Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur

So, we are back in KL. Definitely one of our favourite places in the world. We were greeted by known smells and sights. Felt like we were there just yesterday. Remember when we were moaning that we didn’t get to see much rain in Cyprus (seems we adjusted to Ireland only too well)? Well, KL sorted that out. We witnessed and enjoyed quite a few tropical thunderstorms and poor-downs. And it was very well organized, thank you very much – every day after 3pm like a clock-work (we are sure Germans were here at some point in time and got it all sorted).

Malaysia history is a complicated one. Original settlers were Malay people. But soon came the Dutch and English. Add to that vest population of Indian and Chinese immigrants and you get Malaysia. So KL is a unique mix of many cultures – Malay, Chinese, Indian and European. It has something from all, but just as a part of whole that makes this city what it is. A vibrant, modern but traditional  charming place.

We stayed close to Suria (or KLCC) – again. This time we opted for managed apartment instead of hotel room as we were planning to have a sushi dinner or two. And yes, the plan worked well – we devoured enormous amounts of Isetan (a big Japanese shop) sushi, which is half price after 8pm. It was definitely worth the wait – excellent as always. Add to that our favourite Malaysian foods: Rothi Chanai, laksas and noodles – bliss (and yes, we were definitely not planning to lose weight in KL!). Nives even found a place that served decent Asam Laksa! And that means that only dish on the ‘not like’ list is now pretty acceptable. For ones who don’t know what it is – a local speciality  soup made of fish giblets and served with noodles and egg on top. Hey, it is acquired taste after all! And we have been here few times already… We even managed to dedicate one evening to French cheese and vine, as this is something we will sorely miss on this trip…

Apparently KL is now second best place in Asia for shopping (topped by Hong Kong only). So, we had to visit a shop or two (do not take this literally, maybe there were few more…). Even Dejan found his little piece of haven – Sun Yat: new mall in KL devoted to technical gadgets only. As we were looking for a new camera (after 3 years! Last one got flooded in Palau) and underwater housing we had to pay it a visit (or two). So now we are proud owners of new Canon S100 (for camera junkies, this is still point-and-shoot option, or as we call it – ‘idiot camera’). Only thing left is to learn how to use it… As the offers in Sun Yat were plenty we had to pick up another gadget – new in the line of family toys: Samsung tablet, or as Nives calls it ‘The Little Shit’. Not something you can really use for any meaningful task, but very pretty indeed. Definitely a must have!

We were planning to buy a few ‘original’ items on the Chinese market as well, but were surprised to see that it really is not what it used to be. Only things selling these days are woman’s handbags galore!  And as Prada and Gucci will not go that well with our backpacks and saris we decided to give it a  miss.

We definitely did not give a miss to traditional cinema visit in KL. Thankfully, our request came through in time (how nice they considered our time schedule) and premiere of new James Bond movie was just at the right time. And it was a good one – best in years. Real treat!

Five days in KL just flew buy in the end (as always). In no time we had to leave. So, we packed our backpacks again. Achievement this time – had to fit all the new things (hey, they just opened new H&M store here – Nives just had to pay a visit ?). Everything in hand (sort of) we are ready for a completely new destination – Bali.

Cyprus - The Summer

Well, only way to describe it is – The Summer. Possibly best so far…

So, Cyprus. Politically part of EU, but geographically definitely not Europe. When you say your northern neighbour is Asian part of Turkey and closest ones are Syria, Israel and Egypt is really hard to imagine you are in Europe. More like orthodox middle east with Euro. Yep, interesting combination. Due to its position Cyprus was conquered by many different armies in the last two thousand years. Today it is the only EU country with a divided capital – Cyprus and Turkish Cyprus (our understanding it is sort of part of Turkey, but it is called Turkish Cyprus; not really internationally recognized; and considered occupied territories by Cypriots). Lefkosia (or Nicosia in the English version) is an interesting town, with long past and bit confused present. Churches turned into mosques, Turkish and Arab architecture in the European part, border in the middle of the main street. And definitely different face and feel of the same city in two different countries.  And then, bit away and few thousand years back in time are some incredible old ruins, Greek amphitheatres and mosaics and beautiful old churches and  monasteries from times of crusades. Something for everyone for sure. Our port in Cyprus is small town on the west coast (yes, it was because of amazing sunsets we can now see from our balcony) called Pafos.

