A brief visit to Seremban for old times sake

Up to the lighthouse for one last time this morning before checking out from Ilham Resort at midday. I met up with a birding friend of the Cheaw's, Ng Kit Wan who was great company and other birders there were happy to share their knowledge of other good birding spots in and around KL and also recommended 'Pencil Hill' in Thailand as another great raptor migration viewing spot each October. At midday we all checked out and caught a taxi back to Seremban where we made a beeline for my favourite bakery, buying up custard tarts, curry puffs and other delights and then walked along several streets window shopping before heading back to Seremban Rail station to eat lunch and catch the local commuter train back to KL for RM6 each and then our usual LRT train onto KLCC and back to the Corus Hotel. We've settled back in now and caught up with the news on TV and are shocked and saddened by the extent of the tragedy in Japan that's unfolding. I've prepared my bags for tomorrow ready to catch an early train to Ipoh for the next 3 days and Linda and mum are organising their plans for the next three days in KL which will include the Malaysian cooking class and a early start tomorrow too to get in the queue early for crossing the bridge at the Petrona Towers.

More of the same activities today

I was up before breakfast again birding the forest trails - my favourite forest birds today were White-rumped Shama and Black-winged Flycatcher Shrike and also a Coppersmith Barbet in the resort grounds. Returned back to meet mum and Linda for breakfast and we had some rain for an hour or so but when it cleared by mid morning we all set off up to the lighthouse at the top of the trail to watch the raptors migrating. From the lighthouse we had expansive views of the straits and I enjoyed watching 2 very large green turtles swimming in the waters below before we headed back for a swim in the sea. Today we 've enjoyed watching some family parties of monkeys frolick along the power cables - something they clearly do regularly. Tomorrow we've booked the nice taxi driver that drove us to Port Dixon yesterday to come pick us up at midday when we check out and take us to Seremban where we'll take a walk around the town looking at the shops and, in particular, visit the Seremban bakers (something I've dreamed of doing since last years visit as they make the best portuguese custard tarts ever to be found). Then it's back to KL for one night before I'll head off to Ipoh for 3 days to catch up with birding friends Cheaw Hon Ming and Poon Kuan Yaow and also get to 'clog' with the Ipoh dance club. Linda and mum have made plans too for their 3 days in KL and Linda is going to update the blog with their news for that period.

Swimming at Port Dixon while watching the awesome raptor migration overhead

I walked to the lighthouse through Tanjung Tuan Forest Reserve before breakfast - too early for the raptors who were waiting until the sun was well up and there were thermals for them to soar on. The walk to the lighthouse was really nice and I enjoyed seeing the squirrels ('Tupai Pinangs' : Calloscusrus notatus) and the wonderfully weird looking langur/monkey ('Lotong Cenkong' : Presbytis obscura) that I remembered from last year's visit. Birds seen were fairly common species today and no Jambu Fruit Dove this time. I caught up with mum and Linda (who opted for a lie-in) at breakfast and we decided to walk the 2kms to the main road junction and try to catch a local bus to Port Dixon itself. We ended up jumping in a taxi after what seemed like a futile wait. Port Dixon has the only 'op' shop I have ever come upon in Asia and we found a couple of items we liked there and then, after a nice fresh coconut drink we headed to the beach and swam in the wonderfully warm straits of Malacca. We headed back to Ilham Resort at Cape Rachado and swam again off the Resorts own beach and delighted in the hoardes of raptors soaring above us on their migration. The sheer numbers made it confusing for me to get my head around identifying individuals and so this evening I've sat down and done my homework and so am hopefully prepared for tomorrow's dedicated raptor watch. The most numerous raptors today appear to be Crested or Oriental Honey Buzzards (Pernis ptilorbyncus) in all their varied morphs.

