Langkawi

Hey world. This been a while since I found time to write. Since I decided to take a semester off of school, my life has taken me on adventures I would never have imagined.

Today I took a motorbike in heavy rain to the nearby waterfall and got stuck sitting in a cold shabby hut. The current was too scary to swimming in. Then me and a friend went to the 19^th hole of the Datai Golf Club, which faces this BEAUTIFUL bay. Today could actually be considered a somewhat normal day here.

Everyday so many things happen. I learn something new about life and living all the time. I have crazy, horrible bosses but have also made amazingly wonderful friends. Life is tough and awesomely simple and calm at the same time.

I should start from the beginning…

Since I last left this blog I was packing to go back to Johor. God, it seems forever ago. Since I went home my life was an awesomely boring mess of old friends, bbqs, story books and football. But eventually, went it all stopped I was bored out of my mind.

Initially I had decided to take time off to go on exchange but later I decided to wait for the projects in September and October so I now had months with nothing to do. So of course I began to think about doing everything. I thought about studying programming or becoming a kindergarten teacher or learning diving or….well I had a long stupid CRAZY list… =) Honestly….CRAZY.

But out of my long list, I chose to fulfill just one that had been bugging me forever now. Every time we would have an exam I would dream of the beach. I thought that one day, I would leave accounting, audit, whatever it was I was growing up to be, to get a simple job by the beach somewhere. Also because the hotel industry is extremely profitable…

And the urge was strong enough that the next morning I called resorts in Redang and Langkawi Island. After much searching and rejection, I decided to take a leap of faith and just come here. Two days later I’m in KL to settle some business before taking a 10hour bus ride to the end of Malaysia…or the beginning…depending on how you see it. I take a ferry from Kuala Kedah to Langkawi Island (after a slight detour where I got off at the wrong stop and the bus left me in middle-of-nowhere-Hicksville). So anyway, there I was, in the ferry, alone, looking out into the vast ocean wondering “WTF am I doing?!”

Heart full of trepidation, I get off in Kuah Town, find a map and list of hotels and head towards Cenang Beach. Rented a motel and started exploring. What I found was disgustingly disappointing. In the 3 years since I visited Cenang, it’s become a tourist hotspot. Full of fat Ang Moh people lazing around, destroying the view. I started walking…walking for what felt like hours until the sand became cleaner and the people became locals. Until I stumbled upon…another horrible, overcrowded resort full of Ang Mohs and Arabs and the occasional hairy Indian. =(

I decided that if I wanted to find my paradise I would have to try much harder. The next day I rented a car and drove 40km up a windy hillside to the remotest, most expensive resorts in Langkawi. To Datai Bay. It was love. I drove by slowly, enjoying this amazing scenery, also because the road is scary shit… I stopped the car and stared up at this AMAZINGGGGG waterfall. Then I stopped the car at this parking lot in the middle of the road and found a secluded beach with clean sands and calm waters. I just HAD TO FUCKING LIVE HERE!!!!! So comparing the two resorts in Datai Bay online, I thought the Datai Resort was the better of the two. Sadly, Human Resources rejected me. Told me my SPM results were too good. =.=” Honest. That’s what she said.

So dejected but still hopeful I went to the Andaman, a Luxury Collection Resort. The second resort in Datai Bay. Where…some humble white lies may have been told… But whatever because the next day I received a call while I was in Alor Setar saying I got the job.

And so here I am. In Langkawi. Working in reception. Right now I’m sitting the staff canteen, in the middle of a jungle. With the wild boars, monkeys and human trafficking Thai people behind the waterfall border. It’s been an amazing experience. This post would be too long to explain all the things I have learned.

But the one thing I have to say I’ve rediscovered from this journey is passion. Now more than ever, I am content and even happy with all my life’s choices so far. I can’t wait to go back to school. To study hard. To gather experience. However far and wide and deeply I have to go to find the answer. For so long I have been running out of fuel, out of drive, out of reasons.

Staring at the scary, dark night sky one day, feeling the soft waves embrace me, it somehow all came rushing back at me. I am alive. I have one life. I have found the passion to look for the meaning to my existences again. To look for experiences beyond the ordinary. To meet people different from myself. To be someone worth calling me.

I think…I’m ready to be fight again. And I have to thank Langkawi for making me realize, I am missing nothing.