Back in Langkawi

I don’t know that I have said this yet, but Langkawi apparently translates roughly to “Eagle’s Roost”. There are absolutely beautiful red clay colored eagles floating all around the island. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them that color in real life though I have seen them in paintings before. There is a big statue of one such colored eagle in the harbor coming into the main port. Taking photos of that was among the few noteworthy events of our first day back in Langkawi.

    Barb and Tami had taken a women’s sailing course last year, and they had agreed to have the instructor come out and teach the course again this year on their boat. She was set to arrive on the fifth, our first day back in Malaysia, so Barb and Dad were busy getting things ready for her arrival. The boat also had developed a few tech issues that needed to be corrected prior to it being turned over to them when we leave. This meant most everyone else was occupied for the day. This worked out pretty well, as Crys and I were both a bit sunburned and completely exhausted, so a day off was certainly in order. We walked down to the Jetty mall/port down the street from us and had some breakfast. Crys wanted some tylenol so we tried searching it out. There was a 7/11 in the jetty mall that seemed to have basic things like that so we wandered over there. Turns out that it had pregnancy tests, but no aspirin. One would think there would be a higher demand for the aspirin, but what do I know? Anyway, we remembered that the mall further down the street had a Guardian, which is the local equivalent of a pharmacy, so we wandered up the street to it. It’s actually a reasonably cool mall with many interesting shops, so we wound up spending a good portion of the day hanging out there. We did some more shopping, then stopped in at the Hidden Recipe and ate some tasty lunch. I decided to go with a ‘western’ meal of fish and chips, thinking rightfully that the fish should be pretty good. Crys went with a more traditional meal of local fried rice and skewers of satay (meat grilled in a peanut sauce). While different from the Indonesian version she’s used to, she said it too was very tasty. 

   We returned to the yacht club to discover that the day was quickly turning into one of the hottest since we’d been here. It capped out for some time at around 101F, and was fairly miserable outside. Since the boat doesn’t have its cover back on, it too didn’t cool down too much, so we decided to head up to the covered clubhouse where the shade and a normal breeze tends to drop the temp some twenty+ degrees and spend the heat of the day catching up a bit on the interwebs. We returned in time to meet up with the others on their way to Wonderland again, the place where we had the tasty snapper and other foods the other night. We got pretty much the same meal as last time (why mess with something good?) before returning to shower and crash for the eve. 

Catching Up

Okay, I’m way behind in this thing. Let’s start with about three days ago when we spent the day snorkeling. A Snorkel made all the difference for Crys in swimming, making it far easier for her to swim between the boat and shore. We spent most of the morning, and then a few hours in the eve in the water, hiding out in the boat during the heat of the day to avoid as much sunburn as possible. It helped, but still didn’t keep us from getting a bit more sun. Crys especially found all new places to turn red in. 

   The water itself was good, though not great visibility. Dad felt it was probably the worst he had seen there. That being said we could see he bottom at around 35 ft or so, so this was definitely not horrible. We saw a lot of parrot fish, some absolutely stunning sunfish, a few angel fish, some sea cucumbers, many extremely colorful clams and more. There was a ton of sponges, many grown larger than cars, some brain coral, and a little branching coral. I was surprised how little of the branching coral there was to see. 

  For our evening dive we took the zodiac to the northern part of the island, where the water was a bit clearer and the sponges and brain coral more prolific. There were even a handful of sea anemone about, which meant we got to see some clownfish playing within it. 

 I did come across a sad sight on our evening dive. About a forty or fifty square foot area existed near the shore that had become a coral graveyard. The ground was blanketed with bleached coral, including mounds and mounds of shattered branch coral. I don’t know if it’s a global warming issue or an obnoxious fisherman who decided dynamite near the shoreline was a good way to collect fish, but whatever it was it was fairly thorough. There were only a few spots of small sponges and one or two clams still living in the entire area. Who knows how beautiful that little spot was a few years back. Hopefully over time it recovers. 

