Back to Kapas, again and again

Yes, it's such a great place to relax.

Even before we get on the boat, there is the village of Marang

with its massive Carob trees, and the lovely market full of fruit - and other brilliant stuff!

I'm getting ready to buy some mangoes (just because Peter is allergic, doesn't mean I can't enjoy them!) but there are three kinds in front of me to choose from. I decided on the bright yellow ones, and they were delicious.

 We also bought a couple of durian fruit to share with Zai, and anyone else who was interested.

 The restaurant has a new coat of paint, and a new sign. (yes, it says "Enjoy the Chalet Beaches Facing the Sea" ...)

 Zai's cooking is a good as ever.
There are great walks along the beach

and people messing about in boats.

A couple of our friends from work came too one weekend.

  There is always lots of swimming, and some new friends to meet under the water.

 Too good to do EVERY weekend, but as often as not ...

Hurray for Island Time!

Yes so the weather is perfect, and the weekend is here - time for one of our island weekends!

As we arrived at the island, we wondered if autumn was here. The monsoon is past and the leaves on the beautiful, huge tropical almond trees have all turned red and are falling all around.

Beautiful, but a bit of a headache for Zai as he tries to keep the place neat and tidy.

Last week (when we went out to the island for a day trip) Peter found an amazing shell on the beach ...

... remarkable because shells of this kind are rarely found intact. Unfortunately this one still had something dead/dying inside. So Zai kindly buried it for a week to let nature take its course.

So this week Zai produced the beautiful shell, and then said he was visiting the mainland for a few hours and would bring us back something special that had local significance.

When he returned he presented us with ...

... a sea horse, a beautifully preserved specimen.

To explain the significance of the sea-horse, he pointed out that there was already one guarding the doorway to the kitchen - a tiny thing that we had never noticed above the kitchen door.

Well, we had a delightful weekend, and above all the swimming was ... just perfect.

Overseas ... a little bit

Yay! The islands are open again!

From our apartment looking out towards the South China Sea we have been hearing the thrum of engines in the mornings as the big ferries head out to Redang and Perhentian Islands a little bit north of here. So we figured Kapas would soon be open too.

It was too late to go for the weekend, but we decided to go out for the day.

At Marang we found the tide was the lowest we had ever seen it ...

Nevertheless, we boarded our usual boat, and set off with just the two of us on board ... a few minutes earlier than the scheduled time. A couple of minutes into our journey, shouts were heard and we had to turn back for six others who had been taken by surprise by the boat's sudden departure (!).



We had picked up some fruits at Marang market before boarding, and enjoyed a good chinwag with Zai who we had not seen for several months.

We had only been there a few minutes when the storm clouds came across from behind the island ...

... so we sat at the newly painted 'tables' (they are really cable reels on their sides) in the sandy-floored restaurant, listening to the wonderful sound of rain-on-the-roof, shifting ourselves occasionally to avoid the leaky bits. (Zai tells us they are planning to replace the roof sometime.)

We went swimming in the warm water with the rain-drops poking our skin with cool fingers. Then we had one of Zai's restaurant offerings (I had fried rice wrapped in an omelet).

We caught the 4pm boat back to the mainland - it was only a few hours, but it felt like most of a weekend out on our favourite island. They sent the big boat out this time, but there were only a handful of people (including us) who climbed aboard. Once again there was a shout when we were a few metres away and we noticed a crowd of people on the beach (normally you can catch the boat directly from the beach, but the tide was too low for the big boat) So the boat had to return for another dozen or so passengers. (The boat people weren't having a good day of it, but they will improve as the season gets underway!)

Next weekend ... guess where we're going!