Week 39: Sep 10 to 16

Monday Steve handed in 2 papers he has been working on for a while and he was relieved to be finished. He was home late all week though.
Tuesday night we went out for dinner at Chinoz, Wednesday night Toni and I went out for a drink at the Traders.
Thursday night Lachlan had a musical performance at school.
I kept the kids home from school Friday as we were flying to Langkawi at 3:10. Steve went to work and I spent the morning packing. At about 10 I asked the kids if they wanted to go and see Will and Kate in KLCC park. They didn't seem that excited but said sure, so we got ready and walked over to the park. The main road we live on was blocked to traffic and halfway to the park we saw the entire procession drive past. We got a spot right on the fence and waited for another 20 minutes. They walked by quite quickly but looked gorgeous. We then were interviewed by British tv, which Lachlan was most excited about. We went back home, waited for Steve to get home, then drove to the airport. We arrived at our hotel in Langkawi by 5 and went straight out to have a walk around and an early dinner. The service was great, much better than we are used to in KL. the kids even got free ice cream.
The next day we had a relax by the pool and the beach after breakfast. Then we walked down Pantai Cenang to have lunch and do some duty free shopping. We went back to the hotel, played some 500, then caught a taxi to the jetty for our sender cruise. The cruise was great! Free flow drinks, great food, the crew were all so lovely and friendly. We even had a long chat with the owner of the company who also owns the restaurant we went to the night before. The view was spectacular and after sailing for about an hour they put the 'saltwater jacuzzi' net out. Just before we got on the boat it was raining quite heavily so it was a nice surprise to get a beautiful sunset. Lachlan spent a lot of time practicing on his new camera he got on Friday morning as an early birthday present.

We hired a car in Sunday. Our first stop was Oriental Village and Cable Car. There was a big queue and all up we spent over 3 hours there. Though unfortunately between Lachlan's camera, Danae's iPod and my phone none of us had a camera with any battery life, so after 1 photo of the view halfway up the cable car we had no photos for the rest of the day. After the cable car we were going to drive up to the waterfall, but decided it was later than we had wanted to leave so we didn't. We stopped at black sand beach and then drove to Kuah, the main town in Langkawi island. We went to a Chinese seafood restaurant for dinner.

Week 38: Sep 3 to 9

Steve had exams Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and has two papers due next Monday.
Monday I went to Chinatown with Cathy, we went to look for outfits for the trivia night (Olympics theme), but couldn't find anything suitable. So I think we will be resorting to togas.
I went to have a Thai massage at Chankat Bukit Bintang. I have found a great place, they do a great job (though this time I came away with a tender back) and I love the decor and ambiance of the place, and just under $30 for 2 hours!
Wednesday steve finished early because he did his last exam for the semester. We planned on going out for lunch, but just as we were leaving it atarted pouring rain, so we had Japanese at the restaurant here at Dua. That night was the Junior School Production at school. It was fantastic! Each year had a different theme, but they all used lights and music. And the whole thing was done around (and even over) the pool, while the parents watched from the balconys.
Ryan slept over Friday night and after a quick swim, we went out to Jalan Alor with Michelle, Michael, Sarah and Clark, and of course all the kids.
Saturday we mostly spent the day at home. Ryan and Lachlan playing together and swimming. Saturday night we went to the Trivia night at school. It was Olympic theme and like half the people there Cathy, Al, Steve and I wore togas. Michelle, Julie, her husband and son were on our table as well. It was a good night and I think we came about 5th. I did win tickets to Legoland that has only just opened in Malaysia, but its about 4 hours drive away. Hopefully we can go down for a weekend before we leave.
Sunday we went out for lunch, though I cant remember where now and Steve finished up and printed his papers due the following day.

Week 37: August 27 to Sep 2

We spent most of Monday still traveling home and arrived back in KL at about 3pm. We all slept for most of the hour long taxi drive home. After unpacking we went to KLCC for an early dinner and grabbed a few groceries, then an early night.
I decided to keep the kids home from school Tuesday, even though they seemed fine Monday night and it was a good thing I did because they slept in until about 10. Steve went to work though and I spent most of the day checking emails and washing clothes.
Wednesday the kids went back to school and Steve was home early enough for us to have lunch together, so we went to TWG tea for lunch.
Thursday the kids had International Day at school, we went down in the afternoon and watched some Gaelic football and dancing. That night Steve had a function and Toni came over for a drink and a to catch up on what we all did on our holiday. The guys came home at about 12:30 and after one more drink we went to bed.
Friday was a public holiday for Merdeka Day, malaysia's independence day. Steve and I had a pretty big sleep in and we spent most of the day at home. We went to go out to Jalan Alor for dinner and stopped at the Pavillion on the way for a drink and to watch the footy, then we didn't really feel like walking any further so we went to the newly opened pub at the Pavillion, Tom, Dick & Harry's.
Saturday I went and had a long overdue pedicure and did a grocery shop while Steve did some study and took the kids for a swim. We went out to Suzi's corner with Clark, Sarah, Michelle, Michael and their kids.
Sunday we went out in the morning for breakfast, but the place we had planned on going to wasn't open for breakfast, so we had Starbucks instead. We then went to Sungei Wang and had a look around and got some DVDs. We went home after lunch and Steve studied for his exams the following week.

