Thursday 19th May - We arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia feeling rumpled and tired. Not surprising really as neither of us got much sleep on the 7 hours from Dubai. Thankfully Kuala Lumpur airport was brilliant, through immigration in the blink of an eye (or did we just fall asleep in the very short queue?) Bags arrived (always a positive with checked bags) and before we knew it we were in the arrivals concourse at about 9.30 am. Seriously quick. Prior to the rebooking with Emirates last week, they had us on the connecting flight at 11.10 am - but that was allowing for just doing immigration as our bags were going straight through to Langkawi. So when we booked our connecting flight directly with Malaysian Airlines... we erred on the side of paranoid caution and booked the next flight at 1.10 pm (co-incidentally half the price of the 11.10 am on the internet). Theoretically we could get an earlier flight, for a fee. They actually could have charged a fortune... we would have paid almost anything to avoid sitting around KL airport for almost 4 hours... As with most things though smiling sweetly worked. We arrived at the check-in counter where a trainee was given the task of changing the flight... then I needed to run over to the ticket counter to see if there was room on the 11.10 am - yup - quick note on the original boarding pass... back to check-in (luckily no-one in the queue and lots of staff). Eventually the trainee gave up, the trainer gave up and someone more senior took over the screen - woo hoo! Success and off we went to cool our jets for 40 minutes prior to getting on the puddle-jumper to Langkawi. (And no mention of any fees... We all know Malaysian Airlines has had a bad trot over the last couple of years, but we received amazing service). Due to being last-minute-Lucy additions to the flight, we once more had masses of space in the exit row and they even managed to sling nuts and a juice at 100+ passengers somewhere between takeoff and landing on the one hour flight. Our new owners here in Langkawi got the text from KL airport saying we'd be 2 hours early and thankfully managed to pick us up at 12.20 pm (which was about 3.20 am Dublin time... so we were seriously stuffed. In case you are wondering that is indeed a technical travel term.) We stopped in a daze and a blur to pick up some groceries, some Malibu and visit an ATM. On the subject of Malibu and booze generally, Langkawi is a tax and duty free island. The litre of Malibu cost around 38 ringgit or A$14. Would cost around twice as much in a duty free store in KL. Probably add another A$10 for Australian duty free. We don't understand it, but we're not arguing with it, that's for sure. We also visited an Ikan Bakar in Padang Matsirat which is a type of Langkawi lunch spot, sort of like an all-you-can-eat buffet, except it's all-you-can-pay... So pile a bit of boiled rice on, add some food from any dish that looks interesting... pineapple curry for instance and then get it weighed/assessed at the counter. Meat and fish cost more than veges... we think ours cost about 6 ringgit or A$2 for each of us. After far too much briefing on the house, gardens etc, literally going in one ear and out the other, we eventually lay down and passed out for a good couple of hours sleep prior to heading out to dinner. Local ex-pat hangout about 10 minutes walk up the beach or 15 minutes up the road is the Scarborough Fish & Chip Restaurant... Somewhat like our grilled fish and chips at Dubai Airport, this place is much, much healthier than it sounds. I'm sure battered fish is on the menu somewhere, but we enjoyed a grilled mackerel with assorted steamed veges between us and had a pot of fat chips on the side. Initially the sunset was decidedly average... lots of clouds and not much going on... but for about 5 magical minutes we were treated to a pink and purple, striped extravaganza - if the Northern Lights/Aurora Borealis got into the sunset business - this is what it would come up with. Wow.

Friday 20th May - Happy Birthday to Me... and out came the earrings from Dubai - it already seems a long time ago since we bought them and it's only 2 days. Friday is a big day in our local village of Padang Lalang... it's Night Market Day... (well night). We headed into town about 7 pm and were immersed in the sights, sounds and sizzles of a typical Langkawi Night Market. We've been salivating at the thought of chicken satay and were not disappointed - little bite sized satay sticks are 50 sens each (that's essentially cents... so 100 sens to the Ringgit). That means 24 sticks for say A$4. We splurged on enough food for birthday dinner and also a heap of take home stir-fries/laksas/noodles... very little costs more than A$1-2 per meal. We've already figured out that this is the country to take a break from cooking - so have stock piled bok choy, choy sum, corn on the cob etc to bulk out some of our market bargains. So yes, cooking... but not as we know it.

