I had a busy Saturday. Left home early in the
morning and drove with the Indonesian painter I had asked way back in March
2015 to paint the porch and back walls at micasa. Yes, way back in March as I
wanted him to buy the paint before GST came into effect (probably didn’t make a
difference as almost every seller had increased their prices even in January
2015). We had agreed on his rate also back in March. Anyway, I finally couldn’t
stand it any longer and asked Abah to tell him to do the job over Thaipusam
weekend.
I sent him a text to come pick me up at 07:30 (he
doesn’t know the way around KL. Like seriously) and we reached micasa just
after 08:00. I showed him the areas needing painting and showed him the keys to
access the back door and the balcony. I also showed him the bathrooms and where
he was supposed to sleep that night. After sweeping the porch and washing my
bathroom, I left. I had a 09:30 appointment at Optimax (six months post-LASIK
eye check). The eye check ended just after 10 as I had to wait to be
‘discharged’ – the next check-up would be after January 2017 and it would be
annual check-up subsequently.
After checking out the nearby pharmacies (I
preferred shopping at Guardian over Watson’s but recently discovered that
Caring Pharmacy - and sometimes Constant Pharmacy too – offers better value for
my hard-earned money), we went to the Gardens Mall as I needed to pick up
something.
We didn’t stay long at the Gardens and left at
12:01 (yes, I checked). We drove to the highway and exited it at Simpang Ampat
at 12:58 and began the crawl along Lebuh AMJ. There were so many cars and so
many traffic lights that we had to endure. We finally reached Muar town at
13:51 and searched for parking. Then we walked to Mee Bandung Abu Bakar Hanipah
restaurant at Jalan Abdullah. We were last here exactly 52 Saturdays prior.
This time though, the mee bandung was somewhat lacking and I felt the portion was
smaller.
After our lunch, we walked to the market and
bought some guava. We then drove to Jalan Sayang, parked there and walked to
Muar Soup House. I had soto Muar there. We left Muar just before 5 p.m. and
drove to The Settlement Hotel in Melaka. It’s a lovely charming new hotel close
to the Portuguese Settlement (hence the name, I suppose). We were given a cold
towel to freshen ourselves up and a cup of chilled drink during the check-in
process. How refreshing after the long humid sweaty uncomfortable unbearable
day! I went to check out the grounds; it didn’t take long as the hotel grounds are
compact and the size is just nice.
After soaking in the tub, I performed prayers and
then went for a complimentary neck and back massage at The Spa Library (a
covered building by the small pool which houses both the library and spa area).
The masseuse was very good but the prices were a bit beyond what I was prepared
to pay for.
We drove out to Medan Ikan Bakar Muara Sungai
Duyung. I read that it was better that Umbai and as it was quite close to the
hotel, we decided to try it out. Well, I don’t know if we were unlucky or it
was a Saturday evening but we queued 45 minutes for a table and a further 40
minutes just to place our order. [And what’s with Malaysian stalls and
restaurants anyway? I don’t like it when they immediately ask for your drink
orders. First off, I don’t drink right before or during a meal. Secondly, if
you ordered iced drinks (I don’t because I don’t like icy drinks), the ice
would have long melted by the time you finish your meal presuming you drink at
the end of your meal as you should.] Then it was another wait for our food. It
started pouring while we were still queuing to place our food order and those
who were queuing for tables rushed in. Soon we had people who had yet to
assigned seats/tables wandering around and had our tables bumped into by the
passing patrons, spilling drinks that came too soon. And to make it worse? Our
food just tasted ok. Nothing great at all. So much for all the waiting! The
time wasted, the drinks spilled... that was definitely my first and last time
there.
We returned to the hotel and retired for the day.
On Sunday, we went out for a morning walk around
the area. We climbed up St John’s Fort (which I just discovered on Google Maps
that very morning heh) and then went to the Portuguese Settlement. We then
returned to the hotel for breakfast. After breakfast, we took turns packing up
and showering. We checked out before 11 as we decided to watch The Big Short at
GSC AEON Bandaraya Melaka at 11:30. It was either that or Star Wars but I
favoured the former seeing it has more Academy Awards nominations. We entered
the theatre late as we had problems locating GSC but the movie hadn’t started
yet so we didn’t miss anything, maybe just some trailers.
The movie ended after 1 p.m. and after an
unplanned purchase, we decided to leave. I suggested heading over to Pantai Klebang
(I saw some pictures of it from another guest at The Library Spa the evening
before) but first we had to battle our way out of AEON’s car-park. We inched
our way out of the car-park literally. Man, I think half of Malaccans were
there doing their Chinese New Year shopping or grocery shopping!
We drove to Pantai Klebang and followed some cars
to the sand dunes. We parked and walked about 700 metres to the sand dunes. There
were a lot of those dunes. I ignored the nearby dunes and walked to those
slightly further and began to climb. It was amazing. It felt like being in the
Jordanian desert at Wadi Rum all over again except that the sand this time was
white and it was beach sand instead of the red desert sand. You get a view of
the Straits of Malacca from the top of the sand dunes and I sighted a small
enclosure of water which looked like a small oasis in the middle of a white
desert. Subhanallah. Again, it was amazing.
We finally left the sand dunes and drove to Casa del Rio where we would be spending the night. Again, we were given a scented
cold towel to refresh ourselves during the check-in and this time, instead of a
cup of cold drink, we got a small cup of sorbet. Fantastic when the humidity
was 95% and the temperature soaring at 37C.
We were then ushered to our rooms and given a
brief tour of the facilities in the room: the charging outlets; the bathrobes
in the drawers of the wardrobe and the laundry bag in another drawer of the
same wardrobe; the luggage area next to the wardrobe; the balcony... there were
also little touches like the rubber duck by the bathtub, the 555 notebook, the
containers of ground coffee and English Breakfast tea in addition to the tea
bags (and the hot chocolate sachets when they came for the turndown service),
the mosquito repellent in the wardrobe, the toiletries in terracotta jars and
all these just off the top of my head.
We then went for a walk around the hotel grounds. You
get an amazing view of the river and surrounding area from the rooftop where
the swimming pool is. The gym is small but manages to have a bar for towels,
water and green apples.
We walked out after evening prayers and had claypot
asam pedas fish for dinner. We then went to Jonker Walk and then crossed over
to Medan Samudera. As the stall I wanted to visit was already closed, we
hurried over to Mr DIY at Dataran Pahlawan. I just about managed to grab a rice
paddle and ladle and paid for it before the store closed.
On Monday morning, we went for a walk along the
river and back again. We returned some 6.3 km later and had breakfast. I then
hurried over to Medan Samudera and purchased two food covers. Then I hurried
back to the hotel, showered and finished packing. We checked out at five
minutes past noon. It was a great stay although I wasn’t happy to be charged
GST on the 10% service charge.
We drove back and I was shocked when I reached
micasa for the Indonesian painter left it in such a state. I immediately
changed and proceeded to sweep and mop micasa.
Well, that was my Thaipusam weekend. Hope you had
a good one too!
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