Author archive
15 June 2013
Flying to Darwin I chose a good day to leave. The weather had dropped to 6 degC overnight and rain was forecast. I had been lucky with cool weather but scorching in the sun at times. I checked out from the hotel and waited for the complimentary airport shuttle. As it arrived, most people rushed […]
14 June 2013
My dilemma Today’s arrangements had been a toss-up between walking the Valley of the Winds or climbing Uluru. The English doctor I met yesterday had been convincing me to do the latter as she is a mountain junkie. I’m far from being a mountain junkie and I feel that Kinabalu at 4095m is a big-enough […]
13 June 2013
As I retired at 9pm last night, I woke naturally at 0300 (six hours usually does it for me). I dozed till 0540 when I started to get ready for my 0615 departure to Uluru.I had a nice brekkie of a cheap clearance croissant (heated in a pan), muesli and three-in-one coffee from the supermarket. […]
12 June 2013
With the advantage of 2h time difference, I woke up easily at 0640 to train to Sydney’s domestic airport for my flight to Alice Springs, with a connection to Ayers Rock. It was meant to be a direct flight with Qantas but they had moved that route to subsidiary Jetstar which didn’t fly on a […]
11 June 2013
Arrival formalities at Sydney were quick and in no time, I was at my hostel on George St dropping off my bag so I could head out to the Sydney Harbour Bridge’s Pylon Lookout. This had been something I had wanted to do on previous visits but had always been sidetracked. The Sydney stopover isn’t […]
11 June 2013
This trip was meant to be a third visit to hospitable Iran on AirAsia X’s ridiculously cheap fare. But with the Iranian currency crisis, the flight got cancelled and I eventually settled on a trip to Kashmir (via Australia’s Red Centre and Timor), continuing to the Cacasus and Scotland (plus a few detours). I had […]
26 May 2013
Tonight’s dinner is a favourite on streets in Malaysia. It is called Chai Thau Kueh (Hokkien), Cha Kueh Kak (Penang… Posted by Alex Chan on Sunday, May 26, 2013
10 April 2013
Kota Bharu is famous for Kelantanese cuisine and we struck it lucky with the Ramadhan markets. Along with a few restaurant meals, it was a great showcase of the local delights. Posted by Alex Chan on Wednesday, April 10, 2013
4 March 2013
I arrived back in Auckland having missed two-plus months of summer. The best part of the year is nearly gone. But I had an awesome time abroad. I can’t have it all!
3 March 2013
I toyed with the idea of replacing my phone. I have a Sony Ericsson Android which was getting badly scratched on the screen; it does everything but in slow motion as it has a slow single-core processor. I felt no urgency in replacing it though; I like its more compact form compared to most smartphones. But on […]