Island Hopping

Island hopping was amazing! I must admit that we were a bit hesitant after the old man approached us at the restaurant promising us an awesome adventure for a fraction of the price – “really” is what I wanted to ask, “what is going to happen to us for only 25RM?” but instead, we went with it and I am sure glad that we did!  We met him back at the restaurant, and jumped on a bus that took us to the southern coast. From there, we got on a small motor boat with a group of people to tour the islands. Sure the boat looked a little shady, but I reminded myself that we were only paying 25RM and that no matter what happened it would be an adventure.

We started speeding out fast from the main island into the turquoise sea weaving in and out of the tree covered mountains protruding from the water. Langkawi is known for its 99 islands, one of which is inhabited, one hosts a private beach resort (where the movie stars stay, I am sure), and the rest are protected as geoparks. The majority of the islands are just small rocks or jungles covered with monkeys along with other wild animals, and mostly we just admired them from a distance. 

(Sorry about the shakiness of the video camera, but it is difficult to hold still when you are speeding over the water. In the video, I try to capture the incredible 360 of Langkawi's 99 islands) 

The first island that we stopped at was a reserved Geoforest park called Dayang Bunting, uninhibited by people, just a whole lot of monkeys! As soon as we got off the boat, we were instantly surrounded by monkeys. They were definitely used to the tourism, and in fact, they loved messing with the tourists. They would grab anything out of your hand (food, drinks), they would jump on your back, or grab onto your purse to try and take anything from you. Clearly these were well trained monkeys. Every time a monkey would jump on someone, the local people waiting in the boats off shore would laugh and hoot and holler! It was like watching America’s Funniest Home Videos as they watched the tourists scream and freak out trying to get the little thief off their back.

I had a personal run in with a criminal monkey, but before I tell you that tale, I should mention how excited we were about seeing monkeys. Let’s be honest, the closest run in I have had with a monkey is at the zoo. I was so excited the first time that I saw monkeys running on the side of the road like squirrels. Amy was so sad that she missed it and all she could talk about was how much she wanted to see monkeys. Little did Amy know, we were about to get up close and personal! 

(the scene of the crime)

Soooo anyway, the three of us were sitting on the rocks waiting for the boat to pick us up after we were done exploring. We were watching the monkeys run around playing along the rocks and sidewalk surrounded by people. We even got to see a couple monkeys jump on people, and I will admit, it was rather entertaining. All of the sudden a cute little monkey walked over and sat right next to us (while I was video recording). At first he was minding his own business, but he was cute so I started making clicking noises to get his attention. He noticed the camera and walked right up to me to look at it (I held on to it tightly just in case he decided that he wanted to steal it). Uninterested, he walked over to Anna and started pulling on her dress – he was cute and he just wanted a little attention. Anna started shooing him away so the little monkey came to me and started pulling on my dress. While I was distracted by his adorableness, his monkey friend (whom I am sure he was plotting with) swooped in, jumped on my lap and stole my pack of tissues right out of my purse… in less than 3 seconds. Damn monkey criminals… clearly he was hoping for a little bit more than tissues because he tossed them to the side and heading for his next sneak attack! Let’s just say that I probably won’t be playing with monkeys again anytime soon.

So there was another really cool thing about this island aside from just the monkeys… it had a freshwater lake on top of the mountain. What was once a limestone cave that caved in creating a huge depression on the top of the mountain called a doline. Overtime, the doline began to collect rain water and eventually filled up, creating a freshwater lake in the mountains. We hiked up to the top of the mountain to go swimming in the lake, and I will tell you that it was gorgeous. The Geopark has done a little bit of work to it, adding docks and some roped off areas for swimming, but there is nothing else built up on the island.

After swimming and the monkey attack, we got back on the boat and cruised around a little bit more. The next stop was to another island heavily populated with Eagles. The boat drops some food in the water for the fish and the Eagles stars circling the water and dive-bombing for food. Well too be honest, this was the least entertaining part of the trip. I think we only saw one eagle swoop down for a fish and it was pretty far away.

