Take the Monkeys and Run.... Our week in Langkawi began with a jaunt into Kuah for our weekly movie treat and a stock up on Ramadhan Bazaar food. This time around we bought a whole roast chicken, beef rendang, flat rice noodles, chicken murtabaks, vegetable stuffed tofu with satay sauce - all our faves. This week's movie was Independence Day (2). It's hard, if not impossible, to believe it's 20 years since the original movie was released. James recalls being in Townsville on his ship on 4 July 1996 - and went to the midnight premiere. I was in Sydney and saw it a couple of days later. Today we went to see the sequel (obviously without Will Smith, it could never be an equal). Wow - big screen, shoot-em-up enjoyment for sure. We've also tracked down a local massage joint well away from the tourist areas (in fact hidden in a sort of mini-China-town in the middle of Kuah). A visit there is near the top of our things to try out list. Friday was pool cleaning and gardening day. And my Kindle died. Which was the news highlight of the day, followed by being on the edge of our seats watching the results of the UK / EU referendum (and hasn't that given us a lot to discuss over the last few days). But more to the point my Kindle voted to depart the land of the living which is far more tragic in the long run and meant a quick jump onto eBay to get a pre-loved replacement organised. In the afternoon once it became clear that both my Kindle and Britain were entering a persistent vegetative state, we gave up watching both issues and took ourselves off down to the posh beach of Tanjung Rhu for a swim. Lovely and warm and swimmy - but the water was about 32 degrees - so after paddling about for a while we came home to the pool to cool down. The beach is one of Langkawi's most tightly held secrets and was "crowded" today with only 5 people other than us. Magic. Aside from movies (our new addiction) another very affordable aspect of staying here is the cost of petrol (which I do carry on about). A$0.56 cents per litre (or €0.38 cents per litre). So when the peace and tranquility gets to us in the afternoons, it's a simple matter to jump in the car and just take ourselves out for a drive. Saturday we decided to drive up to the Datai Resort and we had a squiz at the very posh and scenic Els golf course on the way through. And another squiz on the way back as the road pretty much stops just beyond the Datai Resort. Must say, even with a squillion bucks we probably wouldn't stay there. Felt very isolated way up in the corner of the island. Certainly not a spot where you can nip out for a curry or a Chinese takeaway. We checked out Pebble Beach on the drive back. Turns out it could easily be renamed Big Round Stone Beach. No need to visit that for a swim. Landscape gardening supplies perhaps, but not swimming or lounging. Sunday's drive was just a scenic trundle to the Oriental Village and back for a change of scenery. It was so hot and humid inland that my glasses steamed up when I got out of the car. First time that's happened. By Monday we had eaten our way through all our bazaar food so it was time to return to Kuah. There are new movies due out in a week or so, but heck, we felt like a movie and the run on The Conjuring 2 was about to finish, so in we went. Perhaps because it was nearing the end of its run, this movie was even cheaper... 12 RM each instead of 13 RM. Utterly terrifying. We both tend to be on the sooky side when it comes to scary movies - but a bit like taking a roller coaster... sometimes scaring can be therapeutic. This was such a good scary movie, we're actually going to have to rent The Conjuring 1. We hit the Bazaar about 5 pm and did a massive stock up to see us through the next 4 days until we take the ferry to Thailand. We have been getting friendly with our regular suppliers and even received our first open-house invitation for Hari Raya/Eid (the end of Ramadhan which happens next week). In fact Langkawi is getting positively Christmassy if there is such a word. The shops (and roadside stands) are full of new clothes as that's what everyone is supposed to wear for Hari Raya. There are decorations in all the shops - fairy lights, tinsel and so forth, mostly in green and gold. All seriously festive. You may recall it wasn't Christmas at all for young Shirley (last week's mouse catch whom we released at the local garbage skip). Well by Tuesday this week we thought we were going potty as it appeared that hundreds of invisible mice had been going potty all over the house. We couldn't sweep up the droppings fast enough. And yet, no sign of mice. We set the trap a couple of times and within minutes heard the fateful clunk from the living room. We raced upstairs to check on the victim... only to find a gecko slithering out of the humane box. Hm... Set it again... same result, darn geckos. Little guys are everywhere. Just sitting at the dining table we can usually see 5-6 of them. And then, in a lightbulb moment, we googled it. What does gecko poop look like. We thought they trotted out to the garden for business. Or didn't poop at all. As it turns out, it looks just like mouse poop - except with a bit of white at the end. Yessiree Bob. It is all about the poop in this caper. So now that we know we're not actually inundated with mice we're quite happy. Not as happy as you'd think... still sweeping up gecko poop - but at least they don't set up nests and eat sofa cushions! Now, you may be wondering about the title of this week's tale (tail?) The long tailed macaques have been at it again (that'd be the monkeys). Making us laugh and smile every day - even when sitting on the loo in our open air bathroom watching them in the trees. Well Wednesday morning James tried to get the reproduction vintage car going - very finickety and not in the mood (the car that is). So we left it alone and were doing dishes in the kitchen when we saw the monkeys climb onto the car, swing around the garage struts and basically look like they were going to dig out a (monkey) wrench and start the car themselves. Didn't happen of course and we allowed ourselves a modicum of amusement before nipping out to the garage and tossing pebbles after them as they ran into the trees. It's like they know I'm not aiming for them. Hey - even if I was aiming for them, they'd still make a clean getaway. So there you have it - Take the monkeys and run! Speaking of getaways, Friday sees us on the ferry for our visa run to Thailand. Is that "Paradexit" (exit from Paradise?) We shall see.