Malaysia truly Asia

Sometimes things just seem to be done wrong. Or organised poorly. You know? For example, after the piss pillow incident, my family and I arrived in Malaysia and were transferred to out hotel. No problems. We were soon told though, that our pool was undergoing maintenance and wasn't available for use. Never fear though - because all the hotel guests were able to utilise the 'surf beach' area of the water theme park attached to the hotel. Cool! Way better than a hotel pool anyway, we thought.

And it was. The surf beach was huge and had lots of little slides and play areas for kiddies and was generally just a haven of excitement for the young. We had just set ourselves up in the pool after spending God-knows how long preparing Noam with sunscreen, water-proof nappies, a blow-up floatie seat etc etc when we heard the sharp trill of a whistle.

A handful of lifeguards were walking around the edge of the man-made beach with a rope, calling everyone out of the water and sending them back behind the barricade. Had a tsunami warning been issued? Perhaps Malaysian sharks are able to find their way from the sea to swimming pools somehow? Clever little things.

We did what we were told and went and sat behind the rope, leaving the enormous pool completely empty, save for a few rebels that refused to get out. A siren sounded and I thought that was to get the attention of the anarchists still swimming but no, a huge cheer went up from the roped-off crowd and then a wave materialised out in the deep part. So it was a wave pool. Wonderful. I thought it was slightly excessive to rope the pool off completely but whatever. I figured 15 minutes and we'd be back in splashing around.

Not quite. The first wave came and went and then nothing. For probably 10 minutes. Then another siren, a cheer, another wave, then nothing. After the third wave I went to ask a lifeguard how long this was going to go on for. Another half an hour he said. Really? An hour of nothingness for basically hundreds of people, while about 6 people who'd paid I don't know how much, waited for 6 waves to boogie board or body surf on.

What an incredibly dumb arrangement. Why not 6 waves in 15 minutes and then bang - everyone back in the pool? It was all so boring we just decided to head back to the hotel, despite the fact it was a thousand degrees and perfect pool weather.

Ah well, lesson learnt. Wave pools in Malaysian water parks are not the most efficient or the most exciting attractions around.

Until next time xx