By Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy
The sweltering heat is not the best atmosphere to say farewell to a good friend.
Admittedly, Allan and I have not been able to spend as much time as we'd like with Chris. But in the time we've spent with him, we've come to be very fond of him. I hesitate to call him a "bloke" because he really isn't. He's just not "blokey" enough. Daniel's a bloke. Chris is...a dear! ;-)
Chris doing his best imitation of the Dalai Lama meditating...with a Magnum in hand 
Let's have a look at the evidence. He's very devoted to his Mum and his family. His manner of speaking tends to be in the contradiction rather than in the faked positivity of the standard American (given that he's English, well, half anyway, with that wry, cynical twist on everything he's cultivated, that's quite understandable).
He's a funny, witty, giving person of his time and energy. Especially when there's a good argument. He's like a very lovely dog with a bone. I'm reminded of our golden retrievers with a big juicy bone. They just won't let it go. Chris plays the devil's advocate to the hilt. One is never quite certain whether or not he really believes the point he's making but he certainly seems to have fun gnawing at it.
I doubt he's going to enjoy being described as that but there we go! Nothing here is intended as an insult; everything's a tribute. ;-)
Have a nice time in Beijing, dear. And come home in one piece. We're going to miss you.
By Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy
I was absolutely exhausted the next day.
Having been up half the night finishing this book, I recommend to anyone who loves the mystery/mystical genre.
Tom Sullivan and his friend Paul Harris are researching a mysterious renaissance love story called the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.
Tom and Paul are students at Princeton and the reader enters the story at a point when Tom is no longer researching the book with Paul. Tom actually narrates the entire story as we look on and the book and all the action actually revolves mostly around Paul. The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili or "Struggle for love in a dream" is a romance novel which places Poliphilo the protagonist, in a dream searching for his beloved.
However, while it appears to be romance novel, there is a school of thought that the book actually contains a message of some kind encrypted into it's text. And on that premise, Tom & Paul and all their friends are involved in an adventure which skips back and forth in time but pretty much remains on the Princeton campus where the main action takes place.
Get this book!
By Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy
BONG!
The ringing gong resonated in the breeze.
We had just left civilisation and entered an entirely more civilised form of existence. One that would normally cost almost RM900 a night.
I'm behind the camera
The only internal combustion engine to be heard was our V6 ticking over gently at idle. Otherwise it was birds, cicadas, and crickets all chirping. Just sufficiently loud enough that it was comforting. It was almost like Disney was "back of stage" managing the entire experience.
Allan in pool
From the time the 4 of us arrived (YL, Mimi, A & myself) we were pampered, fed, watered, pummeled, kneaded, into a relaxed euphoria. It was almost like we hit the ground with laser like focus to relax. We kept our eye trained on our objective and worked at shedding our cares and concerns with all the intensity of prize fighters.
Watching gamelan players
By the time we left, after the spa sessions (which were all included in the price of RM699 each) the incessant feeding at the glorious troughs, the dreamy gamelan floating on the candle lit night breeze, and the enjoyment of the kampung suites, we were well and truly ready to handle whatever the next week threw at us, before we had to focus on our upcoming CNY holiday.
Poolside at night
