{"id":3236,"date":"2014-08-05T00:18:36","date_gmt":"2014-08-04T16:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/?page_id=3236"},"modified":"2014-08-05T12:47:13","modified_gmt":"2014-08-05T04:47:13","slug":"malaysia-pg-6","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/?page_id=3236","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia Pg 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday 11th Cont…<\/b><\/p>\n

He\u2019d given his all. There was no way he wanted to go around again, so from here we tried to retreat to the relatively sedate activity of archery, but it was full and we were virtually sent packing. Ummm, how come when we were there and new people arrived we had to leave, but when it was full and we arrived, it was still us that had to leave? We didn\u2019t mind too much, but it didn\u2019t seem quite fair. And it was our last day so there would be no more opportunities. We really should buy our own equipment and get involved with a club at home.<\/p>\n

As we were heading back towards the main area we saw the biggest lizard yet. This fellow (and look at that cheeky face!) must have been a metre (3 feet) long, and solid with it!!! It\u2019s so hard to tell in the photo because the grass had very wide blades so you can\u2019t compare it to non-tropical grass for size.<\/p>\n

\"Biggest

Biggest Lizard Yet!<\/p><\/div>\n

We went for a shower \u2013 in David\u2019s case to clean off the sweat, and in mine to get the nasty mossie repellent chemicals off me. David did the camera downloads and backups, and we packed our cases as much as we could at this stage and had a cuppa.<\/p>\n

We slowly walked to reception and looked at the list of who was checking out, mostly to make sure they\u2019d planned transport to the airport for us. No surprise, they had. The Club Med machine is well-oiled, reliable and efficient! There were 6 other names as well as ours and, looking at the names, I said to David \u201cThey\u2019ll be Irish I\u2019d say!\u201d We saw the girls behind the desk to \u2018pay our account\u2019. We owed nothing, but needed to return the pool towel vouchers. Obviously we still needed to hold onto our room key though. And then we headed for the train stop to go to the Aussie BBQ.<\/p>\n

Along the way we heard some excitement from the people around the main pool and realised they were pointing to the main restaurant roof. No wonder! There were about a dozen monkeys up there!<\/p>\n

\"A

A Dozen Monkeys<\/p><\/div>\n

Admittedly we were quite early but were very surprised that nobody else was there waiting for the train, nor turned up. Eventually a G.O. called out to us \u201cAre you waiting for the train?\u201d and we replied yes, expecting the G.O. to tell us it didn\u2019t run at this time of night \u2013 which it didn\u2019t, we knew that, this was the special \u2018other restaurant run\u2019. Well, the G.O. told us that it runs from reception for this trip. What??? I\u2019d read that flyer twice, though of course we \u2018weren\u2019t going\u2019 when I\u2019d read it so I guess I must have overlooked it saying where the train left from.<\/p>\n

We hurried back to reception and found a couple with 4 children also waiting for it. He was Aussie but the lady spoke with an Irish accent. Add together 6 people, one with an Irish accent and I said \u201cYou\u2019re leaving early tomorrow morning aren\u2019t you?\u201d and indeed they were. What a coincidence! We felt like old friends within about 2 minutes of knowing this family they were truly gorgeous! And what I loved most about them, as time unfolded, was how totally they accepted each of the different character types of their 4 children and allowed each to be who they were while giving support and love to them. I know we didn\u2019t know them for very long, but their incredible parenting skills were very obvious to anyone who cared to notice, and I surely did!<\/p>\n

\"Seed

Seed Pod (The Flowers Were Yellow!)<\/p><\/div>\n

I honestly think that this Aussie BBQ was to enable people who culturally queue for things to be given a safe haven from those that don\u2019t. Every single day at every single meal, we had been exposed to a culture for whom barging in front of you seemed to be a national sport, never mind a pastime! They (and I\u2019m talking about many people, not just the odd few) would even change their trajectory to walk right in front of you and make you come to a standstill to avoid a collision. Even David, who can never see any harm or ill-intent in anyone, had been forced to notice it. We\u2019d been told by a G.O. that management had already received complaints about the coach loads of people that had arrived. We don\u2019t know specifics but I\u2019d suspect that it was because they are so\u2026 I don\u2019t know what to call it! This is far from the first time we\u2019d encountered this. You\u2019ve only to read my Singapore or Phuket stories to see how appalled we\u2019ve been in the past by this attitude of \u2018me, me, me,\u2019 pushing in, railroading, and expecting you to vaporise into nothingness to get out of their way. Anyway, that was a long outburst wasn\u2019t it? But when you belong to a relatively polite culture and are suddenly exposed to such\u2026 is it rudeness, or is it just the way they are? Well, it\u2019s both isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Anyway, once the train arrived we piled into a carriage with our new best friends and talked nineteen to the dozen all the way to the little restaurant. Eduardo was there to greet everyone, as were Sasha and Karlien, but they couldn\u2019t stay! We were so disappointed! They were there long enough for me to grab a photo of them with David and then they were gone \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n

