Rugby Test Match: All Blacks v Lions

Rugby. It's a tough game, and it's not a game for wimps.

If you get on that field you had better accept that there will be some pain involved. You will be tackled. You will sometimes be beneath a heap of bodies. And there may be times with the opposition will dig their boot sprigs into your back. If you can't handle that...don't play rugby.

What I am absolutely stunned by, is the Lions team. The match on Saturday 25th June was the first Test Match of the current Lions tour of New Zealand, and I watched it on televisions--the delayed broadcast because I don't have cable TV.

Mere minutes into the match Johnny Wilkinson does a dangerous high tackle on an All Black, grabs him round the neck and down they go--I am thinking 'ouch' because I know how easy it could be to injure a person's neck.  It was a 'dangerous tackle' an illegal tackle, but the referee let play continue and nothing was said.

Minutes later the Lion's captain, O'Driscoll, had the ball and he was tackled by Tana Umaga (All Blacks captain) and Keven Mealamu, and upended. Seconds later 'time' was stopped as the first aid people were called on to the field to attend to O'Driscoll who was lying on the ground in pain. It appear he had a shoulder injury (which turned out to be a dislocated shoulder) and whilst he was being examined and then put onto a stretcher and carted off we, who were lucky enough to be watching the delayed broadcast, saw the tackle replayed 4 or 5 times at least. It was a normal looking tackle, nothing excessively vicious. Neither All Black was deliberately trying to cause injury to O'Driscoll. While he was being carted away Tana was keeping his team together, organized, focused on the match.

Play went on...

Obviously is it disappointing to lose your captain so early in the game, but there are plenty of other players and always someone who can take over the captains role. No coach would ever assume that any one player would be immune from injury. You have to consider what you will do if you lose this player or that player due to injury.

Anyway, the match went on and the All Blacks were doing really well. There was a terrific line out and as Chris Jack was hoisted into the air, when the ball was thrown in, the Lion player who was also hoisted into the air, but not to the same height as Chris Jack, grabbed Chris by the jersey and pulled him down. This was in the air, another illegal move, and Chris Jack went down on his back. But he just got up again and ran on. Game continued.

There was another dangerous tackle on an All Black by a Lion--though I don't recall who by or who to. Play went on.

Later there was another heap of bodies, poor Chris Jack at the bottom and we watched a Lions player go in and start raking his boot sprigs across Chris Jack's back! Oh there was no mistake about it, because he ripped the shirt while he was doing this...and he did it RIGHT INFRONT OF THE CAMERA MAN! The referee didn't see it. Chris Jack, tough All Black, got up and play continued.

Still later, with players in a pile on the ground desperately trying to get the ball, one All Black, Keven Mealamu, gets up with the biggest 'I can't believe he did that' look on his face. One of the Lions, Danny Grewcock, had bitten him! He showed the referee who let play continue, despite being shown the teeth marks!

At the end of the game the All Black stood with a 21-3 victory.

At the end of the game no All Black had performed any neck high tackles, nor had we bitten any player, no had we hauled a man onto his back from the height of a line out leap, nor had we dug the boot in to a mans back.

But all that we have heard since this match is the Lion's coach complain about Tana's tackled on O'Driscoll, claiming it was deliberate and dangerous and he was trying to injure O'Driscoll. Now, I saw that tackle, repeatedly, and there was no obvious intention to injure, the tackle was like many many other tackles we have seen. Do they think Tana thought 'if I do this and my team mate does that we can dump him on the ground and causes his shoulder to be dislocated?' There was no orchestrated attack at all. It was, purely and simply, bad luck!

I have been in a martial arts class in which a fellow classmate threw a punch at the bag and his right shoulder came right out of the socket. Sensei laid him down, a few class mates held him still, and Sensei pulled his arm gently out at ninety degrees and slid it back into the socket and the class continued. It was no big deal. He didn't cry, he didn't lie groaning and whimpering. I guess martial artists are a heck of a lot tougher than Lion rugby players.