After another night with beautiful stars and little in the way of modernity we let loose of of our moor and set sail once more for Koh Lipi. Prior to setting sail, Barbara had pulled a couple of pillows out on the front deck to lay on. They were the big square pillows that resembled seat cushions, which made them comfy on deck. The issue came when we set sail and Barbara forgot to stow them away. After we had gotten to the open sea I heard someone call out that we “lost a pillow”. I looked over the edge of the boat, and sure enough, there was one of them floating by the boat. Dad began trying to turn the Cat around and I grabbed the long expanding hooked pole that I had grown accustom to using when grabbing moorings and headed for the back of the boat. Barbara pointed out that there was no place to hook the pillow, being flat cushions, but I was reasonably certain I could pull it in anyway if we could get within ten foot of them. I did, however, start thinking of alternatives as well. The pillow looked like it wasn’t going to sink anytime soon, which gave us time if we needed it. The zodiac would have been a pain to get out. We were in the open sea, so I wasn’t sure how the currents were. However, having been in the water the day before I knew the water was a good temp. There was a float on a long rope next to me, so figured worst case scenario, if I couldn’t get the pillow back on board with the hooked pole I could tie the float off, dive in with it, grab the pillow and have them pull me back (or pull myself back along the rope). Seemed like a feasible plan. As it happened, I didn’t need it. Dad got the Silkie within about six feet of the pillow, and I was able to drag the pillow close enough to pick it up. I then turned and looked back at the water and realized my feasible plan would have gotten me in a lot of trouble had I followed through with it. Floating just about a foot or so behind where I pulled the pillow out of the water was a one square foot box jellyfish. There’s little doubt that if I had jumped in after that pillow I would have come into contact with that thing, and my understanding is that is not a nice sting to deal with. I don’t know if these are as bad as the Aussie variety, which paralyzes the heart and lungs for about five minutes, but I really didn’t care to find out. The rest of the short trip passed without issue.When we arrived at Koh Lipe we found that all of the moors were taken save two in exceedingly shallow water. Since Dad is (thankfully) hesitant to drop anchor in coral rich areas, we hung out until the dive boats began leaving, then took one of the newly available moors and took off for the beach. 

   From there we lowered the Zodiac back in and wandered up to the beach and walked back the path to the favored breakfast spot for some more Thai Pancakes. I tried a Lemon Coconut this time as well as the Lemon Banana from last time. The Coconut luckily wasn’t out this time (or “finished” as the locals say.... “Sorry, coconut is finished.”) so I got to try it. Truthfully it turned out not to be as good as the Lemon Banana, though it certainly wasn’t bad. 

  Afterwards Dad and Barb wanted to get another massage. Crys was wary once more of a massage since her sunburn was newly worsened, so we instead spent the hour roaming about the island’s shops. 

I picked up a couple of more articles of local clothing, and we did our best to avoid the sun as much as possible (a neat trick on a tropical island) before finally all joining back up, checking out of the country and heading back to the Silkie. 

From there we dropped our last mooring, raised the sails and headed back to Langkawi. The sail created a nice bit of shade on the front of the boat, leaving a very nice place to spend much of the trip. Dad picked the pace up, wanting to get back to dock while the tide was still high enough to get in. The trip therefore lasted only about five hours or so, and was relatively peaceful and uneventful. We pulled in just as the sun was starting to set among the islands, pulled the boat in, and worked to get it tied off and hooked back up. 

    If you think parking a car is tricky, try parking a yacht. Turns out the floaty tied to the rope that I considered using to rescue the pillow was actually a fender meant to be quickly dropped down between the boat and anything it might be about to bump into. Getting the large catamaran into a docking berth only a few foot wider than it is without allowing it to bump into either side was an interesting feat. With a good amount of team work between Tami and Rio on the docs and the rest of us on the yacht we finally succeeded, though. We then tied it off, reconnected the power, and set about catching up with Tami and Rio on their few days away and discussing our adventures. We then wandered up to the club house and took some long over due showers. They have the tall shower heads that mimic rain up there, and after only being able to rinse off a bit over the past three days here and there, a good long shower with soap and shampoo felt amazingly good. 

A Wee Bit Behind

Okay, I'm a bit behind in my blogging. Been a busy and exhausting few days. When Wish is from about four days ago. Since then we've spent a day snorkeling, travelled back to Koh Lipe, made it back to Langkawi, done a bit of walking about the island, shopping, and some more tasty local food. I'll try and get details of all of this up soon. In the mean time, know everyone is doing well, though Crys and I are both a bit sunburned (her more so than me) and exhausted. Glad I have a few days off before I go back to work. I'll need a vacation from this vacation ;)
   We're down to the final 4 days. While I'll be glad to get back home, There's definitely a ton of stuff here I still want to do!

