Last day in Melaka, a trip to KL and finally home (Thai style)

March 18 2017

Breakfast was a zoo with scads of tour groups in the large dining room. There were few choices that appealed to westerners but certainly enough to fill oneself adequately. But there were literally dozens of Asian dishes. The coffee was so bad we ordered espresso at $3. a cup which is outrageous for here. It wasn’t any better than the urn coffee.

We walked to old town and made a group decision to not sight see but just repeat last night by walking along both sides of the river to take in the local scenery. We are so enjoying traveling with Kay and Bill as they are so easy to be with and have similar preferences on travel style. Once we had walked one side of the river, we went to a 100 year old hotel and had a cool drink as the day was getting hot.

 We saw some beautiful plants and flowers along the way. The entire walk had blooming plants like potted bougainvillea, some weeping willows etc. The path had pavers and it was beautifully done with no dangerous gaps, broken tiles or uplifted tiles to stumble on. Because tourism is big here and because they are a World Heritage site, they have really done a great job of making the place have broad appeal. There were pedestrian bridges across the river as well as vehicular bridges.

 

During the night cruise I spied a boutique hotel with a restaurant and thought it looked promising. We passed it on our walk so we popped in and checked out the menu and made a reservation. We briefly walked on Jonker St which is famous for its night market. It was thronged with tourists so we made a quick left turn to get away from the noise and incessant selfie crowd who made walking difficult. We happened across a traditional restaurant and had a delicious chicken noodle curry for lunch. Back to the hotel to shower (three a day here due to the heat) and read.

We dined at the boutique hotel on the river. We were outside in a garden that offered complete privacy from the walkway and river. Although it was outside it had a glass roof which was great because we got a heavy evening shower which I love. We decided to hire a taxi to KL tomorrow rather than going on a bus. It would save time and be much easier. Given the price, it was an easy decision.

March 19

We had a quick breakfast and met our taxi at 9:00. He drove like a madman but got us safely to KL in 1.75 hrs. When he got up to 140 kph Ron asked him to slow down. I almost laughed because I am forever asking Ron to slow down! Fortunately I could not see the speedometer.

We were pleasantly surprised at our accommodations. We had a suite: kitchen with washer /dryer, dining area, living room with large flat screen TV, lovely bath with shower AND a tub and a large bedroom with a walk in closet, another large TV and iron and ironing board. It had it all. Nothing makes me happier than getting to take a bath at night before going to bed. Tubs are so rare in Asia so I was doubly happy. We were blessed with a good view and could see the rain storm coming from across the valley. We ate lunch next door and stayed in for the afternoon. 

That night Ron and I were picked up by Koat and his seven year old daughter Joy. We met the family on a overnight boat trip in Vietnam in 2014 and have stayed in touch ever since. Wen Li, Koat’s lovely wife,  was in Spain on business so we didn’t get to see her. We promised we would make it happen next trip. In Vietnam Joy totally entertained us with singing all the songs from the movie Frozen. She was four at the time and we were enthralled. She lives up to her name. She is incredibly bright, speaks two languages and can hold her own in a conversation. Did I mention that she is as cute as can be and is quite charming? We had a fabulous Hakka Chinese meal with pork and tofu, shrimp, twice baked pork, greens, steamed bread and rice. 

After dinner Koat took us to a high end glitzy mall like we have never seen. One floor is a gourmet food court. Unbelievable! After walking around a while we got ice cream for Joy and Ron then drove by the famous Petronas Towers. Joy wanted to see our room at the hotel so we invited them in. She carefully inspected our digs and gave us her approval before heading home. It was a delightful evening but we were sorry Wen Li had to miss it.

March 20

It took one hour to get to the airport with relatively light traffic. Good to know for future trips. We flew to Surat Thani in southern Thailand then took a cab to the train station where Bill and Kay had left their car. They headed home and we waited around for four hours to catch our train back to Phetchaburi. We hung out at a funky restaurant where I could freeze a small bottle of water for my mini cooler that I carry my eye medicine in. It cannot be exposed to the hot weather so I keep it in a cooler when I have to be outside for long periods like this. The restaurant didn’t have ice but let me stick the bottle in their ice cream freezer. We worked crosswords and read for a couple of hours then headed back to the train station.