The newspapers have, since the match, been carrying daily articles on the Lion's coach's fury and indignation and his demand to know why Tana did not face disciplinary action and why he did not come up to O'Driscoll after it happened and apologize. And O'Driscoll is demanding an apology from Tana. There are claims that this 'attack' by Tana will be all that this tour is remembered for.

I am stunned at this carry on. Dalaglio was injured in the first match against a provincial team and went off with a broken ankle, but he never blamed anyone, he knew it was just bad luck and that sometimes these things happen in such a physical game. He didn't hold any grudges. Dalaglio's injury was much more serious than O'Driscolls, but the coach wasn't concerned about that one.

So why are the Lions making such a huge fuss about this?

I have to add that the Lions and their illustrious coach must be mad (or just plain stupid) to start making threats of 'getting even' in the next match when they are playing IN THE ALL BLACKS COUNTRY!!! People are getting really frustrated with the Lion's constant whining, and with the attacks on Tana Umaga. We will defend Tana and give him and the rest of the All Blacks our full support, because Tana didn't do anything wrong, and the team that was committing all the dangerous play was the LIONS! The fact that All Blacks didn't come off injured after the dangerous tackles was purely LUCK. O'Driscoll's injury was an accident.

The Lion's need to realise that this is a tough physical game, and if they can't handle that then they should not be playing rugby. Tana's tackle was not deliberately designed to cause in jury to O'Driscoll, it was merely to stop him. (An independent match official reviewed the incident and cleared Umaga of any wrongdoing.) The incessant attacks on Tana in the newspaper have to stop. And the implication that the referee did a poor job also has to stop.

It all smacks of sour grapes from sore losers. AND all of their complaints and attacks have served to do nothing more that make the All Blacks even more determined to win the next match. It will be blatantly obvious in the next match if the Lions are deliberately trying to injure All Black players, and whoever referees that match has, through the media's reports, already been warned to watch out for dirty play.

Lions toughen up!

All Blacks! You have our full support!

(PS The following game resulted in a 48-18 WIN to the All Blacks! The Lions, having complained about the accidental injury to O'Driscoll deliberately stomped on an All Black (Byron Kelleher) in what can only be perceived as an attempted to break his arm. There were a number of deliberate attacks by the Lions...which made them look like very poor sportsmen. However, the All Blacks won the match 'for their captain' and the Rugby Test is now 2-0 to the All Blacks with one match left to play.)

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Cherish Your Dads

My Dad's car was declined a warrant of fitness the other day. It needed a number of mechanical repairs. He is on the pension and whilst he had enough money to cover the costs it did take a chunk out of his savings.

They are proud men, these fathers of ours. I asked him to let me pay for the repairs and he declined. I asked him to let me buy him  another car, and he declined.

So, my challenge now is to find a way to persuade him to either use his car as a trade in and let me get him another one (a bit newer, nicer, with less miles on the clock), or if he simply won't do that, at least let me reimburse him the repair cost.

When I was growing up my parents always looked after me, and when I got my first car my father maintained it (he's an aircraft engineer), and I never paid him or gave him any additional money. It was just who my Dad was, he was this terrific guy who helped me out whenever I needed help.

Now I want to give back, I want to help him out (with, I acknowledge, my husband's help).

Why are our Dad's so proud? How do we get them to accept our money and our help?

I am going to work on him a bit more about letting me buy him another car...because I know he'd get a real kick out of another car. He's 76 years old, and throughout most of my life he changed his car every so often, but now that he is on the pension he can't afford to do that. But for a few thousand dollars I can get him a nice car, nothing too flash (we're not rich folk and he's never been into expensive toys), something that is in good condition, attractive, with low mileage.

He's a bargain hunter, my Dad, and if he is in a supermarket and bread buns, or  lamingtons, or custard squares are on special he'll buy some, and if pavlovas are on special he'll bring one home for dessert. It must be contagious because every time I see madiera cake in the supermarket for $1 I just can't leave it there!

