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Edinburgh. Broadway. Stratford-upon-Avon. London. Bath. The Lake District. And back to Kuala Lumpur in about two weeks. My longest vacation in 2009 (thus far) and what a break it was from the ho-hum of my daily nine-to-five routine. (And just when I needed it, too.)
Still, it’ll be awhile yet before I muster enough strength to blog about the whole adventure. Thirteen-hour cross-continental flights will do that to ya. But I really want to share the following observations before I forget them:
- Isn’t it nice when motorists actually signal when they want to make a turn?
- Folks may accuse Britain of being dreary, climate-wise, but at least I wouldn’t risk a heatstroke at four a.m. the way most of seem to be back in KL. Man, is it HOT here or what?
- Swans. Ducks. Sheep. Cows. At your doorstep. Nice, if you manage to skip around them droppings…
- Paul Smith. In London. Sighs…
- Some of the best food I’ve ever eaten… French, Spanish, Thai and even Malaysian… I ate in Edinburgh!
- Have I mentioned it’s hot back here?
And so on.
Ah well, back to the production line. It’s Monday, folks! 
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Photograph & design by Kenny Mah.
Broadway, England.
it is HOT indeed.!!! felt the same the second i got off the plane from a short holiday (while u were rendevousing in a separate continent)
I was beginning to wonder where you’ve been… as for being hot– my gosh I use a sun Umbrella here in Japan during the humid sunny, months– July, Aug are okay but hot, it is Sep, Oct that are nasty and sticky.
They are holding down the fort here to control the –flu, which is a good thing, are they using a thermal camera there as well?
Welcome home kennymah. We’ve missed you! Glad you had an awesome vacation though
Three weeks it was, eighteen day in total. I counted each day, for the return of your highness. Bowed to the lord, sang his praise: this is a prize to pay — you better start writing right now!
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It used to have a reputation for having the worst food in the world, but now, London is suddenly one of the culinary capitals of the world. Got Michelin rated restaurants, somemore. Wah, you went to all the pretty cities/towns in England.…the Cotswolds is gorgeous, isn’t it? Lake District.…sigh.…waiting to hear all your lomantic stowies.
I was thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to filing a missing person report.
Glad to have you back. It rained where I am. 
Did you mention humid? It’s the humidity that’s killing. I can stand the 35 but not the sweat. Dehumidifier should be flying off the appliance shops. England balmy all year round, Genting, Fraser’s and Cameron will do for now. Lake District was told is very beautiful…may inspired a thosand songs/sonata. Glad to hear from a familiar voice once again.
Welcome home. Has it only been two weeks? It felt likeyou’ve been gone forever! Now I need one of em holidays too!too holiday from work and the sweatering heat
Wheeeee. Welcome back Kenny!
Missed you … well, online at least. 
Never met IRL. 
He he … but it’s good to know that you’re back and we can all continue on with your adventures … 
Welcome back bro! *sigh* what i’d give to to spend some time in a temperate climate. Heheh..Has it been two weeks already?
ahh.. yr back!
yes, it’s not only in KL, in Sg too!
i realised it was hot when i stepped out of my bedroom this morning. LOL.…
You’re gonna kill us with stories and pictures next of UK, aren’t you? Oh yes you will. Sob.
Walaupun cuaca panas, tak lama bagi si Kenny membiasakan diri.
Jika Mat Rempit selalu menyakitkan hati si Kenny,
Keluarga dan kawan yang disayangi si Kenny ada disini.
Selamat Kembali ke Tanahair yang dicintai!
Its always special to come back from the Land of English & Shakes-Sphere.
the true Masters of the artsCraft
you should stay another month or so. or 4 more, to be exact, given the fact that this heatwave lasts til Sept, supposedly.
we’ve grown accustomed to the climate here, you’ve just gotta make do. =P
hey!! welcome home!!!
ducks!!!! i just loved the ducks in london (for some odd reason) they just looked so adorable walking along the pond or swimming in the pond…
and yes. it IS damn hell HOT (pls excuse the language) here in pg too! i was out ard 3pm-ish. felt my skin burning in the car!
