have an escalator, nor could I find a lift – so I had the problem of hauling a suitcase to the top of the stairs and leaving Maureen on guard down below. I left my suitcase at the top and returned to collect the second case, while Maureen carried our hand baggage. At that time people were very aware of abandoned suitcases, (IRA & 11th Sept in New York) so all I needed was some eagle eyed person to bring my ‘left’ suitcase to the attention of the police. I didn’t think anyone would run off with the case as it was too damn heavy to run more than a couple of paces. Eventually we had all of our luggage on the correct platform – level ground was not a problem as the suitcases had mini-wheels. In Liverpool we stayed with one of Maureen’s bridesmaids – they hadn’t seen each other for over thirty years! Of course I had to visit the Maritime Museum at the Albert Dock area and it was during this visit, as I experienced the link between Liverpool and the slave trade that a germ of an idea for a book started to take place in the old grey matter. Ice King is the result of the visit to the Maritime Museum and that idea. As a sixteen year old youth I attended HMS Conway naval college in North Wales, which was in the grounds of the Marquis of Anglesey’s home Plas Newydd and the one person I wanted to show Plas Newydd to, was Maureen. My mother came from Caernarvon (now spelt Caernarfon) so we decided to stay in Caernarvon during our North Wales visit. I chose the Black Boy Inn, which offered rooms above the bar. As a seventeen year in 1961, I once visited the Black Boy pub for a pint of beer and promised myself that one day I would return and book a room. The time had come to keep my promise. We hired a car in Liverpool and drove to North Wales. It had been over forty years since I visited Caernarvon, but I was still able find the Black Boy A very un PC name in today’s world, but as the pub was built around 1522 perhaps they have the right to retain the name. There are three thoughts on the origin of the name – it was named after a black boy who arrived in Caernarvon off a ship, stayed and married a local girl. Another is that it was named after a black buoy in the harbour, and finally that it is named after Charles II, black boy was his nick name given to him by his mother, and the Royalists, at the time, would meet at the inn. We arrived on a very warm day and booked in to the pub. The reception was on the ground floor near the bar. The building was too old for a lift and the upstairs area was a rabbit warren of corridors and small stairs to another level etc. Very quaint, with a real feel of history, but I had to watch my head as the ceiling was quite low in certain areas. It was my job to lug the suitcases one at a time up the stairs, down old corridors and up another set of small stairs to our room. The young Welsh lady who showed us our room opened the bedroom door with a flourish and we entered – the room was very hot. I opened the window and asked if the heating could be turned off or down. In her sing song Welsh voice she told me that as it was only Spring the heating would not be turned off until the end of May. Today was the 5th May ! I mentioned that we would be forced to leave the window open and all her money spent on heating would be wasted. She was not going to budge from the fact that it was Spring and the heating stayed on until the end of May! The trip down memory lane at Plas Newydd was just great. I had to show Maureen Rex Whistler’s mural, which is 58 feet long During my time at Conway the cadets were asked if they would like to see the mural and it would cost 6d (six old pence, about 2.5 new pence). I ‘invested’ my six pence and was escorted to the mural with a number of other cadets. The mural and the explanation blew me away and the image remained with me for the next forty years. I’d never seen such a striking painting. Maureen and I returned to Plas Newydd in 2008 with three other couples, all from Sydney, and a visit to see this mural was a must – but more on that trip later. About a mile and a half away from Plas Newydd is llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogochuchaf - after two years at Conway I was able to pronounce this name, but I did have a lot of help from my mother, who was bilingual in Welsh & English. As both Maureen and I spent a lot of time in North Wales as children the visit brought back many happy memories. From Caernarvon we drove over the Snowdonia mountains to Shropshire to visit a cousin of Maureen’s. After a couple of days we moved on to Congleton, the town that we left to emigrate to Australia. What memories after 24 years. Our original next door neighbour, who we’d kept in touch with, via Christmas cards, invited us to stay with her for a couple of days. Seeing our old house from next door’s position and the familiar views across the Dane valley was two days of ‘remember when.’ Plenty of photographs were taken to show our children, who were born in Congleton, and started life in the house next door. The old country pubs in Congleton and on the outskirts brought back Sunday lunches of old. Congleton is about 750 years old and when we lived there the population was about 20,000. It is famous for selling the town bible to buy a dancing bear in the middle ages. They even wrote a song about the purchase and the town was given the nickname ‘Beartown’. From Congleton we made our way to Wilmslow, which is south of Manchester, near Manchester Airport. Stayed a couple of nights at Rylands Farm. A beautiful place for a quiet few days. I found the farm via the internet and it was very easy to book with the owner who lives on site. The closeness of Manchester Airport was not a problem as the aircraft never bothered us. We left the car at Manchester Airport and caught the airport train in to the city, for the intercity train to Edinburgh. I’d only ever been to Edinburgh once, which was during my time at sea when we docked at Grangemouth. Again I used the internet to book a bed and breakfast at Kariba Guest House. The rooms were comfortable and the breakfast was good. As we were leaving very early on departure day (about 5.30 am) the hotel delivered breakfast trays to our room so we wouldn’t leave feeling hungry. We didn’t ask for this service, but once the owner found out our departure time she fixed the breakfast tray, as well as arranging for a reliable taxi service, who would not be late! The breakfast trays were a very nice touch to end our UK holiday. I had about 11,000 frequent flyer points with Air New Zealand and they were in partnership with British Midland (BMI), which meant that I could purchase tickets from Edinburgh to London by using the points. Air New Zealand would only allow me to use the points for a round trip ticket i.e EDI / LHR / EDI but I only wanted a single EDI / LHR. They wouldn’t come to the party, so it cost me every last point plus a few quid to buy two tickets EDI / LHR. If nothing else it got rid of the points with Air NZ, who, after buying Ansett, managed to help that airline go bust, which cost me 45,000 Ansett points – so guess which airline I no longer use . . ? For our journey home we’d booked on the lunchtime Malaysian Airlines flight from London to Kuala Lumpur, which arrived the following morning at 7.30 am. We used the KLIA Ekspres Train to get to the city, 28 minutes for the 90 km (160 km per hour) and then a taxi to the Renaissance Hotel. I had cashed in all my Amex points and added $24 which gave us three nights bed and breakfast at this hotel. It was a great deal as far as I was concerned. As we arrived a large doorman, in traditional Malay dress, opened the double glass doors and wished us good morning – we were sold on the place! Reservation allocated a very nice room for us on the 14th floor. The hotel is a five minute walk to the overhead mono rail, so that afternoon we went to Petaling Street for the markets. The monorail is very efficient and cheap. From memory I think the fare was about 30 cents for a ten to twelve minute ride. As soon as we landed in Kuala Lumpur one could smell the tropics and Kipling’s quote came to mind. For me the smell brought back Asia of the early 60′s, the heat and humidity, the constant hum of the insects and the background noise of the local people. We felt at home! The Renaissance breakfasts were just out of this world. The choice was huge and that’s where we tried our first chilli omelette, which is now a firm favourite at home. The pool was non-standard with a bar, which could be used from the water or from the land side. Each evening they had happy hour, buy one get the next free – worked very well for me. The pool opened at 6.00 am so an early morning swim was very pleasant as it was still dark, and as the sun started to rise the call to prayer wafted across the city.

