Desiree and I went to see a wonderful movie, Ola Bola.  It was about the lives of the national soccer team qualifying for the 1980 Moscow Olympics.  Ola Bola.  What I learnt from it was that they tried so hard and life can still throw up things that you have no control over.

It was released while I was there and it was so popular that several movie theatres were sold out.  The one thing that was hard about the movie is that it goes between many languages, English, Chinese, Tamil and B.Malaysia.  I found it best just to read the English subtitles.

We were also able to park in ladies parking only.  This was started as there had been several attacks on women walking to their cars from the mall:

This is an amazing place.  Again this is UNESCO listed and is predominately populated with Chinese and Indians.  I spent the majority of my time wondering around and spent an hour in a rickshaw.  This is one of the oldest churches, St George.

While on the rickshaw I was shown a lot of street art.

I also went to a Chinese community that lived on the water.

There is a lot of British influence here and it was a critical war post in World War 1 and 2.  Both China Town and Little India are very authentic and the food that I had was delicious.

Malacca City, has a colonial past seen in its preserved town center, the site of 16th-century, Portuguese St. Paul’s Church. It’s also home to Christ Church, built by the Dutch in the 18th century and converted to the Anglican denomination under British rule in the 19th century.  As you can see it has had a very busy history.

Desiree and I drove down to this UNESCO World Heritage Site last week from KL to check it out.  We wondered around the city and I went on a boat ride

We had some excellent food and I am wondering if anyone knows what fruit this is that was in my curry.  It is encased in a shell. Even Desiree wouldn’t try it and she is a local!

We also had this famous unique dessert there too:

This dessert is called Cendol and is a traditional dessert made from shaved ice, coconut milk, green starched noodles with pandan flavoring and palm sugar. Other ingredients such as red beans, glutinous rice, grass jelly, creamed corn, might also be included.  I wouldn’t say this is my favourite dessert out there but it sure is different.

There is some great art work on the streets and very old churches.

Lastly we had some food at the night markets.  It was like a mini chocolate pancake and you could get different flavours and the other was quail eggs.

We get a week holiday because of TET or the Lunar New Year here in Vietnam so I decided to visit Malaysia and my little brother.  Of course he had decided to go skiing in Japan so I was very fortunate to have his girlfriend, Desiree, show me around.  I arrived and was picked up from the airport and taken to the towers.  It was a rainy night so they took on a very mysterious feel.

We then headed to China town and I had a delicious meal. The next day we cruised into town and went to the central markets and had a look around the malls.  There are so many and they are connected by air conditioned walkways.  There is a large population of Chinese in Malysia so Chinese New Year was in full swing.

We then went to an Indian temple in a cave.  This was truly massive so see if you can spot me

So after our day of culture and exploring Desiree and I thought it would be fitting to have Indian in little India.  This is how double parking is done in KL.

I was also exposed to a new drink, “Pulled Tea”.  It is a sweet milk tea that is poured at height so that is becomes a little foamy.  It goes great with some roti and curry.

 

The importance of communication was hammered home to me yesterday when I went to my regular bubble tea shop and there was a new person there.  I asked for my normal: peach green tea with black pearls.  This is what I got:

So not only did I not get the quantity right, I also got a combination of what I wanted between two drinks with some fizzy added to the mix.  The drink of the right is green tea with black pearls and the drink on the left is peach tea with fizzy drink added.

When I saw him making this I just laughed.  So this has given me more incentive to learn Vietnamese and also highlighted how important it is to be clear and concise.

Anyway, I got an extra drink and a free lesson:).

 

I am amazed at the affordability of mobile phones and the coverage that you receive here in Vietnam.  First of all, you can get free WiFi at every restaurant and hotel that you go to.  The password is normally written on the menu or at the front counter.  It is only 3G here, no 4G but it is fast.

Secondarily the cost of using data and making phone calls is very cheap.  I have been in Vietnam for about 3 months and I put 200,000VND credit on my phone which is about $12.50.  It has lasted me and I still have 83,000VND left, simply amazing.  In Australia I was paying about $75 AUD per month.  Someone is making a lot of money…

Most people have two phones here, a smart phone and then a smaller phone.  I have asked why this is and they are with two different providers as one provider gives better deals on data, while another for phone calls.  In Australia, if you have two phones you either work for a company that gives you a company phone and you want to keep your personal phone or you are a drug dealer.

 

It was a great break from the chaos and noise of HCM City.  There were no motorbikes, no honking horns, no rubbish and everything was well maintained and clean.  I had 2 days in Singapore as Niels had a week long meeting there so I popped over for a catch up.  We did a lot of walking around and exploring.  On the Arrivals card into Singapore, you have to give the hotel that you are staying at.  I couldn’t remember it and my phone was not working in Singapore so when I arrived at Immigration they said that it must be filled in.  I had no idea what to write, so a put down, Hotel Marigold, Orchard Rd, and handed it back.  He looked at it and I was welcomed in.  Of course there is no such Hotel and it is from the movie based in India.

On Saturday we visited the Gardens by the Bay, it was truly amazing, from tree top views to two massive air conditioned glass houses that had a cloud rain forest and the other had flowers and desert life.  It was a paradise in the middle of a city.

From there we looked at Marina Bay Sands and the endless pool.  After this hard work of sight seeing we had a cup of tea.

And a few snacks:).

For dinner we went to Little India and ate at a restaurant that was here 17 years ago when Niels worked here.  It was delicious.

Sunday we went to the island of Sentosa via cable car and looked at the fort that was constructed in the 1800’s and used until 1971.

We then went to Orchard Rd which is a shopping paradise.  It is Lunar or Chinese New Year so there are lots of shops around.

It was then time to head to the airport and for Niels and I to head our separate ways.