Paula Barnes (00:00.064)
It's very relaxed. I'm a very relaxed kind of presenter. And so what we'll do is, even though I've got the questions here, we'll kind of just play it by ear how we go. And if I'm looking over there, it's not that I'm not listening. I'm just trying to see whether or not there's a question to prompt me so that we can have a conversation. So yeah, it's going to be very relaxed. But I do want you to definitely talk about Temple Tree. And that's how we'll kind of start with it. And then we can talk about Penang in general. How does that sound?

Irene Vairo (00:15.311)
Okay, sure.

Irene Vairo (00:23.693)
Okay.

Irene Vairo (00:28.889)
Okay.

Paula Barnes (00:29.696)
Okay okay so let's get started. Thank you Irene so much for coming on I'm so excited about you as a guest and I tell you why there's a little bit I should tell you about her is that I've met Irene a few months ago in a beautiful resort which I'm sure she's going to talk about and she is an Italian expat that's living in Langkawi so welcome and I'm so glad that you finally got to come on.

Irene Vairo (00:58.041)
Thanks, Paula. Thank you so much for inviting me. I'm very excited as well. First, to see you again and also to be a guest on your podcast. As I mentioned before, I never did anything in this way in my life, but I'm very excited to talk about Temple Tree and also about the beautiful island that I live in.

Paula Barnes (01:19.04)
Excellent, so let's start from the beginning and talk about you. Who are you and how did you get to Langkawi and let us know why Temple's Tree is such an important part of our connection and how we got to know each other.

Irene Vairo (01:35.979)
Okay, so well, this is a question that most of my guests asking every single day say how you ending up in lankawi we all want to know your story. So my story start about 10 years ago. I was working in Italy in Maranello very famous for the Ferrari factory and someone offered me a job in Malaysia for one year contract. So I decided to jump on this very different life and I left.

and I flew to Malaysia to a small island called Pancor Island where I was living there for a year and I was working in a beautiful resort at that time.

Paula Barnes (02:11.342)
okay.

Irene Vairo (02:18.351)
Then I moved to your country, your own country to Australia for a couple of years where I used to work in a very cool surfing spot for about two and a half years and after that I decided to come back to Malaysia because Malaysia was something very important for me. I met very good friends and I always feeling more home in Malaysia than in other countries. So I decided to come home

Paula Barnes (02:22.997)
Yeah.

Irene Vairo (02:48.367)
kind of second home in Langkawi, where a very good friend of mine used to work and live. And then I started searching for a new job and I got hired in a big company that I worked for a couple of years. And 2018, I came on board of Temple Tree Resort, where I'm still running the property until today, since then we met basically.

Paula Barnes (03:11.136)
Yeah and can you tell us a little bit about Temple Tree because can I just say I was there a couple of months ago and it is so different to anything that I've ever stayed in. It's just a beautiful beautiful resort and can you explain to people who are listening why it's so special?

Irene Vairo (03:30.187)
Okay sure well as you mentioned the property is very unique it's one of the unique property I would say almost all over around Malaysia we are a boutique heritage resort

In our property we have 21 rooms, but our resort is not a classic resort. Our resort is building up by heritage houses. So all original houses from different state of Malaysia. They've been transporting here piece by piece and reassembled up together in about 2010.

So the property is very unique because he's got a different character, a very nice soul, because these houses they've been transforming in rooms. They used to be local houses of local people. So they have a history behind and they have a lot of charm, let's say. And I will say every house is different. And so the characteristic of coming and stay with us is to get a very different experience.

to learn something about Malaysian culture because this won't be highlighted to preserving the culture of Malaysia because these houses are between 90 to 130 years old and when you travel around Malaysia it's very difficult to see these kind of houses anymore so the idea was to preserve the Malaysian heritage culture and give guests a different type of experience more into the history of Malaysia.

Paula Barnes (04:49.837)
Hmm.

Irene Vairo (05:06.055)
and Malaysian people as well.

