Cat City Reunion

I’d been planning a return trip to Kuching for the past 1.5 years and finally got a return ticket at a bargain earlier this year for the Maulidur Rasul weekend. I left early on Saturday morning and arrived at KLIA at 09:30. After dropping off my bag, I went to buy some buns before going through security check.

We took off on time and landed on time. I had contacted my friend, SAK, who now works and resides in Kuching and she agreed to meet me. We haven’t met since a school reunion ten years ago (!). I had told her to come after 13:15 to give me enough time in case my bag came out late and she wouldn’t have to wait long for me but my bag made an early appearance so I decided to perform prayers while waiting for her. SAK’s car was hit by a lorry and she had to rent a small car to get around while waiting for her car to be repaired.

View as we were descending

Our first stop was the Borneo House Museum. I thought the admission of RM19 for adults was pretty steep and I suppose that explained why the museum was deserted. We spent about 40 minutes there before driving to Santubong. I had decided to visit Santubong/Damai – it would be my first time – and book three different hotels for this trip.

The trip took about 40 minutes and we arrived at Damai Beach Resort at 16:00. We headed for our room at Block 1 and I was unimpressed with the gloomy exterior. We went into our room on the ground floor (thankfully it didn’t face the pool or it would be pretty noisy) and were disheartened to see the tired decoration and ambience. It was dated and not very welcoming. Sure, the room was large with a king bed, an extra spring bed and plenty of space to swing a cat or two but that was about it. The bathroom made me feel as if I was in the mountains for despite signs warning us to be careful and turn on the cold water tap first to avoid hot water scalding, the water was just lukewarm even when we turned on the hot water tap solely. I made some tea for myself and coffee for SAK then went to check out the nearby Sarawak Cultural Village. I had dithered over whether to visit the Village but after reading the reviews, I decided to give it a miss. It must have had rained before we arrived for the ground was wet and the Village looked even gloomier from outside.

I returned back to the room and after chatting with SAK, I took a bath. We left for dinner after prayers and drove to Buntal Village. SAK treated me to a seafood dinner and it was great. Very satisfying and delicious although she did say it cost more than it would in Kuching.

Seafood dinner

We returned to the hotel quite late and I was already very sleepy when we got back. It wasn’t long before I succumbed to sleep.

SAK had a charity run early on Sunday morning and she left right after morning prayers. I had a short kip before getting up. After showering and packing, I went for a short walk along the beach before heading to the lobby. I informed a tour operator staff that I wanted to book a seat for the 12:30 shuttle service back to Kuching before crossing over to the restaurant for breakfast. I have no complaints over the food but the hotel could have added a noodle station.

After breakfast, I went to sit in one of the gazebos and sat reading while enjoying the sea breeze. I returned back to my room at 11:45 and finished packing. Then I went to the lobby to check out and wait for the 12:30 shuttle.

There was a Caucasian couple with four large suitcases along with me and we stopped at the Cultural Village to pick up a young family of four. The trip back took an hour and the driver dropped the family off first at Kubah Ria Sunday market before continuing on. I was dropped off next. I paid RM15 for my ride (Grand Margherita charged RM20 for transfer to/fro the Cultural Village) and went to see if my room was ready. It was and I went directly to my room on the first floor. I was a bit disappointed that my room faced the main road instead of the river but the windows were soundproof and I couldn’t hear any traffic noise at all so I had no complaints. And my, the room was heavenly! It was just the right size, not too big and not too small. The bed was so inviting and I rested for a bit and read my book. It was just too hot to venture out then. I checked the BBC Weather prediction on Friday and it was forecasted to rain throughout my trip but the weather turned out sunny and hot!

I left at around 16:00 and went to Tun Jugah Mall (now a pretty much dead place save for Popular Bookstore) before walking along the river where it was shadier. I then crossed over to the Main Bazaar shops before crossing over again. There’s a new bridge now which wasn’t there on my last trip during the Merdeka weekend back in 2014. Shaped like an S, the pedestrian bridge is supported with two cables from two steel towers topped out with stylised hornbills which denote the state emblem. I walked up and across the bridge gingerly. I couldn’t help wondering how deep the river was and what would happen if I were to fall from such a height. Call me paranoid but I feel the same way crossing most pedestrian bridges. I didn’t linger on the other side and turned back shortly after reaching the end to make my way back across. Towards the end, I met a young couple walking out their Maine Coon-Persian mix pampered cat.

