England Trip November 2015

After more than 9 years in Kuantan, we went back to England in November 2015. It was a double family holiday as we spent part of our time with my English family in Leicester and Nottingham, and part of our time with Fie's Malaysian family (who also flew over) in London.

I prepared for our England trip by fearing the worst regarding the 'weather' and 'food' - my imagination about them was 'dismal' and 'bland' respectively. As it turned out, we all loved the freezing cold weather as it was such a welcome contrast to the incessant heat we are accustomed to in Malaysia. There were times in England where I was outside and shivering, yet I learned to savour the experience. We also enjoyed the food, particularly the famous fish and chips, as well as the chocolate! Yes, the supermarkets were full of amazing chocolate at incredible prices!

We visited Leicester, Nottingham, Manchester, Bolton, Dagenham and London and met family, old friends and church friends. I went to Wembley, Old Trafford and the O2 Arena where I watched Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka play tennis. I entered the Mormon temple in London and twice travelled on an Airbus A380 - the first such experience in my life.

Our Malaysia Airlines Airbus A380 - the largest commercial aircraft in the world. It is an absolute beauty and an absolute beast! We enjoyed two beautifully smooth 13-hour flights on the A380 and would definitely fly on it again.

On board Malaysia Airlines' Airbus A380

Boarding the Airbus A380 at KLIA:

Takeoff on the Airbus A380!

Landing at London Heathrow:

Here I am back at my childhood home in Leicester, England

Met up with some of my old Leicester friends

Autumn at the park

A cold morning in Glenfield, Leicester:

Got together with my brother and sister and did some photo re-enactments. That was really fun!

It was great spending time with my English family after so long being away

No trip to England is complete without real fish and chips! It was so filling and was easily enough for two people

I was thrilled to return to the Ellis Park astroturf pitches to have a kick around with my brother. I spent countless hours in my childhood playing football here. It's a very nostalgic place for me!

And here's Gaz retrieving the football after one of my awful attempts at goal:

Photo at Bradgate Park in Leicester

Sitting on the rocks at Bradgate Park with my Leah

At Wollaton Hall, the residence that featured as Batman's house in the movie

Perhaps the highlight of the trip was going to the O2 Arena for the World Tour Finals. We got tickets to watch Rafael Nadal vs Stan Wawrinka and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Before we entered the stadium we bumped into the leading tennis umpire, Mohamed Lahyani by chance, and he was kind enough to pose for a photo with us!

A true photograph to treasure! Here we are with leading tennis umpire, Mohamed Lahyani, outside the O2 Arena in London

My wife and I hold the Malaysia flag at Old Trafford, home of Manchester United FC

The second portion of our trip was spent in Dagenham where we visited some of the main sights around London.

Seeing the sights in London

Visited Buckingham Palace

Stopped for a photo with two policemen in London. They were very happy to indulge us!

Visiting Westminster Abbey with Fie's family

Resting in St. James' Park with my wife and sisters

Another special moment was seeing Jae Jae the tiger at ZSL London Zoo

It was a great holiday and we did so many things and visited lots of places. We flew back on the Airbus A380 once more, a long 13-hour flight, followed by a quick 30-minute hop form KLIA to Kuantan.

Look at the size of those Airbus A380 engines!

Watching the beautiful sunset over Egypt on the Airbus A380 while flying back to Kuala Lumpur from London Heathrow

Guest Post with J. C. Martin taking us around Ipoh, Malaysia

Good day and welcome to Kuantan! I'm really pleased to introduce you to J. C. Martin, who is my guest today.

J.C. is from Ipoh, Malaysia and currently resides in London, England with her English husband and an impending addition is on the way! She has a black belt in Wing chun kung fu, so don't mess with her! She's also a pretty good writer - her debut novel "Oracle" was released earlier this year. To learn more about J.C. go and visit her blog!

Now J. C. it's over to you . . .

Eat, Pray, Live: 3 Things You Must Do While in Ipoh

By J.C. Martin

Ipoh holds a special place in my heart. Even after twelve years of living abroad, the city continues to draw me home, year after year.  Apart from visiting family and old friends, my annual trip back is a pilgrimage of sorts, with a to-do list of things you should not miss out on when visiting my quaint little home town.

Eat

Few would argue that Ipoh is the food capital of Malaysia. Why else would people travel from as far as Singapore to sample the culinary delights of the city? Natives insist that the high alkaline content of the local water (due to the fact that Ipoh is nestled in a valley surrounded by limestone hills) contributes to prime ingredients for the local cuisine.