When you wish upon a star...

So the party on shore went on till about three or four AM apparently. I listened to two or three Asian bands belting out such hits as "Rhinestone Cowboy", "Tears in heaven" and "The Answer is Browing in the Wind" (Browing?) often simultaneously before popping my headphones in and crashing.  I actually fell asleep early, which meant that I was back wide awake by 7am. I crawled as gently as I could past Crys and wondered outside in time to witness the sunrise over the island. It was a stunning start to the day. 

Crys, however, wasn't so lucky. Her sunburn felt worse when she awoke, and she could hardly bring herself to move. She troopered on, popping a Tylenol and putting on some green stuff before we lowered the zodiac into the water and headed back to Koh Lipe for some breakfast. The trip up turned out to be a bit more tricksy than expected, as we were hitting right at low tide. The hard coral we had zoomed over yesterday was now at surface level, and we soon had to swap to oars to navigate through, since it was too shallow for the Yamaha engine that normally powers us. 

  Once on shore we headed to one of the many restaurants for a traditional breakfast of Thai Pancakes which turn out to be essentially two flat crepes with something tasty between them. I had a standard one, which has nothing between but is covered in condensed milk and tastes surprisingly similar to a tex mex sopapia. I also had one with baked bananas between them covered in a lemon sauce. TASTY! Crys had a Nutella Banana one that she claimed to be excellent as well. We chatted with some Europeans at the next table, first a couple of women from Denmark, then a bald Italian named Marco. Good conversation. 

Crys's sunburn was still annoying her, and mine, which covered my right foot and part of my left leg (don't ask me how, I don't know) wasn't making me happy either, so we sat about after breakfast to find something with Lanocain or Novocain in it to dull the pain. Surprisingly we found none, only things with aloe vera or coconut milk. We did see many aloe vera massages, but Crys was hesitant to have anyone touch her, especially given now much her burn hurt. We continued wondering about the isle. If anyone wants a beautiful tropical location (and you're okay with the occasional topless beach dweller) I highly recommend Koh Lipe. As I said in the last post, it's pretty much everything you would expect from such a locale. Despite the cool stores and beautiful sites, however, Crys was miserable and it showed. Finally she gave in to Dad's offer to pay for us a massage while he and Barb went to get the one they were planning to get anyway, $20 paid for Crys and I to both get a one hour full body sunburn massage. Like all the buildings, this one was open to the main walking path that works for the island's street. The masseuses instructed to get up on these raised mats at the back of the twenty by twenty room, then instructed us to strip down while they held a small curtain closed for us. Afterwards they went to work on both of us. It was slightly painful at times and the iced aloe caused me to suck in some wind when it hit my back, but overall it was extremely relaxing, and Crys most certainly felt like new person when it was all over. The pain was still there but far less so. The day suddenly began looking up and she enjoyed her time much more.

   Lunch for me was some tasty shrimp pad Thai.  Crys grabbed some curry fried rice, and Dad insisted we try a dessert of Mango sticky rice. As best I can tell it is rice cooked with coconut milk, mixed with condensed milk and then covered in fresh mango. It is ridiculously tasty. 

 With that we decided to end our time on Koh Lipe for a bit, returning to the Silke to set sail for our new destination, a mooring just off the coast of the large island behind Koh Lipe. We picked up our mooring just about a hundred yards off shore. Apparently the water here is about 60ft deep, though it was obvious that it tapered off quickly as it closed in open shore. I grabbed my mask and new webbed gloves (a Xmas gift from Crys) and barreled off into the water. I decided against fins since my feet still felt a bit sunburned. Crys grabbed a mask and joined me, and together we made our way towards the shore. It wasn't a bad swim, and soon we could see the bottom and a variety of sea urchins, massive sponges, and fish of all shapes and colors. Crys got a little freaked at the spiny sea urchins, but I assured her they were deeper than she was going to go and wouldn't be close to shore where e would eventually put our feet down. Sure enough, when we touched our feet down it was on white sand littered with shells and racing sand crabs. Crys was amused and slightly disappointed to realize that all of the many awesome looking shells were occupied by cute little hermit crabs. There were hundreds of them scattered on the stretch of beach we walked.