The last island that we stopped at was another uninhibited island with a beach and really good coral for snorkeling. I wish I would have known that because I would have brought along some snorkel gear, but I settled for lying on the beach and some swimming instead. When it was over, we spent another half an hour or so, just riding around and enjoying the views of the islands. For only 25RM (less than $10 USD), I would say it was worth it, and I can understand why most other place charge 100RM!

Lovin' Langkawi

Don’t get me wrong, I was excited about our whole trip and looking forward to visiting all of the different places, but I was most excited about Langkawi. We had done our research and some friends had made a trip to Langkawi last year and we heard nothing but amazing things. I must admit that I was not disappointed. In fact, Langkawi lived up to its reputation and then some. I could not have imagined a more perfect paradise!

Sitting down now and reflecting on our trip, I don’t even know where to be begin… but I will attempt to start from the beginning and not get carried away and go off on tangents.

When preparing for our trip, we had planned to spend the first half of the week in a small Inn on the northwest side of the island. The appeal was that we would have more of a local feel, eat local food, interact with local people and have a chance to explore some villages. The latter half of the week, we had planned to kick it up a notch and stay in a fancy resort on the southwest side of the island known for its tourist feel and expat community, bars, restaurants, shopping, etc. To be honest, we could not have planned it better.

The ferry ride from Penang to Langkawi was a little bit longer than expected, but it was actually a beautiful ride across the Andaman Sea. Being the geniuses that we are, we wanted to sit on top of the ferry during the ride because we wanted to soak up some sun and enjoy the view. Little did we realize that not only would we end up burnt after the 3 hour ride, but also soaked from head to toe in salt water from the spray of the boat, not to mention completely windblown! Just before the ferry made it to Langkawi, we had to go back below deck with the rest of the passengers to wait the arrival. When we walked in, you would have thought that we were thrown overboard and spent the morning wrestling sharks we were such hot messes!

Anyway, Langkawi was off to a great start. The people on the island were just as friendly as the Malays on the mainland, if not more welcoming (if that is even possible). We made it easily to our hotel after having to bargain for our taxi ride (and every taxi ride after that – it became exhausting).  Our hotel – the Tidoq Inn – was definitely located off the beat path, but it was a great find. It was run by a Czech man whom told us entire life story within this first fifteen minutes and admitted to being a luck man to have such beautiful single women staying right next to his room (we made sure to lock our door and sleep close together). The fridge was always stocked with cold water and beer and everything ran on island time! It was really relaxed, and just what we were looking for. The room was no gem. It lacked air con, one bathroom was shared between at least a dozen guests and pigeons pecked and ran across our roof all day and night, but we couldn’t complain much… it was cozy.

The first night was pretty chill. We freshened up after our sea salt facial and bath and wondered around the village a bit. We grabbed some dinner at the local hang out called T 52. The food was fair but the people were incredibly warm. It was like a cheers bar – everyone knew everyone, but they were so excited to have foreigners around. If we would not had been so beat, we would have loved to join in for some local fun, but we decided to call it an early night.

The next day, we rented motorbikes to explore the island. Really, the island was very small – smaller than Shanghai – and it was suggested that we take at least one day to rent bikes to ride around, so that is exactly what we did. We got the bikes around 11:00 am and they were ours for 24 hours. Now Anna and I had no problem with the bikes, they were just automatic mopeds really, but poor Amy was a nervous wreck! She had never been on a motorbike before and was doubting herself. Anna and I took her to an empty area so that she could practice, which actually attracted a lot of local attention (let’s be honest, it was really entertaining… like teaching a child to ride a bike for the first time). After she became a bit more comfortable, we set out for the open road.

