Walking at 10am

January 5, 2016November 21, 2016Leave a comment

I set off to walk around the Orakei basin at 10am today. It was such a pleasure, not only to be in such a beautiful place, but also to walk comfortably for an hour at that time of the day. If I walked in Ipoh in the late morning, I would collapse into a puddle of perspiration after half an hour! We are spoilt for choice when it comes to walkways in Auckland. There are so many dedicated footpaths in green spaces, usually with wonderful views and populated by large numbers of birds. This morning I enjoyed the views of the city dominated by the Sky Tower and the green slopes of Mount Hobson and Mount St John. I loved walking among the trees and watching the shags drying their wings while perched on a tree stump over the water.

Rainy January 1st

December 31, 2015Leave a comment

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Happy New Year. The first day of 2016 is windy and rainy here in Auckland. But up till now we’ve enjoyed sparkling days. This photo was taken from the walkway near Takapuna beach on one such day last week – blue skies and sea contrasting wonderfully with the clouds and blooming pohutukawa. We love being home no matter what the weather’s like and the golden days will return. Hope 2016 is a great year for all of you.

Raglan lookout

December 28, 2015Leave a comment

This is the view of Ngarunui beach from the lookout in the Bryant Memorial Reserve at Raglan. I think it may be my favourite spot in the whole world. Twice last week I walked up the hill from Manu Bay, stopping often to watch the tui (and once a huge kereru preening itself on an exposed branch). After pausing at the bench overlooking the surf break, I walked down the steps, along the path shaded by tall ferns and onto the lookout platform. Sitting in the warm summer sun, listening to the waves breaking on the rocks far below and watching the surfers, the boaties and the birds is idyllic. I don’t think I would ever tire of it even if I went there every week. As it is, I get only there about twice a year now and it is all the more special because of the long break between visits.

Home for the summer

December 13, 20151 Comment

Pohutukawa, black beach sand, waves breaking off the point, lamb on the barbecue, sauvignon blanc in the fridge. We are going home for the summer! After completing our second year in Ipoh, we’re ready for a Kiwi Christmas and spending time with our girls, our family and our friends. Only two more sleeps!

Churches in Old Goa

December 9, 2015March 7, 2016Leave a comment

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Sé Cathedral is the largest church in Asia and is only one of numerous churches in Old Goa. It is a magnificent structure and must have been truly spectacular when the interior was still richly decorated and not white-washed as it is now. The remaining bell tower (the other one having been struck by lightning) houses the huge bell, which once tolled during the unspeakable autos-da-fe held during the Inquisition in this outpost of the Portuguese empire. Those are distant memories for the hundreds of Indian Catholics who were attending mass at the nearby (and wonderfully named) Basilica of Bom Jesus the day we visited. This was in preparation for the feast of St Francis Xavier, whose “incorrupt” body is kept in this church. We had a fascinating morning visiting some of the churches and museums as well as the Viceroy’s Arch with its commemoration of Vasco da Gama.

Goa

December 4, 2015December 9, 2015Leave a comment

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It is well known that cows are sacred in India. What I hadn’t known before we went to Goa was that they love the beach. We spent a couple of nights at Agonda beach in the southern part of Goa and both mornings I got up early to enjoy the cool of the beach before the sun came up. So did the cows. They meandered along in a herd and then plonked themselves down in the sand near the waters edge, quietly chewing the cud and gazing into the distance. They are such peaceful animals. The only drawback is that when they eventually take themselves off, there are piles of dung all over the sand. We enjoyed a couple of days’ rest beside the Arabian sea but Agonda is not the unspoiled paradise trumpeted by the guidebooks. There was a noisy building site right next to our cottage! For quiet, deserted beaches I recommend New Zealand – we’ll be there very soon.

Do not fly Air Asia ever!

December 1, 2015September 8, 20161 Comment

Warning Sign

Today’s report on the causes of the crash of flight QZ8501 last December in which 162 people died clinches this decision for me (see The Guardian article http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/01/airasia-crew-actions-caused-jet-to-lose-control-say-crash-investigators). A cracked solder joint malfunctioned four times during the flight and 23 times in the previous year. The flight crew disengaged the autopilot and then could not rectify the fault or cope with the stall the aircraft went into. The weather had nothing to do with the crash.

Even before I read this, I had decided not to fly Air Asia ever again. We were booked on a flight from KL to Lombok on 7 November. We were finishing our packing prior to the two-hour drive to KLIA2, when we got a text message saying the flight was cancelled due to volcanic ash. I immediately phoned our hotel on Lombok to let them know and the hotel owner said the airport was open – he knew this because he had just returned after seeing his wife off on a Singapore Airlines flight.

You cannot phone Air Asia. The only forms of communication are an e-form (I have sent numerous emails this way and have never received a response) and Live Chat (which almost always comes up with the message “We are experiencing a high volume of chats. Please try again later. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.”) No surprise either that the insurance Air Asia sells you does not cover flights they have cancelled.

After badgering them for days, I finally got this response from an Air Asia representative:
Please be inform we already escalate your case to the respective department for investigation process.
We are really apologize for any inconvenienced to you and your family .