Not sure where to start really. From Ireland we were planning on quiet time with a bit of swimming and sailing and a lot of rest (at least some of us did…). Boy, did it not turn out that way! Between diving, sailing, motor-biking and quite a lot of partying it turned out to be a pretty busy summer. This retirement thing is really wearing us down! Guess, time to rest when we go back to work…

So, diving… After long consideration (by Nives at least) we decided to go for dive master (DM) licence. Well, proved to be more work than initially thought (things usually tend to work out that way…). But, in the end we actually enjoyed the whole experience very much and learned quite a bit (thanks for that Carol!). Felt good to go for new diving certificate after more than 10 years. Needles to say, PADI changed so many things in the meantime it almost felt we were doing it in another organization (and yes, did feel like two dinosaurs…).  We also made few new friends along the way. So, now we are officially dive professionals (actually got a mail from PADI with our DM numbers just a few days ago). If you check the site it says we are now part of DM Tribe. Well, not feeling particularly tribal, but guess it is good to be The Pro now… It fits so well in our beach bum routine (tanned and almost blond as well!). We even used our friend Tom as guinea pig when he came for a visit and used our new skills. For the record, Tom went home in one piece (possibly damaged for life, but hey, he was the first). All in check now for the big trip…

And sailing… Summer sailing started with regatta in June (previous post). And continued with some good sails. Winds were not the best –  we would have hoped for bit stronger breezes to try out our new lady (by the way, name is P2 – as Pelican, The Sequel), but we still had few good runs. This is a definitely different sailing than one in Ireland – you dress up not to get sun-burnt not because you are cold! And capsizes are welcomed (actually didn’t have any… damn!) just to cool off. So, to paint a picture (before you all go off to see them J) – warm seas, blue skies and views of Akamas national park is how we spent our Thursdays and Saturdays. And few encounters with turtles were definitely a bonus! We had few ‘moments’ along the way (and yes, we are referring to Nives losing her swim suit during the race as well… something it will not be easily forgotten in the club…). We know, hard life… Not to mention quite a few memorable beach bbqs. Fire, meat, booze and then dip in the 30 degrees sea while looking at the stars and Milky Way is not the worst way to spend an evening … And then a motorcycle ride home. Add to that few pretty amazing parties and celebrations – not just ours, btw (but we both did celebrate our birthdays and wedding anniversary in Cyprus) but from our friends in the club. Yep, if it sounds like heaven it pretty much was…

Motor biking… The biggest surprise of the summer was definitely the bike. Pet of the family survived few hard years in Ireland (damp and salty weather aren’t exactly ideal scenario) and was eagerly awaiting promised dry out in Cyprus. Unbelievably, few basic repairs later it purred again like a kitten. Well, that is our opinion, but if you ask our neighbours it was probably more like a lion on heat with toothache (and no, we didn’t get evicted!... yet…). Harley immediately felt at home and marked its territory with obligatory oil patches (again, nothing from the neighbours yet – pretty patient lot actually). It was like the good old days – rides in the sunsets with sea on your side wearing only shorts and sleeveless T-shirts. Yes baby! Guess, no need to add anything to that. And even bigger bonus was that we met some great people in the Pafos Dark Legion MC club and again made some great friends. Guess this is how we spent our Friday evenings and any free time. Again, we know – hard life…

Also, this year we got a fair share of visits (thanks guys for coming over!). We had some really amazing time showing our friends Cyprus and local attractions and discovering a few ourselves along the way. Not to forget nights out on the Bar Street and getting acquainted with all this new music (guess we sort of got stuck in the late nineties). We even now know the proper moves… sort of… (thanks Veronika! J). Anyway, from culture to nature (above and below the sea surface) – we covered the lot! Had some pretty wicked bbqs as well (some may feel a bit out there to some, but hey we definitely wanted to try everything locals do). In the end, flat is still there (not burned down), we definitely went through our fair share of meat and cheese (special Cypriot cheese for bbq – halumi) and yes, you guessed – we didn’t really lose any weight as planned (ah, there is always Asia for that…). Few incredible nights in our favourite restaurant in the world (Seven St Georges) and best pizza after Brooklyn did not really help the cause.

