Archives for 2017

The main attractive feature of the Villa Danialla is its enormous and deep infinity pool, with a negative edge that blends in perfectly with the South China Sea. We decided to spend some time out there, and they made us up a couple of beds in a pagoda-like structure. After a small breakfast buffet of mostly local fare, but with an omelet to satisfy us, and having spent most of the day getting sun on my front in Penang (although we were under palm trees, we were out there for hours), I decided I needed to lay on my stomach and get my back done. With a cool breeze blowing, I spent more than an hour that way, which I should have known better, and it was a huge mistake. My back was fried, way too much, by the time I felt it starting to burn. Hubby spent a little time in the sauna that was on the deck as well, not sure how he could stand the heat! I went in for about two minutes, that was enough! Afterward, we arranged for a Thai massage, and that was quite an experience! Unlike the soft, soothing, fairly gentle massage that we were used to, this woman performed all kinds of contortionist movements on us that were truly painful at times, but did feel a lot better afterward. This was particularly true with my shoulder, which has been out of joint for many years, but by the time she was finished, I could almost believe that it might be back in position once the swelling goes down. If not, she came close, so obviously, what I need to do is find someone back at home to do another Thai massage, that may fix it once and for all! Anyway, the sunburn was a bit painful during the experience, but I'm sure the coconut oil from the massage did it some good. I put more lotion on as well during the evening. I had mentioned Hubby's diet to the owner and she said she instructed her chef to cook with less salt, but despite that, dinner was a very hot and spicy soup (which tasted salty to me, but I thought maybe it was just the spices), and then a hamburger (which also tasted salty to me, but was persuaded not so by the owner). A British ex-pat named Chris had arrived during the day, and we all shared a bottle of wine and dinner, then later sipping shots of Chevas, conversation and eventually music and dancing (though I went to bed early and let Hubby carry on without me). I read a while, then fell asleep, Hubby arrived back at the room by about 11:15, and was soon snoring away, with me soon following!

Woke up not feeling too great this morning. Funny, we've done so well not getting sick from any food since we've been here, and the first western food we eat makes me queasy! Anyway, after another great breakfast buffet, we packed up and headed cross country, to Kota Bahru. Hubby has finally reached the stage where he's not trying to find things that remind him of the way things used to be, and acquiesced to the fact that everything has changed. The cross country trip took us through many small towns, and some of the prettiest mountain views we've seen since we've been here. We eventually found our way to the Villa Danialla Resort, right on the beach about 30 miles south of Kota Bahru, where we were warmly welcomed and shown to our Villa, a cute A-frame with a sea view (although there was another building in front of us, we could see between the buildings) and a nice porch. The room was a little musty, but we soon opened all the doors and windows (no screens) and had a steady breeze coming through to air it out. It had a huge bathroom and a big, four-poster bed with netting drapes around it, very tropical! We moved our luggage in, then sat on the porch for a while, enjoying the air. Hubby wanted a cup of coffee, so we walked back to the main building, which consisted of the lobby where we checked in, and also a sort of open air restaurant. We didn't find coffee, but we did find some tea with milk in an urn, and that sufficed. The owner, a woman named Datuk, greeted us, and then sat down with us to talk a while. That soon became a pattern, where every time we came into the dining hall area, we all, staff and customers (of which there was almost none besides us), ended up at the same table. I asked for a menu, and was told that dinner was going to be a buffet, so we could choose what we wanted. At first I thought that would be a good idea, but later, not so much. Finding food that Hubby could eat became almost impossible, as they tend to have a very high sodium content in almost all their cooking, and high potassium foods also seem to be predominant in the menu, so it became quite a challenge to find something he could eat! Anyway, we joined in as best we could, but went to bed quite early, as has become our habit!

