The flock cross the pond...

Hi guys!

I've been missing...and missing your blogs...because I'm in Andalucia!  I've also been in the Arabian desert and in Malaysia.

Absolutely gorgeous places I've seen.

Four angle beans!  I've never seen these. Anyone grow them??

Malaysian hawker stalls...YUM YUM YUM !!!!

Four angle beans again and okra and snake beans...all things I must grow this year!

Catching the Vuelta (tour de Spain) ending in Madrid

View from our apartment in Madrid overlooking Santa Ana plaza

Segovia - I have been wanting to visit this city since I was 12 yrs old.  Amazing place.

Then a drive to Granada...

View from our hotel in the Albaycin area

 

The Alhambra - no words to describe how amazing it is

Guess our leaky roof will have to wait...the travel bug must be satisfied!  Our last trip feels like so long ago...I hope our girls are ok a home, the house sitter says they are laying every day and seem happy but I'm SURE they are missing us madly.  Our cat is with a friend who is a vet so I'm sure he's fine too!

Durian - a controversial fruit for good reason :)

We attended a wedding in KL, Malaysia.  After the wedding, my uncle took us to eat durian at a roadside stall...
The durian is known as the 'King of Fruits' in SE Asia but for many foreigners, it is a very stinky fruit indeed. I won't post the picture of Mr Bok's disgust but it was very funny.  When my sister visits Malaysia during durian season, she stays in the car! whilst her husband sits and eats it, so bad is the smell to some...but if you don't eat it, you're not a true Malaysian!

Heehee inside our rental car it tells us 1 day's extra rental will be charged 'if this vehicle pervades with pungent smell of durians' LOL!!  You will find No Durian signs all throughout Malaysia, on shopping centres, hotels, hair salons, doctor surgeries, hospitals...just about everywhere really  :)

It is a very 'heaty' food so it's not good to eat too much of it...you should drink water out of the husk of the durian to 'cool' your body down afterwards.

I found the image above on the internet, it is of durians growing on a tree - do you know they wear hard hats as protection when working in a durian orchard.  Reason is obvious really. 

Miss Bok took one whiff and refused to eat it so she settled for coconuts and mangosteen instead (one of my favourite fruits)

Mangosteen - yummy

Remnants of the durian husks at the stall afterwards

The other fruit we eat a lot of here and love - dragonfruit, rumbutan, jambu (green guava...?) and rose guava

I forgot to mention.  The night we arrived in KL, we were stuck at a police blockade for 4 hours.  The government blocked off KL because they were afraid of a protest calling for fair and transparent elections that was going to occur the next day. Protests are rare and illegal in Malaysia.

 

Peaceful protesters - very sad that the government responded so badly with teargas and water cannon. They prepared with busloads of police as you can see on the right. There was no need for that.  I am reminded again that I am so lucky to reside in a democratic nation.

It was really good being in KL to visit family.  Especially my one remaining grandparent.  She loves durian.  I tolerate it just to make her happy and prove I am Malaysian inside somewhere...even if I've lived abroad my whole life.

 

My gorgeous 90 year old grandma.  I hope I look as good as my grandma when I'm her age (me on the right) - actually wait, I hope I'm healthy enough in body, spirit and mind as she is at her age!

Steamy jungles of Malaysia

So where is Mrs Bok now?

I have the steamy Malaysian jungle behind me, the warm blue sea in front...and I'm in a blissful place.  Internet connectivity has been hard to come by, so whilst I'd normally post chronologically, I'll just share where I am now with you and fill you in on the rest in the next post.  I'm not sure how long this connection will last as a storm is coming, night is falling.

I’ve loved the visit back to see my family, but I've now left the main city (I'll do a post on that later) and have retreated to the northern most tip of Langkawi, nestled in the rainforest at the fringe of the beach.  I can see Thailand from where I sit on the sand.

View from place we are staying

Langkawi is blessed with fabulous stories of myths and legends, of ogres and gigantic birds, warriors and fairy princesses, battles and romance.  Then there are even horror stories of a mythical vampire creature that resides in a cave on the Dayang Bunting Island.  Barren women who bathe in the Telaga Tujuh Waterfalls can become fertile, because of a fairy that used to frequent it.  With a geological history dating back 500 million odd years, the islands contain unique rock formations that stir the imagination and baffle the mind. Numerous caves, with their stunning stalactites and stalagmites, taunt the adventurous and unravel their ancient secrets. 

My uncle was a fisherman here before he passed away and I can see why he didn't want to move to the mainland to join the family.

The rainforest in Malaysia is one of the oldest in the world, older than the rainforest in the Amazon.  However, the rainforest here in Langkawi was wiped out in parts by a huge meteorite that struck the island 10 million years ago so some rainforest is only 10 million years old.  The meteorite formed the bay, Datai Bay, where we are staying.

  

 

Warning on balcony doors to lock doors when not using the balcony to prevent monkeys coming in

 

Hello gecko!  See his/her little head poking up?  They are everywhere...

Can you guess what fruit family this fruit above belongs to?  The fig!!  There are over 200 types of fig on this island, each attracts a type of wasp.  When ripe, the fig releases pheromones that call the female wasps to it.  The female wasp burrows deep into the fruit breaking her wings in the process.  Once inside, she lays her eggs and dies.  You can imagine the lack of oxygen inside the fruit...the male eggs hatch first.  They eat the fruit, releasing air pockets as they go.  Once enough oxygen is released, the females hatch.  The males die.  The females fly out to begin the cycle over again.  So sad!!

 The fisherman comes ashore each day to sell his fish

We bought one (sea bass) and had it steamed!

Small monitor lizard compared to the ones we see at night... 

 

Tapping rubber trees

 Different type of monkey to the one at breakfast not sure what these are

I got a massage here!

Lemurs

 

 

 Dusky leaf monkeys are moving through the area, joining us for breakfast!

 

Sorry I couldn't take pics of the wild boar, hornbills, huge monitor lizards, flying lemurs, sea eagles and civet cats we've seen - my camera isn't good enough to take pics at a distance!  Hope you are all well.