Langkawi- stormy seas & mountaintops

This is where we are sitting; the beach is below, on a soft grade down about 4 or 5 feet. The water came crashing up next to us, going out behind us and splashing our feet!
This is the wave action- although it looks so tiny here...
The winds were blowing so hard that the palm trees looked like fans-

This is a giant suspension bridge. It was the craziest thing we had ever seen! Below us was a giant gorge.
View of the ocean from the cable cars.
The cable car up the mountain; the crazy part is you go up two more peaks after this! It is super quiet in the cars when you are over the treetops... and crazy how high up it is!

Hello all!
I don't know about you, but I have never really seen the ocean stormy and wild. Not that we really had the biggest taste of it during our stay on Langkawi, but I have really never seen wind and waves like we did at high tide on 8/5 and 8/6. The monsoon rains were a trip too- heavy downpours and lots of wind. Drive you right inside!
The waves were so crazy. They were so high that when the trough was pulling back from the shore, it must have went 10-20 feet (I am probably exaggerating, but they were so big!) 8/6 was the craziest- no on was in the water (we played in the big waves on 8/5). It was hard to even take a picture, and the waves were crashing up where we were sitting, and water extending back into the yard.
One other wonderful thing that we experienced before it got TOO WINDY was the cable car to the top of the mountain. Gorgeous views! The suspension bridge on the top was surreal; I don't understand how one center point can support such a long bridge!

Langkawi-Animal photos

Dusky Leaf Langurs, who visited the restaurant at breakfast. Little more aggressive, and they are the ones that took a swipe at the woman who was trying to pet it like a cat!
Hermit crabs- they were everywhere at low tide.
Todd feeding and petting the stingray (he even got to touch it's belly!)
I am petting a sting ray.
A box fish (I held it and yes, it has hard edges and is literally box shaped! So cute!

Langkawi- A tour...

The mangrove river

Monkeys swimming and playing and jumping! So cute:)

Hole in the Wall... to the mangrove river!

Brahman Eagles... gorgeous!

Bats, in the bat cave...

Up close... as we looked at a mangrove pit viper (sorry, no good pics, but really scary to me anyway) this monkey was getting close, seeing if we had food.

Two little monkeys fighting in a tree one fell out and climbed right back up the tree!

Me and my pals, listening to the tour guide.

Ok, so you have to turn this 90degrees, but you get the point. cool cave!

Ah...Langkawi. Very touristy but incredibly beautiful. It is a world Geopark, and it is easy to understand why. The formations of the mountains are beautiful and there are many unique species of plants and animals... so gorgeous!

Today we took a tour through the mangrove river area and we got to see many amazing things. Monkeys! They were so playful and so much fun to watch! They were jumping of the trees and diving, and playing around dunking each other and fighting. We got to see them wrestle on the rooftops of some of the structures on the walkway and fight each other in the branches.

We got to see bats and many other creatures; mainly fish and eagles. The eagles were incredible; we watched them swoop over the water and pull things out and their diving was remarkale to watch.

Georgetown, Pulau Penang, Part 2

The buildings in Georgetown are mostly like this; the sidewalks are in the narrow archways, and there are open gutters/aquaducts in the streets, so most of the time we were walking in the road!

I know this is the most horrific expression one could think of while eating, but this food was out of this world!

The upstairs main hall. Talk about beautiful and romantic!

Scottish spiral staircases in the mansion

Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, the walls are washed with real indigo!

Dim Sum- I think this is the happiest I have ever seen Todd!

Doors to a Chinese Temple.

What can we say about this city? It is so charming! It is crazy and busy and so diverse... Chinese, Malay, Indian, and various other cultures all swarming in this port city. We were able to walk around and enjoy the sites much more since the monsoon like rains stopped. We ate Indian food at least 2x per day (that naan! and tandoori!) and just enjoyed the sites. We stayed in the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, which was built in the 1890's by a Chinese trader who was incredibly weathly. The building was restored (if you have seen the movie Indochine, the town and the building was featured in it) and it was gorgeous. The people were incredibly friendly and we had a great time chatting it up with an Aussie who was travelling alone.

We also stumbled upon some incredible Dim Sum.. I thought Todd had died and gone to heaven. It was the oldest place in the city to have Dim Sum and it was incredible. Busy, chaotic, and delicious.

Georgetown, Pulau Penang, Malaysia, part 1

The streets of Georgetown in the rain.

Well, we have made it out of Thailand. Our last day in Thailand was great; I got to see a sea urchin! (Photo later). It was just sitting in the shallow water, minding it's buisness. I would not want to step on one!
We took a taxi back to the port town and hung out there for the afternoon...and prepared for a long day of travel. A giant ferry shuttled us back to shore where we got to see an amazing sunset... and rain far away! We played rummy at the train station and hung out until our train arrived at 1am. It was crazy.... the train was wicked bumpy and noisy, and it felt like we were going to be flung off the rails at times! We were woken up abruptly and told to get all of our things so we could go through immigration into Malaysia. There were very specific dress code policies, about "hippy" that were not acceptable to be let into the country!
After our arrival here, we took another ferry to Pulau Penang. It poured and poured and poured. We walked around; there are really no sidewalks here and it is mostly stalls and shops. We had lunch at a place where we couldn't read the menu (thank God for guide books!) and then we went to Little India and of course, supplemented our small snack with some delicious Indian food. The place was alive with people; the food was so fantastic! We are up from a short nap and off to see what other delicacies we can find in this city of melded cuisine. Tomorrow we are off to an new location, at a historical mansion to see the sights in another part of the city.
Love to all of you and pictures soon!
Jes and Todd

The Other Side...Ko Phangnan, Haat Salad (no, not hot salad)

The elusive sea urchin at low tide.

I think this is a sea cucumber... they are so crazy~! This is at low tide- they are everywhere!

Ok, a better shot of the sky at sunset...

Sunset at My Way Restaurant, on Haat Salad.... (yes, we really are that sunburnt~!)

My hand after the little moto wipeout...

So, many exciting tales to the other side of the island...the sunsets are so very beautiful on this side! The beaches are much different. We took the advice of a man on the ferry to go to this resort, which was something else. I won't post much here, but I will say that it was partly shady and very secluded... we rented a motor bike and took it for a ride. We were so careful, but ugh! We wiped out in the driveway. Loose gravel and a really steep pitch will do that! My hand got tore up and I bent my wedding ring... Todd got some nice road rash, but we were pretty lucky.

The next day we hopped back on and went to Ko Ma to do some snorkelling. At first glance, the sandbar out to the island looks as if there might be some good swimming, but nothing special. It looked a little bit rocky too. However, there was coral and fish everywhere! Todd is much more adveturous than I and he really got to see some bigger fish out deep, including clown fish!

This is our last full day here and then we are off to Malaysia!

Last Night at Star Hut