Chinese New Year/Week Off

(Double Post: Be Sure to Check Out Our "SINGAPORE" Post Below)

It is Sunday afternoon here, nearly 4pm and tomorrow, after a week off of work we are back in the office.  It is hard to believe the speed at which vacations fly by at. 

So for this vacation, Mark and I decided to stay local—we’ll call it a ‘staycation.’  We have only received ONE paycheck in the last FOUR months, so we were feeling the pinch and decided that we’d kick back and relax around the Sunway area.  We were one set of about 5 more individuals that did the same, with the other 50 or more staff off in vacation land.  This was a little tricky for me as it was Tuesday before I could REALLY relax as we had discussed getting away for a few days.  With this constantly in the back of my mind I couldn’t just relax as comfortably as I would have hoped.  BUT after some convincing from Mark, and some words from my mom, I was able to let go and just take the break for what it was....a week of R & R. 

Over the course of the week we did keep ourselves with quite a few fun things, so here are some of them (which will be somewhat repetitive for those of you following my 365 project on Facebook, but offering alot more pics of the events). 

CHINESE NEW YEAR....well we didn’t really celebrate this day as a good majority of the country did, but we did venture down to KL.  We decided on taking the city bus for the first time since we arrived.  We previously had taken the metro which costs about $1-2 to get downtown, or we’ll go all luxurious like and take a taxi, which runs around $7-9.  The bus we’d heard was under $1, so hey, why not give it a go.  NEVER AGAIN.  I suppose you pay for what you get.  It was slow, I felt I was experiencing what it would be like to travel in India with way too many people crammed on, and just a generally roundabout way of getting downtown.  As we got close to our destination we got backed up in traffic, and that was because we were right by Chinatown.  So we decided to get out in the middle of the highway and explore where we were going by foot.  We expected Chinatown to be busy with those celebrating, but that wasn’t quite the case.  There were a ton of Indian men swarming various shops at every which corner.  At one point we watched a cow being butchered in the front of a restaurant.  Lovely.  Anyways, we got out of that area and headed for KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre), where we spent a nice afternoon chilling out, eating some delic food and treats, napping on park benches, etc. 

IKEA....we battled it for our second time, and this time we came out with just 2 bags and with very few ‘extras,’ just the essentials Mark kept reminding me.  Reminded me of my dad hearing that message. 

Driving Range: Open,  but the Club-Renting Section was Closed! Absurd...

Mad Mark Beyond Thunderdome

ARCHERY....in the mall 10 minutes walk from our apartment is the 9^th biggest mall in the world, so they have just about everything.  One of the things they have that we’ve looked at various times over these last few months is the option of shooting arrows (Mark informs me it’s called LOOSE an ARROW...getting all technical).  So we did, it was quite a good time....put on the leather finger and forearm guard and shot for the bullseye....never hitting it once.  I guess we’ll have to go back J

MOVIES....well we finally figured out there is a special CLUB entrance to the theatre and so we saw the much anticipated LES MIS.  My family had raved about it, and we’re getting ready for Oscar season in just a few short weeks, so we’re working out way to seeing all of the Oscar nominated movies before then.  We’re just a few away now, but fit in a viewing of the classic, one of my fav’s, UNCLE BUCK, not an Oscar nominated flick, but a definite goodie. 

POOL....this may have been one of the first times that we’ve been down to the pool for longer than 20 minutes.  We spent some time chilling by the pool, reading, soaking up some rays, and having a cold beverage or two.  Felt pretty darn good.  Something we’re going to have to do more often for sure. 