Paula Barnes (05:09.719)
That's the thing that stood out to me more than anything is that the history behind each house and that every place that you stay in or any every accommodation that is chosen is so different and it's got such a beautiful feel to it. It's like coming home. know, like you open the door. Yeah, it's so beautiful and the staff and I'm not just saying it but the staff were amazing. The pool, that pool is like a backdrop. Like it's not a modern resort but it's

Irene Vairo (05:23.278)
Yeah.

Irene Vairo (05:27.884)
Exactly here.

Paula Barnes (05:39.497)
It's such a great character that I guess that's also why I want you to come on here and talk about Temple Tree because it was such a unique experience which will lead us into Penang as a, Penang sorry, I just came back from Penang, Langkawi. Let me just cut that out completely. So that's why I wanted to talk to you about Langkawi as an island because there's so much to do.

outside of the resort but you don't want to sometimes because there's so much to do in the resort. Can you tell us a few things you could do? Let me just... is that a plane? I that's a plane. Yeah, that's okay, that's okay. Ready? So what I'd like you to explain is what you can do in the resort and then we'll talk about stuff that's outside the resort in Langkawi.

Irene Vairo (06:13.487)
Yeah.

Yeah, sorry.

Irene Vairo (06:32.577)
Okay sure well as you mentioned it the resort is so beautiful it's full of nature and a beautiful pool that you don't really need to go outside if you don't want to but of course the island of Langkawi is beautiful, it's a beautiful nature side that definitely guests they should visit it but while they are with us as well we actually provide different kind of activities we have a very nice cooking class done with

our chef where you can actually guess they can immerse themselves to learn some very easy Malaysian dishes but they can actually take home and with them the recipe and maybe try it back to their own country. So it became very popular because it's very accessible and is available every day depending normally on the timing side and it's something that people actually like to experience because Malaysian as Italy as well they very famous for food.

Paula Barnes (07:16.012)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (07:32.289)
Yeah.

Irene Vairo (07:32.599)
So it's something that you must try, right? So we have a lot of people very interested in cooking class. We also providing a very nice batik class.

Paula Barnes (07:37.837)
Mm-hmm.

Irene Vairo (07:42.793)
as you know Malaysia has a very big history of homemade boutique so it's something that we want to highlight to the customer they stay with us as a part of the heritage experience as well and then let's not forget about our spa as you mentioned we are a very small a little boutique place and we're running a very small cute little spa that is one of the most beautiful houses at the poolside where we're providing a Malaysian

Paula Barnes (07:42.967)
Okay.

Paula Barnes (07:48.706)
Mm-hmm.

Irene Vairo (08:12.657)
massage actually traditional as well so as a part of the experience for our guests as well.

Paula Barnes (08:20.565)
I can vouch for that. That was like the most amazing massage I've had in the most beautiful surroundings. you're right, you can stay there all day. It doesn't matter if it's raining, if it doesn't matter if the sun is out, there's so much to do. You can also do afternoon tea with traditional foods, Malaysian foods, which I just found so lovely. And the one thing I'd also want to mention is that if you have a big group, there are some options there to have

big groups stay there. So it'd be really fun to have your whole family stay there for Christmas for example because you've got all those different... Sorry I

Irene Vairo (08:55.234)
Yeah.

Irene Vairo (09:01.327)
It's okay.

Paula Barnes (09:03.253)
I thought I'd it off. Let me just go back. I had turned off the thing. Sorry about that. I'll go back. So the good thing about that place or the thing that I found it quite interesting is that if you're a want to go away for a big trip with family, there's so many options there that they can choose from to have their own kind of little home, can't they? Like their own house.

Irene Vairo (09:25.485)
Yeah, exactly. They can actually book an entire house and make it their home for a vacation site. We do have quite a lot of family comes around, group of friends as well for a special birthday celebration. As you mentioned before, because we are very small and unique property, we have a lot of weddings as well. So our place is spectacular for weddings. So it's something that we actually working on it in the last few years as well. It's a very unique

Paula Barnes (09:38.986)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (09:49.389)
Yeah, I can see that.

