Malaysia

After Cambodia, I returned to Singapore for a week. I decided at that point to extend my vacation by another 10 days since there was no immediate project awaiting and nothing really to get back to. There were plenty of people to spend time with and that felt like what I needed right then. Pool time and long, lazy dinners with colleagues and their various visitors from home.



As people were coming to the end of their stays in Singapore, we decided to make a group trip for a weekend. After investigating flight times, connections and hotel options we settled on Langkawi, a group of islands off the coast of Malaysia. It seemed like the perfect place with mountains, nice beaches, waterfalls, wild monkeys and mopeds!

My Crash Helmet - Don't think it was the best one ever.


Spanish motorcycle gang

Langkawi is a beautiful paradise and I loved hanging out with the mostly Spanish and American crowd I was with. If all Spanish are like the group I was with, I think I should move to Spain. They are fun, funny, sensitive and enjoying each moment to the fullest.

View from the Hotel Terrace

On Saturday morning we rented our mopeds and went riding around the island. We went to the top of Langkawi (at 910 meters) via cable car and enjoyed the great view. We had some rain on Saturday afternoon so we played frisbee in the pool and then a few hours of Monopoly out on the terrace. I forgot how good I am at that game (can you tell who won? hehehe).

Cable Car to the 'Top of Langkawi'

Bridge on Top of Langkawi





On Saturday night we decided to go out for some drinks after dinner and maybe do a little dancing. As a whole the island is very Muslim and there was not a lot in the way of bars. I had heard of a place called Sanbar or something like this so after dinner we asked the waiter if we could walk there. He pointed us down the road and said 10 minutes up. After about 5 more 10 minutes up the road from various people on the way, we finally arrived. It was worth the walk - they had a great live band and drinks and in no time we were out on the floor dancing with the tourists and the locals alike.

Nightfall in Langkawi

Sunday we found an empty beach and napped all afternoon watching the tide come in and then swing back out. The receding tide left all these nice tidal pools and I got to play biologist for awhile. There were some kind of amphibious fish, crabs and lobsters, jellyfish and other things that I have no clue but were fascinating to look at. As the sun started sinking we headed to the airport and back to Singapore.

Sunday Nap - All there was to hear was the ocean, the birds and the monkeys...



Watching the weird tourists

Posted from Zürich