End of Day 5, Day 6, 7 and 8

End of Day 5 (still on Langkawi):

dinner - fat mum
thought it was malaysian but it ended up being chinese. there was an upstairs open air level with a good view but the music was horrible lol it was an asian woman singing rhinestone cowboy that kept skipping lol we told the owner and he was like "i know" lol so we had to ask him to change it. the food was pretty good. we got curry crab, chili garlic shrimp and pineapple fried rice. only drawback was that the crab was tiny.

after dinner we went to babylon bar on the beach to hear a reggae band but they took like 2 hours to start- island time i guess lol they were good though. we got drinks and danced :o) some other people danced too, including a tiny little 1-2 year old native boy- so adorable!!!

after a while we went out to the water and stuck our toes in in the dark and then came back to the room.

Day 6

breakfast was at cactus. i got roti jalla (which was really good! i wanna learn how to make it...http://rasamalaysia.com/roti-jala-recipe-and-reintroducing-a1/) and jens got baguette slices with various things on them.

then we hopped on the scooter and ran a few "errands" - internet cafe to call and make sure our u.s. debit cards were activated because they weren't working, various rent-a-car places to get prices for the next day, etc.

we had a late lunch at the arabic cafe - falafel, hummus and fattoush. yum!

went back to the hotel and took a nap.

when i got up i went and had a pedicure at yuan spa. very nice and relaxing. they had an adorable little doberman mix puppy! made me miss my puppies!

dinner was at sheela's near our guesthouse. it was a pretty little place with outdoor dining but there were no tables outside so we sat inside. it was nice too. the food was AWESOME! we got mee keow teow - panfried flat noodles with chicken, veggies, cilantro and lime. it was soooo good! definitely going to have to eat there again!

Day 7

i hadn't driven in about a year and for some reason i really had an urge to do so lol plus they drive on the left side of the road here in malaysia and i felt that was something i needed to do in my lifetime so we rented a car! it was a little white 4-door. don't remember the brand but it was fairly new. jens drove it to breakfast because he showed them his d.l. since i lost mine a while back and we didn't want them asking for mine lol

breakfast was at garden tomato. we got the garden special omelet this time with a fruit plate. de-lish! i love that place. wish there was one in mokpo and in arlington lol

then we drove to kuah to go to an atm and try our debit cards. i tried mine twice with the pin i thought i needed to use and it didn't work so i tried a 3rd time with a different pin and it ate my card!!! thank goodness both of jens's cards work (u.s. and korean debit cards). i'm really mad because i spent about an hour on skype with our bank in the wee hours of the night a few months ago setting up our cards and pins, etc. apparently mine wasn't set up at all...in fact it must have been canceled or something. i'm not going to bother with getting a new one til we get back and i may just change banks. i don't like having an account there because they barely have any atms in arlington...let alone the rest of the world.

anyway, driving on the left was fun! not too hard! the main problem i had was reaching for the gear shift on the right to put it in park, drive or reverse lol AND i kept turning the windshield wipers on when i meant to do the turn signal lol

we drove all around the island. it's kinda big! jens said we drove 80 miles that day! there were lush green mountains, coconut trees, rice fields, cows, decrepit houses, lots of people on scooters, kids on bikes, tiny restaurants and shops, mosques, etc. it was cool to see more of the island.

we stopped at something called the gallery but it ended up being a place to showcase all the gifts the prime minister had received. we weren't interested so we moved on. we went to the craft center which we thought would be like a museum but it was just a huge glorified souvenir shop lol the best things we saw were the beaches and the waterfalls. we saw the beach near the four seasons hotel which was all white sand, blue water and islands out in the sea. gorgeous! we walked into the water a bit and saw lots of fish and crabs! i wasn't too keen to swim with them so we moved on. we also saw the black sand beach which wasn't all black sand but about half and half. i was surprised how soft the black sand was! the beach was a bit littered though so we didn't swim there either.

we went to one waterfall that was pretty deserted. i think it's the dry season so the waterfall is smaller than usual and therefore there aren't many tourists but it was good enough for us! we walked up a bunch of rugged rock stairs to get there and there was lush vegetation all around including banana trees that grow actual bananas! lol we got up to the waterfall and the view was great! the fall wasn't huge but it wasn't too shabby either. there was a small pool at the bottom and a bunch of teenage malay girls were playing in it. at one point they all lined up sitting in the pool and washed each others' hair lol it was funny. we didn't have our bathing suits on and didn't feel like getting our clothes wet so we just waded a bit and then hung out on the rocks.

