On Sunday 14 September, we had a leisurely start before enjoying our final breakfast in the Blue Mansion in Georgetown, checked out and informed hotel security about the car that was coming to pick us up (it was a very security conscious place and wouldn’t let cars into the courtyard without prior approval). All done we took seats in reception and waited….thankfully the driver arrived early. We had a very busy drive (in terms of traffic) from Georgetown to Batu Ferringhi – which is the touristy beach area of Penang – and where we had decided to spend our final week having some R&R. We arrived at the Shangri La at 12.50 and, although we had requested a 1pm check in, this had not been promised so we left our cases in reception at the Shangri-La Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa. Again this hotel was split into two wings – Rasa Wing (adult-only area) and the Garden Wing. We then waited while enjoying complimentary drinks and the room was ready at 13.10. So we were very happy campers.

We headed to our very spacious room – unpacked – and then went to the small adult-only Rasa Wing pool and enjoyed resting up all afternoon under a cloudy sky. Later on we returned to our room, got cleaned up, and headed down to the Rasa Lounge which served complimentary drinks and canapes between 5 and 7 pm. Drinks were flowing freely including one of our favourite wines….so very happy!

After finishing in the Lounge we walked down the beach to the Hotel’s Penang Bar for the sunset. We took a table and ordered some dinner. Loved the lights on the tables…reminded us of the coloured orbs from the Cocoon film. After an annoying 45 minute wait for our food to be served (which was a very hot curry – phew!) we walked around the Garden Wing to check out other restaurants before returning to bed.

Overnight there was a thunderstorm and at 9am in the morning it was still raining… So we had a leisurely start and lounged about before and after the breakfast service. We had no balcony this time – instead an outside courtyard / garden which was open to the elements – so mainly inside our room and the Rasa Lounge. Around lunchtime the rain stopped – thankfully – and we headed to the pool for some R&R time. It was cloudy but we still picked up some colour… Later on we returned to our room to get ready to go to the Lounge again for canapes and drinks. Richard decided to wear a smart pair of shorts with a collared polo shirt despite the ‘smart casual’ dress code….and why? Because other people wore shorts the night before…..

After the complimentary drinks and canapes we headed upstairs to the posh Ferringhi Grill restaurant (which is also the venue for the Rasa wing guests a la carte breakfast) – at which point Richard got told off for wearing shorts. Funnily enough they offered him a pair they had to hand to wear but Richard said he was not going to wear the “trousers of shame” so went off to get his own long pants. I just stayed and enjoyed a glass of wine LOL. We enjoyed a lovely dinner and then retired to bed.

Tuesday was a nicer weather day and we spent the day at the pool before returning to the lounge for the afternoon session…. During the day we did spend a little time wandering the beach and the promenade path that led to the other Shangri La hotel, Golden Sands. The sea here is dangerous in that it hosts a lot of box jelly fish so had no desire to go in, especially as the beach had been eroded by bad storms and high winds, so clambering over rocks / sea defences was never on my list of fun things to do. Lots of repairs going on to address this issue……..

On the way back we came across a family of spectacle monkeys who were having fun….they were not frightened at all, very friendly, and I was concerned that Richard might get his phone nabbed whilst filming them so closely LOL.

After our time in the Lounge we walked down the main strip and ended up in the Bora Bora bar…having checked out the night markets along the way. After a nice evening – and a glimpse of a fire show on the beach – we were walking back to our hotel when we popped into the adjacent (sister) Shangri-La Hotel – the Golden Sands – and had a final drink there listening to a live singer (who was pretty good although a bit cheesy LOL). Having had our fill we now decided to return to our hotel and, as we walked out the front entrance of the hotel, we were asked did we want a buggy ride home – well, we didn’t know, but they were complimentary to the Shangri-La guests so we said yes, thankfully, to avoid another 15 minutes walk in the heat and humidity. Earlier we had picked up some original small paintings, thinking they would look good in our upstairs hallway at home.

Wednesday was another pool day and this time we had company – large monitor lizards – who enjoyed walking around, nosing in the bin, and swimming across the pool when they got too hot. Was fun to look up from reading a book to see one of these lizards looking back from within the foliage behind your sunbed. Luckily they don’t bother us but there was a woman in the pool who got completely freaked out LOL. As we had been here a few days now, the pool barman had realised that we enjoyed a particular type of wine and made sure there was always one in his fridge so that he didn’t have to go and collect it from elsewhere when we ordered it to our table by the pool. Such a sweet guy – he had one day off when we there and it definitely didn’t run anywhere as smoothly without him….. Might have been influenced by Richard giving him a small tip every day…..

Later on to the lounge for complimentary refreshments before heading across the road to an Indian restaurant which had got great online reviews. We thought the food was fine but was somewhat marred by a small Asian girl who had a total full-blown meltdown in the middle of it – so bad that her mum just picked her up under her arm and walked out…. She was completely inconsolable and it was clear that this was not an unusual event as the parents dealt with it all so calmly. Maybe if the kids spent less time on their phones – the little girl had already thrown hers to the floor two or three times at this juncture – it wouldn’t have happened.  Wow, never knew such a little thing could be so damn noisy!

After we had finished our meal – with soft drinks only as we had managed to find another pure Halal venue – we took a very long walk to Batu Ferringhi Bay… Along the way Richard managed to buy some new t-shirts and did a great job bartering. At the Bay we found a table on the beach just below a balcony where a live band was playing – they were pretty good – and the audience were certainly enjoying it. Then the main event – which we had actually come for – the fire show started. The participants often broke off with their flaming torches to frighten the audience…one swept a torch directly over my head very close (well close enough to feel the heat of the flames) and, luckily I didn’t move as I didn’t see it coming LOL. Anyway, we thoroughly enjoyed the spectacular show the wine was average and it was pretty buggy on the beach…… What I didn’t enjoy was having to queue for the pretty grim public loos on the beach and then being charged to use them…but at least I found a Western one!

We then started on the hot and long walk back – I overheated again – so back into the Golden Sands for some respite and to grab another buggy ride – which we did successfully. This driver was a bit mad and thought it was funny to tear around corners at high speed which felt like it was going to tip over…my involuntary squeals were of fright not excitement! Richard was sat in the front – only me on the back seat being thrown around from side to side – so he didn’t really appreciate how awful it was for me perched on the back hanging on for dear life.

Thursday morning we decided to go to the main Garden Wing buffet for breakfast rather than the more sedate Rasa wing restaurant – OMG it was absolute carnage….kids everywhere bumping into people, there was little concept of the notion of queuing and I’m not sure I enjoyed having to weave through heaving tables to deliver tea / coffee to our table. ..having got used to table service. Oh well, lesson learnt, not sure we’d go there again. The only reason we had tried it was because we had met Shane and Debbie a few nights in the Rasa Lounge now and had bonded over complimentary wine. They are Australian – just moved to Brisbane – and it was lovely to chat to them. They had been using this breakfast place unaware that there was an alternative…and had said how huge the selection was. Well it was huge…but the noise and busyness was just too much for me… Why, oh why, do kids come to breakfast wearing their pyjamas!?

After that experience we headed to the pool for another cloudy but hot day, relieved not to have to use the ‘main’ pool as it was completely overrun with excitable noisy kids. Shane and Debbie were there this time and poor Shane had got pretty badly sunburnt, despite the cloudy conditions. So we donated some of our Aloe Vera after sun gel to the better cause…. not wanting to carry it home with us again. After our ‘normal’ complimentary lounge experience – by which time the waiters had lined up the wine glasses before we arrived next to Shane and Debbie to bag our seats – we took off down the strip and had a lovely Chinese at Andrew Kampung, a small local restaurant upstairs in a nearby shopping block. I had crispy duck and it was fantastic – great value too – especially when you consider we drank more wine…..

Back across the road to the other resort and we got another buggy trip back to our wing. This time the guy went a bit slower and we sat together so didn’t feel quite so precarious – it was a larger vehicle too.

Wednesday morning and it was more of the same….had breakfast – back in the serenity of the a la carte restaurant – and then to another nice relaxing day by the pool with the critters. Lizards were pretty frequent visitors under our beds…

That evening after our lounge experience we headed down the strip to the food hall where Richard had chicken and beef satay while I tried another curry – Indian version this time, not Malaysian. After that we checked out the night markets again and this time we purchased some novelty LED lights in bamboo baskets which are now adorning our windowsill in the garden room / conservatory at home.

Thursday and Friday was more of the same…more pool, more wine, more sunbathing, more lizards, more bobbing in the pool and then in the evening we returned to Andrew Kampung for another Chinese meal which was absolutely delicious. Not sure how they do it for the money but it was fantastic…and even the wine was good LOL.

Saturday morning we got ready to depart. So we had breakfast, said our sad farewells to Debbie and Shane (whose company we had really enjoyed), did our final packing and checked out in preparation for our departure and waited in reception for our driver.

We were flying from Penang to Kuala Lumpur at 2pm that day…. He turned up on time and we were grateful for that as the roads on Penang can get pretty congested…. We arrived at the airport and quickly checked in and headed through security. All very simple and before you know it we were boarding our first flight of the day.

We arrived into Kuala Lumpur and, thankfully, our bags were actually on the carousel they were supposed to be this time before attempting to find the British Airways check in desks for our later flight home to London. We had about seven hours to kill so was hoping to get rid of the bags and then pay to go into one of the lounges where it would be more comfortable to wait. But of course you can’t do this until you have checked the bags as all lounges are airside and beyond security. And, of course, BA machines were not working until three hours before the flight…so we ended up in Jamie Oliver’s Pizza and Pasta Restaurant having a pizza and sitting around for a while.

