Visitors from Singapore

Atmika and Rob arrived on Friday and we met them in Tanjung Aru, a suburb of KK with its own beach, food market and bars, and one very magnificent view of the nearby islands.

I was ridiculously excited to see them both as they now live in Singapore so I only ever get to see them a couple of times a year. Plus…the very wonderful Atmika is now 6 months pregnant with baby Winkelmann so this will be the last time I’ll see them before they become Mummy and Daddy (or Mutter und Vater!) Winkelmann. 

We had an awesome few days hanging out with these two. I wouldn’t say our activities were particularly pregnant-lady friendly though…The first day we caught a speed boat to a nearby island which consisted of super bumpy speed boat (sorry baby W!), followed by not enough shade, toilets you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemies and only one café, which definitely had a food-poisony vibe. So we fed Atmika Pringles (safe!), chased some shade, enjoyed some snorkelling and embarrassed the boat-driver by asking him to ride at half the pace of his speed-boaty friends which he obliged albeit reluctantly so all was well.

Atmika had expressed an interest in seeing Orangutans, so on recommendation by Lonely Planet, we took a taxi to Lok Kawi Wildlife Park (just outside KK) on the second day. Thus we spent a rather miserable 2 hours wondering around looking at forlorn animals in oh-so-small enclosures in the hot morning sun (thanks for the heads up LP!). Yet another pregnant-woman’s dream. We did get to see the little orange guys though, and they didn’t disappoint, so all’s well that ends well!

The rest of our time together was spent chilling out by the pool, eating nice food, enjoying the unbelievably beautiful sunset in Tanjung Aru while drinking cold beer (or orange juice for preggo), and having a good old weekend-long catchup.

So my dear Winkelmanns, getting on a plane when you’re 6 months pregnant to hang out in a grimy place like KK for a long-weekend with limited aircon….that deserves an absolute medal! Thank you so much for making the effort to come and for letting us finally meet little bump! Missing you already!