I am really lucky that he lives with us. At 76 years old he has a better social life than I do, but I love the fact that he comes home to a family, not a cold house or apartment. Admittedly he did come home to an empty house for four years because he lived in our house while we lived in Singapore. He did a wonderful job looking after our house and property, and I feel that we owe him...and a car seems small payment. I never liked the thought of him living alone in this big house.

Our parents are special people, and we should seize the opportunities that arise for us to help them. My mother passed away in 1996, she didn't even make it to retirement age. My Dad did, and after his heart attack eight years ago, I know that every additional year is a gift. So, somehow, I will persuade him to let me buy him a  new, modest toy: a car.

He deserves it. He is the most amazing man I have ever known. He's kind, caring, compassionate, and he brings home cream filled lamingtons and pavlovas!

Cherish your Dads, people. Cherish your Dads.

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Support and Encouragement

One of the things that people want in a relationship/marriage is mutual support and encouragement.

It sounds rather simple doesn't it? But it is amazing the number of people who don't feel that they are receiving this support and encouragement. The sad things is that their tendency is to think: Fine, if you're not going to give me any support and encouragement then I won't give you any either!

It doesn't make things better.

Each of us have dreams and goals for this life, and each of us face set backs and let downs on that path. At those times we long for someone to tell us 'Don't you dare give up! I know you can do this. I believe in you, and I want you to get back to work and keep going. You can do this!' But what people often receive is a big fat nothing. No emotional support, no encouragement. These people do, however, tend to work through their disappointment, pick themselves up and try again.

Imagine how much easier it would have been to have had 'someone in your corner'. To those of you who do: you are very lucky indeed.

There are many people who achieve a modicum of success on the way to their goal, and they grasp this success with both hands and let it buoy them up for as long as possible. They share the delight in their success, and--horrors--are not met with the congratulations that they had hoped for. Sometimes they barely receive an acknowledgement. This is gut-wrenchingly painful.

In these cases it is so hard for these people to keep going forward. The tendency, many times, is for them to give up, to quit.

I find it a tragedy that this happens. I find it intensely annoying that people cannot offer each other the support and encouragement that they deserve.

A relationship is not just about love, cooking, cleaning, buying a house, it is about being there for each other, about believing in each other, about supporting each other's dreams and ambitions. It is about pushing your partner to keep going, it is about validating them and their goals.

No path is ever walked alone, and if you can walk that path with someone who believes in you and your dreams, who is there to support, encourage and motivate you, then that path is made easier. If not, then it is a struggle.

But, even if you are struggling, don't give up! Don't quit.

Please support each other. Don't be selfish and ask for everyone to support you without giving that blessing back. Don't expect everyone to believe in you if you don't show that you believe in other people.

Our dreams and goals are important. If they weren't, we wouldn't have them.

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Rewards

I have been submitting articles a lot lately, all in dedication to The Challenge.

Every week I have to write something new and submit it somewhere. The purpose is to write and submit, because that part is in my hands. Whether these articles are accepted by the editor is not in my hands--though I do the best work I can in these articles.

What has delighted me, thrilled me, enthralled me, is the success rate!

My intent behind the writing of every article is to get it published and earn my living as a writer...and would you believe that I am doing just that!

Yes, I am working really hard, whilst still taking care of all parental and household responsibilities. Strict work hours are observed and I am in the office at the end of the house with a large mug of tea, toiling away at my laptop.

Another startling revelation has been the type of articles I am having success with. I took a simple idea, frustration about the squashed toothpaste tube and worked up an article, submitted it, and...wow, the editor loved it! Not only did I get to play around with an idea and produce something completely unique, but it's going to be published. I've had articles accepted in New Zealand and Singapore, as I am really keen to keep that Singapore connection going.

Writing has always been my dream and I have worked consistently to get to this point of believing in my work. I admit that there have been some people whose faith in me has truly been a blessing. They have pushed me, guided me and helped me to believe in my ability as a writer. I owe them a huge debt.

