Seaside Shenanigans

I'm Draft So this weekend I attend the wonderful Whitstable Oyster Festival with the train gang.

Actually not all of the gang as you know from previous post there are the four of us but one of the gang due to other things could attend which was really a shame as I know a weekend away drinking and mayhem would do her the world of good.

But Hey Ho cant have everything :)

So me and my partner in Crime traveled down on the Train from central London Late afternoon of course we had supplies on the way.

Don't worry this was strictly a girl trip for the first 2 days the little man was safe at home with his dad and was kept well away from anything that could result in years worth of therapy lol

As we were staying at our other friends folks lovely house we had hoped the weather would be nice and we could spend the evening sitting out in their fab Garden no such luck it was tipping it down. The heavens opened so after an hour and a half of nice warm dryness of the train we were out at the station. Then I had the bright idea as it's not far to her house to Walk.  I blame the booze as it was hideous. We got to the house like drowned rats didn't help that Hannah then took forever to open the door.

so we dripped our way in my suitcase was so wet it had seeped into my clothes luckily I had wine in my bag so discovered this as it gave me a great opportunity to hang them out for then next day.

Our hostess made up for her lack of door opening by having a lovely spread laid on.. mmm Bread and Cheese with some nice bottles of wine what could be better for drying out.

It wasn't a too late night, I'd been up since 5am with the little one he does like to wake up with the dawn..

but it was so much fun sitting around chatting and catching up on everything and hearing everyone's news. Definitely if you've got a small child you need just the odd night like this to re-charge and replenish (oh and get a tiny bit tipsy lol).

We finally made it to bed at a reasonable time.

Work up the next day not feeling totally my best I grant you but after an amazing service of Orange Juice and Toast followed by  a nice shower I felt human enough to get dressed.

So glad I hung everything out as poor Sue clothes were still damp (even the undergarments lol :) )

But once we were all up and dressed we ventured out to see what the day had to offer. Thankfully the weather had done a complete u turn and was actually shaping up to be a really pleasant day.

We headed up the wonderful quaint High Street looking for adventure. First stop was this great little sweet come Nic-Nac Shop Sundae Sundae where I needed to pick up a diet coke to get some caffeine into me to even me out.

So cool not only did they serve it in a glass bottle they did an amazing twisty thing with the straw which added to the coolness of it all. I was uber impressed over such a simple thing. It true what they say the little touches do count.

so with a drink clasped in my hands we headed on visiting a lot of the boutique niche shops that makes Whitstable High Street such a rare gem.

We ended up in the Community Center and where like last time they were having a Art fair. All of it was lovely. I really like the TotalPap who made scene out of papier-rmache.

It also included scenes that move.

As well They do prints on card and had someone on hand demonstrating the process. It nice to see local artist at their work.

Whitsta-Bubbles and Seaside Dreams

Yummy Wine

 

 

This weekend I spend most of it in the lovely Kent seaside town of Whitstable.

 

I left from work Friday and me, S & J of the "Train Gang" the girls who I cause havoc with in Amsterdam (see Amok in Amsterdam posts for more details) got the train down from London Victoria. I started the sans baby evening (who was at home with his dad) with a lovely glass of wine at Victoria Station.

 

As I waited for the girls to arrive I met a lovely woman who was over from Spain meeting her son at the station. she was telling me about all her adventures and I mine. This is what we lack sometime in this country just stopping to shoot the breeze with someone while passing away the time. This is exactly how I met the people I was going away with. If I just stayed in my own little bubble I would have never met them and never had the fabulous experiences I've had or forged such good friendships.

 

So when the last of the group finally turned up we hot footed it on to the train down to Whitstable. Of course there was drink and nibbles as it was an hour and a half journey.

 

When and after going the wrong way leaving the station I blame S who also got us lost on the way to the station in Amsterdam as well. Luckily this time it was only a quick detour and we found our was to H folks house where we would be staying for the duration.

 

H was a star and already had the wine open to celebrate our arrival but as we old had 3 bottles S and I headed out to make sure we wouldn't run out. This is where I got my first look at Whitstable properly. First impression so quaint. As it was nearly 8pm all the shop were shut but we did like our amble window shopping in all the fab stores.