FRIENDS....over the course of the week we had bumped into and met up with several of the remaining crew.  One afternoon we went to a place called Meeple’s in a neighbouring community.  An actual store/place where you can play board games.  So basically, you pay by the hour to stay and play, so the group of us stayed for 2 hours and played 2 games.  One called Rummikub (a game that I loved playing while in Holland visiting Rachel’s cousins/family), as well as Ticket to Ride-German style, a monopoly like game that ended up being a blast.  You can order food, drinks, yes, even beer, and chill out for whatever length of time you like.  There are 100+ games to choose from, so in the end at the time of paying we got suckered in and now we are Meeple’s Members....hey, don’t judge, it was fun, and there are some sweet perks haha 

Another night we got together with Amy and Tyler at theirs.  This was the second time we have gone over for dinner, and I am definitely slacking on having them here for a cooked dinner a la Mark and Meg.  In Ottawa our ‘go-to’ was home cooked pizza’s with fresh dough, and quality ingredients, but here we have yet to find the same options available.  So anyways we had ANOTHER delicious vegetarian meal, so good that I am now going to attempt the scary 4 letter word, TOFU! Ekk, but I will have some questions on cooking that one for sure.  So yet again, another night with good friends, chilled beers and great food!

COOKING....we are getting a little more creative these days in the kitchen.  Perhaps it’s my love of the food network, but we are buying and trying new things.  Ex. Flambéed banana’s (kinda) beside and in homemade pancakes, more Mexican style wraps that we’ve made before, and this afternoon some homemade salsa.  Now I didn’t sample the last one, but Mark approved, so here’s hoping it’s tasty.  We are trying to see if we can save some cash making more things from scratch here, or that isn’t really possible.  So for example the ingredients for a mason jars full worth of salsa cost about $4 CDN, where as the small jar of salsa they sell at the store is about $5....so in this case, perhaps we are successful.  In others we will see. J 

RUN RUN RUN....we have been at it for several weeks now, and haven’t wimped out or slacked off I am happy to say.  So despite the fact that we COULD sleep in every day, we didn’t and were up at 5am every other morning for a run.  Feels great to be back on track, and active again....Mark even got to show off his new Valentines gear this morning on our run....and just so you don’t get the wrong image, new Nike tank and Nike shorts.  PG here people. 

SQUASH/BADMINTON....we have a squash court just about a 10 minute walk from our door, so we tried it out one afternoon.  I had only played in random hotels my family would stay at when we were kids, so it was all pretty new to me again, but what a fun game.  Definitely makes for a great workout, and when in the gym with no AC and 40 degrees outside, we were both sweaty messes. 

VALENTINES DAY....So our morning started with a run, then some gift sharing and some relax time.  I had left the planning of this one in Mark’s court, so I was interested to see what he had up his sleeves.  He kept saying that a night in front of the TV watching movies was just the right kinda thing...I continued to roll my eyes again, and be reminded of my loving father.  Haha   So anyways, we got all dressed up (Mark had bought this dress for me months back and I had yet to wear it, so tonight had to be the night), and headed downtown where we went to a pretty posh restaurant Svago.  We sat down and they delivered the 5 course menu, at a pretty $90 per person, so we opted for a variety of things on the menu; my style of restaurant eating.  It was okkkkkk, the meal started out strong, but then faltered, but hey, it was still very romantic and a great night out.  (Live band/piano in the background definitely added to the ambience)! 

MPO...MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA....This was the first orchestra that we had seen in KL, so what better than to experience Beethoven’s Fifth.  It was a beautiful night at the philharmonic; very much reminded me of seeing my Uncle Jimbo playing the violin at the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra several years back, which he has been a part of for many a year.  Previous to the show we checked out a restaurant highly recommended to us by a few friends here: Ciccio’s.  OMG, we have found our favourite restaurant thus far in KL.  At about half the price as our v-day dinner a few nights previous we enjoyed some delicious wood-fire pizzas, garlic bread, fresh bread with oil and balsamic, and to top it off for Mark a scoop of chocolate gelati, and for myself orange and vanilla crème brulee.  To die for, and a place that we will definitely be revisiting.

So the week started out a bit rocky with my constant questions of what are we doing, where are we going, what can keep me busy?!  BUT, as the 9 days are now at the end we are back on track, little projects are complete, the blog is updated (something we are going to get better at), and we are ready for the week ahead!!! Hope all is well with you people!  M and M out! ;)