Kota Kinabalu

After eight months or so working in Macau I thought I was entitled to a break as did other Cirque-sters so Zaia had our annual 2-week dark which began on the 18th February. We wanted a nice, relaxing family holiday and discovered Air Asia fly direct to Kota Kinabalu (KK) in Sabah, Malaysia. Geographically Sabah is a part of Borneo, shared with Indonesia.



The one downside of our flight was that Air Asia only flies at night to Kota Kinabalu so our flight was scheduled to depart Macau at 8.30pm and arrive in KK at 11.20pm. We had never flown AirAsia previously but had heard of the flight cancellations, delays and lack of legroom (even moreso than your average flight).
Luckily our flight wasn't canceled (an artist at Cirque once had his flight canceled and only found out through another colleague who was on the same flight!) but was delayed by 30 minutes so we ended up arriving at midnight. Not so great when you have a 3.5yr old and a 8-month old who don't sleep when you ask nicely "Please sleep now little darling". Angie was very excited about the 'blast-off' of the plane so that probably contributed to her lack of sleepiness.
Ok, so we were running a bit late, no biggie really. Almost at the end of our journey - we can jump on a taxi and the hotel we've organised for our first night is only 10min away - so grab our bags, on a taxi and 10-15min later we'll be at our hotel. I've just got to get some Malaysian ringgit for the taxi from the ATM and we're set. Surely there is an ATM at KK airport...that was working...right?
Wrong! I kindly ask the lady at the hotels counter where the ATM is and she informs me that the ATM is shut for the night. An ATM...shut? Guess he's on the 9-5 shift? A Money Changer then? Nope...shut too...aaagh!
OKaaay.. so look at the wife... she not smiling....baby crying..must ...think...fast...
Ok so Plan B - surely a taxi driver can drive us to ATM on the way to the hotel to get some cash to pay him. Well, the first few drivers didn't bite..but finally a nice Sabahan chap agreed to take us. The 7-eleven he drove us to also had an ATM that was 'resting' (this was a phenomenon I first discovered in Harbin where they shut down elevators regularly to rest them. Machines need to rest?). At that point I'm sure I was breathing chest-heavy, maybe panting is more the word? (the heat probably didn't help either). Next stop - a bank ATM - surely it's working....aaannnnd...yes!! And on the second attempt I remembered my PIN for my Australian ATM card and had a nice wad of ringgit in hand.


Malaysian ringgit - harder to get at KK airport after midnight than the proverbial...

First stop - Degalleria Hotel...huzzah! I decided to pick a hotel close (read-cheap!) to the airport/city for our first night considering we were getting in so late and the Degalleria got some decent reviews on Tripadvisor. We managed to get a semi-decent sleep in that first night, although the look on Angie's face the next morning may tell otherwise...



Looking towards the Degalleria...it's a few doors down to the right...



The Degalleria was clean and reasonably cheap (150MYR - $50AUD, but we had to pay 50MYR for an extra bed, so 200MYR) and a great location in the middle of town. KK town itself really is that, a town and not a city. It is right on the waterfront and there some beautiful islands just offshore. The town also has some great eateries around where you can sample the local delicacies!







Our first meal in KK was breakfast and was a good one - I did some research beforehand and came across a small local eatery within walking distance from our hotel that is famous for it's Tom Yum noodle soup. It's called Seng Hing Coffee shop.





The Tom Yum was good - flavorsome, spicy and tangy. Angie's fried mee hoon (rice noodles) was good too with a nice smoky flavour from the hot wok. Aahh..Asian breakfasts...Breakfast of Champions! From there we just had time to head back to the hotel for a short rest (because eating is such hard work!) and I had time to go the money changer to exchange some HKD to ringgit before our search for Shangri-La!


The road to Shangri-la?

We stayed at the opulent Shangri-La Rasa Ria resort which is near Tuaran, about 40min by car north of KK. We chose Rasa Ria as it has some great facilities for children, a private beach and a nice big pool with a kiddies playground. We were there, after all, to relax!


Angie with her breakfast buddy













From our room on the ground floor there was a path leading into the gardens and pool. The private beach was only a couple hundred metres from our room. There were a large number of restaurants to choose from - A Coffee Terrace (where our breakfasts were each morning), a Malay-style buffet restaurant, a Teppanyaki place and an Indian restaurant. Being in a resort the restaurants weren't cheap by local standards but on par with what we would pay back home.
Pongo Kids club was a fave (both for Angie and mum and dad!) - a play centre in the resort where parents could abandon...i mean...leave their kids for an afternoon or three.







