Langkawi Island Time

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Nick: Having pushed south and east of Penang to reach the Cameron Highlands, our latest leg has seen us travelling back in the opposite direction, past Penang to the island of Langkawi. With a few spare days to use up whilst in Malaysia, and with good transport links to the island, we decided we'd take this one last chance to get in some beach time before the end of our big adventure. Regular readers of our blog will be all too aware of my usual long-winded accounts of our experiences; having spent three very lazy days on Langkawi, doing very little indeed, I can report that this blog entry will be much more succinct! Our flight from Kuala Lumpur landed during the late afternoon on Friday, and it was a short and straightforward taxi trip to our pre-booked hotel located close to Cenang Beach, the main beach on the island and the centre of the tourist action. In all, the journey from the Cameron Highlands had taken us a total of around ten hours, and it had all gone pretty smoothly. Things grew a little more hassling when we arrived at the hotel only to find the reception room locked and decidedly devoid of people. Assorted signs on the window provided multiple phone numbers to call...four (expensive) telephone calls later and we'd reached three voicemails and a wrong number. Having left text and voicemail messages, we waited around for a while hoping for someone to get in touch so that we could check in. Fortunately, another guest came walking past, a Malaysian chap who spoke good English and helped our cause by calling the hotel owner and sorting everything out. Ten minutes later, a lady appeared on a moped, unlocked reception and we were at last checked in to our room.

Our home for the next three days was a large room which, although grotty (usual leaking plumbing, damp walls etc.) had working a/c, a decent enough shower and good internet. Frazzled from the day's travels and travails, found a nearby bar for a soothing cold beer before finding somewhere for dinner: it had been a long time since lunch and our stomachs were demanding attention. We ended up at one of the many restaurants located near our hotel, sharing a duck spring roll starter before laying into a beef rendang (me) and a noodle won ton soup (Sarah). Sated, we went back to our room and took advantage of the first decent internet connection in some time by watching the first of the new series of 'Great British Bake Off'! Occasional home comforts are important, after all...

There's very little to report from what turned out to be a wonderfully bone-idle Saturday. During the morning we dropped our laundry off and found a lovely French cafe for breakfast, which served some real treats: delicious crepes, excellent black coffee, toasted baguette with real butter. The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent chilling out under the a/c and reading...heaven. Lunch was provided by a cheap and cheerful street-food place that served one of the best char koay teow dishes yet, before we headed down to Cenang beach for a splash about. The beach itself is pretty busy, with plenty of watersport activities dominating the sand and water (think jetskis, banana boats and whatnot all over the place); nonetheless, we found a nice quiet-ish patch that was fine for swimming about. The sand was soft and clean and the water was warm, so we enjoyed a good half an hour or so of splashing about in the waves before heading back to shower and change. Dinner found us at a tasteful restaurant called 'Fat Cupid' a little way away. Having remained largely faithful to the (wonderful) local food since our arrival in Malaysia, we were both hankering after a bit of good ol' 'western' grub and neither of us was able to resist the tasty-sounding burgers on offer...they were as good as we'd hoped! After dinner, we made our way to a local pub that was showing the football, and settled in for the evening to watch the two matches on offer: Southampton vs Everton (a hellish couple of hours that I would prefer not to dwell on) followed by Swansea vs Newcastle, an altogether more entertaining affair. What with the time difference between here and home, it was into the early hours of the morning by the time the football finished and we sloped off to bed.

After our late night, Sunday morning began with a much-needed lie-in before heading back to the excellent little French cafe for a late brekkie (if it ain't broke, etc.). As soon as we'd made it back to the hotel, the rain came bolting down and stayed that way so we were confined to our room for a few hours - which was fine by me, as it gave us an excuse to lie around and read some more. By the time it had finished, we were ready to head back out for a light lunch (more char koay teow, different restaurant, not as good) and another little beach sessions. We made our way to the neighbouring beach, 'Pantai Tengah', which turned out to be quieter but also a fair bit grottier, before deciding to head back to our previous spot at Pantai Cenang. As before, we spent thirty or forty minutes bobbing around, swimming and generally enjoying the water before heading back. The evening was almost a carbon copy of the previous day; we went for dinner at Fat Cupid again (we couldn't resist), only this time opting for more local fare, a nyonya chicken curry for me and a superb laksa for Sarah that came in such a massive serving I had to help her out, like any true gentleman would! After dinner, there was some more football to be had and once again we watched both matches, meaning that we were again late into our bed.

Monday, our final full day in the island, began with the predictable lie-in before finally getting up and heading out for some grub (okay, yes, it was the French cafe AGAIN! In our defence there aren't a preponderance of places serving decent tucker during the morning), after which I made my way to a local barber for a haircut and beard trim. (Incidentally, the chap in charge of the clippers wins my Best Barber award for the entire trip.) That pretty much brings things up to date - as I write this, it is mid-afternoon, and we will shortly head out for a bit of grub (surprise surprise). Usually we wait until we've completed the last day of a given destination before writing our blog entries, but that doesn't feel so necessary here....as the above few paragraphs will testify, our few days in Langkawi have all been fairly similar and this afternoon will no doubt be more of the same! So whilst the last three days haven't exactly been a voyage of cultural discovery, or whatever it is that one is really meant to be doing when going travelling, we've definitely achieved our aim of having a final few days of proper relaxation and not a little indulgence before we enter the final ten days of our travels...eek! Next stop: Malacca, from where we should have a little more to report than eating, swimming and watching football!

Sarah: Indeed, Monday afternoon went along in a similar vein to the previous afternoons: some char koay teow from the same place that we bought it from on Saturday (my favourite dish and this restaurant did the best), a dip in the sea including a jellyfish alert and back for showers in the early evening. We headed out with camera in hand to take the four photos attached to this blog as we hadn't taken any since we arrived. For dinner, we settled upon a Korean restaurant for dinner which made a nice change. Nick had a 'bibimbap' which was a mix of rice and fresh tasting veggies with some beef and I had a spicy chicken rice thingy, the name of which eludes me. We weren't staying up until 3am for the Monday Night Football and so it was an earlier night than the previous two. It did mean that we got a chance to catch up on a bit of TV before turning in ready for an early morning (by current 'island time' standards) for our flight back to Kuala Lumpur, with a bus from there to Melaka the same day. The airport taxes are incredibly low in Malaysia and the flights were about £11 each for this leg, for a one hour flight! The two hour bus came in at a whopping £4 each and included seats with a massage setting which the conductor was delighted to demonstrate for us (a novelty, but a bit annoying and our massage settings didn't stay on for long!). For those prices I think I'll have a meltdown the next time I buy a train ticket in England! We have now arrived in Melaka where we will be until Saturday when we will go to KL to stay this time, having passed through three times so far on out trip!

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