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Took a tour of downtown San Francisco on board the City Sightseeing double decker bus. One of several bus companies, but we chose City Sightseeing due to one of their stops being only a 30 minute walk from the Caltrain station. The guides were very knowledgeable and entertaining at the same time. It was a good way to orientate first timers with the city. Our next visit we will spend more time in the many localities “the City” has to offer.

Part rock concert (loud music during game play), part video game (80′s Atari-like game sounds again during game play), add some sport and then mix in some “roughing”. UFC on ice. Very entertaining.

A big Thayer’s Gull with Santa Cruz’s Boardwalk Amusement Park in the background. Santa Cruz is an hours drive from San Jose and is also famous for it’s surfing label, the waves, sea lions, pier and tasty seafood.

Sunrise at Table Mountain as the clouds roll over Devil's Peak, giving the table cloth name.

The Table Mountain Cable Way.

Cable Cars on Table Mountain.

Preparing to climb Arrow Final on Table Mountain.

A Cable Car whizzes past Jenesse rockclimbing Table Mountain.

Jenesse reaches for more powder high up on Table Mountain.

Cable Car passengers watches us climb Arrow Final on Table Mountain.

A hole in the wall.

Dennis on one knee at the summit of Table Mountain. Jenesse said yes!

The happy couple.

Thousands of Aussies camped on Kingsmeads Cricket grounds in Durban.

Fans blow their vuvuzelas at Green Point stadium, Cape Town.

Aussie supporters in a full body suit. Amazingly they could drink their beers through the suit!

Australian Pride: Supporters display their colours at the Rustenburg game between Australia and Ghana.

The food court at the Canal Walk Shopping Mall, Cape Town.

The Uraguay goalkeeper leaps to save a shot on goal by the French.

Afterwards, the tour took us to the Royal Selangor factory where we all had a chance to make our very own pewter bowl. This involved engraving our names on a tin metal plate and then bashing into a shallow bowl. I would have had more success making it into a metal ball. Adrian power hammer throws put a hole in the bottom of his bowl. The factory workers patched his bowl up with a bit of soldering work. Jenesse’s bowl looked better than mine with not so many dimples and dints. The best handiwork was from Liyan, a perfectly smooth bowl. This little pewter workshop session was entertaining and I would recommend it. You get to keep your piece of pewter art and a souvenir workshop apron.

By early evening we had diiner at a Chinese restaurant where we had a banquet and Liyan’s dad offered his wine for the tables. The chilli crab was the highlight, however I found it was too much effort crunching the shell for the prize meat.

That night after the bus dropped us off at the Prince Hotel, some of us went out to the Sky Bar at the Traders Hotel. During the day, this is a swimming pool and recreation area on the 33rd floor. By night it turns into a swish night club. The view of the Petronas Twin Towers is awesome from this vantage point. Despite the high drink prices (expect to pay about 38 ringgits for a beer) the experience is worth it. Because Jenesse and I were lacking sleep from the previous night (I only had 2 hours), we had a drink and excused ourselves.

The next day we woke up late and didn’t bother about trying to make it for breakkie in the hotel. We did a bit of shopping during the day, but the highlight was receiving a 20 minute fish spa, where these little fishies nibble on your feet! It felt like pins and needles and the little buggers tickle the hell out of you. We took a while to stop giggling, but finally got used to the hundreds of fishes swarming around our feet and eating the dead skin.

Shane & Liyan’s wedding reception was at 6:30pm in one of the Prince Hotel’s ballroom. Over 250 guests gathered to celebrate their KL wedding. The banquet was mostly seafood, which included some exotic dishes such as Shark fin soup, Abolone and Sea Cucumber. I liked the Shark fin soup, wasn’t fussed on Abolone and the Sea Cumcumber was almost tasteless but the wobbly jelly looking food was off putting for Jennese and I. The best dish was the Australian Groper, it was cooked to perfection and was very tasty. Other  wedding celebration highlights included a seven tier wedding cake, 3 piece band, an impromptu Chinese style of toasting where the in laws lead the crowd into a sort of two tone cheer but for as long as the toaster can cheer for in one breath.

The next day, Jenesse and I woke very early for our departure from KL. The flight home was uneventful which was good. We arrived back home in Brisbane after our transit from the Gold Coast Airport at 11pm on Sunday night. Jenesse had the next day off, but I had to return to work.

The first night in KL we caught up with Shane and Liyan at the Prince Hotel. Along with their entourage (family and friends) we went to a Chinese restaurant at the new Pavillion Shopping Mall.

On Wednesday, we went to the KLCC Aquaria to remind ourselves of the fishes we left in the Maldives. This aquarium had some interesting fishes and even reptiles and creepy crawlies.

On Thursday, we did the KL Hop-on Hop-off city bus tour. This was good value and despite the 22 stops, we only got off once for the Central Markets. As the bus continued around town, Jenesse slept for most of the way. That afternoon we went for High Tea at Carcosa Seri Negara, a very fancy pants hotel where the famous (Presidents, Royalty, celebrities and CEO’s) stay. After our three courses of cucumber sandwiches, tarts, apple crumble, scones with cream and jam, and strawberries and cookies we had a private tour of the hotel suites. This was quite impressive, both the tour and the rooms. For 1500++ ringits a night, you have your own butler and driver as part of the B&B package.

That night Donny and Mitzy joined us for some dinner and drinks at the Rainforest Sports Bar. There was a birthday party at the next table, where we saw the birthday boy drink two flaming lamborghinis, four tequila shots and copious amounts of beer. He held up quite well but alas the alcohol caught up to him and he rocked his way to sleep on the table.

We did well ourselves and downed two Calsberg Beer Towers and a bucket too. Responsible binge drinking? Especially when happy “hours” runs from 11am til 9pm!

Unfortunately by Friday, Jenesse had caught the KL Belly bug. At 5am we rushed to the Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre, where the doc gave Jenesse a cocktail of prescriptions to settle her tummy. We were supposed to go on a bus tour with the wedding entourage but Jenesse has been ordered to rest and take it easy on Dr Mellican’s orders.

KL photos are on Picasa Web.

The weather was a bit unstable this morning, but has fined up again. We spent the day strolling around the island and then enjoying the view from the Rangali Bar. We are now packed and ready for a late afternoon sea plane flight out to Male, where at 10:20pm we will then fly to Kuala Lumpar. Despite being sad to leave this awesome resort and making promises to come back real soon, we are looking forward to the sea plane flight over the atolls.

Last photos of Conrad Maldives are on Picasa Web.