Bless Laurie. Having witnessed me write a song for Meg & Dave when they left the trip in Beijing, and having me test out songs I have been writing for the whole truck and knowing that I am writing a song for Jen as a special Valentine’s Day surprise, she is jealous that I have not written her a song and she leaves the trip when we get to Singapore. She says there is still time for me to be ‘re-dumped’. I think she means redeemed.
I have a sweaty morning lying on the beach with Jen and Lu. Jen refuses to let me protect her delicate pale skin from the sun with sunscreen preferring Lu’s less gentle hands. Perhaps it was a mistake to remind her that I was extra careful last time I put sunscreen on her, as on that occasion I was perhaps overly conscious of the paleness of her skin around the buttock area….
In the afternoon, I go on a boat trip to Langkawi Geopark, a park of islands like a film set of a tropical paradise. I am joined by Gary and Laurie, as well Belgian Sam and Caz. The trip is no cruise, as the boat has 400hp engines. I put the life jacket on the right part of the body for this one.
Our first stop is in a small bay where the boat’s driver throws some bait sized fish out for a descending convocation of eagles. With these imposing birds of prey once being near extinction, it is exciting to see them cascade onto the water viciously plucking at the food on the surface or swooping down to catch the small fish in mid-air.
After that, we stop at an island for a couple of hours, where we are greeted at the mooring by more monkeys (Macaques I think) before walking along a jungle path towards a fresh water lake. At the lake there are a marinas worth of solar powered pedalos, although very few people are taking them out. This may be because the nearby cave is called ‘Crocodile Cave’. There is a cordoned swimming area in the lake too. At this point, I had not known that there were crocodiles in Malaysia, and I am still doubtful that there were any around this island, but I wasn’t so confident of this that I swam outside the cordoned area. In fact, I decide that the cordon would be no barrier to a determined croc in any case and I don’t spend very long in the water.
After our swim and walk back to the boat, our final stop is another island seemingly inhabited only by a couple of traders in bamboo huts selling soft drinks and snacks. Here there is a quiet beach with clear waters showing off small coral reefs and lots of small fish. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of those micro-organisms in the water that seem to bite, leaving you with an itchy rash.
Somewhat incongruously, there is also an opportunity to do some parasailing off the back of a speed boat, but I’m too much of a cheapskate at this stage to be tempted at the price.
In the evening, I go out to dinner with Gary and Laurie. We have been told about a bar down the road called the 1812 Pub, which is run by a Bolton Wanderers fan. We saunter down there, but it’s shabby looking and is populated only by a handful of people watching football over beers and crappy loud pop music, so we don’t stop.
Wandering further along the road, we come across popular pleasant looking restaurant serving mainly seafood. I have had my fill of seafood and, as they have venison, I decide to get a rare red meat treat. However, I regret it when I see and taste a little of Laurie’s ‘Tiger Prawn’ dish. What they call tiger prawns here are like small lobsters. Cooked in butter and being nicely fleshy, they taste as good as anything I have had on this trip, including the lobster on the beach in Vietnam. My mouth waters now at the memory.
We finish the evening with a beer or two on the beach, listening to the waves crash along the shore and checking to see if Belgian Sam is going skinny dipping again.
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| feeding the eagles |
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| solar powered pedalos |
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