Soaking up the Sun in Langkawi

Here's a mini-history lesson to enjoy over your Saturday morning cup of coffee. 

On August 31, 1957 Malaysia declared its independence - merdeka-  from the British. Thus, every August 31 is Independence Day here...usually. This particular year Independence Day fell on the same day as Hari Raya (the end of Ramadan). Not one to be stingy with its holidays, the Malaysian Government decided that this year Independence day would be celebrated on September 16 and gave everyone the day off. It's sort of like shifting the Fourth of July to early August. With a surprise long weekend on the calendar, Mr. Happy and I rustled up some friends from Singapore and took a quick jaunt to the sunny beaches of Langkawi in the northern part of Malaysia just south of Thailand.

We arrived a day earlier than the others and booked into the Rainbow Lodge on Cenang Beach. It's a no frills, budget spot but it was perfect for our needs. It was clean, the owners are friendly and you're a three minute walk to dozens of restaurants, the beach and nightlife. We shared the area around the lodge with some ox and roosters. It was sooo quiet and peaceful.

They could maybe use a new sign as the hot Langkawi sun has baked off what - I presume - is the rainbow the sign once sported.

While soaking up the sun, we noticed this new restaurant the Cliff.

It was fantastic!!! Sundowners? Yes please!

Obviously the views are gorgeous, but the food completely exceeded my expectations!

Yogurt marinated chicken skewers with sauteed onions and mushrooms to start.

 Grilled fish in banana leaf as my main.

And chocolate decadence on a plate was the final nail in my coffin.

Early Friday morning we grabbed some breakfast, and headed over to our fancier digs at the new Danna Hotel.

The front of the Colonial hotel looks out onto the marina and the back is the pool and a private beach. 

The views were great. The boyz especially enjoyed the ones from the bar.

Mr. Happy has been boning up on his freestyle skills so on our last day I challenged him to a swim to a nearby island. I guesstimated the distance was just about a half mile. A distance he shouldn't have a problem with...

Can you say, "Famous last words..."?

Unfortunately, Mr. Happy turned into Mr. Nervous once he hit the open water. Whenever I got more than ten feet away from him he accused me of having hatched a plot to kill him. 

I assure you this was not the case.

As storm clouds rolled in, I urged Mr. Happy to quicken his stroke. He wasted a lot of his much needed energy shouting at me. I suppose fear does funny things to a person. We made it back! Alive!

But it took a while for Mr. Happy to regain his cheerful disposition.

We capped off our weekend with some drinks on our balcony.

And a bit of dinner at the Marina.

Bring it on Independence Day wherever, whenever!

Fun Times in KL, A Catchup

Here are a few bullet points of how we've been keeping busy recently.

Mr. Happy looooves Mexican food. Unfortunately Mexico isn’t just South of our border here in KL. It’s 10,000 miles away and that means most people here don’t know a poblano from a piñata. We haven’t had very good luck trying out the few and far between Mexican joints in town. However, a friend of ours who is a genuine Mexican just opened a catering service here in town!

It was Duri-Andy’s birthday and we celebrated on our roof deck with some authentic-o Mexican cuisine!

The evening was topped off with a beautiful (and tasty) banoffee pie from the Baker!

Obviously, we can’t fill our gullets with rice and beans and not expect to work off our calories. Our over indulging meant it was time to hit the gym rink!

Who knew we had our own Roller Disco right here in Sungei Wang Plaza?!

It was well funkier than Skate Escape – the birthday venue du jour when I was growing up.

These days the wheel of choice is the roller blade.

Mr. Happy insisted they dust of the cobwebs and bring out a proper skate for him.

Unfortunately, said skates did not want to stay on the floor. If ya know what I mean! After landing on his bottom one too many times, Mr. Happy switched to the blade. Have to say, noooot a lot better.

Mr. Happy switched to a cup of tea. Success!

We watched the youngsters skate circles around us. 

And we also taught them a thing or two...

(the girl doesn't just bake!)

But then we kneaded a breather.

 Ahhh. the Electric Massage chairs.

Mr. Happy celebrated his British roots and took in the Royal Wedding along the streets of Bukit Bintang.

And we found an “English” pub that served Mr. Happy the world's largest chip buddy.

On the world's largest slice of white bread...

Speaking of buddy’s, one of Mr. Happy’s best mate’s passed through town with his new bride on their honeymoon!

We lost our heads at ED’s surprise birthday party...can you guess the theme?

And we continued the celebration with a  night out at the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

Last, we got a healthy does of rest and relaxation at the YTL Tajong Jara resort where we celebrated hitting three years of marriage!

 I highly recommend this place. If you are a Malaysian resident they off great deal$ so call and inquire!

And now you're all caught up on what I had pictures of we've been up to in Malaysia!

Back to Blogging

Back to School season is upon us so I thought this was an apropos time to finally…get back to blogging!

So without further ado I’m going to post a series of catchup posts as I try to remember what Mr. Happy and I have been up to the past few months.