Royal Wedding

Those if you that know me will be surprised to hear that I'm sitting in a pub watching the Royal Wedding. This is partly because I'm curious to see how the pomp & circumstance of the british monarchy is seen overseas, but more because they have free wi-fi and a 2 for 1 deal on Strongbow in celebration of the occasion. Yeah I know - Strongbow. But this is the pub with supposedly the largest range of draft beers in Malaysia and that totals 7 (Tiger, Heinekin, Guiness, Kilkenny, Strongbow, Carlsberg & Carlsberg Export). So when in Rome.....

Watching the wedding has been interesting - good to see 'the old country' in so much detail. But what strikes me is how the newsreaders, the journalists and even the people on the street are happy to call themselves 'commoners'. One of the things I love about Australia is how class is generally not an issue and you're judged on the person you are, not the people who beget you. Watching my 'pommie' brethren deliberately abase themselves to a lineage blessed only by luck and aggression still makes me angry. Viva la republic!

Anyway, on the way in I passed an amusing traffic jam, where a bunch of flash cars were travelling (presumably) a wedding party. They had a police escort and there were lots of flashing lights, blowing of whistles, sounding of horns and suchlike. But they were still stuck.
and even parking presented difficulties
I think it's human nature to hope that someone gets it badly wrong. Either that or I'm a very bad person.

So - Georgetown, Penang. What a crazy place.
A mix of colonial & chinese architecture, a melting pot of cultures, a place that is intensely visceral in its sights, its sounds and its smells. And of course its tastes. It rained today, intensely, and certain parts flooded in shades of Brisbane.
But hopefully the weather will pick up over the next few days because I'm looking forward to wandering around a lot more.

Today I looked around Fort Cornwallis, designed to fend off attacks from sea in around 1800 and extended over time but never used in anger
The etching on the cannon says it was cast in 1798. I like the arrow on the cannon, maybe added in for particularly dumb bombardiers. 'Point it this way.'
I also visited the forts gaol, a picture that was hard to self-take because I had at least two offers to take it for me. Which is lovely and very typical of what it's like over here, but I enjoy the challenge of the self-shot. And that is very hard to explain in Malay or Japanese.

The only thing that puzzles me is why they put the guns in the fort in the first place. My hotel room has a much better field of fire
The national anthem has just played as part of the wedding, and I had a bizarre urge to stand. My Grandma, who sadly passed away 10 years ago, used to insist on watching the queens speech on Christmas day and it's nice to think about how excited she'd be about this event and how strange and yet natural that it is that I'm watching it here.

KL catch up

I've been practicing a form of 'extreme tourism' over the last few days - not jumping out of planes or white water rafting, but seeing everything I can squeeze in in the time that I'm there. This has meant I've not had much time to sit around updating blogs, so here's a snapshot view of Malaysia to make up for my neglect.......
KL tower from underneath


and the views from 250m up

Some of the best chicken wings I've ever eaten in the Golden Triangle
Grafa fixed gear bike shop & cafe - doesn't everyone check out bike shops when they're away? It's a pain to get to on public transport, but the owner is a good bloke.
View from the bottom of the 250odd steps up to the stunning Batu caves. Tourism & fitness combined, I ended up racing a Malaysian lad up. And we both regretted it at the top.
The caves were amazing though. Light streaming through the holes in the roof highlight temples built into the cave walls, and the monks use mirrors to scare the monkeys that live high on the walls.
It's like the gods have descended from the skies
although the locals aren't so impressed
and however the spirits move you you can't get too carried away on the train home.
Merdeka square, home of Malaysian independence
and also the home of the famous 'hash house harriers', who combine running & beer. Note to self - must look up the local branch in Brisbane.

After all that walking around I needed to relax, so tried a fish spa
At first you use the tank of small fish, and when you've got used to that you move up to the bigger fish
All a bit weird and a little bit tickly, but also very relaxing.

I left KL this morning and after a 6 hr train journey and a swift ferry ride I'm in Georgetown on the island of Penang now. Very different to KL - much less modern in some ways, and the local vendors have much less interest in tourists walking past. It's famed for its food but I'm going to need to step out of my comfort zone to make the most of it.....

Everyones got something to hide except....

Where's Mikey?
This is me at 9.00am yesterday, having flown a red-eye with about 3 hrs sleep and then wandering around for a few hours wearing a merino wool shirt in 30 degrees and 95% humidity
and again 36 hrs later, a bit less tired.

It's been a busy 2 days, including admiring the Malaysian approach to safe electrics in the rain

and the never-ending excitement of the monorail
Still, it's good to go to new places and make new friends - click on the image to see the whole picture....
More soon!