Last night the Governor’s Gala, much socializing and then a good night’s sleep. Kim and I awoke refreshed and headed downstairs for breakfast. It was an amazing buffet style meal, with Malay food, Muslim food, Chinese food and Western food. Enjoying the meal were folks from all over. Some Russian aircrew, a couple of families from the Middle East, quite a number of people from Australia. Spoken languages overheard included English, German, Spanish, Chinese, Malay, Japanese, Korean and so on. An interesting start to the day.
Following breakfast it was time to pack up, check out and wait in the lobby for Jaclyn, Kent and family to pick us up for the day’s activities. While waiting Kim made the acquaintance of a new, but slightly taller, friend and I managed to find a very comfortable chair. It was very busy around the hotel entrance and it took a while for Kent to work his way to the front door. They arrived, and off we went for today’s adventures.
After having a brief lunch, Kent pointed the van about an hour out of Johor Bahru to a most interesting place near to Kota Tinggi. First we chatted with some of the local residents (see left photo), then we arrived at the Tien Hoe Kung Temple which was established in 1884.
The temple, located along the river, was filled with people who had come to pray (as Vince was doing with his grandmother) or meditate. Valen and father Kent were praying at some of the outdoor stations while Jaclyn spend considerable time trying to keep track of everyone.
From there it was back home for a short amount of R&R before dinner. Time for Vince to have a much needed nap as he seems to utilize more energy than the Energizer Bunny when awake (it’s almost a full time job just to keep up with him). The other kids figured this was a good time to gang up on grandfather, which, for some reason, received no objections from said grandfather.
Now is was dinner time. Off we went to Kong Kong Tai Son for a seafood extravaganza on the seashore. The selection of fresh seafood was amazing and the view from our table at the end of the pier was terrific.
We had seaweed vege soup, kong kong snails from the sea, curry tom yam soup with prawns, butter egg crab, petai sambal squid, steamed bawal emas fish, fresh baked buns. When all was said and done the table had been transformed from a plethora of delicious delectables to a veritable wasteland of shells and bones. It was a most enjoyable and satisfying meal.
Richard's Ramblings 