Well, it's taken a while but we've finally got there! Seven days after landing at Pilau Pinang International Airport (a.k.a. a huge pile of rubble and building works - not the smart photo above which was taken in KL), life is beginning to feel fairly normal again.

Three days of White Crane Falls Asleep, Bubbling Well Belly and Raise Hands And Give Up. Then the rest of the week trying to deal with technology in the middle of a sauna - very hard to sit and write classic prose when you are dripping from head to foot with sweat and have muscles that have turned to jelly. Mind you there are benefits - the energy here is so languid that the Tai Chi just pours out of your body; there is no feeling of effort whatsoever, just a constant sensation of Qi coarsing through the blood and nerves with an intense need to do as little as possible to get to the next place in the form.

The hotel we have checked into is great - cheap but clean and almost empty of guests, we have the place to ourselves in the mornings on the terrace overlooking the sea. This is where we practise most mornings at the moment but we have also just made contact with some old friends at the Botanical Gardens this morning - more on this with pix on our next blog. There is also a hawker centre opposite the hotel that has Dim Sum (little steamed dumplings, buns and other fun stuff) which we try to visit after our practice, so I guess life isn't too bad at the moment...

We've also been very busy this week visiting family with Patrick's mum, which usually means eating about six times a day in order to be polite. Eurasians don't start a conversation with "Hi, nice to see you again", it's usually "Hey! Have you eaten yet?". With everything else that's been going on we hardly have the energy to bring beer to mouth every evening, but by slightly stretching the 70% Rule we seem to just about manage.

The other big event of our first week was the Chinese New Year celebrations, culminating with Chap Gor Mei, the 15th day of the new year where all the maidens look for their future husbands. Patrick had to fend off several attacks of oranges - which are usually thrown into the sea by the hopeful ladies. Fan Through Back came in very handy. We also saw a great lion dance on stilts and visited a temple where crowds were praying for good fortune with incense - very powerful Yin energy.

We'll try and upload a few more pix in the next day or so, along with a few more Tales from the Ulu (jungle).

Good Qi and Fine Practice.