Saturday 23 February 2013

Saturday 23rd February After an early swim in our private pool, we made our way to the restaurant for our first breakfast, actually, brunch as it was ten twenty We ordered a chauffeur driven car for our trip to Jambalaya beach I wasn't impressed with the beach, however......it was awashed with litter of all sorts (empty cans, bottles, plastics etc) The sea was rough and vast. I googled on my iPad to confirm the name. Why? The natives were either not understanding us or didn't know..... "Is this a sea or an ocean? What is it called?" "Yes......the Shea" This was all I could muster, from our driver, to the owner of the bar on the beach, to the waiter serving us No........ I didn't spell sea incorrectly........the natives have a problem pronouncing 'S' It's a case of....... "I shaw Shea shore .......... You get the gist! I googled the beach and hey presto! Timor sea! There you go!
Friday 22nd February Arrived safely in Bali - Mother Nature has just opened her water gate just after we got to swim in our private pool and eaten our super We were given a large umbrella to use as the rain refused to stop. We walk the short walk to our villa and played scrabble on my iPad

Friday 22 February 2013

On arrival at the Shangri-La hotel DOS man made reservation for the restaurant and also books a chauffeur driven car "Please......... Came a voice behind, with outstretched hand We release our hold on our luggage and he promptly begins to leads us to the lift We were housed on the seventh floor of a twenty eighth floor building and immediately loved it on first inspection Looking out of the window, the petronas twin towers dazzled in front of my view We had an hour to shower and change into suitable attire, with five minutes to spare before being driven to the spectacular 'Atmosphere 360' as it is known by Once again, we were ushered into a super fast lift, taking us past 283metres high over ( all in all, the building stood approximately 400metres high
He rolls out cuisines of all sorts and we were quickly sold to this amazing 360 revolving restaurant
We touched down on Kuala Lumpur airport tarmac as night fell We walked through arrival to be quickly met by our chauffeur and our limousine "Welcome to Kuala Lumpur" beamed our Malaysian chauffeur "Thank you" we replied in unison The limousine has WFi and bubbly and a commentary of Kuala Lumpur by the chauffeur Love the WiFi! Love the bubbly! Forget about the commentary! In my world, I would replace his mouth with a close zip! Malaysian chauffeur is still chatting..........whilst driving over a highway suspension bridge Blah! Blah! Blah! Me think he should.......shhhhhhhhh while I wet my lips with more bubbly Our chauffeur chatted all the way from the airport to our hotel, the Shangri-La from rabbiting on about.......... "Malaysia is a Muslim country but we drink 'Beer' served in the teapot" That made DOS man and I cringe with laughter "Do you recommend any restaurant nearby.......begins DOS man " Yes...... The revolving restaurant....... He begins My ears prick up as he continues .......is a nice place to eat"
Thursday 21 February....we waved goodbye to our good friends in Cambodia and boarded our plane for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia DOS man had pre-ordered seafood for us and it was nice being served a good fifteen minutes before any of the other passengers I swiftly ordered white wine to follow DOS man and I played scrabbled on my iPad to while away the time For the second time in my life, I saw a plane flying at the speed of light just below us........it was so fast that by the time I screeched out to DOS man it was gone! I was informed that it sped so fast was because the speed was of that plane and our plane together It reminded me of a matchstick box airplane.......the colour was visible to me, red and white.....a Malaysian airline airplane
Tuesday 19th February We drove to Sihanouk Ville, a five mile drive, with our friends, stopping once for a toilet run before reaching our final destination......Sihanouk Villa, a seaside resort The nearest beach is the Serendipity beach We stayed at Nice Beach We found a perfect beach restaurant and ordered our BBQ meal I had BBQ mixed seafood grill and rice washed down with Pinacolada DOS man ordered pork ribs and mixed vegetables Met up with more friends........ An Australian and his pregnant (having twins) Cam wife, her mum and dad, four to six other members of the family (they certainly don't travel light! We stayed at a more reclusive beach, Moorea beach, where we wined and dine on a king size bed whilst staring out into the Gulf sea After dining on all sorts of seafood, eating spicy Tom Yum soup and downing it with ones favourite tipple, I moved on to a nearby hammock and laid with my back towards the Gulf of Thailand sea DOS man joins me followed by our friend and our new Australian followed suit We order more drinks and chatted about every day subjects......... Politics, Religion and Sexuality and off course whether to buy an Apple product or not! I am an Apple fan, having a one point five (Apple) family, I produced my iPhone 4s and my iPad, demonstrated all its capabilities and finally sold it to him He was impressed with the dictaphone and thought it would come handy for his business

