After our initial few days in KL, we took a five-hour bus ride to the island of Penang (no music videos blasting this time thankfully). In order to get there, we had to cross the longest bridge in SE Asia, over 8 miles long. While our hotel was definitely not anywhere near as nice as the one in KL, it did have a nice pool area, as well as easy access to the beach. We spent the first two mornings reading in a little beach alcove surrounded by huge rocks, and exploring the small town of Batu Ferringgi. Our hotel was off a rather winding and busy road, so it was not easy to walk anywhere other than the beach. What a shame, I know...
We got in at least two good beach hours each morning before the rising tide chased us back to the pool. I really can't complain, we did a lot of relaxing, eating and reading -- three of my favorite things.
The Saturday before NYE, we found a wonderful little wine bar in Georgetown (the larger, more developed town nearby), where we felt immediately at home. As I said in my last post, Malaysia as a whole presented as rather impersonal to us, so it was a real treat to walk into a place that felt like it could be in Boston or Buffalo. We were greeted at the door by a British man who we later befriended; after one look at us, he could tell that we had had a rough time getting there (our taxi driver's phone rang every five seconds, he did not know where he was going and it took twice as long to get there as it should have), so he showed us to a table and insisted that we take our time and enjoy the meal. We probably spent three hours there over wine and delicious French food, and eventually the place began to clear out and we got into a conversation with the patrons. Ultimately, they invited us to come back for their NYE six-course menu, which we happily agreed to. Even though it was expensive, we decided that it would be our best option in terms of being surrounded by friendly, interesting people.
On New Year's Eve morning, we decided to go parasailing, which was better than I expected -- totally exhilarating, exciting and beautiful and a little scary. Definitely fun. The ease with which we were permitted to strap on a harness and fly behind a boat was comical, albeit alarming. We hopped a van from the hotel to the local beach, wandered down to the sand and met a good-looking Indian man in his late twenties who asked us what we wanted to do (they also offered jet-skiing, etc.). Once we told him, he shouted out some commands to a motley crew of men hanging out on the beach, who just minutes before I had taken for other travelers. They sprang into action, supplying us with life jackets and helping us into our harnesses. No waivers were signed, no extensive directions were given, we were not even asked our names or if we had done this before. Our backpack went into a locker and we were hooked up to the lead line within ten minutes. It was probably a good thing that everything happened so fast or else I may have given too much thought to what I was about to do.
Right before we saw the boat pull up to the beach and knew our departure was imminent, a shirtless, dread-locked Malay man in his fifties imparted to Jeff the secrets about landing: "When you go up, you hold here (pointing). Not here (pointing). Here (pointing). We say let go. You let go. You up. You come around to beach, you pull down hard here (pointing). Not here (pointing). Here (pointing). Pull hard. We yell let go. You let go."
Well, glad that's taken care of then...
Before I even had the chance to turn around and ask Jeff if he was feeling confident on the landing protocol, we were instructed to "RUN!" And run we did.
After probably six or eight long, wobbly steps, just as I felt sure we were doomed to face plant into the sand and be dragged through the sand to our quite public death, the wind picked us up, the boat revved and we were up.
We were probably only in the air for about three or four minutes total, but it was very high and you feel like you are floating -- aka, you could fall at any time, because really, what is holding you up there in the first place? It was a rather grey morning, but we got a beautiful view of the entire island, and it was extra special because it was New Year's Eve. What a way to start the new year!
And are you wondering about our landing? See Facebook (it refuses to load here) for a video of Jeff's nearly perfect (he would give it a nine out of ten) landing.
Our New Year's Eve was rather low-key. We enjoyed our meal at the wine bar, but opted not to stay out too late, and ended the year with an episode of Friday Night Lights while fireworks went off over the ocean outside our window.
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| Happy New Year! |
Overall, we had an excellent holiday.
However, perhaps the best part was being able to gain some much-needed perspective on Liger in specific and Cambodia in general. When we landed back in PP, we were greeted with a huge smile by one of our favorite tuk-tuk drivers, a rather cool breeze was blowing (shocking, I know), and within minutes we were cruising down the now-familiar streets on our way home. The rest of the day included a one-hour ($10) massage at my favorite spa, cashew-caramel ice cream at Blue Pumpkin where I started a new book, and then the Chinese Noodle House for dinner -- fried rice and 24 dumplings for less than five bucks. It was a great day and a reminder of why we love this place, despite the roosters crowing at all hours of the night (and day).
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