\"Sasha,

Sasha, David and Karlien<\/p><\/div>\n

Someone asked me if I wasn\u2019t jealous of him having the 2 beautiful girls hugging up to him. Well, he\u2019s been coming home to me for almost 40 years so, even if they weren\u2019t young enough to be our daughters, I\u2019m not expecting that to change any time soon. He\u2019s my best friend, and I\u2019m his.<\/p>\n

We were offered drinks. David surprised me by also accepting the \u2018Blue Lagoon\u2019 cocktail offered and I took a couple of shots of them on the table with the palm trees and ocean in the background through the open sides of the restaurant as the light failed. One of the staff here was a gorgeous, gorgeous person and truly worthy of mention. She had colourful tastes in clothing, particularly to be able to show this despite wearing a uniform, so I instantly felt that we were kindred spirits. And her name was Fairy. How wonderful is that? She told us it was actually Fairy Glen and I don\u2019t know why she\u2019d dropped the \u2018Glen\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Blue

Blue Lagoon, Blue Sky<\/p><\/div>\n

The meal was nice with a variety of salads and a whole row of BBQs with such things as salmon, steak, chops, sausages, crayfish and prawns. And what was most glaringly obvious was the way everyone queued politely and waited in turn. Normally we\u2019ve had a flight home between being pushed around and returning to normal, but this was just a short train ride and oh boy did it highlight the cultural differences! I didn\u2019t eat a whole lot, I was very wary of getting an upset stomach with an early start, bus ride and then long plane journey ahead of me!<\/p>\n

After the meal was over we again stood and watched lightning in the night sky until the train came back from its first trip for us and returned to the main area ready for tonight\u2019s show. Being Friday once more, it was going to be a repeat of \u2018Bang It\u2019s Love\u2019 but we couldn\u2019t wait to see it again and have another go at photographing it, particularly the act with our beautiful Sasha and Daniel. We had improved our \u2018low light photography\u2019 skills during the week and it was exciting to see if we could get better shots tonight than we had a week ago. Apparently Eduardo had made a few changes to the show as well. Bosses always seem to do that don\u2019t they? Anyway, here are lots (probably too many I know) of photos from our final show.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel

Daniel & Sasha in ‘Bang It’s Love’<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Daniel

Daniel & Sasha in ‘Bang It’s Love’<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Daniel

Daniel & Sasha in ‘Bang It’s Love’<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Daniel

Daniel & Sasha in ‘Bang It’s Love’<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Daniel

Daniel & Sasha in ‘Bang It’s Love’<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Daniel

Daniel & Sasha in ‘Bang It’s Love’<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Daniel

Daniel & Sasha in ‘Bang It’s Love’<\/p><\/div>\n

As soon as the show finished we went back to the room, cleaned our teeth and packed as much more as we could before climbing into bed at 11pm. We set our alarms for 3.30am. Yes, truly. Who knew there was a 3 in the morning as well as the afternoon one? I took a long, loooong time to go to sleep, I\u2019d estimate about 2 hours. Well, I went for a loo trip at 1am and hadn\u2019t been to sleep by then, but I think I fell into fitful sleep after that.<\/p>\n

Saturday 12th<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\"Urgh!!!\"

