Pasta

Most of the guests are extending their stays so we will have everybody for quite sometimes. It's good as there is no need to remember many new names.

They cook most of the times here so kitchen is busy and the fridge is full. Good though to see them queue nicely to use the kitchen and eat together/watch DVD. Pasta is the menu for most of them I suppose. Even Joe cooked pasta as well for two days in a row.

Too full to comfort

Wies and Benny from Netherland moved in back today and will stay until 5th Feb while Danielle and Tristan from Canada moved in (as initial plan) and will stay until 7th Feb - Superbowl on 5th so yeah, no choice, he needs to stay.

Pic : Guido/Italian (blue), Danielle (black), Tristan (grey), Wies (white), Benny (black at the back), Nina/Russia and Alex/Russia (yellow blue stripes)

Three germans - Chris, Jacob and Judith arrived around 8pm without booking and of course, we are full. Anastasia from Australia - gave in one bed in her triplex room to Judith while Chris and Jacob - refusing our attempt to relocate them, chose to sleep in hammocks in front of the house. Thank you, Anastasia!

Two rooms' water heaters broke down as the cable burnt so felt sorry for Phong (Australia) and Maria & Natalie from Malaysia as we cannot fix it immediately. Cables only can be bought in Kuah and after five, as this is island life - definitely nothing we can do.

The three-doors fridge finally operates perfectly and is nested nicely in Joe's.

Book early, please!

Danielle from Canada arrived one day early and hence we had to put them somewhere else for tonight. We had to relocate Wies as well for two nights as we were full on 27 and 28.
Fran Tierney from Ireland arrived one day later (wrong date apparently) and again, we had to relocate them as we put "no show" status and their room were immediately taken.

Stephen from England arrived this late afternoon and we turned him down as we are full. Apparently he is a writer from Footprint Guide. Well, I hope he will not write us as the place that turned him down in Footprint next edition. That will be hilarious.
Joe and Zack just laughed at me as I don't think anybody every say "no, sorry no room. you should book early" to a writer from any guide books. Well, no room is no room. Anyway, he asked for RM10/room and of course, we can't accommodate it - if we have room.
Joe offered him to sleep in his bedroom but he is happy enough in his new place.

The bar - well, as you can see, got the three-door fridge. Well, it's not easy to move it and place it!

Guido from Italy cooked squid (RM6/kg) for a good big size ones (bought it in the market - fresh) in our kitchen. With pasta.

Another day again

The house is busy as always. Guido and friend from Italy, Wies and partner from Netherland, Nicholas & Katy from Australia, Russian Nina and Alexander are new comers while the rest are still the same.

Nothing unusual. Guests spend the daytime on the beach as these few days are very sunny. Laze around. Cook breakfast and lunch and sometime dinner. Afternoon and evening most of them - as usual - watch DVD or spend time in Joe's watching football or big screen movie as well.

Made the temporary cage for monkey as his neck has open wound made it impossible for him to be chained. Probably will start to look around for better and bigger cage for him today.

Took the pics of the buffaloes and the cows on the way to airport.

Another day

Another party night. Many old friends of Zack came to the bar. Naylene spent the night til morning as Allan (Irish couple) celebrated the birthday at Joe.

The rooms are full. Arto and wife from Finland. David and wife from England. Mikael and gf from Sweden. Britt and Jenny from Sweden, Markus and friends from Sweden (yeah, still here!), Kay from Germany, Natalie and James from England, Phong and gf from Australia, Daniel (pic at the hammock) and gf from Australia.
Two rooms are having new people as Nat and James and Mikael leave today.

Story about Arto. They came one day earlier than schedule hence they had to stay somewhere else for the first night. Dumped their small bags in the car, they only came back to our place the next day at 2pm. Talking about easy going!

Football nights

Everybody were pretty much drunk last night. Finished at 6 am. Worst, the night before, they finished about the same time as well. All looked battered and wary.
What do you expect? Football, bar, 8 Norwegian girls, 3 Swedish boys, 4 English, 1 Irish, 1 Swiss, 1 Iranian... That's not include Joe, Little Joe, Sandra (German bartender) and Zack.

