I am sitting here with an ice cold drink, upstairs in this wonderful house. My view is of the ocean with Thailand in the distance. I can hear the waves crashing on the shore as I reflect on our time here. I am feeling cool at last with the afternoon breeze coming in and having just got out of the pool. Only an hour ago I had sweat dripping off me, into my eyes, off the end of my nose. I was raking up some leaves and I felt someone’s gaze. I looked around there was a monkey sitting on the driveway watching me. He took off when I came toward him, I said hello to him up the tree as I passed, and he looked right at me and opened his mouth in a big smile. They look so cute, but those teeth look sharp! I had a sudden panic that he might jump at me and bite me – a smiling assassin! So I hightailed it back to the house. A reality check – that’s right, we are in Asia, wow! We really are, sometimes I have to pinch myself.

We are almost finished this house sit, 8 weeks have gone so fast. We have had such a great time here in Langkawi, what a little gem. We have always loved Malaysia and we are yet to be disappointed. Langkawi is a very chill island. Nothing really matters, you can be your own person here and no one will judge. “Island Time” is alive and well. The people are so friendly and welcoming and very generous.

We were sitting at the café/restaurant next door one rainy night and got talking to the couple at the table beside us. We ended up swapping phone numbers and made a date to meet up the next week. Well, that was the beginning of a wonderful friendship. We have since been to their house for traditional Nasi Lamak, out for a couple of meals, and they have been here for dinner. Just a few days ago, we went to their house for a cooking lesson, Beef Ball Noodle Soup. We cooked outside, on a simple gas cooker right beside the paddy field, surrounded by their beautiful gardens. We often get asked “why?” “why do you like doing this so much?” well this is why; it is the people we meet along the way that enrich our lives so much.

Ad and Saj
All ready for the pot
Great day for cooking ourside
Beef Ball Noodle Soup – Delicious

Our neighbour Suzie, has been amazing. She has “Eagleye”, a wonderful little guest house with a bar. We have joined in with her guests and friends as if we are part of the family. She has introduced to Malaysian traditional food and presented me with a bottle of bubbles on my birthday. “My house is your house – you are my neighbour – that’s it” By just being there she has made our stay here extra special.

Through Suzie we have met some amazing people. Sabine is from Germany and travels alone, she is a photographer – travelling and taking photos; my dream job! And Shannim, who is from Malaysia, is a spirited pathfinder! She also travels alone to places far and wide, never really knowing where the next wind will take her but embraces every step with bubbling excitement and enthusiasm. Shannim writes all about her adventures too. It has been so exciting to meet both of these inspirational women.

Check out their awesome photos and stories:-

https://instagram.com/flow.photography.sabine?igshid=Y2IzZGU1MTFhOQ==

https://instagram.com/epicadventuress?igshid=Y2IzZGU1MTFhOQ==

http://www.epicadventuress.com

Shannim (in White) and friends
Fire on the beach right with the Eagleye crew
Uncle Jonnie playing the Gambler

Shila, our housekeeper brings us treats almost every time she comes, Chicken Curry, Samosa and these little sweet white balls covered in coconut called Ondeh Ondeh. Her daughter makes the best Curry Puffs on the island, we are getting so spoilt!

There is a little round lady in the store at the end of our driveway. She is only open in the afternoons, but she does sell beer, along with hammers and nails, plastic table cloths, chain and bath plugs. We go in fairly regularly and get a couple of Tigers on the way home. She doesn’t speak a stick of English and just laughs every time we speak to her, so we laugh with her and that’s it, we understand each other perfectly! We get the biggest wave and smile every time we go past. She probably thinks we are mad!

There is a craft place down the road, it is a tourist attraction, has all sorts of traditional Malaysian clothing, jewellery, art etc etc. there are also 2 museums on site. We have been a couple of times and I got talking to the batik painting guy and arranged for a day to go in and do some batik painting myself. He designed 3 small frames with the flowers I chose, and he helped me paint the dye onto the fabric. It was so much fun and very relaxing and rewarding. I was very surprised and pleased with the results. He only took equ. $8NZD.

Kraft Kompleks Langkawi

We have had so many wonderful interactions with the people here, the Roti shop, the Chinese supermarket, the Night Market stall holders. We even got 10% off the bill when we went to the Tanjung Rhu Resort for all you can eat breakfast. The lady at the “1 o’clock” restaurant; we named it that as she opens at 1 o’clock each day, she makes the best Keow Teow Goreng on the island and whenever we go her son comes out to talk to us and practice his English. It’s a wonderful place.

