ANA AND ANDY, LANGKAWI, MALAYSIA. 23 MAY 2014.

Selamat Datang Langkawi – Welcome to Langkawi

We arrived in Malaysia after a smooth ferry ride and a quick transit through passport control. 

We caught a taxi from the ferry along with the German girl we’d met on our journey through Thailand – Lisa.  We were all staying near the main beaches which were around 20km away from the ferry port.  We jumped out first and headed into the Zackry guesthouse where we would stay for the next 3 nights.

Looking across the Langkawi harbour

We checked in and immediately headed out to the coast to see the beach and what was going on locally.  Pantai Tengah was our local beach and it was just around the bay from the main beach of Pantai Cenang.  Around us were a few local restaurants and spa’s but again it was pretty quiet so we headed out towards the main drag to find out what the deal was down there.  We spied a local restaurant for dinner and tucked into our first bowl of laksa and plate of nasi goreng, oh - and a couple of bowls of bakso special.

Bakso! This was yummy, a soup with meatballs and more beef.  Not actually a Malay dish (it's Indonesian) but served in a local restaurant 

Nasi goreng aka fried rice

The following day we decided to hire a moped to scoot across the island to do a bit of a tour and also head up to the cable car.  We picked up our wheels and set off on our around the island trip…  The island is quite small and we could easily do a loop or two of it in the time we had.  First stop was along one of the more secluded beach areas of the island where we hopped off and had a look around.  

We were turned away from a certain point on the beach as it was owned by a hotel chain!  I didn’t realize that someone could own a section of the beach, would that include the sea in front of it?  Anywho we carried on down the beach and spotted a restaurant – time for a drink!

Me on the bike, pretending to drive... I didn't drive at all as my chauffeur was Andy

Malaysian flag

When we got there we realized that it was a fish and chip restaurant called Scarborough Fish and Chips, bonus.  So we sat and  ordered lunch and whilst we were there a massive storm was taking place on the other side of the island so we sat with our fish and chips and watched as we sat in perfect sunshine.  The storm was taking place over where we were heading to next, so we gave it time to pass and then jumped back on the bike to head towards the cable car.  We stopped at black sand beach on route which was a little disappointing but did have black sand, but just a handful of it.  We then voyaged onto the cable car ' the steepest in the world' don't you know! This is one of the biggest attractions on the island for the viewpoint at the top..

Scarborough fish n chips! Tasty treat right on the beach :)

Black sand beach, hummm... 

As we pulled up to the cable car Andy noticed that we had a flat tyre! So we headed over to the taxi rank to see if anyone knew where the nearest garage was.  They were not hugely helpful in that department but did say that we should call our hire provider and they may come out and fix it.  One of the guys lent us his phone so we could call them, Andy spoke to them and it seemed that we would be without a bike for the rest of the afternoon.  So we decided to continue with our plan and would catch a taxi back and leave the bike parked where it was.

This is where we left our bike, fingers crossed it was still around when the hire company came to collect it!

We headed up the cable car and it was a bit of a surprise.  The ride itself and the attraction was really good.  We shared a cab with 4 others up to the first viewpoint.  We then got out and could look at the views and jumped back into another car to the next level to do the same.  The views from the top were worth the journey and the broken down vehicle.

Our next ride... fingers crossed this one doesn't break down half-way!

Cable car selfie

View over Langkawi

Back to base and Andy negotiated us half of the taxi fare back and handed the keys and helmets across to the rental guy.  We then headed out for food and a stroll along the night markets on the main beach.  The guy who ran our guesthouse told us about a small market/music evening taking place from 9pm.  So on our way back to the guesthouse we dropped into the 'flea market' as it was titled.  There were a few local looking youngsters selling their homemade or vintage wares and a few hippie looking westerners trying to push crappy handmade rings for sale.  Once we'd scoped out what was going down we perched on some tyres which had been made into seats and sat and listened to the live music.  The guy singing was brilliant and had such a great voice, apparently he is quite a famous Malaysian artist but I forgot his name... Anywho we chatted with some of the locals, listened to more music and headed back just after midnight.

That's me hanging with cool a Malaysian and western crew

This guy was a great singer, just can't remember his name...

The next day we headed to the beach.  We had a roti cani breakfast (Indian style pancake – roti with curry or apple for me) washed down with a Malaysian special, white coffee.  We then headed to the beach for a swim and a read, until it started to rain!  We stopped for lunch in a French patisserie where you could see the chef making the croissants!  And headed back to the guesthouse to catch Emilie on skype.

Roti cani, bread n curry - tasty

Think that's me, or is it Ursula Andress?

Andy happily throwing himself into the waves

This looked fun, but fun with the safety of our feet on the ground :)

Yes, he's with me!

We saw this monitor lizard basking in the afternoon sun at the side of the road!  Following that we saw a hornbill, Malaysia is throwing its wildlife at us!

Back out in the evening for dinner and a looming deadline approaching - Monaco Grand Prix.  Our guesthouse had a tv with the sports channels so we headed back to see if that would be an option - it was not! An old man who lived there or hung around there was set up with a couple of bottles of whiskey whilst watching the badminton championships which Malaysia were doing pretty well in.  We then made a quick escape back to the main beach and plonked ourselves in the local Irish bar to watch the race on a big screen.    

The next morning we were up and packed early enough so we could have a short stroll into the main drag before taking a cab back to the port. Next stop is Penang via another ferry journey, I always thought Penang was on the Malaysian mainland but it's an island, only joined by 2 hugely long bridges.

All aboard the ferry to Penang