Its been real

It went out in a blaze of glory. A fire ended its glorious seven-year run.

In my fave hammock

I lurve every bit of it. The two semi-open-air rooms, the happening living room where it all went down, the funky kitchen downstairs, the straw-hat lampshades, and the nature-themed bathroom; with a proper flush toilet.

And of course the two hammocks with a view of the mountains…

..and sometimes, a rainbow

Some pix of the Palace at the mid of this previous post, where i practically had the Palace all to myself for five days. It was an unreal experience.

There’s also this video of a coffee-jam session in the Palace kitchen.

Antares has been cool about it. Renewal n stuff. He wrote bout it here. WITH pictures of it in flames.

I gotta say, i’m kinda devastated. Am afraid to go back there, coz i wanna remember it as it used to be. All that’s physically left is d kitchen sink.

Well. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt, it’s that nothing stays the same.

So squeeze d best out of every experience, and every moment.

Goodbye Palace. At least you checked-out in style.

Checked out Scotland's oldest pub, been around for 600 years, Sheep's Heid, Edinburgh

We were d first customers that morning. Had one of each ale

It even has a fully manual alley. As in fully manual

Streets of old Edinburgh

No comment

Our hotel's restaurant loo. Funk

Breakfast was always large. Hard to tell if the boys are hungover

But if u'd rather remain high, the option is there. No takers

Douglas havin a tombstone moment

Hit Loch Ness. Yup, it was bloody freezing!

I dunno whats all this mystery about the elusive Nessie. I found her in a flash. She gives banana boat rides too

Rode the Airbus A380 for d first time. Upstairs, coz we cruised biniz class! Awesome seats.

Now ur talkin!

Anyway, the 5 of us were primarily there to check out the Glenmorangie distilllery and chill at the Glenmorangie House for a few days.

There was Sam, Dax (The Hill), Douglas Lim (comedian) and Karen (Moet Hennessy Malaysia). Quite a bunch. We sure had a ball! Food was great, and drinks too of course.

Did d tourist thing, Edinburgh Castle. Unfortunately they were outta gunpowder

Come 'ere u goddam rabbit!

Swallowed local ales whenever i had d chance

It was bloody snowing when we landed at Islay! In d background is the smallest airport i seen in awhile

Sampling the fine stuff at Ardbeg's distillery, Islay

Puttin on my 'tasting face'

Dined at Jamie Oliver's in Glasgow

Then hit d streets for a spot to quench thirst

Squeezed in some clubbing. A beer was a buck sixty

D pad for one nite in Glasgow

Streets of Glasgow, with some sunlight, finally!

And as we pushed into the Highlands, snow. Same day as d previous pix

Made it to d Glenmorangie House. Yup, same day. Chilled n partied for three days here

Karen layaning a shot of... Glenmorangie's spring water

Gosh, this is gettin a lil long, coz a lot more to go. Will have to do a Part 2.

Meanwhile, there’ll be a kick-ass Glenmorangie party next Friday (April 20), and u can win tickets to d party as well as a bottle of the superb Glenmorangie Astar right here. Check back on Monday night for that.

Never did make it to Rude's gig. Next time brotha!

Watdefuck. What kind of society would forget their booze?

Turns out they aint completely forgotten, but gettin ignored or overtaken by ‘modern demands’.

Lemme know if u’ve tried any of ‘em.

Heard of sorghum beer? This is a traditional high-protein beer of the South African blacks, but once the whites felt the black were ‘qualified’ to drink beer, sorghum became less popular. It’s a “sour, pink beer that keeps fermenting in the carton.” Sounds like a bomb.

Fire in da hole (Pix: Time)

Sorghum is a type of grass btw. Will def try it if am there.

There’s Stone-Age beer too… Traces of a ancient beer made of rice, honey & fruit have been found in China. Watdat, a Hoegaarden?

Anyway, they’ve started reproducing it now, courtesy of Dogfish (USA).

An old (3,800 years) Sumerian beer recipe was found, translated and…. reproduced in 1989! No reports on its taste tho. Maybe they all died.

Also on this hit list is pulque (ancient name: iztac octli), from Mexico. Time calls it the original tequila, tho its more like  a beer or toddy. The Aztecs were an ancient tribe that didnt predict 2012 & doom & gloom, unlike their ‘happening’ cousins, the Mayans, but the Aztecs are obviously laid back n not so calculative. So they cooler.

The Mayans were researching all sorts of goddam astrology, building fucking spaceships and getting concerned, while the Aztecs got high and screwed.

The hooch they created is from a plant called maguey, of the agave family. Gotta try.

