Through New Eyes

Us newbies in KL have been slowly find our way round the city - shops, markets, restaurants and of course bars! It has been great hanging out with people who have never been to asia before. They are so excited about all the things that I was beginning to take for granted and I just can't help but get caught up in their enthusiasm. Its as if I'd never seen a food court, weekend market or manic traffic before. It feels like I'm experiencing all these things for the first time and I'm loving it. Of course there are lots of new things here too......I'll just keep exploring.

Tom, Dick and Harry

I've received many pieces of advice in my time – but none so entertaining as that from Mr Lee who joined us when we were dining in Chinatown. Among the usual tips for avoiding muggers and pickpockets he threw in the classic 'watch out for Tom, Dick and Harrys' - and strangely enough I knew exactly what he meant!

A rose by any other name

I’ve arrived in KL! And with a new city comes a new name. I’m still going to be Bangkokali.blogspot.com (you can take the girl out of Bangkok but you can’t take Bangkok out of the girl) but my blog will be Thai Tales no longer. Hope you like Ali in Wanderland just as much.

A Day at the Races

The last day of sunshine saw us at Ascot for the Shergar Cup. Mum laid on a fabulous picnic and we were a given a guided tour of the press room by Captain Heath himself who sneaked us in as 'work experience'.

The place pot was won (great tips Col) which kept us in Champers for the afternoon and Madness rounded up the evening perfectly. Welcome to the House of Fun!

Wonderful Rye

Despite mainly windy and rainy weather the sun actually popped out for a week and we girls hit Rye. (Well actually Camber Sands but we are trying not to advertise the fact that we were next door to Pontins!). The sun shone, the sand stretced for miles and the stars shimmered at night.

Rye is full of cobbled streets and fifteenth century cottages - beautiful for wandering around and stumbling across lots of oldie worldy pubs. It is a perfect place to cycling with idylic villages to saunter through and not an incline in sight.

We were also spoilt with the choice of menus and the portion sizes and of course we washed it all down with fine wines. Friday was a double birthday night for Ceri and Holly and we hit the local 'nightclub' affectionately known by the locals as Rye-biza or Rya-napa. It has to be seen to be believed.

Fabulous week, which I hope will be repeated next year. Cheers girlies.

Culture Vulture

Ah, London in the sunshine. ...What is drab and grim through the grey clouds and drizzle becomes positively beautiful in the sun. I've enjoyed a picnic in Green Park and a wander along the South Bank. But what has been most lovely this week were the visits to Art Galleries.

First I went to the Impressionists by the Sea exhibition at the Royal Academy. Always a fan of Monet, Manet, Renoir and the gang I could not fail to be impressed (ho ho) and it was great to have a few unknowns (to me) thrown in. It certainly made me want to promenade along the seafront in northern France.

Today it was the Hayward Gallery and Antony Gormley's Blind Light exhibitions. Normally a fan of pretty paintings over sculpture I was spellbound by some of the installations. I particularly enjoyed wandering through Allotment II made up of individual units of concrete blocks that are made to the precise measurements of real people. They are all rectangular but are as wide and tall as ther person on which it was modeled with holes for ears, mouth and your unmentionables in the correct places. Strangely Gormley seemed to have managed to capture the personality of his subjects and instead of being just blocks of concrete of varying sizes you could guess at the characteristics of the model!

The centrepiece of the exhibition is the Blind Light installation. From the outside it looks like a large glass box filled with bright light and smoke. However, visitors are also invited to go inside and experience disorientation. The minute you walk in you can barely see your had infront of your face and the light really is quite blinding. My head immediately started to spin and I quickly shoved my way out. It certainly achieves its aim of disorienting the visitor but I have to admit that I didn't really enjoy the feeling of nausea that accompanied it - but as I seemed to be the only person who had a problem with this it may have been down to last night's bottle of wine! People of nervous dispositions should remain cautious though.

Both exhibitions were fantabulous, so if you are in London this month get yourself down there.

Food Glorious Food

The headlines last week were Your Friends Make you Fat. Eeeeek! I had visions of anorexic wannabees dumping their larger friends in case they caught their fat. Were we going to have to create refuges for big boned people?

But on further consideration I realised that it is probably an element of truth in this. Just as we hang out with people who have the same taste in music, support the same team and have the same interests, so we also hang out with people who eat in the same way.

I hate sitting with a skinny little wench who pushes a piece of lettuce around her plate while checking how many calories she has just consumed in her weight watchers pocket guide. Food is great and eating should be an enjoyable experience.

I have just spent a fantastic week in Rye with the girls. The weather was great, the cottage gorgeous and the local menus fantastic! We spent lots of time deciding where to eat and, truth be told, a lot of time eating. There was no skimping on portion sizes in Rye and we had some amazing dinners.

I don't care if my friends make me fat. I had such a good time enjoying their company over a King prawn tagliatelli and a glass of wine. Bring on the bulge!