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David's Travels
After a forgettable night in Penang (it may well be a nice place, but where we were it wasn't!) we moved onto the island of Langkawi, about 2 hours north on a ferry. We had been recommended the island by the hostel owner in Kuala Lumpur for some lovely beaches and cheap beer, my kind of place!
The taxi driver to our hostel - as with all other taxi drivers we've encountered in South East Asia - was more interested in doing anything but concentrating on the road, which made for an interesting journey along mountainous roads! It was the filing in his briefcase whilst on his mobile phone that got me...
Anyway, we'd pre booked this guesthouse/hostel before we arrived, and at around 2GPB, didn't expect too much. It was however perfect for what we wanted; relaxed, self- service cheap beer and a 2 minute walk from the beach (through the 4 star spar resort!!!)
The beach was amazing and the water was so warm, it was a perfect time to catch up on some sleep and get some rays on my pasty white body! We stayed 4 nights in the end and used most days for the beach, but on our second to last day, we took advantage of the ridiculously cheap car rental and hired a Proton for about 8GBP between us! - They love these in Malaysia, everyone drives them! (If you're wandering why I keep putting GBP, it's because none of the keyboards contain a pound sign!)
We picked up the Proton in the morning and used the day to explore the Island. It's not too big so the equivalent of 2GBP petrol we put in lasted all day! First on the list was a trip to the Langkawi Cable Cars, I rally fancied this at first, but when you see how high they go, I soon wanted to change my mind, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway! Bad move....I crapped myself the whole way up and on the final stretch of the ride, we were just going through cloud, which was really strange and great for views!!! After the cable car touched down, we took a trip up into the jungle area to see a waterfall that you could swim in. When we got there and started walking up towards it, literally hundreds of little monkeys jumped out the trees and came down towards us! With my paranoia about rabies and the fact one of them bit another tourist, we decided to run back to the car with about 5 of them chasing us! The best moment of it all was the monkey jumping up and swiping Tom's ice cream from him! (see pics)
On one of our beach days, we used the beach-front football pitch at the hotel and were offered a game with some of the guests. Me, Henson and a guy from Hong Kong who was there for a conference, took on Stu and 2 guys from Dubai. Our team was clear winners and my 60 yard Steve Gerard goal past Stu finished off their weak fight!
As Langkawi is a duty-free island, the beer is so cheap. The people at the hostel were so trusting, they let you take beer from their fridge (which was always stocked up) and you had to keep a tab! Sounds like a good idea, but when the beer's so cheap and you only add up what you've had on the day you leave, it can be costly!!!
We left Langkawi early on the 5th, to begin our long journey up Koh Phangan in Thailand for the Full-Moon Party on the 7th.....Journal entry to follow!
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