Urgh!!!<\/p><\/div>\n

3:50am the phone rang with its automated wake-up call but we were already up. We double-checked our cabin bags, and checked that the cupboards were empty, and put our absolute final things in our cases before putting them outside the door as requested. Then we headed to reception to return the room key. Reception was quite dark and deadly quiet and we presumed the staff member was out the back so didn\u2019t bother to disturb them yet, knowing that the other couple would have to come and check out as well, so we just wandered up and down the wood-decked pathways for a little while until the other man arrived. The reception guy heard us speaking and came out and there really was nothing to do other than hand over our room key and then go in to breakfast. Obviously this was the early, early shift and the room was totally empty except for one staff member and, even though we\u2019d been deliberately trying to chat loud enough for her to hear us, we still made her jump. It was now 4:30. We\u2019re guessing there\u2019s a daily flight out of Kuantan at 7.30 and that there would be daily, or at least regular, breakfasts at 4.30. Maybe she was new and didn\u2019t expect it.<\/p>\n

\"Silent

Silent Dining Room<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Silent

Silent Dining Room<\/p><\/div>\n

We sat at a large round table so that \u2018the Irish family\u2019 could join us and I only had yogurt. I didn\u2019t feel like anything more. David had toast and then yogurt. The only other choices were cereals or \u2018whole fruit\u2019 such as apples or bananas, there was no cut fruit yet \u2013 completely understandably! The dad was an Aussie and I think the children were too but I liked the title \u2018Irish family\u2019 for them because of the children\u2019s names as well as the mum\u2019s beautiful accent.<\/p>\n

Oh I haven\u2019t said. It turned out that they had met each other in Darwin in 1999 so I told them that we were up there in \u201999, in August. The reply was \u201cNo way! We were there in August as well!\u201d That seemed really incredible given the tiny size of Darwin in those days.<\/p>\n

The last thing I did at breakfast was to take ONE travel sickness tablet. It took courage to only take one, but it would also have taken courage to take two! All of us went out the front to the dark forecourt and the small bus was already there. All of the cases and hand luggage were loaded in and David went to check in the back to make sure our cases were there. They were not! Thank goodness he\u2019d gone to look! After the driver and the security guard, who was understandably our only farewell, were just about to panic, word came that the cases were just on their way. I guess it was one of those little electric cars with a trailer approaching \u2013 I didn\u2019t hear or see it, but they were quite common around the place. So, now we had everything, we were off into the darkness of the early morning to get to the airport.<\/p>\n

Along the way we were amazed to see a massive, open-sided but flat-roofed \u2018cantina\u2019. The lights were on and we could clearly see about 50 tables with chairs around them. Considering the tiny size of the village this was quite a surprise, but then I noticed the entrance for a resort nearby. Then there was another cantina, and another. We were both so amazed and wondered where everyone came from to eat at these places, but there did seem to be plenty of resorts so perhaps they fed the tourists. We honestly have no idea.<\/p>\n

The drive seemed very long, but this time we could see out the front and we were on a reasonably sized highway, then turned into another and travelled for a distance, and then turned into a third. Signposts pointed to Kuala Lumpur and I think I\u2019d have actually preferred to drive it. However, the tablet had now kicked in and I was really happy to find that I was feeling great. Perhaps because I\u2019d been dosed for movement and we were actually moving. Perhaps because I\u2019d only taken 1 tablet, though the wisdom or otherwise of that was yet to be proved. I wish these things were an exact science so that I could get it all off pat, fully understand it, and thereby avoid the many pitfalls. But this 40 minute flight was my best opportunity to find out if 1 tablet was enough.<\/p>\n

After being dropped at the airport we found the staff to all be super cheery. They truly were a pleasure to deal with and there were so many smiles, from and to us. There were 2 waiting rooms, each only big enough for a smallish plane and one of them was shut off, but the wait was pleasant and soon enough we were called to board, which involved walking across the tarmac and climbing the steps into the plane. I much prefer to get on a plane this way rather than the passageway that hides what you\u2019re actually doing and makes the entire trip seem like trickery so that I keep expecting to get off the back of the plane and find myself back home, the way the trip to see Santa in his Grotto used to be in the department store of my youth.<\/p>\n

It was a quiet journey, during which I felt perfectly well. And yes, we were served burnt peanuts again! I\u2019ve suffered really badly with travel sickness all my life and I can\u2019t begin to tell you the relief that I felt that I could be fine on the half dose, as long as I take it early enough before getting on the plane. I despise mediations and only take these under sufferance because of how truly awful travel sickness feels. And it\u2019s only twice a year.<\/p>\n

Once we got off the plane in KL and walked along the concourse to customs there was one heck of a big queue! The whole time we were walking towards it I was hoping we didn\u2019t have to join it, but we got chatting with a nice lady behind us so the time went quickly.<\/p>\n