Suddenly we realised that it was time to rejoin the queue so we headed back to the check in machines, printed our boarding passes, and dropped our bags off. Free of them we then headed through security – which we cleared very quickly with little fuss – and found the Plaza premium pay-as-you-go lounge. We paid up – Richard was decidedly not happy – but at least we’d have decent chairs rather than the rather basic steel benches everywhere else – that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it! So we made ourselves comfortable and, as it was offered as part of our lounge entry, I took myself off for a 15 minute complimentary neck and back massage which was fantastic. Settling into nice comfortable leather seats we put our phones on charge and sampled some of the complimentary food on offer – I wasn’t that hungry after our pizza but knew we had a long night ahead of us, so made do with some cheese and biscuits (purely to help the wine go down LOL).

Forty five minutes before our flight was due to depart the gate information was on the boards so we picked up our hand luggage and moved to the gate – which required taking a train. We arrived in good time and boarded pretty much straight away. On the plane we had the same reserved seats as we had on the way out – so I knew I was in for a very uncomfortable 12 hour ride…confident that BA have removed all padding from their seats… Anyway, we took off on time and then we had our meal service. Surprisingly we got offered more than the usual chicken and pasta option and I had stir fried beef…. It was actually pretty good!

Eventually we settled down for the night and tried to get some sleep…Richard dozed pretty well…I was just way too uncomfortable. So I watched a couple of movies in desperation and had a glass of wine with Richard when he came too again later…. Usually we stop at this juncture but we needed to get through the next 12 hours somehow LOL.

Anyway, that brings our amazing Malaysian adventures to an end. Hope you have enjoyed travelling along with us. What next?? Well, nothing booked in the next few months although we are hankering after some winter sun already as winter kicks in here…the cold / damp weather playing havoc with my old arthritic bones.

The next booked trip is August 2026 when we are doing an expedition cruise from Darwin to Fremantle in Australia. It will be winter in Australia but it is just too hot to go to this area during their summer. So very excited about this….we had been wanting to see the Kimberleys and Ningaloo reef (Western Australia) for a long long time….so finally we are going to achieve it. I really want to snorkel with whale sharks and manta rays once again if possible!

Anyway, so that’s it for now folk, see you soon. Take care and hope all of you have a Happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year. Here are a couple of my favourite Christmas photos from onboard Morphie. Happy days and lovely memories.

Bye for now

Jan

After leaving the Red Food Court we headed back and popped our noses into the Mango Lounge which is attached to the Blue Mansion hotel. We enjoyed a bottle of wine with good service and then retired to bed by 9pm. Had been a long day.

Tuesday we walked to the Clan Jetties, then to Cornwallis Fort, followed the Esplanade, checked out Queen Victoria’s clocktower and returned – phew! We then relaxed back in our room before returning to the Clan Jetties to check out the Jetty food court – much larger than the previous one and which had come recommended by friends – before ending up in the Tipsy Cow bar chatting to an Australian couple. Had been a tiring day in the heat and humidity but we enjoyed the vibe of Georgetown.

Wednesday morning we took ourselves off to visit Penang Hill ordering a grab (uber) to take us there – it’s official name is Penang Hill UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. We had pre-purchased our funicular tickets and enjoyed the trip up although were surprised by just how busy it was! Penang Hill has a total of six peaks and the highest stands at 833 meters above sea level (2,732 feet). So we were able to enjoy some of the best lookouts in Penang – a spectacular 180 degree view of George Town from the SkyWalk and SkyDeck – but sadly it wasn’t that clear of a day….

We stopped in the cafe for a cold drink and a refillable bottle of water to take with us before starting to wander around and enjoy the views. We decided against visiting the antiquated pre-war colonial style bungalows and buildings nestling among the trees but it was obvious why the Europeans had decided to chose this area to settle – set against the vast backdrop of the lush rainforest.

Entering the walkways we came across a very friendly Dusky Leaf Monkey wearing his trademark spectacles so stood and watched him for a while… He was completely unconcerned about our close proximity and just sat and looked around…guess he is used to excitable tourists wanting to take his photo all the time LOL. Moving on we came across a huge lizard and lots of other beasties….sadly no native Black Giant Squirrels. But we enjoyed taking a break on the numerous giant swings as we walked around enjoying the sights and sounds of the forest.

At the end of the SkyWalk we reached The Habitat – a gift shop and cafe rolled into one. We were informed that, because we had tickets, we could grab a free buggy ride back to the funicular station if we wanted to….it was a long way back….so took the opportunity to do so checking out the mosque and the temple before departing the site on the funicular ride down.

Had been a lot of fun but we were pretty tired after all this so retired back to the city and our hotel. After a restorative rest up we headed back down into town and checked out some of the Street Art before deciding to go to a steak restaurant for dinner (we fancied some Western food). We had been recommended a particular place but, sadly, they were fully booked. So we checked for alternatives near by and found another one that was close….so headed over there….stopping off at the Beach Bar along the way. Have no idea why this pub was called the Beach Bar as it was nowhere near a beach nor did it had beach views…all very confusing. Anyway, having enjoyed a drink, we headed to the Steak place. This had the model of charging per 100g of meat – depending upon which cut you chose – which came with sides. We selected our cut and were taken to a huge butchery / fridge area to select our steaks…we chose two very similar in size…and they priced them there and then. Not too bad actually. The biggest surprise was this very large restaurant was completely halal so no alcohol served….not a problem as there were loads of other places to frequent….but meant we didn’t linger after eating. The food was pretty good but we soon moved on and returned to the Mango Lounge for a pontoonie….to our delight a live band was playing and they were pretty good.

Returning to our room for the night we discussed what to do the following day. We had done a lot and had seen most things but recognised that we really needed a driver to do it justice – so booked a private tour for the following day.

Thursday morning we were picked up by Robin – our tour guide / driver – and he wanted to know what we had explored already so that we didn’t duplicate things. He was surprised that we had already been to Penang Hill but we hadn’t explored the huge temple which sits beneath it…so that was our first stop.

Then we drove back towards the city and visited every temple known to man along the route – particularly the two Buddhist temples which sat opposite each other on one side road. The giant gold Buddhas were huge (one standing and one reclining) and we enjoyed checking them out. Afterwards he drove us towards the prom and explained more about the Clan Jetties – apparently these were originally Chinese sea gypsies who set up home on jetties they constructed along the coastline. When they settled and constructed these homes on stilts they were not considered to be permanent homes and were free of taxes. That has changed in the last decade or so as they now have access to electricity, water and sanitation pipes – so still living the same way except they have to pay property taxes LOL!

Each Clan has their own jetty – some are more commercial (ie have small touristy type shops selling bits and bobs) and others are purely residential with the odd temple thrown in. We visited both and, walking to the end of the Lee Jetty which was where they tied their fishing boats up as many still live traditional lives, we were surprised to see a huge monitor lizard in the mud going for a walk….. Wasn’t expecting that!

On the way back to our hotel we stopped off at the Penang White Coffee company and enjoyed some samples…I tried their hot chocolate offerings rather than their coffee. Both of us were blown away by the taste / flavour so purchased some sachets to take home…plus some chocolates. I particularly liked their 75% dark chocolate range…. We must have been transfixed by the whole experience as when we got back and realised how much we had spent we were a bit surprised to say the least!

Moving swiftly on we headed into the Batik factory – and I purchased a lovely top for myself, Richard declined the matching shirt LOL – before returning to the car park to meet Robin. Back at the hotel we said our sad farewells…he had given us a really interesting and informative day out…and returned to our room to drop off our goodies.

After an hour relaxing and getting cleaned up we headed back to the Mango Lounge bar and were delighted to see another band were setting up…..but sadly the weather had other ideas…and pretty much as soon as they started the heavens opened and rain stopped play. The band – and their family members – then huddled under cover with us hoping that the whole evening wasn’t going to be washed out but, sadly, it was. But it was lovely to chat to these locals about their lives here in Penang.

Friday morning (14 September) we joined in with one of the formal tours of the Blue Mansion to get more information on our accommodation. Surprisingly the tour guide was actually the owner and she was full of information about the challenging renovation that they had undertaken to bring this place back to its former glory when Cheong Fatt Tze used it both as his home and office and lived here with his seventh wife. He was a prominent figure in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a successful businessman who also held significant roles as a diplomat and an advisor. The mansion has 38 rooms, 5 granite paved courtyards, 7 staircases and 220 vernacular timber louvre windows. It also has UNESCO cultural world heritage site status. The mansion has been featured in various films including the 1993 French film Indochine, Road to Dawn and The Blue Mansion. It also serves as the backdrop to many movies / TV programmes including most recently “Crazy Rich Asians” which means that most of the tourists come simply to recreate photo opportunities to match the programme! And they don’t care about the hotel guests privacy they just march around as though they own the place ignoring the roped off ‘private’ areas…

After the tour we walked back into the centre of town as we realised that we had missed some of the Street Art installations….so we hired a Trishaw and took off… The guy was completely nuts and kept telling us weird stories how one of the buildings was being used to store cocaine – but now it was stored legally it was all owned by the pharmaceutical companies – and another which used to store ammunition…. The Trishaw was a little on the small side and wasn’t really suited to two Westerners sitting side by side…so we sort of sat on top of each other and enjoyed the ride. We had a nice time despite the discomfort LOL.

Saturday morning – our last day in Georgetown before we moved down the coast to Batu Ferringhi the beach area of Penang for a week of R&R. We went through our tour book and online resources and decided we had explored everything that we wanted to (especially as it was raining again) so decided to take ourselves off to a local laundry we had spotted on our wanderings previously. We walked down there only to find that the lady was busy (ironically doing Blue Mansion work) and couldn’t return it to us until Monday (which didn’t work for us). But there was a self service laundromat next door…. Luckily the machines were already pre-filled with detergent and softener so I just needed change….and there was a change machine on the wall….so happy days put the laundry on and settled down to read a book whilst I waited. Richard went off on a mission to pick up some stuff from local shops so he popped back in now and again to check on me…. Eventually he returned for good and I took the opportunity of taking some of the laundry back to the hotel room with me… On Richard’s return with the rest of it we sorted it all out – lovely that we were leaving in the morning with all clean clothes – before sitting in the courtyard outside our room with a cold beer. We enjoyed sitting there – watching the rain which had reduced the humidity a bit – for a few hours (despite fending off more of those damn tourists LOL) before heading back into town for dinner at Emily’s steakhouse for dinner. We then had a drink in a pub before getting a grab back to the hotel where we popped into the Mango Lounge and caught the last 15 minutes of a musical set by another band. This was all advertised as jazz (which is not our preferred genre) but it was really good and the musicians were very talented. And so to bed…we had thoroughly enjoyed our time exploring Penang and Georgetown.

