Excitement in Langkawi: Fun at Night

We sailed from Phuket to Langkawi and berthed Villa G in the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club Marina.  The marina has been extensively upgraded and is quite nice and a super place to stay.  Previously we have only berthed in Langkawi's Telaga Harbour, but when I heard how nice the RLYC is, we decided to give it a try.

A major benefit of the RLYC is that it is in Langkawi's main city,  Kuah, and near many things including a nice urban park, shopping, restaurants and transportation.  There is a swimming pool on site and they arrange overnight laundry at a reasonable price.

On 22 March the annual procession of boats in honor of the Sultan's birthday was held.  It was a colorful site and pretty exciting by Langkawi's standards.

By the way, the steaks at Jake's Steak House within the Yacht Club's new Fisherman's Wharf complex has some excellent Australian cuts for a reasonable price.  Charlies at the RLYC still has good value and the new hotel complex with about 45 new rooms is a great addition.  We can also recommend Sugar Daddy's Ice Cream store in the facility.

I would also like to mention that the berths at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club are in good condition, the staff is very helpful and there is diesel available on the dock.  This is going to be Villa G's new home.

Great visit from Kim, Wes and Maddie Hodges

Our first American visitors arrived this week.  Kim Hodges and I worked together at Biovista Ventures (now Hatteras Venture Partners) in Durham, NC.  Kim's daughter Maddie teaches English as a second Language in Iskan, South Korea.  Son Wesley is in marketing in NC and decided to meet up with them in Bali.  It was great to see them and know that they were doing so well.  Great to get all the North Carolina gossip.  Very little discussion of American politics!

Group photo at Villa Cengkeh

Susan and Kim

Butterfly on Ixora (West Indian Jasmine)

Kim and Wesley

A Rainy Season Break

We were in Thailand on SV Villa G all of January and half of February.  From what I have heard, that was a very good plan.  There were lots of rain in Bali with landslides and gray rainy days.  Since the pool at Villa Cengkeh is solar dependent, the circulator was not working a whole lot; thus, the chlorine generator did not get to do it's job.  Hence the pool was growing algae when we got home.  In general the solar powered pool pump does an excellent job.

Other than the pool drama, everything else was fine.  The garden staff has been very busy keeping up with prolific plant life.  The garden looks very good for being less than a year old.  It is amazing what fertilizer and good rains can do for a tropical garden.

For the past two weeks there has been a lot of daytime sun and cool nights.  The pool looks fine after some help from modern chemistry.  We are beginning to water the garden by hand again, but hope there is yet rain to come.

Villa Cengkeh garden

Villa Cengkeh upper garden

Christmas Day 2016

It was certainly different for Susan and I to awake with 3 kids chatting about Santa (day break, 5:50am).  In fact, the first thing I heard was, "Santa did not come!"  Turns out it was so windy Christmas Eve that Santa had to leave presents in a protected area in the kitchen.  It was sorted out and Christmas festivities began.  Meet the Kee's.

Peter and Melia with Samuel, Erin and Isla

Christmas Staff Party 2016

Villa Cengkeh staff, Susan and the Kees

The Khee family: Peter, Melia, Sam, Erin, Isla, are visiting from Penang and were instrumental in a very successful party for the Villa Cengkeh staff.  Our staff are all Hindu, so the rites of Christmas festivities were a bit new, but the kids did a great job setting the tone and keeping things on the light side.

Mr. and Mrs. Buda who made the nasi kuning

In traditional Balinese style, nasi kuning (yellow rice) made by Bapak Buda of Buda Bakery was served as the main dish.  This was followed by pineapple upside-down cake made by Susan.  The nasi kuning was accompanied by seafood, meats and lots of vegetarian dishes.

After the first course, various games were organised by the Kees and a good time was had by all (Dana took photos so did not have to suffer actually being a game participant).

Things got quite for the pineapple upside-down cake

Susan baked lots of goodies for presents

Christmas 2016 at Villa Cengkeh Bali

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas here.  Very green!  There has been a lot of rain and the countryside is lush and our new gardens are prolific.  The garden staff is BUSY.  Wida and Putu are also busy inside Villa Cengkeh.  The Khees from Penang Malaysia are coming on Monday for the Christmas break.

Susan's baking goodies for presents for the staff and the kids (and me). Most of the shopping has been completed after trips to Carrefour and Toko Rejeki.  There's beer, wine and arrak.  Decorating is planned for the coming week.

 

What's Most Important at Villa Cengkeh?

SWIMMING!

Let there be no doubt, the pool at Villa Cengkeh is well used.  At least twice each day.  Twenty-five meters in length it is designed for laps in the long dimension and playing in the circular area at the west end.  There are steps in and out at both ends, leading either to the master suite or to the guest rooms.  It's Susan's dream setup.

Susan at rest

Susan getting serious