Langkawi (Malaysia)

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We've had a very pleasant week on Langkawi, just chilling out and using the bikes to explore the island. We arrived here last Sunday and after disembarking at Kuah, the main town, we headed west to Pantai Cenang. Initially the road was flat but we soon hit some lumpy bits - the first real hills since we landed in Singapore. As we were cycling along it started to rain. I shouted to Joy that we would stop at the next cafe which was about 100m away. By time we reached it it was throwing it down and we were quite soaked. Whist waiting for the rain to stop a man arrived and introduced himself as 'Bob the Bike' from Birmingham. It turned out that Bob, at the age of sixty, spent four years cycling around the world and covered about 40,000 miles in the process. He was now 70 and living in Thailand with his wife Kate. In the 30 minutes or so we were there with him he told us some interesting stories that made our trip seem like a stroll in the park. In Peru, he wild camped one night in the middle of nowhere, only to wake up to find that someone had stolen his bike. He got his kit together, made his way to the main road and managed to flag down a bus to take him to Lima. He arrived in Lima only to find that somebody had stolen his wallet on the bus as well.

Langkawi is an expensive island and some of the more exclusive resorts charge over £500 a night for a room. Bob and Kate took us to where they were staying and we managed to get a perfectly comfortable room for £8 a night. The bonus for us that it had a ceiling fan and not aircon. We have both been carrying colds for the previous week which I put down to staying in aircon rooms. We've tried turning off the aircon at night but the rooms become incredibly hot. Anyway over the next 2 days we spent a lot of time with Bob and Kate swapping stories and we were quite sad when they had to leave to go back home.

On Friday the Thai government lifted the 'State of Emergency' but the FCO predicts there will be further trouble this weekend and still advises caution. With this in mind we have decided to remain in Malaysia and work our way down the west coast to KL. Tomorrow we will return to the mainland and slowly make our way to Penang and take another week off there before continuing our journey south. We are both obviously sad not to be going to Thailand and beyond but I know Joy is very keen to see and spend time with her family and friends. It's over 4 years since she was last in Malaysia and having endured many months on the road I think it's only fair.

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