Saturday 21st - Sunday 22nd May - Village Orientation and a trip to Kuah Town - Our village, Padang Lalang boasts one of only 3 roundabouts on the island of Langkawi. It is very impressive particularly at night with big coloured lights. It is also a vital part of the landscape as without it we would never have a hope of re-finding the vege lady, the laundry lady, the petrol station, the place that's good for groceries, the man who sews cushion covers and sells cheap western clothes, the Malay restaurant that's 'not bad', the Friday night market area, the shop that sells yoghurt for B&B guests or myriad other hugely important places. So thanks be for the roundabout. I've been beavering away on a scribbled map which indicates new shops and landmarks and will have to do a clean copy shortly as it's becoming less intelligible by the day. Sunday we moved further afield and had a drive into Kuah (which is the capital 'town' of the island - essentially the local 'big smoke'). Highlights of Kuah town? The Hotel Malaysia Restaurant, which sounds a whole heap more impressive than it is, but is an amazing source of vegetarian Indian food for around 13 Ringgit (big portion) - or A$4 each. As it turns out the small portion would also have done the trick at 8 ringgit - but it's been so very long since we had a curry of any description that we went a bit crazy. We swam very small laps of the pool at home in order to make space for a previously arranged dinner at Soprano's where the chef was trying his hand at a Royal Thai buffet dinner. Ahhhh... give it another couple of weeks and we'll probably have a hankering for chicken risotto or pesto pasta and mushrooms... but at the moment, we are taking our fill of assorted Asian cuisine.

Monday 23rd - Tuesday 24th May - Monday passed in a blur... darn that 1.30 am jet-lag perkiness... but Tuesday we went exploring our local village area and had lunch at Martini Restaurant (which does sound a whole lot posher than 'the Thai joint over the road'. The food was fine and very reasonably priced - lunch plus enough for make two more meals - 47 RM - say A$16... but the highlight of lunch was a massive storm with gales, bucketing torrential rain and a sudden temperature drop. Our feet were under 5 cm of rain water within minutes. Which was fine by us and very cooling. It stopped within minutes, we finished lunch and just in time to jump back into the car, another storm cell passed over. It is phenomenal how quick one can be soaked through during the rainy season. We've also discovered more joys of duty-free/tax free living. We put 20 RM of fuel into the car, about A$7 and that was close to half a tank of unleaded petrol. Wow. Wouldn't want to get used to that if you were planning to return to the real world. We picked our way down a steep bank to get to the beach this afternoon then strolled along for a while, beach combing for treasure but just finding lots of dead coral thrown up by the storm. We headed up to the road at the Scarborough Fish & Chip Restaurant and were lured in for icy cold Tiger beer served in frozen glasses and a bowl of chips. We'll call it an entree. We then walked back along the main road looking out for our turn-off which is a little blue box on the side of the road that we've christened 'The TARDIS'. Can't miss it. Only one of it's kind. Marks the exact spot where we turn right and walk down a tiny road to the house. Whoops. There's the roundabout. It hit us both simultaneously that the burger joint that had apparently sprung out of nowhere, that we passed about 500m back was also painted blue... Foiled by the multi-functional TARDIS we hoofed it back to the burger joint and eventually made it home. Dinner? Thai leftovers jazzed up with fresh bok choy, corn and peanuts.

Wednesday 25th May - Busy old day down on the ranch. We tested our woodworking skills taking apart a window frame to re-screen it. Took a couple of hours - basically built in hard wood and never destined to be taken apart, but we got there in the end. Had a swim, James lopped down a couple of trees that were seriously affecting the chi of our guesthouse (and the view). We moved faster than humanly possible to secure the guesthouse when a massive storm, locally called a 'Sumatran', blew in with about 2 minutes notice. Literally buckets and buckets of water slamming into the house, sun loungers flying off in the gales - incredible. We were dragging in furniture, shutting doors, turning off electrics and soaked to the skin within minutes. The weather is insane but crazy fun at the same time - certainly cools us down. Once the water had subsided we slipped and slided down the mud bank to the beach. Earth works and a sea wall are in progress - should be several thousand percent better in the next week or so. We headed via Scarborough just to say hi and then walked (on purpose this time) to the roundabout to test out the Malay restaurant. As it turns out they do amazing fresh juices for 2 RM or about 70 cents in Australian money. We tested the watermelon and pineapple and this is now, officially, our go-to juice joint. Also had a little dinner. We're seeing if we can institute a 20 RM daily dining limit - as inexpensive as it is, we are in the middle of having our Sydney apartment painted and tidied up after our tenant of 9 years standing moved out. Dinner ended up being Prawn Padprik (which has nothing to do with paprika more so to do with being cooked in a chilli sauce). Yummo. Villiage Fried Rice - full of everything the kitchen has on hand and a Papaya salad which was a taste sensation. Place was crawling with puss cats (being a seafood restaurant and all) including a tiny kitten who was quite happy to hoist herself up on our laps and sit and purr. Obviously she was hoping a prawn tail was in her future! Well that is it... one week in Langkawi and sixteen left to enjoy.