Paula Barnes (09:53.613)
Because you've also got the restaurant, you've also got a bar. I there's a lot of things there. And I remember coming in one night and there was a whole lot of people singing. What is that also about? Is that like a community thing or is that a, yeah?

Irene Vairo (10:00.579)
Yeah.

Irene Vairo (10:10.671)
yeah, well I were,

Palo restaurant and bar, as you mentioned, is a very cool place. It's an outdoor spaces with patio and a lot of greenish. And we do have a few different entertainment with local artists as well every week. We normally do quite a lot of things with local, especially we have a monthly pop-up market where we showcasing local people and art because they normally painting or they creating anything's very unique.

We do this as a supporting for local business but also for charity events as well. So it's something interesting that we normally do with the restaurant side but also with the resort side. To be honest, you stay with us and our restaurant is fantastic. It's got so many choices of local food or western food. All our products are fresh, they homemade in here. We have a small bakery that we produce bread almost every day. So we have a lot of things even if you very small.

Paula Barnes (10:43.062)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (10:49.728)
Paula Barnes (11:09.197)
I

Irene Vairo (11:12.721)
We actually believe that the experience is supposed to be overall a full under percent experience for our customer when they stay with us from the Entrace of the property to the staff to the amenities to the food that is very important to the drinks We have you try we have a fantastic drinks. They are making with Malaysian flavor as well So we creating all the time something new for our customer to try and to talk about it especially

Paula Barnes (11:18.284)
Hmm.

Irene Vairo (11:42.651)
because it's not that much the same in the island. So it's very difficult to find this particular type of cocktails or food as well.

Paula Barnes (11:47.735)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (11:54.505)
So which leads me to the next question if we talk about Langkawi what are some of the foods that we must try when we're there?

Irene Vairo (12:03.829)
In Langkawi you definitely must try Nasi Lamar because your breakfast should be started by Nasi Lamar. To be honest I don't do this every day because as you know Italian doesn't eat rice for breakfast but when you move to different country for very long time you take this as a part of your daily routine so I love Nasi Lamar. So this is something that people should try. You can buy in so many local little stalls around the island.

Paula Barnes (12:13.195)
Hehehehehe

Irene Vairo (12:32.335)
and it's very popular and famous. know, they're having wrap it up in a banana leaf, then you can just take it and eat it. It is very classic and simple. It's something that is part of the meal of Malaysian people every day.

Paula Barnes (12:37.89)
Yep.

Irene Vairo (12:46.851)
Something that you should try definitely and then definitely you should try seafood because it's an island side We have a lot of restaurants actually providing very great fresh fish So and seafood side is something very popular to to have it around the island

Paula Barnes (12:59.543)
Mm-hmm.

Paula Barnes (13:04.642)
Yeah.

Irene Vairo (13:05.223)
and of course well they have a very nice place to have roti canai there is something that i i very love normally more than nasi lemak to be honest there's a breakfast side a bit more light and the island is full of little local shop that you can get a very good food great one and with a lot of flavor and tastiness and a lot of spices so if you like it i still struggling with spice and spiciness

Paula Barnes (13:16.812)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (13:31.073)
Yeah I think when we were eating I think it was just you and I that were like, it's a little spicy.

Irene Vairo (13:35.309)
and chili.

Irene Vairo (13:40.303)
Yeah, exactly. I still have a lot of struggle for it, so I sometimes very cautious to ask, please don't do spicy because by the end of the day, it's still spicy. So after a while, you get used to it normally, but I'm still not.

Paula Barnes (13:53.109)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And so what is Langkawi famous for?

Irene Vairo (14:04.217)
Well Beach, Nature, Waterfall, UNESCO Park, is our main groove area, that is a beautiful, one of the most beautiful area in the island.

