Call Me Gilligan

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The amount I hated Kota Bharu is directly proportional to the amount I loved Langkawi. We arrived at noon after a terrifying ferry ride. It was a three hour tour. We should have all learned a very important lesson from Gilligan: any boat ride advertised as a three hour tour is destined for disaster.

The word 'ferry' implies some sort of natural charm- a pleasant boat paddling through calm seas with a man in a striped shirt and brown loafers with tassels bringing me fresh fruit and champagne while I lounge on th sun deck waving to passing boats with a whit haired man we call Cappy is poised at the wheel steering us to paradise. He may even puff on his pipe, if the winds are calm enough.

That is the image of a ferry that lives in my head. My head may be a dangerous place to be, but let me tell you, it is a much better place than that sloshy vomitous vessel from hell that delivered us from Kots Bharu to Lankawi. No steward or Cappy. No deck on which to eat breakfast. Just a closed interior lined with life vests and air tick with bile and Malay spiced body oder. I spent my three hours not in leseor but terror. Staring out of the porthole and concentrating on the bobbing horizon, I tried not to puke on the luggage rack in front of me and to think of anything but the ominous watery death while trapped in the bowels of the sinking hell ship. I did manage to keep the rising bile to a safe level in my esophagus. Many were not as lucky. As they reached for the black plastic sea sick bags the stench grew.

But after we arrived and disembarked with wobbly legs, my world was restored to it's natural order as reality became a more suitable substitute for what my imagination congers up. We cabbed it to our beach destination and after a satisfying tomato and cheese sandwich, we decided that we would spurge on a resort. After our boring week in Kota Bharu and the scary ferry, we deserve it.

We checked into a quite posh resort called Sunset Beach with blood-free pillows and a real toilet with tissue and a real shower and a coffee maker and breakfast included. And it was on the beach. And it was sunny. And there was bars nearby. And a duty free shop where I got a bottle of Jack for under 10 USD. I was in heaven.

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Photos

Sunrise in Penang
On the way to the ferry

This bud's for you
We found Budwiser!

Comments

[Pee-Tah]

I'm Sorry
I'm sorry we never caught up again. I am leaving the Little Buddha at 6.30 tomorrow morning. I think that perhaps Patong has debauched me out. Singapore again...then who knows. I miss your smiling faces and strange Texan ways. Peter XXX