Today we moved on to Port Dickson. A small town halfway between Malacca and Kuala Lumpur. I wasn’t to sure what was here but it’s a convenient staging post. The main reason for coming is that there are a few posh hotels dotted along the coast and nice beaches. As a birthday treat for dear old Crispy I have arranged for us to stay in a very upmarket place. The Avillion hotel and water chalets. She has always wanted to stay in a water chalet over the ocean but usually the cost can be prohibitive on our meagre budget. As a special treat {coupled with the fact I got a very good rate on a late deal) I have pushed the boat out.
It was New Year’s Day today and a lot of the local shops and services were not operating. I managed to get the hotel guys to arrange transport back to the main bus terminus where I had already booked a bus ticket to carry us onwards. I think it was the reception girls mum and dad who turned up to drive us to the terminus which was an easy forty minute ride. We arrived in plenty of time and boarded one of the few buses running today. Bus termini are usually chaotic and very busy. Today it was quiet and sedate as we boarded our transport to Port Dickson. Two hours later we arrived in the town centre. It was eerily quiet.
We had not eaten so searched out a cafe to get some lunch. Most places were closed so we picked one of the few open that looked busy. As a rule if the places to eat are limited then we always pick the busiest and choose something on the menu that is recognisable. We chose the chicken rice as its always a safe go to. It was awful. A hacked up piece of chicken, god knows what part of the poor creature it was as you couldn’t tell from the bone and sinew, served in cold gravy with a side portion of tepid rice that had seen better days. We ate it as best we could but it was by no means a Gordon Ramsey masterpiece. After lunch we secured the only taxi there and went direct to our hotel.
Most posh hotels are.situated away from the town or transport hubs and this one was no different. A good thirty minute ride from the bus terminus. We will have to take this into account when retracing our steps for our continued travels. On Arrival Crispy was very impressed. It is very nice. A huge sprawling beach complex with pools, restaurants and a bar. We felt a little special on turning up as everybody was dressed suitably for a nice hotel and had expensive looking suitcases. We had our travelling shorts and dusty backpacks. I personally love the looks we receive in situations like this. I imagine they are the same looks a gypsy gets when parking his caravan on a village green. The best ever similar situation was when we turned up to the Imperial hotel in Delhi in a Knackered old Tuk Tuk. We were staying there two nights to celebrate our twenty fifth wedding anniversary before moving onto Kathmandu. The Imperial is one of the finest hotels in the world and the fancy security guards wouldn’t let us in. Normally the hotel picks its guests up from the airport in one of their hotel cars. You can choose Rolls Royce, Bentley or Range Rover. We chose a Tuk Tuk. The looks we received from the hotel staff and other guests was priceless as the battered black and yellow three wheeler coughed and farted its way to the main entrance.
We are here for three nights so Crispy can kick back and relax. It’s been full on for the past few weeks so some comfortable downtime is in order. It’s not glorious sunshine as a tropical storm over Borneo has dragged a lot of cloud over peninsular Malaysia. However it is warm and chalet over the sea is beautiful.
Bare and Crispy signing off, Port Dickson Malaysia
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