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Published: July 31st 2009
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Langkawi
Langkawi- "Strong Eagle" Having decided in Krabi that we were in need of a change of scenery we headed off to our next destination..... Malaysia.
We sailed (literally) into Langkawi on Saturday 25th July with great hopes for the Malaysian leg of our trip and we were not disappointed!
The differences between Thailand and Malaysia were instantly obvious as soon as we got off the boat. The ferry port itself was like an international airport with duty free malls (did I mention that Langkawi is a duty free island? It’s shopping heaven!) and food courts and a bowling alley?!
We had taken a chance by traveling into Malaysia with no Malaysian currency; we figured that this wouldn’t be a problem as we would be able to get to a cash point at the port. We hadn’t accounted for the cash card not being accepted in any of the cash points... after a bit of swearing and moaning about how useless English banks were (we assumed that they had stopped the card due to us being in another country) we found a friendly taxi driver who waited for us to mess about for 20 minutes before he took us to a bank
Langkawi
Pantai Tengah beach in the centre of town. Finally, having cash we made our way to the main beach area of Langkawi, Pantai Cenang.
As we didn’t have a Malaysian Lonely planet guide we didn’t have much idea of where to stay. Reviews for the Rainbow lodge were good so we figured we would head in that direction. After realizing it was a good 15 minutes walk to the beach we opted for AB Motel and got an air con room on the beach (another luxury!)
We decided that there were a few places of interest to see on the island, so after spending the first full day relaxing on the beach we opted for renting a car on the 2nd and 3rd days in order to see as much of the island as we could. The car was the smallest car in the world and only had a 660 cc engine- smaller than the cinq (for those who are familiar with it!)
We were originally going to take the cable car up the mountain on the 2nd day, but decided that it was too cloudy and would leave that for another day. We then found, by chance, the most
Langkawi
Bridge on the way to the cable car breath taking waterfall. Unlike anything we saw in Thailand, this waterfall had crystal clear water- ideal for swimming- which is exactly what we did! There were a number of local kids who were also swimming and diving in of ledges of rock higher up the waterfall- they got more and more adventurous when they saw the tourists with their cameras filming them! Having got so excited trying to get photos Amy dropped the camera in the waterfall- another expense having to shell out to buy a brand new camera!
In the evening came one almighty storm, which, unbeknown to us was going to last well into the following day! Things aren't done by halves on Islands- if its hot its boiling if it rains it pours!
With the next day looking like it was going to be written off by the continuous downpour we decided to head out to the main city centre on Langkawi and find a new camera. It felt like home, driving a non power steering car in the pouring rain!
After an hour shopping and 100 pounds later (electronics are alot cheaper over here) we decided, that as the rain had subsided we would
Langkawi
At Waterfall head to the cable car on the mountain. At first we were unsure whether to chance going on it - after it had stopped (with people half way up!) due to the weather. When it looked safe we hopped on and ascended 700ft! Dan, who at this point was feeling claustrophobic, could barely keep his eyes open until we reached the top. The views were amazing and we were lucky enough for the sky bridge to be reopened so we could really take in the views!
On the way down Dan was even more scared and was afraid of plummeting 700 ft down to the forest! We were glad to get down while the weather remained good and without being stopped suspended in the air (which had happened to a few poor tourists!)
The next day we opted to leave the island and head to the main land for our trip to the capital- Kuala Lumpur.
We had to make a pit stop in a town Alor Setar before we could head off the next day on what was to be a 7 hour journey to KL. We had originally picked a backpacker hostel, Flora Inn, for
Langkawi
Our little beaut of a car...660cc!! 50RM per day (that's 10pounds!) our nights residence. However, on arrival we found out that the hostel had closed the month before. As a result we had the taxi driver drop us off at a random hotel near china town which was within our budget. We were un prepared for the flea pit we were about to stay in. We both slept with one eye open, Amy afraid of being eaten by rats, Dan afraid of someone barging through the door and so he proped a chair against the door and slept with the rape alarm in close proximity. We woke up after sleeping with the one eye open early and headed out to catch a bus to KL, weary and tired. We thought the bus would take about 5 hours as advertised but we hopped on any bus and the journey ended up taking 7!! At least it was a comfortable journey and finally we reached one of our most hotly anticipated destination so far!
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amy's post
well gave it a read, it was good amy didn't take me long to read it though i expected it to be longer. pics look lovely though