Lazing in lovely Langkawi.

---

'How would Santa Claus know where to find us?' was my biggest preoccupation with being in Villa Molek, Langkawi, for Christmas morning. If this was the only issue, it gives you an idea of the level of luxury we were surrounded by. We had reserved these villas back in Australia, promising ourselves that we would be good to ourselves for a few days around Christmas. The luxury didn't come cheap, but it was so nice that it took the edge off being away from home for these special days.

We had to rise early to be in time to take the only boat that runs from Penang to Langkawi. Standing at the Port at 7.30am there was a small problem with processing our reservation. It was quickly resolved and we were bumped up to a slightly earlier boat. The time passed quickly on the boat and it docked near the big eagle in the Kuah Jetty on Langkawi island.

Emerging from the boat into the bright light, we waited for everyone to disembark and perhaps for the crew to put the luggage on the pier. When they weren't making any move towards doing this, the men had to go back into the boat to fetch our luggage and carry it up the steps. It struck me that this may be the next logical step for Ryanair!

Kuah jetty is a mad house. The island is a favourite holiday destination for Malaysians and is also famous for having duty free status. The port is crammed full with duty free shops and commuters of all nationalities. We quickly learned that we were in the middle of the highest peak for tourism on the island when we queued up to enquire about hiring a car and were told that all the cars were sold out. There wasn't a single car left for hire on the whole island. After reserving a spot on a ferry to Satun in four days, we located the taxi counter and bundled our stuff into a communal taxi heading for Pantai Tengah.

We pulled up some twenty minutes later in front of a couple of restaurants. Then a local man came out to greet us and ushered us in by the restaurants to the reception area for the Villas. While Philippe and Charles were sorting out our reservation, a kind lady plonked a glass of cool, freshly squeezed orange juice in front of us. It was exactly what I needed after carrying the bags, and it set the tone for the rest of our stay.

Relieved of our luggage we were then directed to two bungalows. Karin and Charles on the ground floor, next to the swimming pool, and Philippe and I were brought to the penthouse (first floor!) of the building next door. As we walked into the villa our jaw dropped and then broke into a huge smile. It was better than we could have imagined. We had our own sitting area, kitchenette, a huge four poster bed and an enclosed outdoor shower and toilet. To top it all off, we had shelves and hangers. We quickly emptied our rucksacks and hid them. For four days we had a place to call home, and we psychologically relinquished the title of 'backpackers' for these days: no more rooting around in the bags for the item that inevitably is down the very bottom of the bag, no backache, no hostels and definitely no budgeting!

Once settled we picked up the parents and made our way out to the Italian restaurant at the front of the villas where we had a delicious western meal. We also spied their Christmas day menu and began salivating for the meal two days hence. Our first afternoon was spent doing absolutely nothing. We lounged by the pool, watched some TV and had a wander around the local area. That evening we returned to the Italian for another lekker meal.

Villa Molek was designed to put us at our ease and we weren't planning on fighting it. All the staff members smiled at us and were basically at our beck and call, not that we needed them. The rooms were cleaned back to perfection each day. There was complimentary everything you might need (even down to the make-up removal pads...if only I had make-up with me!) Each morning we could choose a healthy sized, if not healthy content, English breakfast from the menu, and we were delighted to learn that this too was included in the room, and available until midday. The beach was a three minute walk away, but once there we had to dive for shade. The heat was almost unbearable, and made for very shiny faces in the photographs. It was there that we took our gloating picture for our virtual Christmas card. Immediately after the photo we were back in the shade!

On Christmas Eve Philippe and I went off to buy each other presents. What can you buy with a budget of a tenner per gift and not a lot of space in your backpack? We meandered up by the Irish pub (yes, there is one everywhere!) and then found ourselves in Duty Free Heaven. Philippe found a nice new shirt for nine euros but I saw nothing that took my fancy. I was on a mission to buy a new dress for myself, so we continued up the street through downtown Pantai Cenang. Despite the heat I had a good root through the market stalls until I found the seven euro gem I was after. In fairness the quality probably isn't ISO standard, but it was pretty and would make me feel like a lady again after months of shorts and combats.

Once I had completed my mission, I became more aware of the heat. It was such a sticky heat that walking in the sun was practically impossible. We gave up half way back to the hotel and found coke and ice-creams to cool ourselves and take a break before we tackled the final stretch. Dinner was a fantastic dish at the Indian in front of the villas: Butter Chicken and rice with garlic naan bread followed by beer and Christmas carols on our balcony. Not a bad Christmas Eve then!

Christmas morning was a strange affair. There was no Christmas tree, there was no roast turkey smell wafting through the air, there was no church, no smoked salmon and brown bread, no brussel sprouts to prepare and no point in ringing home until 4 o'clock that afternoon. Everyone was still sound asleep back home. It was very weird, but we made the best of it. We wrapped up all the gifts and put them under our pot plant. After breakfast we called up Charles and Karin and exchanged gifts and wondered at our situation. I was amused to learn that while Santa may not have known my current address, he still knew my bank account details!

We went for a dip in the pool and I found a Christmas day movie on the tv, but it didn't feel like Christmas, purely because of the temperature outside. As the day progressed we got to talk to family back home. It was good to be in touch, but added to the weirdness of the day. I couldn't help thinking that I should be back there with them. This was the first Christmas in my life that I haven't sat with my parents for Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. On the other hand, it was the first Christmas Day in seven years, that Philippe and I have spent together. I couldn't help envying Philippe that he had us all with him: parents and girlfriend, but I was happy that Karin and Charles were there as it meant we still had a family feel to the day.