That brings this part of the adventure to a close….come back soon for the next (and final) edition…

Bye for now, Jan

After a non-eventful smooth flight, we landed back in Kuala Lumpur and were told to go to carousel L for our luggage. We waited, and waited, and waited….. Then there was a new announcement to try carousel K instead. So we moved and Richard carried on watching the belt – by now pretty empty of all luggage – and I went on the hunt….. I found both our cases sitting alone in the middle of the floor having clearly been abandoned some time ago. Very frustrating… But hey ho, what can you do? At least they made it with us.

On arrival we found the car collection area and our names were on a list…but no driver! So we were expected but, of course, the luggage chaos had added a few hours to our arrival time. We found a travel agent supervisor who returned and said we were so delayed he had just been checking we had actually been on the plane LOL. He kindly summoned the driver and then we were off to Kuala Lumpur again.

The drive wasn’t too bad – and we arrived pretty quickly at the Melia hotel again – only stopping for one night. We checked in and found our room on the 11th floor and and then, having organised ourselves, we took a Grab car to the Petronas Towers and headed into the Kuala Lumpur Central mall to pick up some food – we had a Malay dish and it was lovely. Afterwards we headed to the back of the Towers for the water / light / music show. It didn’t disappoint but we were surprised by the modern music being played as we had expected it to be classical. But we sat on the steps overlooking the lake – along with a lot of other tourists – and enjoyed the show.

After the show – with numb bums from sitting on the concrete steps – we found a waterside bar with views so moved there and watched more shows in comfort with a glass in hand.

We bumped into a couple from Fiji who were surprised that we had been to Nadi their home town. We had a Bangladeshi server who was a law graduate. She said that there was different treatment to overseas visa holders in terms of housing / study / working rules etc. She was lovely and very efficient.

After the 10pm show had ended and the bar was now closing so we headed back to the Mall to find it was being locked up for the night. So gradually found our way back to the front to order another Grab for our return back to the hotel and so to bed.

Monday morning we had a leisurely start and were picked up at 11.00 am to go back to the airport for our next flight. We checked out post breakfast and the driver was already there…he recognised us as he had been the driver on our KL City Tour which we had done prior to our Borneo adventures. We had a good run to the airport, checked in early on the machines and dropped our bags off.

The flight was only one hour to Penang – our base for the next two weeks. Again we were treated to lots of water and peanuts LOL. We landed – picked up our luggage – and headed off to meet our driver. This was the quickest we had been through any of the airports so far.

We followed the driver’s instructions to the e-hailing area in the nearby car park. We told him we were in situ and he drove in to pick us up. We then drove to the Blue Mansion (the Cheong Fatt Tze) located in Georgetown, the capital of Penang. When we arrived there were numerous tours of the property going on – as it has historic significance – and were taken to our room which was lovely!

There was limited space to unpack – there was some hanging space and a safe but no shelves / drawers despite the huge space. So back to living out of our suitcase LOL. We then took ourselves off for a walk and found the Red Food Court just along the road before returning to the hotel and rested up having explored a bit of the hotel ourselves. Stunning place!

That evening we returned to the food court for dinner and looked at all the different cuisines / offerings before settling on a Chinese meal. I even found an alcohol outlet and, after a considerable wait, managed to pick up a couple of beers….

So that ends this blog – please return for the next instalment of our time in Penang shortly. Bye for now, Jan

Tuesday morning, 2 September, and it was our 29th wedding anniversary. Woo hoo – congrats to us! We opened our cards and then headed down to breakfast.

And I had an egg disaster – asked for two hard boiled eggs – and when they arrived they were completely raw despite the shells being hot! Damn….it was finally sorted out but by now Richard had finished his egg florentine breakfast so we weren’t impressed as we would have preferred to eat at the same time. Funnily enough at that moment in time the server asked us to do an online review of the service…just for the hotel’s purposes not for wider sharing…so we were very honest. Hoping the feedback would work!

We spent a lovely day by the pool bobbing on large bean bags before having a snack lunch before returning to our room to relax and get ready for dinner.

We headed down to reception at 6pm and met with our butler for the night…who walked us to the beach and to our private cabana…just in time for the sunset.

We had champagne cocktails which was followed by an amuse bouche, the wine service then followed along with sparkling water for the table. Then we had our scallops starter followed by lobster bisque…. I don’t like lobster bisque so Richard ate two bowls full LOL.

Then to the main which was steak for me and sea bass for Richard followed by a special cheesecake and a chocolate Happy Anniversary plate. All delicious although very rich and decadent. We had enjoyed this special experience…felt very spoilt! We lingered after we had finished eating and our butler decided to bring us two additional glasses of complimentary champagne. How nice!

Our butler was very young and was doing an apprenticeship with Shangri La so had worked his way through housekeeping and into service. He was a delight! Clearly got a good work ethic as he had a couple of days off coming up and he was going to work for his dad in his construction company.

We returned to our room absolutely stuffed full (and bitten to death by the sand fleas) so returned to the air conditioned comfort of our room for pontoonies. It had been a lovely day – I had high expectations when we had booked this ‘dine by design special experience’ – and am pleased to say that our expectations were met! Was very romantic and special – not sure how we are going to top it for our 30th next year (although have ideas LOL).

Wednesday we were up late – to breakfast – and our eggs were perfect this time but we realised that if you ordered the eggs how you wanted them cooked they also delivered the full cooked breakfast which we didn’t want….so our fault this time…serves us right for not checking it out properly!!

After breakfast we headed back to the room to chill out and then at 12.30 we headed down to reception to pick up our car which was taking us to the Mari Mari cultural village. The driver sent us a text to let us know he was there at 12.30 but he wasn’t…. We spoke to him again and it turns out he was at the wrong reception to the hotel – we were in the Ocean Wing and he was at the Garden Wing. Never mind – eventually we met up – and we took off. His driving was a bit erratic to start with, clearly indicators were optional equipment rather than essential, but we survived and arrived at the village.

On arrival we got our tickets and waited for our names to be called. We took the opportunity to use the bathroom facilities which were very modern (Western style) and very clean. So a good start.

We were called and joined the rest of our group – only the transfer had been private this time… We walked across the rope bridge (which was a bit wobbly) and then checked out the variety of longhouses showing how different tribes lived. Some were communal facilities and others completely segregated on gender grounds. All were originally headhunters so lots of skulls around and our guide admitted that most of them were alcoholics as they make (and consume) a lot of rice wine LOL! The final longhouse belonged to a tribe with Islamic heritage so no alcoholics there….

Throughout the tour we were shown different skills – how to make rice wine, and honey (with bees that don’t sting bizarrely), bamboo cooking, cloth and rope making, fire making etc. Richard tried everything but I declined as my stomach was complaining…so I had to run off to find bathroom facilities during the tour….which were western again but not so clean!

We ended the tour at a cultural show with dancers / singers etc and it was pretty good. This was then followed by an inclusive lunch – by now both of us were feeling a bit crook with the heat and humidity – so I had plain boiled rice and Richard just had water….

We left at 4.45 pm and started the long crawl home in the solid traffic. The traffic here is dreadful and it took us three and a half hours to do 35 kms! Nose to tail and in the dark… Back to the hotel we were worn out so had a quiet night in front of the TV.

Thursday we had a leisurely start and there was a staff change in the restaurant so we received better service…and, finally, managed to get both our orders right and were served at the same time LOL.

After breakfast we headed to the pool and enjoyed a day bobbing – it was blisteringly hot – so a lot of the time was spent in the shade. Returning to our room around 4.30 pm we enjoyed a bottle of wine and a huge bubble bath on our balcony (which was organised for us by reception).

Later on we showered and headed out for dinner in the main buffet restaurant which was very busy…but we didn’t want to pay the full buffet price which we thought was very expensive as we weren’t very hungry and would only have eaten a few dishes…so went a la carte instead as we were trying out all the different restaurants the hotel had on offer.

Friday we had a late start before going to breakfast – and, it was absolutely great! The server had picked up on our irritated feedback and made sure we had the best experience checking up on us throughout the service. Lovely!

We spent another pool bobbing day before it started to rain! So we went back to our room and chilled out on the day bed on our balcony reading books before going out to dinner at the a la carte Chinese restaurant which was very nice although bizarrely named The Eighth! Afterwards we headed back to our room for a movie night.

Saturday we headed down to the pool again and there were kids around! Although the Ocean Wing is designed for adults there were a few families staying here but this was the first time they had decided to come to ‘our’ pool! So our quiet and relaxation was spoilt by some screaming entitled brats – one particularly young girl would not be told anything by her father and she promptly took herself off in a strop to return to her room alone. She was about five years old going on twenty! Her mother was completely frustrated by the whole situation…. Eventually Dad gave in and gave her whatever she wanted, but it was frustrating to witness. Guess tantrums will always win the argument then! But at least it stopped her from screaming at the top of her voice!

Later on we headed down to the Italian restaurant (the same one that we have our a la carte breakfast in) and grabbed an inside table as it was pouring with rain. Here is a screenshot from the hotel’s website….obviously showing outside dining option.

Sunday we were up early for breakfast and said goodbye to Sue (who had taken special care of us post our complaint LOL). We did our final check and packed, room vacated and bill paid by 8.30 am. The taxi was early and drove us straight to the airport (which seemed very familiar this time)….

We got checked in and very quickly got through security to wait for our flight to return to Kuala Lumpur.