Then we took the awesome, well-organised little train, and walked for a while before finding our departure gate. It\u2019s always good to know where you\u2019re going before taking scenic tours so we now went back for a cuppa and cake and to take another tablet, as the 4 hours were up already.<\/p>\n

The flight home was very, very good and we had chosen the back seats again. For only the second time ever, we came down the WA coast far enough out into the ocean to be able to admire just how beautiful our coast is! White sand beaches that stretch for hundreds of kilometres spread out before us, with the occasional dead straight road heading inland to either mine sites or cattle\/sheep stations, or the meandering route of rivers cutting through the red earth. I suppose everyone loves the view of their homeland and, if you don\u2019t, I feel very sorry for what you\u2019re missing.<\/p>\n

\"North

North Western Australia<\/p><\/div>\n

David looked out at one point and said \u201cThat\u2019s got to be Moore River, look, it doesn\u2019t join up with the ocean!\u201d And indeed he was right. There was the broad river mouth with its very recognisable sand bar. And we continued down the coast, now seeing Mindarie Marina, just clearing the little bit of cloud in time to see our own suburb of Kinross, which stands out a mile from the air, Hillarys Marina, then Perth city, the course of the Swan River where it meanders out to the ocean at Fremantle, and we continued south to another Marina that we didn\u2019t know existed but we now believe to be at Coogee.<\/p>\n

\"Coogee

Coogee Looking North to the Swan River<\/p><\/div>\n

By this point we were about 30 kms south of the airport and were hoping we were going to turn around soon, but we started to bank left and I looked at David, pointed at the fantastic view out of my window and made \u2018camera motions\u2019 with my hands while looking sad. He said \u201cWell do it then!\u201d and he reached down, grabbed my camera case from under the seat and got it out for me. I took several shots and then we stowed it again quickly before we got any lower. When I had a tiny camera I used to take photos during take-off and landing, but the one I have now really should be stowed during those times.<\/p>\n

We enjoyed a landing so smooth that we\u2019d have sworn we were still airborne if we hadn\u2019t been looking out of the window! Then we waited for our cases, went through customs, and texted Dan to tell him we were now outside and ready for him to come and collect us. The weather felt decidedly chilly, but at least the sun was shining.<\/p>\n

Once we got in the car and chatting to Dan it turns out that if I\u2019d have looked in the right spot as we had almost landed I\u2019d have seen Dan and our car! It seems he\u2019d just pulled up in the aircraft spotting place, got out and aimed his camera at the sky as \u2018a jet\u2019 was coming in to land so he took a few shots. Given a slightly longer lens you would absolutely have been able to make out my face in that last window.<\/p>\n

\"Us

Us Landing in Perth (Thanks Dan!!!)<\/p><\/div>\n

One final and, you may think, totally off-topic topic is that I enjoy painting my nails. Not just with plain polish \u2018like everyone else\u2019, oh no, no! It\u2019s one of my very favourite artistic outlets to paint tiny art on them. And for this holiday I had seen somewhere a \u2018sunset beach\u2019 picture that I chose to duplicate on my nails. So here is what my fingernails looked like for the holiday.<\/p>\n

\"Tropical

Tropical Romance – May’s Manicure for the Holiday<\/p><\/div>\n

Normally a manicure lasts the 7 days I require of it quite happily, but this one had to last 11 days and the tips of the nails is where the polish starts to wear off first. Without the black ground the scene lost its impact so I took along with me a large black fibre tipped marker and nail polish top coat and \u2018topped up\u2019 the black as needed. It amused me each time I did it. Most sane people don\u2019t write on their fingernails with marker pens \u2013 but nobody said I was sane anyway \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the end of this holiday; this story. If you’ve looked at the whole thing you’ve viewed 114 photos! Whether we\u2019ll be going anywhere in November when David next has leave is unknown at this stage. We shall see. Thank you for sharing this trip with us and please do write a comment if you feel so moved. I love to read them. They all come to me for spam clearance so they don\u2019t show until I click yes, but I reply to them all within a few days. All email addresses are hidden, please don\u2019t feel at risk. Bye for now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday 11th Cont… He\u2019d given his all. There was no way he wanted to go around again, so from here we tried to retreat to the relatively sedate activity of archery, but it was full and we were virtually sent … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3146,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3236","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3236"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3252,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3236\/revisions\/3252"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}