Philippe had managed to reserve a car to see the island the next day. Bizarrely the rental shop was open on Christmas day and Philippe went over with his Dutch driving licence in his pocket. After discussing the price, Philippe asked if they needed an International Driving Licence. The girl nodded and said 'Yes, that would be better'. When he returned with the international licence she showed him a section of the small print that said that unless an international driving licence is provided, the whole insurance is null and void. However she had been more than willing to let him have the car on the Dutch licence so it definitely smelled of a scam!

We mixed traditions by playing cards over an aperatif before dinner and then created a new tradition by eating our Christmas meal at an Italian restaurant. I had crab pasta in lieu of turkey and ham, and the Counet's all had a tasty steak. Karin barely knew herself on the day because she didn't set foot in a kitchen all day, and I think she may have secretly enjoyed the break from the norm. No doubt she'll be back baking worstenbroodjes next year again though!

Another new tradition is a swim in the pool in the evening after Christmas dinner. The other guests were smiling at us as they returned to their villas, amused at our night-time antics and we posed for a self-timer photo. Some things never change however, no matter where you are. We were merry and arguing over cards as the clock ticked over into the next day. We were due to pick up the car at 10am, so we called it a night and planned an early breakfast.

I am convinced that the car we rented was either plucked from someone's driveway the previous night, or was one of the staff members personal cars, looking to make a quick couple of quid. Either way, no one was very interested in doing a preliminary damage report and we were amused to see that there was very little fuel in the car. We set off with Philippe at the wheel. First stop, a petrol station. Thirty six euro cents per litre later, we were heading north to the Datai region of the island. Our map turned out to be a guide map only, and therefore not drawn to scale. This meant we had to guess where our turn offs were, and judge where we were based on local landmarks and hotels. It added a whole new dimension to the adventure and in general we didn't fair too badly!

We saw, but didn't go up, the cable car to the viewing point on the top of a hill. We drove by the Oriental Village, disappointed to learn that it was basically a large shopping complex, and we made our way to the north western tip of the island to the Datai region where we were delighted to see little monkeys hanging out by the side of the road.

Having explored the road to its cul de sac, we picked a beach for a nice afternoon dip. The sea was that wonderful lukewarm temperature that massages your feet as you walk into it. Perched on a rock at the side of the beach we saw lots of local families barbecuing and watching their children play in the sand. We got chatting to a friendly Malaysian man beside us, and he gave us lot of tips on what to see in Malaysia. We nodded politely, annoyed with the timing - given that we were leaving Malaysia the very next day.

After a while Philippe and I got so freaked out by the amount of toilet paper lying around us that we had to go. The beach was nice, but there clearly wasn't a public toilet nearby, and the dirt factor turned our stomachs. We got back in the car and passed around the hand-gel.

After the Datai area we headed east towards one of the nicest beaches on the island. We continued up a narrow country road and found an entire main street of vendors and local restaurants. We ordered simple meals and cokes and were again delighted by how tasty the food from these places is. It really does pay, financially and gastronomically, to see past the plastic garden chairs and toilet roll serviettes and instead see the value of eating a meal prepared by a local woman who needs to make every meal perfect, otherwise people will simply eat next door.

Time was pressing on though, so we headed south towards Kuah where we wanted to do some shopping. En route I spotted a look-out tower on the map and thought we might go have a look-see. It looked like it was only about 3km off the main road, but fifteen minutes later the car was still climbing and I was cursing the scale-less map. It was worth the trip when we eventually pulled up in a hotel carpark and enjoyed nice views of the island on both sides of us. It turned out to be a great alternative to forcing Philippe and Karin into a cable car. We clicked away on our cameras and then put the foot down to get back to the main road to get to Kuah before the shops closed so that Karin could look for a duty free netbook.

In Kuah we thought the local people we conspiring against us, when everyone pointed us to one place on the map, as the location of 'PC Langkawi', which they told us was a huge computer store. We went to that place, and finding only a small store with about four laptops for sale, we assumed that PC Langkawi must be elsewhere. We circled the town a few more times, trying to find this big superstore, before eventually passing the same store where we saw 'PC Langkawi' on a small sign above the door. That was it!?! We got details of another computer store and quickly stopped there on the way back to Villa Molek, but the price of the netbooks was so extortionate that Karin said she could do without.

Back at the ranch we handed back in the 'rental' car, and found our rucksacks again. It was so depressing to pack them again and it was with a heavy heart and two heavy bags each that we checked out of Villa Molek the next morning. The fairytale was over.

A taxi dropped us at a busy Kuah Jetty and we picked up our reserved ticket to Satun. We were thirty minutes too early for the boat, so we sat idling away the time in the immigration waiting area. When we eventually made it onto the boat we were treated to a lot of loud dancing in Thai or Malaysian language on the television, for the entire three hour trip. There was no chance of sleeping with that on, but the time passed quickly enough and soon enough we were pulling into Satun and starting a new chapter of the trip.

We had reached Thailand.

---

Photos

Enjoying the sea
Until Charles got stung by a jelly fish

Comments

[Eileen]

If you can't spend Christmas at home what better place to be than an island in the Indian ocean. A great alternative to cabin fever in icy Ireland