Latest Aztec tech (Pix: Time)

It’s a white, milky shit, and is good for health. Well, like all booze then.

I got sumtin to add – samsu. Toddy too. Dat shit seems to be gettin rare in KL, tho i doubt it’ll ever disappear. Still an estate & kampung special.

I got sum leftover cough syrup – will try this sometime – one shot of cough mixture /codeine, add one shot of samsu, topped with Coke, n lotsa chunky ice. A squeeze of lime perhaps?

Damn, it’s starting to sound tasty. What shall i call it tho? Coca Codeine?

Loads of stuff went on. Such as:

Hit Laos for the second time...

Yup

Alcon rocked da house, all over the media..

The best chocolate / dessert mountain i ever seen, Traders Hotel 5th Anniversary

Did KK..

And Langkawi

Mac Daddy went in for a pimp-up

And Bersih street party

Party Season was heavy.

Did a bush bbq party

Carlsberg had a rockin Oktoberfest, cooler than Where's the Party 2..

Hit Thirst

Threw a morning party for my birthday at El Meson

Popped this bottle

Hennessy had a kick-ass, fat-cat dinner, with amazing surround screens

Chilled at Esquire's contributors rooftop party

Spotted a UFO in Paulie's car

My bro's birthday party..

A girl in a tree..

Rocked it with Grandmaster Flash..

Ended it all in KK, again, tho i doubt am goin back there anymore. Scene has gone downhill/boring

I deserve a break.

2012? Well, who knows watsup. Lots of talk about it being the finale, for humans maybe.

In fact, my column in Esquire this month is about that – how to spend the final day before that doomsday date in December. A one-day guide on how to party-up in style from noon, and basically drink yourself to death at exactly midnight. Check it out. Haha

Brain damage: 8/10

Falls yonder

As usual, finished half d beers on d way there dammit.

We basically had the riverbank to ourselves, and after  a quick dip, set up a spot near a lil beach for the bar n bbq.

Firestarters

The food wasnt that important – more like beer-snacks, so we stuck to some lamb dogs and burgers and mustard n jalapenos n shit. Turned out great.

Our kitchen with a view

The beers were ice-cold, the food spicy, the sun blazing, the river chilly. Perfect!

Baby Keisha in da mix

Those Sarawakians weren’t there tho, unlike the crazy last trip!

Hooligans snatch food

Chillin..

Outta there!

A super Sunday!

Brain damage: 7/10

Was with Eddy, my housemate. Agenda was basically partying, checking out the highlands, islands, and ‘wildlife’.

I’ve basically covered Sabah, inland and off-shore, but dont mind more trips. Not many pictures tho. Camera fucked, n Eddy dont have one. So in d end most pix are of him, from my cheap-ass phone.

First drink of the trip at Irish Bar Shamrock. Not good happy hours tho

Had trouble getting around as Max who was supposed to show us around was in KL. So mostly chilled during d day.

Happy hours at The Loft, Waterfront. Good selection of ales

Got our butts down to the pier, which is downtown. In fact, the sea is downtown. Niice.

Checked out Manukan Island, part of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park islands. They all lie by KK, just a speedboat ride away.

Had a beer with a giant leatherback turtle

Chilled

Beach, beer, tunes

Some old bombs found on the island. Why did they bomb Manukan with a dick?

At the beach, chilled out with Absolut’s Global Brand Ambassador, Matt Pomeroy. Haha! He was in KK for an Absolut masterclass session, where i met him last year and took him clubbing.

Downtown graffiti

Squeezed in a kid's party

We crashed at KK Times Square, a new spot, which also has a few bars n clubs. like Firefly & White Room. But after-party n sleazier Razzmataz is quite a distance.

Pre-party

Party spot

Harvest Fest Eve @ Bed. The band wore traditional outfits n did d Sumazau. Haha

The cultural village, a venue for Kaamatan Fest

Did a road trip into the highlands. Pretty chilly up there, and u sometimes get a view of the summit of Mt Kinabalu.

Kundasang, foreground, summit background

Paulie, aka JB Paul, made a guest appearance

At Jarrod n Rawlins, our usual brunch spot as it was right behind our hotel

No shit

Ed's first toke of liheng, a local brew. Nice stuff

Outta there!

Brain damage: 8.5/10

Where i hung in Langkawi...

Obviously i love travelling. I have been on an aircraft about 150 times now. Most were incident-free, except for two.

Once i was flying back from Sabah to KL, and bumped into a friend, who’s a doc. “Watsup man?”

