Sleep lasted till 730am when we woke up with the baby. There wasn’t a sunrise view since the balcony faced the West. Did all the usual activities before going for breakfast.
The restaurant was next the the reception so we decided to walk there, having already given up on the buggy since it was always taking too much time. The walk to the reception wasn’t too bad, just a 5mins walk. Upon reaching the restaurant, we were brought to a rather comfortable cushion seated round table. There was quite a crowd already but the buffet spread was consistently filled with intercontinental cuisine mixed with local favorites, an adequate amount of choices available.
After breakfast, we returned to the room to get prepared for our trip out and wife had to pump. The minibar had a small freezing compartment where the milk was stored. After the preparations, we walked to the carpark and drove 20mins to the Oriental village. Again, it was an easy drive, single lane roads and light traffic. We arrived after passing through some harbour near the popular Danna hotel and followed the signs leading to carpark A. The carpark was also filled to the brim and after circling once, I drove to the main road towards carpark B only to find out that it was meant for heavy vehicles. Returned to carpark A and went to the extension further away from the entrance which was also full. As usual, I found a slot at the entrance and parallel parked there. As Jr. had a habit a pooping while in a car, we had to changed his diapers in the car again before going into the village.
The Oriental village was just like a village, consisting of a couple of small buildings that were shops selling souvenirs or food, surrounding a lake. After a visit to the restroom, we went directly to the Skycab (cable car) tickets counter to get to the top of the mountain for some panoramic view of the island and also the other objective of visiting the Skybridge. When we arrived, there was already quite a crowd at the front of the ticketing counter. I carried Jr. and so the wife went to queue and get the tickets. Even though there were many people, there was a fixed schedule of boarding which was quite orderly. Our boarding time was 1245pm which was about 30mins after buying the tickets, for 35RM each. Jr. did not need one as he was under 2 years of age.
We went window shopping in the nearby shops, actively looking for those with airconditioning as the weather was just too hot. There was a souvenir shop selling products related to the Skycab but we didn’t get any. As the announcement for the queue was made over the public announcement system, we walked to the line and was amongst the last few people. As we got up to the second floor, there was another queue for compulsory entry into the Skydome. This attraction was like the Omni Theatre in Singapore, only much smaller. We had to wait quite a bit due to the limited space and since we were the last few, we had to combine with the next group of people to watch the immersive show of a roller coaster ride. Jr. who had fell asleep during the queue was awakened before entering the theatre and became really annoyed with the show. Luckily we could get out of the theatre before he cried out loud.
It was then another queue to board the cable car, which could seat 6 people. We shared with another group of internal tourists that came from Johor. The cable car then climb rather steeply up towards the middle station, providing a panoramic view yet with a little scare. The temperature became cooler as it climbed and that felt great.
Once at the middle station after about 5mins (might seemed like eternity for those afraid of heights), everyone had to alight first before getting on the the last station. We walked to the viewing deck and it had an awesome view of the beach and the sea. We didn’t hang around for too long, proceeded to queue for the 2nd cable car ride to the final station, which had the access to the Skybridge. On the much shorter journey towards the final station, the Skybridge can be seen.
After alighting, we searched for the access point to the bridge and found a queue as we proceeded up the stairs. We thought there was a need to pay again for the bridge access but only found out when we reached the counter that the queue was meant for hikers who wanted to take the rough route through the jungles trails to the bridge. No wonder we had to fill in our particulars. Obviously we couldn’t do it since we had a baby with us, we had to forgo this visit. That was the only route to the bridge as maintenance was still ongoing.
Similar to the previous station, there was a viewing deck which we went. It felt much hotter here though and so we left rather quickly, going back to the queue for the return trip to the bottom. At this time, Jr. got hungry and wife left me in the queue while she took a seat nearby to quickly give Jr. his bottle. The queue moved slowly and by the time we were close enough, we managed to bypass some group of people in the front as we became “fillers” for those who were already next in line to board but having a group for 4. The return journey did not require us to disembark at the middle station.
The whole journey took about an hour as we arrived at the bottom at about 145pm. We wanted to have lunch and while we looked around for air conditioned places, there was a Mizumi Japanese cuisine restaurant and so we ate there. There was a restroom within the restaurant itself and I changed out the diapers for Jr. on the toilet bowl cover after we took our orders and wife went to set up her pumps as she would pump during lunch (one of sacrifices travelling breastfeeding mom would know). I fed Jr. and managed to get him to sleep in my arms before I attempt to eat my lunch with my free hand. The food was still pretty hot and that was challenging to eat with one arm and trying not to spill over Jr. sleeping underneath my mouth. In the end, I was still sweaty all over, as the aircon there wasn’t powerful at all. The lunch costed 98RM, normal priced for Japanese restaurant in an attraction but no way the same standard as expectations.
Drove the oven like car (since this was an open space carpark) back to the hotel which was again simple. At this point in time, I knew that the amount of gas pumped the day before was more than enough since we won’t be travelling far on the final day.
Back at the room, I brought Jr. out to the beach again. Went to the waters and as I stepped in, I found the waters to be lukewarm rather than cold! That was really unexpected and was really my first time that I felt this type sea water temperature before. Jr. didn’t like it anyway as he cried when I lowered his legs in the water. Still I thought I would give him some water dipping time and similar as the day before, in the bath tub.
The rest of the time was spent lazing around when baby was asleep or preparing and cleaning stuff. It was dinner time soon and according to Tripadvisor, there was a Yellow Cafe or a Red Tomato which was popular and along the Pentai Cenang road close to our resort. So we left at sunset which was about 730pm and hopped onto a buggy which was on its way out (we gave up waiting and walking was now preferred). We drove a little longer than yesterday, passing the Nasi Kandar Almaz and until when we saw the Underwater world building that we parked the car road side opposite it. A short walk further down was the Red Tomato and it was starting to fill up. Checked the menu filled with Western Cuisine, we figured that was not what we wanted and walked down further.
There were more eating places as we walked, having similar cuisine such as seafood. I couldn’t do seafood since I had gout and my wife ain’t a fan either but we ended up in and Islandish Restaurant serving Chinese food. This small joint was already quite crowded when we arrived, and we ordered some dishes that included a fried Red Snapper, vegetables, omelette and fried rice. There was free wifi but it was just as ridiculously slow as what our resort offered. While waiting for the food, I carried Jr. around walking and chatted with a German family who had 10 month old with him. I guessed it was just uncanny link between people with common interest, in the form of a baby, to talk to one another.
Food came and we ate, with me having successfully put Jr. to sleep in my arms again. The food here was pretty ok, and the fish was fresh. There were many other forms of seafood but too bad. Went back to our vehicle and negotiated the slightly more busy road now, as people was out and about for dinner. Back to the hotel and it was same old activities, such as feeding the baby and cleaning up bottles and some packing. Caught EPL on TV before turning in for the night.