Today I packed up all my things with the intention of going to the Reggae festival in Langkawi. Before I left my room I thought I should quickly check my flights to make sure that my first destination was Langkawi so it didn't mess up my plans too much. I was kind of disappointed to see that my first stop was actually Penang meaning that if I went to Langkawi today I would have to leave Langkawi to go to Penang (just because I have heard some good things about it) and then go all the way back to Langkawi to catch my flight to Kuala Lumpur ready for my flight to Sri Lanka. Or, if i didnt go back to langkawi to catch my flight then i would have to make new arrangements to get to Kuala Lumpur. Despite buying my ticket for the festival already it really didn't make much sense as I would have to be paying for whole new travel arrangements so I decided that I would not go to Langkawi until the 6th April - as originally planned. In the meantime I would visit Cameron Highlands (a tea plantation) and Taman Negara (a national park with the oldest jungle in the world - suggested by Burung) and then get a bus to Penang for maybe one or two days. I walked out of Panorama armed with all of my bags ready to take on the ridiculously difficult task of walking from long beach to coral bay to catch my boat. Then who do I see calling me from behind, Burung's friend. Burung had sent him over to wait for me (he had no idea what time I was leaving my room) to help me with my bags. I only gave his friend the small day bag because I figured I am not going to have Burung or his friend at my next destination and I really need to start getting used to it. I was so focused on the walk over there that I didn't talk or anything. I just focused on the task at hand and kept in the zone. I had done the walk many times before but today i realised just how big the upward climb is once you first get on the path. I was so pleased with myself when I made it to Mama's Kitchen (coral bay) without having stopped.
Burung was waiting for me at Mama's Kitchen - i did not expect to see him. He told me that if I wanted to go to Taman Negara I would have to catch the 12pm boat to the mainland to get the 2pm mini bus.
Burung caught the boat with me back to the mainland as he was going to arrange the trip to Taman Negara and Cameron highlands with his company.
I actually felt quite sad on the jetty as I looked out towards the sea, despite being so contented and filled with happiness, i was sad because i had built a great connection to Burung and would miss him a lot. At that moment I felt a little twinge in my heart - I hadn't felt any movements in my heart for a guy since the breakup and I realised that my heart had taken its first step towards being mended - it was probably just a small stitch but it felt nice.
Upon arrival at Kuala Besut, Burung found out that actually there was only 3 of us that wanted to go to Taman Negara and the mini bus would not take us unless there were more people. Therefore I would have to spend a night in Kuala Besut before catching a 10am bus. Burung said he would take me back to the islands until the last boat back to the mainland so I wouldn't be bored.
We didn't make it make to the islands as he was picking people up and dropping people off which meant we got to the island, picked people up, and then went straight back to the mainland. Burung recommended somewhere for me to stay for the night and said he would borrow a friends car to show me around - he also drove me to the hotel.
The room was expensive but I was quite looking forward to staying in a solid foundation for the night having spent the last 6 nights in a wood hut with holes and bugs everywhere. I walked into the room and was so disappointed! There were Mosquitos everywhere as the bathroom window didn't shut. I got bitten whilst creaming after my shower!
Burung and I had arranged to meet at 7pm - I hadn't eaten a thing all day and I felt miserable and depleated as hell. Ok tell a lie, I had drank a lime juice in the morning and then on the last boat coming back to the mainland Burung had given me some dried fish things and sweetcorn juice. By the way, sweetcorn juice is amazing! The idea of it was a bit odd but to my surprise it tasted really nice. It was basically sweetcorn blended with some milk, ice and sugar I think.
I got ready, met Burung in reception and he took me to a street market to get some snacks before dinner.
The street market was so incredibly cheap - there were no foreigners in sight. I bought some prawn balls - like salt fish fritters but not as flavourful (four for rm1) and a kebab type thing (rm2) which was like a pancake that had some kind of chicken curry sealed inside. Also i bought a freshly made coconut juice. Burung was taking me to the beach to eat the food. It was a nice drive - we went through villages with some beautiful houses. I was so amused to see the cows just strolling across the roads again.
Upon arrival at the beach (it was dark by this point), I walked onto the sand heading towards a table to eat and felt something itchy on my foot. I started scratching it thinking it must just be me, and then Burung, who was just walking towards me, made an ouch noise and started scratching his feet! There were red ants everywhere!!! We both ran off the beach lifting our feet up like stepping on hot rocks. I couldn't stop laughing! It was small things like this that perhaps I would get annoyed about in England but this country had just made me see everything as an experience and thankfully lifted my heart to allow me to laugh uncontrollably at such situations.
We drove towards the restaurant that Burung had recommended - a place where they did barbecued fish. I was amused and slightly embarrassed when I walked in and all the locals turned to look at us - the place probably didn't get tourists very often. I probably didn't make it any better by standing there taking photos of everything. The place was cool though - it had stations where different parts of the magic happened. The first station was where you picked yor fish - Burung recommended the red snapper (it was a different type to the one I had tried previously). The man behind the counter weighed the fish before handing it over to the next station. This station is where they lay out a piece of foil, put a banana leaf on it, put the fish on, and then smother the fish in this special sauce (garlic, ginger, lemongrass, chilli). It is all then folded into a nice package and handed to the next station - the barbecue. The man barbecued the package, which means that no sauce gets out and also that the fish is so succulent. There was one more station where they made the drinks and rice. Me and Burung ate the food with our fingers - it beat kk food!!
After dinner I wanted nothing more than to sleep - the lack of food all day had exhausted me beyond mend. Burung took me back to the hotel. I turned on the light to my room thinking yay, I am not going to see any weird creatures tonight - sooo wrong! As soon as I turned on the light, I think it was a gecko, quickly ran down my wall and behind the cupboard. I don't mind geckos because they are super cute but this room didn't have a mosquito net and I could still see the mosquitoes flying around me. That night I sleep with my whole body and face immersed under the quilt - carefully positioning the blanket to tuck tightly around and under me so that no bugs could get it! I wanted to put my face out but I am always reminded of my time in Spain with my papa and brother. I was drunk one night and thought it would be a great idea to sleep in my sleeping bag on the balcony - the only thing that was exposed was my face - I figured Mosquitos wouldn't bite my face! Boy was I wrong! I walked into the room the next morning greeted by a huge roar of laughter from my brother and dad. I looked in the mirror and honestly, I looked like Quasi Modo!!! I had bites all over my face and even on my eyelid!! I wasn't taking any risks this time!
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