And last, but not least – the weather… As expected: sun up, sun down. For days, weeks, months… We figured that signs used by weather people are not same in every country. In Ireland when they say sunny if you are lucky you may see sun for few hours and when they say cloudy you will not see one for sure. In Cyprus, when they say cloudy you can spot few fluffy clouds in the distance while sitting in the shade sipping a cold beer. Sad thing is we got used to heat and sun and didn’t really appreciate it in the end. It was the constant of the summer. And when they predicted rains in the October we were actually excited about them, but were rewarded with only few hours of thunder (no rain) and few showers. Ah, again – there is Asia for that… We figured it was time to leave when we started wearing long sleeves and started complaining about the cold with locals while tourists were still walking around in summer clothes  burned and red like lobsters. It is actually bad when temperature in the night falls to 20 degrees and sea is only about 24. Definitely time to leave for warmer climates…

So, in the end of October we stored the bike and boat for the winter, said goodbye to everybody (again), cleaned the apartment (again) and packed our bags (well, backpacks to be exact). We are on the way! Non-European part of Pelican, The Sequel is starting. First stop – one of our favourite cities in the world – Kuala Lumpur.

Some more pictures here.

PISC Regatta Images

Finally got our hands on some images from the regatta.

Here they are.

PISC Regatta

Finally home!!! There is something about Cyprus that just makes us happy. We were just plain ecstatic the minute plan hit the ground… and even more when we were hit by that first wave of really hot air… yep, we defo are home!

It has been a tough month for us – a lot of packing and visiting friends and family, but now to deserved rest. Well, not entirely so… c’mon, you should know the Jugs by now!

We arrived to Cyprus on Wednesday to yet another trashed apartment (this is the last time we are renting this one for sure!). To tell the truth, it was cleaned and even repainted, but still needed few things (as things always do…). Something to occupy us for few days anyway.

And not to make it boring we arrived just in time for our Pafos sailing club annual regatta! It started on Friday and lasted for 3 days. It was so nice to meet the people again! We could not believe that a  year has passed since we saw them.

After not dingy sailing for almost a year (we know!!!) we could not wait to get on the boat. And not any boat this time – our new (first time in life we have a brand new boat!) baby was eagerly awaiting us. She is just beautiful (check the photos below). We decided to name her P2 – if you are wondering: it is short for Pelican, the Sequel.

Our friends from sailing club rigged her for us (thanks again to all!), so she was ready for her first passage. And it was one to remember! We actually won the race (test one, true…) for the first time in our lives! At the end of the regatta we even managed to win in our class (this was a real surprise!). Well, all three of us (P2 and the Jugs) have about 25 years advantage each against most other competitors; but hey, they do have the experience!!! So, we concluded – it was a fair competition after all!

We were definitely not ready for the sun thou… We did get a first glimpse of it in the last month, but yet again we realised that Cyprus sun is so much stronger! We had to cover every inch of our bodies that could be covered – Arab style sailing outfits were required… And still every evening we were practically dazed! But it is soooooo good to be able to say you are hot… definitely brings smiles to our faces!

And what better place to celebrate our victory then The Seven St George (our favourite restaurant in Cyprus… if not in general...). Basically, you just choose between red and white (wine, of course) and they take care of the rest. There is no menu, but just numerous little plates appear in front of you with different local dishes prepared to the level of perfection. Just delicious! And they keep bringing them until you say stop… usually crying somewhere under the table by then…

First week fled by – getting the apartment sorted (and if anyone is even wondering – yes, we did pay another visit to IKEA) and ready for first visits. Jugs hotel is about to open.

Slovenia

Next stop: Slovenia – Maribor to be more precise, Dejan’s birthplace this time (this is family part of the trip after all!). We took a “migrating workers” bus which runs from Mostar via Sarajevo (we are sparing you names of all trees in Bosnia and Herzegovina we stopped by to pick up passengers!!!) to Vienna. Needless to say that we were the only tourists on the Sunday bus returning all the other passengers to their working place in Austria. The bus was still good news for us (little did we know…) as the only alternative is a train ride which takes... well… for ever (includes about 22 change-overs and border controls). That’s how it looked at the time of boarding the bus anyway.

When we bought the ticket we were told that bus does not officially stop in Maribor, but not to worry – a civilised request (ie few Euros) and the driver will stop at a gas station if not a convenient bus station. Worst case scenario – he will stop at the border (about 15 km from Maribor). No problem with that – we actually did this before. So, it didn’t really concern us that the ticket listed said Graz (in Austria) instead of Maribor (in Slovenia) as our destination. Minor details… In true Mediterranean mentality we believed this be no problem as the road goes through Maribor anyway. So, after boarding the bus we had a nice little conversation with the driver (having prepared few notes in our pockets to seal the deal) and learned following:

• Bus has no agreement / licence to stop in Slovenia (or Croatia for that matter!)
• The fine is 700 Eur (in Slovenia anyway, not sure about Croatia)

Ergo, driver flatly refused to stop anywhere in Slovenia. With the sigh we then asked to stop at the border with Austria, 15 km is still not a disaster… And got fobbed off again (now, this time our jaws dropped!). First possible stop is the petrol station in Austria (almost in Graz!). No bargaining was possible, so we gave in (like we actually had a choice…). Balcans have changed!