Anna and I took off, but quickly realized that Amy was left behind maxing out at about 20 in a 60 k/j zone, so we had to cut her a break and slow it down a bit on back roads. Well the ride ended up being awesome. Although we had a general map, we didn’t have much of an itinerary or destinations. Whoever was in the lead would turn down any road to see where it took us. We curved in and out of the jungle and up and down through the mountain. We stopped at little local shops along the way, beaches and food stands. By the end of the day, Amy was doing a great job keeping up!

 (black sand beach)

 (riding through the jungle & mountains)

After sneaking into the fancy Sheraton hotel to swim at the beach and in their infinity pool, we headed out for some seafood dinner on the beach, then took another late night ride down the other side of the island to the more popular tourist area. We didn’t get too far before turning around. It was dark, and Amy wasn’t too keen on driving on a main road at night, so we headed back. The next morning, we woke up bright and early to take the bikes out again for a ride before we had to turn them back in. Again, we made our way back down to the touristy beach (Pantai Cenang) for some breakfast and to get a feel for the area before moving down there to our resort.

You know it is rather interesting how things have all sort of fallen together and fallen into our laps throughout the vacation. This day was no different. Since we had arrived in Langkawi, we had been looking into doing some kind of island hopping, or snorkeling, or something fun, but it was turning out to be a whole lot more expensive than we had anticipated. However, while we were sitting at breakfast, an older man who owned the restaurant, and apparently a tour company, approached us and told us about his island hopping tour that afternoon. It seemed legit… it was only 25 RM compared to the 100 RM plus that we found for other tours, so we thought we would give it a chance. Following breakfast, we took our bikes back and prepared for our island hopping adventure…

Chic Georgetown

So our next stop was to Penang (an island off the northwest coast of Malaysia) in the city of Georgetown. We had read about Georgetown in Lonely Planet and decided to make a stop there. It is a former English colony (which you probably could have guessed) that is now controlled by the Chinese government (like everything else). The area is supposed to attract a wide variety of expat travelers and backpackers to the food, nightlife and atmosphere. We figured why not because it was along the way to Langkawi – our ultimate destination – and we needed to catch a ferry out of Georgetown eventually. We had planned for several nights in Georgetown, but as you know, our flexibility landed us in lovely Singapore a bit longer than expected so we were only going to be able to enjoy Georgetown for two nights and one day.

Georgetown had a great feel to it – quant, comfortable but an energetic island/beach town. The people in Penang were just as friendly as on the mainland and our hostel was incredible. To this point we had stayed in two different hostels, each better than the last, and this one took the cake. It was called the Ryokan Chic, and chic is probably the best way to describe it. It was adorable, and although Lonely Planet did not recommend this hostel, we went for it anyway because Anna fell in love with it online (side note: I am going to rewrite Lonely Planet one day because just about everything in that book is ass backwards!) It was by far the cleanest hostel I have every stayed in. Again, shoes were not allowed to be worn, it was co-ed dorm bunk rooms with co-ed bathrooms that used all pure rain water. There was a comfy lounge with beanbags and ipads (that was a first) for everyone to use.

Well anyway, we arrived in Georgetown late on Sunday (Christmas day) and our only mission for the night was food! A guy from the hostel suggesting a place called Red Garden for some local cuisine, and my, my, it was delicious. It is difficult to explain but it is a really large open area of tables and a stage, and surrounded by booths similar to Malayan street food. You are supposed to walk around and order food and tell them your table number, then they make it, and bring it to your table for you. Since we really had no idea about a lot of local dishes, we each wondered around and ordered a couple different things to try. Well it ended up being amazing! We got about 6 different dishes – chicken rice, clay pot, noodles, eggs, veggies, etc. It was so good that we returned the next night for dinner again to try a bunch more dishes.

The next day, we spent the entire afternoon just walking around and exploring Georgetown. It was a great city and there were tons to see. The buildings all had a lot of character, and similar to Singapore, the city was divided into a variety of cultural areas… there was little India and China town then areas that were more reggae style, European and New England areas. We went to the old English Fort from when the English settlers took over Penang, went to the beach, drank some local juice from a bag that I bought from the street, then ended up at a reggae bar for some drinks. The day was absolutely beautiful, but so incredibly hot and humid. We kept having to stop and by cold water, sit in the shade and apply sun block and wipe the sweat from our bodies. Anna and I both broke out in a heat rash and I was pretty sure I was going to die of heat exhaustion!