 

We found the local Offie (Off Licence) and picked up a few bottles of fizzy stuff and took it back to the house. When we arrived back we were greeted by a table full of yumminess. H & J had put together a buffet of meats, cheeses, breads and dips oh and a bit of chicken.

It went very well with the fizz we got and had a few toast to friendship, life and just general drinking.
Moving on to conversation of what is happening in everyone lives. With H over from Amsterdam we wanted to catch up with all her news.

 

Its great how with friends you don't have to see each other for a while but when you all get back together you just click again and have a fun time.

So much fun in fact that we got a bit silly as the evening dragged on and ended up taking a 2am walk to the beach. Apparently, according to my friend S after showing us the harbour and the ships, the big black expanse in front of us was the sea (who knew right ) lol. As it such a quaint quiet town taking a night-time stroll by the beach is nice a peaceful and thankfully free of reprobates well apart from us.

 

we head back down the high street where I got a couple of incriminating shots of us out and about. Most of us are parent and I want to point out how disgraceful this is, very, very fun and stupid but not what you would expect from such upstanding citizen lol :)

 

 

we got back to the warmth of the home just before 3 then after some wrangling of who was sleeping were we finally drifted off into a nice peaceful (crying toddler free night).

The next morning only slight fuzzy headed we all got up bright and early, well early for the rest of the girls but it was past 8am and all people with toddlers know that nearly a 2 hour lie in...

Co-ordinated us all getting ready and using the bathroom we headed out in search of breakfast.

S recommended a lovely little café/bistro establishment halfway down the high street call Samphire

Beautifully decorated inside with a nice open kitchen so you can see when your food is coming.

The menu is full of locally source produce and the staff are accommodating and very friendly. And thankfully non-judgemental as we all (well apart from J) order either buckfizz/Kir Royal for starters.

Then for breakfast S and I had Egg Royal, like eggs benedict but with salmon instead of the ham. Then J and H who had a discussion only that morning about how they're both nearly vegetarians and have nearly stopped eating meat both ordered a full English.

I think all that talk of meat pushed them over the edge.

Now we where all fuelled up we headed for the high street and its shops. The high street is full of a mix of brick a brack, art and boutique clothes shops and we had great fun popping in and out of each one.

In one of the galleries as it was the literary festival they had a poety tree where people could submit their poems. So I added one of my own, for all the world, well the world of Whitstable, to see.

On the way back up the high street we stopped off at the community centre where they were having a couple of art exhibitions an art market where H bought a sculpture and a nudes postcard exhibit where local people were asked to submit postcard size nudes. The embroidered one was my favourite.

 

H folks  submitted a picture I think it rather good and it obviously a great bit of fun.

 

 

After the girls and bought nearly their body weights in clothes, jewellery, candles and sculpture we headed back to the house to met my Husband and the little man. The rest of the girls where staying an extra night but due to family commitments I could only manager the one :(

 

But the sun was out and we could use the house's wonderful garden. Had to take a pic of the garden and house as it was amazing H dad designed the layout and H mum filled it with all the amazing furnishings. Wish I could pull rooms together like this. Although currently my main decoration of rooms in my house is toys as he seems to get them everywhere. 

We decided to have another wine before they arrived. I went to the fridge to get a bottle and to my horror we had run out. H, S and J were astonished until we though about it and yes we had gone through 6 bottles the night before. in our defence that's only 1 and a half each and it was spaced out from 8pm to 3am.

J and S popped out for more supplies, while the boys arrived. The little man had such a fun time running up and down the garden. He discovered a water feature and loved removing the black stones, much to the distress of me and the amusement of the others.

That's the downside of toddlers they sometime can be un-intentionally destructive whirlwinds which is not too bad in your own home but in someone else and especially a place that obviously had so much care and attention put into it not so much.

so after quick toast we headed out to the beach to help the little one run off some of that steam. We stopped on the way for an Oyster. Whitstable is famous for its Oysters and the one I tried didn't disappoint. They are not everyone cup of tea and I couldn't eat a whole plate but I do like the odd one especially when they are this fresh.

I took the little one to have a look at the sea, making sure I had a hold on him so he didn't decide to go head first into the drink. It was a sunny but slightly windy day so the ocean was choppy and roaring in its wake. Very spectacular but I think the little man was slight scared and windswept.

