Heading to Malaysia: Sunday 23rd October 2022





 The Famous Five - otherwise known as Jenny, Kerryn, Jan, Anne and Dianne - were very excited to at last be on a plane and heading to a foreign land.  Remembering all of the important aspects of travelling was a challenge: Where is my passport? Will it expire before I leave? Will I need a rain jacket? Where are my travel locks? And so on.....

We gathered at the airport and breathed a sigh of relief as the plane lifted into the air for an 8 hour trip to KL. A three hour stopover in KL with only a Starbucks to sustain us - we managed to avoid the Pumpkin Spiced Frappucino! - was a drag as the flight to the island of Penang only took 40 minutes. With time differences we finally fell into bed at 4am Melbourne time.



The next day we were in a fit state to appreciate the joys of the Eastern and Oriental Hotel. We were pleased to discover our rooms are in the heritage section of the Hotel (built in 1882), not the new multi-storey addition which towers over it. Some lovely eating places and not a lot of guests means we could choose where we ate and drank. 
We had to choose between two very nice pools: one at ground level separated from the ocean by a seawall and the other an infinity pool on the 6th floor of the new building with very nice views of the ocean. The staff seemed happy to provide us with ice and glasses so we could have G&Ts using our duty free gin. You could almost hear us sighing with joy as we settled into being travellers again. Life is hard!

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