To think that as little as 20 odd years ago you would be put in prison saying anything against Yugoslavia borders and now best possible connection between Mostar and Maribor is a bus to Austria! Can think of few people turning in their graves as we write…

So, welcome back to Slovenia… We drove straight through the country without stopping (to cover wide expanses of Slovenia it did take almost an hour!) – in visible distance of friends and family (again, not too hard…). And we got picked up on the petrol station and discovered that the car had no Austrian motorway road tax (Vignette) and we had to take the back roads back to Slovenia… and got lost in the process. Well we asked for traveling sabbatical and we got one! Not really planning to spend time in Austrian villages thou…

Maribor is the second biggest town in Slovenia (can’t really call it a city…). However, if you are into vines and vineyards definitely a place to visit. This time local attraction is in line – the oldest wine tree in the world. Find a local guide thou – everything we read about the place in the known guides was rubbish!

We can happily report that the weather in Slovenia has been fantastic (because we took rain clothes this time!) and we managed to burn considerable amount of meat on the bbq – as one does. Was really nice to see all the friends and family again. As always,  a “project plan” was required to meet all the requirements in agreed timelines (Ha! And you thought we lost it already!).

Actually by accident (not a plan really) we were in Maribor in time to catch start of the local Lent festival. A lot of different events accompanied by stalls selling food and drinks (as per usual). It is a big thing in Maribor – people actually plan their holidays not to miss it. We were delighted to stroll around after almost 10 years of absence. And noticed few things:

• Festival has definitely grown in number of performances and stages
• Big names not there anymore (recession again???)
• People our age not to be found!!! Never before have we noticed this (nothing to do with the fact we were 10 years younger last time we were here….). Real shock to the system! We miss Dublin (read pubs and people not the weather) already…

We ever fitted some DIY work as well – our apartment has been demolished by previous tenant and had to be fully refurbished. Lifelong dream of buying a kitchen in Ikea has been finally fulfilled!

While on the subject of life long dreams, Nives finally got her ears pierced! We are earrings buying family now…

All to soon it was time to take (another bus) to Venice to flight to Cyprus – Ryanair class. Bus comfort will have to be forgotten quickly.

Sunshine here we come!!!

Some pictures here.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Home territory advantage prevented the usual questions like “Where exactly are we now?”, “Which way to get to…?”. We made quick progress to Nives’ parents’ home town of usually boiling hot Mostar. Well it wasn’t hot yet, but it was getting there. And needless to say, we enjoyed it a lot – exactly what we have been looking for. Still getting strange looks from the locals after insisting to sit in the sun… Guess they thought psychological damage from the war, stranger things have happened in the past…

Mostar is known for it it’s Old Bridge (Stari most) built by Ottomans in the 16th century. It was unfortunately demolished during the war, but later rebuild in the same manner as it was built originally (by the stonemasons) and mainly from the stones that were recovered from the river Neretva below. The locals joke that this one is now even older than the original. That is a bit over the top, but looks good in any case (new and clean thou). Local tradition is for local guys to jump from the bridge for tourists for a fee, but seems they have been hit by the recession as well as we didn’t see any during our stay. As we were really keen to get a few pictures for this blog we took our tasks seriously and suffered for you with cold beer and local delicacies in the restaurants with good view of the bridge. After long and hard wait we had to give in – we did have to walk back home after all.