I walked to Plaza Merdeka and then along Padang Merdeka to the museum. Yes, as SAK had informed me, it was closed for renovation. What a shame. I didn’t get to visit it during my last trip as it bizarrely closed then too and I couldn’t visit it on this trip either. I turned back and walked along Carpenter Street to the end then up the hill at Hilton. I bought dinner to go before returning to my room. I spent the evening resting and reading.

On Monday morning, I went down for breakfast at 09:20 and after a leisurely breakfast (had my first Mee Kolok), I went for a brief walk along the river before returning to my room. I checked out just before noon then sat at the lobby reading while waiting for Zuhor. After performing prayers, I crossed over to Sarawak Plaza for a 1.5-hour massage at Alternative Therapy Centre (Blind Massage Centre). It cost even less than the hour-long massage I had in Melaka just days before.

It was close to 15:00 by the time I returned to get my bag. I crossed over to my third hotel of the trip. I had stayed at this hotel at least twice before but this time, I got to experience the new Astana Wing. My room was at level 7 this time and from my room at the end of the corridor, I could just about view the river and DUN Building. The wing was only opened early this year but I noticed the hole covers in the bathroom were already rusting. Shame.

I went out into the hot afternoon and it was time to do some shopping. I bought some pelikat sarongs, a couple of caftans and some layered cakes before returning to my room. I had a shower and performed prayers and quickly changed when SAK informed she had already arrived. We drove to Lepau Restaurant for some traditional Sarawak fare. I liked the ambience and setting and food. It was almost 22:00 when we got back to the hotel, having had to park at Riverside as the Astana Wing car-park was already full.

Dinner at Lepau

On Tuesday morning, we checked out at 07:40 and brought our bags down to the concierge at LG before returning to Sapa Restaurant at UG for breakfast. We left at 08:40 and after getting our bags, hurried over to the car-park at Riverside and drove to the airport. We arrived at the airport at 09:05 and after thanking her and bidding her goodbye, I rushed in, placed my bags on the conveyor for screening and rushed to drop off my bag and get the boarding pass.

The plane took off on time and we landed at KLIA ten minutes earlier than scheduled. I suppose my return trip would be after 2020 when the Sarawak Museum is reopened. And no offence to my Sarawakian friends, but somehow I prefer Kota Kinabalu to Kuching (and as evidenced by my many more trips to the latter compared to the former).

A Short Trip To Melaka

I haven’t been to Melaka since January 2016 and after meeting up my Malaccan mate for our alma mater reunion dinner, I decided to visit her in her home state. She suggested we met up in the city instead of her hometown so after discussing a few dates, we settled on last Saturday, 10 November.

I left micasa at 08:30 that morning and walked to the MRT bus station. The plan was to get the feeder bus to MadValley and change for the Komuter to Bandar Tasik Selatan. However, no T817 bus was in sight after 25 minutes of waiting and CT arranged for Grab to bring me to TBS directly. For the record, I don’t like riding in a cab or Grab all by myself. My parents discouraged me and I don’t like to be stuck with a total stranger for long. The journey was smooth and we arrived at TBS after 20 minutes.

I went to queue for bus tickets and despite arriving at 09:40, all the 10:00-11:00 buses were already full. The earliest bus available was the Melor Interline Express at 11:15 so I bought the ticket for that. Yes, I could have bought the ticket earlier online but I didn’t want to pay the processing fee. Nevertheless, I thought about it and decided to buy the return ticket online as I didn’t want to risk arriving early at Melaka Sentral and waiting again. I had an hour plus to kill anyway so I browsed for the following morning’s buses back to KL. I was surprised to find a few buses had a few available seats left so quickly bought a ticket for a 10:30 Kejora Express bus. Then I read my book.

The bus left at 11:22 and there were quite a few tourists in the bus. There was heavy traffic along some stretches of the highway and the traffic got heavier as we exited the highway. We finally arrived at Melaka Sentral at 13:45. My mate informed she was running late (I suppose it was a good thing then that I couldn’t get an earlier bus!) so I went to perform prayers while waiting for her. She finally arrived at 14:55 and we drove on to Avillion Legacy Melaka. We were surprised to find the parking almost full and wondered if there was some event in Melaka taking place over the weekend.