Welcome, welcome, welcome back!!
2. I dunno what the weather is becoming these days..its definitely “..or what?”
Ooh…you went to Stratford upon Avon and Lake District!! Love both places!! Did you visit the Bard’s birthplace etc? What struck me was how tiny folks were back then…did you see how small the beds were?
wow so cool! makes me miss uni days! eh, so hamsum hor, ur foto. UK air does ur skin good;)
“Swans. Ducks. Sheep. Cows.”
Yummy.
Welcome back, bro!
You’re back!! Eagerly anticipating your tales of swashbuckling romance and adventures in agreeable climate. And here we are, melting in this sweltering heat, uttering obscenities and wondering… whatever are we to do with ourselves? There’s no romance in 38 degrees!
yay! u’re back! whr to next?
I thought you were giving us some Shakespearean after Stratford-upon-Avon. Some of the places you mentioned — Edinburgh, Stratford-upon-Avon, Bath and The Lake District are some of the most memorable for me for each of their “personality”.
I wonder when I can visit again.…..
I think weather makes and breaks my day…that is why I can’t wait to get out of where I am now. :O
Didn’t you go crazy in the Lake District? I got stranded there for a weekend
That’s where I realized I’m not that much of a nature lover. I need the city dammit!
Yay! Der Kenny ist schon wieder zurückgekommen!!!!
Can’t wait for more stories and pictures.…
too hot here. colder is better. viva england!
whoa! welcome back kenny!
more stories please! hahaha
Nice to know you are back…counting the days to see your next post
You went to Edinburgh to eat Sotong? And Kangkung? What about Black Pudding? Deep Fried Mars Bars? HAGGIS?????
And Fish and Chips in…well…they don’t do newspaper anymore…sigh…
Didya visit mah school in Bath? SOunds like you had a lot of fun. Am glad. Can’t wait to go back actually. But FIRST, PEY comes to VISIT! YAY!
See you and Prada soon!
welcome back to the land of Truly Asia! :p
Who’s Paul Smith? Some singer/actor?
I think it’s about time someone invented the air conditioned suit or jacket. We could anytime sizzle into thin air in such hot sun. Welcome back, dear!
No quarantine ? that wud be another 2weeks rest. Thanks for sharing your travel and you capture every essence Item 1 — so on.… really it is so darn hot here, I had ice drink every moment..
Yup, it’s hot. I fancy it’s getting even hotter by the year! (Can’t wait for the ice age portion of global warming)
So glad you got to escape the heat for two weeks!
the heat is not getting better here… wish i was in england too. will u blog about ur UK trip?
are those sheep in the background? baaaaa! =P
Just discovered your blog and I am really enjoying it. Love your writing.
I was fortunate not to have anyone scan me for the Virus That Was Formerly Known As The Swine Flu Virus (the things I learn from my Babitarian Anonymous mates while I’m gone…) and got through the UK, Singaporean and Malaysian immigration with ease.
But when I got back here? Panas.… I need a mobile air-conditioner with me… eesh.
It is, dare I say, unseasonably hot here in Malaysia. Perhaps more delayed effects of global warming? We really do need to recycle more and use plastic less… They do it in Europe, why can’t we, I wonder? Just bring our own shopping bags to the stores and market and we’d be okay.
They did use a thermal camera here, but I guessed I passed with flying colours (or at least the non-high fever temperatures ones…)
I’ve missed you guys too, terribly. And all that FOOD!
Omigosh, tell me you didn’t actually count the days! For those following me or my blogfriends on Twitter, at least there was some semblance of a thread of my journey through the British isles.
As for writing, starting soon lah… as soon as I lose all the extra kilos I put on from eating and eating on this trip!
