It has been almost a week since I've blogged. Langkawi and the Berjaya Resort are paradise and I haven't wanted to focus on my laptop and write. This is a magical holiday and I have been consumed by some wonderful activities as well as relaxation in the pool with a cold Tiger lager. I am not much on swimming pools or daytime drinking, but this is a special vacation and the pool bar is a great place to unwind. It is very hot and humid here and everything is incredibly tiring. Being submersed up to your chest in the pool with a cold beer isn't a bad way to spend the afternoon.
My chalet is my sanctuary where I have the air conditioner set to 16ºC and take several cold showers a day. My Instagram has depicted some of the wonderful wildlife I have encountered here on the resort grounds and also on a boat trip into the mangrove of Tanjung Rhu. Later today we are taking a trip with our local nature guide friend Wendy to return to the spot where she and Mark found a new species of arboreal tarantula last year. Tonight we have dinner reservations at the Pahn Thai restaurant that sits on the Berjaya seafront.
Last night we celebrated Mark's wife Kim's birthday with an elegant dinner on the beach. The Berjaya Langkawi staff outdid themselves with an amazing setting and delicious food for both vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. My friends Ray and Angela arrived Sunday morning and yesterday we took them to the Oriental Village. We took a VIP glass bottom Sky Cab cable car to the top of the island. It is said to be the steepest cable car ascent in all of southeast Asia if not the world. I am no fan of heights, but it was amazing to view the Seven Wells Waterfall and the jungle mountains of Gunung Raya from the aerial tram. Through the glass bottom we looked at the vast jungle below. Again, see Instagram for pix. I also have been posting daily snapshots during adventures to my exotic fauna Snapchat.
We disembarked at the top of mountain and I had an engraved heart lock made for Bailee, a lovely lady who is extremely special to me, and now my feelings for her are forever locked high above the montane Langkawi jungle.
(Side note: If you haven't heard the song I wrote for her ("Bailee's Grace") click here to listen to it on my Soundcloud page. I will be re-recording the song soon and intend to release a full CD of new original acoustic guitar music this year.
My chalet is my sanctuary where I have the air conditioner set to 16ºC and take several cold showers a day. My Instagram has depicted some of the wonderful wildlife I have encountered here on the resort grounds and also on a boat trip into the mangrove of Tanjung Rhu. Later today we are taking a trip with our local nature guide friend Wendy to return to the spot where she and Mark found a new species of arboreal tarantula last year. Tonight we have dinner reservations at the Pahn Thai restaurant that sits on the Berjaya seafront.
Last night we celebrated Mark's wife Kim's birthday with an elegant dinner on the beach. The Berjaya Langkawi staff outdid themselves with an amazing setting and delicious food for both vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. My friends Ray and Angela arrived Sunday morning and yesterday we took them to the Oriental Village. We took a VIP glass bottom Sky Cab cable car to the top of the island. It is said to be the steepest cable car ascent in all of southeast Asia if not the world. I am no fan of heights, but it was amazing to view the Seven Wells Waterfall and the jungle mountains of Gunung Raya from the aerial tram. Through the glass bottom we looked at the vast jungle below. Again, see Instagram for pix. I also have been posting daily snapshots during adventures to my exotic fauna Snapchat.
We disembarked at the top of mountain and I had an engraved heart lock made for Bailee, a lovely lady who is extremely special to me, and now my feelings for her are forever locked high above the montane Langkawi jungle.
Tomorrow is our big boat trip. Two years ago when I first visited Langkawi we sailed with a German woman named Eva on her Damai Indah. Damai Indah and Damai Indah Lagi are charming traditional wooden cargo-boats that Eva, the only lady-captain in the area, has converted and renovated to become luxurious charter-boats. Captain Eva provides an amazing experience with full open bar, delicious food and a vessel that is a perfect party yacht for a group of 18 (15 mad Brits, one French couple, and this lone American). We all loved it and are excited about tomorrow's adventure on the Andaman Sea. As wonderful as drinking a Tiger in the pool bar here at Berjaya is, it pales in comparison to diving off the Damai Indah into the Andaman Sea somewhere between Malaysia and Thailand and having someone toss you a cold can of Tiger.
I type this from the cool comfort of my rainforest chalet, but soon will be off in search of spiders and, perhaps, reptiles. We have much planned between now and Saturday when I head back to Kuala Lumpur and then on to Dubai and then 15 hours of misery flying over the Atlantic back to Chicago. I'll try to write more when I can.
All the best, M
I type this from the cool comfort of my rainforest chalet, but soon will be off in search of spiders and, perhaps, reptiles. We have much planned between now and Saturday when I head back to Kuala Lumpur and then on to Dubai and then 15 hours of misery flying over the Atlantic back to Chicago. I'll try to write more when I can.
All the best, M
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