Kuala lala Lumpur.

Na zmianę nam się coś ostatnio przytrafia lepsza destynacja na zmianę z gorszą. Kuala Lumpur zaliczymy do gorszych bo to takie miasto jak...Warszawa. Dokładnie naszą stolicę mi przypomina, bo miasto niebrzydkie, ale niewiele w nim do oglądania. Malezja jako taka wogóle do polski podobna niech was nie zwiodą niektóre egzotyczne zdjęcia. Podobna, a powiedziałbym, że pod niektórymi względami nawet lepiej rozwinięta. Infrastrukturalnie bije nas na głowę dla przykładu! Wspominam teraz te wszystkie przestrogi typu - "dokąd wy jedziecie? Przecież tam ludzi jeszcze jedzą!" i tym podobne. Otóż rozczaruję was, siedzimy w tej europie i wydaje nam się, że mamy szczęście bo się do cywilizacji zaliczamy, a tu taka hucpa - Chińczyki i Malaje nas wyprzedzili!

Wracając do tematu, pierwszego dni trafiliśmy do Chinatown. Miało być Chinatown, a wyszło jak zwykle :) U nas to się nazywało Stadion, tutaj Chinatown. Ale tu chociaż dobrze zjedliśmy co prawdopodobnie byłoby niemożliwe na rodzimym Stadionie. Żal tylko, że tak mało bagażu możemy mieć ze sobą bo w "promocji" można było dostać ray-ban'y, Luis Vitton'y, Paule Smith's-e etc. i to wszystko za równowartość 15 PLN.

Pola rośnie w siłę!

Śmiało można ocenić również pod innymi względami, że podróż Poli służy. Na lotnisku w Langkawi korzystając z krótkiej nieobecności i kierowani ciekawością szybciutko zrobiliśmy Poli "ważenie". Wynik zachwycający! Te 100gram trzeba co prawda odjąć na ubranie, ale i tak trzeba przyznać, że jest dobrze jak na 7 miesięcy.

Langkawi- Malaysian countryside.

Apart from being a popular tourist destination Langkawi has remained a peaceful little island with real countryside accents. Small wooden bungalows along bumpy gritty roads now often flooded. Along the roads, cows peacefully graze, hens and chickens stroll around and people go about doing their thing.
After dusty and smelly Penang being here is so refreshing. The best atmosphere is definitely after the sunset. The beach is nice and quiet. Away from it the chirping of local birds, grasshoppers and croaking of frogs is the music that really soothes the ears.

A bumpy ride round the surrounding islands.

Next morning all 5 of us go for a boat trip round Langkawi islands. I am little worried whether moody Pola will be OK with a 4-hour long trip. The problem however turns out to be of a different kind. The man which drives the boat is a busy man, he’s got long queue of people waiting for their turn and so he tries to do everything as fast as he can. He drives the boat as if he was carrying bags of potatoes, not people. Although the sea is calm, occasional waves cause the boat to jump up, what was supposed to be a leisurely ride turns out to be a bumpy one. Judging by the faces of fellow passengers, they feel as uneasy as I do, it is me however who enjoys is the least, for I have to hold Pola tight praying she does not fall out of the boat when it hits the next wave. I was hoping she would go down for her nap on the boat, I have no doubts that being thrown around as she is, we have to forget about it. After a 10 minute ride we stop at the first island, where are welcomed by a bunch of cute little monkeys. Adorable little creatures they know their charm and before you know it jump on your backpack in search of food. Half an hour on the island and we get back on the boat. Pola who has just managed to fall asleep is abruptly woken up, fortunately she takes it lightly. We stop for a while in the middle of the sea to watch some birds circling above our heads then the crazy ride continues. After another ten or so minutes the boat finally pulls off by another island with a nice beach and so we all go for a swim. Well, myself and Pola splash about close to the shore. The water is nicely warm and clean.
Some hour later and our driver returns to take us back to Langkawi. Although visibly tired, Pola has refused to sleep on the beach and so is in a quite bad temper. I cuddle her hoping she will fall asleep during the ride, but the boat hits the water with such a force that instead of falling asleep Pola begins to cry. I give up trying to put her to sleep and just pray for the trip to be over. Thank goodness she does not throw a tantrum but lets me to be comforted and minutes later we are on shore. Another lesson learned. Next time I will remember to check whether the activity is suited for infants. This was definitely not although, except for the final ride back to Langkawi, Pola took it really well.
All in all, it would have been a really nice trip if only the boat didn’t go at such a speed and we had more time to admire the view. Business is business and time is money, as they say. There are others who unaware of what they are about to experience eagerly await their turn.