We kind of stand out in small non tourist towns and two different station employees came over to help us know which platform to stand on and where to stand since we were assigned a sleeper car with AC. It was really hot here and the station had no AC. We boarded the train around 5:00 and got home at 1:50 a.m. It was a much older car than the one we had going south so it came complete with roaches in the toilet room but I never saw any in the sleeping area. The bed was smaller and not as comfortable and the car itself seemed to sway, bump and rock much more than the newer car. The point is neither of us got much sleep. At 1:00 we opened the curtain to discover we both were awake. So I sat up in bed and looked out the window so I would know when we were approaching Phetchaburi since they do not announce stations at night. We were so lucky as there was one taxi at the station, an old guy in an old pick up. Hey, he must have been our age! ‘Taxis’ here are small pick up trucks with facing bench seats in the bed of the truck. We thought if no taxis were available we could walk home 30 minutes. I was glad we weren’t doing that at 2:00 in the morning! We showered and jumped into bed at 2:30.

All in all a GREAT trip with like minded travelers.

Penang Hill and on to Melaka

March 16 2017

After breakfast when it was pouring tropical rain we took a taxi to Penang Hill, 821 meters above George Town. The clouds were heavy but we still were able to get some good views of George Town and the mainland. It is 5 degrees cooler up there due to the attitude. 

It wasn’t hot since we had a cloud cover. We took a funicular up the hill and it was the steepest one I had ever ridden on. I enjoyed seeing some of the infrastructure on the way up that helps to carry water down the hill during a rain storm helping to prevent erosion or worse landslides due to the steep terrain. There were various activities available up top but nothing that interested us. We enjoyed just walking around, looking at the beautiful plant life and watching some dusky leaf monkeys (spectacular langur) making flying leaps around in the trees. The plantings were quite beautiful and Ron took lots of photos. After an hour we came back down to town.

Our friends became native

Bill stayed at the hotel as he likes to skip lunch and the rest of us headed to a restaurant that is popular with locals. It was crowded. They had tablecloths and plastic stools. They changed the tablecloths after each group finished…we were always amazed when we lived in Sri Lanka how many places washed the tablecloths infrequently making dining rather unpleasant. This place is laughing all the way to the bank. It is large and was packed. We ordered twice baked pork and an asparagus dish with shrimp and chilies. Rice is a standard part of a meal in this part of the world. The pork reminded us of PokPok in Portland that has the best chicken wings you have EVER eaten. Ron headed back to the hotel and Kay and I headed to old town for shopping. All I found of interest were some arty greeting cards and a tee shirt. I did see a gorgeous piece of silk but could not imagine what I would do with four meters so passed. One shop had some of Barefoot’s products and it made me happy to see them this far away from Sri Lanka. It is my favorite store with lots of colorful textiles.

Back to the hotel and Ron and I left for a foot massage. It was a treat after being on concrete all day. We met Kay and Bill for happy hour before heading out to dinner OMG what a meal. We returned to China House and tried another recommended restaurant there. Ron and I had the sea bass and it was out of this world. I also had a salad of green mangoes, tomatoes, candied cashews, slivers of ginger blossom, and cukes. The meal also included a spicy lemony roasted cauliflower. We ordered two fine desserts to finish the meal: tiramisu and pavola. It was a wonderful way to end our time in George Town.

March 17

We had a 90 minute flight to Melaka which is south of Kuala Lumpur. From the airport we took a taxi to or hotel. Although our accommodations were fine none of us liked our hotel. It caters to large tour groups. There were numerous tour buses parked out front. The hallways were frequently noisy with people visiting or standing outside some one’s room and talking loudly to the person in the room.

We ate a quick unremarkable lunch and planned the afternoon. We took a cab to the World Heritage site and we were really disappointed at some of the sights like an old church that was plain and rather ugly. We walked up a hill and viewed the ruins of St Paul’s church from the 1600’s which was my favorite. There were huge stone grave markers with quaint language like ‘she fell asleep to the Lord on May 2 1678.

The town square was a zoo with tourists and touts. There are many bicycle rickshaws here and they are phenomenally tacky with stuffed toys attached. They play loud electronic music and at night they have garnish lights to add to their inherent ugliness. We actually rode on one at night because we couldn’t find a cab home. Ron said he felt like he was in Seaside, Oregon, a tacky beach town. I agreed, it did feel like a beach town.

We felt fried from the heat so went back to the hotel cool off and rest.  We are 2 degrees north of the equator here so the heat and humidity are brutal, taking their toll on us. We went to a fish restaurant for dinner and it was good. We then took a cab to old town and went on a 45 minute river cruise which was lovely because we got to see so much of the town: quaint homes, shops and what looked like fine restaurants. It reminded me of San Antonio Texas. By taking the rickshaw home we discovered we were quite close to old town.

