HONG KONG SEVENS!!

A group of us took the opportunity while we are in this part of the world to head to Hong Kong for the Hong Kong Sevens - and it really was fantastic!  After going to the Wellington Sevens a couple of times we were pretty sure we knew the format and we weren't far wrong...  however there were a few thing that you would never see (or would be allowed) in Wellington.

• You can buy beer by the Jug.
• You can buy cocktails - we spent the weekend drinking Pimms.
• Oh yeah - the cocktails are also available in a jug.
• Drinks sold to you in your seats - no need to queue at the bar, just wait for the Carlsberg girl to return.
• When you go to get your last jug for the evening and ask the barman to be generous with the Pimms (as it is the last game), they empty 3/4 of a bottle into your jug, meaning there is very little room for the lemonade.
• You have to be in the queue at 0630 in the morning just to get good seats.  Your mates however will just join you whenever - but they did miss the best game of the tournament!
• You laugh at the man that was obviously queueing all night to get a good seat and must have partaken in one too many tequilas and is now fast asleep on the steps when the gate opens.  
• You laugh even harder when said man gets carried INTO the stadium half an hour later by his mates, then tucked him in for a sleep under their seats with a couple of pieces of newspaper.
• As you leave the stadium, feel free to take your drinks - just finish them on your way to town!
• Only one attempt at streaking - apparently the Armed Police are a little scary.
• There was never a queue in the ladies.
• Toilets were spotless due to the 5 or so little Chinese ladies that were there to ensure that they remained that way throughout the tournament - also meant there was always paper!
• Did I mention that the beer came in jugs? 

All in all a fantastic few days of rugby (five if you count the two days of the Tens that we went to prior) and (if we are still in Penang) we will definitely be doing it again next year!!

Check out my toes...

So guess where we will be this time next week!!!  Can't wait!!!

As I keep going you will see a lot of posts on things that us expats here in Malaysia find extremely funny - purely because we play on the words.  So stopped at the lights a couple of days ago looked up and this bus was in front of me...

I just couldn't help it -  'where's the wite one?' :-)

Umbrellas...

So I fully understand that umbrellas are great in the sun and a lot of the local people will use them when walking around Georgetown or Gurney Drive.  One of the most amusing ones I saw was a man (probably 50+) running in jeans, jandals (flip flops for you non kiwis) with his umbrella up.  Which brings me to what I saw this morning on the way back from the gym - surely if you are going to carry an umbrella to shade you from the sun it is best to put it up??

Not the best photo - but you get the idea!!!  There was zero wind as well!

Bubbles :-)

Really this one has nothing to do with Malaysia but rather the lifestyle we lead here!!  My darling husband every Sunday night draws me a bubble bath - mostly so he can relax and read for an hour without my nagging ;-)

I think he went overboard on the bubble bath this evening though!!

Parking Penang Styles

So one of the other things that I always find amusing in Penang is the Parking.  Looking down from our balcony we have a great view of the parallel parking on Gurney Drive.  For a number of local Penang people (and probably a fair few non local Penang people) it is something that they find quite difficult.  So often it is amusing just to watch from a distance as they park their Myvi (which if you check out the link is not a large car) and take a good 10 minutes of shuffling to do so, this can provide hours of entertainment!!
However today's photo is not a parallel park photo, but rather one from our very own car park at our apartment building.  You know when people put those annoying poles in their car parks so no one can park there - this is the solution!!

Some of you would have seen this on Facebook already but I just love this mail box - I can't help having a chuckle every time I drive past!  I think it sums up the logic here in Penang quite nicely!

And I have checked - it is definitely next to 10 :-)

So one of the things I really want to do in this blog is share some of the fantastic things you see/hear and do around Malaysia and especially Penang.  So will start off with a story many off you have already heard and that was the end of our balcony table last week.  We live on the 20th floor of an appartment on Gurney drive, overlooking the sea.  One of the great things about our place is that you can watch the weather close in as it comes across from the mainland.  That is exactly what we were doing on Thursday night, enjoying a nice glass of wine (A NZ Sav of course) listening to the beatles loudly and watching the weather roll across to the island.  Then in came the rain and the wind - so we moved inside.  As this is a regular occurance I laughed at Leon's sugestion to bring in the furniture and figured it would end up in the corner of the balcony like every other time.  Boy was I wrong!!  As leon started to move the furniture in I saw the table topple over (dumping the glass top - luckily) and continuing the fly over the balcony.  So far there have been no positive sightings of the table as yet but I am sure it will appear in a cafe near here soon :-) 

Our stand in table until we get another one :-) still holds the wine but not so good for eating from!

Welcome to my blog...

Hey Everyone,

Well something that quite a few people have been encouraging me to do for a while is start a blog about our life here in Malaysia.  But we better start with some background!  So why am I starting a blog now?  Well for one of my papers at Massey (158.100 - Computer Applications and the Information Age) in Lab Exercise 1 (have to have that in there so they can find it) I am required to create a blog.  So here I go!!

So in Jan 2011 Leon posted to HQIADS (Headquarters Integrated Area Defence System) an FPDA (Five Power Defence Arrangement) position as an exercise planner.  I remained with the Navy and did one last trip on the mighty HMNZS TE MANA before resigning, after a sixteen year career you think that would be a hard move but so far (and after my last 10 months in the service) - a great decision!   We got married in August after the ship got home to New Zealand,  I then I finished up my time in the Navy and joined him for good last December and have been living the life of a kept woman since.

So what do I do all day I hear you ask, well of course there is coffee to be drunk that is definitely up there on my list!  But once you settle down in Malaysia you start to realise everyday life is a little different and you must adapt to a different lifestyle.  As I continue my blog you will no doubt see what I mean! And hopefully enjoy the read as well!

No promises how regular my blogs will be - but please enjoy and feel free to share with your friends and family.

Nikki (00126101 - that's my student ID - also need it in here to get marks!)