Above: Never go wading through an ankle-deep flood as you may fall into deep open drains.
I didn’t sleep that deeply through the night. Rather unusual for me. I set the alarm for 0600 for a 0700 transfer to the airport. As I was checking out at 0645, the transport had already arrived.
We picked up one other guest from nearby before heading off in earnest at 0700. It took just over an hour to reach Tawau airport. With no bags and a mobile boarding pass, I grabbed a delicious but crumbly/messy red bean pastry with a cuppa tea at the upstairs café before heading airside.
Airside, I continued my delightful chats with this man from Klang who resides in Sandakan. We had been in the van together from Semporna. It is rare to meet people that are so chatty.
Onboard, the crew had given out infant life jackets prior to departure. [Edit: I haven’t flown with the airline much in recent years but I later realised it is standard for them.] We had some unknown passenger issues which caused us to push back 15 mins later than our scheduled time of 1120.
Once airborne, despite being a domestic flight, the crew set up bassinets for infants. I had my pre-ordered chicken kurma for lunch. It was slightly different from the standard chicken kurma which I had last week but nevertheless I would have preferred to change my meal online to the curry fish kandar, but the airline’s system only allows a one-off meal selection (no re-selection).
Seated overwing, the noise on the B737-800 was quite intense. It was as if noise was leaking in through the overwing hatches. I had paid around MYR28 for this extra legroom but non-recline exit row because I had been auto-assigned a terrible seat between people on a seemingly chocka flight. Malaysia Airlines now charges for selection of certain seats even at the check-in process whereas previously it was free before check-in opened. But on board, the flight was full-ish but not chocka-block.
As we descended in to Kuala Lumpur, the crew lined up in the aisle to give a bow, with one hand over the heart. We landed about 15 mins late and I was kerbside at 1445 waiting to be picked up by my friend Thomas for our road trip.
There had been a miscommunication and he tried picking me up at KLIA2. Combined with wet weather traffic, it was a 30 min wait for me at the kerbside.
We set off around 1515 for a 3h drive to Melaka, the country’s most historic city, amidst the worst possible weather apart from flooding. People change lane often on the motorway and follow quite closely.
Upon arrival in Melaka, we checked into the Aurora Hotel where we were lucky enough to secure one of its limited parking. Some roads in the area were flooded but only ankle-deep. From our hotel room I saw someone cross the road but fall into the open drainage which can be up to a metre deep. That’s how people die in small floods; twist the ankle and drown.
With that little lesson, we chose not to go to the mamak eatery and headed in the opposite direction to a diner called Rain Shop. We both enjoyed our meals there. Next morning, I was so pleased we hadn’t gone to the mamak eatery as there were open drains and manholes that were missing their covers en route.