Friday, June 6 2008, 17:25

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Luxury Recliners

Last weekend, Luke led us like a band of intrepid treasure-hunters in search of gold. Gold Class, that is.

A trip to the cinema in Sydney almost always means comfy seats with enough legroom for people to stroll past in front of you without you having to do much more than pull your feet in. Gold Class is a step above all of that. It's so special, we get separated from the hoi polloi early on, to await our film in a comfortable lounge while slurping on a G&T. It's so special, we don't even have to sit in the same auditorium as the great unwashed, we have a whole cinema to ourselves - it's so tedious having the less fortunate staring, wide-eyed up at your comfort in those other less exclusive premium cinema seats. Once we had climbed into our gargantuan seats, we lay back, pressed the little buttons that lifted the leg rests and reclined the backs into an almost horizontal position, and waited for our first course to arrive while the trailers began. Before too long, a waiter came and knelt (yes, knelt) at our table, and delivered my chicken strips, John's popcorn, and our glasses of wine.

What luxury! Love it. What a terrific way to enjoy a film - served with munchies and drinkies throughout the entire show. Gone are the days you'd run down to the kiosk to get more popcorn, although inevitably there were more toilet visits. The film itself was almost a secondary consideration. Indiana Jones, the fourth instalment was incredible. And I do mean incredible - more unbelievable, fantastical and ludicrous than ever before, but totally enjoyable. Dr Jones returns to the rainforest in this Cold War nostalgia romp, replete with bomb-proof fridges, killer ants, speed-swinging Tarzan sidekicks, shiny extra-terrestrials, and Cate Blanchett as a Russki. It probably helped that we were half-cut, to be honest. Go and see it. But go and see it in Gold Class if you can.

Sunday, June 29 2008, 22:11

Breaking in my fourth decade in style

Wow. Just gathered my senses after returning from my 30th birthday celebrations in Thailand. In case you were wondering about the slight prematurity of it all, John and I zipped over to Langkawi in Malaysia for a wedding (as you do), so it seemed a bit silly to come home and then go back up to that part of the world a short time later.

It started and ended with germs. On the way out there, I was sicker than any dog I've ever been acquainted with, and John had to lead me like a befuddled old person around the airports of Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, and I collapsed into my KL guesthouse bed with all my clothes on, shivering under two blankets, while John was too hot for a single sheet in the sultry Malaysian climate. After a day of travelling with shivers, sweats, aches, and headaches, I raided the care package I'd brought along for Shane and popped some Nurofen Plus. Hallelujah. I might have been sub-optimal for our quick Petronas Towers visit, but within hours I was almost back to my normal self and alert and enjoying our flight to the paradise island of Langkawi.

Our stay there was defined by frequent taxis, gorgeous resorts, monkeys, and vigorous sweating. We stayed at the jungle cabin-style Berjaya Resort, John's uni mates were at the more decadent Andaman Resort, and the wedding itself was at the superluxurious Datai Resort. I'd show you pictures, but I lost the memory card in Bangkok. Suffice to say, we sat (sweating profusely) in white-shrouded seats under a pristine white canopy on the beach as the sun angled downwards; the bride made her way across the sand, along a rose-petal path bordered by glass-cupped candles to an arch of vivid tropical flowers and her waiting groom. After the ceremony, we chatted and sipped cocktails as Wen and Robin were snapped by cameras on all sides against the backdrop of the sunset sea. Dinner was around the pool, not so much a buffet as a row of Malaysian kitchens serving you a little of this, a little of that, while a band slowly raised the tempo and tempted us out to dance. And when dancing was all too much, we jumped in the pool and drifted and floated until it was time to go home.

We had one full day before we left Langkawi, and we spent it taking in the views from the lofty cable car, and splashing in some nearby waterfalls. Our next day of travel took us from end of Langkawi to the port on the other, over the sea to Thailand, and then on a 220 mile/350km journey from Satun in the south to Don Sak on the Gulf of Thailand - a 4.5 hour trip - by taxi. I love the decadence of taking a cab across the country, but for $70 it was a bargain, and also got us to Don Sak in time for a ferry stuffed with rancid backpackers to the holiday island of Koh Pha Ngan.

My highlights from this renowned jewel of Thailand's gulf include: pole-dancing in a leopard print bikini/mini-skirt combo at a pool party (I won); getting sunburnt in the shade at our resort; giggling uncontrollably at Beth under the influence of mushroom shakes at the Full Moon Party; enjoying the dawn view of the sea at the party while taking a leak in the sea (if you'd seen the toilet facilities available, you'd understand); and finally, my birthday dinner under the stars at the sea's edge. Probably the low point of our stay on KPN was leaving: in a cost-cutting exercise, John and I had decided on the 2h30 ferry back to Don Sak, 1hr bus transfer to Surat Thani, and 3 hours waiting in the airport for our flight to Bangkok. Shane took the more expensive option but didn't have to get up at 6.30am and still arrived before us.

Bangkok is a crazy city. Alive with sights, sounds, smells; it's not really a relaxing place. It's full of bargains if you can be bothered to haggle for them - Mikey, Beth, Debs, and Tony spent the larger portion of their time there in malls and markets (Bryan and I did a lot less shopping). I got my culture in with a daytrip to the ruined capital at Ayutthaya, north of Bangers, and probably saw more buddhas in one day than I have seen in total since seeing the thousand plastic buddhas of Nan Tiet with Wally back in 2003. Bryan and I also squeezed in a trip around the Grand Palace and Royal Temple on the day we left, and I think I've similarly seen as much tiny coloured glass and gold plate as I'm likely to ever again. Nobody told me the Thais had glama buildings! Our taste of Bangkok nightlife took in both ends of the spectrum - seedy bars and clubs in red light Phatphong and the gorgeous rooftop bars of the State Tower and Banyan Tree Hotel in the swankier parts of town.

As I said, it ended in germs. Poor wee John's been struck down by salmonella and is still wasting away in bed, shirking all of his household chores. Fingers and toes crossed that he'll be feeling a bit better on my actual birthday, tomorrow...

Photos coming soon. I put some on Facebook already if you want to check them out.