langkawi

we spent three nights at the tanjung sanctuary on the island of langkawi in the andaman sea, off the northwest corner of malaysia.  there's not much to report, really.  we lazed about in totally comfortable environs and on a private beach for three days, paying too much for average food and contemplating whether we should be more active than we were being.  our contemplations lead nowhere in particular, but did lead to some brilliant naps.  the sea was nice, the beach pretty and the wildlife quite interesting (the jungle runs up to the beach -- so we saw everything from monkeys, to funny-looking black-and-white birds with funny orange-yellow double beaks and long tails (i indulge in the scientific), to monitor lizards (which were proven to be as massively cool in the flesh as i thought they were when i learned about them in the 4th grade).

yesterday, we embarked on an 11-hour ferry, to taxi, to big a/c (with crappy a/c) bus, to taxi, to a/c (with less crappy a/c) minibus, to ferry, to a/c minibus, to ferry, to a/c minibus journey from pulau langkawi (malaysia) to ko lanta (thailand), through satun, trang and ko lanta yai.  it was grueling.  i sweat through my clothes 6 or so times and sat drenched in my own sweat for the bulk of the 11 hours.  ko lanta is nice thus far -- we're staying on a beutiful, expansive beach in a bungalow rented to us by the sayang beach resort.  we start a 4-day scuba certification course tomorrow morning.  it's the end of the season and there's few tourists around but, purportedly at least, stunning diving.  i aspire to be stunned.