Last Day in Kuala Lumpur

Having not learnt by our experiences, Caroline and I decided to trek around some of the historic areas of Kuala Lumpur. So we took a train to KL Sentral which is just a short walk from the Malaysian National Museum. This was a fascinating place for me, mainly because I have such little knowledge of Malaysian and Asian history. Charting history back 200000 years, the museum tells the story of the development of Malaysia through it's various stages. The story is fascinating and whets the appetite for further study.

 Malaysian National Museum

Plenty of interesting exhibits like this fishing boat.
We then walked around the Planetarium towards the National Mosque. Unfortunately the great Mosque was closed to non-Muslims for the day, but there is still a sense of grandeur from the outside. Across from the Mosque is the KTM building and the Old KL Railway Station, both examples of nineteenth century architecture tinged with Middle Eastern and Indian influences. At this point the weather caught up with both Caroline and I and we ducked into Central market for refreshment and a rest.

 Muslim's only at the National Mosque

 The National Mosque is huge.

 KTM Building
After a rest we were able to walk a couple of blocks down to Masjid Jamek with it's amazing Mosque. This was open to the public, but strict islamic dress codes were required for entry. Caroline donned headscarf and gown to cover herself, but I wasn't prepared to do that and stayed outside. That just left us with a quiet evening in Kuala Lumpur before heading back the following day.

 Masjid Jamek

Caroline wears gown and headscarf to enter Masjid Jamek
The trip back to Melbourne was fairly eventful. There were no problems from the hotel to plane, but the fun began as we neared Melbourne. First, the estimated arrival time hadn't taken into account daylight savings time, so instead of landing 11.30pm, we actually landed at 12.30am. Then it took 45 minutes to disembark the plane due to the crew being unable to open the door. There was some talk of sick people needing to be checked upon by Melbourne health staff, but I'm guessing this was a smokescreen for the faulty door. Anyway, after that, things went pretty smoothly but we still didn't get home until well after 2am. Thankfully I didn't start work until 1pm the next day!

Stopover in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur

 The Petronas Towers Kuala Lumpur

I arrived late afternoon after a good flight. The service on my Air Asia flight was excellent and I had an empty seat next to me making things that little bit more comfortable. Getting from the plane to a taxi was a breeze (customs and baggage was quick) and the ride to KL was easy enough besides the distance (an hour). It was only the last mile that was really busy, and this added a half hour to the journey.

The hotel I'm staying in is very close to the Petronas Towers (the largest twin tower blocks in the world) and after meeting with Caroline we took a short walk around the towers. However, I was pretty tired after the 12-hour flight, so we went to bed early.

 KL Central Market

Chinatown
The first full day started early with breakfast in the hotel and then a train ride to Pasar Seni and a walk around Central Market and Chinatown. The market goes back to the 1880's and has been redeveloped a few times, while in the 1970's a heritage group had to save the market from being demolished. Both Chinatown and the market are amazing, but quite in your face, though great for some time out. Back to the hotel in the afternoon and then a walk around the Golden Triangle district of KL. Navigation around KL is accomplished by moving from hotel to hotel, and looking up for landmark tall buildings. Pedestrians need to use the crossings because driving is mad here. For anyone who has been to Europe, imagine everyone driving around Paris on amphetamines. I have no idea how many lanes there are and I think that it's insignificant in the mind of the average Malaysian driver!

Day 2

Early morning and it's hot, hotter than yesterday. Caroline has her cmera ready for some good quality photo's and after breakfast we took a walk around the Petronas Towers towards Bukit Bintang. The walk was draining in the oppressive heat and humidity. We wait for some repreieve from the stifling weather as thunderstorms are forecast for the afternoon. A drink was needed so we stopped at U-Cafe below the labyrinthine Sengei Wang shopping centre. The Segafredo coffee they served was the best I've had since leaving Melbourne, full bodied and with a delicate flavour.

 Try U-Cafe for a good coffee

Lemon and Mint, a most refreshing drink

We walked around Sengei Wang, all 6 floors, which is a shoppers paradise and a cool haven on a hot day. But at last it was time to venture forth so bolstered by a lemon and mint real fruit drink (an absolutely fantastic combination, one of the most refreshing drinks I've ever had) we walked in the general direction of the KL Tower. Even so, the heat and humidity was too much and we had to duck into another mall along the way (this was about full time in the Grand Final Replay, c'mon Saints). Some excitement along the way was a police escorted cavalcade with someone obviously important in the convoy (no numberplate on the main car). I didn't get a photo, I didn't dare the way the police were eyeballing everyone.

