Not meant to be in the jungle

The small lounge area downstairs (Puri Hotel)

The room upstairs - My first 4 poster bed

Downstairs - overlooking the open court (feels like we're in an attap house)

Can't get enough of trishaw rides (RM15 from Jonkers St to Menara Tamingsari, the revolving tower)

We booked ourselves into El Sanctuary, Melaka, a place to unwind in the jungle. We heard that the caretaker whips out lovely food so we were looking forward to go there. We told the kids we were going to live in the jungle in Melaka. They were all excited. But Henry's air cond compressor gave way after the zoo visit and we ended up making calls, negotiating prices during lunch looking for someone to fix it. It felt like an hour's ride from Melaka town to El Sanctuary. We got lost a little but after some calls, we arrived at the place. It was 3.30pm, raining heavily and we were told our chalet was not ready. There was no place to wait and Ethan was fast asleep. Unfortunately, we had to give this place up. We had plans to spend the balance of the night in A Farmosa's cowboy town and watch the fireworks but it was not meant to be.

Why were we going through all these problems? We prayed and finally we reached the air cond repair shop. It took another hour before it was ready. But God is good. Out of all the repair shops, this was an amazingly clean workshop, clean green tiles and they even offered us cold mineral water and milo for the kids! My first thought of car repair shops are those with black greasy floors.

Then, we started calling hotels for alternative accomodation not wanting to make a long way back to El Sancutary after sitting in the car for 2 hours (to and fro). Rooms were fully booked at Equatorial and Rennaisance. Heeren House does not take kids! We decided to try Puri Hotel and finally opted for a junior suite. They had limited rooms. Nic was complaining. He wanted to go back into the jungle. He said "You must be patient, you are christians!". I explained we have to be flexible because we had trouble and we have to adapt to the situation but that God is good and all worked out well for us. Grumbling away, he finally opened the door to the hotel room and he said "Mummy, there's upstairs!". Wow, we did not expect it! It's a beautiful cosy room, 2 floors, tv upstairs and downstairs, old malaccan furniture, four poster bed upstairs and because everything was wooden, it felt like we were in an attap house but much much more comfortable! It also had a bath tub for the kids to soak and play in. What a wonderful God we have. We didn't understand why all the trouble hit us but in the end, he meant it for good and we had a wonderful family time together.

Thank you Jesus for everything!