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Published: June 14th 2013
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Langkawi, day 2: As we reeled from the mirror, which we assumed was rose tinted. It wasn't. We had made a terrible mistake at the beach. My shins, calves, stomach, chest, face, back and feet had all been singed a brilliant shade of pink. For the first time on this trip We were both hoping for a less sunny day, and looking out window it seemed that our wish had been granted. It was hot and muggy, but there was at least there was a veil of cloud shielding us from the intense sun. So, learning our lesson we liberally applied the factor 50, we set off to the boat for our island hopping adventure
Firstly, we had been swindled again, but not in a overly serious way, as it emerged that aster being assured that the trip was 4 hours, it had now dwindled to 3. Miffed, we got on our vessel and set off. However, our dissatisfaction was banished as we bounced over the waves in our speed boat, with the wind in my newly liberated scalp. Our first stop was the Pregnant Maidens Island, a geological marvel, surrounded entirely by the sea, in the centre of the
island there is a huge fresh water lake. Formed by a small crack in the rock 80m below, and surrounded by beautiful mountains it was a good start to the voyage. We rented a swan, and Amelia had a swim
Next it was a chance to watch the eagles feeding. This was splendid, and I could not do it justice to describe, so I'll leave that to the photos. After the eagles was a trip to a supposedly secluded island for a sunbathe and a relax. Once we got there it transpired that every other tourist in Langkawi was there, and to make it even better the storm clouds were rolling in apace. Amelia had another swim and the thunder and lightning started whilst the native monkeys stole food from out of tourists hands! Then followed the most torrential downpour I have ever been in. I was wet to the bone before I could make it the 10m to the bamboo covered rustic cafe, along with the rest of the islands other maroonees. One by one peoples boats came back to the island to collect them for the return trip, all except ours. We waited by the beach for
our ride back with the other passengers on the beach, becoming more and more anxious and at risk from drowning. Finally our boat arrived and be began the high speed journey back, but this time it was much less refreshing than the journey out, as every single drop of rain stung as it hit our singed skin.
After an interminable ride, we arrived back at shore, shivering and sore, and actually a little bit glad that we had been conned out of the extra hour. So we headed back to a mall for a spot of lunch but the previously powerful lovely air con, now froze us nearly to death. Finally the machines had turned on us... So we went back to the cafe next to the hotel that we had just checked out of and changed into some dry clothes, and abused the free wifi whilst we contemplated the impending pneumonia before the ferry to Penang.
The ferry was a rough experience, but not bad enough to be overly remarkable. The only good bit was that when I woke up half way through they were playing the A Team remake. Those who know us well will know
that we both have a penchant for terrible films, and this hit the spot. Our arrival into Penang was slightly shambolic. There are 2 parts considered to be Penang, one on mainland peninsular Malaysia, called Butterworth, and one on and island, known as Georgetown, which is the World Heritage bit, but we'll come to that later. We had been told that we would arrive on the mainland but actually arrived on the island and caught the free ferry to the mainland where there were supposed to be more places to stay and other things to do. There weren't, so first thing the next morning we went back to the island by the ferry, which was mysteriously no longer free.
After checking in to hotel number 2, we went exploring around the island. There were a few nice old government buildings, and an old fort, but not much else. So we went to the fort, entering for the princely sum of RM2 (40p) for both of us. This should have told us something of the worth of the contents. Basically the fort was built by a British privateer with the East India Company, initially as a few logs surrounding some
soldiers who subsequently decided the the British now owned the island. Standard British tactics. The port was established as a centre for trade, there was a minor uprising from the natives, which was summarily crushed. The fort was then expanded at great personal cost to its original founder, which was completely unnecessary, as the French, Portuguese, Spanish never bothered to attack. In fact no-one did for 100 years, until the Japanese in 1941. They started bombing for a day, and the next, the British decided that it was all getting rather hairy and left.
That night we got on the night train for Kuala Lumpur, built on the majestic River Lump, or at least that's what I told Amelia. Anyone with any accurate information on this may leave a comment! The train was hell. There was only only seats, not bunks left. We therefore endured the least comfortable night's sleep currently on record (Guinness World Record awaiting approval).
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