Nationalities Visiting in Langkawi and Other Thoughts

I have noticed that it is much busier now than when we visited in September. We asked Tanya (the proprietor of the Red Tomato) what the busy season was and she said December to March. She also stated that the off season is much better now since Air Asia started offering very inexpensive flights to Langkawi about 3 times per day. It has really opened up this vacation place to Malays.

However, most of the tourists seem to be from the Scandinavian countries and Great Britain. Some of the retired folks spend 3 months here (Dec - March) as it is very inexpensive. Some of them have been doing so for 10 years or more. A decent hotel room is $100 ringgits which is about $30 per day or less than $1000 for the month, but I am sure there is a bulk rate for long term stays.

I am sitting in the red Tomato as I had to log in and send a couple of files up to my server in Toronto. You can really work any place, any time, in this modern internet age (even from a beach community). I am not the only person logging onto the internet as there are usually at least 2 others in the restaurant logged in as well. It's my guess they are social networking, however there does seem to be a few business types checking in daily as well. If you are reading this Paul Cotton, you will be connected at all times if that is what you want :-)

I must admit I am missing coaching basketball as it is a creative outlet of mine that I miss. There is also not much on cable as well so I will have to troll the net for some online sites that offer up NCAA games. Larry, if you are reading this send me a list of sites (not just Tarheels please).

I read for about 3 hours today as did Jaime. Shelley has been shopping as it seems she is able to find stores in the most out-of-the-way places. Jaime seems determined to work on her tan to make Jordan stop calling her the ghost (white skin and all). Tonight we are planning an inexpensive dinner on the beach followed by an expensive dessert at a restaurant called the WonTon which apparently has the best desserts in town.

They have a new sewer system in Langkawi which is not much of an improvement. It seems to be modeled on the sewer system in Subang Jaya which means that it stinks. You soon learn to inhale and exhale at the appropriate moments as you stroll down the sidewalk. If you get it wrong, you can almost taste it. I imagine it is probably better than before when it was probably leaching into the ocean on the beach. The stench of progress. I can't figure out why they use greats for sewer covers rather than solid covers. That would solve the stench issue. maybe it is just to remind you that Malaysia just looks like a modern country.

Apparently Canada has welcome winter! It is minus 55 in Edmonton at the moment and minus 18 in Ottawa. I suppose it is not bad that I am sweating at this moment as I type on my keyboard at 5:15 pm. It would be hard to type with gloves on :-) Time to go for a float on my air mattress as I watch the sun set over the ocean. Thinking about all of you ...

TTYL,

Jim