There was a nightly 'Lighting Ceremony' that re-enacted a traditional Sabahan ceremony. Angie was lucky enough to be the princess and was dressed in traditional Sabahan ceremonial garb complete with carry-on Prince! Poor Angie - the warriors were screaming and waving their fire swords all around their carriage - she was on the brink of running over to Mum and Dad but she lasted the ceremony!















Rasa Ria also has their own Orangutan rehabilitation centre. We found an orphan baby and brought her back to our room...



The holiday was great after the rocky start. It was just what we wanted - a nice relaxing break. Now, where to next?

Oldboy

There is a time when you watch (or read) something so original, so fantastically great, that you want to share it. I saw Park Chan-Wook's Oldboy a few weeks ago and it is one of those rare gems. Violent, disturbing, original. You don't see films like it much these days. It won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2005 and was voted one of the greatest Asian films of all time. It's worth watching for the infamous corridor fight scene alone which took (just?) three days and seventeen takes to perfect. It's a single, continuous camera shot that has to be one of the greatest, most realistic fight scenes of all time. You'll never see a hammer in the same light again.





Another example of a continuous shot - albeit much fancier - that leaves you wondering "How the #$%! did he do that?" is from Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men with Clive Owen and Julianne Moore - another great film. Cuaron is probably best known for his dark take on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. COM is a Sci-Fi thriller that shows off some real hot cinematography from Cuaron. Warning: there is a spoiler here, and the scene is visually bloody intense.... to say the least! Not for the feint-hearted.




The rig that was used to film the scene was crazy. The camera used was running down a track inside the middle of a car (a Fiat!) and the actors had to lean out of the way if they weren't in the shot. Cuaron composes some great sequences in the film and creates a bleak, Blade Runner-esque world. Well worth watching if you like that kind of thing, which I do.

I was going to stop there but I know that was a pretty intense scene, so a more positive one to finish with. From the master himself - Martin Scorsese.





Isn't it a great shot? How he moves with the action, from outside to inside. And it's seamless.
'Union Delegate'...lol.

Robuchon a Galera

Happy 2010 everyone! Hope this new year brings you all that you desire! I wished for a new Red bike but, instead, a lunch at Asia's 3rd best restaurant will do me just fine. Robuchon a Galera is Macau's only three Michelin-starred restaurant and is located at one of the old-time establishment's in town, Hotel Lisboa. And you thought Michelin only produced tyres! The Michelin brothers actually first introduced the guide to help drivers find lodging and a decent meal on their travels.


Now, the Michelin guide is a must for any gastronome in their search for the perfect meal. A three-star rating is very rare and according to my friend, Wiki, there are only 81 three-starred restaurants in the world. Galera is richly appointed, sumptuous blue and gold carpets in a traditional setting.



The French menu ranges from the $2288HKD ($300AUD) 12-course degustation menu to the $398HKD ($55AUD) Executive lunch. The winelist resembles an over-sized phonebook - big enough to fill the 6100 different wines on offer (the biggest winelist in Asia). We opted for the four-course lunch plus the sommelier selection of two wines to match our meals.

Jon's entree - caviar on salmon tartar with shiso sprouts and melba toast.... (what the hell is a shiso sprout?)


My entree - Lightly smoked foie gras shaved on vegetable pot au feu with horseradish...mmmm..foie gras.


Our soup selection - Jerusalem artichoke veloute served with shredded duck confit and black truffle....amazing depth in flavours and crunchy duck bits!


Jon and Erick's main course - Pan-fried Kurobuta pork loin, fricassee of artichoke and capers with peanuts and verjuiced jus... Kurobuta pork is supposedly the tastiest pork in the world from the Berkshire pig.


My main course - Jugged wagyu beef cheek in ravioli with green asparagus...super tender beef.


We also had a selection from the dessert trolley -







And by that time, we were rolling out of our seats. It was an amazing experience and we left relatively intact - about $850HKD a head including our wines and coffees. Not the kind of food you could eat on a daily basis unless you want to end up looking like a Berkshire pig but certainly worth the visit if you are in Macau.

Our very esteemed friend, Mr Jonathan Buchanan, paid us a recent visit at Casa de Nova City and we hopped over the border to Zhuhai.


We also spotted another West Aussie on the streets of Zhuhai.... clothing store Jeanswest. They are now supposedly fully Chinese owned and have been since the late 90's.



And of course, the infamous shopping pit....


And today is the day all us Zaians have waited for - we finally find out the fate of our show. It's no secret that our show has had problems from day dot; shoddy build, uncooperative partner, puzzling audience, reduced Mainland visa's, etc. We'll all know in a few hours!