The flight was straightforward enough and they served good food…

So that ends the Borneo section of our Malaysian adventure. Come back soon for another part. Bye for now.

Jan

Up very early and packed, had breakfast, and headed down to the jetty for our ferry trip to My Nature Resort. Again very fast and, at one point, we thought we were being kidnapped as we headed out to sea LOL.

We arrived at SIM SIM Water Village and was met by Tyson our driver who took us to the My Nature resort. We checked in and confirmed the activities for the day.

We then went to our spacious room to settle in. Again needing sticks for the monkeys! It was very very hot and felt like I was cooking from the inside out…completely melting…. Was very grateful for good air conditioning!

We had a lovely lunch in their open air restaurant – no menu selections this time – just a plate of food delivered which was excellent. All the lodges had been very careful to check for allergies and I had put down seafood (although prawns are OK) as Richard has an aversion to bottom feeding molluscs more generally….

After a very nice lunch – where we chatted to some fellow guests who were heading up the river taking the normal south to north route (which we had done in reverse) – and took off along with our companions (two older Dutch women) and first stop was the Sun Bear Conversation Centre. Very interesting but still felt like a bit of a zoo as the bears were fenced – although in huge natural areas – and saw one sitting in the tree near the boardwalk and one pacing below us. It is a relatively recently-introduced law that keeping sun bears for pets or the disgusting bile trade has been outlawed with huge fines and prison sentences. So this was where they were moved to when recovering from their previous captivity. Sun bears all have unique light coloured marks on their chests which is unique to them – so like a bear fingerprint.

There were a few macaques about – including the very aggressive pigtails – who snarled at us and showed us huge teeth as we swept by. One smaller one decided to come at me from behind….and was clearly after the flannel that I was carrying to wipe down as we walked along. Luckily Richard saw him coming from behind so was able to warn me…

Moving on we headed next to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. Having seen many documentaries about this place we had very high expectations, particularly of seeing the babies. Well, the baby nursery (where they start their rehab journey) is not open to the public sadly. But never mind there is an outside nursery where they play and we were able to see some mucking around….from an air conditioned environment. Fabulous! In this slightly older aged group nursery they are paired on a buddy system so they learn how to be wild orangutans from each other with minimal human contact. Must be difficult for those who had been reared as pets…a common problem…but there is a lot of hope for the wild population to recover as a result of this intervention.

We then walked along the boardwalk to the feeding platform. We were told that they deliberately feed them boring food (same each day) as, at this point, they are living in an open environment and only come down if they are hungry….as there is lots of natural food for them to forage in the jungle. We saw a couple of them hanging around (literally) waiting for the food to arrive…very interesting how they interact with each other…and then the food was delivered and they headed straight to it. ANothing separating us and them this time apart from a few rangers to ensure they didn’t come into the viewing area. The older one (you can tell by his flattened face…) was very funny and the younger of the two was cheeky – he blocked the rope bridge and when the older one tried to pass above him, he grabbed him by his balls LOL Absolutely amazing…this was something on my bucket list ticked off!

Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and got showered…and had some canapes whilst we waited for the dark to descend. This was to watch the flying squirrels who had taken up residence in the trees near the main restaurant area. And, then suddenly, one leapt and another popped his/her little head out of it’s nest….

Afterwards….it was time for a night walk. After an exhausting day in the heat I declined and waited in the restaurant for Richard to come back. Not much to see apart from bugs etc again but he enjoyed the experience anyway although found the route relatively demanding.

Whilst waiting I enjoyed a lovely chilled glass of wine and on Richard’s return we had a great dinner – another buffet – and, as the chicken was cooked in oyster sauce (with their real concern over allergies), they brought a freshly grilled chicken breast to our table as an additional item….great service…and was delicious!

This lodge was very comfortable although the bed was a little low for my liking…and to compound that…on returning from the loo in the night I actually slipped and fell over as I totally misjudged the height. Oh well, nothing hurt or broken, so was very lucky!

Sunday morning we were up very early and packed our bags in readiness for our departure. Shame we didn’t stay here another night – as I would have liked to return to Sepilok for another orangutan fix!

Had a lovely breakfast – where the chef cooked my eggs perfectly – and then returned to our room and packed our hand luggage, emptying the safe of our valuables. Our cases were picked up and, stick in hand again just in case, we walked to reception. At some point – about 15 minutes after the scheduled collection/departure time – we were told that our driver had had a medical emergency so an alternative vehicle was on its way to us.

We arrived at Sandakan airport for our short domestic flight to Kota Kinabalu (the capital of Sabah state) and went to the check in desks. At this point we were redirected to the x-ray machines to get our luggage scanned….pushing them along I managed to get the wheel caught in the floor and promptly the bag was over with me on top of it! Richard was seriously not impressed by my clumsiness and, luckily, some locals saw what happened and helped me up. Again no injuries apart from some hurt pride LOL.

Luggage scanned and now checked in and dropped off we headed to the departure gate – and waited for our flight to board. Was only a 30 minute trip and on arrival we had to do the whole customs and immigration check which seemed a bit strange for a domestic flight within the state but at least we knew about it in advance…..

On arrival, having collected our bags, our driver was waiting for us and took us to our hotel the Shangri La Rasa Ria. We chose this hotel because they are next to the rainforest and have orangutan orphans – or they used to have at least! On their resort map it still shows them near the rainforest. Sadly they have all been relocated to Sepilok to continue their education…so no longer here. Was very disappointed when I found out as I had hoped to see the babies….

We headed to the Ocean Wing reception (there are two wings with separate receptions) and checked in and left our suitcases. Sadly our room was not ready so we were told to return at 3pm. We walked around and checked out the restaurants and facilities along the way. We returned as requested and were checked in, went to our room, and found a lovely surprise as they had decorated our bed with roses, supplied a cake and some wine – to celebrate our upcoming 29th wedding anniversary.

And finally we were staying somewhere more than one or two nights so unpacked – the first time properly in the whole trip so far – yay! We chilled out for a while before getting showed and ready for dinner. OMG what an amazing shower. Bliss!

At the beach bar we waited for the cultural show to start – singing / dancing and a fireshow.

Afterwards we headed to the buffet restaurant for dinner (an Indian-inspired menu this time). Huge selection of Indian foods and the mutton was the most tender meat I had ever tasted – made a real change from beef curry LOL. We even had poppadoms (although they were similar to prawn crackers) pus some naan bread. Delicious although it was pricey and we definitely didn’t make the most of the buffet selection with some families just gorging for hours.

Lots of kids were there too – staying in the Garden Wing thankfully – so screens and headphones were the order of the day to keep them quiet…. Although Japanese kids racing around on skate trainers were somewhat annoying LOL. We saw very little parental interaction, discipline or even straight forward attention being paid to many of the (largely western) kids.

Oh yes, and as we left the restaurant we were chased up the stairs by one of the waiters as we hadn’t paid….well we had pre-booked and the cost of the dinner was on our hotel bill… Luckily Richard kept the receipt for our wine so we were able to prove that we were not running off….. Still a bit annoying as it was embarrassing in front of other guests….

We headed to the bar in the Garden Wing lobby for a pontoonie before returning to our room for the night….had been a long day.

Monday morning we went to the al la carte restaurant for breakfast – lovely – and definitely quieter as this part of the hotel is relatively child free. Luckily we got a seat inside as the heavens opened and those enjoying their breakfast on the patio had to race for alternative tables.

After breakfast we went back to our room and sorted out some laundry. We told customer services and were told to put it outside the room…five minutes later it was collected. Great service! To avoid the rain we sat on our very spacious balcony (which came with a huge bath tub) and lazed around reading books (enjoying our complimentary mini bar contents) on our huge day bed which was very comfy. By lunchtime the rain had cleared so we walked the beach – it was still a little wet – and then went to Tepi Laut for a drink. Back to the room which had been serviced by now although the fridge had not been restocked. So made a call and, within 10 minutes, the guy turned up to restock. Fantastic – thank you!

We then headed to the Ocean Wing pool – some kids around but not really supposed to be in this pool – and it was very quiet. We enjoyed a nice bob in the pool and then into the jacuzzi (with wine LOL) before returning to our room.

By now the laundry was back OMG – in a lovely wicker basket – what fab presentation. Only 15 items for £15 which was a pleasant surprise for a five star hotel. We washed through our smalls and put them on the balcony airer to dry – having come armed with pegs from home!

We showered, relaxed and headed out again to Tepi Laut for dinner. It was on the schedule to be open but had been closed because of the rain (it is largely out in the open)… Very disappointed by this… So ended up in the fancy Japanese restaurant watching the Chefs do their thing. Food was great but some explanation could have helped on the menu – I ordered garlic chips expecting fries and received roasted garlic chips. Not for me thanks! And because everything is cooked in front of you courses are delivered when ready – so our dinner was not delivered at the same time. A bit strange but we accepted this although got some strange looks that we weren’t tucking in straight away as we were waiting on the outstanding dishes……

After dinner we headed to the Garden Wing lobby for a drink in the bar and had a couple of pontoonies…and then walked back to our room and turned in. Had been a great day!

That finishes this part of our Malaysian adventure – come back soon to read more. Bye for now.

Jan

We chatted to the manager on arrival whilst we had a cold drink to recover. He explained that we would be introduced to our guide around 2.45 pm. So we made ourselves comfortable and enjoyed the views up and down the river. Later on Abdul turned up and explained the itinerary for the day….4pm time for tea and then 4.30 pm boat trip followed by 7.30 pm dinner and an after dinner night walk. In the meantime he took us to check out the vipers which were sitting in the bushes we had just walked past. Eek…hadn’t spotted them at all!

All went to plan until we got down the river to see the fireflies – they had just started sparkling when thunder clouds built and the lightning started. So back to the lodge and we had a couple of Tiger beers while waiting for dinner to be served.