The timber house has floor and half wall now and Zack decides to make it as a sleeping room instead of TV room. So yeah, wait and see.

Silje - our almost-permanent resident from Norway - managed to contact Jeff online and passed message about monkey. So wait and see also. (And she is coming this 1st Feb as well)

Gerard from England and Stephen - Irish from Manchester left today (not sober at all). Others decided to chill out and just got the hangover over. Not a chance as 4 English boys arrived this morning from Penang - all set in the bar already by now (930pm), Sue from York joins in as well. And tonight is the last night of Norwegian girls, so yeah, again, not a chance to get sober here!

Well, what do you expect? Again...

Monkey

Many blame us as we keep the monkey - chained in our compound. The truth is that it is not our monkey. Jeff (pic) left him here - chained him to the post in our compound - on 1st Sept 2006. Not even gave us the key for the padlock to his neck even. Never said a word about how to feed him etc. The monkey flew from KL and just like that, abandoned in our place.

Few weeks after that he managed to break the chain and decided he did not want to leave the place but yet, monkey is always a monkey, broke everything. The glasses, the lamp, TV, speakers, etc. Called Jeff, he refused to answer. Called wifdlife department, they just want to shoot him. Zack hesitated and after by-then Prakash's staff caught him and chained him again.

He is smart and knows how to open the chains and yet he decides to stay with us. The only reason he is being in chains as he will smash and steal everything shining.

So, we just totally do not know what to do with him. Can't release him to the wild as he will even die more miserably as the other monkey tribes will kill him. (Monkey is tribal animal that allows one male in a group hence he cannot survive alone. Worst, he belongs to Beruk species while in Langkawi is Macaque and Lutung. So, yeah, if we really want to "free" him, we rather put him to sleep than release him to the wild. All other monkeys will beat him to death.)

For, now, he seems quite happy and content in his house that Zack built. Again, he is only 4 years and he can survive til 60 over. So, still wonder whether we really make a good decision by letting him stay here than just let the wildlife department shoot him.

Anyway, anybody who can locate the owner, please tell him to retrieve the monkey as he miserably misses him.

The people that forgot to settle their bills - 2007

This is so unlucky year as we had 1 girl (Katie Alford) and 1 family (Alex Berger) that apparently forgot to settle their bills before they check out. Not sure whether they just simply forgot or purposely want to take advantage of our honesty system. Even the books were missing as well. Can't believe people can take away few books that can be quite heavy just because "because".

The house

The timber house has roof now. We still have to wait as Friday is holiday and Sunday is holiday hence we probably can have the floor ready by Monday. Will make it as temporary TV room as we need to have bigger dining area now.

Put here some pics of the rooms. No 2, no 5, no 6, no 7, no 8, no 9 and no 10 and the new aircond room (ac5). And the swing chair.

Who's cheating who

Quiet today as most of our guests checked out. Only Alex (German), Monika (Mauritian) and their son Daniel, Pauline from England, Gregg from Scotland, Edwin from Holland and Sara from England still staying here.
Went to night market together.

Zack sprained his back as he'd tried to lift the cabinet. Well, he needs to rest anyway so he becomes good boy now and just sit still most of the times.

Joe bought and fix a pool for monkey. As you can guess, he tore it down in less than an hour. What an investment!

Personal note : got a bit mad as one of the guest accused us (through hostelworld) that we are cheating with our description as they said the room is sub-standard (well, they stayed in Lanai - compared to us. Last time I checked the rate is double as well) as it was full of maggots, insects and mosquitos.
The room is always full and none said this. Even before they stayed and immediately after they checked out families always stay there. Swedish family with 2 kids (Jonas) stayed there for 2 weeks and now Alex family stay there til now. None complains.
Mosquitos and insects, for God's sake, this is tropical country. Even Datai has mosquitos as they fill full of the cabinet there with mosquito's repellent, spray etc.
This is quotation of our microsite :

The house is surrounded by trees and mountain so please expect leaves droppings and some surprising visits of wild animals.
It might not be suitable for everyone who is not used to backpacking experiences and this is certainly not a hotel/resort with round-a-clock room service.
The new English fun pub is in our establishment. Please DO NOT stay in our place if you are an early sleeper and or looking for total quietness.