After another good night sleep and big buffet breakfast, we packed up the car, checked out, and were on our way out of the Highlands with no problems. The drive was uneventful, with lots more tolls along the way, of course, then we crossed the long causeway to Penang Island. When Hubby was last here in the late 1950's, there was no causeway, you could only get there by ferry or flying, so the bridge made it very easy. We wound our way through the city of George Town, once again inundated by hundreds of pesky scooters and motorbikes that seemed to take their lives into their hands, weaving in and out of traffic and causing me more scares than I care to think about, then we left the city along a narrow but busy coast road until we reached the Holiday Inn in Batu Ferringhi. They let us park the car right out front, and we found our room at the end of the hall on the second floor, with a beautiful picture window that overlooked the sizable swimming pool, the beach, and the Malacca Strait. It was only mid-afternoon, so I put on my bathing suit, with Hubby in shorts, and we headed down to the pool bar, happy to enjoy Western style hospitality for a while. The pool water was delightfully warm, we splurged on a couple of Singapore Slings, and had a very enjoyable rest of the day, including an Indian meal at the hotel restaurant. I know it may sound like I'm sterero-typing, but it's just about the cleanest hotel we've been to so far in Malaysia, which was a little surprising because it's the first Indian-owned hotel we've stayed in, and in the US, those tend not to be so clean. Anyway, we had a wonderful and relaxing day, and are really starting to wind down a bit now, having established our final schedule. No more logistics for me to work out, now I'm getting to relax at last! We've discovered lots of Westerners here, particular English, which is making for a nice change.

We got up good and early, as we knew today would be a long and likely tiring day, starting out with a small breakfast buffet with mostly local fare, then packed up the car and made arrangements to leave it in the hotel's parking lot until our return late this afternoon. We crossed the street just in time to catch a yellow Causeway Link bus, but not before have an interesting chat with a middle-aged woman who was selling something. She helped explain how much the trip was, and that we should hang onto our tickets because they were good for the return trip as well, which surprised me, but, hey, we're on a learning curve, right? The bus finally got moving, and in about 45 minutes, we reached the first checkpoint. It was here we started to learn about the process. We disembarked the bus, went into a building, went through some kind of scanner, then moved back out of the building and got back on the bus. Then we crossed the causeway, stopped at another building and disembarked, stood in a long immigration line, that fortunately moved quickly, then to a customs line, which also moved quickly, once again left the building and climbed onto another bus (with the same number, CW3) that then took us to the train station known as Jurong East. From there, I changed some Malaysian Ringgits into Singapore dollars at a row of food and money-changing stalls, we analyzed the subway listings for a while, then bought the tickets we needed, found the right platform, and headed downtown. This all took over 2 hours, so we knew we'd need to give ourselves at least that much time on the return. Thirteen stops later, with Hubby gasping at how much had changed since his last visit here in 1962, we disembarked at City Hall, flowed into an underground mall that stretched as far as the eye could see, and followed the signs to the Suntec City Mall, which is where we believed we could pick up the HopOn bus. Just as we reached the end, and weren't sure where to go next, we headed up the last escalator, and lo and behold, there was the exact place we were looking for! We bought our tickets and were soon on the bus, toodling around the city. Hubby regaled me once again with stories of his nights in Little India and Chinatown, and high tea at Raffles Hotel. He was particularly disappointed in Raffles, as apparently it used to have acres and acres of green lawn surrounding it, giving it a truly palatial appearance, but now, the entrance was right on the street, with no yard at all, not a trace. The entire beach area had changed as well, and it was explained on the bus narration that many acres of land had been reclaimed from the sea to extend the island, so "Beach Road" was now half a kilometer from the actual waterfront, whereas when Hubby was here, it truly did run along the edge of the beach. I'm sorry to say, his disappointment was profound, so little of what he remembered existed any more. When the tour returned to Suntec, we decided to stay on (well, actually, they made us get off and then get on another bus) and stop in Little India for a meal, then hop back on again and get off at City Hall a few stops later to pick up the train back to Jurong East for the trip back to Malaysia. As we walked up the streets of Little India, once again, Hubby was disappointed. What used to be food stall after food stall had now become jewelry store after jewelry store, with a few sundry stores thrown in. We eventually found a nice little indoor restaurant, crowded with families, and we joined them for a very nice meal. Just as we were leaving, it started to pour with rain (very typical for the afternoon in the tropics, of course), but we made it down to the bus stop before it really poured. Twenty minutes later we were on the bus, and not long after that we reach the City Hall stop. By now it was after 3:00, and we thought we were in pretty good time, but several more things delayed us. We had no trouble catching the