 The KL Tower

 Carl and Caroline and the Petronas Towers

A Day Trip to Oxford

I've never spent that much time in Oxford before, and was very pleased to be meeting some friends there. I was there about an hour early so went for a bit of a walk around the centre. There are some great old buildings with a rich history going back perhaps 1200 years. Besides the amazing University buildings, the museums and town houses, Oxford has a rich political and econmic history. Charles the first was based in Oxford for some time during the English Civil War of the 1640's, and of course, the Oxford Movement has recently been high in the British news as the Pope beatified John Henry Newman in his visit here last week. I met with some friends in a pub called The Jude the Obscure, named after the character from the Thomas Hardy book who perhaps may be described as the most tragic in the history of the novel.

 Old meets new in Oxford

 Bodleian Library

 Behind the Bodleian Library

 St Giles

 Ashmolean Museum

 Jude The Obscure

Oxford Castle

Trip to England Part 7: Stratford upon Avon

Royal Shakespeare Theatre, from across the River Avon

The Birthplace of the great William Shakespeare.
An early start, partly to have a full day and partly so no one would see me driving, was needed for the 2 hours drive to Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford upon Avon. It was a very pleasane drive (actually, the whole manual driving thingy is coming back to me) through Newbury, across the Chiltern Hills, skirting Oxford and then on to Stratford. Not a lot had changed along the way and the journey was uneventful, though the speed of driving was a bit worying in places, especially the M40, where I was cut up by a transit van (nothing new happening there then).

The top of historic Sheep Street with the Town Hall at the far end.

Straford upon Avon is a beautiful old town brought to fame as the birthplace of the great bard William Shakespeare. As a result, theatre is the main trade of Stratford. There are a number of theatres around the town as well as references to famous actots. There are also links to historical figures around the town and surrounding countryside. Today I took a drive to nearby Edgehill, the scene of the first battle in the English Civil War of the 1640's.

The Garrick Inn. Shakespeare is not the only famous name remembered in Stratford.

The town itself is packed with historical buildings as well as modern architecture. Today I was lucky enough to be around at the same time as the food festival which closed many of the streets around Stratford. I was also lucky to see a group of people I hadn't seen in over 5 years. And yet again, like with my family, we just took things up as if it had been a few days. Friendship is something that doesn't need constant work, it transverses time and distance, and I am very lucky to have known so many great people over the years.

 Is your town library as beautiful as this?

 The Dirty Duck/Black Swan. Possibly the most famous pub in Stratford and within sight of the RST.

 The natural wonders are also a hit with tourists and locals, like this mute swan.

Basingstoke Chess Club

If you search a little there are some surprising things you can find out about Basingstoke. For instance, most people think of Basingstoke as a New Town mainly due to expansion in the 1950's and 1960's where a mass of London overspill moved to the town. But you can go back further than that. Thomas Hardy included Basingstoke in his Wessex in the 1870's-1890's. Nearby Basing House saw a battle in the English Civil War in the 1640's. And Basingstoke is even mentioned in Domesday Book of the 11th Century. In fact settlement perdates even that, with Roman roads running close to the ancient market town, and the remains of an even earlier iron age fort which gives testament to pre-Roman settlements in the region around the 6th Century BC.

Likewise, I was surprised to find that Basingstoke Chess Club is over 100 years old, established in 1898. It has had both up's and down's as a club (I suppose like most clubs) with varying membership numbers, though a constant group exist at the club and that ensures it's survival. Core members like Roy Ashmore (a pretty good bridge player as well), John Shaddick, and Joe French (his junior initiatives over the past 25 years have ensured that new blood keeps coming throught he doors at Basingstoke Chess Club) give the club a sense of continuity, while newer members such as Peter Beldaus (sorry Peter if you don't feel that new, I've not been at the club regularly for about 25 years!) continue the tradition of friendliness and openness that has been a part of the club since as long as I can remember.

Last night was a skittles night with the season in England only just starting here, after the summer holidays. Teams have to be arranged, memberships collected etc and players need to start finding a bit of form after the summer lay-off.

From the front, Basingstoke Chess and Bridge Club looks like an ordinary Edwardian house.

The extension on the back gives great playing facilities.

Holy Ghost Church on Sherbourne Road, the same street as Basingstoke Chess Club. The Chapel of Holy Ghost has been traced back to the 1200's, though I couldn't tell you when this present church was built.

