After Taman Negara I met back up with Eddy and we traveled together to Singapore, Penang and Langkawi. Pulau Langkawi-- a beautiful island off the northwest coast of Malaysia was my favorite although the public transport in Singapore can't be beat and the food in Penang was delicious (and we tried a lot of it!). Langkawi is not really marketed for the backpacker but there are still deals to be found on accommodation and food. Eddy and I stayed at Shirins, a small, rather cute place ran by a Japanese woman and her insane Iranian husband, whom she met in India. (The insanity of "Abe" was taken to a whole new level after an unknown amount of vodka was consumed. His two favorite phrases, which we heard uncountable times during our short stay, vodka or none, were, "bloody bastard," and "fuckin' idiot", applied to any and all things, animate or otherwise. Despite his quite apparent pessimistic character flaws, I believe he has a good heart deep--maybe really deep--down.) When we checked in, we were greeted cheerfully, served juice and given cheap beds for our stay.
Owners of Shirin Guesthouse
The weather was great the first couple days and we rented a motor bike and rode around the island. We visited the cable car with fantastic views of the ocean and surrounding islands from high, we went to a couple waterfalls and swam in the clear pool below one of them, saw many monkeys (Langkawi is where I changed my opinion on monkeys from cute and harmless to rather fierce and frightening), rode by a huge iguana on the side of the road and went to an almost deserted white sand beach, which we shared only with monkeys and a couple of locals.
On our third day there almost 20 of Eddy's friends from KL showed up for a weekend island holiday away from the city. Two days of beach soccer, banana boat rides, swimming in the ocean, large meals together, Taboo (and tequila shots of course, Taboo and tequila were meant for each other, right?), and then they (including Eddy) were back to KL and I was left with one more day on the island solo.
The last day was rainy but I wanted to do an island hopping tour before I left. The rain was light before we left but once we were on the small boat cruising towards the first island it was a downpour. The barefoot and leather-skinned old man driving the boat was singing in Malay, squinting his eyes trying to see. There were only 6 passengers aboard-- apparently island hopping isn't a popular outing in the rain. The emerald green water met the gray sky with what seemed to be a layer of mist floating over the choppy waves. The Guatemalan-American woman sitting next to me was terrified and asked if she could hold my hand. We bounced and bounced our way there, the rain hitting us like sleet. We were soaked and I was doing my best to keep my backpack dry. Once we got the the island we walked to Pregnant Maiden Lake in the middle. I put my bag in a dry place and put my feet in the water while dozens of small catfish swam around them, nibbling on my toes. It was still raining and I jumped in the bath-warm water with all my clothes on. Ah! swimming in the rain...
Eddy and I after swimming
