Langkawi

We had read many a bad review on trip advisor on the fastboat from Penang to Langkawi so we tried to book a plane but as it was the day before their biggest national holiday prices were at a premium. So it had to be the boat. It was going to be a 3 hr journey in cramped and smelly surroundings according to trip advisor with people spewing up all over the place with sea sickness. But apart from the boat being an hour late the journey was good and smooth and we watched a film enroute which made it go quite quickly. No-one was sick and after a scuffle to get our luggage at the ferry port when we arrived all was good. We used the GRAB app that we downloaded in KL to the phone and bagged a taxi for a bargain price outside the terminal to take us to Cenang Beach on the other side of the Island to where we would be staying. The accommodation was really good with a fridge and a sofa so we could chill out with some duty free beers which we picked up for 35p a can. They also had litre bottles of Vodka for £5! By the way the whole island is duty free so after all the expensive beer we had been buying on the mainland you can guess what happened next once we found out beer was so cheap. They even had a machine at the hostel to dispense beers if you ran out or needed to restock the fridge which was often.

The banana boat was inches from penetrating her skull.

  The weather was outstanding, with blue skies and constant heat although it did rain most nights which freshened things up in the morning. We quickly hired a bike off the hostel for a bargain £3.50 a day and went into town to explore. We were staying just outside of the main area down on a quiet part of the beach which was stunning and the water warm as bath water and clear but in town it was dirty and crowded and the town itself scruffy and unappealing. It was good to get duty free beer and score some booze but apart from that it was charmless. We would often score some beers and go and sit on the beach at sunset and watch the hordes of parasailers in the bay whizzing around under the fiery sunset sky which made for some superb photos. Even after the sun had set you could sit there in the hot sand as it never got cold ever.
  Next day we set off on the bad motor scooter for the main attraction which is the skycab.  It is the steepest and the longest spanning in the world they tell us and the views were sublime on this clear day. We also walked the skybridge which shock around as people transversed it which made Kathy nervous as it was very high up on the limestone karst jutting out.

Paddy says to Mick  '"Do you think it looks straight to you?"

After we rode back down included in our ticket was some really cool rides as well, including a 3D museum. Then it was back on the bike up to the Seven Wells waterfall. The climb up through the jungle was hot as hell but on the way we saw lots of monkeys including spectacled langurs which are rare to sight in the wild. At the top there was bathing pools in the fresh flowing river so we stripped off (swimwear on not starkers!) and dived in.

Kathy always enjoyed using a squat toilet.

  Next morning we were rudely awakened by a massive noise coming from the roof of our room. We rushed outside to see a troupe of langurs playing on the roof. Also in the tree outside we had a gang of hornbills stealing fruit from the trees. A gang of squirrels used to hang about as well and when it was quiet they used to dive into the kitchen to scavenge for scraps and I used to startle them when I came in to make something for breakfast in the morning.

The otters won the stare out contest by a whisker.

 Next day we rode around the perimeter of the island seeing all kinds of wildlife including a pair of friendly otters, hornbills, lizards and monkeys, seeing beautiful scenery and waterfalls.
 In the evening we used to seek out some local eats away from the tourist strip and had excellent Indian curries and Thai noodle dishes with drinks for £3-4 between us for the whole meal. Then we would hit the beach for some beers and sunset views. On the last day though Kathy jarred her knee so had to rest it so I just maxed out by the pool while she rested it as it was one of the hottest days yet so could not be bothered to do anything. Overall we liked Langkawi although there is a lot of construction going on all over with McDonalds and Starbucks here now so it won't be long before it becomes just another concrete jungle around Cenang and spoiled but luckily the rest of the island is sparsely populated so there are plenty of pristine areas still to explore. Next we catch a flight to Kuching, Borneo.

The gay bar was particularly quiet this afternoon.