After checking in, we went up to our room to rest. We ventured out again after 17:00. Believe it or not, both of us hadn’t had lunch yet (!) and it was too late for lunch anyway. We drove to the centre and parked at the public car park near Chan Koon Cheng Bridge. I told my mate that another mate parked there before when we went for an overnight trip back in October 2012 and her car was completely dirty from bird droppings the following day.

We walked to Jonker Walk and went to find Jonker 88 to find some halal laksa. There were a lot of people at Jonker Walk then: the hawkers either setting up their stalls or calling out to customers and the visitors walking around. We finally fond Jonker 88 and asked if we could a couple with a toddler if we could share their table. I then went to buy Baba laksa (jumbo size as the regular size is sold only until 13:00) and durian cendol. The Baba laksa was all right but the durian cendol was a major failure as they used instant coconut powder. What a waste of my RM9! Grr!!!

 At the hotel pool

 Painters painting Chan Koon Cheng Bridge

 At Jonker 88

 Baba laksa in jumbo size and the durian cendol that failed big time

One of the many colourful buildings in the centre 

We left and walked back along Jonker and wandered the streets. We dropped by the public prayer room at the Tourist Information Centre to perform prayers before continuing on to Upside Down House Gallery. I thought the ticket was steep at RM18. We spent a hilarious time there and had one of the staff take our pictures. After that we walked on to find Restoran 35 (it was closed) and decided to have a massage at a place near 707 Hotel Malacca Apple and opposite Asam Pedas Claypot 5 Beradik. The massage was a bargain at RM55/person/hour but what we didn’t bargain for was getting two ladies with traditional healing background (bidan) as our masseuses! Mine started my massage in reverse to what I usually experience: instead of lying on my tummy where the masseuse starts with my upper back, I was told to lie on my back and she proceeded to massage my left foot first before going up to the calf. Oh my, it was ever so painful and I was grimacing in pain before long that it prompted her to ask if I had never had a massage before. I said yes, of course I had. Maybe the ones I had before were mild and maybe because I’m weakly but it was a painful hour for me and my mate. After finishing with my feet and calves, I was told to lie on my tummy and she started massaging the thigh area, and again, without mercy. I was getting worried if she would be climbing on my back after that because I’d once had a masseuse climb on my back and started pounding on it like a sumo wrestler. Thank God she didn’t. We chatted a bit, she was curious about my marital status.

At the Upside Down House

Both my mate and I emerged feeling worse for the wear and after thanking our masseuses, we left. It was getting late and we weren’t that hungry after our meal but we decided to stop for some asam pedas. I asked the owner if it was spicy and he gave me a look before I realised the irony of my question. I laughed and said yes, I wanted a non-spicy asam pedas! He brought out a small bowl for me to sample and I decided it was not that spicy so we ordered and shared the fish roe asam pedas.

 The walk along the river is pleasant in the evening (too hot during the day!)

We trudged back to the car park and found that the birds have had their fun pooping on it. My mate was good-natured about it. We reached our room about 23:30 and I was already dozing off by midnight.

On Sunday, we woke up for prayers and my mate had a short kip after prayers. We left the room at 08:30 and brought our bags to the car before going down for breakfast. The breakfast spread was quite generous but I didn’t eat much.

Breakfast at the Coffee House

We left at 09:50 and drove to Melaka Sentral and waited for the bus before bidding each other farewell and promising to keep in touch. The bus left at 10:40 but stopped outside the complex for 5 minutes before continuing. Then the driver stopped at a pump station along the highway to fill up (I took the opportunity to use the facilities) and we only arrived at TBS at 13:05. I had another wait for the Komuter. I went down at MadValley and stopped there for an hour before taking the bus back to micasa. I reached micasa at 15:30, swept the porch and unpacked. It started pouring when I was performing prayers with such deafening and frightening thunders and I was so thankful I managed to reach home when I did. Alhamdulillah.

That was a good weekend albeit painful at times. I think it would be a regular event from now, insyaAllah.