The Island is so beautiful. So green with thick, lush vegetation. If you are not looking at the sea, you are looking at the rugged mountains, so spectacular in their own right. There are mangroves in the estuary’s, caves and picturesque outer islands, rivers, and many waterfalls. We did a boat tour through the mangroves which took us out onto the Andaman Sea, we got to see the island from a different perspective. And, as you know, Donna and Chris are very happy when they are on a boat!

The Bat Cave
Looking back up the estuary
View of Tanjung Rhu with rugged backdrop

Langkawi is sitting at 6 degrees Latitude North, pretty close to the equator and what we notice mostly is there is hardly any dawn or twilight. 0710 is sunrise, according to google, but it is still dark until only about 10 minutes before. Same in the evening, the sun goes down really quickly, if you don’t remember to look, you will miss the sunset!

The Seven Wells Waterfall, stunning. 600 steps to climb to get here
Crystal clear, cold water – so nice!
Telega Tujuh Waterfall, the seven wells are above this fall

Another waterfall within a cycle distance from home, Durian Perangin Waterfall

We have been out on the kayaks twice while being here. The first time our dear, loyal HobNob wanted to follow. We were a couple hundred meters out when we realised that he seriously did want to come with us! He was swimming and swimming. He gave us a bit of a scare, who knows how well this dog can swim! So we went straight back in, close to shore and, yes, he followed – phew! It became a very short paddle along the shoreline with loyal puppy following us along the beach.

The next time we went out, we sneaked around the back of the house so he didn’t see us go. We had a great paddle with an encounter with a pod of dolphin. That was the last thing we expected. There were about 6 or 7 including a baby. Most were grey and had blunt dorsal fins which were mottled pink and their faces were blotchy pink, almost looked like they were sunburnt. A variety we have never seen before. They were not in a hurry to get away from us so we just enjoyed their company, thinking how lucky are we! We googled it afterwards and found they were Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin. We were so surprised to see them, it was a great thrill.

It is rainy season now but we haven’t had as much rain as they say we should have had by now. We feel quite lucky! But not so lucky with the mosquitos! They are the size of helicopters here and so quick! The bush mozzies will bite all over, fast as lightening and the bites will itch for about 15 minutes then its all gone. There is another variety around and when they bite, the bite will itch for days and swell up into a red lump. Thankfully it is mostly the bush variety.

Nasi Campur in the rain

We are flying to Penang soon, the next chapter is about to begin!

Thank you Langkawi, you have been amazing! See you again soon!

Thank you for reading our story

Langkawi, Malaysia

Tiga Pilau, this is the name of the place we are staying here on Langkawi Island, Malaysia. We only found out the other day the significance of the name, we couldn’t work out the reason for the reference to tigers. It turns out that Tiga is Malay for Three and when you look out from the beach right Infront if us there are three islands, it really is quite beautiful. They are three of 99 islands which make up Langkawi. Beyond those three islands, you can see more land, it is a magnificent backdrop and it is actually Thailand that you can see.

Langkawi is approx.. 478km2, 29km long by 16km wide, 99,000 population. Only 4 of the 99 islands are inhabited. Fun fact – Langkawi is an amalgamation of the Malay vocabulary “helang” (eagle) and “kawi” Sanskrit for the bird’s reddish-brown tone.

It is a very easy and cheap flight from Kuala Lumpur, less that $40NZD each. Our lovely home owners were at the airport when we arrived. This is a really popular place for Malaysians to come for vacation as it is only an hour flight from KL and you are transported into another world. A lot slower world. The term “island time” springs to mind.

We have 4 days with our owners. Doing the usual familiarisation of the house, pets, and surrounding community. We find that there is everything you could ever need right here in this village. Then it is our turn for a trip to the airport to see them off on their 8 week trip to Europe and Canada.

We have 2 dogs here to look after and a separate little house which is used as an Air BnB, which has guests for the first week. The property is huge with loads of trees and lots of grass to mow. There is a jungle area out the back as well, complete with monkeys! And lets hope – no snakes!

The house is amazing, it has been built to blend into its surroundings. it is completely open throughout the main areas which allows the breeze to come straight through. The pool is right in the middle of the house which has an air-conditioner effect of keeping the place cool.

We have settled into a nice routine with walking the dogs on the beach morning and night, doing a bit of garden maintenance in the mornings, picking up fallen branches, leaf raking, mowing and trimming, then we head off to explore in the afternoons. We are so lucky to have been left a couple of Ebikes, kayaks and a car.