We had a lovely beef curry – definitely the softest meat so far – along with veggies and jasmine rice. Delicious! Then the heavens opened…and the torrential rain meant that our night walk was cancelled. Oh well, never mind. We were back in our room by 9pm but as we had a 6.30 am start in the morning we weren’t bothered…

After a reasonable night’s sleep we were up early Friday and headed down to the jetty to pick up our boat for the next river trip. There were lots of probiscus monkeys again and a few spectacles. Oh and much bigger crocodiles here!!!

We also came across a rope bridge which had been strung between two islets. This is for the orangutans…the other monkeys can all swim and the probiscus make huge leaps across and, if they fall in, they hope not to become dinner for the crocs as they swim to the shore!

During the trip we asked Abdul about the negative publicity re palm oil plantations endangering the orangutan habitat as the primary forest has been cut down. He had a different view…. He confirmed that this area used to be rainforest but had actually been felled after WW2 to supply the timber for rebuilding the towns which had been completely flattened by bombing raids. Malaysia suffered significantly at the hands of the Japanese invasion. So yes it was sad that palm oil had taken over but he said for hard workers it was a reasonable crop to make a living. And it wasn’t all big plantations and large businesses – many were smallholders. However, he was very supportive of the Government’s push to preserve the rainforest and that, now after a number of years, there were miles of the river edged by forest rather than plantations (which resided behind). An interesting perspective from someone who makes their living out of tourism and the animals that inhabit the area.

We went back to the resort and headed around the boardwalk into the jungle for our breakfast which was cooked and served. There was a guy manning the toaster and he offered me some white sliced warm bread…so I asked for it to be put through again…and he was shocked. When he saw that we liked it quite brown he said that was burnt and ruined LOL.

After lunch we rested up for a while and then reconvened at 12.30 pm – again we were going to a local village for lunch. So we piled into the boat to head over there…we met the old lady (who was the grandmother of one of the lodge’s waiters)…and settled down to eat. Again another buffet…and again I chose beef curry…can’t get too much of a good thing LOL. Funnily enough this village was clearly more Islamic than the previous one we had visited. This was a Friday so the call to prayers was very loud and actually not that melodious! Guess you can’t always guarantee that your Iman has a good voice?!?

This particular village was very boggy underfoot so we had to balance on planks that had been laid down to get around. Abdul explained that this village was at threat of becoming an island as the water levels continue to rise. But everything is built on stilts so they weren’t overly worried although I had some concerns over crocodiles invading the village green LOL and eating the kids!

Back at the lodge we rested up as we were going to reconvene at 3.30 pm – an hour earlier than usual – as we were heading back up the river towards Sukau as there had been some pygmy elephants seen in the area. We boarded our boat and took off very fast – full of anticipation about seeing the elephants. They are small because of the area they reside in – full-sized elephants would not be able to get through the dense forest…

En route my stomach started rebelling…all that beef curry LOL…and I asked Abdul if he could find a place for me to go to the toilet. Hopefully not in the bush with the monkeys and critters! As we continued we spotted a site on the river where guys were working on their boats – this river is the main road in the area and lots of barges etc move things around between areas….

Luckily there was a dunny on the pier…we pulled alongside…and Abdul got permission for me to use the facility. Well, a shack over the river with a hole in the floor is better than nothing, so I was very grateful to him…. Whilst I was in the dunny the heavens opened and, when I came out, everyone was soaked through! Luckily we had ponchos with us – first time of using – so were suitably kitted out for this…. Very sweaty but at least they kept the rain out….

We then headed into a small river stream and there were lots of boats around – from every lodge and camp along the river – so lots of tourists too. Abdul got the information from the others and, yes, elephants were around. Sadly they were not on the river but they were in a plantation which was being felled…they clear old trees and let the elephants play in the area…

Sadly this meant climbing out of the boat – up a steep muddy slope – and onto the flat land above. And, of course, this has to be the day we had travelled in sandals rather than our hiking boots! Suddenly, we saw them – OMG – a far distance away but at least we had glimpsed them, along with every other tourist visiting the area it would seem! This was a real treat! Everyone was pretty excited at this point….

On the way back – much slower than on the way – and enjoyed more monkey antics. Back at the lodge we had showers and changed for dinner. After dinner we headed along the boardwalk for a night walk – the humidity in the forest was a killer – and we were sopping wet in seconds! We saw lots of little beasties / critters and a slow lorus. Back to the bar – we had a beer – and then to bed.

Saturday we were up very early, packed, had breakfast in the jungle again – alone this time as all our fellow guests had gone off for their early morning boat safari – and we were back on the dock for the 9am small ferry departure.

Next stop was My Nature Resort in Sandakan. Come back to read all about it soon – bye for now.

Jan

We arrived at Sukau, checked in and were shown to our wooden chalet on stilts (we were luckily to get AC at the time of booking, most of them don’t). We were surprised by the size – we reckon you could have housed six beds at least LOL – with two bathrooms. Fantastic! We were also given sticks to carry with us at all times – to threaten the macaques if they come close – but not to hit them as they are family groups and a physical confrontation would encourage the whole group to attack. Richard was not too keen to carry this stick around….but I persuaded him….why give it to us if not needed?!?

At lunch we met our allocated guide and the rest of the group who would make up the passengers in our boat. This was the same group throughout our stay. He also explained that the sarongs we had found on our bed were to be worn at dinner by everybody and then demonstrated 50 ways how to wear it LOL!

This particular lodge is all about boat trips to see the wildlife that reside near or on the Kinabatangan River….so at 4.30 pm we headed to the jetty and climbed on board. We motored off into the brown muddy coloured water with binoculars and cameras at the ready. Hopes were very high…

Very quickly we came across a group of probiscus monkeys…OMG they could have been designed by a comic book artist…such funny looking things. Apparently the bigger the nose the more attractive they are to the females…. They leap from branch to branch and, although they seem to be ultra brave and jump high into the air, we did see some retreat back onto the branch having clearly decided that particular jump just wasn’t for them at that moment in time LOL. They seemed completely unbothered by our close proximity to them and some of them just sat and posed for us… One did try to show off and did this huge leap onto a branch which promptly broke and he ended up tumbling onto the floor. Luckily he appeared unhurt as he quickly climbed the tree again….looking very nervously around for predators…of which there are two – the crocodiles and the clouded leopard (which are a pretty rare sight). Fantastic first experience – what a treat!

On our way back to the lodge we saw some baby crocodiles, about six hornbills and a wild orangutan building a nest on top of a tree. We didn’t know why we had stopped to watch a tree until the guide explained that she was up there building and, once settled into her new home for a couple of days, she would have a quick look around… And she did! Wow… Too far away for really good photos but so excited – I borrowed this image from Sukau’s online photo album. Oh yes and we heard lots of birdsong – being played through speakers to attract Swiftlets into a concrete housing where they will build nests (which are then harvested and used for bird nest soup – a very valuable commodity in this part of the world).

Back at the lodge we collected our stick and, luckily we did, as there were a couple of macaques waiting for us on the walkway. Another guest – who had also decided against carrying the stick – quickly ran up to us and asked for protection LOL. The monkeys didn’t seem that bothered or threatening and lovely to see them up close and personal.

At dinner we all wore our traditional sarongs and enjoyed a lovely meal. And so to bed…

Wednesday morning we were up early for a 6.30 am boat excursion to Oxbow Lake. But it was too shallow for us to get into and the tide was retreating…so after running aground a couple of times….the captain decided to abort. Again we saw lots of different types of monkeys and a diverse range of birds including a gorgeous kingfisher, more Hornbills and an eagle soaring high above us.

On return we had our breakfast on the dock which had been set up specially before chilling in our room for a while.

At 12.30 pm we were back on the dock and were taken across the river to the local village where we were having lunch. On arrival after a couple of minutes crossing the river we got off the boat and wandered into the village where all the kids were shouting ‘hello’ at us from the local school. Surprisingly there were security guards at the school – not quite sure why they were needed – but the kids were definitely not encouraged to visit with us.

At the local house – adorned by plants galore – we enjoyed lunch on the owner’s outside balcony which sat just above the river in the breeze. I had beef curry, rice, spring rolls and a variety of vegetables. Was absolutely delicious.

After lunch we returned to the lodge and had a cold beer on the dock before returning to our room again. There was a pool at this lodge and some nice beds / seats on the dock so we could have relaxed outside – but the humidity was an absolute killer…

At 4pm we headed back to the dock and took off up the river – again lots of monkeys and different birds and probably the largest crocodile we had seen so far. Not on the scale of the Australian ones but pretty threatening, particularly in a low-sided small boat. Our favourites? Difficult to say but would have to be the probiscus (despite my lifelong love of orangutans) followed closely by the spectacle monkeys (more on them in later blogs). The most aggressive was the pig tailed macaque although there were some real posers amongst them. There was also some evidence of inter breeding between species with the variety of colours from grey to orange tints and even some albinos.

Back at the lodge we got cleaned up and headed to dinner – we spent the evening with Alessandro and Irene from Italy. It was Alessandro’s birthday so we even got to eat some cake! At the end of the evening we settled our bill as we were checking out in the morning so were in bed by 10pm. Had been a great part of the trip and we thoroughly enjoyed Sukau.

Thursday we were up early, packed and headed down to breakfast on the jetty at 7am. By 7.30 am we were on the small ferry boat to travel down to the river to our next lodge, Abai Jungle Lodge. The boat ride was fast and furious – spinning around all over the place watching out for shallow spots (which is an assumption) and large logs floating down the river. Was pretty exciting although I did think he got a bit carried away at times, maybe frightening tourists is his favourite part of the job LOL. Other guests on board were in an established tour group so there was little interaction with us. It all felt a bit awkward….