People come here to relax. They know that it's a small island and compared to other places in Asia, still very traditional. So you meet local people that make you feel at home. They give you very different experience than you can have in other places. So I believe places are also different depending on how locals actually treat tourists around. And here people are very kind.

Paula Barnes (14:25.762)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (14:43.917)
Hmm.

Irene Vairo (14:47.353)
very friendly. They love tourists because this island has been building up in the last 35 years with tourists. So people work with them and if you make some very nice local the day after you've been invited in the houses to have food, laksa or anything so they take you around to see some of the secret spots in the island that you will never know if you are a tourist. So I think this is something that it should be a light click about.

Paula Barnes (14:53.985)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (15:08.522)
us.

Irene Vairo (15:17.273)
the island.

Paula Barnes (15:18.357)
Yeah and so if I wanted to if I stayed at Temple Tree can you organize activities outside of the like can you organize going to the UNESCO National Park that sort of stuff? Yep.

Irene Vairo (15:31.631)
Oh yes, yes, yes. We do, we do. Our front desk actually organising a lot of different trips. The UNESCO park is one of them. One of the companies that we normally use is Dave Adventure. Dave's has been in the island for 20 over years. They are eco-friendly and they are a great company. I did a tour with them as a man groove. A tour with a kayak, first time in my life. To be honest, it was not great. I didn't...

Paula Barnes (15:38.303)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Paula Barnes (15:45.185)
Mm-hmm.

Paula Barnes (15:51.735)
Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

Irene Vairo (16:01.359)
drive the kayak very properly so it takes me ages to all the tour but was a lot of fun and I saw such a nice beautiful places and peaceful, full of nature, a very unique type of bird because as you know the island have about 250 or 300 over different type of birds so something that actually can attract people to come over here if you do a bird watching that is something that in the island you can do in so many different places as you know the island

Paula Barnes (16:26.765)
Irene Vairo (16:31.474)
have a lot of rice fields and a lot of nature parks around so this is something that normally people like to go to immerse themselves more in the nature side.

Paula Barnes (16:42.329)
Because also you can I mean we went for a bike ride around yeah to to the campongs. Can you explain what a campong is and where we went in comparison like

Irene Vairo (16:47.509)
yes, yeah.

Irene Vairo (16:56.74)
you've been in one of my favorite places that actually is...

Not many locals actually go to this kind of secret place. It's a small area. After the airport site is called Tamayon. It's an area where they got a beautiful old bridge. If you go there for sunset time it's absolutely amazing. Because only locals go around there for fishing. Normally tourists don't even know that. Because it's inside the village area. As you guys did last time, you're actually cycling on it, right?

Paula Barnes (17:04.673)
yet.

Paula Barnes (17:08.951)
Mm-hmm.

Paula Barnes (17:18.253)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Paula Barnes (17:25.42)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (17:29.303)
Yeah.

Irene Vairo (17:30.361)
time is the golden hours to go. It's absolutely beautiful and stunning.

Paula Barnes (17:33.036)
is.

So I mean, because that's what I found about Langkawi. I've been a couple of times. But this trip was different because we really immersed ourselves in the nature. You know, we went on a boat ride. We went cycling. So there is so much to love about Langkawi, right? It's so small, but there's just so much to do. When is the best time to travel there?

Irene Vairo (17:55.33)
Yeah.

Irene Vairo (18:02.543)
Well, depending on what kind of weather would you like to have, let's say now for the island is considering high season start from December until April because it's our dry season so he's very hot today is 35 degree and it's no rain around for quite four or five months but

Paula Barnes (18:20.681)
Okay. Yeah.

Irene Vairo (18:25.485)
The island has become very dry so as a natural site actually you will see Sometimes they suffering because you can see the grass the trees are very yellow I would prefer to come during the start of the rainy season. Let's say May or June is also very good where the island is completely full of greenish because the rain actually will change in the color of the nature surrounding the island and it's bit more quiet and I think if you're looking

Paula Barnes (18:35.201)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (18:39.563)
Mm-hmm.

