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21 November 2009 - Langkawi, Malaysia.

Royal Langkawi Yacht Club.

I was delirious from jetlag and immigration issues when [bxA] I arrived at the massive Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta farewell dinner at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club.

Forty-eight hours ago I was posing for photos with Sikh teenagers in a rock garden in Chandigarh, India. How did I get here? One of my roomies at the ashram, Tura, a loving girl who gave great hugs and traveled with a stack of deflated soccer balls she was delivering to an orphanage in Nepal, once explained to me in her adorable Spanish accent that we travel by air, but our karma travels by camel.

I made my way through the mingling yachties out to the main area where white clothed tables were arranged on a platform erected over the swimming pool, set to the backdrop of sailboats moored along jetties. Fiona ran up to hug me and I was struck by her goddessness. I had forgotten she’s nine feet tall with a personality as untamed as her curly brown hair. She introduced me to the Sirius captain and crew and we settled in for dinner at a table near the stage where trophies were passed out for the next hour or so.

(I'm standing on my tippy toes in this photo so as not to look like an oompah loompah next to Fuzz.)

The ceremony gave way to thumping loud American-wedding-dance-music (Celebration, Dancing Queen, Greased Lightening, The Twist…) and all the sailors bounced around happily after many days of hard racing in pouring down rain. In my sleep-deprived jet lag delirium, I mostly wandered through the festivities in a daze, engaging in a few quiet conversations about things that reminded me I’ve committed, once again, to join a boat full of potential lunatics for a journey that will ultimately lead to God knows where.

Here we go…

[Alyssa: WE MISS YOU!!!]