22 July 2008
Langkawi was eventful - no other word for it.
Arrived late on Saturday at the resort to find the villa we were staying in, which was a century-old restored Malay kampung house on stilts, had incredibly vertiginous stairs to the main bedroom and living area and even more vertiginous stairs leading down to the master bathroom. So, big sis and I swapped rooms with the parents so they wouldn't have to risk life and limb climbing up and down in the dark during the night, and the parents had the ground level living area instead. Less glamorous but so much more practical.
On Sunday, we woke up to torrential rain - the heaviest monsoon rains they've had all season. Curly and Larry braved the rains to hot foot over from their villa to ours. Curly was wearing her nightie รก la all the best dressed people in China (or so I'm led to believe by ChinesePod). Some time during the morning we decided to play Hide and Seek with them. Big sis and I proceeded down the stairs to the lower part of the house where my parents were staying to find ... not the girls but a river of water flowing from the bathroom into my parents' bedroom. Aaaaaarrrrrghhhh! The drains were blocked and the girls were blissfully hiding, oblivious to the water about to drown my mother's suitcase and ruin the carefully woven ikat rug artfully placed on the floor by the hotel.
So, rapidly adorning appropriate attire i.e. not my PJs, and a pair of waterproof flip-flops, I plunged out into the storm in search of assistance (no phones in the rooms). In typical understated English fashion, I spoke to the on-duty manager thus, 'Sorry to trouble you, but we have a bit of a flood in Cahaya (our villa). Could someone possibly come out and have a look?', when I should have been going, 'FLOOD, FLOOD! Aaargh!'
Anyway, they came, looked, fiddled around with the drains outside, mopped endlessly (a bit like Sisyphus) until the rain stopped, disinfected and left.
So that was our morning but there was so much more to come...
To be continued (as they say in all the best serials - or in any old serial)
Arrived late on Saturday at the resort to find the villa we were staying in, which was a century-old restored Malay kampung house on stilts, had incredibly vertiginous stairs to the main bedroom and living area and even more vertiginous stairs leading down to the master bathroom. So, big sis and I swapped rooms with the parents so they wouldn't have to risk life and limb climbing up and down in the dark during the night, and the parents had the ground level living area instead. Less glamorous but so much more practical.
On Sunday, we woke up to torrential rain - the heaviest monsoon rains they've had all season. Curly and Larry braved the rains to hot foot over from their villa to ours. Curly was wearing her nightie รก la all the best dressed people in China (or so I'm led to believe by ChinesePod). Some time during the morning we decided to play Hide and Seek with them. Big sis and I proceeded down the stairs to the lower part of the house where my parents were staying to find ... not the girls but a river of water flowing from the bathroom into my parents' bedroom. Aaaaaarrrrrghhhh! The drains were blocked and the girls were blissfully hiding, oblivious to the water about to drown my mother's suitcase and ruin the carefully woven ikat rug artfully placed on the floor by the hotel.
So, rapidly adorning appropriate attire i.e. not my PJs, and a pair of waterproof flip-flops, I plunged out into the storm in search of assistance (no phones in the rooms). In typical understated English fashion, I spoke to the on-duty manager thus, 'Sorry to trouble you, but we have a bit of a flood in Cahaya (our villa). Could someone possibly come out and have a look?', when I should have been going, 'FLOOD, FLOOD! Aaargh!'
Anyway, they came, looked, fiddled around with the drains outside, mopped endlessly (a bit like Sisyphus) until the rain stopped, disinfected and left.
So that was our morning but there was so much more to come...
To be continued (as they say in all the best serials - or in any old serial)
# posted by gilamonster : 15:05
