Anybody who knows me well knows that cooking is not my forte. In fact, if they know me really well, they know that plain and simple: I just don't do it. Don't get me wong, I LOVE food. I devour food just as well, if not better, than most. However cooking is something I try to avoid at all costs both as a matter of personal safety and because I would not want to inflict the results upon my worst enemy. If it's any indication - I once managed to set fire to the pan (and very nearly the entire kitchen)... making pancakes.
So knowing on Friday morning - following a mere two hours sleep, an amazing buffet breakfast at our hotel, and the wonderful surprise phone call from Adam at Travelscene informing us we were able to be extended by another day due to our delay - that we were going to be heading out to a Malaysian Home Cooking Class at LaZat... I triple checked that my travel insurance forms had definitely been sent back to the guys at Travelscene, and prayed to the gods of health and cooking that they wouldn't be needed today.
Situated in a peaceful and fairly quiet suburb just outside of Kuala Lumpur, LaZat cooking classes are held at a contemporary Malaysian home complete with its own herb garden. Entering through the gates on our arrival we were greeted by our teacher for the day, the very welcoming and attentive Saadiah, who was quick to assure us that even though we were only cooking off the beginners menu, not to worry as she would be there to guide us through every step of the way. phew!
After a quick tour of the photos hanging from each wall in the room (the majority, we were told, were of Australian tourists - their 'best tourists' at LaZat.. aussie aussie aussie!), I came to the conclusion that if the kids pictured had managed to walk out unscathed, I had a small chance of managing the same. And then it was time to start!
With the expert demonstration and guidance of Saadiah, I found myself slowly but surely producing respectable (and edible!) dishes of Savoury Meat Filled Cups, Nasi Lemak, Sambal Udang (prawns in chilli paste, traditionally a breakfast dish), and Sago Gula Melaka (Sago pudding – a personal favourite amongst our group). With Saadiah's watchful but ever encouraging eye firmly affixed upon my cooking station, I felt confident in what I was doing, and actually began to enjoy the process of preparing and cooking a full meal.
Savoury Meat Filled Cups
The only real heart stopping moment came when manager Ana came through, and paused to say that something “smelled like…… burning?”, which may or may not have been referring to a batch of savoury meat cups I had on the stove, but other than that it was a drama free, and highly enjoyable day.
the group hard at work during the class
The fact that we enjoyed ourselves so much is probably also due to the little kitchen fairies at LaZat (the kitchen staff), who were on hand the entire time to clear and clean dirty utensils and dishes for us! They were so good at moving quickly and silently while we watched Saadiah's demonstrations that often we would turn around and be shocked at a whole new array of ingredients and pots and pans that had materialised in front of us! If only cooking could be like that all the time!
It also struck me how naturally prepared the meals were - instead of using brushes for oil, we used tied Pandan leaves (also used in our dishes), and all of the ingredients were beautifully fresh. Sitting down to eat our home cooked lunch, I was amazed that I could actually make something so edible (if you don’t believe me, the pictures above are all mine!).
FBFT#2 and our teacher Saadiah
Waving goodbye to Saadiah and the rest of the lovely team at LaZat, it was back to our hotel rooms for a few hours free time before our cultural night tour and dinner. What better way to fill in the time? ahh.... SHOPPING! Much to Kieron's delight we decided to head out and explore the bustling and lively area around our hotels, which was conveniently located in the shopping district of the city.
the bustling streets of KL
Wandering past rows of cafes and shops, we were struck by how affordable everything was. Most things tended to be priced at roughly the same amount in Ringgits as what we would charge back home, however when converted back to AUD ended up being only a third of the cost. It's true what they say, KL really is a shoppers paradise!
Pavillion Shopping Center
Soon enough it was time to head back and get ready for our night tour and cultural dinner, but not before Jess and I snuck in a few sneaky drinks at cocktail hour in the Orchid Club Lounge - complete with the amazingly warm, unpretentious, yet five star quality customer service we had learnt to appreciate from Parkroyal!
More on our cultural tour and dinner later - stay tuned!
Mim xx
LaZat, and exploring KL
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FBFT#2 Finally Takes on KL - Part One!
At approximately 1.05am on Tuesday morning, the wheels of the Facebook Fan Trip #2 (now affectionately known as FBFT) Emirates flight EK 408 touched down on the Tullamarine runway, and I’m positive that I’m speaking for the whole group when I say that with the brakes in full force, a distinct feeling of depression and sadness began to creep up as it dawned on us that an amazing trip had come to its conclusion!
