Tonight, we fly to Kuala Lumpur for an airside overnight transit, in preparation for an early flight to Beirut tomorrow morning. With our departure at 2110 tonight, we have the day to kill.
We visited my aunt around 1100 who took us out to the Singapore Swimming Club for lunch. We had a delicious a la carte lunch of nasi lemak with a delicious sambal and a curry. After lunch, we toured the facilities. The place had been extensively and impressively renovated and is like a resort now!
From there we went to the East Coast Beach park briefly. There was a long garden and pathway that stretched a substantial part of the country’s east coast all the way to near the airport. The gardens were well kept, the beach golden and the water reasonably beautiful. The only letdown was the hundreds of ships anchored offshore waiting their turn to enter the island-state’s port.
Back at step-dad’s house, we rested. Mum and I traded massages, like yesterday. And we discussed whether they would be making a visit to Auckland.
We left home around 1830 for the airport. Pat and Fiona were there already. Check-in for the Malaysia Airlines flight was swift, including the issuance of tomorrow morning’s boarding passes from Kuala Lumpur to Beirut.
We went to the airport’s staff canteen for dinner. We ordered two different types of fried kway teow. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the one with the darker sauce was tastier. We also ordered an avocado shake but it looked a little strange with a brown tint and striations. The colour put Kim off and he passed on the drink, even though it was one of his favourites. It wasn’t until it was all gone that Mum clicked that the colour was due to gula melaka (caramelised coconut sugar). No wonder it tasted so yummy too!
Airside, we boarded at the second furthest gate onto an Airbus A330-300 for the 55 min flight to Kuala Lumpur. Landing at 2205 we headed to the Airside Transit Hotel for an 8h stay, one more than I had originally booked. The room was a little smaller than that we had on our previous stay. But it was nicer and better maintained. And the shower was awesome.