Xmas at Rebak Marina, Langkawi

We were happy to greet Dave, Maya, Arianne, Alex and Chris at Lankawi airport and bring them on to Rebak Island and find space for everyone. Despite the room we have on Cop Out seven of us made for a crowded boat!! We had waited for them to help decorate the tree which we hung high off the back of the boat anticipating damage control from18 month old Christopher. Cop Out looked very festive as along with many of the other boats in the marina we had hung lights along the boom. The marina is renowned for the Xmas season and despite being in the centre of a very Muslim world festivities abound. Even the stores play Xmas music as Muslim women complete with head coverings bag your purchases. Many cruisers make a point of being at this marina for the celebrations and many are joined by their families here. Carol singing, story telling and poems from talented cruisers was the lovely Xmas Eve tradition where all of the families joined together. This was followed by a pot luck which in true cruiser fashion surpassed expectations. It was a magical place to share with our family. Xmas morning was fun with Arianne and Alex opening the many little gifts we had collected and it was followed by a great lunch put on by the resort. The lovely pool area became the focus of the next week here and Arianne made a great friend with 9 year old Nina from Mojoombo—Australian, if the name does not give it away!! The two of them swam and played together for hours. We had worried about Alex—now 4—but he has a very easy going personality and was a delight happy to spend all day floating around the pool. Poor Maya spent a lot of her time off the boat with Chris as our boat is not childproofed for an 18month old!! He could see all kinds of knobs, buttons and many other things at his level which he could destroy. Unfortunately Dave was in the midst of launching a new Nike product which had been delayed so spent a lot of time on the computer and phone trying to manage the 15 engineers he has working for him in China and the US. He was able to spend some family time with the kids each day with the pool being everyone’s salvation. It was time to explore some of Langkawi so we rented two cars from Mr Din—these were $13 each for the day and as the best were already taken we got the worst!! We had Arianne in our red one—she chose it because of the great colour—note for future—NEVER choose a car by colour alone!! The rule is that you get one of his cars, no questions asked he hands you the key when you give him the money and then you drive to the gas station to put your $3 or $4 of fuel in which will last you the day. This time a previous cruiser had judged how much to put in perfectly and ours was out of fuel by the end of the drive way!! Mr Din had left so now we waited 30 minutes in 33C temperatures for him to return with a litre of fuel. Meanwhile Chris being a typical little boy practiced his driving skills. Once again we were on our way with the inside panel of Ariannes door almost on her lap as we drove to the Oriental Village and cable car. The village was set up for kids with a petting zoo, little cars, pony rides and huge pythons which they would wrap around your neck. We took the cable car which has one of the steepest pitches of any cable cars in the world which was quite spectacular. We returned to the cars at the end of the day to find that Chris had managed to turn on the headlights which we hadn’t noticed and a flat battery added to our “hire car” entertainment!! Another few days were spent around the pool until it was time for another “off island trip” for my birthday—oh no not one more birthday! This time we opted to drive to the mangrove area where we did a boat tour to the bat caves, fish farm and eagle feeding. The kids loved the dark caves with hundreds of bats and monkeys walking around. Arianne fed the stingrays and Alex loved the spitting archer fish. They can spit 3 metres to knock food from trees and will spit at your finger if they perceive it to be a possible food source. As we travelled on they put food in the water and the beautiful eagles swooped to feed. Next stop was Bird Paradise which also is set up for families where they sell you bags of food for the birds and animals as you visit them which the kids loved. After Alex had innocently mentioned that he could not wait for Nana’s party and cake we—realised that we needed to buy a cake. We stopped at a bakery where only individual cheesecakes were available so everyone was able to choose their flavour. They came with candles and as the lady was trying to sort out six, one for each cheesecake Ken suggested we bought the package of 10. In true Malay fashion we were told “no can do” as apparently you get a free one with each cake and if you want more you have to go to the candle shop. We no longer question the entrepreneurial spirit of the Malays so settled for the 6 as I no longer want to count the real number I need anyway!! The last few days of their visit was spent once again at the marina pool with Arianne asking us why we would ever want to leave here!!---as we look around at the palm trees and beach I can see her point. On New Years Eve sadly it was time for them to return home and we dropped them at the airport hopefully with the memories of a special Xmas. We treasured sharing Xmas with some of our wonderful grandchildren, something which our lifestyle has not allowed. When we return to “normal life” it will be a compensating factor. The marina put on a cruiser dinner for New Years Eve which was fun. They had the tradition a little confused with one of the highlights along with the strings of huge noisy banger fireworks was the “cake cutting” at midnight????? They do not drink and although encouraged us to bring our own liquor seemed to think they should do more and somehow thought a cake would suffice. One of the European cruisers wanted everyone to waltz to Strauss also so we bravely waltzed to Strauss and banging fireworks!!!—such are the making of memories!! We have now recovered from the busy season and most of the other cruisers are heading north to Thailand. We are readying ourselves for our New Zealand trip to visit my mom and Kristen and her family next week and will head to Thailand after our return.