shopping, swimming, sunburn, and sickness

after six days without an update on life in malaysia, i am sure you are very eager to read this blog. actually, i just hope this update will provide you with sufficient enjoyment proportional to your level of eagerness. with that being said, here it goes!

my last post was a mere two hours before i was able to meet emily at the airport, and this post is a mere two hours after leaving her at the airport. it goes without saying that the last post was filled with excitement. i have to say though, that dispite your possible assumption, this post is filled with excitement as well. it was really hard to say goodbye, but now i get to look back on six amazing days and share them with you.

shopping in malaysia is so much fun. as a man that generally arrives at a mall and leaves within 15 minutes, my time in malaysia has proven to be quite the opposite. the time with emily was just the same. though just one purchase was made, over two hours were spent between our time at the central market and feasting on indian food. following that time, as well as a visit to independence square, we walked back to klcc. this 25 minute walk proved that swollen feet don't fare well in sandles that aren't frequently worn. a rather large blister formed on emily's left foot, but she was quite the trooper then and the remainder of the trip. the only time complaints were made were when the sticky part of the band-aid moved over the actual blister. that seems like a cause for complaint to me.

the following day was amazing! travel in malaysia is amazingly cheep which made it possible for a three day trip to langkawi. arriving at the airport was exciting. airasia was the airline of choice and all of the gates to check in were quite long. getting nervous, i happened to notice a bored counter worker with nobody in line. looking above her head was a sign that read "check-in: langkawi." we got our tickets, ate a tasty mcdonald's biscut sandwich, attempted to drink scaldingly hot tea, and went to board the plane. what i experienced next is something i will not soon forget. i used that phrase in my blog discussion of thaipusam, but this is quite a different memory. i always knew emily loved to travel, but to see her jet-lagged self express the excitement and thankfulness for my making this trip possible brought me so much joy. flying over acres upon acres of palm trees, amaing rainforest covered mountains, and the ocean was one thing, but to fly over at least 25 islands and the beach that we would later explore and relax upon was quite another.

we were quite unsure what to do once we arrived, but we knew to exchange some money and head to the beach! after our 20 minute taxi ride, we checked out the beach, grabbed some amazing fruit and indian breakfast to be washed down with pineapple juice, and wandered down to a hole in the wall travel agency. we decided not to rent a car that was offered to us for 70RM for a day's use without our possession of a driver's licence (we both forgot them in kuala lumpur), but we settled on a four hour boat ride that would take us through all of the islands we had just flown over and drop us off to explore and relax on three islands. this proved to be a really wonderful decision. the first island was exciting from the first minute. as soon as we got off the dock, a monkey had alread grabbed a grocery bag from a lady and was having its way with the contents. the island suprisingly had a fresh water lake in it where we rented a paddle boat for half an hour. the quality of the boat was not great as was evidencied by our 15 minute non-stop paddling that only moved us a few hundred yards, but exercise was good and it brought great laughs. another island we visited had the most amazing beach i had ever seen being nothing short of a perfect postcard beach. getting back to our original destination around 6:30, we had just enough time to eat an indian supper in air conditioning before watching the the beautiful sunset. it was a perfect day i didn't think could be any better.

the following day was more than enough to prove me wrong. we spent the day simply enjoying pentai cenang. this is the amazing beach where we watched the sunset the night before. i had always thought that chilling on a beach all day was a waste of time and there was so much more to see, but i couldn't have been farther from the truth on february 18th. emily and i spent the day applying sunscreen, talking, applying sunscreen, swimming, applying sunscreen, talking...i think you get the routine. the only time there was a break was when i went to get us more water or we left for a meal. oh and speaking of a meal, the red tomato cafe in langkawi is amazing! we got a few pineapple juices, mango lassi, and two plates of a mix of scrambled eggs, potatoes, the most ridiculous bacon ever, cheese, sprouts, onions, and so on, with a homemade roll on the side. it sounds basic and you may be thinking that i was just really needing an american meal, but that is just not true. it was amazing! to top it off, the cafe had free wifi, so emily and i were able to email our parents. that was cool.

our last morning, thursday, before heading back to kuala lumpur was when we were able to ride langkawi's cable car. riding this was our priority while we were there, but it was closed for maintenance tuesday and wednesday. the view of the entire island as well as the islands surrounding langkawi are quite unique. it was quite a treat to get our sunburnt bodies to the top of the mountain for the amazing view it provided. being a wee bit afraid of heights, walking across the bridge was definitely the hardest part of the trip, but i couldn't get that high and not see the view from the bridge. unfortunately our trip was cut short because of our need to get to the airport, but it was a trip very well worth while.

the rest of that day, i was getting sick and we were both pretty exhausted so we ate at chilli's in the petronas towers mall and watched "the music man."

friday i was definitely sick, so we lounged around. it seems like a lame way to end the trip, but it turned out to be a really great day. we caught up on "24" and watched "rocky."

emily left today at 10am.