Blogs from Langkawi, Malaysia, Asia - page 22

Day 104 After a disturbed night sleep we set off to the port to get a ticket for the ferry to the island of Langkawi. The ferry left at 8.15am and it was full of people sitting in airline type seats for the 2 and half hour trip. After 30 minutes there was a lot of commotion on the boat as everyone was getting sea sick. Luckily we were OK and arrived safely into Kauh on the popular holiday resort island of Langkawi. After getting some lunch we got a taxi and arrived at our accommodation Zakary Guest House in Pantai Tengah. It was a very hot afternoon but we braved it and went for a walk into the main town. In the evening we went to the restaurant next door and had a delicious curry. ... read more

April 19th Sunday Kuala Lumpur Moved hotels so that we could have a swimming pool and to get out of hectic Chinatown. Went to Bukit Bintang to collect laundry, caught monorail back to hotel and had lunch then went swimming in afternoon. Found pizza place in evening which was much appreciated as noodle/rice fatigue had set in again. April 20th Walked to colonial area and through Little india which was near our hotel. Went to gym/pool in afternoon, Too hot to do much. In evening went back to Chinatown to veggie restaurant. April 21st. Caught pm bus to Cameron Highlands. Arrived about 6pm - very windy for the last 60k. Greeted by lots of guest house touts who were actually not very pushy and we went with one and got nice room for about 16 pounds. ... read more

We finished our time on Au Nang with Chloe with one last night out … more buckets, and lots of rain that night that kept us in one bar for several hours and then a run to a tuk tuk to the local dodgy nightclub! At least Chloe got to dance - but Tanya didn’t last very long and we left Chloe to it…. Pilch singing along with the tuk tuk driver all the way home in the rain! We spent the following morning hungover on the beach getting our last rays before saying goodbye to Chloe and getting a minibus to Lanta. This involved two ferry crossings whilst on the minibus - we both noted we were seasoned travelers as we stayed in the bus rather than sit outside for photo moments and the view ... read more

So when you're staying in Thailand for a long time, you have to take time out at various stages to perform the biggest exercise in futility...yes, a Visa run. You get to travel for 10 hours on various speedboats, buses, taxis, donkeys etc to get 4 stamps in your passport. The accountant in me has worked out that each stamp cost me around AU$150, once the cost of food, travel, accommodation & general supplies is taken into account. The stamps aren't even that pretty!! Anyhoo, to make this exercise a little less futile, three of us divers decided to make a holiday of it and go for 3 nights to a little tropical island in Malaysia near the Thailand border. Yes, it seems ironic to require a holiday from living on a tropical island...and even more ... read more

The last blog finished with Holly and I lounging on a beach in Langkawi. You will not be surprised to hear that we spent the next week on that very same island, putting back our departure each day due to raging hangovers and the gravitational pull a place like that has on travellers. As I write, we are in the Cameron Highlands, in the centre of Peninsular Malaysia, a small town in the mountains, surrounded by jungle and all the crawly, bitey things that dwell within them. We should have travelled more. But it’s our party and we’ll lie about and drink beer if we want to. A tax-free haven meant cheap beer (about 30p for a can o’Tiger) but all the budget accommodation was booked up by the time we got there so the money ... read more