After about an hour we arrived, checked in, and got organised. This was another lodge on stilts…surrounded by a boardwalk… We heard that orangutans had been spotted in the grounds so we followed the map and went for a walk – the elevated boardwalk was a bit slippery in places but felt quite safe and sturdy. Again we walked armed with sticks…

And that brings this part of the blog to a close…and will tell you more about Abai Jungle Lodge in the next part. Come back to read all about it soon. Bye for now

Jan

Sunday 24 August, we were down to reception by 6am to check out and collect our pre-ordered breakfast boxes. By 6.15 am we had been picked up and were on our way to Kuala Lumpur airport. On arrival at the airport (around 7am) we used the self-service machines, printed our boarding passes (x4) and bag tags (which were checked through to our final destination thankfully) and then dropped off the tagged luggage at the automatic machines. Moving more easily without the luggage we found somewhere quiet to sit and to eat our breakfast box contents…. half a plastic cheese sandwich each, a chocolate muffin and some juice. The reason why we ate this so early on was because we weren’t sure what would be allowed through security as we were moving state to state within Malaysia. Our next destination – Sabah, Borneo – has its own administration so operates under different regulations.

Afterwards we headed through security – which was incredibly fast (and felt very rushed) although pretty strict – and then walked to the departure gate. The flight was called and we got on board our Air Malaysia flight to Kota Kinabalu (the capital of Sabah). This short direct flight of 2 hours 45 minutes was on time and within 20 minutes of taking off we were served our meal (which was ordered online as part of the check-in process). Wish other airlines would follow their model…. And fantastic it was too!

By lunchtime we had landed in Kota Kinabalu and we had to clear immigration again (although having already checked into Malaysia more generally). Having navigated this administrative hurdle, we walked through the airport (still airside) and located the gate for our next flight (to Lahad Datu) and waited to be called to board. This time we were getting on a small prop plane and very comfy it was too…. This flight was only an hour long and we were served water and a bag of peanuts each. Bizarrely the hostess then came through the plane offering to sell us more bags of peanuts…. Hmmm…no thanks….very kind and all that LOL.

On arrival we picked up our bags and were met by our driver in a minibus all to ourselves which was a surprise. This transfer had been organised for us by our tour operator – the first part of the trip was managed by Hayes and Jarvis with a 24-hour concierge service – the second half was organised by us independently.

We were taken to the swanky office that Borneo Rainforest Lodge have in town where we completed our check in procedures before meeting our driver Frendo who was going to drive us into the rainforest. Frendo actually works for the Lodge as outsiders are not allowed to drive into the rainforest reserve – hence why we had to change vehicle. So now armed with very smart complimentary stainless water bottles we climbed into a Helux 4WD truck making sure our bags had also been transferred. We then drove on a bumpy but tarmac road for about half an hour before entering the private security-guarded acreage. Was surprised to see security guards controlling the traffic but we had an inclining when our guide in Kuala Lumpur had told us that the Dannum Valley was very private and exclusive and he wasn’t allowed to go there!

The scenery wasn’t particularly special to start with but then we entered secondary rainforest before coming to primary rainforest. Absolutely spectacular!

We continued off road and then came across some diggers. A significant amount of rainfall had washed out the only bridge and they were working on fixing it – but this is the only road in/out of this area and this was it!

The river was raging pretty fast and we were stuck on the south (wrong!) side of it…. A truck approached the river from the other side and started to ford the river – he lost control momentarily with water across the top of his bonnet – but thankfully he had a ‘snorkel’ so there was no risk of water getting into the exhaust. We were horrified and had visions of him floating off down the river – but luckily he found some solid ground, put his foot down, and made it across. At this point our driver decided it was too dangerous and we would wait for the river to drop (as it’s tidal)….

By now we had a procession of vehicles on both sides and the workmen were all standing around watching and discussing what should happen next. Then the digger driver drove down into the river….clearly to provide protection for the vehicles. We were next….drove gingerly into the water…sat alongside the digger for a little while then pushed across to the other side. Hurrah we made it! The start of a proper Borneo adventure LOL.

We carried on driving for another hour or so and arrived at the lodge. We were very late by now and had missed the scheduled evening activity so settled into our room, had a briefing about the property, and headed to dinner. And here’s our beautiful room and views….not too shoddy!

Oh yes, in Borneo you are not allowed to wear shoes in the dining area – bare or stockinged feet only – so you need to work out which entry / exit you are planning to use to make sure your shoes are in the right place at the end LOL.

Dinner was buffet style and I admit to being a little disappointed by the selection – although thoroughly enjoyed the lamb from the BBQ station. This is allegedly the best lodge they have in the whole of Borneo so had higher expectations especially after all the amazing street food in Kuala Lumpur. The dining area is open to the forest (with a roof thankfully) and overlooks the swimming pool.

After dinner it was still early so we took ourselves off to Hornbill Corner for a pontoonie. Hornbill Corner is a little platform set in the rainforest which is an outside bar and most of the people in there were employees (who because of the remote location largely live on-site). We met some honeymooners from Wales and played UNO with them before retiring back to our room. Was a fun night especially having some company!

Monday morning we were up very early for breakfast – the morning activity was a mountain hike to a waterfall which was classified as muddy and strenuous! So we declined…. Instead we opted for the alternative – a canopy walk – and our guide went off to organise it for us. We had breakfast and a female macaque monkey climbed down and stole my toast! Outrageous behaviour LOL. She was pretty aggressive too. Looks pretty cute and innocent here though….

Anyway we were told what to do by the staff to avoid this happening in future…basically although Borneo does not have tigers they did have many years before and monkeys have an inherent fear of them. (Borneo’s biggest predator is actually a clouded leopard but they are pretty rare to see). So…around the lodge you will find a variety of stuffed toy tigers…so we put one on our breakfast table and when another monkey came by we picked it up and roared in his face. I am not sure who was more shocked – the other guests or the monkey – but it certainly worked a treat and he was out of there in record-breaking speed LOL.

Our canopy walk was scheduled for 9am so we returned to our room for a chill in the air conditioning before returning to meet our guide. We started the walk which was a hike up hill to the start of the path. OMG the humidity was a killer…so here’s a picture of the intrepid explorers dressed to impress…. Despite working hard on our fitness pre-holiday in the gym I struggled a bit – especially with the circular steps up to the top of the canopy. We walked along and enjoyed the sights but sadly not much to see apart from a few birds and lots of bugs….

After returning to the lodge we got cleaned up (again!) had a chill out back in the room then went off for lunch.

The afternoon activity was a hike along the river which was muddy but not too difficult – although I had to be helped up and down some pretty uneven ground LOL! We were wearing our leech socks at this point as we knew this was the area where they were most prevalent. We did come across a few but thankfully we didn’t get any on us (or so we thought). Not too long into this walk we heard thunder and then some lightning…at which point our guide was radioed by the lodge to return…to dangerous for us all to be in the rainforest in a thunderstorm. So we headed back – getting wet from the increasing rainfall – and got cleaned up in our room. As Richard came out of the shower I noticed something on his back and realised that he had actually picked up a tiny leech….yuck….managed to remove and despatch it down the toilet and tried to stop the tiny pin prick wound from bleeding. This is pretty impossible…..but thankful I had brought a first-aid kit with us so able to disinfect etc. The biggest risk is infection so we were now ready to keep an eye on this wound going forward. Interestingly I found a bleeding cut on my ankle which was unexplained – after all I was wearing long sock, trousers and leech socks over the top – so didn’t understand how that had happened and know it was not a leech! Assuming it was my new trekking shoes but hey, who cares, it was very minor and cleaned up easily.

After all this excitement we headed for an early dinner as the evening activity was a golf buggy evening safari – but it was by now absolutely pouring down! So we had dinner and then our guide came and found us and said that the safari had been cancelled because of the (by now torrential) rain. Was very disappointed as I’d particularly been looking forward to this part of our trip.. But we were royally entertained by some staff putting on a traditional dance show…. We even got our photos taken with them at the end! A very nice last night here in the Dannum Valley after all. With hindsight we would have extended this element of the trip – two nights wasn’t long enough especially as we hadn’t allowed for any travel or weather delays curtailing some of the activities.

After dinner we returned to our room with a bottle of wine and sat and watched the weather from the safety of our room. Very nice it was too…despite the gloom outside.

Tuesday morning up early again – disappointed to be leaving having not really seen anything of note – so we had breakfast at 7am and by 7.30 am we were checked out and with our driver heading back to Lahad Datu, a two and a half hour drive. This time, thankfully, the river was lower so the crossing wasn’t quite so dramatic but the rain had caused further problems on the exit road….

In Lahad Datu we had a comfort break in the swanky office and was then picked up by our next driver who was taking us another two and a half hours to Sukau Rainforest Lodge which is located on the Kinatabangan River. So it was a long travel day…. This time we had a minibus all to ourselves again and the driver was very friendly and spoke good English.

That brings part 2 to a close – come back soon for another edition – bye for now

Jan

Wednesday 20 August we made our final preparations before heading off – we washed and waxed the car before garaging it – then at 4pm we were picked up for the trip to the airport. This was a pretty smooth uneventful ride around the M25 to Heathrow and we arrived at Terminal 5 by 6pm. We utilised the self-service terminals, printed our boarding passes and tagged our bags before dropping them off. Now unhindered by our luggage we cleared customs and headed to the pub for a quick bite to eat before ending up in a nice (but shockingly expensive) wine bar. By the time we had finished our wine the gate was showing on the indicator boards so we headed off on the train to the satellite gate. On arrival we were surprised to see that the plane was already boarding so no hanging around, we got straight on and claimed our economy bulk-head exit seats. I’m sure that British Airways have removed all padding from their economy seats but as we had a ‘buy one, get one free’ deal I shouldn’t really complain. Anyway, all hand luggage stowed in the upper lockers we settled in for our direct 14 hour flight. Lots of leg room but a shame about the numb bum and aching coccyx LOL.

Once we were in the air, the meal service started. It was pretty late by now (almost 11pm London time) and we got the usual food option of chicken or pasta – the chicken and rice was actually quite nice. I watched a movie, had a couple of drinks, then settled down to sleep….well, snoozed really…as there was a constant queue for the loo and the toilet flushed noisily all night… Never mind – 14 hours later we arrived in Kuala Lumpur, our first stop in Malaysia, and we were able to use the auto gates for immigration as I’d previously registered us online. Then we headed off to find the luggage. We waited and waited and waited….very annoying…but our Apple tags gave us comfort knowing that our bags had made the plane with us and had also arrived in Kuala Lumpur! Finally we got the cases and went through customs – which was really just putting them through an x-ray machine – and then out to the arrival hall.