subway back to Jurong East, then I made the mistake of converting all my Singapore dollars back into Malaysian ringgits, because when we went to get back on the Causeway link, believing the tickets were good for the return (based on what the woman had told me earlier), we were turned away, saying we needed to buy new tickets. When I offered them ringgits, they insisted we needed Singapore dollars! Even though the bus carried passengers both ways, they would only accept Singapore dollars on the return trip! Okay, fine, so I go back to the money changer and change back enough ringgits to get 8 Singapore dollars, but of course by then that bus had left, and we had to wait 20 minutes or so for the next one. Then we started the whole journey in reverse, except that the Malay side turned out to be much slower and less efficient in processing folks through, and instead of a nice big air-conditioned building like in Singapore, we had several busloads of hot, sweaty and wet people crammed into an old, un-air-conditioned building (except for one short blast just as you come through the door), and it took us twice as long to get through. Despite leaving Singapore by 4:00, it was after 6:00 by the time we went through all the border requirements, and another 45 minutes to get back to the hotel. By the time we got the car out of the garage, the sun was going down, and it was dark by the time we reached the Kota Heritage Hotel in Kota Tinggi 45 minutes later. It turned out to be a rather dingy old hotel in a dubious part of town, but it was too late to do anything about it, so we parked on the street in front of the hotel, crossed our fingers and hoped for the best. The room itself was clean enough, but a little musty smelling again, but the AC worked well to eliminate that. The shower had no curtain, and the TP dispenser (with little squares like we used to get in grammar school) went empty after the first use. Thank goodness I had the wherewithal to bring a spare roll with me from the campervan trips! Came in handy right then! Anyway, we were so tired from the long, hot day, we weren't out of bed very long, and as soon as the temperature in the room was cool enough, we crawled into bed to let the night take us away from the day!

After another fabulous breakfast buffet, Hubby and I got the car packed up and off we went. First stop was a Petronas gas station where I got a toll card, though it took some time to get the young man at the counter to understand me. I think they all know some English when it's written, but when it's spoken, they're not used to the way it sounds (particularly from an American), so it's a bit of a challenge. Anyway, I gave them $200 ringgits, but in the end they sold me the card and put about 150 ringgits on the card, then gave me change. Not what I asked for, but we'll see how it works out. Not sure how many ringgits it will take to get to Johor Bahru, just north of Singapore, but we should have plenty. Anyway, once that job was done, we headed out onto the expressway. Just to be on the safe side, the first time I reached a toll booth, I went through on a lane that had a person manning the booth, just in case it didn't work, but I flashed the card on the wave-pad and sure enough, the gate raised, yeah! Another lesson learned (the hard way, maybe, but learned)! We had an uneventful drive down to Johor Bahru, with miles and miles of highways with plantations of palm trees along each side. I had noticed when we were flying in that there were miles and miles of these plantations as soon as we were over land. Not sure what they're growing, but they're growing a LOT of it! We stopped once at a rest area hoping to find something to eat, but it all looked like high sodium, high soy sauce kind of noodles and local fare, except for a Baskins Robbins, so we ended up with chocolate milkshakes. Had a shock when I went into the rest rooms, though. Half the stalls had toilets, the rest just had pits with a hose. Don't even want to imagine how that's used, though I'm sure it's quite ordinary for the locals. I was prepared to use the toilet until I discovered there was no paper in the stall, so I abandoned the idea altogether. I did notice a tissue dispenser near the entrance, I guess you're supposed to get what you need before you go in. Not many women I know would find THAT particularly useful! Anyway, my phone map was excellent, and got us right to the hotel, arriving around 3:00, so we had plenty of time to get in and relax for the afternoon. The neighborhood around the hotel was older and more dilapidated, but the hotel itself was nearly brand new. It had a smaller, more compact lobby than the elaborate Everly, and the room itself was a bit smaller, but there was no musty smell, it was fresh and clean, and we were looking forward to spending some time in the bed getting caught up on our sleep. We debated about whether to go out to a restaurant, but in the end decided tiredness trumped hunger, so Hubby went to bed early while I finished up on some logistical challenges that needed to be faced tomorrow. Apparently, trying to cross the border into Singapore with a rental car is very difficult (not to mention, our car rental agreement clearly stated no cross border travel), so I had to figure out a way to get in and out of Singapore. It turned out there was a bus called the Causeway Link that had a stop directly across from the hotel where we were staying, and that would take us across the border, through the checkpoints, and into a stop in the city where there was a subway station, which would then get us into the heart of Singapore. From there, we would be able to get to the start of the HopOn bus again, and go where Hubby wanted to go. It looks like it's going to be a tiring day, but it seems very straight forward. We'll see soon enough!