Saturday 16 February 2013


In the first class and watching "The ????.......I've only forgotten the b***** title of the film!
I'm having one of my senior moments!
......... with Arnold Swaznnegger, Sylvester Stallone, Jean Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis and a few other actors whose names I have monetarily forgotten!
I am watching the film  with my seat reclined and sipping white wine ( which has now given me the hiccups!)
You would think I was an alcoholic but that's not the case
My seat, I soon found out, is a magical seat that can doing many things........it can massage on my command.........well ok! When I press the massage button!
My seat can babe reclined into a bed position.......but I'll save that for later 
The flight to Bangkok from Dubai airport is just over five hours so I've made a conscious decision to watch one film and take advantage of the facilities that business class holds
The majority of Business class is users are Arabs. It was a case of being ' the only Black person in the village!'
I've been given a 'fast track' pass for getting through customs. The air hostess' are very friendly and are bending over backwards to assist with all my needs
I was also handed a goody bag and look forward to opening it once we've landed in Bangkok
We're hoping to do a surprise visit to our Thai friend Wonlet (a good friend we met approximately three years ago whilst visit the many islands
 

On arrival at Dubai airport and after checking in, we were escorted to Lounge A Merhaba lounge
This part of the airport, which consisted of new glass elevators and fast trains was only opened last month, January 2013 
The whole airport reminded me of the film.......'Total Recall' .........so futuristic!
 

The evening of Saturday 16th February......

AT THE TOP, BURJ KHALIFA

Last night we went up the tallest building in the world........yes! Tallest building in the world!
We started of at the reception on the lower ground level of the Dubai Mall
We journeyed through Dubai's history and the building's birth from ground zero to over 200 plus floors
We boarded the 65-metre-long travelator on a trip that transported us through time, from the earliest days of Dubai to the present. 
The we boarded our vertical ascent to the observation deck in a high-speed elevator, travelling at 10 metres per second. My ears began to pop!
When we reached the 124th floor we stepped out to a ceiling glass walls with breath-taking unobstructed 360-degree view of the city, desert and ocean and because we went at night we saw sparkling lights from buildings below and stars above



Saturday 16th February.......
Mall of the Emirates 
Popped into Zara (off course)
Ate at Trubes
Kalahari roast lamb 
Marinated in ancient Bushman spices, slow roasted and served with a vegetable stew
Cape Malay fish curry
Served with coriander and coconut rice, pappadums and Peri-peri and garlic served on chilli potato cake and rocket leaved
Downed with long tall glasses of Mocktails
Pinacolada and Mojito



Friday 15th February......
We are at the Royal Meridian's (Dubai) private beach being pampered by waiters 
I order a drink and one sip and I instantly give an approving smile  I am sipping sangria blanc a resort cocktail 
DOS man decides go for the Maple cooler mocktail an healthy version of mojito
A quiet resort for people who want to relax from a hassle free noise polluted beach 



Thursday 14th February......
On arrival, I spotted him and hurried towards him and for a moment ......we nearly embraced each other but stop short of doing so
Why?
We were in Dubai where showing affection was frowned upon 
We smiled and greeted each other formally before heading towards the Grosvenor House, our home for three days
We were on the thirty second floor.
A surprise laid in wait for me as I enter the room...... A large bouquet of blood red roses with a couple of pink carnations entwined, a box of chocolates and two heart shaped packets filled with exotic chocolates and of course my favourite tipple...... Baileys!


Wednesday 13th February......
My journey to five countries has begun with my first port of call being Dubai a seven hour fifty minutes journey from Heathrow T3
Tonight it's a sleepover at Sofitel T5 with an early morning shuttle to T3
I travel alone to meet DOS man for Valentines' Day

Saturday 2 February 2013

The clock went back today....... We were invited to The Hard Rock Hotel which is located less than five minutes from our hotel The Golden Parnassus 
09:45........ The sun was already beating down on us mere creatures. It's hard to believe that not so long ago (several hours ago to be exact) torrential rain was pounding its fierce fist against our balcony intent to keep us awake........ But now, now, it's just a distant memory
The front reception of the Hard Rock Hotel was very impressive indeed, a large version of inside of The Hard Rock Cafe....... Memorabilia of past and present Rock 'n' Roll stars were visibly displaced

