Flying around Malaysia

Judy. Crazy few days with lots of plane time, which can be exhausting. From KL (Kuala Lumpur) we flew to Kota Bharu, which is a conservative city in the east. Our hotel room had a ceiling sign pointing to Mecca, and we heard the lovely sound of the call to prayer. Only one night there before some R & R in the Perhentian Islands off the coast there—lots of beach time, rest, and snorkeling, when we saw a sea turtle, magnificent coral formations, and gorgeous fish. Nemo even put in an appearance.

After three days, we headed back to KB, then flew through KL to Kota Kinabalu, which we really liked.

This is in the state of Sabah, on the island of Borneo.

It seemed to be a cross between KL & KB, just the right size with interesting things to see. 

The icing on the cake was that our friend Rina’s cousin, Fareena, and her mother, Landong, met us at the airport and drove us to our hotel.

At their suggestion, we went to the Mari-Mari Cultural Village for an evening tour of tribal life of the five groups. It’s definitely different from the rest of Malaysia! 

After two nights, we flew to Sandakan on the other side of Sabah to stay at the Sepilok Nature Resort. This was big on Ted’s list, and was as amazing as we’d been led to believe. I’ll let him fill you in on that. 

Back to KK and Fareena and Landong. It’s amazing how quickly you realize you want to know someone better.  Landong made us cookies—bahulu, a traditional tea cookie--for our trip, and we’re now friends on Facebook.

One more story:  We flew from KK to KL, where we changed terminals and planes to fly to Indonesia (where we are now). Our schedule was a little tight, but doable. Only—our flight to KL was delayed. Still, not a big problem.  We did an OJ through the airport to the train, and arrived at the international terminal, where we were completely lost! A flight attendant walked with us to find where to drop our bags, and while we stood in line, Ted thought he heard final call for our flight. We dashed through the terminal, Ted asking if we could break in line (one passport check, three security checks). People were so kind, and no one complained or yelled at us. Staff pointed the L O N G route to our gate, and Ted flagged down a cart to drive us there. We flew down the ramp and around the corner—the plane was GONE!!!  When Ted went to the gate agent to ask about what we should do, she said, “No plane yet!” What could we do but collapse in chairs, eat Landong’s cookies and laugh our heads off. We do have adventures. And fun.