(walking around the city, you get a little taste of everything)

We really enjoyed the Reggae bar. It was owned by this little old Asian man who was hysterical. When we showed up and told him that we were American, he ran and put on his shirt with an American flag. Then he played all of the music we wanted to listen to and danced on the outdoor patio the entire time we were there! He was hysterical! Than night, we headed back to Red Garden for round two of local food, and yet again were not disappointed! It was just as awesome as the night before, and we became even more adventurous with our food selection.

That night, we packed up and prepared to leave the next morning for Langkawi… the ultimate destination :] 

Christmas on a Bus

You probably wouldn’t think that the idea of Christmas on a bus would be appealing. To be honest, I was not interested at all! When we made our travel plans, we were very flexible, but we all agreed that we wanted to be on a beach on Christmas Day and did not want to be traveling. Clearly the universe had other plans for us because here we were, walking up Christmas morning at 6:00 am (after only going to bed at 3:00am) to skype with my family before packing up and jumping on a bus.

It was so expensive to fly to Langkawi or Penang (at least $200 USD), the train was the cheapest (only about $10 USD) but we were told that the bus would be the most enjoyable – comfortable seating, and beautiful scenery. Well the bus ride was honestly amazing!

For starters, we ended up in a executive sleeper bus. There were probably only 30 seats on the whole bus, and each reclined into a pretty comfy bed. Additionally, each had a personal entertainment system on the back of each headrest. I never turned it on so I am not exactly sure what it entailed, but I am sure it was cool. Once we drove out of Singapore and passed through costumes getting back into Malaysia, the rest was a breeze. Both of the girls were knocked out quickly, but I put on my headphones and stared out the window nearly the entire drive, and my God, it was breathtaking! We drove in and out of mountains and valleys and through the jungle of Malaysia. We drove through tiny villages and big cities all of which were backed by the incredible backdrop of the mountains. At one point, I even saw monkeys playing along the side of the road. Now if I were driving, I would have stopped and gotten out of my car to take pictures. However, monkeys in Malaysia are like deer or squirrels, so they are nothing special to anyone else… in fact, they are more of a nuisance than anything.

The other cool part about driving instead of flying straight through was that we got to make pit stops in some pretty cool places. Picture a bus stop in the US… a huge paved parking lot, probably a large building with a semi decent bathroom (that may or may not have tp) and usually a McDonalds or a Starbucks if you are lucky, but more likely a couple vending machines. The first stop that we made, I thought it was a joke. We pulled off the highway into some little village and parked in front of a huge building that had seen better decades. There were tons of people, but I assure you that we were the only white ones. There was no McDonalds or Starbucks, but street food everywhere, although not nearly as appealing as the street food I adore in China. The bathroom was disguising, and it was the first time that I was really sad that it was not a squatty potty. I mean if a bathroom is going to be that gross, I wish that it were just a hole in the ground so that any part of my body wouldn’t have to go near the toilet. It wasn’t my favorite place in the world, but it was definitely interesting.

The second time that we stopped was awesome. Again we pulled off the road into a small village, and parked in the middle of what looked like a dirt pit. There was a bathroom equally disgusting but the people were so friendly. The street food at this stop was fresh fruit, and homemade waffles, deep fried bananas, and egg and chicken burgers. We loaded up on a little bit of everything and sat down at a little table. The locals loved us. They didn’t speak a whole lot of English but they turned on some English music and started dancing and they kept saying “I love you” to us! The food was delicious and it reminded me about how welcoming and friendly Malay people were to us when we first arrived. It is not that Singapore people were unfriendly, but people seemed to really enjoy interacting with us and they wanted to in any way they could.

