Day 16 - Langkawi

At eight o clock i was awoken by the subtle tones of a marimba, recalling me from the arms of Morpheus and delivering me to the air conditioned peace of our house on stilts in the jungle. As Maria lay next to me snoozing and cramming the last few minutes of sleep into the locker marked 'slumbers', i checked my mail (how difficult it is to really let the real world go!) and gave the kids their early morning alarm call. By now well drilled, both chalets were all present and correct twenty minutes later and we headed off to another breakfast feast - how meagre my bowl of porridge will seem when we return to normality!

Once fortified, we strolled from the compound, striking forth in a most adventurous manner to the next door complex which contains a multitude of shops where you can buy all manner of lovely things - "Last seasons Chelsea strip anyone. No, then may i tempt you with a 2012 Poland and Ukraine Euro T-Shirt. My, Sir, you are proving hard to please today. a fluorescent buddah, key chain, i heart Langkawi T-shirt, some flip flops, a large pearlescent green pottery objet d'art, or a ride on a horse - Roll up! Roll up!" putting temptation firmly behind us we made straight for the cable car booking office and got two adults and two kids - since when, by the way, is 12 the end of childhood? Plane tickets, buffets, cable cars, any tourist attraction and Lily is an adult - why so? anyway, i digress.....

The Langkawi cable car is the steepest cable car in the world and by the way Maria gripped onto that seat all the way up the chairs are the tightest bolted down things in the universe! it was great - a little bubble of a capsule to ourselves and apart from the screams of "Sit down you idiot!" all was peaceful as the sights of Langkawi were spread benath us. Four fifths of the way up there was a viewing platform which afforded good views of the environs, views only surpassed by the two platforms at the top of the peak another cable car ride further on. The skybridge was closed off which was a shame as it looked like even more fun - a narrow suspension bridge jutting out and over the jungle to another remote peak. The greenery went on and on, the beaches looked beautiful and the islands dotting the sea beyond the shore shrouded in mist gave the whole a magical quality.

With our poetic bags filled to the brim we boarded another car and trundled back down the hill. it was interesting to note that the way down seemed less steep and faster - both of which were patently false but impressions shared by us all. Back on terrafirma we were offered more polaroid memories (no-one seemed to view the snowstorm scene in which we boarded the Langkawi cable car in 35 degrees of heat as ironic) but rather than risk the further dissatisfaction of certain ingrates (some people didn't even get a plate!) we passed on these and all other retail temptations laid before us in the gift shop and headed on back to the ranch. Swimsuits on, beach bag packed and off we trooped to the pool for an afternoon of relaxation. 

Being succesful in our. mission there is little further to report. sun, pool, sun, sleeping, pool, reading, sun, drinks, pool, reading, beach, sun, sleeping, pool, sun and reading i think sums it up. At one point in the afternon Maria and the kids immersed themselves in local culture by doing some batik painting and very good it looks too. Around this time the pool area was temporarily astir when a BIG monitor lixard was found - from tip to tail probably five foot long. Apparently, when they are this size they can be a danger to humans and so this one was captured, trused and then taken away to be turned into a curry and matching handbag / released back into the wild to frolic with its mates - you decide. 

Earlier this afternon we checked in for our onward flight to Bangkok tomorrow and arranged a car to take us to the airport. I'm actually quite excited as I have never been to Bangkok before and I have heard things both good and bad so i am interested to learn which holds true. However, we will have an early start so once dinner has been done we will have bags to pack and zeds to catch before starting the next leg of our Far Eastern odyssey. 

Night all, K.