Sometimes we have to keep on chasing our dreams, no matter how far ahead they seem, because, believe me, we do gain on them...so long as we don't give up the pursuit! I have chased this dream for years, and it is beginning to pay off, it is just about within reach. I know I am not there yet, not yet at that goal I have set for myself, but I am getting damn close.

Whatever your dreams are, don't give up the chase! If I can do this, so can you. Just stick to it. Keep the goal in mind. Work towards it. Don't listen to people who don't think you can do it, listen only to those who do. Learn, grow, evolve in your chosen direction.

The example we should set for our children is: if you have a dream, chase it down! Grab it! Live it!

Let us never teach our children to give up, let us never show them that if you fail a few times, give up. Let us teach them commitment, passion and work! Let us teach them to take all the steps necessary to bring their goal into their grasp.

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The Happy Balanced Middle

How do we find the happy balanced middle line?

For four years my children attended the Australian International School in Singapore, where they had to work pretty hard. There were always assignments that needed to be completed on top of the other homework. But there were only one or two incidents during that time where they seemed to be a bit snowed under. They coped well, they thrived, they learned, and they produced some damn good work that they were proud of. They developed into amazing people.

Then we returned to New Zealand (where politicians had decided to revamp the education system a few years ago), and my children had to find their feet again. They have gone from lots of homework and assignments to practically none! Some of their class mates think they have too much homework, but compared to the homework my children had to carry in Singapore their current workload is a 'walk in the park'.

Naturally it makes me wonder where the happy balance lies? How much is too much? How much is not enough?

Or am I missing the valid point that my children are exactly where they are meant to be, doing exactly what they are meant to be doing? Am I allowing my third dimensional worldly thinking to get in the way of what I, deep in my heart, know?

My children developed great work ethics in Singapore, and perhaps my role is to simply encourage them to keep up that ethic, because if they do, they will sail through school. Perhaps this is a time for them to be social, to develop long lasting friendships and have some fun. Academic life needs to be balanced with social life.

In Singapore friends came and went as their parents moved on to another country or back to their homeland. Here in New Zealand friends don't tend to leave with the same rapidity.

That means that our life here in New Zealand is more stable. Singapore was never going to be 'for ever' for us, because the children would inevitably attend university back in New Zealand (should they want to go to university), so it was a limbo sort of life. In New Zealand we have stability, we can sink our roots deep. And that is why we are here.

A life with the roots sunk deep is far different to a life in limbo.

Is there a happy balance middle? There is only 'where we are at this moment', and the judgment of what is balanced and what is the middle is made only through our own experiences.

Sometimes, in order to understand why we are where we are, we have to take a step back, and look at our life, or the lives of our children differently.

We are where we are meant to be.

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The Challenge

Yes, the challenge has been set: to write at least one article each week and submit it for publication, and also to write something new for my website each week.

The challenge can not be contingent upon another person's interaction or co-operation, hence the 'submit for publication' rather that 'get articles published'.

Ideally I would love to submit more than just a few articles for publication each week, but some articles take longer to write than others. For example I just completed a series of four articles about expats, which I have submitted to a magazine. The series took me longer to write as I wanted to complete each one and ensure a follow on from topic to topic.

My website unfortunately does sometimes lay un-updated for a few weeks at a time, and I am pleased to now discipline myself to 'get over that'. Initially my plan was to have a new article (journal entry) and channeled teaching put on the website every week, but then I took on longer writing projects (or life became increasingly chaotic) and the plan fell by the wayside.

So, I am pleased to have this challenge. It will assist me in realizing how much time I waste on tasks that are not leading me forwards in my writing and teaching career. It is so easy to get side-tracked.

Sometimes we need a challenge to be set, even for three months (as this one is) so that we can push ourselves harder, and have a clearer vision of what we want to have achieved at the end of that period of time. What I am now understanding is the necessity of smaller goals.

My BIG goal is to be a published novelist and successful freelance writer as well as a spiritual teacher. But that is a large goal, and is very dependent on publishers, editors, and good old inspiration. However, if I break down my goal into edible portions, and choose to submit one article a week for three months, then perhaps some of those will be published. If I can update my website every week, then perhaps I can 'reach' more people. I can set a three month plan and have the idea and vision in my mind of where I hope to be at the end of those three months, whereas the BIG goal is so large and powerful and booming that I can barely imagine being at the end of that one!

