Hi all, happy new year. My best wishes to everyone at citiPhone, past and present.

Henri, Jo, Claudine, thanks for your comments.We can certainly do a jungle trip for those interested but it should be after March. Rainy season now not good. If we go, sure to end up with more leech stories.

My trip with Kelly went well. We took a bus to KL and walked into china town looking for a hotel. Found one, pretty decent except toilet walls not very sound proof. Can hear neighbour's toileting routine in the morning. We came back to same hotel on our return and got a better room. First one was RM80, second one was RM100. World of difference, toilet walls thicker.

From KL we took a bus to Lumut and from there a ferry to Pangkor island. Its still very rustic and i find the beach better than penang and langkawi. A smaller, cheaper version of phuket even. Bus from KL there costs only 20+RM. and we stayed in budget hotel (got air con, got toilet attached)at Nipah bay that has lots of backpackers and nasi lemak warungs overlooking the beach. Cheap accomodation and cheap food. But we also had a nice dinner at a restaurant whose tables are all set on the beach at night. good mix of fine dining and warung dining available.Sea activity also good. nice snorkelling on nearby islands and we even kayak across ourselves and though its full of local tourists, we still managed to find some secluded beaches around the two islands opposite nipah bay.

Comes back to my belief that there are many nice getaway places nearby and sometimes we spend too much money and time going to more high profile places when there are nice places in our own backyard.

Have decided to stay in s'pore for rest of Jan. home needs maintenance work. My pond leaked, so have to do some major repairs. And the garden and garden patio also needs maintenance work. not to mention the big red ants making their home in my garden. the fun part is burning their nests. smell of roasted ants quite nice.

Oh ya, i also managed to join the managers for the farewell dinner get together for Cecilia Eng. Now that she is retiring, we can expect her to look more radiant, have rosier cheeks and looking as succulent as ever.