Then I managed to get on a Live Chat after waiting in front of my laptop for over an hour to find out what “the respective department” means and how the investigation is proceeding. That gave me a case number and an undertaking to email “the respective department” for an urgent reply. But I’m not holding my breath.

We’ve just been to India and were booked to return on an Air Asia flight from Goa to KL by the company. When we checked in, the desk attendant told us that our pre-booked seats were not reclinable and we would have to pay 450 rupees each to get seats that reclined. This is another Air Asia scam – cheap flights that include nothing and everything you add (even your seats it would seem!) adds to the cost. It is cheaper to fly a non-budget airline where the price you are quoted covers your seat, your luggage, your in-flight entertainment and your refreshments.

When we went to another desk to pay for our reclinable seats, the attendant there said he could give us much better seats for no extra cost. We were reluctant to believe him but he persuaded us and changed our boarding passes. When we eventually got onto the plane (surprise, surprise! The flight was delayed by over an hour) we realised why. It was an almost empty flight and most people got three seats to themselves. Why then were we told to pay for better seats?

An update to this warning (29 July 2016):

Air Asia plane drifts into a Jet Star plane’s flight path:
http://www.smh.com.au/business/aviation/airasia-and-jetstar-flights-narrowly-avoid-collision-at-gold-coast-airport-20160728-gqg752.html

Another update (5 September 2016):

Reported in the New Zealand Herald today:
“AirAsia X will drop the use of pre-selected ‘opt-out’ services and change how it discloses processing fees when selling airline tickets online after being issued with a formal warning by the Commerce Commission.
The censure was issued over AirAsia X’s flights from Auckland to the Gold Coast , when the airline’s advertised price for the flights didn’t include a pre-selected checked baggage allowance and charged an unavoidable ‘processing fee’.”
(http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11703852)

No such restrictions on Air Asia in Malaysia though! Your “cheap” flight ends up costing almost as much as other airlines. Be warned!

Yet another update (8 September 2016):

I guess I could update you on Air Asia horror stories almost every week! Here’s another. An Air Asia flight departing Sydney bound for Kuala Lumpur ended up in Melbourne. Pilot error – typed in the wrong coordinates and then didn’t correct this despite numerous opportunities to do so.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/sep/07/airasia-pilot-flies-melbourne-malaysia-navigation-error

Mumbai

November 30, 2015December 9, 20152 Comments

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While Jim was working, I took an all-day tour of chaotic Mumbai, home to 22 million people. Like a latter-day memsahib, I was driven around in an air-conditioned hotel car under the expert care of Sunil. He dealt with the manic traffic calmly and efficiently, dropping and fetching me from various sites around the city. I could never have seen so much without his help. I saw everything I expected – filthy children playing in the street, wandering cows, teeming pavements lined with stalls and tiny shops, all kinds of vehicles from hand-carts to overloaded buses sharing the same inadequate roads, people sorting through piles of rubbish, homes ranging from plastic-covered shacks to mansions on Malabar Hill. I visited several museums including the beautiful Dr Bhau Daji museum and Gandhi’s Mani Bhavan. I gawped at the magnificent colonial buildings – the Victoria Terminus, the Gateway to India and the Taj Mahal hotel. A drive along the waterfront revealed what an oasis this is for Mumbaikars. I snapped this photo along the Bandra Promenade, where Indian film stars are immortalised in full-size bronze statues sitting on benches. I enjoyed every minute of my day in Mumbai and would love to visit it again.

India

November 23, 2015December 9, 20153 Comments

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We’re in Hyderabad. Yesterday we took a private tour, which meant a friendly, well-informed tour guide with impeccable English, a driver so good-looking he belongs in a Bollywood movie and an air-conditioned car. The photo above is of the clock tower in the beautiful Chowmahalla Palace built in the 18th and 19th centuries by the nizams, a Muslim dynasty that ruled the area from 1724. They were fabulously wealthy mostly due to the diamond trade. We also went to the impressive ruins of the Golconda Fort that date from the 16th century, when it was developed by the Qutb Shahs on the commanding site that had been used for at least three centuries before that. From there we went to view the magnificent domed tombs of the Qutb Shahs. Seven of the eight rulers from that dynasty are buried here. As impressive as all these sites were, perhaps more interesting were the glimpses of daily life in the old city that we got while driving through the narrow streets clogged with traffic (mostly motorcycles, tuk-tuks and overcrowded buses), pedestrians, flocks of goats and other animals (cows, dogs and even a horse). It is chaotic and there are no discernible traffic rules, but it is certainly not dull!

Fishing the Strait

November 16, 2015November 16, 2015Leave a comment

When we were in Penang weekend before last, we watched this young man fishing off the beach. He chose this spot in front of a storm water outlet into the Strait. The detritus attracts small fish and every time he cast his net, he caught a few. They looked very small and it would take many to make a meal for a family. One can only hope they were small adult fish rather than juveniles. Far more efficient was the sea-eagle we watched circling high above the water. It suddenly dived with great speed and emerged with a fish it its talons. It flew into nearby trees to enjoy its catch and we lost sight of it. We later identified it as a white-bellied sea-eagle with the aid of our bird book.

Travels from New Zealand

Two olds explore the world