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| The beach |
Got the boat up to Langkawi along with a British couple who
were magicians/entertainers and were going straight up to Koh Lipe. Had the craic
with them about timekeeping (boat was an hour late despite being 8.30am) and
that the boat showed ‘Captain Phillips’.
Langkawi! Tax free haven of Malaysia, which means I’d
hopefully be able to afford to drink! But first we had to get to the main
beach. No buses, and cabs with no meters: brilliant, I’m definitely going to
end up in a row. Luckily, Jo ran off and found a minibus taking a few
travellers at a much lower price.
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| Jo, me, Josef and Lucie |
We hopped in with them. First stop was a
place called Soluna where we dropped off a Czech couple. The place looked good,
but felt like we were miles away from civilisation. We got off by the main road
and hadn’t walked 2 minutes when I spotted Brooke in a café on the other side
of the road. We went over and got some grub and tried to glean some info on the
accommodation here. We then walked and walked looking for somewhere and in the
end stayed in Gecko, the same place as Brooke, but we weren’t happy, so we went
in search of somewhere better for the following days. We then bumped into Lucie
and Josef, the Czechs who were staying in Soluna. Turned out to be not far away
at all, so Jo and I resolved to go and stay there for a few days. We went and
sat on the beach drinking beers together for a couple of hours, then met up
again later for dinner in a cheap little Indian place. Finished the night off
pissing around on the beach with the camera, jumping around with a torch in my
hand like a muppet.
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| Chief barman |
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| The bar.... RIP |
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| Photographer Jo |
First thing we packed up and checked out, then wandered over
to Soluna and checked into the dorm there. Then hit the beach. Bloody baking (I’m
sure my tolerance for the heat is waning as I age), so we came back in the
afternoon. Went back out to walk along the beach and watch sunset. On the walk
back we came across a little bar in the street made of pallets with some music
and really cheery guy behind the bar. As we had sent Brooke a message that day
saying we’d meet her outside 7-11, which was right next to the bar we thought
it would be rude not to have a drink. Two hours and unmeasurable number of
cocktails later, we were certain Brooke hadn’t got our message, so we stumbled
off to get some grub and bumped into her anyway! She was getting stalked by a
little Indian man, so she was overjoyed to see us, as it scared him away. Had
one more cocktail, then home to our dorm for bed.
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| View from top, including skybridge |
A little worse for wear the next morning, we got some
breakfast, then came back to the hostel to arrange hiring scooters for the day for
Josef and Lucie, Jo and I. We got a little lost getting fuel and wound up at
the end of the airport runway, luckily a local bloke could see our bemusement
in our faces, and told us to follow him. We then proceeded to fly around the
perimeter of the airport, then straight across a dual carriageway (including
central reservation), and told to just keep going straight and we’d see the
signs for the waterfalls. Soon found them and walked up, but as Langkawi hasn’t
had significant rain in months, it was less a ‘falls’, and more a ‘dribbles’.
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| View from another viewpoint |
We came back down and stopped near the cablecar, where Jo ran off to find out
prices… half an hour later she returned. Eventually we sped round to the other
entrance, and Lucie and Josef headed off in search of a beach.
The cable car turned out to be in a weird semi-theme park
with a big fake lake and lots of stalls selling ice-cream, so I could see how
Jo took so long to navigate the place.
We went straight up in the car, and at one point you are
going almost vertically. The views were stunning, and as we were all alone in
our little car, I rocked it about snapping away out of all windows. We got out
and had a wander around, though sadly the bridge which looked so cool was
closed for maintenance works. We then got back in a car and went up even
further, and across to a second peak. I was running around like an excited
toddler, filling up the memory card on the camera rapidly, but Jo was suffering
a little (about 40% heat, 60% hangover), so we sat in the shade and took in the
view, then made our descent.
Grabbed lunch in the theme park, then sped off in search of
a beach.
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| Riding home |
Went to the very end of the road, past loads of very expensive looking
resorts, and then had to turn around as the road just stops at some private
gates. Found a beach to have a dip, which got invaded with monkeys around dusk,
so we made our way back.
Went back to the bar again for more cocktails, where we met
an English guy called Steve, and then met up with Brooke again as she was off
to Koh Lipe in the morning and we’d have to say farewells that night. We got
some dinner and then a few more drinks, then said we’d see Brooke again, just
not sure where or when.
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| View from centre of the island |
We had hoped to go to Koh Lipe ourselves, but only if we had
the time and it was cheap. For some reason, the 1 hour journey to Koh Lipe by
direct bus is more expensive than getting anywhere else in Thailand, and as we
were content with the beaches in Langkawi, we didn’t see the need to move on.
Boring day to write about, but great day to live on the 17th.
Laid on the beach reading and dozing, showered and watched sunset, then met
Steve, Lucie and Josef at the bar, had drinks, food, and more drinks.
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| Not a self shot for once! |
Bit of a shock the next morning when we went out for
breakfast; the bloody bar had disappeared! It was still there when they were
cleaning it up a few hours before at closing, but it’d now vanished!
Hit the beach, then said farewell to Lucie and Josef, as
they were off to Melaka.
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| Big eagle |
Met up with Steve for dinner, but took the disappearance of
the bar as a sign that we should have an early night.
Moved accommodation next morning to a private room with
air-con as a little treat to ourselves as Jo and I had been together 4 years.
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| My view for most of our last day |
Met Steve and got some mopeds, then sped off for Gunung
Raya, the highest point on Langkawi. Our little moped got up there, but the
15km winding road had really taken a chunk out of the fuel tank. We took some
pictures, then coasted (not easy on an automatic) as much as possible back
down. Ran on fumes for a few more km until we found a petrol station, then
completed a loop of the island. Stopped at the port in Kulah to take a picture
of the giant eagle because… well, that’s just what you do in Kulah, there’s not
much else to do there!
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| View from balcony |
Headed back to Cenang beach where we were staying, and hit
the beach for all of five minutes until Jo declared it too windy, so got
ice-cream instead.
Went out for Indian with Steve as it was his last night in
Langkawi. Had a couple of beers, then hit the hay.
Slow day next day, just mooched on the beach, said farewells
to Steve, and that we’d see him in a few days in KL. As it pissed with rain in
the evening we stayed in our room watching Despicable Me. Rocking-and-blooming-roll!
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| Our final sunset on the island |
The 21
st was our 4
th anniversary, so
had breakfast on our little balcony, then hit beach. Went for a coffee in
Starbucks as a treat (coffee isn’t that great, but air-con, big comfy seats and
free wifi).
22nd was our last day in Langkawi. We did the usual
and laid on the beach, then got showered, grabbed a street burger, and got
picked up. A boat then took us to the bus terminal on the mainland, and we got
on a deserted bus bound for KL once more!
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