The Chinchin Yu treatment

Today's highlight was having a fish foot spa in the Bukit Bintang area of KL. Many Garra Rufa, a type of tropical fish, also nicknamed 'Chinchin Yu' nibble at your feet, consuming the dead areas of skin and leaving the healthy skin to grow. Admittedly it nearly freaks you out to begin with as they immediately swarmed upon our feet the second we placed our feet in the shallow pools like a bunch of pirahnas. But at the end of the session it feels enjoyable and mildly ticklish. Before that we'd stopped at a traditional chinese herbal tea shop and sipped from bowls some very strong, dark licquorice flavoured tea - along with that we were given a 'treat' to follow the tea which was wrapped in paper like a sweet and I suppose is their equivalent of an 'after dinner mint' except this one tasted of a cross between very strong liquorice and aniseed - we could only manage a nibble. We'd decided the Lester Wong the tailor wanted too much to make dresses and so returned to KL Sentral station where we retrieved our luggage we'd left in lockers all ready to catch the train to Seremban, and from there a taxi onto Port Dixon. The day ended with a nice dinner here at Ilham Resort at Cape Rachado where the great raptor migration occurs each year at this time. High tide is at 4pm tommorrow and so we're all looking forward to a swim in the Malacca Strait and I plan to get up early before breakfast to take a walk up to the lighthouse birding all the way.

The healing powers of foot reflexology

We all slept well, woke later and had a later breakfast then caught the shuttle bus to Bukit Bintang to find a tailor in the Sungei Wang Plaza. We searched seemingly in vain through the huge compex of shops and stalls, many of which appeared shut to come to the conclusion that those outlets probably didn't operate on Sundays. Next stop was for a simply wonderful 30 minute foot reflexology session for mum and I which began with a warm soak of our feet in a tub of water with floating flower petals. The massager pointed us back to Sungei Wang Plaza after the tailor once more and this time more shops and stalls had set up and we happened upon a treasure trove of a shop that sold an array of irresistible chinese type bags and purses and we learned where the tailor we wanted was located so will call back tomorrow when he is open and drop off the dresses for copying. From here, our mission semi accomplished we took the monorail to KL Sentral and pre-bought my return electric train tickets for Ipoh and then I showed mum and Lin where and how to buy their LRT train ticets back to base (KLCC) and mum said 'what we gonna do without our mum then' meaning me when I go to Ipoh for 3 days. Back at the hotel we've all packed now ready for Seremban and Port Dixon tomorrow. We're preparing to travel light and leave the bulk of our luggage at the hotel here ready for our return on Thursday. We decided next to go and queue for Petronas Towers only to discover along with anothr couple, a brother and sister from Nepal that all tickets today were sold out. Such a shame! Tonight we ate locally for around $1 each and it was great - Roti Canai, Nasi Lemak done in banana leaf parcels and kopi - a very kind old chinese man had encouraged us to try the banana leaf parcels, which we had looked at with no idea about what they contained. Our evening finished up at the rooftop pool, Lin sat on the lounger reading, I enjoyed a swim and now we're back in our room and mum is enjoying her second night running of laying back in the bathtub spoiling herself!

Arrived and have all met up

Tracy picked mum and I up at 5am Friday morning and drove us to Mt Gravatt's bus station in time to get the Air Asia coach to the Gold Coast airport for our flight at 9am. We'd already calculated that Linda would also be getting on her flight from Stanstead airport in the UK at around the same time. Of all the luck mum and I managed to get adjacent aisle seats where we had the entire row of seats to ourselves and so enjoyed the luxury of stretching out and catching up on some zzzzzzzzz's. Sadly, it turns out that Linda's flight was a full one and so her major observation on her flight was that Air Asia doesn't compare with Singapore Airlines for passenger comfort. On arrival at KL airport it was raining and so when mum and I stepped onto the tarmac we were delighted to witnesss a sea of Air Asia red umbrellas that were made available to all the alighting passengers to use to walk to the terminal - a very nice touch. Linda's flight was 45 minutes early and we booked into the Corus Hotel and were very happy with our room and this morning's buffet breakfast was wonderful too with eastern and western options and fresh fruit and juices. Our first stop today was the Celcom shop in Jalan Ampang to register my mobile phone for broadband and the other 2 mobile phones for normal calling SIMCARDS. Took the usual 2 hours to get it all working and set up and Linda and mum patiently waited until it was all done. That left us just enough time to take a stroll up the road to the Petronas Towers to suss out the drill for getting passes to walk the air bridge between the towers before we headed back to the Corus Hotel to glam up for our lunch reservation at Carcosa Seri Negara, the former residence of the British High Commissioner at the turn of last century. After that delightful experience we returned to the hotel to sit around the pool and snooze or swim for an hour or 2. This afternoon there has been some powerful thunderclaps but no actual rain and we have booked ourselves on the hotel shuttlebus tonight at 6.30pm to take us to Chinatown. So far so good, a bit of jetlag for Linda, not surprrisingly, but she has held up very well and mum is still on her feet too.

click on the pic below to link to the picasa web album for the trip