Being right on the beach means we, almost always, have a breeze. It is so hot here. We thought that Vieques, Puerto Rico was our hottest location so far with its high humidity, but we think this tipped the scale. So having the sea right there is a Godsend! It is a sandy beach but from the mid-tide water line there are lot of rocks so it is not the best for swimming, but we only have to go 2-300m down the beach and are able to get in for a dip. We have found that just a 15 minute bike ride from here is Tanjung Rhu beach. What a beautiful spot! Wide white sand beach with water a bit clearer than our beach, lots of shade trees AND a restaurant! We spend a bit of time here, reading our books under a tree and dipping into the water to cool off – the sea temperature is hardy cooling though at 30°C (86°F), it is like a bath and you depend on the breeze after you get out to do the “cooling”. The water generally on this side of Malaysia is not the crystal, gin clear water that we have seen in other places, but still pretty good.

Tanjung Rhu Beach
Locals will light little fires right there, under the trees, to cook their lunch

Langkawi is a duty-free island! Yes that is a fact! It was awarded duty-free status in 1987, to make tourism more affordable for Malaysian tourists, since then, international tourism has also increased. So the beer and spirits are very cheap. The wine is about what you would pay at home – but it is duty-free, so doesn’t really make sense. A bottle of New Zealand Mud House Sav is 55MYR, but a litre bottle of Stoli Vodka is 34MYR ($11 NZD) and a 24 case of Tiger is 60MYR. But you must admit, there is nothing nicer than an ice-cold beer on a hot day! And at those prices, we are not holding back!

The food here in Malaysia is wonderful and Langkawi is no exception. Here in our little village we have many restaurants and food stalls. You would never go hungry in this place. And everything is so reasonably priced too! There are also dry goods supermarkets, fruit stalls and veg shops. Sweets stands, ice-cream, fried bananas – everything for Breakfast lunch or dinner and everything in between. Thai food, Malay food, western food, fried food, steamed food, noodles, rice, chicken, fish, anything you could ever desire. It is always a bit of a lottery as to what will be open and when. Breakfast goes until about 1pm and lunch is still considered lunch at 4 in the afternoon. I think you just eat when you are hungry and eat whatever you feel like at that time. It is not unusual to have curry for breakfast and it is quite palatable especially if it is at 11am. Nasi Lemak and Roti Canai are usually eaten in the first half of the day.

Nasi Campur – rice with smorgasbord of many dishes
one of our regular Nasi Campur restaurants
The burger stall

We have the best night market of the island. There is a Night market every single night somewhere on the island. Our Market is on a Friday night and it really is fantastic! There are so many stalls, all the stall holders are so friendly. We just cannot help ourselves and always come home with enough food for two days! Fried Chriken, Koew Teow, sweet corn pancakes, Nasi Goering, Vegitable Baji etc etc etc…. a lot of it is “deep fried goodness” as my gorgeous friend Karen would say – but oh so delicious! Each dish will usually have some sort of sauce in a small plastic bag tied up with a rubber band to go with it, yumm, Friday is our favourite day of the week.

Our village is called Ayer Hangat, we are on the North side of the island. With the geography of the island we are actually facing West and we get the most beautiful sunsets. We are a bit away from Pantai Cenang, which is the really touristy part of Langkawi. We are also on the opposite side to the main town of Kuah (which, by-the-way, means “gravy”!) This part of the island is very traditional, not so many tourists over here. It is so funny when you see a car over this side with a big red “M” sticker on the windshield, to get a free drink going through the McDonalds drive-through. It seems so crazy to think that only 20 km away is a McDonalds, KFC, Shell Gas, cappuccino’s and latte’s, when we’re out here in this very traditional village, with food on the street and a cash only society.

We love cycling through the Kampongs, the little villages in behind the main roads. The roads are so narrow, one car width, sometimes gravel, sometimes tarmac. It’s absolutely beautiful and so peaceful. There is a variety of traditional houses and really huge modern homes. There are always kids running around, playing on the streets. They always have a big wave and “Hello”. As you look up you can see the mountains behind, so rugged and lush covered in jungle. Cycling alongside a little stream almost reminds me of the towpaths and Holland except when you look around you see banana trees, coconut palms, the odd little grove of sugar cane, it’s all very green and lush and very much Asia. The water in the stream is pretty milky looking but there are still Lily pads and Lily flowers. Then you come to the rice paddy fields and the roads criss cross the paddy fields. Bright green rice fields, with cows seeming to be roaming free. One of our favourite places to go.