Last day in KL. JD left early to go out to Sepang and KLIA. Kids and I slept in, then ordered room service -- one big American breakfast for us all to share. We couldn't even finish it. Did most of the packing and Isabel wrote a story for JD for Father's Day.

Jun came for us at 12.15. As we were waiting for her at the entrance, this woman got out of a Lexus she had just parked by the side of the hotel. It was Goh Lek Ee, who was also in MGS, a year our senior. It turns out she is married to Charles's brother, Donald! My goodness, what a small world.

Charles had managed to get a table at El Cerdo (the concierge tried in the morning but was told it was full), so I got my pork knuckle after all! The crackling wasn't the crispiest but the panfried herb sprinkled on the pork were heavenly. Though a walk would have done us good, I could not persuade the girls not to get in the car afterwards, so we got a ride back with the Lims.

I did manage to persuade them to leave the room for a quick jaunt to KLCC. We had some 30 minutes in which we managed to buy a present for Danielle Charmian, whose sleepover they have to attend tomorrow, and a pair of jeans for Alexis. JD picked us up on his way back from Putrajaya.

We quickly packed up our stuff and checked out of the hotel. By 5 we were on the road to Melaka and pleased with ourselves. It was only on the outskirts that JD made the horrible realisation that in our haste to get out of the Equatorial, we had forgotten to empty the contents of our safe... and hence our passports, a small amount of cash and a lens were still in Kayel...

Frantic calls to the hotel and Jun yielded no joy -- no courier could be found to convey the items to us in Melaka. JD would have to go back for them tomorrow. I wished I could take his place but I didn't think I would find my way back to Jalan Sultan Ismail. Trying to push the burden from our minds, we checked into the charming Hotel Puri and went to Teo Soon Loong for dinner.

As before the food was good, and who should we run into but Paul and Olivia Jacob, with her brother and his family. Her brother looked awfully familiar and after an hour it came to me -- he had been a mature student at NUS when I was there. At first Olivia pooh-poohed the idea, then it turned out that I was right. Apparently he was by then a colonel in the military but his promotion prospects were dim without a degree. They sent him and a couple of others to uni to get their bachelor's. His colleague later became chief of air force, apparently, and he himself made general.

Well, after dinner we had a pleasant saunter through the Jonkers night market, then stopped for a drink at the Geographer's Cafe (the kids plonked themselves on the bar stools) before returning to Hotel Puri.

In one of the anterooms off the main lobby, dozens of swallows have made their nests. It's quite a sight. Apparently the house used to belong to Tan Kim Seng. I wish I could have seen it in those days.