For a trip that began with a few small hiccups (more on that in a second!), the last few days had been a successful whirlwind of new places, new tastes, new experiences, and above all else, very close new friends. It was definitely a challenge to ‘rip off the band aid’ after walking through customs, and leave Lucy, Jess, Lynda and Kieron and our good times behind, but hey – isn’t that the best part of travelling – the people you meet!?
For a trip that began with a few small hiccups (more on that in a second!), the last few days had been a successful whirlwind of new places, new tastes, new experiences, and above all else, very close new friends. It was definitely a challenge to ‘rip off the band aid’ after walking through customs, and leave Lucy, Jess, Lynda and Kieron and our good times behind, but hey – isn’t that the best part of travelling – the people you meet!?
FBFT on a night out in KL - the start of some great friendships!But first, the start. At around 11pm on the 14th of April, the 5 of us arrived at Tullamarine, suitcases in tow, a little nervous, and super eager to get our trip underway. Meet and greet out of the way, skip forward around 45 minutes of standing around watching the departures board, and admittedly, maybe a few games of ‘pick the tears reason’ (break up? Serious plane phobia? Missed flight?) of a few overemotional people around us, and it is gradually beginning to dawn on us that seeing as our flight number hasn’t popped up yet, perhaps all is not alright.
Cue Jess marching up to the Emirates counter, and the consequential stomach-sinking news that due to poor weather conditions, our flight had been slightly delayed. And by slightly delayed, I mean diverted to Singapore and as a result our 2am flight had now become (hopefully) a 6pm flight the following day. Suddenly the crying lady made more sense.
Enter Scott, the very tall and very friendly Emirates customer service guy who made the whole experience as easy and well informed as possible. He gave us our options, was cool, calm and collected in the face of endless streams of abuse from other passengers – funnily enough the choice between cab charges to and from home, a hotel in Geelong, or the Mercure in Caroline Springs isn’t one that tends to warm the heart when you’re meant to be off to an exotic location - and never faltered in providing the high class service that one would expect from an airline like Emirates.
Finally it was decided that Kieron (who had been travelling in Singapore until 19 hours previous!) would head home, Lucy who had travelled from Echuca would head to her parent’s hotel and stay there, and Lynda, Jess and myself would brave the Mercure at Caroline Springs before we’d all meet in the same place at 3pm the following day.
After a hairy cab ride and what seemed like an endless wait to actually get a room at the Mercure (great timing – their systems failed the same night, and they were therefore reliant upon manual booking entering), the three of us settled in to our room at around the same time as we should have been taking off.
The best way to lighten the mood?! Drinking games!! Barely knowing each other’s last names, the three of us began pouring and before we knew it, had polished off a large quantity of fairly average wine, shared laughs aplenty, and given ourselves the beginning of a large hangover that only grew larger.
Arriving at the airport at 3pm the next day, we were greeted with the news that our flight had been further delayed and would now be leaving at 9pm. With a 6 hour wait and hangovers to boot there was nothing to do but settle in at P.J O'Reillys with the rest of the crew and get to know each other!
L-R: Lucy, Kieron, Lynda, Myself, Jess killing time before boarding at Tullamarine In the meantime, we had managed to get in touch with the great team at Travelscene American Express who were doing their best to alter our arrangements (having now missed nearly an entire day, and the possibility of not being able to extend the time by a day at the other end, our itinerary was looking a little messy). Between regular updates from them and the Emirates team we were definitely well looked after, and eventually, something like 20 hours later, we made it through check in, customs, ran into (and hi-fived) our tall friend Scott again, and boarded the plane!
Having never flown Emirates before, I was reasonably impressed by the service we received over the next 8 or so hours, though it could have been a little quicker at times. Our greatest problems probably came from other passengers - like the ones in front of Jess and I who decided that take off was the perfect time to drop their seat back - meaning that we shared the unexpected surprise of them practically sitting in our laps during the ascent. And repeat the same at meal time - as a result I wore a great deal of my (fairly yummy!) aeroplane food!
I was especially infatuated with the 'runway cameras' as I called them; cameras situated on the bottom and front of our aircraft which allowed us to see take off and landing, and during day flights, a whooooole bunch of clouds!
I was especially infatuated with the 'runway cameras' as I called them; cameras situated on the bottom and front of our aircraft which allowed us to see take off and landing, and during day flights, a whooooole bunch of clouds!
