Malaysia, Penang and the Parents visit!!

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Langkawi

From Koh Lipe we hopped onto a boat to Langkawi, only 1 and a half hours, so it was a quick journey. Arriving we travelled by taxi to our Zackry Guesthouse, this was like being back in total civilisation. Having lived for the past 12 days on an island with no roads, no banks, no buildings above 2 floors, no nightclubs, no hot water and no shoes needed and little clothing, here it was like having luxury accommodation and back to normality. We had an en suite with a hot water shower, the toilet flushed and most importantly we had free tea, coffee and wifi!!! So we settled in comfortably.

We did our usual wondering about the local area, backpacker tourist zone, and found numerous tourist shops, bars and restaurants. There was a huge stretch of beach, but the water wasn’t as clear as Koh Lipe. Our wondering took us into Underwater World, animal life in water. It was thoroughly enjoyable, loads of tropical fish, a rainforest section with all kinds of wildlife - parrots, penguins, seals, terrapins, pink flamingos, birds flying about and a massive anaconda in a cage.

One of the days we hired a scooter for 24hrs to see more of the island. It was a good day but not that much to see. I guess the highlight was seeing the Seven Wells and the waterfall. Not much water flowed but it was still quite a sight.

Penang and the parents visit.
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in this huge hotel. It had a remarkable buffet breakfast ( I swear this is where my weight gain occurred!) and an outside pool. Our rooms were impressive, and we were delighted with having a fridge, which was regularly used to keep the wine and beers chilled! We had a rather spacious balcony over looking the sea but it was either in the shade or too hot to sit out on. It was like we were on holiday!!

During our stay in Penang we ate at Hawker food stalls, for very little money, (about 50p to a 100p for a meal) used the local buses like a local, and looked at tourist market stalls like a tourist. We did a little sight seeing, including venturing up Penang hill, gaining a great view of Georgetown, went to Monkey Island, and the men went fishing while Mum and I sunbathed. For lunch we ate very tasty food cooked on a bbq, this was simply delicious! Of course we saw and fed monkeys on the island too.

My parents also came with us to Kuala Lumpur where Phil and Bill spent a day watching the qualifying races for the F1, while mum and I hit the shops!
We had a lovely time with my parents, it was great to see them, and enjoyed the dinning experiences at a few food hawker stalls! Hope you went home with a tan and an appetite to see more of Asia.

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Photos

A super indian meal.
Is that a banana leaf your eating on mum?

Robinson Crusoe
aka Mr Bill Cooper.

Monkey Island..
Actually not an island, just a beach in a Nature Reserve.