Pulau Langkawi - Brace Yourself!!

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Naz:

Well what started as a 3 night visit to a little known island off the West coast of Malaysia turned into a week long party with a few activities thrown in now and again. I think it's probably best if I take you through it day by day as there is a lot to get through in this particular instalment of our adventure.

Day One: We arrived from Penang via the ferry and headed straight to the Rainbow Lodge as it had been highly recommended. Once we checked in we went to the hostel restaurant/bar for some lunch and a German guy immediately approached us and asked if we had just arrived and then asked us if we would like to join him and a few of his friends from the hostel at the beach. After chilling on the beach with our new friends, we all decided to have a go on the turbo balls in the sea (those are the giant hamster balls that you get into and try and run in). We failed miserably, not one of us could stand up for more than 3 seconds, never mind run in them. That night we all had a few beers in the hostel common area and headed to the beach to sit outside a beach bar called Bablylon, which played reggae music and had a live band. This was when we realised jus how different Langkawi is to other places when the sun goes down, and why we found it to be better. Babylon was the only bar that played live music after midnight and it was perfectly cool to just sit outside on the beach, bring your own alcohol, and listen to the music. In fact, that's just what everyone did. The atmosphere was definitely a lot more chilled than other places we had been. Anyway, after everyone else had gone from the beach and there was only 5 of us left with no music to listen to, we decided that the only logical thing to do was to go skinny dipping. I led the charge and within a few minutes all 5 of us were completely naked swimming in the sea at 5am. Some of us were even attempting handstands! It didn't take long for one of the girls to wrap herself around Ric, and although he wasn't too keen, he was a gentleman and didn't resist her advances. We got out of the water before it turned into anything other than just 'piggy backing' and after searching for a while for our clothes in the pitch black (Ric's flip flops are yet to be found), we headed back. On getting back, I was immediately told by Ric's suitor where I was staying so they could be left in peace but, before I had a chance to even get settled, Ric grabbed me and said, "Naz quick, RUN!" and we both scuried back to our room and locked the door before she could see either of us.

Day Two: Well day two was considerably quieter than day one, simply because we didn't have our breakfast till 3pm and were nursing hangovers through to day three. We did, however, manage to play 'shithead' with a few of our fellow worse for wear counterparts until the early hours of the next morning.

Day Three: Because day two was such a "write off" we decided that we wanted to do some sort of activity today, so the obvious choice for me was to go 'go-karting'. Accordingly, we hired a motorbike and drove to the track - Ric drove of course. It was great fun and we were both getting into the race driver mentality. Because I was in the mood, i asked Ric if I could drive us both back - hesitantly he agreed. I was fine going straight but it was when we had to turn that Ric panicked and I lost control, driving us off the road and into a nearby field. I got back in the passenger seat coming to terms with the fact that this would probably be the last opportunity I would get to drive a motorbike, at least on this trip. That night we said goodbye to a few of the old faces and welcomed a few new ones the only way we knew how; we took them to the beach and yet again had a few drinks outside of Babylon. There was no repeat of the Skinny Dipping antics that had occurred a few nights before and instead we all just went back and climbed (or attempted to) into our beds relatively early at 4am. All of us that ius except Ric and a Spanish girl we had met previously met in Penang (you will remember her from our last blog), who stayed up chatting until 6am. From now on I shall refer to her as Senorita X.

Day Four: Day four turned out to be the most dramatic night of our trip so far. It started relatively normal after we decided to go 'Island-Hopping' and actually explore some of the 99 islands that make up Pulau Langkawi. The highlight for me was going to the Lake of the Pregnant Maiden and having my feet nibbled for nowt by loads of Catfish. The legend goes that if a woman can not get pregnant then she goes and swims in the lake and she will be able to concieve, with a little help from the man in her life as well of course (Come on, the lake isn't that magical!) During the trip we also saw eagles feeding about two metres from our boat, which was a pretty unusual experience. That night we all decided we would have a 'big one' as none of us had any concrete plans the next morning, so we headed down to Babylon earlier than usual with the intention of staying there for just a few hours and then going clubbing. We were all dancing in Babylon when suddenly a French guy threw a punch at one of the locals claiming that the local had been touching up his girlfriend. Everything then kicked off and it turned into a massive comical fight with people falling over each other and jumping over tables. When one fo the girls we were with tried to break up the fight, she was smacked in the face by the French guy who was then chased away along with his girlfriend. Ten minutes later, just as everything was calming down the French girl came running back into the bar and threw a glass candle holder at one of the barmen whilst shouting racist slurs. The barman then climbed on top of the bar and took a flying leap at the girl with his fist clenched (Superman-esque if you will), causing the girl to fall to the floor. Two other Malay guys then started trying to kick her while she was down before me and Ric pulled them off knowing she was in the wrong but that no one should be kicked while they're down, especially a girl. You would be forgiven for thinking that is where the drama ends but you would be wrong. We all then got in Taxi's to the club, Sunba, and everyone headed straight in except, you guessed it, Ric and Senorita X. When Ric eventually managed to escape and was able to join us inside the club, he was met inside by a Malay girl he had previously talked to on the beach. The night then turned into a game of 'cat and mouse' with Ric trying not to let either girl see the other, and with a little (or rather a lot of help from me) wingmanning him and distracting whichever one he was trying to hide from, he somehow managed to get away with it. Senorita X went home and he was able to come to the beach with the rest of us for some more drinking, the Malay girl in tow. After a few more cans and a lot of talking sh*t, the majority of us went home and left Ric. All I can say is that he didn't return home until the next morning so I wouldn't like to speculate what he was doing all night...

Day Five: Yet another write off, so it was a case of beach all day and cards again on the night. Although one thing I will take away from day five is an aggressive Argentine card gaem called 'Chacho Va'. I will definitely be promoting it when I get back to the UK.

Day Six: Seeing as we knew this would be our last full day, we decided that we would hire a motorboke again and go exploring. We headed to Tanjung Rhu, which is a private beach on the North of the Island, about 45 minutes from our base in Cenang Beach. Another of the girls from our hostel also hired a motorbike and followed us up there. When we got there we managed to sneak through one of the five star hotels and on to the private beach. We were the only 3 people on the beach and it was absolutely beautiful - Postcard Perfect. My moment to shine came on the way home and the moment all you dedicated readers have been waiting for. When our motorboke ran out of petrol, I volunteered to drive the other bike to a petrol station to bring back some fuel while Ric stayed and waited with Elyna. When I got back after my successful trip, Ric and Elyna were already halfway up the road I left them on. Apparently, Elyna had tried to take a photo of one of the monkeys, not realising it was the alpha male and he got a little bit agressive. Now that I had got the bug for driving, I begged Elyna to let me drive home and she agreed. Although, we all decided it would be safer if she got on the back of Ric's bike rather than mine! For the rest of the night I refused to stop driving, insisting that I would drive people to get their laundry and that I would go and pick up some food for everyone. I even achieved the ultimte feat of gaining Ric's trust, and I drove him all the way to the 'Offy' for some booze.

Day Seven: Having been to Sunba the previous night we were both pretty hungover but we dragged ourselves out of bed, checked out and headed to the beach. We thought what better way to finish our time in Langkawi than to go banana boating, so we did...

Next stop, Kuala Lumpur.

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