We were enjoying the view until we realised that the invitation was merely a ploy for those grubby 'Timeshare' parasites........ Needless to say, we retreated immediately to the reception and exited out of there like ' Speedy Gonzales'
We made our way back to The Golden Parnassus and just before we got to the reception......
"Hello......can you help us?"
"Can you help us?"
Our gaze was directed to where the repetitive shriek was coming from, three floors above, to be exact
Standing outside their balcony were two middle aged women, waving their arms, trying to get our attention 
"We've locked ourselves out of our room!" Bellowed one
" Can you please kindly tell them at reception?" Asked the other
" Yes sure" replied DOS man
"What's your room number?"
"Three four two!" Came the reply
And sure enough, DOS man, like a knight in shining armour to the rescue of the damsels in distress, headed towards two staff at the reception
"Hola......... Just to report that there are two woman locked in their room"
A bemused look had settled on the faces of both staff
" Their room number is three four two and I believe they've locked themselves out"
"Gracias"
"No problem"
We then made our way to the breakfast room for a light breakfast
"You're our heroes!" 
I turned and there in front of me, stood one of the women, her hand gently touching my right arm
"Thank you very much, you were wholesome," 
Yep! They're American.........from the U.S of A
" You're welcome" I smiled
We're now relaxing on the beach soaking in the sun and enjoying one of Mother Nature's beautiful seas,'The  Mexican Caribbean Sea'
Every now and then, a waiter comes by
" Hola.......more Pinacolada/Sangria/Tequila etc.......
"Si, .......... Mango punch, Por favor
And that's how we spent several 'excruciating hours' being harassed by our waiter, soaking in the 'awful' sun, swimming in the 'terrible' three tone sea and playing volleyball on the 'disgusting' white beach 
This is really tough........ But somebody's got to endure it, and
 I guess it's US!
I instructed DOS man to take some photographs of me frolicking in the sea, initially posing with my red and white Nike sunglasses until the waves decided to hijack them....... 
And now........
I'm f****** p***** with Mother Nature
I am now one sunglasses short, my 'Playboy' white sunglasses is now alone.......the only thing to protect me from the sun rays!
We unanimously decided to dine at one of our sister's restaurant this evening, booked our shuttle and then chauffeur driven to The Great Parnassus.......just the two of us, DOS man and I    

26 Oct 
A trip to the Flea Market is amongst our list of 'Things to do today'
First, we decided to take a shuttle to our sister hotel, 'The Great Parnassus' a ten minute ride from 'The Golden Parnassus', had lunch, shuttle back to our hotel and made our way to the bus stop, hopped on the bus for a dollar each to the Flea Market
The Flea Market was A BIG MISTAKE!
Why?
We were HARASSED from beginning to end"
An endurance, to put it mildly
Across the road was the Hard Rock Cafe, so we took solace there and ordered our 'poison' and listened to a great live band, used the free WiFi and admired the surrounding memorabilia 

Friday 1 February 2013


Went to the karaoke night and plucked up to sing Dame Shirley Bassey's 'Big spender'
To say that there's a warrant for my arrest is an understatement 
Why?
I hear you ask!!
For murder..........
I KILLED the song!!!!  

20:45....... We made our way to 'The Barn' restaurant. 
"Welcome......... How many?"
"Two"
We were led to our table 
The waiter pulled out the chair for me
"Gracias"
Next came the menu
DOS man chooses nachos for starters, steak and rice for mains and apple pie for dessert 
I chose ceaser salad for starters, prawn on a bed of salad and rice for mains and cheese cake for dessert washed down with piƱa colado 

Took a local bus to the shopping mall for some 'sneekers' for our rock climbing adventure later in the week
Passed the 'Rock Cafe' hotel, 'Planet Hollywood' 'Zara' and 'Mac'
Walked out of Zara's
Why?
The dress I bought last week from the Westfield, Stratford branch cost forty nine pounds and the one here in Cancun, Mexico?
Seventy f****** pounds!
Rip of Britain........ I mean, Rip of Mexico!!!
 17:30...... A stroll to the spa room for my eighty minutes 'Wayak' treatment
A couple of minutes welcome and paying the 100 USD before being led to the charging room
I was politely told to undress, handed a white dressing gown with the spa emblem on the top left and a pair of white slippers
"this is the key to your locker"
She hands me the key
"Mucho Gracias"
"Let me know when you're ready"
"Yes"
She disappeared and I was left alone in the changing room
I undress and swapped my day wear for the dressing grown and sippers
"Finished"
And like magic, she appeared and led me to the massage parlour 

We were transferred to a deluxe king size bed apartment with a front view of the lagoon
DOS man booked me for a 'Wayak' spa treatment this evening
It cost 100 USD for a eighty minute treatment 
From there we went to see our Mexican   representative 
Three trips booked in total
Captain Hook pirate dinner (Monday 22 Oct)
Coba Maya Encounter (Wednesday 24 Oct)
Xcaret All day ecological park.... Known as Nature's sacred paradise  (Friday 26 Oct)