Internet research. Fluffing around with emails. Sitting starting at a screen. Choosing to work on an article that is going nowhere. Persisting working on an article that needs to be ripped to bits, and completely rewritten from a new perspective. These are the things that stand as a wall between me and the BIG goals. The small challenge of 3 months at a time breaks that wall down into steps that can be easily managed.

It's like training for a martial arts black belt. To stand as a white belt in a room full of senior grades and think 'I want to be a black belt' is daunting. But, when that journey is broken down into steps, into belt ranks that you CAN achieve, one at a time, then that ultimate goal becomes achievable. You don't focus on the black belt, you focus on the next grading for the next belt ranking, the next step.

Sometimes we set goals that are too large and too vague. For example, the common one: I want to be a millionaire by the time I'm 40 years old. Fine, but HOW do you plan on achieving that? What steps are you putting in place? Think about achieving that first step of $10,000 saved/invested and then think about how you are going to achieve that next $10,000. Before you know it you will be looking at the next $100,000, and then the next. But you will not get even as far as $10,000 if you don't put the steps into place.

Like I said, I am really pleased to have this challenge set before me.

Can you set a challenge for yourself, for 3 months or even just one month? You just might surprise yourself!

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Going Back

You know, it's a heck of a lot harder to go back home than I thought.

As an expat, for four years in Singapore, I looked upon the day we would eventually go back to New Zealand as the day I would pick up my NZ life and move on with it.

Well, I moved back...and I didn't fit--still don't.

I used to have an easy fit with my friends. And when I came back on holiday I thought that easy fit was still there. But there is a big difference between visiting and having people make the time to catch up, and living here and being available for catch up when it was convenient.

I have some friends I have not seen since I got back almost 4 months ago. Off the radar? Honey, I'm nowhere near the screen at all. Funny thing is: I don't care.

Friends have moved forward and on with their lives becoming so different to the people I once knew. Whilst I relish the opportunity to get to know them all over again, I know that there may be a friendship or two that has fallen by the wayside.

There are, of course, some friends who have become closer over the years I have been away, and I look forward to nurturing those friendships.

To have to rebuild friendships was not something I expected. I thought I would be coming back to what I once had...I was so wrong. There is no going back, only a moving forward.

I not only have to rediscover the people I knew, but I need to make new friends, friends that reflect how I have changed and who will help me to develop a new life here.

I still don't feel that I fit, but I am getting there. Four years hiding away in an apartment in Singapore, is so different to New Zealand where a more social life is expected--something I don't think I am ready for.

It doesn't help that I went to Singapore with a goal: work hard on my writing. And as far as I am concerned that is still the goal.

People might look at me and say I need to get out and have some fun, but this time at the laptop, and time with my family IS FUN. My Dad lives with us, my kids are just gorgeous, we have a budgie and two adorable kittens....I don't need any more. Anything else is extra, like icing on a cake, unnecessary, but really nice.

Writing is something that brings me true satisfaction, right down to the depths of my Soul....and that is something that has not changed.

But the friendships? They need rebuilding. Both my friends and I need to figure out how we have changed and how we now fit--or even if we fit at all.

I didn't move back, I moved on to a new life, a life that is still revealing itself.

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It's Good to be Home

It's been an interesting experience to move from Singapore back to New Zealand. I thought it would just be 'going home', but the reality has proved to be far different.

We didn't move back to the life we knew in New Zealand, we have moved on to a whole new life. Friends that I rushed to catch up with in June/July now have their own commitments and jobs which come before catching up with a friend who now lives here. Understandable, and exactly as it should be. As much as I longed for things to 'be the way they were' I have had to concede that none of us are the same people we were back in 2000 when I moved away. For as long as I wished for the past I obstructed my future. When I let go of that past I was able to look ahead and realize that the light ahead of me was where I was supposed to be going. Whether I traveled alone or with others was beside the point, the direction was 'thataway!'

