Topic: Asia
When I last went on a family holiday it was 1967, it was camping at Rosebud, a suburban beach not far from where I live. I remember having fun. Fifty years later It's time to try it again. All I need to do is borrow a family. My friend lives in Canberra, her parents live in Ireland, her brother in Ukraine, they'll do. Even better still they have already organized it. All I have to do is buy an airfare.
Langkawi is somewhere in the middle of all of us, I fly from Melbourne, crash out in the airport hotel at KL, the head to my next flight and meet my friend. She hasn't slept, and I forgot to tell her my room number, no photos of this bit. Back on another plane for the hour long flight to Langkawi where we catch up with the rest of them. John has booked a luxury villa for us near Pantai Cenang. This will be our home for the next three weeks including christmas and new year.
Langkawi was once the home of pirates, until the poms cleaned them out in the 40's. It was then a sleepy little group of island until the prime minister decided to build a tourist industry there in the mid 80's. Pro's it has good beaches, cheap shopping, and is duty free so scotch runs at about $15 a bottle.
Cons No pork products due to religious concerns. You can jump on the ferry for an hour long ride to Ko Li Pe Thailand if you need bacon that badly. We are located 5 minutes out of town, which is full of cheap places to eat. This is just as well as our self catering villa doesn't have much in the way of cooking gear. A good meal runs from about $2.50 at a noodle joint to about $35 at a fresh lobster place. Diving is big here. We take a couple of day trips out to the reefs to swim with the fish, and check out the eagles. Add in a trip to the cable car and you pretty much have it covered.
Most days we went into town for a meal or two, and a swim. I read countless books on my kindle, which is my kind of relaxing. Christmas we had a bang up buffet at a big hotel, and on new years eve we snuck into another big hotel on the beach to watch the fireworks, dance, and drink B52 shooters.
It was all over too quickly. Thanks to my sponsors, Bob's bar, The Sun cafe, The Frangipani hotel, and the Muddiman Family.