My only real gripe with Emirates was their seats. I'm not a tall person, but I wouldn't say I'm less than average height, and I really struggled to put my feet flat on the floor. This meant that as the flight progressed, my legs began to ache more than your ususal run of the mill flight ache from being stuck on a strange angle. It wasn't enough to stop me from enjoying the pretty extensive in-flight system, or grabbing a few hours sleep though, so I guess it was manageable in the end!
EmiratesLanding in the early hours of Friday morning, we were over the moon to finally be greeted with the personal FACEBOOK FAN TRIP KUALA LUMPUR sign of our driver for the stay, Kumar from Asian Overland Tours . Jess and I were staying in the Parkroyal Hotel located on Jalan Sultan Ismail, in the shopping heart of Kuala Lumpur, while Lynda, Kieron, and Lucy were to stay in the Parkroyal Serviced Suites about a block away. If we had been excited about our rooms prior to arriving at them, actually walking in was another experience altogether! Greeted by the largest king bed I think I have ever seen and beautiful welcome platter of fruits and roses, my deliriously tired self could barely contain a squeal (and I may have jumped on the bed in excitement... I'm only human!)
My room at the ParkroyalWe were definitely in for some spoiling, having been put up in the hotel's Orchid Club executive suites, which granted us not only beautiful rooms, but a great deal of privileges around the hotel itself. Amongst other things, the Orchid Club gave us complimentary snacks through the day, complimentary broadband access, private access to Orchid Club floors through the Orchid Club lift, access to the Orchid Club Lounge; where each day a large buffet breakfast would be held, as well as complimentary cocktails and canapes each day between 6 and 7.30pm, and for the business minded guest - business meetings could be conducted through the day.
the orchid club lounge
The Orchid ClubSettling in at 6am for what would be just a two hour nap before our day really started (wake up call for our Malaysian Cooking Class at LaZat was at 8am), it finally dawned that we were in Malaysia, had made it in one piece, and that the best (and a nice surprise!) was yet to come.
KL - FBFT was now well and truly ready to meet you!
Mim xx
Malaysian Ringgit and Spare Days
To paraphrase Mark Ronson's song 'Pretty Green'... I've now got a pocket full of pretty Malaysian Ringgit! I switched money earlier in the week (mainly to save my spending all of it before I leave) and I can't stop wanting to rip it out of the little plastic bag and admire it. And it goes without saying; but thanks to our aussie dollar being so strong at the moment, the mere amount that I converted has left me with probably more than enough to fill my belly when required, drink cocktails aplenty and see plenty of sights!
I'm not sure exactly what it is about holding foreign currency that is so exciting to me, but I think the promise of all the things that await when in possession of it is the essence of it all. Knowing that those colourful little bits of paper are the key to a whole array of different experiences and memories is a pretty cool thing. And not just that, holding the currency of a mysterious and foreign place makes it all real. I'm REALLY getting on a plane in just under a week's time and heading to an exotic and unexplored location to do what I love. Until now it's just been a magical dream. Now, the countdown is really on.
So some little updates before we head off; We have had our fourth participant announced; Kieron! So congrats to him. We've all been tweeting and facebooking away and I can tell that not only are the four of us going to get along like crazy, but we're going to have an amazing time away! We are also going to be joined by Lucy, a fifth winner through Travelscene Echuca's page.
Now for the really fun part... Our itinerary is in!
14th April
Emirates from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur (0235 / 0900)
Private transfer from airport to Parkroyal KL – operated by Asian Overland
1.45 - 2pm Kuala Lumpur City Tour
Rest of afternoon at leisure
7.30pm: dinner hosted by Parkroyal KL
15th April
Buffet breakfast included
10-1pm Malaysian Home Cooking Class including lunch -
Afternoon free
6.30-10.15 pm Kuala Lumpur night tour including cultural show and dinner
16th April
Buffet breakfast included
day to yourself / explore / shop
MUST DO: Foot Master Fish Spa
Lunch / dinner
17th April
buffet Breakfast included
checkout 11am
Private group transfer to airport - operated by Asian Overland
Emirates from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne (1530 / 0105)
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So, as you can tell it's looking like we are going to have a fair bit of spare time. Having never been to Malaysia before, I'm throwing it out to everyone as to what we should do in this time! Have you been to KL before, and have some favourite must-see spots? Then now is your time to share! If you have any recommendations we would love to hear them... chuck a comment below or contact me on twitter and help me have the most amazing trip away ever!
7 sleeps to go!
