I love how much I learn when I travel. Almost every day there’s something else that surprises me, something I didn’t know or had never done before.

I just learned that ‘plankton’ means ‘those who wander’ in Greek! I guess we are plankton - and plankton must be smart to be so smart to survive and thrive while being so vulnerable. Much like tourists.

On our recent trip to the island of Langkawi, Malaysia I ate baracuda and baramundi - something I had never tried before. We regularly have roti for breakfast - the Asian equivalent of crepes. I do, however, stop short at having them with chilli sauce.

And what the heck is that? I THINK it’s a carpenter bee - they fly by all the time and I… duck! They’re gigantic. When I googled the image it said it was a bird.

While driving to town to do our shopping, we avoid a troop of monkeys on the main road. Not something we have to worry about at home.

In our hotel room, I noticed a small sign on the ceiling. The sign has one word and an arrow pointing to a corner of the ceiling. I wondered what it was. It almost seemed like a sign that said ‘emergency exit’ but it couldn’t be since it didn’t point to a window or door. Surely I wouldn’t have to lift up at ceiling tiles to escape? So I googled the Malay word on the sign. I love google!

Turns out that this sign shows muslims the direction of Mecca so they know which way to face while praying! Ingenious. I had not seen this before in other Muslim countries.

We also learned what a #2 haircut means in Malaysia. Kees needed trim so we walked into a barber shop. He nodden, gestured to the chair and asked Kees, “Number 1, 2 or 3?” Kees had no idea but as a real guy he doesn’t ask questions. He shrugged and chose the medium, #2. So the guy started cutting and trimming and shaving and cutting some more. Kees’ ears seemed to grow and his hair became less and less. Nice and cool. When he was finished, he paid his 4.- and then he asked, “So what does #2 means?” The guy answered, “#1 longer, #2 shorter, #3 very short like crew cut.” I’m glad he said 2 and not 3…

One little fun thing we learned was why parked cars here often have their windshield wipers sitting straight up. In northern Canada you see this in winter to prevent the blades from freezing to the glass. Here? The rubber melts if you leave them in place…

And what are those bright green lights on the water every night? Newcomers are always scratching their heads on the beach wondering if they are looking at newly landed UFO’s or a bridge that wasn’t there before it got dark. We smile smugly because we have long since discovered that the local squid fishermen go out in the dark, line up their boats in a long parade on the water and turn on their bright green lights to attract the squid.

We also watch the occasional fisherman who works with a net. Slowly wading through the waves, he casts the buoys that hold up the netting. He walks and casts, then slowly gathers it in to collect a few small silvery fishes to sell or to eat.

And what is this oblong white thing I found on the beach? It’s a cuttlebone! What’s a cuttlebone, you ask? Well, this is what I learned:

cuttlebone /ˈkʌtlbəʊn/ noun

the flattened oval internal skeleton of the cuttlefish, which is made of white lightweight chalky material.

Because we are almost on the Equator, sunrise and sunset are almost always at the same time and 12 hours apart: 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM. Langkawi is known as the ‘sunset island’. Perhaps its sunrises are spectacular as well but I wouldn’t know that. Haven’t seen many of those. Ever.

But the sun set, every single night, is a new surprise as to which piece of art will appear in the sky. Sometimes they are Renoir skies with the clouds and the sea mirroring blues and grey.

Many times the skies have been that of Edvard Munch’s Scream, in horizontal layers of orange and yellow, the trees silhouetted against the golden hues.

And almost every night we say “It’s a Harrison sky!” in pinks and blues or orange and wavy purple layers painted over the blue grey hills of Thailand across the water.

Another thing we’ve learned about here, on the beach of the Andaman Sea, is Bubbler crabs. Every time you walk along the beach, tiny, almost translucent crabs scurry away. They seem to float over the sand like dandelion puffs. At low tide, the beach is full of tiny little holes. In these burrows, the Bubbler crabs live - they kick out the sand, process it to find nutrients to eat and cast away the cleaned sand. By doing this meticulously and repetitively, the crabs make a pattern around their holes in the sand. The result is a natural piece of art - ever changing patterns of lacy sand paintings.

Be sure to watch this. It’s pretty amazing! Sand crabs: https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/sand-bubbler-crabs

Resources: https://naturallylangkawi.my/