Michael has arranged for a guide to take us to places further afield. The Guide will find a car with a driver that will hold 8 people. The van we got was more than large enough for us all. So we were able to spread out.
Our guide who wanted us to call him Henry - was Chinese so you can understand when I tell you that he wanted to honor his Chinese ancestors and their influence on Malaysia. So you will not be surprised to know that the first place he took us to was the place where the first Chinese immigrant landed in JB. Not the most beautiful place and not developed at all.
We also saw the new location of all of the Johor Bahru government buildings - all by themselves way out of the city on beautiful grounds, We also saw a mangrove forest, houses on stilts in a fishing village and a new Chinese housing development called Forest City.
We left our apartment complex around 9am and spent most of the day touring and getting back around 6 - 7pm very hungry. And did I mention exhausted - not just Michael and me - but even the girls. They wanted to rest before we went out to dinner. I just wanted to get it over with so I could collapse.
We rested for about 40 minutes then met up in the meeting area to walk to the restaurant/mall area. People wanted to try the restaurants outside of the Mall - they would be cheaper, but also had no air conditioning.
We were beyond tired and everyone had different ideas of what they wanted - in the end no one could make a decision. I had wanted Indian food - but turns out the only local place that serves Indian food - serves it buffet style. I don't like that at all as the food has usually been sitting out for a long time. And I hadn't seen many Indian people around so - No! But we ended up there as they had lots of other things. I ordered a poached fish. Which was very late in arriving. So I ate from other people's dishes and was surprised when it actually arrived. It was pretty good - but not much meat - lots of bones and no plate.
We went back to our separate apartments to collapse. No playing Gartic Phone as we did last night as all were too tired. Should mention that the Heald's love to play Gartic Phone as do we. We have not been able to entice any other family member to play. So it will remain our thing. You need a phone or computer. Someone - usually Lia as she was the first to discover it - sends out an invite. We all join, chose our name and then there is a choice of type of game. The basic is - Every one writes a sentence. The next person gets the sentence and has to draw what that means. The next person gets the drawing and has to write a sentence about it etc. It can be pretty funny. There are other variations as well.
End of a good day. Tomorrow A&R and family go to Singapore were they will be joined by Lisa and Tim and Nicholas for two days before they go back to Sweden. We have opted to not go to Singapore. We need a major rest from family and doing stuff! And the sisters and family need some time to bond.
The next 4-5 posts will be about what we saw on the tour with Henry on April 2.
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