Langkawi - Our Fisrt Steps In Malaysia

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Our first destination in Malaysia was the tourist hotspot of Langkawi. After a one night stop in Satun, Thailand, we boarded a ferry and set off on a four hour journey to the 6th country of our travels so far.

We planned on spending five nights on the island and chose to head for Cenang Beach to look for somewhere to stay as this was where the majority of guesthouses and cheap eats were based. We managed to find ourselves a really nice little called The Palms Guesthouse that is run by an English couple who have been out in Malaysia running Guesthouses for the past ten years.

Once again the weather was perfect for the entire time that we were there. The temperature never fell below 35C during the day so it was perfect weather to hit the beach. The beach at Cenang is meant to be one of the nicest on the island and for the time that we were there it was nearly deserted which made it nice and peaceful and easy to find a free space of sand!

As we were there for five days we decided to head to a few of the big attractions that make the island one of Malaysia's top destinations. They have a cable car that takes you up to the highest point on the island. Looking at the map it didn't look too far so we decided to hire some bicycles to cycle there. The plan was to leave early in the morning when it was cloudy and then cycle back in the afternoon when it had cooled down slightly. The journey there was fun as there were four steep hills that we had to negociate and the fact that the map we had wasn't brilliant and it turned out to be 18km away! Once we arrived it was fine with a nice gentle ride to the top. The weather wasn't the best that day as one half of the island was shrouded in cloud but the views of the other half were perfect so it wasn't too bad.

Then came the journey home. Within two minutes of leaving, I got a flat tyre much to Niks amusement! Needless to say that this made it near impossile to cycle having no air in my tyre plus the fact that the sun was well and truly burning away in the sky. So by the halfway point we were both at deaths door (ok not that bad but cycling in 35C heat is not good for you - lesson learnt!) so we stopped off to rest at an Australian Deli for some refreshments. At this pont a man was loading up his refridgerated van with empty boxes so I cheekily asked if I could chuck our bikes in the back and get a lift back to Cenang Beach (which was still 10km away) and he said yes! We were very grateful as it was rediculously hot!

The other attraction that we headed to was 'Asia's Largest Aquarium' which was located at the end of the beach that we were staying on. It turned out to be a bit of a lead balloon as the selection of wildlife was varied and not brilliant! At the end of the tour there was a 3D film that followed 'Mikey' the fish and showed how he had to avoid predators to survive - but he then died at the end when a rock fell on his head!?!?! We're not sure if this was meant to be serious or not but we laughed our heads off at it!!!

Apart from that we didn't do much apart from hang around on the beach and at our guesthouse which made for a really nice five days.

One thing that was very noticeable in Malaysia is the food! There is a much greater influence of Indian and Chinese foods available so we managed to eat some brilliant food for a rediculously cheap amount of money which made us happy!!

Love Nik & Craig x

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