We had been told that a driver would be waiting for us. As we were so late getting through we thought it was possible he may have given up. And, of course, as anticipated no-one was waiting. We spotted a tour company which had lists and lists of names and thankfully ours was on it! So we identified ourselves and they called the driver – we stood over to one side and, eventually after a bit of a wait, he turned up and whisked us off to our hotel in the City..

We checked in and took ourselves to our room – which was very nice – shame about the view of the traffic below LOL. We got ourselves cleaned up and went to the rooftop bar for a night cap. Well, it was hardly a bar, it was a waiter with a trolleyload of drinks waiting to serve us on an outside terrace. The views were nice though and it was lovely to be sitting in the warmth.

Afterwards we headed down to the bar located at the front of the hotel – almost in the foyer – and shared a pretty average pizza but thankfully they had some very nice wine! And so to bed absolutely shattered. We slept well but, because of the time difference, we awoke after only five hours which really wasn’t enough. Never mind….

Friday morning we headed down to breakfast and the buffet was great with lots of options – largely Asian – and, of course all Halal as Malaysia is an Islamic country. So we looked at the anaemic ‘steamed’ chicken sausages – yuck – and decided that the egg station, the toast machine, the fresh fruit and the pastries was our ‘go to’ option – surprisingly they did have baked beans LOL.

After a pretty good breakfast we headed out to the mall as Richard wanted to buy a new hat – we hadn’t brought our Australian ones with us as they don’t fold up and carrying them around when travelling is a bit of a pain. Anyway, there were no hats available, but we did manage to get some new batteries for our Apple air tags which had warned us they were running low….

Afterwards we walked up the road and got on the tourist Hop On, Hop Off city bus and followed the ‘green route’ for a couple of hours. We sat upstairs in the air but it was boiling hot and without hats we soon had to scarper inside for some air conditioned relief.

We got off at another mall and picked up some cold drinks as we were gasping by now (bad preparation on our part – don’t know what we were thinking to be out and about without at least one bottle of water between us!)….. Be warned – we found and used the facilities but there was no toilet paper available (they all have bidet hoses instead) – and only 50% of them were western style. Definitely wasn’t going to attempt the squatting type at this stage of our trip as my stiff legs hadn’t recovered from the travelling yet… Also all the toilet cubicles we came across (irrespective of style) were always soaking wet – the floors were often awash and all cubicles were built down a little step to avoid flooding – think people just spray around the whole thing to clean after using the facilities and, of course, no option for drying / mopping.

Having had a welcome air conditioned and comfort break we got back on the bus for another two hours – this time we followed the City route. We stayed under cover this time and were a little irritated by a loud group of American tourists who were clearly well out of their comfort zone and seemed to think that the driver would stop on demand. The funniest comment was that they were late for an appointment to go somewhere so they decided to get off and to get a taxi back to their hotel. As we spent the whole two hours navigating serious nose to bumper traffic not sure why they thought a taxi would be quicker as they would just end up in the same traffic jam LOL. We enjoyed the sights and sounds of the city as we drove around. Lots of contrasts – from modern high rise buildings to mosques, temples, green spaces and lots of hotels / restaurants etc.

Two hours later we got off the bus at the main terminal again – with pretty numb backsides – and walked back to our hotel. We had a glass of wine whilst we sorted out the Grab app (think Malaysian Uber) as we had tickets to visit the Petronas Towers in the evening. So we grabbed a sandwich which we shared while we activated the (data only) e-SIM which we had purchased.

Having ticked all the boxes – jobs done – we headed back to our room and sorted out some clothes / had another shower. The temperature was 39 degrees centigrade but the humidity was 88% and I, personally, found it difficult to walk too far in these conditions… Never mind….anyway, all cleaned up and dressed suitably modestly we headed back down to reception and booked a Grab to take us to the Towers. On arrival we exchanged our tickets for blue stickers and headed to the connecting bridge. Sadly we missed the sunset (we should have made it but the queues to get into the Towers – even though we had pre-purchased tickets) made it just a little too late. We then went to the 83rd floor for stunning city views and the light show on the neighbouring City buildings. Then we moved back down to the 81st floor where there is a whole area dedicated to the construction of the buildings and the project – it is a fascinating bit of architecture. The marine grade stainless steel (our assumption) cladding didn’t have a bit of rust on it…would love to know how they achieved that LOL. We thought that there would be rust at least at the rivetted points but none to be found.

Too soon it was time to return to ground level (all the timings are very carefully monitored by the staff to ensure that everyone gets a good experience and the lifts are not overloaded) and as usual ended up in the gift shop….and, of course, it would be rude not to purchase our ‘official’ photo LOL.

We then wandered into the up-market and modern KLCC Mall – which resides beneath – and found a Columbia stockist so Richard finally got his hat! So he was a very happy bunny. After making our important purchase we headed to the extensive food court and enjoyed a nice meal – Pakistani in origin but was more Turkish in it’s influence. Very nice too and very inexpensively priced… With soft drinks only as it was a strictly Halal experience.

We managed to get another Grab back to our hotel and purchased a bottle of wine for an in-room pontoonie before retiring after a pretty tiring day. But we had to do some admin – we were flying out of KL to Borneo (Sabah state) on Sunday – so checked in online in preparation for the next two flights. We also started taking our malaria tablets as we were going straight into the rainforest on arrival.

Saturday we were up early and met our driver / guide at 9am in reception after breakfast. We hopped into the car – very nice too.

We started off at the City Mosque which was sadly closed for refurbishment

then moved onto the National Monument where we came across this adorable local boy all dressed up in national costume in preparation for Malaysia Day….

Flags were flying everywhere and it all felt very festive. The main statue was commissioned by an American where they depicted Malaysians slaying the Japanese. Interestingly the faces of the Malaysia soldiers were all Western as the American who carved it had never seen a Malaysian in the flesh so the features were all wrong….but made for an interesting story!

We then headed to the Federal Court followed by the Railway Station and then to the Palace. The King was in residence (indicated by the flag being flown) and, another interesting fact here, there are a number of royal families in Malaysia and, to avoid conflict, they rotate every five years.

Then onto the Chinese Temple which was beautiful before heading to the Selangor Pewter factory. Interesting place and some beautiful items to purchase but, on a restricted luggage allowance, that wasn’t going to happen LOL. But we did enjoy seeing the Giant Tankard and some of the Formula 1 trophies that they manufacture. Afterwards we headed to the Batik Centre and enjoyed watching the artists designing by eye some fantastic materials….absolutely beautiful!

Then it was time to visit the Batu Caves – Hindu Temples carved into the rock at the top of a 272 step staircase which was tough. Then we went down 39 steps and up another 52 to the final temple where we had a blessing from the priest and got the marks on our foreheads which didn’t last long with all the significant sweating!! We enjoyed checking out the temples and watching one family carry a new born up the steps to be blessed – apparently this indicated that the couple had waited a long time before they were successful in their bid to have a family – so the precious cargo was very carefully carried up by the family swinging from a hammock until two large bamboo poles. Amazing!

Leaving the Caves behind we headed to the central market, wandered around the stalls, and then had a local lunch at a stall recommended by our guide. The food was OK but nothing to write home about – could have been hotter (in heat not spice) – but we enjoyed it nevertheless. After this we continued driving back to our hotel and had a coupe of hours rest…having organised a takeout breakfast for the Sunday morning as we were leaving very early.

Having rested up, got cleaned up and changed again, we then walked down the road to Jalan Alor which is a famous street food area – we chose a licensed place and sat down. The food was great, the beer was nice and cold, although there was a lot of Durian on sale which stinks the place out!

Leaving the street food area behind – having paid a handsome £30 for six beers and two meals (including Richard having an expensive tiger prawn dish) – we headed back towards the hotel. We stopped into another hostelry on the way – primarily to use the toilet facilities as I wanted a Western loo LOL.

Back to the hotel we packed and organised ourselves for the very early start in the morning on our journey to Borneo.

So that brings part 1 to a close, more to follow soon, bye for now.

Jan

Friday 14 March we packed up and drove towards Narabeen – four and a half hours drive away. Left our waterfront apartment feeling quite sad – it was a smashing place which we had really enjoyed – and the next place had been difficult to find because Narabeen (a Sydney suburb called Northern Beaches) did not have a lot of accommodation available in the price range we were willing to pay. Anyway….we finally arrived…to find no parking anywhere! The block itself had parking but not the apartment we were booked into (via Air BnB). We drove around and around the one way system and all the side roads were rammed….guess that was our own fault for arriving on a Friday afternoon by which time everyone was home from work LOL. We spotted that the bus lane (on the main road outside the apartment) had a time zone on it and would be not operational from 6pm. So, to get us up and running, I went on foot and found the apartment and a place where Richard could pull in so we could at least unpack before we schlepped the bags up the stairs.

We let ourselves in and the place was not very nice at all. The joining instructions were pitiful…..telling us how expensive it was to clean the rugs so please take off your shoes. Oh yes and please don’t tell my neighbours you are Air BnB guests – just say we are friends if they ask. Hmmm…didn’t augur too well for a particularly relaxing stay….. I did my usual check of the cooking facilities to find no toaster (had been stolen allegedly) and the fridge and freezer were full of out of date milk (by one month – yuck!), chicken nuggets, frozen chips and sweets…. The owner had charged us $60 for cleaning and this was terrible….the cooker itself was filthy and so was the grill tray with burnt on bits of food…. That was just the start – there were loads more things we were unhappy about – so I complained to the owner who said that he didn’t make a profit on the cleaning but would refund us the princely sum of $20 as a gesture of goodwill. Very disappointing response.

