Langkawi

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At six thirty in the morning last Friday we waited outside our guesthouse in Krabi for a mini bus to take us to Langkawi. We were bundled in along with the other six westerners, lots of boxes and then quite a few random Thai people the driver fancied picking up on the motorway on the way out of town. Four hours of bum cramp later, we got to a town that wasn't the one we needed. Then we were charged extra by the Don Corleone of minibus company owners who informed us we had been ripped off by our people in Krabi and needed to pay him extra to fix it all. Hmmm....

Then we left in a smaller and more cramped minivan for another 2 and a half hours to the pier in Satun. The customs man took quite a shine to Charlotte at customs, then without any of the backpackers that plague Thailand in sight, we waited another two hours and got on the boat (with 'Hero' by Enrique Inglesias playing on loud speakers over the entire dock). Strange departure from Thailand but a good one.

Langkawi! Ah yes. The randomness did not end with the Thai side. As we left the boat (on which we were entertained by a kind of Benny Hill style show in Thai) we were accosted by a shifty looking bloke with a massive tash and the silky voice of a world class swindler/smoker called Supian (reminiscent of Hassam in the film 'King Solomon's Mines' featuring Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone in an early role). He promptly led us to a dubious car park to try and sell us hotel and car rental. We attempted to lose him but he was limpet-like and sensing our distrust of the surroundings, led us to an official information window in the terminal to do the deal.

When I informed him of my lack of drivers license he said that it was ok and if there was a problem, the owner of the car we had just rented from him was a policeman and he could sort us out. This was confirmed to us by the well used truncheon in the footwell of the rubbish Proton Saga we were led to, which smelt nasty, and had worn 'Type R' sports seat and lots of pillows in the back. Yuck. So off we went to an island normally associated with classy resorts in our dubious transport. Next was our hotel - The Aseania. It reminded us of Vegas when the mob still ran the place. Dated, but sporting 'The Longest Swimming Pool in Malasia' our chavtastic adventure continued.

From then on however things got better and we really enjoyed visting beautiful waterfalls in the jungle, going to the observation decks on top of the mountain by cable car, and having lunch in a really posh resort in the north of the island.

On the second day we went to Pulau Puyar marine park (a smaller island off the main island) to go snorkelling in an amazing little bay full of brightly coloured fish. We even swam with black tipped sharks and a baraccuda turned up for a while! This was excellent. That evening we ate great seafood on the beach at sunset. This is the sort of thing we know we are going to miss in a week and a half when we are home.

The car safely returned to Supian (phew...), we headed on another boat for the old colonial delights of Penang.....

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