Air Asia flight AK 5172
Thursday morning came too early. We were up at 3:30 am to check out and catch our flight from Kuala Lumpur KLIA2 to Labuan, Malaysia. We were in the lobby before 4:30 am and had our Grab ride at the door. It was a 45 minute drive to the airport for our 6:50 am departure. We managed to print our own luggage tags and boarding passes. For some strange reason Linda was over by 1 KG on her checked bag allowance. She quickly grabbed a pair of sandals out of her bag and jammed them into her carry on. Of course, we were at the gate plenty early, we didn’t want to miss our flight. We had the second row, aisle and window seat with a spare seat between us. The Air Asia flight of 2 1/2 hours to Labuan cost us $95 CAD each one way. That’s about half a tank of fuel in a diesel pickup back home in Canada.
We have 4 nights booked at the Tiara Labuan Hotel which is an older property but quite nice. We actually were not going to stay here but our first choice was booked. So for about $87 CAD per night we have a nice suite with a king size bed, 2 TVs, a living room and kitchenette. Yes, and don’t forget a fridge that actually works! Our room’s kitchen has a 2 burner hot plate but let’s be honest, we aren’t cooking any meals.
The early wakeup call really set us back. By noon we were wiped. We got settled in, but that was a chore. Linda tried to set the safe combination and got locked out. While maintenance was here opening the safe we had them show us how to turn on the ceiling fan in the bedroom. There are more light switches in the suite than one could imagine. All the plug ins also have switches to complicate things even more.
After a quick nap we spent an hour in the pool and then went exploring. We walked down the beach on our way into town to get the lay of the land. It is a pleasant town and when compared to the “tourist Mecca” of Langkawi Malaysia, Labuan is much nicer. It doesn’t seem to be very touristy. The island is a tax free federal territory of Malaysia, so beer is cheap.
We ate at the Dorset Hotel’s “The Living Room” Indian restaurant. It’s a fancier hotel but the food was really good. We were starving and almost dehydrated by the time we got our first pint of Tiger beer. In the end supper was over budget at about $35 CAD. We each had 2 pints of beer and shared channa masala, steamed basmati rice, 2 garlic naan bread, Punjab chicken masala and some sort of tasty gravy for the naan bread. While we didn’t lick our plates, you would have thought so looking at them.
After supper we walked over one KM to a 7 Eleven to buy some extra bottled water and Tiger beer. We got the water but ended up with a couple of Heineken beer for $1.15 CAD each. We caught a Grab back to the hotel – no more walking today!
The biggest problem we have had so far is being cold in air conditioned places and that includes the plane this morning! We were smart enough to take wind breakers but our puffer jackets with down would have been a better choice.