Well what was supposed to be a 9 hour bus ride, turned into 12 hours as we drove the entire lateral distance of Malaysia. I can’t complain though because I did enjoy the ride. We got to watch the sunset over the mountains, but by the time it was dark out, I was restless. When we finally drove across the bridge into Penang Island and got out at the bus station, it was pretty much a nightmare finding out way out, getting a taxi and making it to our hostel… but we made it!

This was the second time that we found a super friendly and talkative Malaysia taxi driver (it was becoming a pattern). I, of course, ended up in the front seat and from the second the doors closed until we arrived at the hostel thirty minutes later, our taxi driver talked and talked. Don’t get me wrong, he was extremely friendly and he wanted to tell us all about the island. The problem is that although Malays speak English, they speak it with a very strong accent (almost Indian) and lightening fast that makes it terribly difficult to understand. I did my best to keep up, but man, I was getting a headache trying to listen, decipher and comprehend the bits and pieces that I was getting to turn it into some kind of logical conversation. The girls were laughing in the back and later applauded my efforts admitting that they did not understand a single word that he had said. 

Christmas Eve in Singapore

I must admit that it was a little strange waking up on Christmas (well, Christmas Eve first) in a hostel across the world in a foreign country surrounded by strangers (and Amy and Anna). Usually my entire life leading up to Christmas is completely consumed by the consumerism of Christmas that I am not allowed to forget for a second that it is almost Christmas time. Christmas music is blaring from every direction, constant commercials and movies, Christmas shopping and decorating, Christmas parties and celebration with families and work and school. Really, it is exhausting. Call me Scrooge, but I hate Christmas. I actually hate just about everything about Christmas. I love getting together with my family and an excuse to eat a ton of delicious food, gain a couple extra pounds and call it “holiday weight” with the delusion that it will magically melt away before the new year so that I can put on some sassy little dress, go to a lame party, pay way too much for booze and kiss someone (usually my best friend) at midnight. Ok, Ok, last year the holidays were awesome, but I think it is because I knew that I was leaving so I didn’t waste my time on the lame stuff (like a NYE party) and spent my energy spending time with the people that I care about.

Anyway, so like I was saying, I hate Christmas. I hate having to go to a bazillion parties and the pressure of buying gifts, and all the money and time and energy that goes into the consumer aspect of Christmas. Come on people, you have to admit that we have clearly lost sight of what Christmas is really about…

Anyway, I won’t bore you with a rant (more than I already have). The point is that this year was different. Sure, we had a work party, and I had to buy just a couple gifts for white elephant and secret Santa, but it was really nothing. In my class, we focused on the seasons and weather and snow more than we focused on holidays and celebrations (even thought there is no snow). Additionally, knowing that I wasn’t going home to see my family and that I wasn’t going to be knee deep in snow freezing my buns off didn’t make it seem any closer to Christmas than I am closer to the moon. The idea of spending my holiday on a beach in southern Asia made if feel more like Spring Break than Christmas break…

Waking up that morning was just like every other morning. It was hot and humid as ever! Rainy of course, and we began our day downstairs eating toast and a hardboiled egg provided by the hostel and some fruit that we had bought at the market. We had decided that we were going to attempt to explore again and had plans for a nice dinner that evening to celebrate Christmas together. Since we were going to be spending Christmas day on a bus, we were going to do most of our celebrating Christmas Eve.

Anyway, after breakfast, we got ready, and headed to a bridge that Anna had read about that was supposedly one of the top ten bridges in the world to visit. It was called Henderson Wave and it was supposed to have the illusion of walking across waves. Well it looked neat from a distance, but once we got onto the bridge, it was a lot different than we thought. The architecture was interesting but I think it would have looked more interesting at night because apparently it had artistic lighting. Well, we came, we saw, we left. 

We headed on a hike through the mountains and ended up at the cable car that took us on a scenic ride from the mainland of Singapore onto the smaller island of Santosa. We were not exactly interested in the island itself because it was apparently comparable to Orlando, Florida, but it was the only place that we could get a little beach action, and I wanted nothing more than a little beach action on Christmas!

