We’ve got a decent internet access so wanted to post some late Christmas pictures.

We arrived in Rebak marina on an island off of Langkawi in Malaysia on the 9^th December at the end of the Sail Malaysia rally. It was also where we had started Sail Malaysia East in April so we had come full circle. After spending a couple of weeks doing boat jobs and relaxing in the wonderful Rebak marina resort, of the Taj group, our Christmas celebrations started with a wonderful dinner on Christmas eve in the resort.   The dining room looked spectacular with a Christmas tree at the entrance and food of every description laid out on one side of the room. The ‘all you can eat’ buffet at the equivalent of £30 a head was remarkable.

 

We shared a table with Norman and Sara our friends on Norsa and Georg and Mauella from the German yacht Sternchen.

 

 

 

It was fun to dress up for a change. I wore my new dress that I had had made in Vietnam by a lovely lady called My (pronounced ‘me’ which caused some confusion) and my fabulous intricate silver necklace and earrings that Bill bought me in Yogyakarta.

 

 

They had traditional Christmas cuisine as well as Malaysian curries

 

 

And the desert table …… I thought I’d died and gone to heaven! And this was just one of them, there was a second table full of goodies as well as a chiller cabinet with mouth-watering Tiramisu, among others.

This was my choice – diet can start after Christmas.

It felt so strange dressed in a sundress for Christmas and eating next to the beautiful pool, which looked brilliant in the evening light.

 

 

 

 

The dancing got under way and Sara and I soon joined in dancing to the song YMCA along with the arm movements.

 

 

The next morning Bill and I opened our presents to each other. I had bought him some new binoculars because ours have suffered from being dropped several times and he had bought me a new bag that I wanted and some Body shop bits (yes Body Shop is in Malaysia). He had also found some dark chocolate Belgian seashells – yummmm. We had bucks fizz with Norman and Sara before walking down to the beach to watch Santa Claus arrive on a jet ski! After he’d handed out presents to all the children staying in the resort he came up to the restaurant to wish all the adults “A very Merry Christmas.” This seemed a bit bizarre because the Malaysians don’t celebrate Christmas but I’m sure he was entering into the spirit.

 

Again the food was wonderful. This turkey had been roasted in an oven but the staff had set up BBQ’s for the chefs to cook a sumptuous feast on.

 

 

The Christmas lunch, at the equivalent of £20 a head, included unlimited sparkling wine, is this a good thing you may well ask?   Bill and I sporting our Christmas hats brought from the UK with our first glass of bubbles.  Norman and Sara joined us again. (My new bag is in the foreground).

The meal started with a delicious pumpkin soup followed by an amazing array of starters and salads; again as part of an all you can eat buffet. (Should have joined us James) My Christmas dinner was roast turkey, a little sausage thing, a barbecued chicken leg, a really tasty piece of barbecued lamb and a Brussel sprout but NO roast potatoes! Can’t please some people can you? It was all beautifully cooked and tasted all the better for not having cooked it myself.

The desserts were even nicer than the night before, if that was possible. It was so difficult to choose so I had a bit of everything.

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch some people had a snooze!

It was a fabulous setting with lots of our yachtie friends enjoying life together at a very different Christmas.

Lunch and snoozes were followed by a dip in the pool.