Feb172013
And finally, at the local shopping centre, this display allowed everyone to stop and take 5 minutes to enjoy.
And finally, at the local shopping centre, this display allowed everyone to stop and take 5 minutes to enjoy.
Chinese Lantern being sent up into the night sky by the neighbours.
And the final video of the festival… The Temple within the caves.
The final set of photos taken of the Temple from within the Caves.
Here are the first set of photos from the Thaipusam festival at the Batu Caves.
Due to several well placed Public Holidays, I found myself with an unprecedented five day weekend. Last Thursday 24th Jan was the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, and so naturally a day off here in KL. Yesterday, Sunday 27th was the Hindu festival of Thaipusam, and again…
Here are the rest of the photos from my holiday, this time from New Years Eve on the Embankment…
Here are a couple of snaps taken during the Christmas Holidays – mainly of the two nieces…
I apologize for the lack of posts these past few weeks, this was mainly due to me returning home for Christmas and New Years. In total I managed to take an extended break of three weeks to return back to Luton, where I spent most…
Some more photos taken of that night from my phone. Mainly it’s images of the Grand Lobby of the hotel, a truly vast space. Coincidentally, there was another function occurring at the main hall which the Malaysian Prime Minister was due to attend. We literally…
After the Gift Exchange, the staff were seated and the feast began. After appetizers, the annual prize giving for all the sporting events took place. Also a special Malaysian equivalent of the Wooden Spoon prize was handed out for the worst Gift Wrapper.
Last Friday I organised the Annual Christmas Party at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in KL. The theme was a traditional Christmas with a Malaysian twist. The photos here are of the pre-dinner celebrations and present exchange which took place.
This weekend saw me essentially gatecrash a Malay wedding of an apparently famous Malaysian Footballer. I went along with two other guys from the office, one of whom is a casual friend of the brides family. This was our ticket in. Arriving just after 1pm,…
This being the Christmas month, and finding myself away from home during the festivities, may have given this song more of an emotional impact than normal. That being said, I truly do love this song, and being a pragmatic atheist, I find it voices more…
After finally getting the photos of my birthday party, I’ve managed to upload them here! At this point, I would just like to send a personal thanks to Ms M. Musa for giving me the photos from that night!
The Men’s lightweight title fight @ Clash of the Champions 2012
Also last weekend I managed to get a kick start on my Christmas Shopping by tackling it head on. In the space of a day, I traversed three shopping malls and managed to find gifts for half my family and friends, with a rough idea…
Last Sunday, I did something different and went to watch Muay Thai (Thai Kickboxing). A friend from the office invited me to come watch the “Clash of the Champions 2012” at a nearby stadium. What I saw was very entertaining, and fairly brutal. The highlight…
The final video from Urbanscapes 2012 – the end of the show fireworks display!
Call me traditional, but I don’t think it’s Christmas if I am baking in the Sun while watching decorations be put up. The idea of Christmas and cold weather has been so ingrained into me that I didn’t realise just how crazy it feels when…
Some photos from last weekends UrbanScapes 2012 festival in KL. It was a great weekend spent seeing fairly decent Malay bands of all genres and the epic, Sigur Ros! I also got to experience something that I had never done before (even at Glastonbury!), attend…
Sigur Ros – Hoppipolla taken during the UrbanScapes 2012 festival last weekend!
Final video. The horizon at diwali times. Almost mistake it for a war film…
This video was taken while walking through Brickfields on diwali eve. The only thing missing is the smells coming from the sweet shops.
Some further snaps from Brickfields, sweet shops and a temple in Puchong.
As promised some of the few photos taken during the holiday period. Interesting to note the Chinese inspired money packets or angpao which has been adopted by the Malaysian Indians for Diwali. This is a great example of how Malaysia is essentially a melting pot…
As you all know, the majority of last week was spent at a family friends’ house to see how Diwali is celebrated here. I went there without any knowledge of what to expect and was therefore pleasantly surprised with the outcome. Apart from Diwali Eve,…
I saw this at my apartment building this morning. This pattern is made of dyed rice grains and is created to celebrate Diwali.
Today I was treated to a lovely surprise by one of the Contractors for the ID project recently finished. This Diwali Celebration Hamper, which contains all sorts of edible goodness, was given to me under the assumption that I celebrated Diwali. Anyway, I wasn’t going…
Here’s a roundup of the weeks activities in picture form. Firstly, it’s the Malaysian Bagpipe Band – a very interesting display of Chinese and Malay performers dressed in Kilts playing the Bagpipes. Just when you think you’d seen it all… Midweek I was treated to…
A few months back, I posted a preview of my latest ID project. These are some snaps taken of that project as it nears completion. This lift lobby is for a Corporate Tower named, Wisma Tun Sambanthan which is located in KL. We are currently…
The final route as taken during the trip to Pulau Perhentian. Initially I wanted to loop back around through Taman Negara, Cameron Highlands and Ipoh, but was told that it would not be possible in the time that we had. Shame really, as it was…
The return boat ride was very smooth since it was still quite early, and before I knew it we were back on the Mainland again. I had survived another island trip! Making our way back south, we took our time since we had the whole…
After 9 hours of travel, we were finally here, on the island that literally means “A place to rest” and that was exactly what I intended to do. After checking in and dumping the bags in our chalet, we hurried to the private cove that…
After my initial plan to visit Indonesia flopped, the idea was introduced to drive to the East coast and visit an island. It wasn’t long after that Pulau Perhentian was suggested and chosen. Having had an interesting experience with Pulau Tioman, I was less than…
Today, I have decided to take some time out from Blogging about my usual feed of Culture Clashes and Island Escapades, to share with you all a rather special video. My good friend, Jon Lush (a screenwriter) has recently completed his first on-screen credit, something…
An amazing sight again at the jetty. A huge school of fish right by our feet.
