Tropical Winds Hotel

So the Sam Lord's Castle bus actually goes a little beyond Sam Lord's Castle, but we asked to be let off at the Castle and fetched up at the Tropical Winds Apartment Hotel.

It was a welcome sight to a hot and hungry tourist. But even though the hotel was very clean and attractively appointed, we seemed to be the only people there apart from the staff.

The restaurant was completely empty. If it had been anywhere in Southeast Asia (Mersing, say), this would have been a thoroughly lugubrious experience. But our waiter's cheeriness more than made up for the lonely situation, and we had a very respectable dolphin sandwich.

The waiter thought our plan of walking all the way to Bottom Bay seemed ambitious, but we assured him that we were good walkers. So we are, but as it turned out, we would have been better off staying on the bus to the very end of the route.

What of Sam Lord's Castle itself? It is closed, after a spell as a hotel in the Marriott chain.