If you’re ever in town, here are some gems you just have to sample:

Thean Chun

Thean Chun is a coffee house in the heart of Ipoh’s Old Town. Located on Leech Street (now Jalan Bandar Bijih Timah), its name is synonymous with famous Ipoh food. No visit to Ipoh is complete without sampling the original Ipoh hor fun, a dish comprising silky rice noodles, shredded chicken, prawns and chives in a sweet, fragrant broth.

For some scrumptious sides, order a nice popiah, a local spring roll filled with shredded vegetables, shrimps and tofu, cheecheong fun, sliced rice noodle rolls with your choice of sweet, spicy, or savoury topping sauces, and some famous Thean Chun satay, unique because it is made from pork rather than the usual chicken, beef and lamb.

Finally, if you have room for dessert, the coffee house’s velvety caramel custard is not to be missed.

From top: Ipoh hor fun; popiah; satay; cheecheong fun; caramel custard.

(Images courtesy of MalaysianFoodie.com and Kopi for Copy)

Nga Choi Kai (Beansprouts & Chicken)

This simple combination is made super-special with smooth and moist poached chicken, fat, juicy and crunchy beansprouts, and a fragrant soy sauce. Served with more hor fun noodles, either dry or in a soup, this makes for a simple yet thoroughly satisfying meal.

The secret is in the fragrant soy sauce and oil used to season both the chicken and the beansprouts.

(Click for image source)

There are several restaurants around the city that sell good ngachoikai, but my favourite has got to be Restoran Cowan Street on what is now Jalan Raja Ekram, although nearby Lou Wong and OnnKee, the more established joints, are also pretty good.

Pray

My English husband can attest to the fact that you can happily spend weeks in Ipoh just eating, but there is much more to the city than just the food (although the food is a big part of it!).

Surrounded by verdant limestone hills dotted with caves, the outskirts of Ipoh are green, scenic, and serene. Not surprising then that a number of Buddhist temples have been built into these natural formations to capitalise on the Zen spirituality of the place.

A trip to Ipoh is not complete without a visit to one of these magnificent cave temples. Here are three of my favourites:

KekLok Tong, my favourite cave temple as it incorporates the natural features of the caves into its architecture the most naturally and seamlessly. The rock formations within the cave are a must-see!

(Image copyright © 2012 J.C. Martin)

Perak Tong. Look out for the colony of monkeys inhabiting the temple grounds!

(Image copyright © 2012 J.C. Martin)

Sam Poh Tong, one Ipoh's most popular cave temples. While you're here, check out the tortoise pond where you can feed the terrapins.

(Image copyright © 2012 J.C. Martin)

Of course, not all the caves around Ipoh have been converted into places of worship. To explore the geology and ecology of a natural living cave with its own subterranean river, a tour of GuaTempurung is a must.

Rock formations inside GuaTempurung, the result of millions of years of erosion.

(For more images and information, visit GuaTempurung.com)

Live

After filling your belly and finding inner peace, it is time to explore the rest of what Ipoh has to offer, and the best way to do this is to throw yourself into Ipoh life.

Don’t just take pictures of the colonial architecture. Walk the streets of Old Town, converse with the traders in the food square, smell the spices of Little India. Come and meet the friendly and sometimes eccentric inhabitants. Don’t just see the city, live it. And hopefully, like me, you will come away with a piece of Ipoh in your heart.

Ipoh old and new, from top left: Ipoh Railway Station (image source: Wikipedia); St. Michael's Institution (image source: Wikipedia); Kinta City shopping centre (image source: Images of Ipoh); AEON Station 18 shopping centre (image source: Images of Ipoh).

That was great J. C. I really enjoyed your tour of Ipoh! I lived there temporarily and miss it from time to time. The food looks great!

Don't forget to visit J. C. Martin's blog

What did you like about Ipoh?

Federer Masters His Peers

I know it's a little like 'late news' now, but I've not been online since waking up in the early hours of Monday morning to watch the ATP World Tour Masters final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. That's because I've been down with headaches and an off stomach ever since this disruption of my normal sleep pattern.

But Roger Federer is worth writing about at any time of the day, week, month or year.

His victory over Nadal, and it has to be said, in the end it was an absolute pasting, was long overdue. Federer's 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win was a highly significant result at the end of a mixed season for the Swiss champion. After stuttering through the summer with injury and poor form, his Australian Open final demolition of Andy "angles" Murray was almost forgotten about. Nadal went on to win the remaining three slams as Federer's career was being written off right, left and centre.