Spotted this Black Tipped Reef Shark while on the jetty in Pulau Perhentian.
Having gained some free time, I got around to sifting and posting the photos. You can see them here.
Here’s a couple of phone snaps from my recent Road Trip to Pulau Perhentian over the public holiday weekend. Higher res images will be posted once I get around to sifting through the photos.
With the office renovation coming to a close, I can finally show you the place where I spend most of my waking hours…My Desk. Complete with brand spanking new Merryfair Wau chairs. But as with all new beginnings, the old relics are tossed aside to…
“I never thought of losing, but now that it’ s happened, the only thing is to do it right.” – Muhammad Ali On 21st April this year, having newly moved into my apartment, I set up a Chess board and invited my friend, Jon Pinhorn…
Random Site Visit photo dump…from various projects in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru…
Last weekend I turned 26. To celebrate, a group of us went to No Black Tie – a great little Jazz Bar in KL. I’m still trying to collect the photos from the various cameras used that night, but in the meantime, here are a…
Just some quick snaps from the week which saw the removal of all office desks on Friday in preparation for brand new ones over the weekend. I just hope that the contractor pulls his finger out and does the job in time, otherwise come Monday,…
It was Malaysia Day this weekend, which my friends tell me is to celebrate the formation of modern day Malaysia. It was also the weekend that I went to my first Hardcore Metal Gig, which was….interesting to say the least. It was funnier to see…
The next morning, I was happy to see that the sea was calm as we walked to the jetty. This time, like numerous other times, I had no problems getting on and off the boat and pretty soon we found ourselves sat in the ferry…
Now that we were finally here, we decided to spend Friday exploring the town near our hotel and not to bother catching a ride up to Genting until tomorrow. The village we were staying in was called Mokut and it was prized for being the…
Last week I found myself working through yet another public holiday to finish off a competition entry. I was in desperate need of a holiday, as it dawned on me I had not visited anywhere since Singapore roughly two months ago. Therefore, when my friend,…
Tonight I ate dinner at my favourite Japanese place near my apartment. It had currently gone through a refurbishment and I was eager to see the new look. Firstly let me explain a little about what I loved about the old place: 1. It was…
Scanning the photos on my phone I came across this collection. Taken when the office was preparing for the renovations, this model had to be destroyed. Enter three overworked and stressed employees armed with nothing more than cardboard tubes and you have a great way…
Random snaps from last weekend including some lovely Chicken Satay at Jalan Alor.
Selamat Hari Raya! And to celebrate, here are some photos of the Hari Raya card designed by moi for the office. My hand is still sore from the numerous mockups created testing the filigree design. In the end I chose a very simple but effective…
While filling up the contents of my desk and drawers into a box, it quickly dawned on me that I would be better off just taking the desk and drawer itself. The moving guy must have hated me…
A couple of snaps I took while at the Traders Hotel the other night. The view never ceases to amaze me!
A Sneak Peak at the latest Interior Design project I’m handling…
First off, let me apologise for not uploading anything in over two weeks. It’s not for lack of anything interesting, quite the opposite infact. However the real reason I’ve not been uploading anything is due to genuine procastination. Let’s see… in the past two weeks…
Finally got around to stitching the Panorama’s from Singapore visit together. Enjoy!
Last Friday, I found myself signing an official form whereby I took on the responsibilities of a gigantic project handed to me by an ex colleague. I know that this project will plague me for the next 18 months, but I had no choice but…
Photos from Singapore part 3 – Marina Bay and the surrounding area
Photos from Singapore part 2 – Little India and Clarke Quay
Last Thursday, I found myself having to head down to the city of Johor Bahru to attend a site meeting and decided to take a 20 min bus ride and jump across the border into Singapore. Taking Friday off, I set about wandering the streets…
Braved the Malaysian Rail network last week and found it better than I remembered it to be. Still shocking however were the student accommodations seen from the platform – they made the poor student flats in Nottingham seem positively glamorous.
I organised a bowling competition at work last week. Managed to snap this picture during the finals. The STA Bowling 2012 season is now over. Honorable mention goes to Fatt Choy and Joan for being the best Male and Female bowlers respectively.
Just thought I’d post images of some of the more interesting lunches I had this week. The claypot curry chicken was an especially tasty dish – burnt tongue and all.
