Last Saturday was not only the Constitution Day of Sweden, it was also the birthday of the King of Malaysia. The nominal birthday anyway. The King is elected among the nine Sultans of Malaysia for a five year-term, so to the real birthday varies, but to avoid confusion it is always celebrated on the sixth of June.
The birthday of the King means national holiday, and that means the day off for the crew of the Albatross. On Thursday I asked Richard (Ulf being away), if I could take Friday off. Thursday evening, a little bit after midnight, I set off north bound in the Cutlery Drawer, the car which Ulf and I are renting. Fairly unplanned holiday trip, in other words. And just perfect!
I left the Cutlery Drawer in Georgetown, Pulau Penang, and took the early morning ferry over to Pulau Langkawi. Driving to Georgetown was an interesting experience. A lot of really old-school trucks (retarded slow!) out on winding roads in the middle of the night. Little rural looking towns and villages, with small night open eateries catering to the truck drivers. And as I approached Georgetown, the road turned into a toll highway, buildings got more and more citylike and all of a sudden i was on a huge six lane bridge crossing the strait to Pulau Penang, big complexes of highrises and skyscrapers standing tall on both sides of the bridge ahead. The central part of Georgetown has a lot of character, with old colonial buildings and intense nightlife. I fell asleep after four o'clock in the morning, in the dodgiest hotel room ever. Two hours of sleep, and then the morning ferry.
Two and a half day in Langkawi was spent scuba diving, swimming in a waterfall and talking the nights away on the beach. One main goal for the weekend was to have loads of good time and another was to relax and charge up the batteries. I succeeded beyond expectations with the first goal, but shamefully abandoned the second one without even giving it a try. The high season for westerners is over, but I still managed to speak a fair amount of Swedish during the weekend, and also a wee little bit of Japanese. It was school holiday however, and the Kings birthday on top of that, so a lot of Malaysian tourists visited the island. It is also the beginning of the Arabian tourist season and I have never ever before seen so many women dressed in cover-all burqas. Interesting sight on a tropical beach resort.
Gecko Guesthouse at night, view from the front of my room. Friendly budget place with a super cozy garden, pretty worn rooms, and a lot of globetrotting backpacker travelers.
Afternoon on Pantai Cenang. This is a five minute walk from Gecko Guesthouse, at holiday walking speed. It is the location of Babylon, the reggae bar where I spent most of the late evening hours.
Me in the water on Saturday. Diving in Langkawi is not very spectacular, compared to the few other places I have tried. But to me it was just marvelous this time, hovering around weightless again, blowing bubbles among colorful corals, after more than four years without leaving the surface.
Well, fish...
And more fish...
...and a shark!
But not very big.
Pulau Payar, this is the marine reserve island where the diving took place.
Fishermen outside Kuah harbour.
Bear. No, dog.
Me and Bren in Seven Wells Waterfall. She is from Peru/USA. Globetrotting architect/pedagogue/backpacker, sort of.
Last picture this time shows the sunset over Cenang Beach, as seen from Babylon, kind of the epicenter of the past weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment