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.