Tanjung Rhu - Chapter 12

With just 4 days to go before our return to KL our lives have slid into a chilled routine.  Breakfast this morning was accompanied by a pianist, very relaxing and slightly incongruous, eating scrambled egg to the tune of Bonny Tyler's "It's a heartache"!  Onto our usual position by the Sands pool with books in hand and a bit of sun.  After about 10 minutes, I ambled down to the beach hut and set off for a morning sail whilst Sue continued to soak up the sun.

The highlight of the day came in the afternoon  - a boat trip - we turned up on the beach at our allotted time and were met by our guide who introduced himself as Fendi. Now hand shaking is not big in Malaysia, it's more like hand touching, a little bit like shaking hands with a Cowbridge estate agent,  so I was surprised when Fendi's firm and manly handshake belied his petite stature! 

Our guide, Fendi

 Apart from the boat driver and Fendi , we were the only people on the trip and what a trip it was!  Because the sea was too rough outside the bay we were taken through the narrow waterways that criss - cross this part of Langkawi, through mangrove swamps and open water to small islands.  Fendi's knowledge and enthusiasm for this vast area of virgin rain forest and mangrove swamps was evident from the off.   He was clearly proud of the natural beauty and unique environment that he had grown up around and he also explained at great length about how important it wqs to preserve such wildernesses.

 He even managed to spot a snake in a tree - he must have had good eyesight as the boat was doing about 25 knots when he saw it!  I reckoned that it was one of those rubber snakes that you get in joke shops, that Fendi had placed in the tree earlier in the day.  However, the closer we got to it the more reluctant I got to put my theory to the test!  "How long would it take to kill me if I got bitten?", I asked.

"The swamp pit viper will kill you in 5 minutes", Fendi chillingly replied! 

Real or not?

The boat entered a limestone cave with bats hanging from the walls and then emerged into an open area where brown and white eagles hovered waiting to catch fish and all with Fendi's non stop commentary!  On the way back we stopped to talk to some fishermen who Fendi knew who were baiting their lines ready for a night's fishing. 

 Our route home took us to a fish farm and restaurant.  This was a floating construction that was made of planks of wood and plastic barrels lashed together with rope! Health and Safety may have had something to say about it! 

Walking the plank!

After a bit of plank dodging and fish feeding we had a very refreshing glass of homemade lemon juice which Fendi paid for!  By the time we were back on the beach 3 hours had passed of our 2 hour trip!   A fantastic afternoon was had by all!

Dinner was at the posh nosh restaurant, the one where one has to dress for dinner!  Scallops, sea bass and lamb steaks were consumed  - eventually!  We sat outside in the midst of a howling gale and whilst our starter arrived fairly quickly, we waited over an hour for the main course!  Being true Brits and being fairly relaxed by the free cocktail and free wine that we'd been offered, we didn't complain - well, why would you, after we'd enjoyed such a great day with Fendi!