Paula Barnes (18:45.676)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (18:50.573)
Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Irene Vairo (18:55.409)
for a peaceful time, I will definitely choose the start of the rainy season instead of the dry one.

Paula Barnes (19:03.105)
I think that I totally agree with you there because the same with anywhere in South East Asia, people just flock to the time with high season because there isn't any rain but I actually like the rain because it cools things down and there's some slow days in there, right? That you can just hang around at the resort or you you can do stuff when it's raining anyway so it doesn't, to me it doesn't, yeah, doesn't change things.

Irene Vairo (19:16.76)
No.

Irene Vairo (19:21.209)
Yeah.

Irene Vairo (19:28.003)
Yes, and it doesn't change it so much, but it changed the way that you see the island. Like, you know when it's a dry season, we have beautiful waterfall, but they are dry, so they are not the same that when it's the rainy season that you can go and swim there and spend time in on it.

Paula Barnes (19:35.948)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (19:39.646)
Okay.

Paula Barnes (19:45.899)
Yeah and it's hot all the time isn't it so it doesn't matter if it's raining. So if you if I was to come there do I need a car can I catch public transport what what what is the best way to get around the island?

Irene Vairo (19:49.067)
my god, yes.

Irene Vairo (20:03.951)
The best way to get around is definitely to hire a car or a scooter if you know how to drive. I personally unfortunately don't know even after 10 years that I live here so something in my bucket list to do.

Paula Barnes (20:09.313)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Paula Barnes (20:14.189)
You're Italian! How could you not know how to...

Irene Vairo (20:19.215)
Yeah, I don't know why everybody thinks you are Italian because everybody thinks that Italy we grew up on a vest but I think so. But unfortunately I didn't. Something that in my bucket list I always say every year, okay next year I will definitely try to ride a scooter but scooter is very easy, it's convenient and it gives you the freedom to drive around. We have very good roads in the island. Or the car that is also a very good way to travel around the island because the hot weather right

Paula Barnes (20:25.439)
I know, I know, I know.

Paula Barnes (20:30.797)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (20:35.309)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (20:43.321)
Yeah.

Irene Vairo (20:49.209)
you have air conditioning in the car, so it's quite enjoyable, especially if you are a family with kids, it's definitely something easy for you. You can hire a car for a very good price and you can get a very good deal if you hire it for a few more days. We don't have public transport in the island, so you can use Grab, of course, but if you stay for few days, Scooter give you better freedom to driving around.

Paula Barnes (20:54.147)
Mm-hmm.

Paula Barnes (21:04.023)
Okay. Yeah.

Yep.

Paula Barnes (21:13.015)
Yeah, yeah and Grab is the higher caste service that they use in Southeast Asia right? Yeah, it's like Uber.

Irene Vairo (21:18.893)
Yeah, exactly. That is very convenient. Yeah, exactly. So it's very convenient and everybody uses it normally around the island. But we normally suggest to our customer if they stay for a few days and they very interested to discover the island by themselves, having a car or a scooter is give you the freedom to do that.

Paula Barnes (21:36.163)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (21:40.877)
Yeah no I totally agree I prefer a car if I can or a scooter. To be honest I've only just learned how to ride a scooter myself in in October. So yeah I totally understand where you're coming from. So if I was to buy a souvenir and I didn't want to just like a magnet or a souvenir like everyone else gets, where can I go? What should I buy?

Irene Vairo (21:49.903)
Merci.

Irene Vairo (22:06.34)
But

The island has a few little shops as also not many people knows we have a complex craft where you can buy local products especially batik and glass so they can actually show you how they make it as well so it's quite interesting and we have a very very cute shop that is called Lily Pad that is in the restaurant that is called Fat Frog that is quite popular in the island the shop is very small and unique

Paula Barnes (22:15.587)
Okay.