P.S. I know you’re kidding with your praises, but still… I’m totally embarrassed. LOL
London? What London? Didn’t I say Edinburgh? LOL
Haiyo, dear, to eat well in London I prolly need to spend a fortune… not so in Edinburgh. The best Malaysian style sotong tepung goreng I’ve had, I had it there. And some surefire, wokhei-heavy kankung sambal belacan some more, dun play play.
As for the Cotswolds? To die for… I think if I ever strike the lottery, I’ll buy me a B&B there and just stay there for the rest of me life…
LOL! of course i didn’t count la, but like everyone else, I did missed yr musing and posts. haha so you better start writing! haha
Will do, sir! Yessir!
P.S. My Google Reader tells me I’ve missed ELEVEN of your posts while I’m gone… Time to get cracking on reading…
HAHA! yeah been very free since may, so was blogging in a mad-frenzy. heh
okay, I’m so looking forward to your posts, i could do with some inspiration
Ah, to be free once more, and in May at that, the month of lambs and lions and running in the fields, play play and away!
*pauses*
Maybe getting inspiration from me isn’t that good an idea after all. I’m mad, I am, as mad as a March hare, uhm, in May.
No, don’t do that… I wasn’t missing, just misplaced, hur hur. Or as I rather see it, properly placed… This is my second time to the UK — the first was a madcap solo backpacking trek all over the place from London to Ipswich to Cambridge, then Edinburgh and Inverness and the Isle of Skye, then Glasgow, Dublin and back to London again — and much more relaxing and well-paced.
The weather was also so much better, and we had friends wherever we went… a totally different experience from the kindness of strangers in Round One. Damnit, I wanna go back already!
I am free, I am free. After a long two years hiatus . nothing could rein me in. A sniff of the air, and it already seemed so much fresher.
I seek inspiration from the crazy, the mad, and the dead. Nothing fears the dead, only the living. Come June, faster come
I think i’m uttering rubbish. haha
A two years hiatus? Did you stop blogging for that long? Wow, I don’t feel that bad about going missing for three weeks then… hahaha.
Ok, just kidding.
Come June, faster come, for me too.
Not really. But then again, if you are, aren’t we all, ultimately?
One man’s trash talk is another’s total truth.
The Lake District was more beautiful than I even imagined, but that’s not the biggest surprise. I was amazed that after three days of hard hiking around lakes, over hills and what else, our legs weren’t the least bit aching. Maybe they were too busy appreciating the natural wonders around us too.
But aye, the humidity. Dying here, I am…
The first few days seem to stretch on and on… London, Shakespeareland, the Cotswold… then the real action picked up in Bath, Edinburgh and the Lake District and from that point onwards it was like SWOOOSHHHH!!!
Damn. I wanna go back there.
P.S. You’re heading to Melbourne with McCutie, right? Good on you guys!
IRL = In Real Life, I assume? My acronymisms are utterly crap (just like my alliterations, haha).
We’ll meet in the Big Great Sky Up There some day, my friend… or get reincarnated as the next Albert Einstein or Cameron Diaz (whichever happens to be in fashion at the time). Om om om.
haha no la, i’m refering the two years to the time i’m serving the country. lol!
I only blog for two years, how can stop for two years before? heh
June, June, where are you?
Ah, National Service! You Singaporeans, Norwegians, Taiwanese, et al. are truly patriots, I tell you. Puts us to shame, really.
As for June, she’ll be here before you know it.
Till then though… *sweats*
Yeppers. More than two weeks, actually. Just a couple days short of three weeks. Yikes. I want me my English (and Scottish) spring right now, right back!
P.S. Free for lunch one of these days? The Devil and I got you and Snow White some lil something from You-Kay.
Back and prettier than ever! Uhm, make that fatter than ever. Darn my colleagues making fun of my flab! Grrr.…
Your flesh just went, “Szzzzzzzzzzzz.…”, didn’t it?