Well, people did not lie… as soon as we stepped off the cable car, it was like stepping into Florida… children everywhere, gift shops, water park, rides, people with birds charging to take pictures and everything else. We made our way to the giant Merlion that was supposed to be some kind of Singapore Symbol, took a couple pictures and headed to the beach. Unfortunately it was cooler and (you guessed it) rainy, but we were able to walk around for a bit before heading back.

 (on the cable car)

 (view of the bay from the cable car flying into Santosa)

 (Merlion in Santosa)

 (Merry Christmas from the beaches of Santosa)

That night, we got dressed up in our cutest dresses and made plans for some delicious Thai food at a place around the corner from our hostel that an Australian expat recommended as the best! Before heading out, Anna began talking to an Italian guy named Luca. The night before when we were making a rucous in the hostel social area we had invited Luca  to hang out with us but he declined saying that he had something important to do. As we were cleaning up and heading to bed, he apologized to me and said that he would have joined us if he didn’t have something important to do. He was rather cute, so I forgave him and suggested that he hang out with us tomorrow night to make it up to us! Luca was traveling alone and was just stopping Singapore for a couple nights before meeting up with his dad in Vietnam. We invited him to come along with us for our Christmas dinner. Then while we waited outside with a couple drinks before dinner, our French friend from the night before showed up and we also invited him. Luckily Italian boy also spoke French, so he and Frenchy got along great because Frenchy was not so confident with his English ability.

So anyway, everytime that we would get ready to leave for dinner, Frenchy (who we still couldn’t pronounce his name) would run away because he had to do something… get cigarettes, beer, then find a liter, then change his clothes…this is why we started calling him Scat because he was scattered. Then every time Scat would return, Luca would leave to make a phone call, or change his clothes or go get a beer. It was rather exhausting trying to keep up with those two, and by 9:00pm, I was absolutely starving. I attributed their carefree attention to time to their European background, and eventually we made it to dinner before my stomach completely ate itself.

Dinner was delish! Thai hot pot with tons of shrimp and chicken and squid and veggies to cook over a Thai BBQ plus curry and paitai and rice and noodles. OMG I am salivating just remembering our meal! After dinner, we grabbed some beers and went back to our hostel to hang out on the patio.

 (Thai hot pot - Christmas Eve dinner) 

(Luca, Me, Scat, Anna & Amy following our Christmas dinner)

Now, our hostel and some really cool people – the girls that we met, and the two guys, but it also have some real creepers. There were these two old men that we basically living at the hostel. To be honest, I don’t even remember their names but one was from LA and the other from Dubai (not India, but Dubai and he was definitely NOT Muslim as he kept reminding us).  Anyway, these two guys wondered around the hostel of young backpackers on the prowl literally trying to pick up everyone. It was entertaining to watch, but not so much once I became a target. Somehow, I got stuck in some deep conversation with the 40 year old Dubai guy about how important virginity is to the Muslim culture. Really buddy? I am trying to get my drink on and enjoy my Christmas!

At midnight, we did a cheers and wished everyone a very Merry Christmas… everyone else sat inside on their laptops and computers and barely turned in our direction when we shouted Merry Christmas to everyone – how very UNmerry!

I was really sad to say goodbye to our new friends Luca and Scat! They were so much fun and a fantastic addition to our little family for Christmas dinner. We became friends on facebook, and I am hoping that we keep in touch. One of my favorite things about traveling is meeting new people. Honestly, when you end up in a place like Singapore on Christmas in a backpackers budget hostel, you have no idea who you are going to meet, but you can guarantee that you will meet someone fun and interesting – it just takes certain kinds of people to end up in that situation. Everyone has an interesting story to tell. Also, you gain friends around the world. Now I know that when I end up in Belgium and Italy, I have friends that I can visit or consult in.

That night we went to bed late and prepared for our long journey the next morning.