Margaret's Cafe e Nata

Hello happy readers! We were lucky enough to have some visitors with us over the last few days so had an excuse to fill up on Portugese egg tarts (Nata) and charcoal roasted meats. Thanks Kieran and Mel! And what better place than Margaret's Cafe e Nata in Macau to satiate cravings for buttery, flaky crust and caramelised egg. Margaret's (like most cool places in Macau...) is hidden away in an alley right near the Grand Lisboa and Sintra Hotel and is difficult to find - just ask for directions! If you get stuck it's at the Gum Loi Building Tel: 2871 0032.



Portugese tarts have a more caramelised top than their Cantonese cousins and a flakier crust. The 'Margaret' here is the ex-wife of the owner of the most famous egg tart store in Macau, Lord Stow's. When they separated she opened her own store on the peninsula. The tarts we had were piping hot out of the oven and lucky we bought 2 boxes as the first box was gone in no time, as were our taste buds from being burnt off our tongues. Ouch! But such is the sacrifice for good tarts...



From there it was necessary to walk off our caloric adventure past the gaudy Grand Lisboa, rising like a peacock plume out of the Macau alleyways. And then on a bus across the bridge back home to rest our sleepy heads and full tummies.


In other adventures over the last few days; rum and coke by the electronic devil, encountering giant jackfruits in the Three Lamps district and having to appease the Gods for all the above.

Ou Mun - ''Gateway of the Bay''

This morning we went across the bridge to Macau to have a bite to eat and stroll around. A friend of ours frequents the Ou Mun Cafe ('Macau Cafe') so we decided to check it out for ourselves to see what the fuss is about. Ou Mun Cafe is near Senado Square off a side alleyway adjacent to the McDonalds called Travessa de Sao Domingos.





It's a Portugese-style Cafe serving drinks, sandwiches, pastries and other light eats. The exterior is quite nice, has a cafe-deco feel and is well signed. Inside it is quiet so it works well as a place to get away from the crowds that can sometimes be around Senado.

Nat wasn't overly impressed with the menu so she just grabbed a fresh OJ while I had an espresso and a toasted croissant. The cakes and pastries looked pretty tasty in the displays and they have various newspaper clippings of the history of Macau and the cafe framed on the walls.



Ou Mun Cafe is ok but not fantastic. If you want a quick coffee or bite to eat while around Senado there are worse places. Our OJ, espresso and croissant came to $70MOP (around $10AUD) so pretty mid-range - maybe a bit cheaper than what we'd pay back in Perth but not by much. From there we went across to the next side-alley further North-east off Senado, via another small pedestrian alleyway (Travessa da Se). Exploring the pedestrian alleyways in and around Senado Square is a lot of fun. There are a wide range of small stores selling everything from clothes, electronics and the various local delicacies. Nat was still hungry after only having her OJ (which, I admit, I drank half!) so we went to a little snackery we had been to before.




This type of eatery is very popular in Hong Kong and Macau. It's a semi-DIY routine where you pick various skewered meats, seafood, fresh vegetables, tofu, etc from the selection out front and place it all in a gigantic stainless-steel bowl. The lady at the stall then places your selection into a boiling vat of stock where it is freshly cooked and optionally covered in a mildly spicy curry sauce in a styrofoam bowl. Drumroll please...


So, yes, I did eat again. The croissant was really small I swear! Nat had a mix of mushrooms, tofu and gourd while I had some fish balls (as in 'balls' of fish, not what you were thinking....), meat balls, tripe, broccoli and tofu. Cost - $68MOP (almost $10AUD). And I was pretty full after that!

On the same small street there is a gelato store, a pastry store and also the famed Lou Kau Mansion which is a traditional Cantonese-style mansion which was built back in 1889. It is very well preserved and gives us an idea how the Chinese lived back in that era.



Talia was a real hit with the lady doing Traditional craftwork in the mansion. Something about babies that turn grown men and women into bumbling messes and it somehow seems more prevalent here in Macau. Interestingly, the mansion doesn't have a kitchen. Supposedly this was because the owner believed his concubines were there to give him pleasure but not in the gastronomic sense.

ZAiA turns 500!

Above: Me and Cirque founder Guy Laliberte

ZAiA, the Cirque du Soleil show I work with, celebrated our 500th show on Sunday. By coincidence, the founder of Cirque - Guy Laliberte - visited last Thursday (our 497th show) so we got to celebrate 3 days early. I had the chance to do two things last Thursday I had never done before:

1. Shake hands with a billionaire (Guy's fortune is estimated by Forbes at $2.5bil), and
   
2. Shake hands with someone who has been in outer space (Guy recently spent 11 days in space as Space Adventures' seventh private spaceflight client - at only $35mil!).
   

For a guy who has that amount of money and has had the privilege of going to space, Guy seemed like a very down to earth guy (sorry, I couldn't help myself). He even cut the 'birthday' cake and handed it out to us all.