Despite the musty smell in the room, we both had a decent night sleep, and the free breakfast buffet did much to raise our spirits. It was a very extensive buffet with stations everywhere, and with every imaginable cuisine to service the diverse customers. We discovered that the governmental center is here in Putrajaya, so there were all nationalities here. Hubby managed to find and devour 3 soft-boiled eggs on toast, so he was feeling much better after having two good meals and a good night sleep. Today's adventure was to explore Kuala Lumpur. We started off trying to follow a non-toll route I had downloaded to my phone to the MATIK, the tourist information bureau, which also happened to be the old British Armed Forced HQ when Hubby was there as an entertainer in the 1950's. Well, it turned out to be very easy to make wrong turns here, and even easier to end up on a toll road, because they don't have big "Last Exit Before Toll" signs here (or at least, if they did we couldn't understand them, all the signs are in Malay), so we ended up stuck at a toll booth. Eventually a couple of toll workers helped us get through, but that became the theme of the day: making wrong turns, ending up on a toll road, getting rescued by sympathetic toll workers, repeat. Eventually we made it down to the MATIK building we were searching for, and I let Hubby out there so I could look for parking. I found a place in front of a restaurant next door, but the guy there would only let me park for a fee, even if it was only for a few minutes. I said fine, parked, and went off to find Hubby. We wandered around collecting information and speaking with the helpers, then stumbled on to little amphitheatre, which was exactly as he remembered it. It was one of the first places his song and dance troupe performed when they first came to Malaysia, for the British Officers, and it was quite an emotional moment for him. He said he could still hear the sounds of the clicking of the military boots on the tiles around the building. Eventually, we decided to take the HopOnHopOff Bus, and we bought tickets, discovering that we could park for free on the other side of the building! Would have been nice if the valet on the other side had mentioned that! So I retrieved the car (for 10 ringgits, about $2.25 for half an hour) and moved it to the free parking area, then we got on the HopOn Bus in front of the building and we were on our way! This particular service had pretty bad reviews, and we soon knew why. The commentary was seldom on time, and it was read as if it had been done by a computer. It didn't matter, though, because it took us to all the places Hubby wanted to go, so we just sat back and enjoyed the ride. It was slow going, though, as the traffic was really bad, though better than in Sydney, I must say! As we made our way through the city, we devised a plan to come back to the Tower, where they had a revolving restaurant, and have dinner if possible. By the time we got to the famous Petronas Towers (with the skybridge made so popular from Bond and Mission Impossible movies), they had sold out for the day (which closed early, being Friday). This is a Muslim country now, and most of the women are dressed in hajibs (even the ones riding motorcycles!), and everything closes early on Friday, so we were out of luck for that. We got back on the bus until we reached the Tower, and discovered that we were too late to make dinner reservations as well, so we grabbed a taxi and went back to the MATIK building, and had dinner in the restaurant there, which we enjoyed very much (though they were out of Guinness, so we ended up with Tiger draft, the beer Hubby always drank when he was here in the 1950's). After dinner, we made out way back to the hotel, got REALLY lost this time, now that it was dark, and once again ended up on toll roads at the mercy of the toll workers. Eventually we made it back to the hotel, realizing now that it was impossible to go anywhere without paying tolls, so I did some research and discovered the best way to solve the problem was to get a TouchNGo card that I could purchase at any gas station, so that little chore has been added to the schedule tomorrow! We headed up to our room, which, although a little better, still had that musty smell to it. Too tired to care!