I might not. Really. It’ll take time to wade through approx. 1,000 piccies to find maybe twenty that’s any good so in the meantime, I might just pen a yodel in Malay instead.
But probably not. The UK thing does seem easier…
Kalo si Kenny masih panas waktu pagi
Sila ingat si Kenny panas badan lagi
Kalo si pembaca rindu blog si Kenny
Tak lama lagi kembalinya kata-kata ber-honey…
Ooh, that fair Avalon certainly shook my sphere… but in a very good way, sir. A very good way.
September?? Man, I may not last that long! Better plan another trip but soon, I must. For all you know, I may gone again before I even write about this trip!
I love them ducks… but we saw so many drakes (male ducks) swimming together sans their hens that the Devil started calling them gay ducks! LOL
(In case you are wondering how we knew they were male ducks, well, they were mallards, so the drakes are very different in colouration from the hens.)
But I also love them duck as food… had the best duck breast in Abstract, this fancy French restaurant in Edinburgh, and the next day as crunchy duck slices in Malaysian Delight.… Sighs, my waistline bids me return to that fair isle…
The beds are tiny! I had a look at Beatrix Potter’s bed and I was, like, what, did they chop the feet off? How do they even fit? I guess we have too much growth hormones in our processed food these days…
I prefer my king-sized bed any day… now if only I can change the weather here too…
Yeah, I miss my uni days in Munich especially — got to travel all over Europe, backpacking some more. Now old di… must stay in hotels and B&Bs.
As for my skin, aiyo… very dry and dehydrated from the air there… Need to moisturise banyak-banayk… LOL
Haha… “Yummy.” Brilliant. Once a food blogger always a food blogger!
No no romance in 38 degrees? I should have thought all those sweat and nasty thoughts you mentioned would go a long way in pleasurable pursuits… lol
Shhh… It’s a secret…
hehehehe
i never knew that male ducks were called drakes. makes them sound very macho yes? lol
and it is so weird that you mention your love for ducks and then as food!! like so salah liddat if you get my drift…
but then again i did have very good peking duck in london!
Ooh, was that Peking Duck at Queensway/Baywater? I heard they have very good Peking Duck there, and a large Asian/Malaysian community residing there too.
And love for ducks is never salah.… esp. as food!
Can’t help but agree — those beautiful places and their “personalities” are indeed most memorable. May we both revisit them one day soon
(Or at least revisit their clement weather — it’s wayyyyy too HOT here. Temperatures were around 32–33 Celsius last night!)
i think my skin was frying like that today
Oh I hope you’re not born in the Year of the Boar, like one of my friends is He got so hot and blistery, we called him “Roast Pork” or “Siew Yoke”…
I loved it… but then I love rain and mud and sheep and wind and all that silly nature crap. Mostly I was just happy to use my hiking boots again (not used since the Alps adventure six years ago, sighs).
Danke, danke, mein Leibling…
*hugs*
Count me in on that! (Though I love Malaysia still. Always will, despite the bloody heat.)
More stories? Okie-dokes, whatever y’all ask for, y’all get — once I get some free time, that is…
The rate I post (i.e. slowly, very slowly) maybe the next post should be titled “Counting the Days”? LOL
Well, I certainly didn’t plan on going to Scotland for sotong and kangkung. Blame Prada, not me. But eesh, haggis? No, gura mie ayd!
I did sorta visit your school or passed nearby it at Prior Park since they do not allow unofficial visitors… Pey told me all about them naughty boys there too…
P.S. Yay to Pey visiting!
P.P.S. Yay to seeing you and Allan soon too!
i had that peking duck in leceister square, chinatown i think… i’m normally not a fan of duck..but i was walking passed these chinese roast meat shops and the aroma was amazing!!
walked in and ordered half a peking duck!
Well, that settles it then! Malaysians, French and Chinese chefs in the UK really know their duck!
P.S. You ate half a duck all by yourself? Impressive!