Before getting in the car and heading back home which was thankfully a lot less of a journey than the train ride we stopped at a harbour front café. Where I had some lovely Moules and my other half and the little man shared in some fish and chips.

I have to say it was one of the biggest bits of fish in a fish and chips and considering we all ate every bite it was very nice.

I really loved Whitstable and even though it was my first time there it will not be my last.

As I got home the Saturday night and with the girls still there and drinking I was involved by text into their conversation and we booked to go back in July for the Oyster Festival. This time I'm staying for the whole weekend and the husband and little one can come down and pick me up on the Sunday.

If anyone is attending I would love to say hi..

Wow Malaysia Part 4 - Great Views and Elephants

Tuesday -31st March

My husband wanted to take some photos of the Petronas Towers. Which meant heading to the 'Sky Bar' at the Traders hotel. 

They have great views of the Towers

And do a mean cocktail

But I would worry about having too many as there's a swimming pool right in the middle of the bar.

We also stumbled on a fab resturant The Apartment in the Ground of the KLCC park right next to the amazing dancing fountains.

I had a gorgeous Fresh Seafood Jambalaya it was, as per the norm by now, incredibly spicy. I had it accompanied by a lovely tiger beer to wash it down. 

The other half had a Steak Salad, I didn't get to try the salad part but he gave me a bit of the steak and it was cooked to perfection

The rest of the day was a lazy blur, well after a couple of cocktails and a beer in the hot sun it was hard to get enthusiastic about anything more than a dip in the pool :)
 

Wednesday -1st April

This has got to be one of the most amazing days of the trip.

We booked a tour to visit the elephant sanctuary located about 1 and a half outside of KL.

There was four of us on the trip myself and my husband and a lovely German Couple Thomas and Sandra. The baby stayed with the mother in law for a day of being spoilt and general mischief-making.

On the way to the Elephants we stopped again at the Batu Caves as the other half of our group had never been. So I donned my hired skirt and climbed the steps for a second time. This time was actually a lot better as it was so early the steps were still in Shadow which made it easier going and I was also prepared for the wildlife (i.e. the Crazy Monkeys).

The caves themselves where a lot more livelier as the week before none of the shrines where manned and it looked like they were clearing up after a big festival. This time there were Hindu religious monks (That probably the wrong analogy so apologies) around and one of them blessed me.

I think it really important to experience other religions as that is the way to get a better understanding between everyone.

The caves were still as beautiful and the Monkeys still running around like the own the place which I suspect they probably do.

 Then a short trip down the 200 steps back to the van and off to the Sanctuary.

We arrived just in time for a spot of lunch which they provided on site.

It was a basic mean of Chicken, Rice and Egg which seems to be the staple of Malaysian cooking. Even though it isn't anything too fancy I really like it and plan to replicate it on many occasion back in the UK.

During lunch our tour guide told us a bit about Malaysia and the make up of its people. Its 3 Main group Muslim Malays the biggest group, followed by the Chinese Malays then the Indian Malays. There are also a few tribal group scattered through the rain forests.

He also talked about the countries biggest export which is now Palm Oil and that is why the Sanctuary is there. As they plant more Palm Oil plantations they are cutting down the Elephant's natural habitat. Then because they have not habitat the go on to the plantation causing damage. So the team at the sanctuary help relocate elephants to the Malaysian National Park. (This was explain further in a video we had to watch).

It one of those tough decision, Trade and industry vs. nature and environment. As palm oil can now be used as a fuel substitute, it is cleaner that Oil/Gas so in one way helping the environment. But to get the Oil you need to destroy the elephants home in turn hurting the environment. At least they have a relocation plan and are not just killing them off which is a good thing I suppose.

Although they kept pointing out how underfunded they were which was making the task difficult,  I think is the worst part as I know they palm oil industry is making a lot of money so it would be nice to see more of that money go to help these beautiful creatures.

Any who, after the video explain what they do - Relocating Animal when they can and when they can't as they are orphaned or injured they train them up to help them with the relocating. Elephants can help with the heavy lifting they also provide comfort to the wild Elephants as being captured and chain can prove very stressful for them. It was so sweet in the video seeing the working elephants help calm down a captured one with a couple of reassuring trunk strokes.

