Wow-ee, Langkawi (Day 163 - 166 by Gemma)

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Friday 26th February - Tuesday 29th February 2016

We were departing Penang today after spending a great few days exploring the UNESCO area. After a very short 20min flight from Penang airport (we barely had the chance to take our seat belts off!!), we landed in our last Malaysian destination; Langkawi. The plan was simple, 3 days of gloriously relaxing beach time. On arriving at our hotel, we dropped our bags and headed off to get a glimpse of the beach. We had been in two minds as to whether to come to Langkawi as it was billed as 'overly touristy', but with the season being wrong to visit the eastern islands and a last minute recommendation from 2 girls in our last hostel, we decided to chance it. We found ourselves pleasantly surprised, as we stepped onto a huge stretch of clean bright white sand. Probably one of the widest stretches of sand we'd seen in a long time and not busy at all! Although the water wasn't the brightest or clearest we'd seen on our travels (we have been spoilt thus far!), it was nice for a paddle to cool down or soothe the burning soles of our feet running across the sand to get to it.

Our next 3 days slipped into a relaxing routine of lazy mornings filled with coffee and patisseries from a local french cafe owned by a french-only speaking owner, days spent lazing under a beach umbrella looking out across the white sand and evenings drinking beers and sampling the local Malay dishes at our favourite restaurant 'Fat Cupid' only a 5min walk from our front door. Looking at the weather before heading to Langkawi, it looked like we were in for rain and the odd burst of sunshine. We ended up getting the exact opposite, with ridiculously hot days that seemed to go on forever! The bright sun came up early and showed no signs of weakening until it went down late at 8pm!! All in all, we both enjoyed Langkawi. It is a tourist destination, with small shops, malls, cafes etc lining the streets, but with this comes the luxury of an easy few days of laying on the beach with a cold beer only ever an arms length away. Just what we were looking for after a busy few weeks exploring Malaysia and a great way to round off our Malaysian adventure.

We both loved Malaysia, it is a beautiful country with friendly people. Whilst tourism is a key industry, it was interesting to see a country in SE Asia that wasn't trying to oversell tourism by hassling or hard-selling. It left us in a much more relaxed state and lifted some of our cynicism surrounding the kindness of strangers with many more locals just wanting a chat, no strings, no hard sell. Admittedly, the fact that Malaysia is a more affluent country may help with this approach to tourism, but we enjoyed the friendly smiles, conversations and people we met along the way. Our time in Malaysia has been so varied taking us from the huge metropolis, to the rain forest, to the lush tea plantations, to the historical and creative UNESCO towns, to the island beaches. The only thing missing from our list is a glimpse of the legendary Orangutans, so maybe we'll find ourselves back on Malaysian soil sometime soon.....

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