Paula Barnes (22:19.779)
Mm-hmm.

okay.

Paula Barnes (22:29.495)
Okay.

Yeah.

Irene Vairo (22:37.002)
but what they did they actually pick all local artists

Paula Barnes (22:41.007)
Irene Vairo (22:41.347)
Combine it together in a small shop where you can actually get it homemade ceramic that they are made in here in Kuwa by a local guy You can get beautiful jewelry made by a local artist in the island You have a very nice product that is a fresh squeezed coconut oil because we have a small coconut oil plantation in the island and then producing a coconut oil so it's a lot of little little things actually they can give you a bit of

Paula Barnes (22:46.159)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (22:54.809)
Mm-hmm.

Paula Barnes (23:00.558)
Paula Barnes (23:03.994)
Yeah.

Irene Vairo (23:11.121)
What we would say a bit of Explorer of the island side and they all made it in the island actually So it's quite interesting to bring me home something different that is not a magnet or a t-shirt. I say long cut way

Paula Barnes (23:19.811)
That's nice.

Yeah. That's why I always like to pick the brain of a local because they always know the best souvenirs to buy right so I'm grateful for that. The other question I have for you looking back to when you first arrived is there anything you wish you knew you had known before you got there? Any tips?

Irene Vairo (23:32.898)
Yeah.

Irene Vairo (23:46.543)
I learned to eat spicy first and I didn't know so when I moved here, it was even worse because everybody eats sambal over spicy so this was something interesting I think the second well the second was definitely I mean drive a scooter I didn't know that was so popular that was make my life so easier because when I first came in the island I didn't have a car I used to cycling that is very good

Paula Barnes (23:58.371)
He he he.

Paula Barnes (24:06.073)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (24:10.521)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (24:14.6)
wow. Yeah, so long.

Irene Vairo (24:16.173)
But you know, if you want to go a bit far away, it's a bit complicated and you don't feel very local because people looking at you that you are a bit crazy person cycling around in the hot sun. So definitely if I know that I will learn to drive scoot there when I was in Italy, possibly.

Paula Barnes (24:20.132)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (24:26.809)
Yeah

I'm guessing the I guess not many locals I don't think I've seen I saw many locals riding a bike so yeah I can totally understand.

Irene Vairo (24:39.894)
Locals, they normally don't run a bike and they don't walk. If you walk on the road, they will ask you, would you like to have a lift? Because they're thinking that something happened to you.

Paula Barnes (24:43.725)
Yeah. Yeah.

So what does a local meal look like in your day? I know we talked about the dishes that we have to try but what does a local dish look like in a normal kind of days for you?

Irene Vairo (25:07.407)
you

For me as a non-local, as a person who works almost all day, as an outelier, right? So my meals are very small and they more into vegetarian side or have something very small. But our locals for lunch, normally they like to have rice and also they like to have as a main, they always have a meat that it can be chicken or beef or fish. This is something that he's never

Paula Barnes (25:14.41)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (25:28.015)
Mm-hmm.

Irene Vairo (25:38.225)
out from the menu for lunch or for dinner either. So it's something very important for them and they're cooking in so many different ways that they always have a sauce that is very good combining with the rice and they normally eat local vegetables like kailan, kangkong, pak choi. This is something also very common in the island.

Paula Barnes (25:51.545)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (25:56.312)
Yeah.

Irene Vairo (26:00.215)
The main local dishes are always based by chicken, fish or beef. You can always find eggs as well. That is something they eat every single time, like lunch, breakfast, It's always eggs somehow, somewhere. Or chicken as well. This is something very local.

Paula Barnes (26:08.556)
Okay.

Paula Barnes (26:12.428)
I am Xa.

Paula Barnes (26:19.863)
Yeah, yeah because they like the fried, they love their fried chicken and stuff too don't they.