  Finally we decided to return to the boat. Crys hadn't done the swim in as easily as I would have hoped so I offered her my gloves. She accepted and we dove off into the water once more. I pointed out a variety of fish, as well as some beautiful giant clams scattered about the sea floor before it began fading too far down for us to view. That's when our bit of drama hit. The current was sweeping to the right, and Crys began to struggle to swim against it. Then something brushed against her and she had a small freak out, which caused her to suck in some water and have another minor freak out, Too her credit though she didn't panic, but she did start becoming concerned, as did I. With some encouragement, a small bit of help, and a final burst of adrenaline, she finally made it back to the Silkie. We were both extremely relieved when she was back on board. Since we're surrounded by islands I don't think we were ever in actual danger, the current would have intersected us with another point in the island further down, but it was still easy to see how people could suddenly find themselves in dangerous situations. Next time we'll take fins and snorkels, which would have made the whole trip much easier. Her style of swimming means with a snorkel she’d have no issues. 

   After Crys's adrenaline settled and she was comfortable that she was out of any danger, her thoughts turned quickly to the fish we had seen. She admitted that she finally saw the allure that being underwater held for me, something that having only been exposed to lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, she had never seen. She loved the realization that all of those beautiful fish she had seen in pet stores existed in the wild, and she could view them in their natural habitat. 

 We laughed and discussed the sights as we sipped some more wine and watched the sun set over the water. One by one the sky again lit up with a vast array of stars and planets, a beautiful site far beyond what we get back home. 

  We then got to witness something amazing that Dad had told us a story of days earlier.  When squid jet across the water at night around here, the bioluminescence in the water causes the burst to leave a glowing trail. A massive school of squid passed by the boat, leaving snaking glowing lines in the water all around and under the catamaran.   It was a phenomenally cool site. 

  Later as we listened to some of our favorite tunes and watched the beautiful night sky, we saw a shooting star.  Of course that requires making a wish. Crys turned to me and asked what I wished for.

 "That the rest of our trip be amazing. What about you?"

She smiled and stated "That all of our nights be as beautiful as this."

Here's to Jiminy Cricket being correct. 

Bad Day in Paradise

So with the good comes the bad. Yesterday was awesome. Today had some annoyances. Crys felt a bit puny upon waking this morn, probably due to dehydration and wine, though other factors may also be involved. Not horribly bad but a bit icky. She pushed through though. We decided to go scope out a local beach to kick things off. We grabbed our cameras, lowered the zodiac, and took off. We started coming around the edge of one of the little islands there when we started hitting heavier wind and bigger chop. We took a small hit of sea spray and I made the comment that it felt good. The fates decided to up the ante on my comment and within seconds we bounced a wave and took a large spray head on, giving us (and the cameras) a good soak. We laughed it off, but then took another's direct hit a few moment later. Dad judged the chop would likely only get worse before me reached our destination, and we didn't want to get the cameras wet enough to damage them, so we decided to turn back.  We made it safely, if a little damp, back to the boat, stowed the gear, pulled anchor and set sail for Koh Lipe (Pronounced Ko Lippy). 

The six hour sail started fine, then as we cleared further away from the shadows of the isles and into the open water we started hitting some serious white capping. The Silke handled it well, but there was a good bit of bouncing involved for much of the trip. Worse yet, despite heavy and frequent sun screening, Crys and I both got hit with some sunburn. I got the top of my feet. Annoying, especially when I put shoes on, but I can deal with it. Crys got her feet and legs, a good bit more area than me. It's very unfortunate. We're keeping aloe vera slathered on in hopes that it kills the issue off quickly,

Despite the bad, however, there is good. We picked up a moor (attached the boat to a buoy) a hundred and fifty yards off the coast of Koh Lipe and took the zodiac to shore. It's a beautiful little island with white sand, crystal clear water, and a long series of tourist spots. It is the quintessential South Pacific island. We checked back into immigrations since we're technically back in Thailand now and stopped in for a extremely tasty Thai dinner at a local eatery. Stir fried pork and cashews for me and some Pad Thai Kai for Crys. Tasty stuffs. We decided to stay here for the night since it was getting late. We'll go back to shore tomorrow and do breakfast and maybe a bit of shopping before going on to a more secluded area that I can dive. In the mean time I'm sitting on deck listening to the huge beach party that apparently goes on there each evening this time of year and watching the beautiful sky again. Good to know that a bad day of vacation can still be better than a good day at work :-)

   9 days left. Here's hoping they're all better than this one!