Mansions and Museums

March 14

We met for breakfast at 8:00 and had a terrific meal at the hotel buffet. We decided to take in a free Old Town guided tour .We had an excellent guide, a retired teacher who infused the tour with some time honored values like ‘there is only one race, the human race, make money quickly and spend it slowly (the Chinese way he said).  

We took the free bus back to the hotel and headed down the street for pho, Vietnamese beef noodle soup and washed it down with some really good ice cold lemon tea. We rested briefly (it’s hot here and humid) and then took a free bus to see the Blue Mansion, a 38 room gorgeous house built in the late 1800’s. It was bought in 1989 and lovingly restored over an almost seven year period. It won awards for the authentic restoration completed with high standards. Part of the mansion is now a B and B and high end restaurant. Our tour guide was quite enthusiastic.

Kay and Bill

On the way to catch the free bus we passed a chocolate shop. Scored 70% and gave Bill and Kay one of the three boxed we bought. Rushed back to the hotel to keep it from melting in the heat. We rested until Happy Hour on the roof top then headed out to a fabulous dinner at a restaurant off Armenian that was housed in a building that was three shop houses that had been combined and that housed two restaurants, shops, a wine and an espresso bar. The bakery there makes 50 desserts a day!! We shared a piece of Louise cake which had meringue, coconut and raspberry filling. OMG. YUM.

March 15

 After breakfast we went to Starbucks for a coffee then caught a bus to Dr Sun Yat Sen’s Penang base. He was the father of the Chinese Revolution of 1911. This was his home during that time. Many of the houses here have an interior courtyard that is open with no roof to allow light in and rain which is collected by way of a depressed floor and that channel the water into a well beneath the courtyard floor. Ingenious. 

The guide there showed us a great photo trick and took our picture through an antique mirror.  We then did it for Bill and Kay.

Antique toothbrush holder

Afterwards we stopped by two shops Kay and I had spied. I tired on a jacket but I didn’t like the fit although I loved the fabric. Kay got a couple of items and our husbands had a place to sit in the foyer of a hotel that was part of the complex.

We walked to the Penang State Museum, a small but lovely museum. We were leaving just as the school children were entering. We made a fast get away. The entrance fee was 24 cents! We grabbed lunch at a traditional eatery that served Nonya (Peranakan) food, a flavorful cuisine that married Chinese with local herbs, spices and ingredients. We had fired chicken, curried chicken, wing beans and eggplant with rice of course. All quite tasty and inexpensive ($25 for four people).

Next we visited another mansion, the Pinang Peranakan. The Peranakans, also known as Babas and Nonyas, are a community of acculturated Chinese. They are also known as the Straits Chinese, having settled along the British Straits of Penang and Singapore. They adopted Malay ways and British colonial lifestyle. This mansion was a typical home of an affluent Baba a century ago and was recreated to allow visitors to glimpse the opulent lifestyle, customs and traditions in those days. It was more ostentatious than the Blue Mansion so there was a lot to see and take in. There are over a 1000 pieces of antiques and collectibles of this era on display.

I loved the women’s clothes and the myriad of batik prints. The textiles blew us away, embroidery with real gold thread for example with the tiniest, finest stitches. I would have loved to be able to buy some but nothing like that was for sale. We had a great free guide who added humorous comments. The tour took about an hour and there were just six of us in our group. It ended with the Straits Chinese Jewelry Museum. Good lord, what opulence. The bead work on shoes, purses and wall hangings was the finest I have seen with the tiniest beads imaginable. There were many items from England (furniture, fine glassware and china) and Scotland (iron columns, tiles) and China (china, textiles, furniture). We saw jewelry made with feathers from the Australian Kingfisher that was just brilliant with color.

We came back to the hotel for high tea delights, rested before happy hour and then went out to dinner at a Muslim restaurant and had another fine meal of lamb biryani. It sounds as though we are eating our way through George Town!

And on to Malaysia by train and hooking up with friends

March 12 2017

Timm taking our picture

Our train was only 15 minutes late. Tui and Timm, sisters, took us to the train station and stayed to ensure we got on the right car. They are so sweet and so pretty as you can see from the photos.

We got a sleeper car with AC. The attendants like to make up the beds early up we managed to put them off until 8:30. I was in awe of how quickly and efficiently they make up the beds. They have it down. The bed was comfortable and I was glad to have the cotton blanket they provided as the AC was cold. By 9:00 I was sleepy and I think we were both ready to call it a night. We slept across the aisle from each other as neither of us wanted the upper because we both get up during the night to use the bathroom…ah the joys of aging. I woke up at 3:00 and saw Ron had just returned from down the aisle so I crawled in with him. We can hardly stand to sleep apart. We sleep like spoons nestled in the silverware drawer. We snuggled for 30 minutes and realized we wouldn’t get any more sleep in a single bed so I went back to my bed.

