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Talking about winding roads...
Entry 236 of 313 | show all | print this entry |
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And the answer to the question is: yes, please.
We go for a very nice breakfast and then for an hour walk. A lot of what is grown here is covered with plastic. Greg makes the valid remark: 'why do they grow all these things here, where it is cooler and wetter, to make it hotter and dryer with covering it?' Clever people, those Haigs! Coming back, we almost run: the brothers are thinking about a cleansing ale and we ordered a taxi for 12h15. Our ale arrives together with the taxi at 12h. The poor guy has to wait for a quarter of an hour.
Goodbyes are said. I met Tony's little brother 5 times so far: in West-Australia (when Tomcat was still my colleague and called Tony), in Brussels, in East-Australia, in Singapore and in Malaysia. We do not know where and when we will meet again.
The bus to KL is indeed a bit nicer. A little bit. Chairs more comfortable and more leg space.
The rest is the same story again. 40 minutes after departure, we are 8 km further! The mountains are bad for Tony. He slept very little again and the constant turning makes him motion sick. After 3 hours there is a pit stop. I buy a HAMBURGER for myself. It is an Asian one, though: spicy! Dr t does not want anything: he is a bit green around his noise.
As expected the journey takes over 5 hours. Despite the fact it is Sunday, the traffic in KL is heavy. It is raining cats and dogs, when we reach our destination. Dr T has the name of our hotel but not the address. The first taxi drivers do not know where it is. The next one charges too much for T's liking. He is negotiating in the pouring rain. Ten minutes the deal is done: 17 ringgit.
And, my, oh, my, it is dodgy. I have never seen anything like it in my life. The weird thing is: if our have a couple of million Euros on our bank account and a lot of guts: this could be a very fancy hotel, even in the style of the Waldorf=Astroria! The halls are full of pictures of its past: in 1919 it was a posh boys school. It is clear this building was not meant to be a hotel. Still, we do not a lot of imagination to picture how it could be. But, now it is so bad, it even puts me off! There is a lot of water in the bathroom. We do have A/C and clean sheets. Hang on: one sheet! Where is the cover sheet? No way will I put that blanket on top of me without sheet. Dr T suggests the possibility that they WASH that blanket every time. Sure and Christmas will fall on Easter one day! The sweetheart goes on the search for a sheet and one is brought a bit later.
I seem to be in a weird mood. Am I out off by the bathroom? Do I miss my Vodka? Is it the hangover after a day in company with loved ones? Do I want to bring eggs to my little niece for Easter? Tomcat takes me to diner in China Town, 10 minutes walk. The chicken-curry, the beer, watching the world walk by, the chat to our neighbor, who went to the F1 (de pietzak!) brings me almost back to our normal self. Still, I do not feel like going for another beer and we are going home. Unfortunately, the promised wireless is only available during the day on weekdays and we are out of books. We will have to get some sleep.
Keep your fingers crossed that the wireless does work tomorrow. Dr T requested a booking in Semporna (Borneo), a town about 80 km west of Tawau, where we land tomorrow at 18h. He also requested for a week accommodation one of the islands a ferry ride away from Sempora. That was 4 days ago. Two days ago, there was no answer yet. It is our sad experience that hotels often just do not reply, if there is no availability. It would take them less than a minute (standard copy/paste text: thanks for the interest but unfortunately...) and no costs but often that is too much to ask. SOMETHING tells me, we are approaching interesting times again.
Have a happy Easter and I hope to send you stories from Borneo. I miss my family and friends.
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