Langkawi. Pantai Cenang.

Langkawi turned out to be what I expected Penang would have. Much smaller and nicer organised, exceptionally green and full of lovely eateries, guest houses and beaches is definitely a place where leisure tourists want to be. We are to stay here for 2 days and I am already feeling sad that we had wasted so much time in Penang while we could have enjoyed ourselves here. Oh well, there is no use crying over spilled milk. Two days is still enough time to have fun. We have decided to make the most of it.

We got to Langkawi on a ferry in the afternoon and called up a local with whom Seb had organised our stay. It turned out that we are not the only Poles he is hosting. Another couple visiting from a nearby Kadar and a lone globetrotter (all three are our peers) had arrived 1 day before us. We spent a nice evening on the beach with them sharing our travel experience and plans. Turned out Marcin accompanied by his wife Miriam teaches at the uni in Kadar, they are to stay in Malaysia for a year then head off to Australia. Australia is a destination the lone traveller is planning to visit as well, that’s another thing then we all have in common.

Rainy days.

The monsoon weather has reminded us of itself and so after the first few sunny days Penang is soaked in water. The rain has been pouring so heavily that we were forced to stay in the hotel. While being confined to sitting within four walls is boring to any-one, it was Pola who, after two weeks during which she had been enjoying travelling immensely has turned little moody, moaned the most.
Fed up with Penang we decided to escape “the Pearl of the Orient” two days earlier than we had initially planned.

Just what were you thinking, mum!

A visit to Penang National Park was another bit of a flop. A flip-flop :P
For some reasons I assumed that the park would be a flat terrain with many nice pathways to stroll around. Silly me. Although no stranger to national parks ( just before heading for the long trip we had paid a visit to Tatra Mountains National Park) I decided that wearing casual clothes and flip-flops would do. Although our destination was Monkey Beach and we were walking along the coast line, the walk proved to be quite a challenge. Narrow path with huge stones and large tree roots sticking out of the ground made it a difficult walk indeed. Determined to reach our destination, we were slowly moving up before being finally stopped by a huge log of a fallen tree. There was no way we could get over it or around it. Not in flip-flops, not with a baby sleeping in a sling in front of me.
Still, despite difficulty and high humidity, the walk itself was a pleasurable experience and I would strongly recommend visiting Penang National Park to all those who happen to be on the island.

Czemu od razu nie trafiliśmy na Langkawi?

Wygląda to dla nas teraz trochę na pomyłkę z całym tym Penang, bo wszystko czego się spodziewaliśmy po tamtej wyspie znaleźliśmy tutaj! Różnica polega na tym że tam byliśmy 10 dni, a tu 3. Trochę za długo tam, dużo za krótko tu.
To wcale nie jest tak, że tu jest tak dużo więcej do zobaczenia. Chodzi o atmosferę. Tu są wakacje pełną gębą. Jest po prosu fantastycznie. Mała wioska, świetne plaże, bar nad wodą i piwo po 4 złote (czyli akceptowalnie na Malezję). F-A-N-T-A-S-T-Y-C-Z-N-I-E!!!
Dziś z baru na plaży napiszę tylko tyle więcej, że to jest właśnie ten sen, to marzenie które wszyscy mają na myśli zachwycając się pocztówkami. To jest właśnie ta nieskazitelna plaża i te leniwe godziny które każdy z nas widzi myśląc o odległej wyspie i upragnionych wakacjach. Pakujcie się i przyjeżdżajcie, znaleźliśmy to miejsce!