This is what they do







every saturday, sunday and public holidays for basically a whole month.

For the New Year's celebration we decided to go to a somewhat strange place.



Turned out to be a good choice to celebrate and get away from the city once again!

Happy New Year to all of you!

Just a quick info on my whereabouts:

My SO and I are hiding on the west coast.



No internet, no city hustle, good food and laid back day to day. Can't ask for more!

Happy Birthday Malaysia!

It's a pity that the celebration has been scaled down due to the fasting month and the fear of spreading the swine flu.

Congratulations once again, and may you, as a country and a community, move forward.

Would you make up your mind already?

Do you want to move forward or backward?

Island, oh no, just one more night (!), right after the alarm rang

Ugh, we have to move again. Next stop: Bayview Hotel in Kuah.

Check-out, drive to Kuah, check in, get a motorcycle, and drive back to Pantai Cenang.

Today's agenda: Absolute relaxation.



In the mean time we have decided that in case we should come back to Langkawi, we will spend more than just a few days here and we will get a motorcycle from the beginning. The roads are pretty good to drive around and the breeze is very refreshing. It certainly is THE transportation method for the island. (Ok, ok... so it's not a requirement to have a motorcycle on the island or any kind of transportation, for that matter, but a biker will always be a biker!)

After spending the whole day laying lazily at the beach (and the occasional massage) it was time to head back to Kuah, wash off all the sand and grab some dinner.

Goodbye Pantai Cenang. Goodbye Langkawi. We shall meet again!

Island, the day after, why are we up so early???

Oh, right... sailing trip.

It was some ungodly hour when the alarm rang and announced the start of this day. Somehow we managed to leave the bed, got ready and found some coffee. (Island life is certainly different: everything opens after 10!!)
Back in the room we got our stuff together for the trip when it starts to pour. I am not talking about rain. It was a waterfall. Damn! Normally I don't mind a good pouring, but we still needed a cab and someone was going to have to stand in the rain and wave one down.

We got into the cab (soaking wet I must add) with the rest of the sailing companions.
Skipper Carl received us at the jetty and took us to the catamaran where we were welcomed aboard by Bea.
The crew gave us a safety briefing and shortly after the anchor was raised, the engines were started and off we went.

After the strong downpour earlier that morning the sky was still cloudy, but the winds were weak, which did not allow us to pick up too much speed at first. For the two passengers on board, who had an affinity to being sea sick, the slow speed and the relatively calm waters were a blessing.



Once we reached the first islands it was time to turn on the engines again, albeit this time it was just a soft gurgle: Jacuzzi time! The net was let into the water and we were invited to sit in it / hang on to it / or whatever else would occur to us. It is certainly a marvelous experience!

We passed between the islands and approached the cove at Gubang Laut island. The crew lowered the kayaks allowing us to tour the cove and admire the effects of erosion on the rocks. Some of us decided to swim around while others went for a little bit of kayaking.



The kayaking and swimming in the cove induced hunger amongst the passengers. The crew was prepared and certainly regaled us with 11 different dishes, all kinds of drinks and some very neat stories.

After lunch we set sail and headed to "Singa Besar" island. The beauty of a catamaran is that the hull is quite short in comparison to other boats, so we were able to get quite close to the beach. From there it was just a short swim to the shore and moments after we were walking through the jungle, admiring mangrove tress, all kinds of small crabs and searching for monkeys and hornbills.

"Singa Besar" was our last stop before heading back. It was late afternoon already and the wind had picked up quite a bit. Skipper Carl decided to tack a few times before going back to the jetty.



The sailing trip turned out to be a fantastic event and worth every penny! If you ever happen to bump into Bea at the Pantai Cenang beach do not think twice about their marvelous offer!
The trip has certainly made our little escape to the island memorable!

Pantai Cenang, Thursday (is it??), very early in the morning (or so it seems):

We set the alarm the night before so we would have had plenty of time to check out the other hotels and find a room / chalet that we would like before it got too hot. Who would have thought that the only chance to really beat the heat would have been when the sun is gone! After lots of walking, searching, sweating and circulatory problems we went back to our hotel, sat down at their cafe and had coffee.
The hotel next door had a room free for just two nights, so we took it. It was cute, at the beach and it certainly was clean! Can't ask for more!





Same place, same day, sometime after lunch:

Date and time have lost their importance already. All we know is that it's hot, the shadow of the sunshade moves, we are moving with it and the water is quite refreshing.
During all this hanging out / relaxing / reading / swimming / playing, we did manage to schedule a sailing trip for the next day.

Sunchaser's better half was in town and so we went off to an island to soak up some sun, be lazy and beat the mainland heat!

It was just a short trip with little preparation and planning, but certainly well worth every penny!

KL, Wednesday 0900:
Our bus departed the station a few minutes late and headed north. The bus is quite comfortable, with a three seat per row configuration, leaving plenty of space for wider seats. Sunshine and I relaxed and kicked back during the seven hour trip. The only downside of the ride was the cold air conditioning. The bus driver certainly did not bother to save fuel and left it running high during the whole trip. Next time, we will make sure to take a jacket or a sweater with us.

Kuala Perlis, Wednesday 1615:
We arrived at our transit station. A seemingly friendly young gentleman greeted us at the bus stop and guided us to the ferry. After the tickets had been purchased we got into the typical travel agent / unwilling customer talk. Sadly enough we ended up paying him a deposit for a room which we later didn't get through his arrangements. You can imagine how this deal went: a bit of a headache, lots of phone calls, and we ended up loosing some of the money. So, for any future island hoppers out there: don't bother with them travel agents! They just ain't worth it!

Pantai Cenang, Wednesday 1945:
After a short ferry trip (just one hour long) and an even shorter cab ride we finally arrived at our destination, grabbed the first room we could get (facing the beach of course), settled in, ate some dinner and celebrated our quick escape with a few drinks at Debbie's place.

was certainly quite an interesting event! The locals apparently have more love for the foreign teams than their own.
The surroundings of the stadium was basically shutdown due to the masses which sported one color only: RED.



Everywhere you looked, it was red. Red shirts, shorts, jerseys, painted faces, scarfs, hair... there was just one small group in the entire stadium that stuck to their Harimau.



All in all the game was entertaining, the crowd cheered for both teams and the atmosphere was one of a kind (if you enjoy the heat)! The only thing missing was a nice cold beer to help cool the body while sitting in the shadow watching the game.

Until next time!