Argentina: And So It Begins

sunrise in Cape Town

There was a time when I was excited about boarding a plane on a long haul journey.  I’d pack all my creams and toiletries neatly in my hand carry (pre 9/11) and a good paperback to read if the company wasn’t interesting.  But invariably, I’d spend all my time watching movies and playing interactive games only to break for yet another delicious in-flight meal or a snack of sandwiches or comforting instant noodles.  Friendships were easy.  On one flight, I played interactive trivial pursuit in a rather lively session with fellow passengers.  I won, and one of the participants walked up to my seat and congratulated me, sparking off a new discussion on how knowledgeable I was about American sports.  (I had to eventually confess that I got a bit of help from Bald Eagle who is a treasure trove of useless facts.)

On another flight, I was travelling alone to the UK to surprise my parents who were holidaying there at my brother’s place, when I met a kindly gentleman who not only provided conversation and companionship but also helped me carry my bag to the train station after seeing me struggle with my load.

But hey, the times they are a changin’.  On my recent flight on our national carrier, I was dumbfounded upon being served a bread roll, for breakfast, which tasted like cardboard.  When I asked for snacks, I got peanuts instead of something more substantial.  I said I was hungry, so they gave me more peanuts.  A few seats away, I saw an adult passenger shove a kid rudely and the kid stumbled forward.  For an entire sector, a passenger across the aisle thought it fit to talk loudly to his wife who was sitting several seats away.  They are the new rich.  Even the flight attendants seemed to have given up on the chaos.

*****

For the past twenty years or so of knowing each other, we have made it a point to make at least one annual trip abroad together.  In the early years, I used to cry after returning from a trip.  My first night home was always the most difficult.  I’d wake up in the middle of the night, think about my holiday, and then sob uncontrollably.  There were times when even Bald Eagle felt helpless, and he’d hold me tight until I fell asleep.  I think, in those days, I lived more in those moments abroad on holiday than I did in the remaining 300-odd days which were filled with work and little else.  The yearning to travel became an addiction for us, and soon it became more than annual holidays.  I made scrapbooks of our travels, wrote stories on bits of paper and made friends online with like-minded people.

The essential experience is not of seeing monuments and landmarks.  It is about meeting people and learning that the world does not revolve around me alone.   There are spiritual moments, and there are moments when I ask myself why the hell I’m standing stranded in the depths of a glacier with no one in sight for miles when I could be curled up in front of a fireplace drinking hot chocolate instead.  When difficult situations, like the glacier incident, occur, I tell myself that one day…one day, I’ll look back and laugh.

If I could go back in time, I’d probably not do it again (the glacier bit), but that’s the beauty about the lack of foresight and the inability to time-travel – you live with the decisions you make and you crack stupid jokes about it later on your blog.

*****

This year’s travel plans were a little different.  Bald Eagle secretly planned the trip in February but didn’t tell me anything until June when I, in a control-freak moment, made him tell me something about our plans.  “We’re going away in August, for your birthday,” he said. “It’s my birthday present to you.”

“Where to?” I asked.

“It’s a secret.  Just take two weeks off from work,” he replied.  “I’ll let you know in due course.”

And so I lived in delirious happiness for the next two months without the knowledge of the destination, but knowing that I was going somewhere with him.  Friends started placing bets.  But never in my wildest dreams did I guess that he was taking me to Argentina.  ARGENTINA!  We had travelled the world over, but Argentina (and greater South America) always seemed too far away, too expensive, too unattainable.  It had always been on our agenda, but I had little faith of it ever materializing.

We are back from our holiday now.

I owe that sweet, sweet man a lifetime of gratitude.

Iguazu Falls

Sydney Stories

P1040805

I wasn’t planning on visiting Sydney this year.  Last year, I intimated to him that I wanted to celebrate my 10th year wedding anniversary in South Africa where we honeymooned in 2000.  I hadn’t been reading the news then, or I’d have known that the World Cup was taking place in South Africa this year, and knowing my husband, he’d find a way of getting there way before our wedding anniversary, without me.  What I also didn’t know was that he was planning on being in Sydney two days after our anniversary (in November 2010) to watch Metallica (the heavy metal band from 1981) perform.  When I did find out about his plans, I calmly told him that he was on his own because I wanted to go to South Africa or Egypt or somewhere exotic.  For months, I refused to budge, but he had other tricks up his sleeve to get me to go to Sydney.  About a couple of months back, he gave me a “belated birthday gift” – tickets to Sydney for our anniversary.  Bugger.  I thought I was the one with the brains in the family.

P1050277

P1050295

P1050329

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with going to Sydney, of course.   It is one of my favourite cities in the world; two years back, we celebrated New Year’s eve there.  We perched ourselves on a slope at Bradley’s Head at the Sydney Harbour National Park, a little bit inebriated after the numerous bottles of wine and good food which we had consumed earlier at Ripples (an amazing Australian fusion restaurant) and watched the fireworks go.  It’s a feeling that I can’t quite describe.  It felt like all of Sydney was out there, some at the Opera House, some in the anchored yachts near the harbour, some at the various lookout points, some at home…all watching and cheering together.  Hugs and kisses all around.  Best feeling ever.