Now that I have begun to move ahead I find that things are unfolding.

As a freelance writer I have a busy year ahead of me, with the exciting opportunity of writing for new markets, delving into new areas and continuing to work on my novels. The work commitment is high, but as a parent I know that when my children come home from school I have to make the switch from writer to mother. To do otherwise would be telling my children, you are second to my work...and to be honest, they come before everything.

When I lived in Singapore I was always aware of the energy around me and the particles of I AM Light that danced through the sunlight. It was a delightful surprise to find that the particles of I AM Light dancing through the sunlight in New Zealand was greater and faster. There truly is a difference in the energy between these two lands, and perhaps that was why I always felt so 'at home', so 'where I am meant to be; when I was in New Zealand, and so uncomfortable when I was in Singapore. The two lands are completely different.

We could have moved anywhere, but the fact that all fell into place to move us back to New Zealand means that this is indeed where we are meant to be...though I truly do miss Singapore. And my children miss their school there and we all miss the high quality of education they received there. (Not to criticize New Zealand, but the quality and level of education here is almost exactly what it was twenty five years ago, whilst technology and computers have utterly changed the workplace, which was a truth addressed by the school they attended in Singapore through the choice of subjects they offered.)

Yes, New Zealand is more relaxed, and yes we are loving the weather, the ease of life, and are delighted with the kitten and the budgie who have joined our family...but we still miss many aspects of Singapore.

Must admit though, I am certainly enjoying having my own car and sharing the road with people who know how to drive a car!

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Those fabulous pamphlets!

Face it, whenever we go shopping (on Orchard Road, Singapore) we have flyers and pamphlets thrust in our face or our hands on an almost monotonous basis.

As a general rule I accept the pamphlet because I imagine that handing them out  is an incredibly boring job that doesn’t pay well, so accepting the pamphlet, with a thank you, is just my way of showing these people the respect they deserve.

But, the other day I accepted one, said thank you, walked on, with my daughter, then halted mid step.

“Vaginitis!” I looked at my daughter, horrified. “She just gave me a brochure for vaginitis!”

 “What’s that?” my daughter asked.

“Vaginal infection!” I replied.

 “Oh,” she said.

“Was I walking funny?” I asked her. “Do I look like I have some horrible vaginal infection?”

My daughter shrugged.

We continued with our mother and daughter clothes shopping expedition—and I paid particular attention to the way I walked.

I was too embarrassed to walk back to the lady, return the brochure and say ‘no thanks, I’m fine, but so sweet of you to be concerned about the state of my vaginal health.”

I mean, come on, it must surely be the most embarrassing pamphlet in the world to have to give out, right up there with pamphlets on sexual dysfunction and impotence—but I suppose those pamphlets are due to be issued next week.

I couldn’t help but wonder if she selected who to give the brochure to. Did she stand there trying to imagine, by a woman’s walk, or the look on her face, whether she might be in dire need of the vital information within the pamphlet? Or did she just try to give them to every woman who passed by?

My daughter said “At least she didn’t give you one on weight loss,” and I swear she tried so hard not to laugh. We had already discovered, on this shopping expedition, that on the Singapore measurement scale my rear end was an XXXL—that’s why I buy trousers in New Zealand where I am a size twelve, thank you very much.

The next day, out shopping for computer parts with my teenage son, we were handed a flyer on learning to speak and write English. I paused, mid step, and looked at my son. “You know,” I said to him, “we’re clearly expats, clearly from some kind of Western country, don’t they think that, just maybe, there is a damn good chance that we already do speak English?”

Perhaps I should have edited it, corrected the grammar and handed it back!

What I don’t understand is the regularity with which we have these ‘speak and read English’ pamphlets thrust at us. Did they not hear us speaking as we approached them, did they not realise we were speaking English, did the polite ‘thank you’ as I accepted the brochure not imply, on some remote level, that I already speak English! Then again, I don’t suppose they spoke English themselves.