LOL — and what a warm welcome I’ve been receiving too! You guys are the best! Almost makes me not wanna leave Malaysia ever again… almost
P.S. Then again, maybe leaving more often means returning more often to loving, welcoming arms? Hehe…
Well, hopefully not THAT long la.
We all seem to be separated by like 2 degrees of separation. Haha. So how was the British Isles??? Looking forward to your pictures and amazingly descriptive prose. Quick! Quick! 
Ah, that’s still less Kevin Bacon’s six degree of separation, haha…
As for the British posts, knowing me, as you all should well do by now… Don’t hold your breath? LOL
We don’t have the facilities but also Malaysians don’t care much about environment. Some do but not enough.
it’s sad really wen people don’t realise what our neglect is doing to mother earth… for instance jz yesterday i was at pyramid to get a dress for this wedding i’m attending and mandatory for us ji muis to wear red and since it’s not CNY, finding a red dress is really… D-I-F-F-I-C-U-L-T…
anyhoos… pyramid has this BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag) on Tuesday and with a minimal shopping amount, parking is free (if memory serves me right)… i always try to remember to bring my reusable shopping bag wit me whenever I know I’m going to buy something (but sometimes I do forget)… well i remembered yesterday (cos now i leave em in d car) so wen the sales lady was processing my sale I told her no bag… n she kinda gave me this surprised look…
i mean i tot u guys were promoting this BYOB thingy rite… *haih*… I guess people jz feel proud to show off their various shapes n brands of the goods they’ve bought (i used to be one of those until the various plastic/paper bags i have and never use nor throw is beginning to take over my wardrobe space)… not to mention how people look at you funny when u’re carrying a few recyclable bags… yes, i’ve gotten those looks too… but really cudn’t b bothered… on days when I forget my handy bags sometimes if it’s near my place and i will b making a trip back soon i’ll jz buy it then (if it’s a big item) or… for smaller items i’d jz put em in my handbag (thank God for oversized bags)…
but i still hv not figured out a way to buy my grocery w/o using the plastic bags… (my recycle bag not big enough n i’m pretty sure the handle will break under all the weight)
n no… i didn’t claim the free parking… malas la… i always use touch n go wen in pyramid…
It all starts with one small voice, my dear, and adding other small voices to it till we grow and grow and become very loud and heard!
No lah, Paul Smith is a fashion designer, esp. menswear… very Beatlesque in his influence. Colours, baby, COLOURS!!
And it’s so much cheaper in London!!
so notty!
The notty–iest! lol
i like paul smith a lot too, the colorful socks!
Ooh, he’s known for those socks! The fun part is seeking out new, funky ones — funkier than the ones you already have!
Ooh, I’d be the first in line for one of those suits/jackets! Call me Sub-Zero anyday!
And thanks for the warm welcome back!
No quarantine though I did come back from Penang with a bit of a flu. So I told all my friends at our dinner @One Bangsar that I had the swine flu virus.… but they were so cool, all hugged me anyway! Hope none of them MC today like me.
I’d love an iced drink now but I promised Prada to only take lukewarm beverages.…
*slaps kenny’s bottom for being so notty*
hehe…
Ouch?
Now, who’s gonna massage my poor, bruised bottom? Any volunteers?
The ice age portion seems such a long time coming — now all we get is the Heat Age!
Soon, pretty soon… I’ve at least managed to divvy up the pics into separate folders according to the places I visited in the UK. So at least I’m organised now. Next up is the collages!
You hiked in the Alps? Wow… must be great. =)
It was fantastic. I’ve done the Alps from the German, Austrian, Italian and Swiss sides. Just left with the Frenchie part and I’m a happy man!
Baaaaaaa baaaaack to you!
Hmm, time to invest in a larger bag in lieu of carrying recycled plastic bags? Good on you for ignoring all those ignorant stares though. Viva la verdant!
Thank you chancing upon my blog, Yoli, and thanks for your kind kind words.