Finally a couple of games, as best I can remember them :)

Trip to England Part 6: Basingstoke

Ok, not many people will know of Basingstoke, especially in Australia. Some claims to fame are that it was mentioned in Thomas Hardy's novels in the 1870's-1890's, Monty Python took the piss out of it as the most boring place in the World with lots of roundabouts (this is before Milton Keynes was developed), Ruth Ellis (the last woman hanged in England) and Tanita Tikaram both hale from Basingstoke.

The Lamb is the nearest pub to Queen Mary's College

After a fairly quiet morning where I drove my Mum for her health check up and then acted as chauffeur/packhorse on her weekly big shop I decided to take a slow walk to Basingstoke Town Centre. I walked past my old 6th form college, Queen Mary's (back in the days of class streaming, in elitist England, the most qualified bright sparks from all the local schools were herded together in a 6th form college and allowed a further 2 years of skiving, before they would hopefully move on to their 3 years of university indolence!). There had been quite some building and huge growth of flora around the college obscuring it from the main street, though I doubt it would have changed much.


Basingstoke is a town of old and new. Approaching the town from the south you can walk through the Memorial Park which was originally designed in the 1700's for Goldings House which no longer stands. The Southern end of the town retains a lot of its 'older' nature. Then you work your way down to the Malls which are totally modern. Completely covered, it's soul less American shopping. However, you don't have to travel far from the Malls in any direction to find the historical, or more traditional, aspects of the town.

Focal Point in the Memorial Park

The bird cage is another focal point of the Memorial Park

I then took a wander towards the cinema which now has a number of bars, restaurants and fast food places close by called Festival Place. I went into a place called Giraffe and the service was excellent, very friendly and laid back. Unfortunately, the coffee wasn't too good (it had an American filter coffee vibe), but it was a lot better than the stuff that Costa (supposedly a continental style coffee chain) served which I shall just term "indescribable". Actually I quite liked it in Giraffe, the staff's friendliness more than making up for the slightly inferior cup of coffee.

The White Hart Pub at the Northern end of the Memorial Park

St Michael's Church, a stone's throw from the Malls, and probably about 500 years old.

Trip to England Part 5: Driving and the Olympiad.

Today and to some extent tomorrow, will be fairly quiet days in Basingstoke, where I’ll be helping out my parents a bit. For instance, my Dad had a hospital check up today, and I drove him there. Now this might not sound like much to most of you, but the fact that my parents have a small manual geared car, whereas I’m used to a medium to large automatic made the episode quite a challenge. It really is unbelievable how much I’ve forgotten about driving manual cars, something that I learned when I was in England and used to be able to do without much thought. I now had to focus on using 2 feet to drive, using a clutch, finding the biting point and remembering the gear ratios. I am not a great lover of cars, like some people, so making driving easier would be high on my list of priorities in a car. Therefore, I would almost always choose an automatic to a geared car.

Tomorrow it is my Mum’s turn for a check up, so I’ll be a reluctant chauffeur again. I’ll also be heading to Basingstoke Chess Club tomorrow night which will be another blast from the past. I will also be spending some time following the fortunes of various teams at the Chess Olympiad, which started for real today. I will, of course, be checking out the English and Australian teams, the fortunes of the top teams, and my friend Jamie Kenmure who is captain of the Palau team. (Saying that, I don't see them on the start list so I'm not sure what has happened there.)

Today, most of my time watching the event was on board 1 game 1, first to see the top seeds in action, but then watching a fascinating battle between a much lower rated opponent trying to hang on to his super-GM opponent. Sam Collins used the Chebanenko Slav against Grischuk and got a solid but passive position. In the end, Grischuk could find no way through, and Sam Collins drew the game of his life. This was great for the underestimated Irish team, and as Sam Collins is a contributor to the excellent daily newspaper edited by GM's Baburin and Golubev, Chess Today, which I subscribe to, I hope to have some great material in the coming editions.

I’m going to spend some time looking through some games tonight and tomorrow. I downloaded a file of games from TWIC but it seems a bit corrupted. For example, one game is Kett (Georgia) beating Harikrishna (Thailand). In fact, Harikrishna of India beat Kett of Wales. There are also a number of part games where presumably the transmission has not been completed. But young Australian Grandmaster David Smerdon started in great style. And this helped the Australian’s to a maximum 4-0 win in the first round putting them half a point ahead of England, and Russia 1!