Last night after dinner, we looked out our window and saw fishing boats with green lights. We thought that was unusual, but the mystery was solved when Captain Frank said these fishermen use the green lights to attract squid, which they catch at nighttime. You learn something new every day.
We watched as the Zuiderdam sailed into the dock at Porto Malai, Langkawi, Malaysia while eating our breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill. Docking portside, we had the best seats in the house this morning. We noticed that the tour groups were leaving the ship well before it was announced that we had been cleared by the local authorities at 9am. This is their new trick to keep other folks out of their way, and reducing the confusion onshore. It doesn't always work.
Langkawi is a different type of Malaysia with white sandy beaches, isolated resorts with diving and snorkeling opportunities. It is also "duty-free" with cheap booze and decent restaurants and bars. During the day, this area is family-friendly, but in the evening, it turns into party-hardy we have read.
Tours today included a cave and fish farm adventure, or a craft market and aquarium visit. Langkawi highlites gave you an overview of the resort town. They ranged from $60 to $80 for 4 to 5 hours. We left the ship around 11am and walked the long stretch of pier, which was covered for shade. There were several mini vans that would take guests with walking problems to the parking lot past the Resort World complex.
This resort was spread out along the seaside and little marina, and was supposedly off limits to the cruise ship passengers. That turned out not to be 100% true as we would find out later. Passing many tour vendors offering excursions, we ended up in the parking lot where one shuttle was waiting to go to town. It was less than a 20 minute ride over the hill to the aquarium. The town was loaded with old-style resorts, restaurants, bars, and some shops. New high rise hotels were under construction, so the town will be changing. Most all of the eateries were not opened until the 3pm happy hour. That confirms what we read about this being a party-hardy town at night.
The shuttle dropped us off by the ZON Mall and the aquarium called Underwater World. Going to a side street, we found the stairway down to Chenang Beach. It was a long beachfront with soft white sand, water sports, and beach bars and cafes that were not opened yet. Many locals, resort people, and guests from the ship were spending the day here in the sun. And it was hot sun. We would think twice about going into the water since we saw signs warning about the stinging jellyfish. There was even a medical room just for treating the attacks. The water wasn't perfectly clear either, another good reason to stay out of it.
There were a few very nice restaurants situated above the beach, but they were not opened until later. So we walked back to the mini- mall, and checked out the stores. One thing for sure, the locals sure like their sweets. One of the biggest shops had every type of fancy chocolate you can buy. We saw boxes of durian candies, an acquired taste we think. And the prices were reasonable. Snack foods are a big seller also. These stores took every credit card but the one we had….American Express. Just as well, we did not need any more extra food in our room.
The rest of this mall had housewares, cosmetics, clothing and accessories. It sort of reminded us of a Ross that is so popular with the crew members. We saw that two shuttle buses were in the parking lot, so we decided to go back to the pier. It was already 1:30pm and hot as ever, and we hoped to find a place for lunch. And beer. We did find a great spot at a restaurant at Resort World, the complex at the pier. It was an open-air place with many tables under the roof. The ocean was on one side and the resort swimming pool on the backside. A wonderful breeze blew through the eating area, so this would work. The waiter was slow in coming, but soon brought us two Tiger draft pint beers. Ice cold and quite good….so good one of us had a second one. We ordered a Hawaiian pizza, however there was no ham on it. It was still good with a nice crispy crust and tasty sauce. Plenty of pineapple chunks and mozzarella cheese made it even better. We added a dessert of a chocolate/walnut brownie with a side of vanilla ice cream. It was all covered with whipped cream. We had inquired before we ordered anything if they accepted American Express. The answer was yes. They also took cash from everywhere but Indonesia and Thailand. Why, we don't know. So when they ran our card, it did not work. This has happened before, so it was no surprise. He had no problem taking US dollars. This was the most reasonable lunch we have had so far. It was under $35.
We took our time walking back on the long pier, keeping an eye out on the hillsides for the white-bellied sea eagles. We had seen some early in the morning, along with several small blue or gray herons. They were not flying now since it was so hot. We were back on the ship by 3pm, and relaxed in our room for the rest of the afternoon.
Captain Frank came on with his talk after the all aboard time of 5:30pm. Watching from our veranda, we spotted one young lady we know running to board with 2 minutes to spare. The Captain said we would be sailing 12 miles off of the coast on our way to Phuket, Thailand, our port for tomorrow. He expects the weather to be hot and humid with a strong chance of rain showers. The temperature will exceed 90 degrees and gave us the warning to be careful of becoming dehydrated.
Then he delivered some unexpected news with our docking tomorrow. There is a naval ship in that spot, so we have been moved to a tender landing instead at CoCo Pier. Local tenders that are able to transport more people will be used along with two of our tenders. All of that will take more time, but we will be arriving by 7am, which is good. We have been advised there are restaurants, cafes, and souvenir shopping at this pier, there will also be a shuttle taking folks to Jungceylon Patong, which we looked up on Google. It appears to be a large and rather nice mall, so we will probably be going there.
Then he added another request to please wash our hands frequently and use the hand sanitizer. This speaks volumes to us that there is a virus spreading again. The sanitizer is still being squirted in our hands before entering the dining room. If no one is there to do it, we help ourselves.
There was a promising sunset tonight, but the sky took on a veiled fog-like haze, and the sun was literally gobbled up before it went down. It was time for dinner where we had a nice talk with Presty. He told us about many problems they had with our stop in Bali. Getting clearance for the guests that were visiting family onboard was a mess, and he spent much of his time ironing it out. They had such a short time for the visit, made even sorter with the red tape. Interesting what goes on behind the scenes.
For dinner we had Caesar salads, a Thai chicken appetizer and the tomato/ cheese salad. Mains were one grilled pork chop and one KFC chicken dinner. Not really KFC, but we love to call it that. The waiters get it. Dessert was a scoop each of vanilla and strawberry sorbet. Sueli Tang entertained the folks with her piano renditions of Disney Songs. Now that's a different approach for a change.
Oh yeah, the clocks went back one hour tonight. You bet we like that.
Bill & Mary Ann