Sail Away

We finally set sail today. It was amazing how much more comfortable the air is when you leave the harbor. For anyone who has seen The Beach, I'm told that was filmed on an island just off Langkawi, so that would give you an idea of our surroundings. 

  We cruised along under sail power for awhile, but since we weren't going far and the current was against us, Dad decided to pump up the engines. These catamarans are amazingly smooth over the water. I had been told the would be, but it was interesting to actually experience. 

  After an hour or two of sailing, we pulled into a cove for the night. It is amazing. Mountainous islands covered in a hundred shades of green along with striated cliffs that bear a strong resemblance color wise to petrified wood surround us on all sides. These isles are broken up by calm light green sea water. Eagles occasionally sway above, and monkeys along with several species of birds can be heard calling in the distance. Small schools of fish occasionally break the surface in mini feeding frenzies that last a minute before retreating again below the waves. The large island behind us is known in the local dialect as "The Pregnant Lady", both for the profile of its mountains which resemble a pregnant woman lying down and the local legends that a hike into the isle and a swim in the freshwater lake apparently resting within is a cure for infertility. 

We have a zodiac on the back of the Silkie. After a little cussing, half an hour of work and a lost wrench we finally got it setup to hoist off the boat and get ready to go. Once in we took a more intimate tour of the outskirts of one of the islands we were parked beside, watching the mangroves and shoreline. Not much in the way of animal life greeted us, but again, the view was amazing.

We returned to the boat, grabbed a bit of wine, and headed for the deck. There are perfect moments in travel, when all is right with the world and you realize how lucky you are to be exactly where you are at that moment. They are moments that stick out as highlights of trips and stick with you forever. This was one. I laid down on the netting in the front of the boat, which as I have said before feels much like a comfy hammock. I had a glass of cabernet sauvignon in one hand and a bar of swiss chocolate that contained a chocolate mousse filling in the other. A gentle breeze blew from above and below the netting while the waves gently rocked us. We watched as the sun slowly sat on the horizon, surrounded by the view I described above. As the sun faded Venus came into view, followed by Orion's Belt, then an amazing array of stars. Over the mountains of The Pregnant Lady the occasional flash of lightning could be spotted. If you turned over and looked through the netting,bioluminescent life lit up the sea water like a thousand fireflies. At one point Dad instructed us to head to the stairs on the back of the yacht where the water was more accessible. Crys swirled the water with her feet, and the ripple effect she created lit up as a brilliant green. 

   Crys and I spent much of the night lying together in the netting, before the clouds that were creating the lightening began dropping some sprinkles on us, forcing us to Barton the hatches and return inside for the night. 

Food Folks and Fun

Some something should probably be said about last night's dinner. We wondered off to a little whole in the wall spot that Dad & Barb knew called Wonderland. Excellent little spot at the edge of a small river with an interesting style of menu. Everything you order is family style, and gown much you get of everything is dependent on how many people you have and how much you order. Dad tells me the chefs are excellent at determining portions so that people do not leave hungry but there is very little leftovers left. Last night's meal consisted of sweet and sour chicken, red snapper in a black pepper sauce, a local green that tasted similar to a Chinese cabbage in an oyster sauce, large tempura shrimps, and a mound of calamari. The calamari, which locally is known by the often apt name of cumi-cumi (pronounced chewme-chewme) was very tasty and well cooked. The snapper was cooked and served whole. Crys was unsure of that, having said in the past she didn't think she could eat one that way. Now faced with it (literally) she asked me if I could get some of it off for her, as she couldn't bring herself to dig into it. By then end of the meal she had decided that it was tasty enough to justify getting some more on her own. She did, however, keep the head facing the other way when she did so...

  All was quite good, and true to form we were pretty stuffed with very little left on the table before leaving.

  Another meal worth noting is the past two day's breakfast. We've all sat down to a nice meal of fresh fruits, including bananas, apples, Sri fruit, plumbs, and grapes along with cheddar cheese, cream cheese, nuts and yogurt. Sri fruit is odd. It looks like a hard plumb on the outside, but when you pop it open it's full of these slimy little chunks that look sort of like raw squid. It is very sweet though and has a good taste. You just have to get passed the texture.