Can't find other that can be so honest and yet, he said that we were cheating by not telling him that he might find all these mossies, insects, (no maggots, I don't have maggots!) and the noise of the bar!
Bless him with his attitude if he wants to travel across Asia.

Blessings

There is really nothing to write actually these few days. Everything is so routine and usual. New guests check in.
Joe was a bit mad as Irish couple - Emily and her bf wrote that his bar is not non-English friendly. Not sure what really happened but perhaps the English' flags that he put everywhere in the bar really put down some of the guests. Too bad as more non-English there than the English though actually.

Tony and his family are keep coming almost everyday to the bar although they are staying in Aseania now as we do not have any room at all here. Funny how people keep coming and spending time here although they are staying somewhere else.

Pauline arrived from Penang this afternoon and although she has to squeeze in temporary room as I unfortunately made a mistake about departure of one of the guests, prefer to stay there rather than relocate to other place. I even told her about the noise from the bar but she said she has earplugs so well, she stays. Wish she has a good time here and we do not let her expectation down.
Another family, Alex from Germany came with 3 y o son as well few days ago and although they stay in room 8 which is directly next to the bar, prefers to stay. I am surprised. I guess we are blessed to have all such nice and wonderful people staying with us.

Hans left to Taiwan for two weeks. Have a good fun!

And finally the timbers are coming so we can start the roofing for the new building. Timber house for the communal living room. Hope can finish in a week so guests can start to watch the DVDs more comfortable. Still not sure whether the single room's guest is going to be happy as the location is in front of that room.

Normal day

Many check in and check out these few days. Was very busy.
Nothing much happen except the usual.
Joe has new bartender - a German girl.

Check out and check in

Busy day today. Check out and check in. All rooms full again. Norwegian, Swedish, Italians, Russians, Irishes. We have all now.
Sent Joe to Kuah and did some shopping. Bought new lamp to put under the tree in front of room 5. Here is the pics of Joe in front of the souvenir shop there. They don't allow us to take pics inside, so too bad.
Bought chicken curry for Zack. The only place that sell chicken curry that Zack can eat - for all that know him, you know that he is very picky with food. So get to go to this place every single day until the owner knows me and every time I check in to his restaurant, he will pack the chickens for me immediately. Pics of the restaurant here.

Went back, vet was there for regular rabies injection for Kacang and Bandit. A show for all the guests as they had to be tricked to be touched by the vet. Bandit was a little bit tame although he put much resistant but Kacang... Couldn't even put mussel easily as he was too scare already. Shivering... Mad!
Finally tricked him to get the injection but the collar was broken due to his strength resistant against his lease that I held.
And they are only 3 years old. Hope they don't get bigger as I don't know how to hold them next time if they grow stronger.

Visit Malaysia 2007

Sunshine with a hint of clouds - so weather was not so bad yesterday. Last days for most of our guests here as they have to go back to Bangkok today. Only Harpreet Bhal - Malaysian and Lina - German came yesterday as new people. New people today. Three Russians, two Irishes and two Italians. The rest will arrive tom to fill in all the rooms again. Its good that we have certain rooms empty today so we can fix the door for no 8 and do little touch up for those rooms.

Hans from Austria put the banner from Tourism Malaysia in front of every doors and put the long one in Joe's and in front of the small house.It is the banner for welcoming the Visit Malaysia 2007 Year.

Personal comment : I know that when you arrive in the morning, guests are very tired and they want to crash in their bed but we are very full and check out time for guests is noon so meaning when you arrive in the morning, you just can't check in or even look at the room at all. It is the norm all of the world so I still cannot understand why some people turn hostile (especially walk in) when we tell them that we are full and they have to wait to look at the room or even check in to our place.
It will be very ridiculuos if I have to wake up my customers just because somebody want to look at their rooms (not even sure whether they are about to stay here). I wonder whether they want us to treat them the same way when they are really staying in our place.

