We awoke to a stunning vista of humidity shrouded lush islands rising out of the sea, in Porto Malai, Malaysia. Boy was it hot even at 7:30 a.m. We had no specific plans for the day, as I felt that Barry needed to be saved from a day of shopping with my women friends, Karen, Leslie and Peggy who went off on their own. We took the shuttle into the town, bathing suits in our bags in case we wanted to beach it.
The little town is really built around the tourist business with small shops behind a gorgeous beach, that is packed with 3 and lower star hotels and little cabin type accommodations. It is also a duty free island.
The island itself is one of the top 10 tourist islands in the world, because of its stunning white sand beaches.
We headed out to the beach to see if we could buy a chair for the day. At this point we didn't know the quality of hotels and thought we could get a day pass- no such luck. We must have walked a mile or more along the beach, perspiring in the ever hotter sun, talking to all the entrepreneurs who had set up umbrellas and chairs at $5/day charges. The only problems were that there was virtually no shade, no beer or water, no food that we trusted, and certainly no 4 or 5 star hotels, and they only accepted the local Ringett currency, despite what we had been told. By now it was 9 am. and we were very very hot, already dehydrated and ditched our idea of the beach, fearing blistering sunburn.
We walked back via the street this time, passing finally a Starbucks and a money changer. We checked in for a refreshing juice and some free WiFi, like the true addicts we have become. It was of course not possible to phone home, but we are always looking for emails. This reminds me, we have not had any comments on our blog for some time and we are hungry to hear from anyone so keep those emails coming - they invigorate us.
Our only other destination was the Underwater Sea World which opened at 10 am right where the shuttle dropped us, next to the huge Duty Free Shop. We spent an hour or more here especially fascinated by the fish and other small tropical sea creatures. The venue itself was very poorly designed, but still housed quite a good collection of sea animals from seals, to penguins to tiny invertebrates and sea anemones.
We were so hot and uncomfortable that we opted not to take a taxi to explore the island, which was probably a mistake in hindsight, but Barry wanted a nap, so we headed back to the ship where he slept after lunch, and I swam and napped in the Lido pool. I guess we are just not cut out for the tropical heat after all.
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