Goodbye Langkawi - goodbye holiday

Day 27 - Monday October 8.

On our last morning here I had one last early morning quiet time on the beach with Flynn. 

I wanted to take as many photos as possible as I knew that with all the places in the world to possibly visit, we wouldn't be coming back again, purely because there are so many other places to explore in south-east Asia and that if we had the opportunity to travel again, I would go there first rather than revisiting a place I had already seen.

While on the beach I had plenty of time to reflect on the significance of the day. It was the 8th of October, exactly one year since my good friends Lisa and Aaron had lost their beautiful son Noah who was also very dear to me. He taught me more lessons in his ten short years than I will ever learn even if I live to 100. It was also especially sad because I knew my beautiful friend Lisa was having to remember the day without her best friend by her side. Aaron was the one person who would understand and heal her the most, the only other person who loved Noah and knew him as much as her.

I remember that we were in Bridport a year ago and on the day Noah left this earth, I wrote in the sand and even though the same day, a year later the beach I was on, was thousands of miles away, I hoped that Noah could see my message once again and radiate some love from me back to his Mum from this other part of the world.

We had one last amazing buffet breakfast at the resort. We were already lamenting about going back to weet-bix and vegemite on toast.

It had been so fun with no responsibilities, deciding what we would do at the beginning of each day with no set routine or rush to be anywhere.

Mum and I and Flynn went down to the beach and it started to rain and Flynn loved running around in it.

It didn't take long for the sun to come back out.

This is the fountain at the front of the resort where we waited for our taxi to come and take us to the airport.

We loaded all our luggage into the golf cart and said goodbye to our beautiful apartment.

We kept seeing planes fly overhead as they came in and out every hour and I kept thinking that the time had gone too fast and wishing that we had a few more days on our island paradise.

One last walk through the main foyer of the resort after settling our bill.

And so now we come full-circle back to my first post when we got home, on Tuesday October the 9th.

It was an amazing holiday, an amazing journey of discovery, of self-discovery as well as new cultures, a greater awareness of the world, a deeper sense of appreciation. But most of all it was a real privilege, a real privilege to have had that opportunity to make so many wonderful, never to be forgotten memories with my family...  my husband, my kids and my Mum.

Oh and finally thanks Mum for putting up with our noisy lot 24/7. We love you heaps. And seriously, thankyou Mum from the bottom of my heart for helping make this holiday a reality for us all.

Where to next - I wonder if anyone has taken 5 kids on the Great wall of China. ;)

Our last days of paradise

Day 25 and 26 -  Saturday October 6th and Sunday October 7th.

With only a few more days left of our month away, we decided to fit as much into relaxing as possible.

Mum and I love. to. read. Actually all Mum's 4 girls love to read. If I am somewhere and am bored, I love just picking a book up off the bookshelf and starting to read and escape to another world and thus escape the boredom of the present. That doesn't mean if you catch me reading at your house that I'm bored. I just also love. to. read. And the fact that I, the same as many other busy people out there, don't often get alot of time to read, makes the opportunity even more precious.

So Mum and I tried to fit in some last minute holiday reading

without having to do any housework, like make beds or change 7 lots of bed sheets every week.

The kids loved loved LOVED the pool with the waterslide and we spent alot of time there during our week stay.

Can't remember what we were doing to take this random pic but anyhow, here is a pic of random Langkawi water buffalo, we that's what we thought they were. 

 back to the pool.

On our second last day, it started pouring with rain and I said to Simon that I had never swum in the rain so we grabbed everyone and raced to the pool.

I look really cross here but we had so much fun in the rain and the kids loved the novelty of it, especially as back home it is never warm enough to swim in the rain.

I love this shot of us all and then Hallie to the right having just done a big bomb into the water.

We had emailed the kids' teachers back at school during our holiday and this was the one of Ollie that we sent to Ms Jales. She read Ollie's email out to the class and Hallie loved getting an email back from her teacher, Mrs K.

Sarra sent this one to her teacher Mr Sundra and also wrote some postcards to her school friends because she knew she was going to miss them, being away for a whole month. They only missed 2 weeks of school though as we we left at the beginning of the school holidays. This worked out well for Mum too who took some long-service leave from Scottsdale PS.

back to the pool.

Ollie with his pockets hanging out of his bathers.

These apartments were the poolside ones but I am glad we didn't get them because it would have been very noisy and it was further away from the beach and we loved being able to see the beach from our place. Plus some of these poolside ones had balconies that opened right onto the pool on the ground floor which would have been too dangerous with Flynn. I loved that our balcony was fully enclosed so that we could have the doors open and Flynn play out there without fear of escaping.

Jonty and I hanging out at the bar.

In the afternoon between 5 and 7 we got free mocktails and hor dourves in one of the restaurants. Most of the time just Simon and I or just Mum and I and 2 of the older kids would go because it was more for adults wanting a quiet break after a long day of doing nothing and I was not quite sure they would like our party of 8 coming in at once but on the last night we all went down and had some great drinks.

We took a few last strolls along the beach at night. Every night we would go out on the streets to find something for tea. We loved the idea of not having to cook ourselves and I was dreading the drudgery of coming up with an idea of what to cook every night and back to cooking tea 7 nights a week.

The kids had one final activity at kids club which was fishing.

On our last night, we decided to dine in at the resort at the all you could eat buffet. It was amazing to say the least. After a last day of swimming and mocktails, to finish it off with a beautiful meal like this was just perfect.

 This photo is looking into the main lobby of the resort on our way to dinner. To the left was one restaurant where we had the free mocktails and to the right was the more family friendly restaurant with the all you could eat buffet.

We got to sit outside as the sun set out over the Andaman Sea.

The food was so yummy and flavoursome. It made me think that our western foods can be very boring and bland.

The whole resort and it seemed the whole of Langkawi actually, loves cats and they are very tame and don't annoy anyone but love to just sit by your feet. Everyone man and his dog must own a cat over there.

As we ate our dinner, they brought out some traditional dancing as part of the night's entertainment.

And as we were dining in the front, they couldn't resist asking for some helpers. 

What better way to end our stay on this beautiful island, with great food, great dancing and great company.... oh and the cats!!