Blog 22 - Blessings 2

In my last Blog called Blessings I described the events of a simply amazing day. If I could write a blog called 'Blessings over and above anything I deserve', I would.

And so the story continues .......

Having slept peacefully at Ulam In, which declares in large print on even larger signs outside and in that you pay whatever you wish to pay during weekdays!!

I was driven by Hadi, the owner, towards the jetty via a food shop so I could stock up with a weeks worth of snack food. (There are no shops on the island I had been told)

Over and over again I was offered food and drinks, anything I needed was not too much trouble. I was also told stories of the island as we drove through exquisite country side while places of interest were pointed out to me.

Mr Hadi Yusof had another guest house deep in the country side and as we passed it, I noticed that it too was of the traditional wood on stilts design. 

The house was over one hundred years old, he informed me with a smile. Such houses are becoming rare as the country develops and land is sold for huge amounts. By turning them into guest houses he hopes not only to preserve them but to also offer people a chance to stay in a true Island style wooden home.

At the jetty we drove passed the entrance to the large port and turned down a narrow track to a small jetty.

More food was offered to me while we waited for the boatman to finish his lunch .......

..... and then he waited for us, as the rest of our team finished theirs!

There is a ferry that runs a few times a day to the main village on Tebu. 

We, however, were to travel on a privately hired 'Bum-boat' as, for a 'huge' sum of 50RMs (£10), we could all be dropped off at the private and isolated beach that was to be my home for the next week.

As we edged out from the jetty and into the choppy water dividing the outer islands of Langkawi, I began to wonder just what adventures lay before me.

I am no stranger to living on an Island but as I stepped from the boat onto the eight hundred meter shore line my heart soared!!

The beach, as I said, is only reachable by boat, and my host Ishak (who I hadn't met yet as he was still in Kuala Lumpa) had purchased this strip of land over thirty years ago.

In true Island style, development was taking its time to come to fruition. 

There were other priorities to life on the island, like fishing and relaxing, and the resort, I was informed, would be completed one day!

Hadi had recently entered into a partnership with Ishak with the view to invest in the property and then manage the booking and running of the resort.

Three beautiful chalets were already built, some with furnishings, garden areas and verandas over looking the sea. In fact EVERYTHING was overlooking the sea!

Two smaller beach huts were under construction along with other ideas yet to be started.

My traveling party of Hadi, his cousin, Awand, plus the three other boys who were planning to carry out some work around the place, headed towards the far end of the beach where our quarters stood beneath the trees.

I now realised, the closed house that Awand had offered me as he chopped and cooked super for everyone (trying very hard to persuade me that tiny fish didn't really count as non vegetarian!) was actually one of the chalets!

I had chosen to opt for the open house and what an open house it was!

Set at about the same distance from the sea as my house in Moorea, an open four sided platform with balcony and kitchen to the side, stood waiting for me.

The men were to stay in a wooden frame house 50 foot beyond.

The sea broke onto the soft sand, the wind blew any unwanted bugs and heat into the trees behind us, the air was clean and salty; there was even a dog to walk by my side called Princess!

I had reached my paradise once more!

I dropped my bag next to my sleeping place, changed into a bikini and went for a swim! 

Warm water embraced me, not as clear as Moorea's lagoon as the waves here were churning up the sand as they dropped onto the shore, but just as inviting and supportive. Having swum in the pool at the condo for the past two months I had forgotten how buoyant the sea is!

Sun shone down from a cloudless sky, shells and leaves were washed onto the shore.

In the distance, beyond the huge rocks at the end of the beach and across the bay, Langkawi sat with its cars and shops.

As quiet as Langkawi was after Singapore, nothing was going to beat this stretch of beach for the next seven days!!

I sat in the surf while Princess waited patiently for my attention.

Together we walked the length of the beach collecting shells, string and wood to make mobiles.

Cuttle fish cartilage littered the shore while overhead one of the eagles that Langkawi is famous for, circled in slow rising spirals, before pealing off to fly inland.

On the balcony of my new home I sorted, cut and thread pieces of my finds together to form my first gift to the island.

More, I knew would follow, but for now I was happy as the shapes twisted and rippled in the breeze.

My next job was to sort my living area!

Leaves and twigs littered the beach in front of my home, a rake and brush stood against the balcony.

Mission On!

To me cleaning beaches is not a chore, we sweep, we rake, and the wind brings us more things to sweep and rake. I thinks of it similar to eating, we eat, we go to the toilet and then we eat some more!

Each day we do the same thing, it keeps us alive, it keeps us healthy, it can even give us pleasure.

I raked the leaves into piles ready for burning. I collected fallen palm fronds and added them to the pile.

The sea retreated down the beach revealing more and more shells and treasures and as the sun set below the trees behind us, Princess and I walked the beach from end to end in search of more bounty.

Tiny crabs raced back and forth as we passed, feeding on the nutritious morsels left by the retreating sea. Princess dived and pounced as they scuttled away, racing this way and that in excitement.

I was reminded of Rascals with her youthful enthusiasm for crab hunting and was pleased that Princess, despite her age, still loved the thrill of the chase.

We returned with my hands full of goodies, half coconut shells, more coloured string, an overflow ball joint? 

Tomorrow I would make more presents for my island.

 

The boys fished for their supper as a full moon rose from the sea. 

Casting their net just three times to feed themselves for the evening.

I chopped my vegetables, added some of the boy's rice and, having eaten my full, thankful and happy, I retired to my sleeping pallet to be nursed to sleep by the sound of the beating waves.

....and to think, I have a whole week of this!!