He says with a big smile: “Escorting patient to KL General Hospital,” obviously happy to take a few days break in KL. Soon after take-off, there are complications, and i watch as he desperately performs CPR on the patient. Eventually, soaked in sweat, he calls it, and the plane turns back to offload him and the body.

I say to him “No luck eh? Maybe next time then! C ya!”

... for obvious reasons

The other incident was more recent when i was returning from somewhere in China. I noticed some activity mid-flight, and realize that an old man was in trouble. The crew kept paging for a doctor. No luck. I know CPR, but i’m no doc, so i remained seated.

Then i watch as the crew goes around and fetches the man’s family, grandkids, etc who are seated elsewhere. The old man dies.

Most passengers dont notice, and the crew then make it look like he’s asleep for d rest of the flight. Blanket n all.

Kinda weird flying with dead people in the cabin.

I lurv underwater bar stools

On my journeys via 747, I’ve only sat upstairs (the dickhead of the aircraft) twice. That wuz cool. I focused on the champagne of course.

The smallest aircraft i have been in was a 10-seater i think (single propeller), when i did my parachute jumps, twice in UK and once in Malacca.

I love the propeller-run Malaysia Airlines Twin Otters that fly into the interior of Sarawak and Sabah. Pretty small, and u can see the scene and pilots in action in front of you as there’s no door. They need to weigh u before they seat you.

There was even a band to entertain us at d pool-bar

Re drinks, i usually go for wine or cocktails. No thanks to fucking terrorists, there are now rules against opening bottles on board. Asian airlines (I still love MAS the most) obviously have d best service, while the rest of the world sucks. Some crew are real stingy with d drinks. No thanks to goddam drunks who cant hold their booze and start making noise. Dickheads.

Been lucky not to hit any major weather or turbulence. But of course, each time i try to take a piss, there’s turbulence.

For the first time in my life, i was served booze by bargirls in headscarves. Checkitout - Carlsberg AND Tiger draught in d same outlet. Rare.

Its been fun flying around d world. Will upload photos someday if i’m not too lazy. Been to about 30 countries now. Lookin forward to more!

Hit it with my bro & Klang Kenny. As soon as we strolled outta d airport in Vientiane, we were on da road to VV. The three-hour journey took longer due to d many Beer Lao stops, as well as sourcing for bites.

Food over there is consistently great, whether local or foreign. The street-side grilled pork ribs are insane!

Spotted a bbq goin on, so told d driver to turn back.

Dog BBQ anyone?

VV seems exactly the same as it was two years ago, thankfully. Beer Lao, which used to cost 10,000 kip, is still 10 grand, or 4 ringgit. But its even cheaper now, coz we spent mostly in US dollars, whose value has dropped. So a large bottle is only RM3.60 now. Haha!

On d road

One of d many stalls we checked-out had bbq bats.

Decided not to try, coz i dont like d smell of bat shit!

Crashed at our usual spot, the Other Side Bungalows (huts), which lies across the Namsong River, which runs thru VV.

Rickety bridge over wide river

Got up to lotsa activities. Drinking, partying, eating, hammocking, tubing, bacon, kayaking, climbing, biking. My skin got well-roasted.

The bridge by day (left) dat leads to our pad

Chilllin at our 'VIP hut'

Sumtin for d heat

We headed to this great riverside spot that i once went to.

Spot d Beer Lao

A hut for a break

Some of d boys remembered me, so we partied. They brought out some major firepower, ie lao lao. Rice liquor, similar to our langkau.

Kenny waiting for his turn after Thiang to down lao-lao (breakfast)

Buffaloes take a dip, as a hot-air baloon rises over VV in d distance

We went back again d next morning coz they organized a bbq party for us. We had baby birds, freshly-caught fish, wild jungle soup (which was awesome!), and sticky rice, plus whisky, beer and lao lao.

Boys catching our brunch

Babies are crunchy

They caught a few puffer fish, that blow up when threatened

Diggin in. Except for d rice, everything was wild

Tubing (or kayaking if u prefer) is also a great way to spend a day. Ur dropped off several km upriver of VV, then u just cruise down in a tube. There’re loads of bars n party spots on d riverbank, where u’ll be thrown a line n pulled in if u want. A whole day could go by!

Cruisiiin

Climbed this crazy steep limestone hill near our huts

Dipped in here. COLD!

Ready to kayak

Peace

Some dude who gave us free shots of dunno wat

Had to do some fucking-big-centipede liquor shots

Jump off d platform if u dare

The sun sets over Laos

Great place, even greater people. Might even do it again!

.

Brain damage: 8.5/10

I have a policy of not goin to d same country twice, coz there’s too much other shit to see. Gotta make an exception here. Beer Lao, i come!

See yar!