I would like to start this blog by saying a huge CONGRATULATIONS to Ness and Ol for creating a beautiful baby boy who we can now all obsess over. Such a proud friend moment, I couldn’t have anticipated the rush of emotion I felt when I was wandering through a department store in Singapore and got a message to say he was finally here! Welcome to the world George I am very sad I can’t officially meet you until Christmas. You’re one of us now. 

The past few weeks have seen the decline of my tan due to some unwelcome wet weather. One Friday a couple of weeks ago saw an intense amount of rainfall. Two trees fell down outside school. Roads were closed, cars were floating in water…it was all going on. A lorry almost reversed into me because a tree fell down in front of us on the way home from school. Uber refused to run. The children were obsessed with the amount of rain which told me it wasn’t a normal occurrence. I slid all the way along the entrance to the car park and thankfully slowed down before the barrier destroyed poor Vera. It was a dramatic 24 hours on the island. 

In other news Alice and I spent one Sunday breaking and entering into an abandoned hotel that we have become obsessed with. We walked the entire perimeter looking for the right place to break in, and then went for it. The hotel was a 5* luxury resort abandoned since 2006 and so naturally we wanted to investigate this. You’re not really allowed to do this so I was on high alert the entire time and unsure if we would come across ghosts or drug dealers inside the rather creepy interior. Neither of these things happened and we escaped unharmed and without any prosecutions… yay! I did have a mental block about how to climb down off the wall on the way out but Alice was patient and we got out in the end.

So cool. So creepy and unnerving. You can still book a room in this hotel online.  During the night I woke up absolutely on fire. I felt like my blood was burning through my skin…not to sound dramatic or anything. I was covered in bites and I was in so much pain. I looked diseased. After one incredibly painful day at work I went to the pharmacy where she told me I’d have an allergic reaction to something and gave me some anti histamine tablets in a clear plastic bag with no labels. I took one and spent the next 24 hours completely spaced out.  Gotta love Malaysian medical advice. If you wanna go to the hotel then wear a morph suit. Strange things lurk inside there it would seem.

Last weekend was a 3 day long weekend for Islamic New Year. Malaysia celebrates all things. I used this time to go to Singapore to see James which has been  a long time coming. It was an amazing weekend, I felt completely spoilt, drank cocktails and champagne and had the best best time. Outside of wandering around shops in complete heaven I visited “Gardens by the bay”.  My love/obsession with green and plants meant this place was heaven.  It also had a giant aquarium. What more could a girl want? 

Alongside these cool views…otters!!!

They’re much bigger than I anticipated and have rather large teeth but they were so cute. Highlight of the trip was spending time with James and people watching. I love an opportunity to discuss what other people’s lives might be like. Thank you for all the fun James, until next time. 

I’ve also had a couch surfer staying with me for the past week. I rescued her from the main road last Tuesday and we’ve not looked back. Maxine you’ve been a very chilled and lovely person to hang out with. I’m so happy the sun has finally returned as I was feeling personally responsible for the rain. Thank you for not robbing me when I was in Singapore and for keeping my fish alive. Here we are some way up Penang Hill in 33° heat on a Monday.

Hopefully our paths will cross in Ho Chi Minh in 3 weeks!! 

Other news….went to a wine and cheese night. It was disastrous. Take wine and cheese away from a person (it’s expensive) and things will get slightly out of control.  I ate ten crackers in a row and a woman remarked that I was “worse than a starving child”. I woke up the next day and found stolen cheese in my hand bag. We all (except Alice) took the wine and cheese situation to the extreme. We made friends with an old ex army man who gave us his prized cigar, a gymnastics routine was attempted which consisted of Tom leaving Alice hanging out of a window….and we created our own dance floor.  The event finished at half 10 and we were still there at 1. 

I went to Penang 3D interactive museum and it was both interactive and 3D.

I developed a new interest in fishing but it was traumatising when a man took the fish and killed it with his bare hands to feed it to his cat. I was only interested in releasing them back to the wild so this was highly distressing even though I love cats.

And finally…my beautiful favourite human was a flower girl…

And hated it.

Here’s a strange robot to end this blog post. 3 weeks until half term!