The three nights passed all too quickly and then we were on our way home to Sydney.

Once again a chauffeur driven limo (a normal size vehicle this time) met us at the airport to take us home.
We were away for 29 days, and arrived home on the 19th May, 2004.

Our friend died in hospital on the 26th May, 2004.

Online Retailer Links & Places of Interest

Geoff — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 06:14:20 +0000

Amazon

Amazon UK

Smashwords click on Smashwords link to be able to read a sample of Ice King .

Past Time Books were kind enough to invite me to join their group of historical fiction writers. If you wish to know more of this group or buy one of the member’s novels, please click on the link.

Books and Novels to Read specialises in independently produced books, paperback and e-book format, so why not check out the site created by Terry Callister. It lists over 2,000 books across a wide selection of genre.

Goodreads

If you wish to buy Ice King online you have a large choice – below are just some of the retailers

USA – Amazon www.amazon.com/ Amazon also stock the e-book version of Ice King in Kindle format.

USA – Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

USA – Better World Books http:/www.betterworldbooks.com/

UK – Book Depository www.bookdepository.co.uk/

UK – Abebooks UK http://www.abebooks.co.uk/

UK – Tesco http://www.tesco.com/books/

UK – W.H.Smith http://www.whsmith.co.uk/Books.aspx

Australia – Fishpond Australia http://www.fishpond.com.au/

Australia – Booktopia Australia http://www.booktopia.com.au/

Worldwide – Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/
This company stocks Ice King in a number of different e-book formats
click this link for direct access to Ice King

HMS Conway

Geoff — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:11:20 +0000

Towards the end of my time at school the headmaster asked if anyone wanted to try for a scholarship to ‘HMS Conway’. www.hmsconway.org This would require a weekend away at HMS Conway’s shore based establishment, in North Wales, for interviews and an examinations. My parents agreed, and some weeks later I travelled by train to North Wales.
It was some months before the results of the weekend examinations were made known to the applicants. I was very surprised to be offered a part scholarship and to be told that a place had been reserved for me to commence training in September of 1960. I was to be trained as a Merchant Navy deck officer.
Training at HMS Conway was a six term course, spread over two years. We lived in ‘huts’ (similar to a barrack) of twenty cadets to a hut. Discipline was strict and Cadet Captains were responsible for the day to day running of the base. Ex naval officers taught marine related subjects and civilian teachers taught the UK’s standard educational curriculum for our age.
We were expected to pass the UK’s Department of Educational examinations as well as the nationally recognised internal examinations, which would entitle those who passed to a twelve month reduction as a seagoing deck cadet (apprentice). At that time the standard apprenticeship was four years. With a full ‘Conway’ leaving certificate a ‘Conway’ cadet was only required to serve three years as an apprentice, after which he could sit for his Second Mate Foreign Going examination to become a certified watch-keeping officer.
At the end of two years, with a First Class Leaving Certificate, I approached and was accepted by British India Steam Navigation Co Ltd. www.biship.com
A UK based company with over 100 years of trading around the Middle East, the Far East and East Africa. I couldn’t have been happier – I was to be paid to see the world!