Slept really badly as I do sometimes when travelling. I have shied away in the past from sleeping tablets, perhaps they might help as I don't sleep that well normally. Breakfast wasn't that ready downstairs at 7am, so I came back to the room to try later. The toast had to be fished out of the toaster by one of the staff, the omelette was more like scrambled eggs, but it was breakfast.
At checkout I learnt that "Liu Men" means Six Door, I should guessed from the sign of the hotel which is created from the Chinese characters for six and door. They gave me a complimentary fan hope I don't get too many of those. I think the longer you stay the better the gift!
Khoo drove me to the Villa Samadhi up a highway from Singapore to Thailand. Palm trees are replacing rubber trees as simpler to cultivate. Motorbikes use the hard shoulder as their own lane, zooming past cars which was enviable as we hit several slow to stalling patches. Khoo and I had initial problems finding the Villa Samadhi, its entrance is understated but inside is a glorious oasis managed by Romily from Wiltshire (I think) ! My room is like a work of art! They took a hefty security deposit of RM1000, you can't trust Westerners. I wasn't sure I trusted the safe in the room, after keying the number and pressing the lock key the safe then reports error!
The villa staff helped me use Grab for the first time to successfully be taken from the villa to the Petronas Twin Towers. Walking on the skybridge between the two towers is very popular, tickets sell out. The experience starts with another photoshoot, I skived off buying the picture in a large leather folder sorry there. The woman before me was worried the skybridge had a glass floor, in some way it having a glass floor diminished the impact of the experience. You were just looking out from a high building, not so conscious that there's 42 stories of thin air between you and the ground. You do go up to the 86th floor, then the 83rd floor for buying souvenirs if you're so inclined. The strong sun was blasting in from one side but it was also evident how hazy and smoggy Kuala Lumpur is. There's a lot of skyscrapers going and gone up, impressive, but the distance wasn't clear. Malaysians have a lot of national pride it seemed to me, their skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur are a way of putting themselves on the map?
My next attempt at using Grab was less successful. I foolishly expected the driver to turn up where the first driver dropped me. Happily a stand-in driver called out my name and we were off to the Tamarind Springs, a unique restaurant embedded in the rainforest. Tamarind Springs is run by Romily's husband Mungo who was very helpful. It's rather dark (as the best restaurants are), evocative in the candlelit night. There's a pool with turtles, a menu covering IndoChina dishes, two floors, an approach through the forest, wooden beamed openness. I tried to avoid anything with chillies but realised I failed when I bit down on a black shape in the Vietnamese chicken. My lips felt it for a long time. The water chestnuts in coconut milk was very nice. There's a roadblock on the way to Tamarind Springs as it's in a residential are where some important people live.
Mungo ordered a Grab taxi for me, the taxi driver did have some fun finding the Villa Samadhi so I tipped her well. The entrance to the villa doesn't leap out at you.