My new golden arm!!!

My flight was delayed out of Perth WA after an amazing weekend wedding retreat with the wifie. So instead of flying out of Perth at 4pm we left at 7pm, thus arriving in KL Malaysia quite a bit late at about 12am.

As a walked towards the taxi stand and handed my taxi slip to one guy, he gave it to another who then gave it to another. Then within 10 seconds there was 6 guys crowded around my ticket talking and it even seemed like arguing over it, meanwhile I was just standing right there not understanding a single word of their language.After a little while one of the guys took me over towards a car and a driver got out and then began to drive me about 85km or so from KL Int airport to the city centre in KL. You really must wonder why the heck an airport says KL when really it takes aver an hour in a cab to get the actual city itself!?

After waking up the next morning I went for a walk after a wonderful continental breakkie, and trust me… Continental breakkie here is a little different to the breakkie’s you may be used to… including: curry, pickle, Chicken porridge, wedges, curried noodles etc… nice! My walk was great as it addressed my perceptions I had had of Malaysia and KL. I had thought that this country would have been similar to India, a third world country. (is KL a Third World Country???) Anyways, KL is beautiful, I loved coming here and the people are beautiful yet they stare, especially at me with my NEW ‘golden’ arm…

Upon asking at my hotel if they knew where I could get a massage. They said just down stairs from the main lobby. I thought OK. After saying I needed an hour massage, they took me to a room and said that the masseur would be here soon. A very professionally well dressed lady came in and I got undressed and got on the massage table/bed. Every week I get a professional massage for my muscles every since my accident 3 years ago. This massage therapist was great, standing on my back and massaging with her feet, cracking my neck. It was great. The she asked me if I wanted her to massage this (pointing to my p#*#*s) I said “no no no no”. She said “yes yes I could do it for a tip”. I said “no no” and I went to get up and get out of there. She said “OK OK sorry”, and she went on to finish my massage.

It was a horrible feeling to be put in that position, I hated it and felt very uncomfortable. I thought that the massage parlor, being part of my 5Star hotel and the masseur dressed professionally, would be OK. I never thought anything else. WOW was I wrong!!!! It was an experience that Id rather forget…

Sometimes we forget how naive we can be and let down our guards. This experience just took me by surprise and I felt completely sucked in, it was a horrible feeling. After talking to my wifie about my adventure with my massage she said that I needed to be more careful and be wiser in the future. Wisdom comes from experience and checking all bases, also making sure we get advice and learn from our own experiences and other people’s mistakes. I have since learnt from this experience and now know what to ask and how to be clear when asking for a massage.

I’m off to India now for 3 weeks…
Moral of this story: Don’t go to Kuala Lumpur and get a massage at the Grand Continental Hotel!

My hotel room and the amazing view

As I arrived at Auckland International terminal 2hrs late, one of the first things I noticed was the amazingly large people these islanders were. They are tall and big and consists of a large proportion of New Zealand population; their tallness, their large heads and bodies, their large heads. Their large facial features including big lips, wide eyes and the most amazing of smiles with their white teeth showing.

I jumped into a cab at 1.30am and headed over the other side of the city to the North Shore. The cab driver was a fellow Indian, complete, with a turban and Indian accent. After swapped Indian journeys he then dropped me off at my accommodation which I was only there for about 4hrs in total. Just enough time NOT to get a good night sleep before speaking to 80 business people at a breakfast and 160 young girls at 9am. After leaving the all girls Catholic High school and 2 standing ovations, I was picked up by Grant.

Grant is a middle aged guy that drives a ute / truck. Have you noticed recently the size of the average ute is getting bigger, they are like mini trucks. So here we were driving about 3 and a half hours in a diesel mini truck South East of Auckland to a place called Mt Maunganui. Mt Maunganui is on the North Island round about the middle but on the East Coast. It is part of the Bay of Plenty, a wonderful and breath-taking place and a population close to 300,000. It is New Zealand’s fastest growing city and there is new infrastructure going up everywhere. The best way to describe this region is it’s similarity to the Tasmanian Mountains and the funky community and relevant culture of that of Bondi beach; but obviously a little colder.

Grant takes me to his home on the mountains above the city and the view is, plain and simply put, one of the BEST views I have EVER seen on the planet. It stretchers out over the greenness of pine plantations to the fingers of land and the ocean combined. And then you have the mountain itself. It is situated on the end of a flat piece of land, and is a mountain that is around 232metres above the sea which surrounds it. It is breath-taking!

I finish the day sitting in front of an open fire chatting to these amazing people that built the house. They are the Mt Mosaic creators and are a fine example of brilliant hospitality. We chat about life, and changing the world through relationships and connectedness. As we chat, the sun begins to settle and we can see the amazing beauty of creation and I sit here wishing that my wife and family could be here with me… actually I wish that every person on the planet can see, experience and marvel at the awesomeness of creation at it’s finest… which just happened to be right here in my opinion!

So after finishing my first ever day in New Zealand, I ponder at the similarities of Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand is a beautiful country with many areas and people that are waiting to be discovered. I have loved this place from the moment I stepped off the plane… I’m really looking forward to the next few days… nite –