Two Weeks In Paradise
Thursday November 24 was a travel day! We had our last breakfast at the Royale Chulan in Georgetown Penang and caught a Grab to the Penang airport. We are headed back to Labuan in East Malaysia. We were in Labuan earlier in our trip and really liked it.
We had two flights – Penang to Kuala Lumpur (a one hour flight) and then Kuala Lumpur to Labuan ( 2 1/2 hour flight ). We got to the Malaysian Airlines check-in and the gal tagged our checked bags as “hot transfer” items as our layover between flights is just over an hour. We had a bad feeling about that. We easily found our gate and settled in to wait. Our flight ended up delayed by almost an hour! Finally we got on board and took off. When we arrived in Kuala Lumpur we had approximately 15-20 minutes before our next flight took off. There was an attendant at the gate calling for us and they had a golf cart and driver waiting for us. They loaded us on the cart and zoomed off through the airport. As Gary said, we even had wind chill on the golf cart as the guy hustled us to the next gate. It was a long drive – we’d never have made it on foot! He dropped us at our gate and took off to save some other poor travellers! First ever golf cart ride at that speed in an airport!
The gates can be confusing in the Kuala Lumpur airport. We’ve witnessed and been part of several chaotic boarding calls as they change gates and then change back and load two planes at the same time at the same desk. For example in Kota Kinabalu airport, gate 6a and 6b use the same departure lounge making seating impossible for latecomers. We were worried they may already have started boarding our Labuan flight but once we checked with the desk they said there was a slight delay and they’d start boarding shortly. Turns out this flight was delayed at least 45 minutes. We finally arrived in Labuan around 6 pm. Sadly, despite being tagged as a hot transfer and even our second flight being delayed, our luggage didn’t make the flight. It was left in Kuala Lumpur! We spent sometime with the lost luggage gal filling out forms and as a result the Palm Beach driver and van (half full of people) had to wait for us making the other guests endure our pain. We actually know better to be prepared for the worst but once again we are caught with no deodorant or extra electrical plug adapter in our carry on. Malaysia uses these huge United Kingdom style plugs. To add to complexity the outlet is 220v and each outlet has a switch on it. We were better off than the other 2 guys at the luggage claim – they were travelling from Bangkok to Labuan and their luggage went to Japan by mistake! Supposedly, they wouldn’t see it for at least another 2 days if they were lucky!
We are staying at the Palm Beach Resort and Hotel for 13 nights. It’s sorta the resting part of our trip. No more running around and making tours happen for sightseeing. We get to spend our days either reading, soaking in the pool or walking along the beach and trees.
Today we walked about an 8 Km round trip down the beach. We walked by many families and groups parked at the beach enjoying the beautiful cooling breeze off the ocean. While it is quite hot, you would never know it along the beach in the shade of the huge trees. We stopped for mini donuts and a cold glass of lemon ice water at one little restaurant. We passed a group barbecuing under the big trees. On the way back towards the hotel we walked by the same group again and they all said hello again. They offered us a taste and we stopped to sample the food. We were offered chicken wings and chicken butt (they are all washed out and clean) nicely barbecued. Gary tried a chicken wing and Linda took a nibble. It was delicious. We declined the butts. Maybe someday. They were a very friendly group of work colleagues out for a Sunday barbecue at the beach. We of course got asked the usual questions like “where are you from sir?” The usual “Canada” reply. We are an anomaly and stick out like a sore thumb. While deep down we know this, we don’t feel out of place, not too much at least. Although Gary is wearing a bright orange shirt on this day, we don’t really feel like fish out of water, at least not too much.
The locals are so friendly here and the usual question is “why would you come to this tiny island?” They don’t know what they have here because it is all they know. If Labuan wasn’t so far from Canada and especially Saskatoon, the place would be flooded with snowbirds. It’s not easy to get here but once you do the price is right, the climate is amazing, and the people are welcoming.