We love Langkawi

8:15 am and the yoga class can begin. Dorothy knows exactly what you need in the morning: a few dynamic sun salutations and powerful poses that invite you to stretch (God, do we need that) (http://langkawi-yoga.com/)

After sports and breakfast, we drive to Kuah and first to the banking district. There is a store near Maybank that sells bottles with a filter so you can drink tap water anywhere without worries. Dania would like to have them. A great investment for frequent travelers to avoid plastic waste.

We ask around and finally find the store - with closed shutters and a note that they can be found in the shopping mall. No problem, so we walk to the shopping mall and find: nothing.

3 times in a circle and then we hear: "hey, girls" behind us... from Hannover (we remember them from the last post) and also looking for the bottle. The world is apparently still a village. We find out that the store that was closed earlier is now open again. So we walk there again. And to make all this back and forth worthwhile, I also buy a bottle.

But now the day can finally begin, because we have an appointment with boatman Sham, Peter arranged it - with the promise that he would take us to an empty island.

For your information: it's not that difficult, because Langkawi is the capital (the main island, if you will) of an archipelago, north of the Strait of Malacca, consisting of 99 islands.

Boatman Sham is not the one spending the day with us, but ??? (I couldn't remember the name). We go out on the water (50€ for 4 hours) and first encounter fishermen fishing for marine animals and an older female fisherman whose boat was a little bit temperamental but still didn't need any help. ??? steers towards an island but doesn't let us get off, because there are fish here that would find our legs attractive as a snack. So we continue... we enjoy the breeze, the open water, the view of the islands... Dania realizes that she has always wanted to do something like this and is very happy... her joy increases when we are left alone on an island. She snorkels, loves the underwater world and I sit in the warm water... it's sooooo beautiful! Occasionally I look around, but there is nothing but a monkey in the distance and a few birds or crabs to see. It is peaceful and more than secluded, after a while we are picked up again. ??? had been fishing in the meantime - and was successful.

We head to a fishing village, ??? wants to show us local specialties. But it's already 4 pm, the pots are cold - no wonder at such an advanced hour 😏

Alternatively, we go to Tuba Island. Chengul? All! Nasi Goreng? All! I ask for a meatless dish. The lady points to the picture behind her. And I emphasize, oh well, all three of us emphasize, that it must be vegetarian... and I receive tofu (yes, vegetarian) and sausage (🙄) and seafood (🙄)

Well, that was a bust. However, a woman near us notices the unsuccessful ordering process and also reveals herself as German.

We sit down at the table and learn: Bosnian Mina is the mother of three sons, her husband is from Malaysia. They live in Stuttgart, but have lived in Kuala Lumpur for years. The Malaysian at the table is a friend of her husband's. She has known him for a few weeks and is now on vacation with her kids at his house on Tuba Island, her husband will also come later. We don't get to know him, but we look at the house and property. And the owner asks if Germans would like it because he is considering making it accessible as a vacation home: we give a resounding YES. Island quiet, beach at the house with a private boat dock... that's how you can spend your vacation. After a fruity snack, we really need to go.

On the boat, ??? occasionally asks if we feel like exploring the island with a scooter and him. Scooter? I must not be hearing correctly! Since Croatia, I no longer want to park my butt on it 😥 although I would have liked to get to know the island from ???'s perspective - we had a lot of fun with the lively squirrel.

We keep our promise and go, when we dock again, to the Melior (https://m.facebook.com/meliorlangkawi): the first vegan/vegetarian restaurant on the island. The owner is happy that we are coming back and is certainly even more pleased about our big hunger. I order curry and a smoothie bowl and Dania vegetarian rolls and pancakes! A poem - or rather 4 poems. And so the day can end and off home. Pack things later, say "goodbye" to the Tropical Resort Langkawi (with the pan flute music at breakfast) and move to the north of the island the next day...