I heard Guy was out of Macau the next morning at 9am. On and off to another one of his show's around the globe I am sure. For someone that started out his working life as a street performer it's a pretty amazing story.

As you've probably noticed (if anyone out there is actually following this blog...cue tumbleweed...
mum...you do remember how to go online right?).... I am back to posting pics. It was just a momentary lapse of stupidity on my part.

Here are some random pics from the last month or so.....

Angie's first day of school!!

She'll kill you - with a smile!

Our little Beach star!

The Demon-Dog of American Literature

James Ellroy

Something a bit different. My brother Gav asked if I would write a book review for him to post on his new website which he is currently developing for his weekly e-comics (http://gatoons.com/). We're both big James Ellroy fans and Ellroy's newest novel was recently released in the last few months. Having spent the last couple of days writing and editing it, why not post it here for your enjoyment!


Blood’s A Rover
By James Ellroy
A book review


Clay lies still, but blood's a rover;
Breath's a ware that will not keep.
Up, lad; when the journey's over
There'll be time enough for sleep.

A.E. Housman

And so begins the conclusion to James Ellroy’s Underworld USA trilogy. Ellroy, the self-proclaimed ‘Demon-Dog’ of American crime fiction, is probably best known for his crime novel turned critically acclaimed film L.A. Confidential (99% on Rotten Tomatoes!). Blood’s a Rover follows a lot of baaaad shit that went down in the USA between 1968 and 1972 – Nixon’s 1968 Presidential campaign, the shadowy machinations of the FBI controlled by J. Edgar Hoover, Howard Hughes’s Vegas power-play – thrown in amongst Red-sympathisers, rogue FBI agents and Haitian voodoo-men. Blood’s rounds out a turbulent time in American history, concluding what his sublime American Tabloid (following 1958-63 USA) and its follow-up, The Cold Six Thousand (1963-68) begun. Ellroy writes like Dillinger with his Tommy Gun – a staccato-beat unlike any other. Blood’s may not be as sparse as his brilliant White Jazz (1992), but his sentences here are still nigh Jazz riffs served up like a jab to the kidneys.

Par exemple…

“The noise was big. Wayne dodged sign-wavers. Nixon signs bobbed upside his face. He lugged two big steamer trunks. Nixon was at the Fontainebleu. He had to walk. He couldn’t drive. The elephant stampede shut traffic down”




Above: Hoover, Hughes, Monty, Nixon and Castro.

The story goes with White Jazz back in 92, Ellroy handed his editor a 900-page draft. His editor only wanted 350-pages so Ellroy eliminated all the verbs, adjectives and did away with normal sentence-structure - thus Ellroy’s staccato-beat was born.

Two main characters return for the grand finale; Wayne Tedrow Jr - ex-cop and right-hand man to the Mob and Dwight Holly – J. Edgar’s FBI henchman and racist hate spreader. A new character is introduced - Donald Crutchfield – a pimpled peeping-tom and bug-man (as in ‘wire-tap’) on the way to losing his soul. Ellroy mixes these fictional characters with real-life heavyweights – FBI Director ‘Old Girl’ Edgar Hoover, Howard ‘Drac’ Hughes, ex-champ Sonny Liston – and ties them to real-life events. He does this with such aplomb that we’re willing to accept his history as status quo.

Blood’s picks up from where The Cold Six Thousand left off – Wayne Tedrow Jr left to fill Ward Littell’s job as bagman to the Mob in their quest to build casinos in the Dominican Republic. Dwight Holly, the ultra-right FBI agent and J. Edgar Hoover’s favourite G-Man, in the middle of Hoover’s fear of the Black power movement and his left-wing radical girlfriend. And probably the most interesting character, Don Crutchfield, supposedly based on a real-life Private eye but on the page clearly a young Ellroy (who has written in his memoir, My Dark Places, of his youth as a voyeur and petty thief).

Noir doesn’t get any blacker than this. Chandler this ain’t. Ellroy is Chandler on a 3-day crack binge chased with Red Bull and a double espresso. Blood’s will satiate Ellroy fans thirst; if you are an Ellroy virgin, maybe try the first of his L.A. Quartet – The Black Dahlia or the ‘10 times better than the movie’ L.A. Confidential. The language is not as staccato’ed and Ellroy used sentences back then. And from there…well, I envy you.

If you like hard-boiled crime fiction ala Dashiell Hammett or Ross McDonald you'd probably like Ellroy. If Twilight is more your thing, you probably wouldn't. Although, Howard Hughes (in Ellroy's world) did get pretty weird and vampire-like in later life so you never know. Remember the Simpsons episode where Mr Burns walked around in Kleenex boxes as shoes? Well that was based on Hughes as he descended into madness. See ,Mum, all that Simpsons WAS educational!