So this fantastic week of dominant tennis is a great reminder to the world that Federer is still only 29, by no means old, and as he brushed aside so comfortably the other 4 players at the top of the rankings alongside himself, he has laid down a marker for the year 2011. I'm sure Federer would have loved the Australian Open to be this week, but we will have to wait a couple of months to see the genius at work again.

The whole week in London was a huge success and a great way to finish the year. Perhaps for me, the greatest thing of all was the magnificence of Federer's backhand. Touted as a weakness, it was anything but, as he used it to marvellous effect as preparation to set up winning forehands, producing sensational winners themselves either up the line or cross-court, and as wonderful deep, defensive shots to get himself back into rallies.

Long may Federer keep hitting the sweet spot on the backhand, and the forehand. He was also masterful on serve, showing magnificent variety and placement.

Now he has renewed confidence to go and, if necessary, beat Nadal all over again on the biggest stage of all - a Grand Slam.

ATP Tour Masters London Semi-finals

So we have arrived at the semi-final stage of the ATP Tour Masters in London. There are no surprises and 2 stand-out players thus far. The semi-finals will shape up like this:

ROGER FEDERER aka the G.O.A.T.    vs     NOVAK JOCK-STRAP

RAFAEL NAYDULL     vs     ANDY "ANGLES" MURRAY

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have both come through the round robin stage undefeated, with 3 wins out of 3. Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic qualified as group runners-up after losing one of their three matches each.

I'm desperately hoping Andy Angles can go against all the odds and beat Nadal because to be honest, I'm scared of Nadal but not Murray. As for Federer, he just has to play to a similar standard as he has in the round robin stage and he should have no problems against Djokovic. Federer is hitting the ball sweetly and most pleasing, his backhand was magnificent in his victory over Soderling. Nadal has not been at his best, doing enough to win, but he did enjoy a 6-1 thrashing of Berdych after he took the first on a tie-break. Nadal dropped a set against Roddick but Federer has yet to lose one, with a perfect 6-0 record in that department.

I hope Murray makes the final, but in my head, where common sense normally prevails, Nadal will slaughter the helpless Scot and enter a mouthwatering final with Federer.

And Federer is due a win over his Spanish rival...

Federer the Fans Favourite

Roger Federer was awarded his eighth fan's favourite trophy yesterday at the start of the ATP Tour end of year Masters. People voted online at www.atpworldtour.com for their favourite player of the year, and Roger Federer came out on top for the eighth time. I voted for him as well and I'm glad he took the moment to thank me for my vote. He may not be the current world number one any more, but he is still the fan's favourite tennis player for his great successes, fair play and respectful treatment of his opponents.

Roger Federer looked dapper in a bright red shirt as he comfortably beat Spain's David Ferrer in his opening round robin match yesterday at London's O2 arena. He ran out a 6-1, 6-4 winner and will next face up to Scotland's Andy Murray.

Talking of Murray, he opened proceedings by beating Robin Soderling 6-2, 6-4 in an absolutely awful shirt that kind of matches his personality and character.

Federer and Murray have become big rivals on tour, sharing wins and losses of late. But it is their deeply contrasting styles which are the most interesting to analyse. Murray is loud and boisterous; Federer calmly and quietly goes about his work. Murray, as previously mentioned, wears some awfully distasteful attire; Federer always wears simple and neat clothing. Murray's hair and face is a complete mess, not even for the end of year Masters can he get himself looking anywhere near decent; Federer is always smartly dressed, appropriately for whatever occasion, and looks clean-shaven and neat when on-court. Murray's frustrations too often get the better of him, leaving him vulnerable to collapse; Federer's mental toughness sees him soak up pressure and overcome it more often than not. Murray delights in ice-baths (which didn't do much for him at this year's Australian Open under the coaching of Miles Maclagan, who since then, has parted ways with the Scot); Federer simply goes for family time with his wife and daughters, and other advertising appointments with Credit Suisse and Lindt, for example. Murray hits a double-handed backhand which can be pretty effective with slow balls but limited in its reach; Federer has the most exquisite single-handed backhand which can hit balls to any spot on the court. Some have targeted Federer's backhand as a potential weakness but I've never believed it. Only Ree-shard (Richard) Gasquet has a backhand comparable. Murray has a disastrously vulnerable second serve; Federer's is as reliable as they come. Both players are immaculate at mixing up their shots in both speed and direction and placement. Murray has yet to win a Grand Slam; Federer has 16.

