Now if you’re thinking these blog posts are going to continue to be super stressful and anxiety ridden, you’re in for a sunny TREAT! Because for the next month we were absolutely blessed to be able to move around pretty easily in Malaysia, exploring the different areas and islands while still working and making a living.After a week in Kuala Lumper, gathering our bearings and sorting out our short term plan, we decided to appreciate the situation rather than get worked up about things out of our control, and planned to explore all that Malaysia had to offer.
Our first stop was Langkawi, which is an absolute dream island with sunsets that are absolutely unreal. Our friend who arrived in Malaysia a day before us, Sauda, is engaged to a man named Loay, who lives on the island and owns a restaurant with his brother (shout out Arang BBQ and Grill for the best food on the island), and invited us to come spend some time with them. Uncertainty was also creeping up into the lives of even those who lived in Malaysia, so we all felt a need for a distraction. The virus at this time hadn’t really spread throughout Malaysia yet, however tourism is one of the biggest sources of income for the people in Langkawi. So although we were blessed with far less visitors on the island, we could sense the fear looming as hotels, restaurants and other businesses were already taking a giant hit because of the lack of Chinese tourists.
Airbnb’s were sparse and somewhat off the beaten track so we decided to stay in a hotel centrally located, so we could be close to our friends and the beach. This meant daily cleaning, which is always a plus especially when you’re tracking sand in the room everyday, but it also meant eating out for every meal. And although it was only one week, we decided hotel living could not be our long term plan because we spent way too much money and actually enjoy regularly cooking our own meals. Our hotel was right on the beach though which was amazing to be able to walk right outside and have the ocean greet us. Kolja was able to run in the mornings as I taught my classes and overall we were really releasing the stress and anxiety that the last few weeks had brought into our lives. I think this week was probably the only week we actually felt like we were on a proper holiday, because our friends planned some touristy activities for us, they took us to all of the best places to eat and hangout, AND we were able to relax and really enjoy ourselves.
One evening that really stood out was my friend Sauda’s birthday celebration. Her fiancé, Loay, had planned an epic surprise picnic on the beach. It was so adorable and romantic. The ironic hilarity happened about an hour in, we were chatting about how the island hadn’t had rain in months and that the waterfall they wanted to take us to was completely dried up. AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW, the weather gods decided that night was going to be the first night in months that the rain would pour down on us. We laughed it off though, luckily having already finished most of the food, and were able to continue the celebration indoors at a delicious sushi restaurant.
I think this trip really helped us to embrace the present moment and lack of control, especially as we were able to temporarily get out of the stressful city life. It couldn’t have come at a better time, and on our final day (just so happened to be Valentine’s Day), we spent an awesome afternoon by the pool sipping cocktails, watching the sunset and concluded the evening by polishing off a feast at the BEST restaurant on the island, ARANG BBQ and GRILL! I’m telling you if you ever have the chance to visit Langkawi you can’t miss it!!! From the insanely delicious flavour of the food straight from the grill, the passion that goes into each dish, AND the epic brownies and apple crumble desserts, you simply must try for yourself. I may be a little biased as the chefs are some of the most gracious and amazing friends we were grateful to have met, but regardless of that the food is outstanding.
As dinner came to an end on that last night and we were completely stuffed to the brim, Sauda offered to drive us to the airport. The drive felt strange... we could feel the ending of the holiday and sense of stress free living come to an abrupt halt, as we were all discussing how uncertain things were in our home (Shanghai) and that we hadn’t before experienced this feeling of not knowing when it would be safe to return. The drive itself was short though and after bidding our farewells we were off into yet another airport (not to mention this time running super late and having to pay extra money because the gate had already close). Masks on, covered head to toe in jeans and sweat shirts, and that trusty yellow suitcase in tow, we were whisked away on yet another flight back to Kuala Lumpur for another week (hoping all too optimistically that it would be our final week in Malaysia, before we could head home)....... oh Natalie, how wrong you were.
Langkawi February 7-14, 2020
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