The country of Malaysia is two separate areas of land known as Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia. The two regions are separated by the South China Sea by about 400 miles. Combined, they’d be roughly the size of the state of New Mexico. Peninsular Malaysia is on the tip of the Malay Peninsula, a long, thin landmass that snakes south from the country of Thailand toward the South China Sea. East Malaysia stretches across northern Borneo, an island Malaysia shares with the country of Indonesia. Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, is located on the west side of Peninsular Malaysia, closer to the Indonesian island of Sumatra than to East Malaysia. East Malaysia is home to Mount Kinabalu, the country's highest point, which has an elevation of 13,455 feet.
It is a duty-free island and an archipelago of 99 islands. It is described as having swinging coconut palms and island shores fringed by powder sand beaches and mangrove forests. It is renowned for its swamps, towering hills and varied wildlife. It has four seasons: hot, hotter, wet, wetter. Today was no exception as it was hot and humid. I was not interested in any of the shore excursions so I opted to stay on board. And I am so glad I did. Michael came back looking like a drowned rat. As I’ve mentioned before, he has ants in his pants and there’s no way he is going to sit on the ship if there’s something outside to do. As far as I am concerned, you can keep Malaysia. There’s no way that I’m going to walk in that blasted furnace.
The day before we arrive at a destination, we get a port report about the history and the excursions. For some reason, Viking did not see fit to describe Langwaki as a resort with an amusement park and beaches. If we had known, we would’ve gone to the beach, it wasn’t until Michael came back that he saw all of this. He was not really thrilled with the excursion he went on. As you know, we love going to the beach, even though I get beat up and get sand in my suit.
This morning, I woke up with the usual pain. I take some Tramadol before I get out of bed and stay there until it has a chance to work. It takes the edge off, but it does not make the pain go away. Michael goes to breakfast and he brings breakfast back to me. I have not gone for breakfast once on this trip. He has been just wonderful to bring me my breakfast on most days. One of the items he brought back today was something I had never seen — Longan berries. It is related to the lychee nut. It’s not really a berry. You peel the skin and then you get this clear gelatinous blob with a huge pit in the middle. If you bite down on it, you could break your teeth. It’s an interesting taste and it’s hard to describe. It is often described as sweet and musky tasting. To me it tastes like clear, gelatinous blob. That’s the best I can do.
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| Longan berry |
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| Inside of Longan berry |
I went to the spa with Melinda. We sat in the very warm water for about an hour. Showered and then had lunch in the World Cafe. After lunch, we went back to my room and played BBO for a few hours. By then, the guys had come back. Michael was all hot and sweaty so he decided to have a quick bite to eat from the grill and then just jump in the pool to cool off. We mer Duncan and Melinda for cocktails, and invited Tom and Kathleen to join us for dinner.
Here is Michael’s report for the day:
Today, I participated in an excursion that I probably shouldn’t have. First of all, we are in the heart of Malaysia, where it is extremely hot and humid. Second, the walk from the cruise ship to the bus loading area was a mile, each way. And third, there really wasn’t much to see.
We are in Langawi, which is a popular beach resort in the middle of Indonesia. Its principal industry is fishing, followed closely by tourism. It attracts people from Taiwan, Singapore, and all over Indonesia. It’s growing rapidly,as evidenced by the number of new hotels going up.
All in all though, there still isn’t much to see. Our bus, which thank goodness was a modern, air-conditioned vehicle, took us first from the ship terminal to the ferry terminal, where we got to see a huge statue of an eagle, which is the city emblem. It’s made out of aluminum and concrete and it is very attractive, though not worth the trip to see it.
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| Greetings. Eagle is symbol of Langwaki |
Next, we drove about 40 minutes to a very small rice patty, or rice farm, which is really more of a museum than an active farm. We got to see how they grow rice, and then the history of rice, which I didn’t find particularly interesting. Then it was back to the ship. Unfortunately, only later did we find out that Langkawi has a number of beautiful, white sand beaches that we were never told about. Nor were we told that we were docked right next to a beautiful resort. It turns out that for $10, you get daily access to the resort, and that includes a free drink.
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| Amusement park |
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| African buffalo a.k.a. water buffalo used to plow the field |
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| Plumeria |
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| Rice paddy |
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| Rice field |
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| Thrashing the rice |