Week 36: August 20 to 26

Monday was our first port stop. It was Corfu and we just wondered around on our own. The shopping in Corfu was good and we saw some sights, had lunch at a trattoria, and the kids got their silhouettes cut. By about 2:30, it was really getting hot so we headed back to the ship early. We spent a bit of time by the pool after cooling down in our cabin, then the kids went to kids club later in the afternoon for a little while. We had an early dinner in the dining room, the kids went back into kids club for a little while. We went to get them to go and watch the evening show and they were both dressed up in foil and stuff for some type of contest and all the kids were deciding who was the winner. By the time we got to the show there were no seats left but we stood at the back and watched, it was an aerial gymnastics show and was very good.

Tuesday was Santorini and we booked a tour. We didn't get there until lunchtime and spent most of the morning by the pool talking to the English couple we had met. Because of the depth of the water we had to tender and as the towns are on top of the cliff, you get from the port up to the towns either by walking, cable car or donkey. Our tour took us by boat to the old port, then by bus around the island and finished just near the cable car in time to get the cable car down and catch the last boat back to the ship. After driving all the way around the island, we went to Oia (pronounced ee-a). That is the town with all the postcard pictures of the white buildings with blue rooves and windows. We got 2 hours free time to wander around on our own looking at the cute shops and to take photos. Then back on the bus, we went through the main town, Fira to a taverna for a Greek buffet dinner, wine, lots of dancing, and some plate smashing at the end. We were then taken back to Fira for a little bit of free time before heading down the cable car back to the ship, arriving back by 9:30. We had a little bit of dessert at the buffet, then went to bed pretty tired.

 Mykonos was Wednesday and we did a small tour in the morning. It was about a 9 o'clock start and we got on a bus and drove around the island stopping at St. Johns beach were Shirley Valentine was filmed (I hadn't heard of the film, but a lot of people knew of it, so I will have to keep an eye out for it). Then we went to Aphrodite beach and had a bit of a rest on the beach chairs, a quick paddle and a nice cool drink. Then we went to the small village of Anamera and visited a Greek Orthodox church and had a tasting plate of Greek food and some ouzo. Then the bus took us back to the ship. We decided to have lunch on the ship, then head into Mykonos town. We were told the streets of the town were made as a labyrinth to confuse the pirates and keep the town safer, and they were not wrong. We got very lost numerous times and bumped into Ruth and Tim, the English couple that we now knew well enough to call our friends, twice. We made plans to meet up for dinner together in the dining room. The kids ate dinner at the buffet, then went to kids club. Steve and I got ready for dinner with Ruth and Tim. We had a great night and kicked on in the nightclub until about 3am.

 Thursday was one of the most exciting port days. The port town was Katakolo, it is about 20 minutes from Olympia, where the ancient Olympic Hames were held. Lachlan is really into Greek Mythology and we were all excited to see the site. Our tour guide was great and he took us through the site and to the Archaeological Museum. We got to see the altar where they light the torch for each Olympics, the temple ruins, and ran on the ground of the stadium. Then we had a guided tour around the Archaeological Museum where they have the reains of the statues and other bits from the site. After Olympia, we got back on the bus and went to an olive farm and winery. We had a glass of white wine on arrival to drink as we learnt about the olive picking process. Then we went inside for a beautiful lunch with lots of little tastings of different Greek food, almost entirely sourced from the farm itself, a bottle of red wine and of course more dancing. Full and a little tired we were taken back to Katakolo and the ship. Steve and the kids went onboard to swim and relax and I went for a walk along the street of Katakolo for one last shopping fix in Greece. We went to trivia in the early evening which we had done every day since day 2 and tied with 2 other teams. We had dinner in  the dining room and then went to the buffet for dessert, they do a huge chocolate buffet.

 Friday was our last full day on the ship, after breakfast we spent the morning by the pool. We had a bbq lunch by the pool, then the kids went into kids club. Steve and I went to a music trivia, then Steve did some work while I read. We got the kids out of kids club for dinner in the buffet, then put them in and Steve and I went to the Churrascaria for dinner. After dinner we got the kids out of kids club and we all went to the finale show in the theatre. It was really good. We went back to our room and packed and went to bed.
Saturday was time to leave the ship :( We had breakfast and were one of the first off the ship at about 9:30. We had to get to the centre of Venice by ferry or water taxi. We chose the water taxi as, besides the people that disembarked our ship with us there were also another two ships with people getting off and there were lots of people lining up for the ferry. The taxi was not cheap and we also paid for a water taxi to the airport the following morning. We got to our hotel and left our bags and wondered around Venice. We went to Saint Marks Square, Saint Mark's Basilica, The Bridge of Sighs, Rialto Bridge, had pizza for lunch, and just wandered around until about 3, then we went back to the hotel to go into our room and have a shower, it was really hot. Our hotel was really stunning, the room was enormous, especially for Venice standards, and beautifully decorated in lilac and gold. Everything was monogrammed with the hotel logo, including doors, toiletries and the rubbish bin. Steve and the kids stayed at the hotel (Steve had some work to do on the internet) and I went out again and had more of a look around, there were so many beautiful shops and things to look at. I returned at about 6 and we went out for dinner, had a little bit more of a walk around, then went to a gelati place/bar and the kids had gelati, Steve had a beer and I had a canoli and a glass of Frangelico..yum. Then we went to bed, as we had to get up early to get to the airport.

We caught our water taxi at 6:30 Sunday morning and flew back the same way, but had a stopover in Dusseldorf instead of Berlin. We had a longer stopover in Abu Dahbi for 6 hours in the middle of the night but it wasn't too bad.