Langkawi

The very next weekend Jenn and I took a much-needed trip to Langkawi (another island on the west coast of Malaysia), accompanied by a bunch of other teachers from CIMP. I will leave the narration of this trip to Liam Francis, one of the teachers who came along:

"When 13 staff members go away to an island, can we consider that staff development? I think so. It all started friday after school when we all rushed to get in a van that sped us to the airport. We all made the flight, and we all landed safely in Langkawi (an island paradise off the west coast of Malaysia... just happens to be a duty free island as well).

(The biker gang from left to right: Liam, Jason, Barry, Me, Steve and Chris - JB)

The very first thing we did besides settle at our hotel on the beach was to go and rent our motobikes. The first place we hit will go down in history as the worst bike shop ever. 6 bikes, 2 stalling out, 3 ran out of gas immediately (not enough to make it 2 kms to a gas station). So we were irrate. The second place we hit was better. And they used my expired driver id to cover everybody, 25 rm/24hours (about 8cdn). Then it started! We had our own little bike gang touring the island.

The next step was to look for the cheapest booze. And Langkawi is full of that... it wasn't hard. Meanwhile, the girls were back at the hotel waiting for the guys. Eating dinner by sunset on the beach right about the time that we were running out of gas in the middle of nowhere by sunset. But we came back with booze. The question of "what should we do tonight" came with an easy answer when the karaoke bar at our hotel was seen. We brought an iPod, 13 people, and booze. I don't know how many bars will let you play your own music, bring your own booze (and then give you glasses and bring you ice).





(A few rounds later from left to right: Elsa, Paule, Jenn, Rani and Brandyn - JB)

The place was due to close when "the deal" was worked out. They said they would keep the place open after hours if we paid them 80 rm/hour (about 23cdn). Not bad considering they would toss in 8 beers. 8 beers alone in KL is worth more than that, so we signed up for a couple of hours. (Note: This was actually 8 beers EVERY HOUR - JB)

During the days, we set out around the island for some sightseeing, and basically any excuse we could come up with to ride our bikes. We found beaches, good restaurants, and a waterfall that you could use as a waterslide and then sit in the frigid water pockets. Nice and refreshing break from the hot sun. Eating seafood on the beach is tough. But we managed. Then it was back to the karaoke bar for another night of our own party room.

Duty free island means: try to fit as much as you can in your suitcase. I bought 7 bottles of anything from Tequila to Whiskey and it ran me around 80 cdn. Between 13 of us, we basically can start our own bar now. Maybe we will.

I love Langkawi!
-Liam"