Langkawi

29th October – 1st November

Our final stop in Malaysia, the island of Langkawi, aka Langwaki as Ady calls it, is situated a short distance from the mainland and just south of the Thai/Malaysia border. Reached by fast ferry from Penang, we arrived into Kuah and searched the crowd for likely candidates to share a taxi. Heading to Pantai Chenang, the main area with budget accommodation, the taxi sped along a dual carriageway – not what we had been expecting for an island!

Lonely Planet recommended the Gecko Guesthouse, and it wasn’t a bad choice - we dropped our bags and took a walk out to find some food. Ady was gutted that it was just past 12:00, as Roti Canai was now off the menu… Nasi Goreng it was then! At this point, it started raining and we whiled away a few hours doing some trip planning.

As we try to write this blog entry, we are finding all out days running into one, mostly involving lots of torrential rain. One night was spent at a local restaurant with a group of people from our guesthouse. This turned particularly messy when the playing cards came out and a drinking game began! We did manage to pick a dry day to rent a motorbike and visit a couple of spectacular waterfalls, and a very nice beach, with lunch off the tourist strip at a local buffet restaurant. We don’t know what we were eating, but it tasted good and didn’t make us ill! The second waterfall, The Seven Wells, involved a hike up over 500 steps and by the time we got to the top we had to take our second dip of the day. This waterfall is slightly different as you visit and swim at the top of it. It turned out to be less of a dip and more of a battle against the strength of the rapids, as the water tried to push us over the edge!

On the night of Halloween, two of the people we met, Andy and Jamie, pulled together some wood and lit a fire on the beach. Trouble getting the damp wood going was resolved with a small bottle of petrol, and before long a small crowd had gathered. Jamie was the only person to have made the effort with fancy dress, coming as a Mummy. His costume didn’t last too long as the bandages were too itchy to wear. The costume wasn’t wasted however as Ady used the bandages to make his own fire twirling baton! The left over petrol was soon alight and flames were leaping across the beach. Thankfully Ady was sober at this point, and everybody escaped the fire show unscathed!

The night before we were due to leave, we were persuaded to go to a hotel in the evening to talk to a film director about some potential work as Extras in a movie they were shooting. We turned down the offer as we didn’t fancy standing around for 4 days waiting for our five minutes of fame! Some of the guys we met did stay on, and are now movie stars, as their roles developed and one of them got a speaking part!!!

As we wave goodbye to Malaysia, we move on to the land of smiles – Thailand!