March 13

We woke up around 6:00 and when the folks above us woke up the attendants changed our beds back into seats. Bill and Kay had joined us around 2:00 a.m. and were in the bunks next to us.

When we crossed the border with Malaysia we got off the train and went inside the station to pass through Thai immigration which was quick. We turned to our left and walked down the hall into Malay immigration and then out onto the platform to catch the Malay train to Butterworth. This was one well thought out processing center in a train station.

Our trip to Butterworth was on a modern high speed light rail system. It was fast and it took two hours with stops. We walked over to the ferry system and boarded the ferry to Penang, an island. It was a short 20 minute trip. We caught a cab and headed to our hotel which was absolutely incredible. For $56 a night we stayed in the boutique hotel, four floors with ambiance everywhere. The materials used throughout and the furnishings were high quality and well maintained. An incredible breakfast was included with French toast, pancakes, espresso, eggs any style you requested, fresh fruit, and on and on it went. Something for eastern and western tastes. And all delicious. In addition they offered high tea delights in the afternoon, happy hour on the roof top with wine and soft drinks, cookies, ice cream and movie and popcorn nightly. All for free! They had a small gym and Jacuzzis. The staff was terrific. All of us loved this hotel. It was an easy walk to some of the sights we wanted to see and one block away from the free Hop On Hop Off buses that run throughout the city. This town was amazing. It is a World Heritage site with lots to see but not overwhelming,

I had planned an itinerary to maximize out time there. Since we had traveled all night I suggested that the first day we just walk around the Chew Jetty where there were 75 shop houses, community centers, shrines, etc on an elevated walkway over the water. This neighborhood had been here since the late 18^th century. 

After we checked into the hotel we went to an eatery at the end of the block, famous for their roasted duck. OMG it was fabulous and they gave us so much we couldn’t finish it. 

Back to the hotel to rest and we met at 5:30 to walk to Chew Jetty. We walked down

Armenian St which is known for its street art. Delightful murals are painted along the way. There are old shop houses with restaurants, shops and residences. This is part of the World Heritage site. George Town is supposed to be famous for its street food but our experience with fried oysters that night was nothing to write home about. We topped off the night with ice cream on the roof top of our hotel.

Watchng ;paint dry

March 4 2017

The painters finished on Thursday afternoon. The first two days they took two hour lunch breaks and by Thursday they were desperate to finish so they came early and skipped lunch and managed to leave by 4 or 4:30.

The house looks great. There is nothing like a fresh coat of paint to make a room sparkle. Now we are waiting for the oil based paint to fully dry and harden. It was used on all the wood: baseboards, doors and door frames, two sections of the counter top, cabinets and shelves. All our kitchen stuff is either on the dining room table, the bar or the guest bedroom bed. We have done very little cooking and for the most part we have eaten all meals except breakfast in restaurants or small eateries where you sit outside by a cart. There is no need to make ourselves crazy by trying to cook under these circumstances. Going out to eat here is usually $2.-$6 total. The other night we stumbled across a Swiss owned restaurant.  The next night we went there for dinner and I managed to spend $ 24 with us each having a soup or salad, a pasta dish and we shared a bowl of gelato. We will experience sticker shock when we return to the US in April. Yesterday we had a framed painting we have here re-matted required the frame shop take the backing off, cut a new mat and reassembled the backing and they replaced a broken hanger piece all for $7.50 total. HA!

March 9

It took seven days for the oil based paint to cure so that we could put our kitchen back together. I couldn’t believe how long it took but alas, it is done and I am thankful. We made short work of putting everything back in place. We celebrated by having a grand meal: crepes stuffed with fresh sautéed spinach and goat cheese. We had left over batter so the next night we had crepes with sautéed bananas, Nutella and maple syrup. We are not exactly suffering here in Thailand. I had dropped to 132 pounds so this will put some pounds back on. Bummer.

March 11, 2017

Tomorrow, Sunday, we leave at 6:15 p.m. for nine days in Malaysia. We will take a train from Phetchaburi where we live and head south. We change trains at the border, early Monday morning then go to a town called Butterworth where we will get off the train and take a ferry to Penang, an island and stay in George Town for four nights. From there we fly to Melaaca, about two hours south of Kuala Lumpur for two nights then to KL for one night. We will fly back to southern Thailand and then take a train back to Phetchaburi, arriving around 2:00 a.m.  We will travel with our friends Kay and Bill who live about five hours south of us. He’s American and she is Thai.