Back to KL

The two day break flew like a breeze. We got back to KL before the evening rush hour, stopping a couple of times. First at Anita's cousin at Seri Iskandar, while the next for lynch at Tapah.

The Tapah stop was interesting. A new cafe had just opened. Spit and span, but now sure for how long. Food was average but at least then place was clean.

As we arrived early, Anita and I took to the cinema that evening to watch Divergent - more on that after.

So, backs to work yesterday, a drive to Park City and an afternoon clinic. Anita spent the day sorting out Mum's maid's permit all afternoon. Today, she would be with my Mum at IJN for tests.

A nice break, but I could do with another day off in KL, sorting out errands and my paperwork. I was still behind on bills and letters. I was on call today, so hopefully this weekend would be a quiet one. Plenty to do ...

In Lumut

It was time for me to take some time off. It coincided with the term break for my boys as well. The timing was tight as I had just finished with the Annual MSH meeting. The destination? Lumut.

But it was not without some drama. The initial plan was to stay at Damai Laut. I had stayed there before back in 2010, when I was invites to talk there. Anita scoured the internet and learned that the resort had won a few awards in the last few years. So, she booked a room there. They boys, Anita and my mother-in-law left for Lumut a day before me. I would join them on the Sunday right after I was done with my conference.

Nice sunsetEvening stroll to the bazaar

But she was mightily disappointed with both, the level of service and the quality of the room. The food was also really bad. And the staff there preferentially treated the foreigners as God and the locals as pariah - which was not uncommon. It was bad enough that I would be writing to the General Manager of the Swiss Garden Group which run the chain when I get back to KL.

Anita checked out after a night stay. She got a room in town instead a another resort. Although the new place was old, the level of service there was a lot better, and they actually served food.

They had already settles in into the new suite when I reached Lumut. The boys were much happier at the place. And it was at the edge of town, making shopping and traveling to Pangkor that much easier.

Stop at Subang

Dad had been struggling with his cough even before we left for Melaka. In fact, he could hardly sleep the night before. Before things got worst, I insisted that we stopped by Subang on the way home.

It was a touch of bronchitis probably brought on by a virus from a few days back. Some antibiotics and cough mixture should do the trick. He looked tired when we finally reached home, still coughing away. Hopefully he would be feeling better by tomorrow.

For a Sunday afternoon, the Emergency Room was pretty packed. Luckily he didn't have to wait for too long - I had contacts you see....

More on the Melaka trip here.

Leaving Melaka

We finally left the hotel at about 12.30 with Anita getting some take-out lunch for the boys. The rest of us would be stopping along the way to have our meal at one of the stores. We would like to go all kampung style and sample the local food.

We stopped a couple if times for my Mum to buy some vegetables and fruits. Theybwere fresh cheap compared vinegar we normally get from the supermarket in KL.

These were really nice mangosteen. Can't wait to eat them later.Not to mention some really fresh vegetablesFinally stopped for lunch at Masjid Tanah after driving past Sungai Udang - the entrance to our old school, MRSM Terendak. Since we were late, most of the dishes were already gone. We made do with what was left.

No more stops after Masjid Tanah when we drove past Alor Gajah and entered the highway at Simpang Ampat.

We didn't head straight to Gombak though. We had to sort out my Dad-in-law's cough. That meant a detour to Subang. More on the Melaka trip here.

Almost Time

So, all we were waiting for was for the boys to wake up this morning. Most of the packing had been done except for the tit bits we bought yesterday from Jonker Street. We would just dump those onto the boot of the van I thought.

We would probably set off after lunch. We scrapped the plan to go via Ayer Keroh since my Dad-in-law wasn't very well. He had been nursing a cough since the beginning of the trip. We would likely be driving straight to KL from here.

The boys had another day to go before their school opened on Tuesday. I would still be on leave until Wednesday. Maybe do a bit of shopping tomorrow. We still need to get them their school bags.

I still got some stuff to do at the apartment when I get back. Busy day tomorrow I think.

More on the Melaka trip here.