So here we are. 5th and last day on our Island Getaway.
We awoke to gloomy, grey and cloudy skies. It was almost as if the island itself was sad to say goodbye to us.
The rain started pelting down as we were having our breakfast at the hotel café and the clouds looming over the hills were so thick we couldn’t see even a single metal beam of the cable car, which was so obvious these few days past.
We collectively decided to head to town to finish up on our shopping. Diplodocus and I managed to get the coolest tees for the both of us and the Mickeyface, all in the same style. We couldn’t wait to try them on over the weekend when the Tiny was staying over.
A McCallan for the dad and our beloved Baileys for the liquer cabinet teamed with a bagload of chocolates and we were good to go. It was worrying that Kong Kong was still not feeling well and everyone headed back to the hotel for some quick packing and a little rest before check out.
The rain had lessened but the sky still hadn’t cleared at this point and practically begging for the clouds to clear, I decided to call the cable car company. After 3 attempts, a friendly lady answered the call and told me that the ticketing counter had only just opened and that they may close again very soon if the weather did not improve. And so if we wanted to get on it, we needed to be there, like yesterday!
Rushing up the stairs (why is it always that the elevator doesn’t work when we are in a rush?), I excitedly told the Happy Family the good news. We hurried down to stuff our baggage into the Innova’s tiny boot space (should have rented a lorry with all the baggage we had. We might as well have stolen the whole town!) , and Mr Goblin drove as fast as he could to get us to the Cable Car. Of course we had to make a much needed pit stop at the Perdana Quay Petrol station.( And here I doubted we could have reached this fast if we had rented a lorry. Unless! Unless we could fit in some turbo charge V12 into the engine of the lorry. I bet it could work!)
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| Pitstop at the Perdana Quay with the fast and reliable Innova |
There was no queue at the ticketing counter and even the queue to the ‘cars’ was relatively short. We had to go in sixes and there were numbered boxes showing us where to stand. All jumpy nerves, we got down onto the first station where Uncle K met some friends (is there anywhere in the world that this man doesn’t have acquaintances?? Maybe he is a politician in his free time?) Hopped onto the next carriage with Diplodocus to move to the 2nd station and was mildly disappointed to note that the sky bridge itself was closed for maintenance.
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| The line up at the Cable Car |
It was the first time I had ever stood so high off ground level(not counting my days as a toddler in Cameron Highlands) and I realized why I loved the hills and mountains so much. There was a sense of connection to a world that was so vast, so different and yet it was small and so similar in so many ways. The clouds were still rolling, and I literally mean rolling, over the hills and onto the unblocked atmosphere of the blue, blue ocean. The sight of them gliding away, right through us at some points, gives one a sense of peace that I haven’t actually felt in a really long time. The wind was really strong and it blew from almost every angle until at one point, I couldnt quite feel the cold anymore. The billowing was almost comforting, like holding my grandads hand all those years ago, and it felt almost as if it was trying to lift away every heartache I had ever had.
After a couple of hours of photo taking and admiring a man full of the coolest tattoos, we decided to take the descend from the hilltop. Any longer and our dearest Y might have been flown away by the strength of the winds. No idea why the Goblin and Uncle K suddenly decided that they loved capatis at this time but ignorance can sometimes be blissful.
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| Monkey see, monkey do? |
On sea level again, and true to the Counter's earlier warning, the cable car was closed again.
We walked about the Oriental Village situated at the foot of the hill and were all mesmerized by a kid having a large green python wrapped around him for phototaking. Gotta be some brave fella, haggling the price of taking a pic with the snake with all those foreign tourists. Watching him as he expertly coiled the snake around a tourist and even holding up the head in the ‘correct’ way, I thought this is definitely some skill. I can’t even recall how to hold a rabbit and we grew up in a house that was more like a farm.
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| Duck Tours is available on certain times of the day at the Oriental Village. This is the amphibian vehicle used for the tours |
It was already mid evening by the time we left the Village and after a lunchcumdinner at a seafood restaurant we found along the way, and a quickstop and Dataran Lang for the Y's sake, we headed to the airport.
And to reality.
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| The ever-gorging geng |
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| Buk Buk anyone? |
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| Overgrown Pipit? |
Its surely going to take me a long time, if ever, to forget the adventures and memories of this trip. From burying KK in the sand on the first day. Kong Kong- you made the perfect mermaid, but try to close those fins a little eh? To the joys of speaking to strangers for free mangoes, and actually receiving them!(good job Diplodo, just leave the cutting to someone else in the future) To the dramatic moments of Kong Kong’s illness and Diplodocus cutting a vein on her hand and making Uncle K panicked to kingdom come. To playing tag under the clear and starry skies, reminiscing a childhood long gone by.
It was definitely a good getaway, and for the Happy Family Members reading this, you guys rock!