We got to visit and feed the baby elephants. This is a lovely experience and I highly recommend it. On site you can by Peanuts, Sugar Cane and Banana to give to them.

We got some Sugar Cane and Peanut and went to see them.

They are so gentle and at the end of their trunk is their finger that scoops up the food and deposits it, in their mouths.

It seems the big they are the rougher their skin is when getting food. As the baby were a lot softer than the older ones.

After feeding the little one. It was a short walk down to the lake to watch the older working Elephants get their daily bath.

They looked like they were having tonnes of fun and probably much needed as it was another very hot day.

After they had their daily scrubbing by their handlers we were taking to a show area to see how they help the rescue team out. I though this was a bit unnecessary and slightly to staged. I suppose it help to explain more what they do but I found it a bit crass.

After they'd finished with their show we got to feed the bigger elephant with fruit. They are really majestic and stunningly beautiful creatures. You can just see it in their eyes. I think they are far more intelligent that we give them credit for.

 After the big ones had gone back to their forestry habitat, out the back, it was time for the little ones to take a bath and we got to join in.

OMG I cannot state how amazing that was. It is one of those experiences I will remember for the rest of my life.

I even stole a cheeky Kiss with Daryl (The name of the Elephant)

We then proceed to wash him but I think in the end it was us that got more of a wash.

If you ever end up in Malaysia and want to do this experience remember a change of clothes an shoes is a must.

It was fantastic, brilliant, amazing, uplifting, education and over too soon. If I go back I am definitely doing this again.

Though on the way back to KL I did notice more the plantations as they seem to cover most of the landscape near the highway. Hopefully soon a balance can be struck as I really want the people and the country to do well but I also want the elephants to be okay too.

Back at base camp we packed for the following day as we where off to Singapore.

Thursday - 2nd April

As many of you know I am a member of the train gang so it seem only fitting to get the train to Singapore.

Considering how clean and lovely all the other trains I'd been on I was expecting some of the same. So the Husband, The In-laws, the Baby and myself all with first class tickets and an optimistic look in our eye boarded the train.

It was not what we expected..

There were gaps in the floor between carriages and the doors didn't shut on the train.

 

The canteen was not a lot better thank goodness we brought snacks. Although I have to say it really felt like we were travellers on this train. It was a bit of grit and adventure which is always fun.

 

Also the little one seemed to enjoy the experience, well we did have Disney Junior downloaded to our Iphones an Ipad which helped.

 

So Seven plus hours later under the cover of darkness and going through Customs and Passport control at Johor (meaning all the cases of and back on the train) we crossed the small stretch of water and arrived at Woodlands Station Singapore.

After filling out an visa card and passing again through customs we hopped in a taxi and mad our way to the Carlton Hotel to find our beds and get some rest before exploring another city in another land.....

 

Out with the Girls

Just before Valentine's weekend kicks off just wanted to post what happen last week.

Finally got to spend some time with my best friends.

I moved to the country but they stayed in the big city well in the suburbs. 

Now I love living in Kent but it a shame it's so far away from the girlies.

So we started with the obligatory champagne.

Then had a wonderful dinner at Las Iguanas on the south bank right next to the Royal Festival Hall. The restaurant is in the railway arches and you can here the muffled thundering of the trains over head.

I had some lovely chicken skewers.

We then moved on to a few cocktail bars in Covent Garden for some more drinkies.  

By the end of the night we got on to some deep discussion about women rights and feminism (the perils of alcohol) I found it werid just how disperate our opinions can be. I think because women in this country enjoy (compared to the majority of the world) are a lot freer sometimes we can take them for granted and not push for more or get more involved in the plight of other that aren't so free. 

But as we're friends we got over and disagreements we might of had and headed home. 

One thing I keep forgetting as a new Mum not only do you need to find a babysitter for the night you are going out it also advisable to have some one in the morning on hand to help. As an 15 month old doesn't care if you're hungover and want a rest.

So I've been neglecting my diet from the last week and a half and a couple of lb gain at Slimming World proved that.

So am now back on it in full swing 

Enjoying roster Vegtables with spray oil to keep them health

On Slimming World eggs and potatoes are syn free so I can enjoy and indulgent brunch

I also made a fab curry which was extra yum even though I made a bit too much. Which ended up in two curry dinners and a lunch and some leftovers in the bin..