Handing out pamphlets is a thankless job, and often those that are handed out at the bottom or an escalator lie strewn across the floor at the top of the escalator—to the point where I often want to make the offer, “Look, to save yourself standing here all day, how about I take half the pile, go up to the top there and just throw them over the ground, because we both know they’re going to end up there anyway,”…but then again, they would probably just stare at me, blankly, and hand me a ‘speak and write English brochure’.

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Homeward Bound

It is time to go home.

We have lived in Singapore for four years, and we have truly enjoyed our time here. I have watched my children grow, thrive and discover their talents, and we have rejoiced in everything that Singapore has to offer...whilst laughing and joking about the bizarre side of Singapore life.

But it is now time to leave. I guess you could say that having seen the reality of life in Singapore, there really is no place like home.

Singapore is a pressure cooker society. New Zealand on the other hand values life and relaxation and we are practical people. Singapore is densely populated. New Zealand is spacious.

Life here is not something I would recommend to everyone. To survive here as an expat you either have to have a job or something else to fulfill you. For me it has been four glorious years of writing while the children were at school, and I have loved every minute of it.

Now I am looking forward to moving on to a new life in New Zealand. To living in my own house, to cooking in a spacious and delightful kitchen. To driving my own car to the supermarket. To having time with family and friends, instead of the snatched visits during our one month visit in June.

December 16th, we fly home. Already I can feel a sense of freedom, and I am impatient to 'have a life' again, instead of this four year sense of 'living in limbo'. When you live in another country, and you know you are there for a limited period of time, you never really settle, and in many ways our apartment has felt like a 3 star hotel for four years.

I'm tired of my life feeling half lived, and when I get back to New Zealand I am going to LIVE FULLY in everything I do!

Look out New Zealand! She's coming home

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Penang Island

Penang Island is stunning. And so was the view from our hotel room. For once the family units were not confined to the back of the hotel overlooking the road.

See? Isn't that spectacular?

The funny thing about our room was the condensation. I assume that the family units are not occupied as often as the smaller units, hence whilst this room had been unused and un-airconditioned, the rooms around it were used and airconditioned. This meant that the room inside was warm, but the rooms that shared those walls were cold, hence the condensation that formed on the walls and the air-con duct across the ceiling. Condensation dripped off the ducts and trickled down the walls until the air-con in the room had been on long enough to chill the walls and ceiling down as much as the adjacent rooms.

Anyway, the room was gorgeous. Huge double bed and two singles, great bathroom, and the usual delicious fluffy white towels.

We arrived in Penang from Ipoh, in my brother-in-law's car (which we always borrow when we make a trip to Ipoh). So a drive around the island is a tradition. There's something humbling about visiting the small townships over the island, and stopping for a cup of tea. We have stopped at the same food shop since 1984 (though back then we did not have children).

Another tradition is that I only ever swim in Penang. My children, bless their little hearts, are always quick to remind me that I have to get up early the next morning and go swimming with them. You see, we just have to be up at 6.30 a.m., or earlier and beat everyone else to the pool. Last year the weather was appalling and it was cold and it was raining, but they still made me go in the pool--they thought it was funny.

After the swim we take a walk along the shore, enjoying the view, the breeze, and the scent of the ocean.

The hotel belt has a fabulous shoreline, where all rubbish and fallen leaves etc are cleaned up by the hotel cleaners, but even when we were up before the cleaners, the beach was still perfectly clean--except for those five or six scary bluebottle jellyfish washing up dead on the shore or caught in the waves.

Dining in Penang provides for all tastes. You can eat in your hotel, or you can venture to the local food markets.

At night you can stay in your hotel, listen to the live band, drink, eat, sit out under the sky, retire to your room to watch television, or you can visit the night markets which open after sunset. The movie DVDs aren't exactly legal, but then again, neither are the 'brand name' watches and pens. It's fun just to wander round.

Leave your job stresses behind when you visit Penang. This is no place for stress and worry, this is a place for relaxation.

Penang Island is my favourite place in Malaysia.
 

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