Irene Vairo (26:26.223)
They love fry everything mostly so everything is fried most of the time So that's why I say something very popular when I love to go to a night market as You know in Asia they have so many night market in the island We have a night market that is very popular for locals, especially but also for tourists, of course Where is the same market but different area of the island? My favorite is Friday today actually so today is my favorite

Paula Barnes (26:37.508)
Mm-hmm.

Paula Barnes (26:45.707)
Okay. Yeah.

Paula Barnes (26:52.707)
Yep.

Yeah.

Irene Vairo (26:56.177)
To go to the market is up in the north of the island. It's the same but because in the area they have a lot of Thai the food that is being serving in the market is very different. It's more into Thai side. So I like to go and normally buy like know like a Thai salad or mango and sticky rice or some other dishes that they are not fried chicken mostly let's say.

Paula Barnes (27:00.527)
Mm-hmm.

Paula Barnes (27:04.847)
Mm-hmm.

Paula Barnes (27:08.419)
Yep.

Paula Barnes (27:14.318)
Yep.

Paula Barnes (27:19.575)
Yeah yeah. Because I think people don't realise how close Thailand is to Langkawi because you can catch a ferry to Thailand right?

Irene Vairo (27:27.31)
No.

Yeah, you can actually have two ferries. One is called Kho Lipi. That is about 45 minutes, depending on the currents of the sea. The other one is Satun. That is the mainland of south of Thailand. It's only one hour. We are actually neighbors. So that's why in the island you can find a very good Thai food because we have a lot of Thai leaves in here.

Paula Barnes (27:34.873)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (27:44.515)
Yeah, I think.

Yeah. Okay.

Can you, could you, now I'm going to embarrass myself with my geography, but Langkawi, because it's an island, it's right up to the top of the border of the bottom of Thailand, isn't it? It's not on the side, it's at the bottom. Yeah, I thought so. I was thinking it was at the side, but it's not. It's right at the bottom. Right at the...

Irene Vairo (28:01.314)
Yeah.

Irene Vairo (28:05.635)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

Irene Vairo (28:14.605)
Yeah, actually, if you live on a mainland, right, let's say like Kuala Perlis, Kuala Perlis is already the bottom side of Thailand. It's a border there that is called Parambasar that is very easy to catch the train and just cross the area.

Paula Barnes (28:18.349)
Yeah. Yeah.

Paula Barnes (28:25.764)
Yep.

Paula Barnes (28:29.103)
okay, okay so could literally just catch a train all the way down and then a ferry across to Langkawi if you were in Thailand. Okay, okay, do know I didn't even think that. Yeah.

Irene Vairo (28:36.055)
Yeah. if you like it like I do, because I'm a bit crazy, I like to take a train from Malaysia to Bangkok. There is a night train.

Paula Barnes (28:46.925)
Wow, how many hours is that?

Irene Vairo (28:51.292)
I've 18 hours, 19. Yeah, that's very nice. yeah, see? Very nice.

Paula Barnes (28:53.051)
wow, wow. Do know what? I'm crazy too because I like that sort of stuff. Yeah I do. I actually like train rides but you know that's just me.

You know every person that arrives in a new destination and calls their self home there's always that wow moment. Did you have a wow moment when you arrived at Toulanc-Kawi and what was it?

Irene Vairo (29:21.143)
I think my wow moment was the first time that I saw the sunset on Chenang Beach. And I tell you why. I grew up in a mountain and I never see the sea so much, only when I was smaller on summer vacation. And I always have the feeling that I would love to live close to the seaside.

But you know, yeah, I've been to vacation sites, to many places where you can see a sea at the sunset. But the first time that I saw the sunset at Chinam Beach, it was what? 2015, I think so, when I came back to the island. was absolutely amazing. I still have a picture on my phone actually.

Paula Barnes (29:58.927)
yeah.

so that was your wow moment. I mean, there's something special about the beach, isn't there? Something special. I grew up at the beach, so for me, I just gravitate to places that have the ocean or even a river. It just has to be some sort of water for me. So do you, is there a hidden gem or a secret spot that only locals know that tourists don't really? That you would recommend?