After getting to sleep slightly longer than usual, but much more deeply as this bed was SO comfortable, we got up and packed and took the super shuttle to the airport, where our plan was to get breakfast. Unfortunately, we had ordered an Indian meal for delivery to the hotel last night, which was delicious, but it must have had more sodium in it that it tasted, and Hubby is quite out of breath this morning, so he's having to move very slowly. The Sydney Airport is huge, and we had a LONG walk through the international terminal, to the very last gate, naturally. He refused to eat anything (which I predicted was a mistake, and, of course, later he regretted it), but he just didn't want to take any chances on ingesting more sodium and making his breathing worse, so I had a nosh from Starbucks and he just had coffee. Then our flight departure was delayed by half an hour. Then we finally boarded onto an AirAsia plane. I had researched them when I was looking for flights to Hong Kong, and had decided to go with Malindo air instead, but because of the last minute change in plans, we had no choice for this leg but AirAsia. NEVER AGAIN! We had paid extra for the Quiet Zone, which I'm very glad we did, because it only had a half a dozen people in an area made for over 40, so we were able to spread out and take entire rows to ourselves. But that was the ONLY good thing about this 8.5 hour flight. The attendants practically ignored us the entire flight, except when they were trying to sell us something. We had pre-ordered a meal, the only one from the menu that seemed half-way healthy for Hubby, but it was the size of a Lean Cuisine, NO WAY that was going to last for the entire flight. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING else on the menu was horrible. I asked for nutritional information, and after 15 minutes I was handed a sheet that listed ingredients and allergens, not one word about sodium, calories or anything else, and half the stuff on the menu wasn't even on it. Practically everything had soy sauce in it. When I finally chose the least of the evils for Hubby, I was promptly told they were out of it. In fact, they were out of everything except two of the worst offenders. We were forced to buy horrible dinners, Hubby's came out cold, mine came out 10 minutes later overcooked, it was horrible. He was miserable. We both did manage to get a little sleep, but it was a terrible flight. We got the impression that the customers were an imposition on the flight crew, really awful customer service. Can't say enough about how bad it was. Never again! We finally arrived an hour late (because we sat for another half hour on the tarmac, even though the plane was fully boarded in about 10 minutes), cleared immigration and customs, then I followed the instructions I received from the car rental company to call when we arrived at KLIA2 (one of two terminals at Kuala Lumpur) and someone would come pick us up and take us to KLIA1 to get the car. At first there was no answer, then I finally got someone who didn't seem to know what I was talking about, but eventually understood what I was asking, then he had to call me a couple of times to determine where we were (even though I was pretty clear on it), until finally he found us. We dragged our luggage around to the street and got loaded up, then drove to KLIA1 to finish the paperwork, one time running a stop sign and pulling into traffic that scared the heck out of me for a second. Despite my plans to get the car and be at the hotel before dark, all the delays now had dusk coming in a hurry. We finished the paperwork (which was very little compared to a US rental) and took the same car out on the road, following the GPS map I had downloaded to my phone. We managed to arrived at the Everly Putrajaya in about 30 minutes, though it was dark by the time we got there. Not my favorite thing, driving in the dark in a strange country, but we managed it. I walked into a large, airy, and well-light lobby, managed to get checked into the hotel with no problems. I left the luggage with Hubby and the bellman, drove the car underground to the garage, then we went up to the room, which wasn't bad, but had a very musty smell to it. The bellman inserted a room key into a slot next to the door inside, which I learned activated the electricity in the room, something that is common here. We put on the AC in hopes of quelling the musty smell, but it was still there when we got back from dinner. We headed immediately down to the restaurant, where Hubby had a nice green salad with salmon, the first meal he's enjoyed all day, while I just had a fruit plate. We both were exhausted, and despite the musty smell in the room (I was too tired to complain about it and move rooms) and fell into bed shortly afterward.