A Holiday from The Holiday

To our regular readers: we've added some photos to older blog entries for you to enjoy

( Jenn )

Aug 19

Anica announces her arrival in this (believe-it-or-not) candid shot

We moved to Pangkor Island a day early and it was the best decision we could have made. Our resort here, Nipah Bay Villa, is simple but clean and lovely, like our place in Melaka. For 37 CDN a night, we have our own bungalow, air-conditioned, with a king-size bed, a single and attached bath, where the shower is an actual stall "area" of its own. We have toilet paper (whee!), blankets and coverlets and actual television even if we only get two channels. Our bungalow fronts on a courtyard area with a beautiful tree that blankets the rooftops with its branches and our paths with its flowers.

There are assorted frogs, cats and geckos to keep us company and a rather large black and white bird with a double bill. Two minutes walk away is the main beach and hawkers stalls. Five minutes gets us to Coral Cove with its stretch of virtually deserted white sand and almost clear water where we can lie under the shade of the trees and watch the crabs scuttle from one hole to another and the monkeys swing through the trees. And the food, the glorious food - did I mention our room rate includes breakfast? And not any old continental breakfast but the type of full breakfast which would blot out that price in an instant at home. Eggs, toast, fresh juice (whatever's been squeezed that morning - watermelon, pineapple, orange, mango...), coffee or milo. Some mornings pancakes, others french toast. And the other meals are delicious, safe and cheap. Last night we had steamboat. A burner placed on our table followed by a pot divided into two sections of boiling broth - spicy and non-spicy. We were given 3 plates of raw food to cook in the broth - one with noodles (two kinds) and eggs, one with vegetables (various greens, carrots, baby corns), and the last with meat (tofu, beef, chicken, squid, prawn). It was delicious!

(Rob)

Aug 21

We left Nipah Bay Villa today, and we were all a bit sad. Our waitress (for every meal for five days) made a special point of coming to our taxi (actually pink minibus, they all are) to say goodbye. She loved watching and listening to Anica's animated talk, and we'd had many good laughs together these past days. It just seems like a happy little community. The beach and its stores were used mostly by locals, with the occasional Westerner. Nobody was touting or scamming. The people at our resort were mostly other Malaysians, although we had a good chat with a Canadian couple last night. We all loved the beach, even when the waves knocked us over and embedded salt and sand in our hair. We loved watching the hornbills (a large bird) and the monkeys. We didn't try to sightsee, but that wasn't the point here. Beach. Eat. Sleep. Repeat...