KL shuts down on Sundays. It’s official. After our now routine late lunch, we were once again scouring the pages of Time Out KL trying to find something interesting to do. However, try as we might nowhere was open that sounded vaguely interesting. In the…
Since we walked approximately 15-20 km on Friday, we were more inclined to take it easy on Saturday. After scouring the pages of Time Out KL, we found a fledgling music concert taking place that evening in a nearby Shopping Centre. The Fete de la Musique…
Having exhausted myself working towards a presentation last Thursday, I decided to give myself some much needed time off on Friday. I didn’t really make any plans for this day, yet I wanted to do something special so that I wouldn’t be wasting it away…
Hot off the press! New business cards came through this week. Time to go networking…
While posting the last set of photos from this weeks weird and wonderful collection, it occurred to me that I had not written for a while and so I felt compelled to sum up the last month or so: Its been interesting. I am ashamed…
This Week in Pictures… including a musical themed around the city of London (during summer), site photos from a 4 storey “bungalow” and Tesco’s interesting method of storing its meat.
For those of you that wanted to see the little corner of Malaysia I call home, behold…
A collection of snapshots taken on the phone while at Sekeping Serendah. For the full photo album, check out my facebook page!
Strange what you can find in shopping centre’s nowadays. This is Reboot – a Robot created from recycled out-of-date machines.
Today was a public holiday and I found myself working at the office – this pretty much sums up the week I’ve had. I should state that compared to the hectic competition entry of the previous week, this one was a complete breeze – namely…
Late night feast by the local Pasar Malam (Night Market) in KL. Choose the skewer and dunk it in the pot of boiling water and wait for your food to rapidly cook.
As promised, here are a selection of photos from the Ipoh trip to the DeGarden Mall. Priority has been given to areas designed by moi. Enjoy!
Wow, what a memorable first week. The week was spent entirely on the competition entry, which would not be so bad, if we had not kept changing the design throughout the week. As I mentioned before, after my eventful first night at the office, I…
Hello irony, my old friend. Welcome back. When I last wrote in the blog, I was in a hotel room, about to scout for a place to live. It has been four days since that post, but as my current situation does not support internet…
As the pilot informed us over the intercom that we would shortly begin our decent into kuala lumpur international airport, I managed to catch a glimpse of lightning as it struck the horizon. My journey here was beginning. By this point, I had spent the…
It is one week to the day before I start work abroad. During this week, I’ve found myself once again hectically rushing from place to place meeting friends and family to say goodbye. As I should have expected, there is still a lot more to…
Today was storage day. It was also a Sunday – a gloriously warm and sunny Sunday. As I was emptying all my bookshelves and cupboards, I came across certain items that had not seen the light of day in several years. While I was initially…
With two weeks left till I fly, I can’t help but think about the weekend just gone. It was my leaving party down in Shoredich on the friday, which essentially became a blur of faces as friends from uni and work came to bid me…
What do you take with you to start a new life? This was the question I found myself asking when packing this morning. I should point out that my flight isn’t for another few weeks, so this was essentially a mock-packing exercise in seeing what…
Decided to get this as my city break companion for the region. First destination – Singapore to see some old friends from www.pedalpedaletc.com
Right! Flight ticket booked. Contract signed and sent back. Begun the slow process of sorting through my things and packing a 30kg suitcase which in essence will contain my life. Leaving party booked in Shoredich with guests mostly confirmed. Started to think about what else…
Hello World! Please be patient with me as I take my first baby steps into the big bad world of blogging. Thank you! Gau
On the 20th of December my flight back to the UK was taking off with me sat uncomfortably inside. As one tends to do at moments like these, I began to reminisce about my last two years spent here in Malaysia. And, as with all…
With my responsibilities at the office slowly being handed over to the other staff, I was given the task of organizing the Annual Christmas Dinner for the office. In my attempts to make this years special, the bosses decided to make this my farewell leaving…
Wow, what a hectic couple of weeks. With the flight back to the UK rapidly approaching, I found myself doing many wonderful things to enjoy my time before heading back. Updating the blog took a back seat to this, and so I find myself uploading…
After months of praising their mums cooking, Iman and her sisters finally invited Riccardo and myself to a home cooked roast dinner – at which Mama Preece did not disappoint. Given a choice of three types of chicken, I was quickly stuffing my face with…
Earlier today, under the persistent request of my colleague, Iman and her sisters, I embarked on my fourth jungle trekking adventure since coming to Malaysia. It should be noted that three of the four were accomplished in this month alone which is in no small…
Here is a quick video of how quickly and carelessly they prepare the Coconut drinks by the roadside. One slip and say goodbye to his fingers…
Last weekend it was time to celebrate the Festival of Lights again in KL. Unlike last year, which was spent with a traditional Indian family visiting their relatives, this year I intended to celebrate like a tourist once more. As a tourist group, we set…
Having made my decision to leave Malaysia at Christmas, I have suddenly found my second wind in terms of activities and events. The main two culprits for instigating this are colleagues from my office who are determined to show me what I will be missing…