By now the bus lane was no longer operating so we moved the car into the main road under our balcony so we could keep an eye on it. We then headed across the road to the South Narrabeen Surf Life Saving Club which hosts the Cabana Beach Kiosk. We were lucky that they actually open for dinner on a Friday night (only) so we were able to get a table and enjoyed a nice dinner and then sat on the beach for a little while checking out the lunar eclipse.

Afterwards we crossed the road back to our apartment and realised that the sofa was missing cushions and was damn uncomfortable. We went through the wardrobes and found them and had a glass of wine in front of the TV before retiring to bed. We were so unhappy we searched the internet for alternative accommodation nearby but couldn’t find anything. Well we could find some very expensive upmarket stuff but way beyond our price point. So we had to reconcile the fact that we were staying put despite our misgivings…. At this point the owner stopped answering my emails LOL. He was funny when he said that nobody had ever complained about the cleanliness….he was confident that his cleaners did a thorough job. Well maybe they did previously but we personally don’t think anyone had been into the apartment after the departure of the last guest – we even got fresh bedding / towels out of the wardrobe and remade the bed just in case….

Saturday morning Richard’s friend Kieron rang to cancel our arrangements as he had returned from the UK (having been home due to a family bereavement) and had gone down with the flu. Oh dear what to do?!? Was very disappointed but you can’t schedule illness… We decided to head down to Manly wharf on the bus and ended up on a bit of a pub crawl. The weather was nice and warm and we enjoyed being out and about without having to drive….

Returning to Narabeen (on the bus) we stopped off at the Beach Club (Collaroy) which was very nice and we could sit on the balcony overlooking the ocean.

By now we were getting the munchies so we asked for a recommendation for the best restaurant nearby – the answer was the Sunshine Eatery – an Italian restaurant. So we hopped back on the bus for a couple of stops and found it on the main road…. We were lucky and managed to get a table without a reservation and had the most fabulous artisan pizza. It was a shame about the Greek and Spanish music being played in the background though making it not quite so authentic LOL. Afterwards we walked back down the main road, checked on the car, and so to bed.

Sunday morning and sadly Kieron was still ill. So arrangements cancelled again. What a shame! The bus lane was re-opening on our side of the road but the other side was becoming inoperable so we moved the car across the road. Once we were happy we decided to get an Uber to the North Narabeen Life Saving and Surf Club and enjoyed sitting on the balcony overlooking the beaches. Lovely place and so friendly!

Leaving the LSSC behind we ended up in a pub on the corner and had a drink but it was way too hot inside and the air conditioning was not up to the job. So we didn’t linger and decided to walk back to our apartment – this was a fair distance and we just walked and walked. On the way we came across the Zest Thai Cuisine restaurant and decided to take a much needed comfort break. Having used their facilities we decided to get some takeout chicken and continued back on our trek. Eventually we reached our apartment and spent the night in front of the TV eating our surprisingly good chicken with a glass in hand.

Monday morning we checked out in relief – hurrah!!! We met Kieron and his wife Jackie at the North Narabeen Life Saving and Surf Club and were then joined by some other ex-pat friends of theirs. We were socially distanced on the balcony and it was pretty chilly with a strong wind blowing the germs away from us LOL. Had a really good breakfast roll and a cup of tea and enjoyed catching up. Was really lovely to see them – just sad that I failed miserably to take any photos of us together. Doh!!

Sadly, all too soon, it was time for us to be on our way to our next accommodation in Avoca one and a half hours away. We decided to pop into Erina Fair (a large shopping mall) en route and picked up some provisions as we wanted a night in…. We found the cottage although struggled to find the key box to get inside – but once we had overcome that small issue – we unpacked and checked the place out. Two bedrooms this time so plenty of room for our cases on the spare bed so we could leave them open.

We settled in and first job was to catch up with the laundry – everything hanging up outside in our small private courtyard – and we enjoyed sitting on the patio for a little while before heading inside for a basic steak and salad dinner. Absolutely lovely – spotlessly clean, very very comfortable and homely. And even better a proper dining table so we could sit up and eat….

Tuesday morning we headed to the beach – along the way we stopped at the bakery for some lunch and drinks to take with us. We set up our shade tent on the beach and enjoyed about four hours there….the surf was up and it was pretty busy…so we then headed back to our apartment for a quiet night in.

Wednesday morning I made a packed lunch and then we headed to the other end of the beach – the quiet end – and enjoyed the peace and solitude. We then returned to the cottage to get ready and met my nephew Jamie in Terrigal for a curry. Was lovely to spend time with him again.

Thursday we had another beach day – had lunch out at one of the cafes on the waterfront – and then returned to our cottage for a simple jacket potato dinner. We also did some more laundry….

Friday morning we were packing up and moving on to stay with Hayley and the boys in Green Point – so again we did some shopping on the way (having coordinated with Hayley what she would like for dinner)…. We let ourselves in and made ourselves comfortable – and then Budd came bounding through the door followed by Jamie, Jack and Adam. Budd was very keen to greet us both (and to play with his best friend Richard) – he clearly remembered us – but he was absolutely filthy having been playing in the mud at doggy day care all day LOL. So Jamie took him off for a good shower off and we got on with doing dinner – Hayley came home with pizzas for the boys and we had chicken kebabs and salad.

Saturday everyone was busy – and it was raining! Boo…. So I blogged while Richard relaxed…and we all came together for dinner in the evening when I introduced the family to homemade Japanese chicken katsu curry – which was a hit! Hurrah! Again on Sunday everyone was busy so I did a full roast lamb dinner and we enjoyed having lots of cuddles with Budd on the sofa. Velvet the cat even let me stroke her (which is pretty unusual) but it might have been the fact that I did actually feed her LOL. Those animals are definitely driven by cupboard love.

Monday morning we took the boys to school and dropped them off and enjoyed a quiet day alone with the animals….and sat by the pool which we enjoyed. But there was little shade and the sun was very fierce so we took ourselves under the shade on the patio and read books….at one point our solitude was interrupted by a guy who had come to clean the pool and change out all the filters etc. He worked hard and did a good job! Later on we picked up Adam from school and Jack found his own way home via the gym. They are definitely growing up – this is a critical time for Jack as he heads into his last 18 months or so of school before university. He wants to be a palaeontologist which is an interesting choice for sure! Adam is not focussed on anything in particular at the moment but he is a couple of years behind so guess this will develop…I can guarantee though it will not include maths LOL!

Tuesday was a strange one…the boys had decided they were not going to school. Apparently it was cross country day and the whole school just goes to the area to watch and, those who are not competing, are given a pass not to attend…. As it is a critical time in terms of exams for both of them Hayley and Jamie were happy for them to stay home…. We sat by the pool again – dodging the rain showers – and the boys were studying pretty much all day upstairs in their rooms.

Wednesday the sun came out again intermittently but we kept ourselves busy doing laundry and just sitting around the pool. After such a busy schedule this was our time for some R&R. Richard was determined to top up his tan but I found it too hot without the shade so stayed on the patio reading my kindle…. And, of course, the rain came and went throughout the day. Later on we picked Adam up from school and Jack made his own way via the gym again…. We had a lovely family dinner (lasagne this time) when Hayley returned from work and then Richard and I sat in the front room and caught up on some programmes we wanted to watch. This was our last night all together and we had a good one.

Thursday morning we were up at the crack of dawn to say goodbye to the boys before we dropped them off at school – there was no chance we were getting hugs in front of the High School gates LOL. Having dropped them off we headed over to Terrigal with Jamie for breakfast which was lovely – despite the usual problem of finding somewhere to park…

After breakfast we headed back to the house and packed up all our gear…having to squash everything into two suitcases with a maximum allowance of 23kgs per person. This meant that, yet again, we had to leave our beach shade tent at the house in the garage…. After we had packed Richard kept himself busy hoovering out the car! At around 2pm we headed off towards Sydney. I was driving this time and as there was no integral satnav in the car found it somewhat annoying when the google maps signal was lost in the underground toll tunnels to bypass the city traffic…but as we were heading towards the airport at least the signposts were pretty obvious LOL. We were going pretty early as the last shuttle from the off-airport site car rental company left at 4.30 pm. And you just never know what the traffic is going to be like…. Anyway we made it in good time, filled up with petrol, and dropped the car off and waited for the shuttle to take us to the airport. We arrived and had to wait for the check in kiosks to open so headed to the Vietnamese for a bite to eat. As we’d already checked in online our queue was significantly smaller than those who hadn’t done the online thing. Qatar Airways are very organised and they opened on time…. So finally made it to the front of the queue, dropped the bags, picked up our boarding passes (x2 each) and headed through security. This was pretty quiet considering it was a Thursday evening and we cleared quickly…. So we headed towards our allocated gate and settled down to read books until the plane arrived and we were called. As we were sitting upstairs again we were boarded in the first tranche so walked through the lower level of the plane, up the stairs, and then settled down into our economy seats. Love sitting upstairs on the A380 plane…so much more spacious and, because only about 20 rows of economy seating, you get a choice of food without them running out.

So settled in and we waited to push off and take off. This all happened on time and we landed in Doha, Qatar on time and then walked through the large terminal to our next gate to board the next plane. We only had a two and a half hour gap this time so plenty of time not to get stressed and enough time for the bags to follow us. But I tracked them with our Apple tags anyway LOL….

And just like that the fantastic three month Australian adventure was over!

So what next? Well, we are off to Malaysia in August for just over a month – with some city time in Kuala Lumpur, some rainforest and animal encounters (hopefully) in Borneo, some relaxation and beach time in Kota Kinabalu followed by a couple of weeks exploring Penang (which is known as The Pearl of the Orient). So very exciting and we are counting down the days already. I will blog the next trip on our return…

So thanks for travelling along with us. Would just like to take the opportunity to remember my mum who sadly left us seven years ago tomorrow. The time has gone so fast but the pain doesn’t diminish. Love you Mum and miss you so much.

Bye for now, Jan