Irene Vairo (30:08.067)
Yeah.

Irene Vairo (30:28.495)
They have actually a lot to be honest so more you live here more you start to discover in places through local site Well they have one that is called secret waterfall of course it's called secret because nobody knows

Paula Barnes (30:32.034)
Okay.

Paula Barnes (30:38.233)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (30:43.371)
Okay.

Irene Vairo (30:47.335)
is an area where is very popular waterfall that people normally go but nobody knows that if you actually decided to adventure yourself up to the waterfall and climb up there actually three other different secret waterfall with three different levels are so a local person actually sent me there once because i love waterfall and i love do hiking and things so it's a bit difficult to be honest to go up

Paula Barnes (30:50.797)
Yeah. Yeah.

Paula Barnes (31:04.687)
Paula Barnes (31:09.667)
Yeah. Yeah.

Irene Vairo (31:17.242)
very slippery but when you arrive there it's absolutely beautiful because it's a natural pool and it's only you it's nobody else and nobody knows

Paula Barnes (31:22.799)
Nice. nice. I mean that just sounds magical. And I guess you'd need a car to get to the waterfall to begin with and then you'd go for kind of like a hike up.

Irene Vairo (31:32.769)
yeah yes i would not say which one before because as a secret spot i cannot you know see what is it otherwise it's not secret anymore because we have a beautiful beach that is called secret beach but because everybody talks about it now it's no secret anymore so yeah exactly

Paula Barnes (31:39.387)
Ha ha

Paula Barnes (31:43.723)
So yeah, yeah, it's called non-secret beach. So guess you have to ask the locals when you get there exactly where this secret waterfall is. Is there anything else you'd like to add? Because this has been an awesome...

Irene Vairo (31:58.072)
Yeah.

Paula Barnes (32:06.891)
chat because I love Langkawi I cannot wait to go back. So is there anything else you'd like to tell anybody or any tips that you'd give?

Irene Vairo (32:16.665)
Well, definitely visit Langkawi, but with a different eye, with a nature eye. Come and look at the beauty of the island that nobody talks about.

and come and visit Temple Tree, stay with us, get different experience, immerse yourself in Malaysian culture. That food, that is nature, that is batik class, cooking class, so many things actually they can create your experience so much difference than other places that you can find in the island. But visit the island not because it's a duty free, but because

Paula Barnes (32:54.583)
Yeah, that's another thing people don't talk about.

Irene Vairo (32:59.391)
Yeah but because it's just an amazing place they should preserve it more and highlight it how beautiful is the nature in the island and unfortunately not that often they do that.

Paula Barnes (33:15.319)
I mean, that's exactly, I think personally, that's exactly why I'll be going back to Langkawi, for the nature, you know? And you're right, have a look at it as a different, with a different eye and have a different experience, because it is, it's one of my favourite Malaysian destinations. And you know what, Temple Tree made it one of my favourite destinations. So yeah. Yes, exactly, so.

Irene Vairo (33:23.468)
Yeah.

Irene Vairo (33:32.399)
You

Irene Vairo (33:35.897)
Good, that's fantastic. And then you have the friends in here, me. So it's definitely easy for you to come back anytime.

Paula Barnes (33:43.425)
I definitely will be and everything that you mentioned today including Temple Tree I will be putting in the show notes so that people can click on and find all the information for themselves. I've also written an article all about Temple Tree so you click on to that and find out my experience because I just absolutely loved it. So yeah thank you Irene so much it's been lovely catching up with you and we will catch up soon I'm sure of it.

Irene Vairo (33:52.76)
Okay, thank you.

Irene Vairo (34:04.729)
Thank you so much, Valda.

Irene Vairo (34:11.06)
Okay, all right. Thank you. See you soon. Bye. Bye bye.

Paula Barnes (34:11.791)
Thank you. Bye.