And so in the build-up to tomorrow's showdown between the two players, I will share a clip of highlights from their round robin clash last year, which Federer won. The only catch is that this clip includes the most hilarious Arabic commentary ever with the translation to English subtitles sure to provide a barrel of laughs! 

Take the time to check it out, it's a fantastic bit of fun!

Let's hope the standard of tennis was as high as last year.


GO ROG!!!

The Last Word on Tennis for 2009

The sound of soles rapidly shuffling into position on the spotlight's surface of the O2 arena has now ceased. The dazzling blue glow has been dimmed for the last time, and a worthy winner has emerged from the group of eight.

London's O2 arena hosted a fantastic ATP Masters year-ending tournament which saw the top five players fall at various hurdles. Nikolay Davydenko outlasted them all to lift the trophy and ascend to sixth in the world rankings, jumping past absentee Andy Roddick.

Robin Soderling's run to the semi-finals saw him finish eighth in the rankings, a career high for the much-improved Swede. Another player who has come on leaps and bounds is finalist Juan Martin Del Potro. It was only January this year when he was given one of the biggest thrashings at the Australian Open by Roger Federer, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0. He ran Federer close in a five-set loss at the semis of the French before triumphing over the world number one to win his first Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows.

Rafael Nadal, plagued by numerous injuries and inconsistent form, finished the year on his biggest ever low, losing his last four matches.

Roger Federer has now been world number one for 258 weeks, 2 weeks shy of Pete Sampras' record of 260 weeks at the very top ranking. By Christmas Federer will be the outright leader. The Swiss ace won his first French Open crown, which equalled Pete Sampras' Grand Slam record and also completed his career Grand Slam. Then a month later at Wimbledon he overcame Andy Roddick in an epic final to stand alone as the all-time greatest player in history with 15 Grand Slam titles. He married long time girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec before welcoming twin daughters into his life. It has been a historic year for Roger Federer.

Finally, tennis will be losing two of its more famous players in Marat Safin and Fabrice Santoro. We will for sure miss Safin's petulance and anger issues as much as his superb tennis, which we must confess was sadly only rarely seen.

The Australian Open is up next in January 2010 and Roger Federer will be as hungry as ever to claim the title he so agonisingly lost this year.

Djokovic and Murray are worthy losers

So far in this tournament, players have got exactly what they deserve. Federer and Soderling tied up their groups in the first two games with some great tennis. Del Potro and Davydenko fought back after opening defeats to claim semi-final spots. Nadal and Verdasco were off the pace and finished bottom of their groups. Verdasco however, was a tad unlucky, losing two of his matches on final-set tiebreaks. But he simply didn't have the shots when it really mattered, and the same can be said for an unrecognisable Nadal.

And then we come to the two clowns of tennis, Novak Joker-vic and Andy 'never-win-a-major' Murray. Murray's disrespectful comments about his match with Federer coupled with his ridiculous insistence that his career is not just about winning competitions, got their just desserts - a beating from Rog followed by elimination from the competition. He couldn't have asked for more.

Novak Joker-vic was no better, but this time the joke was well and truly on him. His kamikaze against Soderling in a supposed effort to save his energy for the Nadal match, dramatically backfired. Little did he know that giving up so easily took matters out of his own hands. Davydenko duly beat Soderling in his final match, dumping Joker-vic out of the tournament. And that's exactly what he deserves for causing such embarrassment to Soderling, to himself, and to the tournament.

Good riddance to Murray and Joker-vic. Tennis doesn't need you.

Andy 'dipstick' Murray out of ATP Masters London

Andy 'never-win-a-major' Murray must be absolutely delighted. What greater reason to rejoice than being rewarded with everything he ever wanted? It was he who mentioned that it's not about always winning competitions, but merely enjoying victory in epic clashes with the world's top players. Well, he had one of those last night with Fernando Verdasco, and this morning he finds himself out of the tournament at the Round Robin stage. Well done, Andy. Just perfect.

Super Swiss Swats Staggering Scot

Early this morning Roger Federer slew Andy Murray in the 2nd Round Robin match at the ATP Tour London Masters. The score read 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 to Federer.

The O2 arena, bathed in a mesmerizing sea of blue lighting, looked stunning as Andy Murray and Roger Federer entered the spotlight on Centre Court.

Murray took the opening set with the decisive break of serve coming in the 6th game, despite having some troubles with his serve. Federer looked unfazed and began to find his rhythm in the second set, hitting more winners as Murray's double fault tally increased. The Swiss broke in the 6th game as he built some much-needed momentum. Murray's shot-making was off and his serve was crumbling.

