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Published: March 17th 2014
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We've Landed on Langkawi!!
The crossing from George Town was as smooth as can be, even if the on board entertainment left a lot to be desired.
Our hearing returned to normal after a couple of hours. We thought we had researched every angle possible for our 3 hour ferry transfer from Georgetown to Malaysia’s duty free island of Langkawi. Which terminal does it leave from? How rough will the sea be? Can we take two large suitcases on board etc?
With hindsight, a more relevant question would have been “Will you be playing a dreadful Chinese shoot ‘em up movie which makes the Expendables II seem like an outstanding cinematic work, preferably with Malay sub titles and at a volume that makes your eardrums burst?”.
Because they that’s what they did. And it lasted over two hours.
The boat itself was big, roomy and comfortable and, whilst wanting to convey how impressed I was about it to Angela, it was impossible due to the deafening explosions from the film.
No matter, we put our ipods on in an attempt to drown out the new Bruce Lee’s incredible heroics and settled down for the voyage, both of us feeling just a little bit of trepidation. Seasick pilled up to the eye balls, we’d heard the Andaman Sea could be rough; we needn’t have worried though as it was as still as a mill pond
It's A Beautiful Place
Every night we headed down to the beach for a cold beer and to watch the amazing sunsets in stunned silence.
The colours changed constantly and no two nights were the same.
and we arrived feeling fit, healthy and ready for some beach time……….
Langkawi, officially (but not modestly) named as Langkawi the Jewel of Kedah, is an archipelago of 104 islands (just two of which are inhabited and five appear only at low tide) around 30km off the coast of mainland Malaysia. It’s also very close to Thailand and there are many Thai influences blended in amongst the Malay ones which makes for an excellent mix. It was somewhat under developed until 1987, when in an attempt to turn it into a tourist hot spot and boost the economy, it was granted tax-free status.
This also coincided with the "Mahsuri's Curse" ending (in summary, a beautiful women who was wrongly executed and put a spell on the island) which was lifted with the birth of her 7th generation descendants. Tourism has blossomed since then and its fine, white sand beaches and warm, crystal clear sea make it something of a tropical paradise.
I’m useless on anything with two wheel. Motorcycles, scooters, push bikes (as evidenced by a traumatised small Balinese child earlier in our trip) – you name it, I’m a liability. Against my better judgement Angela talked
Back By The Beach
This also meant back to power walking to try work off some of the excesses.
I'm not much of a exercise fan but the beaches here made for attractive gyms. me into renting a scooter yesterday and it proved to be great fun. Our vehicle of choice only cost us five quid for the day (and then £1 to fully refuel it!) and, it’s fair to say, it had seen better days. The seat was knackered, the wing mirrors flopped about loosely and the speedometer remained firmly stuck on zero for the whole time we had it. That last bit mattered not as, for the first time in my driving lifetime, the speed limit remained completely unthreatened – extreme caution was the watch word here.
We did overtake some other even more careful riders than us though. What an amazing feeling it was as we whistled by them at around 15 mph, me hunched over the handle bars to minimise any wind resistance and shouting “eat my dust!!” over my shoulder at them. These words may well have been lost in the wind though due to the breakneck speeds involved. Even the monkeys by the roadside (are there were lots) seemed to be pointing and laughing at us but that could be my imagination running wild…………..
It was good to get out and about to see more of
Easy Rider
Things only became an issue if they involved other vehicles, stopping or turning. Langkawi and its stunning coastline. It is, without doubt, a truly beautiful place but some of its tourist attractions highlighted on the map were somewhat underwhelming. We went miles out of our way to visit The Field of Burned Rice which turned out to be significantly duller even than its name suggests. We didn’t realise it actually was just some burned rice and not even a field of it – it was about 20 plants?!! A large crowd of locals jostled with each other to get the best view of this unusual attraction; after about three seconds we just exchanged a glance, shrugged our shoulders and put putted off on our scooter.
Lunch on our island tour was the cheapest one of the whole trip so far but it nearly came at a physical cost. I was alright riding in a straight line but any turning or stopping were unpredictable in the extreme. I’d misjudged our speed and, as we approached the roadside food stall, brakes were slammed on and I had to do this kind of bounding run thing as I used my legs as additional emergency stopping devices.
We just about managed to pull up an
Our 20th Wedding Anniversary Dinner
We were in KL on the actual day itself and that's more about cheap eats on the hawker markets.
A seafood platter with a crisp, cold Sauvignon Blanc on the beach was definitely the way to celebrate! inch from all the parked scooters and to many confused, disbelieving looks from the punters already eating their lunches. Cooley, we got off pretending we’d been in full control at all times and had two roti canai (like a thick chapatti with curry sauce) and a desert roti. The last item wasn't ordered but language issues cropped up again and, with two bottles of water, the whole meal cost us the princely sum of £1!!
Somehow, we got back to our hotel in one piece and, as I’d once passed a motorbike test in the Cook Islands, this shouldn’t really have been a surprise. It had been great to get out and see more of this wonderful island under our own steam and get more of a feel for the place.
The time has now come, however, for us to move on from Malaysia and we have a long transfer day tomorrow using taxi, coach, ferry and minivan. We've loved our time here and are so glad we took the overland transport option rather than flying between places. It means we've been able to see a lot more of the country and have great fun and interesting experiences
Goodbye Malaysia
We've had a wonderful three weeks here but the time has now come for us to move on.
Thailand next.......... along the way.
Now for a few weeks in our favourite country – Thailand……………..
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Ed
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20 years married!!
Where does the time go?.........Well Angela you have not changed a bit. As for David, he doesn't appear to have changed his wardrobe. I bet those biege chinos weren't retro when he bought them