Mim.x
a pre-departure, departure
With a little over 16 days until we buckle up, lean back, and jet off down the runway to destination KL, our little group of four has encountered a mini setback. Chris, the final participant chosen for the trip has sadly had to relinquish his spot for reasons beyond his control. It must have been an unbelievably hard decision to make (at this point in time, I just don't know how I could have made the same one!) and the three of us are sorry to hear he won't be joining us.
However, this does mean that the final spot is once again up for grabs. The 'final choice' will be selected shortly from those who have already entered this month's fan competition, so if you entered and were disappointed the first time around - keep your eye on the travelscene american express facebook fan page and your emails.. just in case it's YOU who is buckling up and enjoying the in-flight entertainment and mini champagne with us!
And if by some chance you were too caught up with watching 'Casey the bullied kid' vids and joining Rebecca Black fansites (I won't tell!) and missed the cut off point for entering Fan Trip #2, never fear... There are more trips to win! Moral of the story? Keep checking back! You can subscribe to this by clicking 'follow' on the left hand side.
So on that note; Chris - sad you won't make it, but we'll have definitely a cocktail for you! To everyone still in the running - GOOD LUCK and see you at the airport! ;)
Mim x
News just in!
The fourth, and final, travelscene american express fan has been officially announced on the Travelscene American Express Facebook page!
Drumroll...
Congratulations Chris! Can't wait for the adventures the 4 of us; Lynda, Jess, Chris and myself are going to have.
Keep checking out the FB page, for awesome travel information and prizes, and don't forget to enter the next Fan trip next month. Who knows which exotic location you could be setting off to!
Also, be sure to check out the blogs of the other participants while we're away - they make for some good reading! Links to follow shortly.
THREE WEEKS TODAY!
Mim x
an overseas trip, a competition, and some childlike squealing
On Monday morning at around 10am, something very strange happened to me. We had woken up not long ago and I was enjoying the feeling of stretching out, knowing that I didn't have to get up for work or uni at any point, and contemplating all the things I wouldn't have to do as the day progressed. Rubbing sleep out of my eyes and slowly getting used to the small lines of light coming through the blinds, I was fooled into thinking it was just another average morning, in an average week, in the average life of your average uni student.
But not long after this is where things get weird. Almost without warning, and in a scene reminiscent of the storyline from 'The Time Traveller's Wife', I regressed back to my early childhood in a matter of minutes. Seriously. One minute I'm a relatively normal 23 year old girl. Next minute, the boy has hauled himself out of bed for a glass of water, and I'm left alone to my own devices (as in, the mobile one attached permanently to my ear/hand/pockets, that drives my friends and family crazy and is normally banned). As soon as the door clicks shut I'm up, grabbing that phone and settling back in under the covers to check my messages, facebook, and emails quicker than you can say 'sneaky'. Flicking through the normal crap that floods my inbox each day, I noticed one marked ‘Facebook Fan Trip 2 – Kuala Lumpur’. Remembering I had entered a competition with Travelscene on their Facebook page a week earlier, my curiosity piqued.
Hearing footsteps coming back towards the room, I skimmed through the contents at the speed of light in an attempt to safely hide my phone away again before I was busted. Reaching the end just as the door opened, the poor boy arrived back in the room to find a hyperventilating, 5 year old bouncing up and down on his bed, attempting some kind of bizarre language involving squeals and various unintelligible noises of excitement.
Why? That email from a Mr. Adam Vance at Travelscene was the bearer of possibly the most amazing news I have received in my short little life!
“Dear Miranda,
Congratulations! You're our 2nd winner for our Facebook Fan Trip 2 to Kuala Lumpur
You'll be travelling with 4 other Facebook Fans come 14 April for a quick trip to Malaysia flying Emirates
The trip is still being put together and we'll have further details closer to the end of March, but in the meantime, mark off those dates in your calendar".
And by god… are they marked off! Included in my little jetset adventure are return flights Melb – KL, accommodation, most meals (minus two), and a host of pre-planned tours and activities. And the catch?? To participate in all documented activities, do a written review of the trip, and to post photos to Facebook along the way….!! I’m not sure this could have worked out any better; travel, and my writing and photography hobbies rolled into the one experience, and all taken care of by someone other than myself!
THANK YOU TRAVELSCENE AMERICAN EXPRESS! I can’t wait to meet the rest of the crew, and get blogging about such an amazing experience!
For those of you wanting to get involved, head to:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/TravelsceneAustralia or http://www.travelscene.net.au/site/product/130858.aspx
and get entering! It takes you 5 minutes, and who knows, maybe I'll be tearing up the streets of Malaysia with you in a few week's time!
Time to go learn me some Malay!! Till next time,
Mim x
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