Rainy day

Rainy day. Drizzle sometime, heavy sometime but in the end, it's still just boring rain started from 2 nights ago to yesterday night. Storm and flood warning since 3 days ago as storm wind from Phillippines across Asia. Not really good news for all the guests that just arrived from Bangkok. Yup, have direct flight from Bangkok to Langkawi now.
Can't do much. For guests, some just spent time around TV area chit-chating while some just rented car to kill time. Dave from USA but living outside America since 1967 walked up and down inside Holiday Villa.
New guests : Dave from USA but living in Thailand, April and 3 girls from USA but living in India now, Apinyar from Thailand, Puttachat and 5 other friends from Thailand, Sebastian & gf from Swenden.
Still with us is Georgina from England-teaching in Japan and Garry & Monica from Scotland.
Left us were Rachel from Englang-teaching in Japan and Talia from England.

Some blogs from our other guests :
Jodi - Canadian teaching in Korea - stayed with us in December : http://drolligaffin.spaces.live.com/. This is her pic while she was singing in the Joe's.
Christine & Jean Jacques - French travelling in Asia for 1 year - stayed with us in October & November : http://voyage-chris-jj.spaces.live.com/. Here is their pic while they were here in October - from left : Jean Jacques, Marcella from Spain, May from Switzerland and Christine.

Dinner at Bob

Most of the guests were doing island tour by renting cars, while others just went to the beach this morning. Very windy as they put the storm alert starting tom until Monday.
Good news is that we have a new cleaner starting this morning.
Evening had dinner at our usual place, Bob Restaurant - Malaysian buffet style dinner under the tree with Hans, Talia from England, Monika and Garry from Scotland. Important note, it doesn't serve beer/alcohol here so yeah settle with juice or coke, guys!

Quiet night

Jonas and family left to Penang this afternoon. Quieter here without the kids. Only Silje left - their last night as well.
Had lunch with Dom, Talia, Joe and Joe, Bindi in Kuah - Syook Cafe. Wonderful seabass on top of mashed potato. Too bad did not bring camera.

If you want to check the blog of Ann-elin, Bjorn and Silje : http://www.reiseselbekk.com/. Nice pictures and stories of their experiences in Langkawi.
New guests coming in : Chan Yuen Kong from Hong Kong and friend, Andrey from Russia.

I gave this cup to Zack (pic). Well, cant find the one with the writing : 2 dogs and a monkey! Too bad.

Jonas' last night

Have been a wonderful time to have Jonas and family - Marie, Maya and Melker for the second time. After spending 13 days - including Christmas, Jonas' birthday and New Year (the last two occasions had to be spent in tents), they will leave us to Penang. Enjoy Penang, KL and Bali, guys!
Here are the pics of their last night at Joe's bar. Singing was Jonas. "Redemption" is you!
Hope hear from all of you again soon.
Anders and gf are finally moving in back again after spending few nights in Aseania. Veronika is leaving tomorrow as well as we do not have room for her. Welcome for the new people arriving today anyway : Lyn and bf from Aussie, Talia from England, Foo from KL and Georgina & Rachel from London.
Another note : Georgina said we were in The Times London - November, too bad we do not subscribe it. Wonder what they said about us.

New Year 2007

Decided to create a blog this year.
Crazy new year's eve. Most of our guests were in Joe's bar. Joe cooked some food as well. A guy from Chiang Mai played guitar and sang together with Jonas from Sweden. Wonderful night.
Guests : Jonas, Marie, Maya, Melker from Sweden, Ann-Elin, Bjorn and Silje from Norway, Domnhall from Scotland, Katie and Elizabeth from US, Tony's family from Sweden, and Joe's friends and family from England and Hans from Austria.
Outsider : Finish guys, Anders and girlfriend from Sweden, Anton from Rusia, Bindi, Raja.
It was nice to have all of you guys to spend another year in Langkawi.
Happy New Year for all!