when we got back down the stairs i noticed i had a tiny leech on my heel! i couldn't get it off but fortunately the lady working the cafe helped me. she got some cream on a tissue and took it right off. it didn't hurt at all so that was good! we decided to get a small lunch from the cafe. we show mee keow teow (what we had eaten the night before) because we wanted to compare the quality. it was $3 the night before and it was only $1 at this cafe but it was still great!! i was shocked! we washed it down with a fresh young coconut. the lady just hacked it open with a machete and put a couple straws in it. ah southeat asia! lol

the other waterfall we went to was called 7 wells because the water pools up in 7 wells. the climb up was horrendous! it was the hottest part of the day, i forgot to put my hair up and i was sweating like crazy with no tissue to wipe my face lol needless to say i did not prepare lol we got to the top and there several little pools to swim in and what looked like a natural water slide. we didn't realize you could swim there so we still didn't have our suits on - they were like 1000 stairs down in the car lol jens was wearing really lightweight shorts so of course he jumped right in but i was wearing jean shorts so i really didn't wanna get in. a malay dad showed up with his twin sons and a daughter and they all got in and started sliding down the natural water slide. jens did too and it looked really fun so i finally got in! lol i thought the slide would hurt or go too fast but it was actually REALLY smooth and you could control how fast you went down. at the end of the slide it was like a whirlpool! we ended up playing in the water for 2 hours or so and i was worried we'd get sunburned since we ALSO didn't have sunscreen on (not knowing we'd be in the sun that long and again, it was all the way down in the car) but thankfully we only got very slightly pink. it was TONS of fun! best part of the day! :oD the view was gorgeous too. can't wait to upload the pics for everyone to see!

after that we headed back to our part of the island and went straight to babylon bar on the beach to get some drinks and watch the sun go down. it was beautiful!

dinner was at champor champor (again), another place i love. it has great atmosphere and wonderful food! we got the coconut breaded calamari again with an entree of citrus couscous and spicy lamb cubes. delicious! for dessert we got the black rice pudding with bananas and coconut milk- mmmm another dish i want to make!

that was the end of that day!

Day 8

today was pretty laid back. we got up late, took the car back and went to brunch at little garden (a french style place). we got a ton of food! coffee, croque madame, an apple raisin crepe, a big fruit platter and a danish. we ate leisurely and then jens wrote a short story while i wrote in my journal, read my book and looked a magazine that was in the cafe. it was nice!

then we went back to the guesthouse and changed into our bathing suits for the beach. we needed to book our snorkeling trip for tomorrow so we did that and by that time it was about 3pm lol i was hungry again so we stopped at a little malay place and got teh (ice milk tea) and goreng sayur (veggie and egg fried rice). total = $1.50 and it was great!

then we went to the beach. the sun was lower in the sky today than the other day so it wasn't as hot but the water was really warm! after a fairly short swim we went up to babylon for drinks and reading. then we laid on the beach some more to sunbathe. i think i'm actually getting somewhat tan! lol the koreans are gonna hate it lol

after that we just came back to the g.h., took showers and here i am. i think we're gonna have pizza for dinner.

our favorite places so far are:
cactus
garden tomato
champor champor
and babylon!

i think we especially like babylon. it's so laid back. the whole place looks like it's made of a bunch of stuff that just washed up on the beach. the floor is sand, the benches are driftwood, the tables are driftwood or wire reels, there are cracked plastic chairs, big umbrellas over some tables, the roof is corrugated metal, the bar is wood and various other things like cow skulls, there's a stage for the reggae band that jams off and on, there's a didgeridoo that one guy can make some really weird sounds on lol, the drinks are great! they have some pretty good snacks and there's an adjoining "juice shack" which is basically a driftwood counter covered by a big umbrella. next to that there's the babylon shop which is an old decrepit vw bus, painted and filled with bar shirts, pretty dresses and pants, flipflops, etc. for sale. the whole place is just awesome! makes me wanna work there and live on the island forever lol

the cafes we like are all pretty rustic too but they have interesting decor and lots of green plants everywhere. i could see myself running one of those too and just being a permanent expat. we'll see ;o)

alright well i must go! goodnight!