Next stop is Sarajevo – capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Nives’ birth place. Always good to go back, but this time it was just great. Feels like old pre-war town – absolutely buzzing with people and life. Sarajevo is a special place – meeting point of three big religions in Europe: Catholics, Orthodox and Islam. And to add to the mix Judaism also thrived in Sarajevo from 15^th century on, especially from the 17^th century when Jews were fleeing persecution from Europe. Fifty odd years of socialism topped it all. Different cultures, customs, architecture, way of living… but all in one place and still in a way the same. After the war town felt cold, haggard and devoid of spirit; but that is all changed now. Sarajevo is on a speed train to catch up with the rest of the Europe. Five years ago it was hard to get alcoholic drinks anywhere but now seems very traditional Muslim section has relaxed (or given in to tourist pressure anyway) and beer is advertised in the heart of the Muslim old town - Bascarsija! We did have to try it out to make sure it was not a scam and report back to you. All in order. And we heard one of best jokes in a while: Slovenian (known to be German like – orderly and diligent), Montenegrin (not really known to be hard working) and Bosnian (well… slow and stupid in short) are competing at 100 meters race. Slovenian is progressing well at 80 meters, Montenegrin is taking a well-deserved rest at 20 meters and Bosnian got lost. Yep, Sarajlije are back!



We visit Bosnia and Herzegovina very rarely, so by the time we get there we are so eager to try the local specialities, only thing we do is eat, eat, eat and then eat some more. Fact is that there are too many things to try, so there is never enough time or capacity to do it all. Well not in a reasonable way anyway. But there is always Jugs way… The gourmet route is usually done like this: “cevapi” (bbq-ed meat-balls) in Mostar just to get started and washed down with some ice cold beer, then a trip to Sarajevo for best Bosnian “cevapi” (see picture). Add on some “pita” as well (filo pastry filled with meat, cheese, spinach or potatoes). Feeling hungry again…

Then on the way to Mostar there is a sleepy town of Jablanica (we are trying to be nice here!), which is famous for two things: one - back is socialism days they built a proper, real bridge for the sole purpose of blowing it up for the movie to celebrate big win of local partisans against Germans (at the time we did believe that Yugoslavia was epicentre of WWII and just couldn’t understand all the fuss with the Eastern and Western fronts…) and second (and more important to us) – one of the best bbq’s in the world. We are not talking about your sausage or perhaps some ribs on the grill. This place takes the task seriously – the whole lamb (spring lamb) is bbqed on the spit! And not just one, there are up to 10 in every one of the road side restaurants. Head is eaten as well as delicacy (don’t look at the pictures if you are easily disturbed!). Add some really good vino – In short,  heaven…

After all that meet (Balcans is really not a place for vegetarians!) we needed some wine to get going. So, we visited one of the best producers in the region (Andrija). Wine was just excellent – so much so, we had to buy a small bottle to take away (look at the pictures, but please don’t show to minors!!!)… And that was after almost full bottle we had at tasting! Well, they were actually closed, but still opened a shop. Hope we did not look that desperate…

After testing our digestive system to the limits it was time head north to Slovenia, but not before we did some packing practice.

Reality of living out of the backpacks is starting to sink in. And not to mention that the conditions are still good (no funny crawlies around to be aware of for now…). Can’t find anything anymore. Every time we look for something, somehow it is at the bottom of the one backpack or another and we have to take it all out. And put it all back in again. Our well versed routine from last trip (we could find things singlehandedly in the dark!) has been fully forgotten. Long way to go it seems at the moment…. Not to mention that we have more stuff than we can fit into the 4 backpacks we carry with us. Some “minor” adjustments will have to be made, which will surely result in a fight about whose stuff is left behind.

Its bus time again...

Some more pictures here.

Croatia, Dubrovnik

We can’t say we remember the flight - we were asleep before the take-off! But landing in warm climate did it all… Family calmness restored and not a minute to soon.

First stop – Dubrovnik. Now we are talking! We haven’t been here good few years and boy has it changed! To be honest, looks much better than we remember it. And busier! Tourists everywhere. Apparently, local radio is warning locals not to venture into the city during daytime – the place is full (and we mean FULL) of tourists. They all arrive during the daytime from many large cruising ships and then retreat in the evening for their next destination. Did we listen to this advice? Sadly not and have been playing tourists by overpaying for drinks and getting poor exchange rate while wrestling with fellow city prisoners. They really should have built the place much bigger back in the day! No concerns for future generations whatsoever!

Had  quick run down to the beach for our first taste of the Med. We loved it, but got sun burnt (as expected) after a year of Irish sunshine (better term would be lack of it…).  Looking like tourists all the way – locals keep on talking to us in English. Guess you need to live up-north to be this pale!

Next stop is Mostar in Bosnia. Its only couple of hours up the coast from Dubrovnik and with Nives being a local (sort of) don’t expect that we will get lost (too many times, anyway). We’ll let you know soon.

Couple more pictures here.