Federer took the set 6-3 and his momentum continued as he swatted the British 'hope' aside 6-1 in the final set. I was overjoyed to see Federer playing at his fluent best again and perhaps now he has just become the favourite to win in London, although Djokovic looks like he could run him close.

Meanwhile, same old Murray doesn't have a hope as usual and now he can eat his ill-thought-out words describing his 6-3 head-to-head record versus Roger and how he was planning to just 'get this one out the way.' How dare he talk like that about a match against the greatest player the planet has ever seen!

I doubt after last night's beating he'll ever speak so casually about Federer again.

ATP Tour World Finals

The first two matches have been played in the O2 Arena in London. Andy Murray firstly defeated struggling Del Potro 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 before Roger Federer launched a great comeback to down Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 7-5, 6-0.

World number one Roger Federer was looking in trouble when he was a set down and a game away from a tiebreak, but he decisively broke Verdasco in the 12th game of the 2nd and then walked through the decider 6-0. Looking as though he is possibly running out of steam at the end of the season, this should sound a warning to his rivals that he's not finished yet and can still turn out a love set when he's in the mood.

Meanwhile, Andy 'can't-win-a-major' Murray never will. Reflecting on last year's semi-final defeat to Davydenko, he maintained he had no regrets about going all out to beat Roger Federer in a dead rubber for him in the final group stage match. He was too tired the next day and as a result, lost. But he's well used to that now isn't he?

"I'd do the same thing again," he remarked, about doing everything to beat Federer in a pointless match at the expense of winning the competition. Stupidity.

"Unfortunately it didn't go well for me the next day but winning against Federer six times and losing three times, I can keep that with me for my career," said the unkempt Scot. Just for the record, Andy-dipstick-Murray, head-to-head records count for nothing and are pretty useless statistics in determining greatness. Can you name the head-to-head record between Borg and McEnroe? How about Sampras and Agassi? No. The only thing that matters is Grand Slam titles.

And Murray finishes it off with the most ridiculous quote I've ever heard. Ok, brace yourself, here it comes: "It's not always just about winning tournaments all the time, sometimes it's nice to beat the big players in epic matches and unfortunately sometimes that takes it out of you a little bit."

Sorry to be the one to break it to you Andy, but actually it IS about winning tournaments all the time, in particular, Grand Slam tournaments. It will come as no surprise that Murray's victories over Federer have come in small competitions that are pretty meaningless to a multiple Grand Slam champion, but absolutely vital to players who don't have a prayer in bigger events. Most notably, Federer gave Murray a good trashing in the US Open final of 2008. The final score read 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 on that occasion.

And maybe, just maybe, he has finally realised he is not future champion material in admitting that 'it's nice to beat the big players.'

It will be an interesting match between these two players from opposite ends of the tennis greatness spectrum. I wouldn't be surprised if Murray won. But we all know that Federer is a winning machine. He selects the events that are most important - Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, Flushing Meadows - and is always meticulously prepared to win when it matters.

And that's the difference between Federer and Murray. That's what makes one a memorable champion and the other a forgotten also-ran - the Scot wins when the stakes are low. Federer wins when it really matters.

ATP Tour Finals

The tennis tour finals is almost upon us, and the draw has thrown up some tantalizing matches in the group stage. World number one Roger Federer has been paired with Andy 'can't-win-a-major' Murray, Argentine scum-bag Del Potro, and Fernando Verdasco.

In the other group meanwhile, Rafael Nadal is matched up with three players who have all recently beaten him. His rivalry with Swede Soderling continues after he entered through the backdoor due to Roddick's injury. The Spanish bull will also face Novak Djokovic, who gave him a good stuffing last week, and Nikolay Davydenko (Mr. Consistency) who beat him well a few weeks ago.

It all starts on Sunday November 22nd, 2009 and I can't wait. In the back of my mind, I really worry for Rog as he just seems a bit off the pace at the moment, but I am reminded that Rog is a winner through and through, he wants Grand Slams and is not really bothered about inferior tournaments - those are for Andy 'can't-win-a-major' Murray. But on the flipside, I'm hopeful that Federer's period of rest will stand him in good stead and that he will produce his best tennis when it really matters.

The end of year finals is still a good tournament to win, but it doesn't really signify anything special nor accurately predict the outcome of the upcoming year. (Just take Murray's victory in last year's Shanghai finals and contrast that with his performance in 2009)

Anyway, whatever competition he is playing in, I want him to win. COME ON ROG!!!