Langkawi

Langkawi retrospective, June 11th

Keith: And finally, with the speed of a tortoise on Prozac, the elegance of a hippopotamus on roller blades, the single-mindedness of a goldfish with ADD and the heart-wrenching pointlessness of a skunk marketing roll-on deodorant, we present a selection of photos from our not-so-recent weekend in Langkawi. 

For those unfamiliar with the geography of South-East Asia - and frankly, I count myself among you - Langkawi is a small, beautiful tropical island off the coast of northern Malaysia/Southern Thailand, little more than an hour's flight from Singapore. After our city trips to Hong Kong, Tokyo, and in Courtney's case, Beijing, it was our first beach weekend away since we arrived in Asia. In fact, it marked many firsts in our seven years together:

• First time we've made weekend breakfast two mornings in a row
• First time we've sat in a hotel room at night hearing something hammering at the balcony doors, laughed at the thought that it might be a wild monkey, then gagged at the realization that it's a flying cockroach
• First time that my generalized anxiety about the sky falling on my head has mutated into a more specific fear about coconuts falling from palm trees

So the photo on the right shows the fabulous view from our hotel room - and below are a few more.

And a special bonus - here are Courtney's pics from the Singapore Jurong Bird Park, where we spent a splendid Sunday afternoon before I flew to San Francisco. Among the flamingoes, tropical rainforest inhabitants, owls, storks, cranes and American Bald Eagle, our favorite bit was the dinosaur descendants section. Best bird of the lot - the huge and comical cassowary. The shoebill crane is pretty wacky looking too.

We also got friendly with the emus.

More updates coming soon from San Francisco and Taipei...