P1040816

P1040867

P1040936

P1040958

What about my memories this time around?  Of course, I remember our wedding anniversary celebration.  We had checked ourselves in at the Sydney Hilton and when we went downstairs to the Zeta Bar for pre-dinner drinks, our dear friends Aly and Michael surprised me with their presence.  Bald Eagle had planned with them all along to meet up for a couple of days in Sydney, and it felt so good to be there with fellow KL-ites.  Michael presented us with a precious anniversary gift, his new cookbook – Cooking with Michael Elfwing, filled with Modern Australian and Malaysian inspired recipes from his years of experience in the industry. (The book is available for sale at Senses, KL Hilton, and will be hitting the bookstores in mid January 2011.)  After some fabulous deconstructed cocktails at Zeta Bar, we proceeded to Quay, which was voted No.27 on the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, 11 spots above Tetsuya’s.  Expectations were high; Peter Gilmore’s tasting menu wowed us in many aspects but, being acquainted with some pretty amazing Asian cuisine already, we weren’t as impressed with some of his Asian inspired dishes.  However, we loved the freshness of the ingredients, and his acclaimed snow egg dessert was out of this world.  The entire experience was enjoyable – we had a table overlooking the Sydney Opera House, and as the skies cleared after the spring showers, the stars came out.

P1040997

P1050006

P1050015

P1050039

P1050072

The next day, we took a wine tour to several boutique wineries in the Hunter Valley.  We sampled 41 different wines – semillon, shiraz, voignier, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, merlot, etc – and what holds true is this – when we drink the wines that we have brought home with us, we shall remember that radiant sunny day spent out in the country, admiring the fields of shimmering green vines, getting intoxicated on wines and laughing in each other’s company.  We shall remember our friends from Brazil and UK and Australia, and we shall remember doing the samba with them.

P1040770

P1040778

P1040767

Holiday memories are not all about destinations and taking great photos.  The most poignant memories are not always captured on film.  Our brief encounter with 90-year-old Vera at church in Manly is one that I want to remember because it reminds me that life has to be lived to the fullest.  She talked about climbing down the wharf to spy on fairy penguins – this 90-year-old woman, and her eyes lit up with mischief, her exuberance masking her million wrinkles.

P1050120

P1040782

P1050180

A day trip to Cabramatta and Bankstown, southwest of Sydney, exposed me to some of the best Vietnamese food I had ever tasted.  I loved the pho at An, a restaurant in Bankstown, because the thinly sliced beef cooking in the boiling broth was just so fresh and flavourful.  We had dinner with Bald Eagle’s friend, Peter, and his family who brought us to their favourite Vietnamese restaurant in Cabramatta – Quan an Bau Truong, where we had delicious spring rolls, salads, noodles topped with coconut cream, banh xeo (stuffed pancake) and crispy fried quail.  It was such a satisfying meal, and more importantly, it gave me the chance to get to know Peter and his wife better, and to be thankful for the solid, uneventful middle-class upbringing that I had.  Peter’s story is one for the movies – boy grows up in Kajang, girl grows up in Saigon, girl escapes Saigon with her family and lands in the refugee camps in Malaysia, boy drives past refugee camp everyday and sees children playing, girl looks out of window and sees boy, girl goes to Australia, boy and girl grow up, boy goes to Australia to study, boy meets girl, girl meets boy, boy and girl fall in love.

P1050373

Everybody has a story to tell.  And they’re all equally fascinating.

Happy 10th anniversary, my darling husband.

wedding collage

Addresses:

Quay
The Rocks, Sydney
Tel: (61 2) 9251 5600

An Restaurant
27 Greenfield Parade
Bankstown
Tel: (02) 9796 7826

Quan an Bau Truong
42 John St
Cabramatta
Tel: (02) 9727 4492

The Krug Room, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong

P1010646

Up to five days ago, I never knew of the existence of The Krug Room.  We were having drinks in Hong Kong, and Mr. B (our fine dining guru) suddenly mentioned The Krug Room.  “There are only THREE Krug Rooms in the world,” he said calmly, “and one of them is located right here in this hotel!”

“So why haven’t I heard of it?” asked Hua.  “I dine here all the time.”

“Because,” Mr. B lowered his voice conspiratorially, “there is a secret passageway that leads to the room, and you have to spend a lot of money to be able to dine there.”

He had me at Krug.

Equipped with that information, Hua masterminded a special visit to The Krug Room sans food.  We were led through the back door of a restaurant which appeared to lead to the main kitchen.  A few steps later, we were at an inconspicuous doorway which opened into a private dining room.  My jaw dropped at the sight.

P1010644

Designed by Marc and Chantal, the room is tasteful and chic, probably to reflect Executive Chef Uwe Opocensky’s progressive gastronomy.   The floors and chairs were constructed from the same oak that was used to make the champagne barrels, while the light fittings were cleverly made from Hermès plates stacked at different levels.  The tableware was specially designed by Hermès for The Krug Room with calligraphy designs of chinese poetry.  The menu, specially created by Chef Opocensky daily, is scribbled on a slate wall, and if my meal at the one Michelin starred restaurant, Mandarin Grill + Bar (also helmed by Chef Opocensky, blog post to follow soon), is anything to go by, then I am confident that the Chef’s interpretation of food at The Krug Room will knock anyone’s socks off.

The Krug Room is said to house the largest collection of Krug champagnes outside of France.  Dinner guests can view the preparation of the food through a glass window that separates the dining room and the kitchen, and food is personally served by the chef himself.

The price?  From HK$1,988 per person for a 14-course meal with one glass of Krug champagne.  And if you’re feeling really frivolous, Thomas Keller (French Laundry/Per Se) will be a guest chef at the restaurant in November and prices are rumoured to be in the vicinity of HK$5,000 per person.

I. Will. Dine. Here. One. Day.  I suppose I should count myself lucky to have been able to just touch the furniture in the Krug Room.  To think that it all started with one bit of gossip over some Bellinis one morning in Hong Kong….

The Krug Room
Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong

For reservations, call: +852 2825 4014 or email: mohkg-krugroom@mohg.com.

HK Pics