Langkawi – tropical Malaysian Island near the bottom of Thailand

The beach by our hostel

We had originally planned to catch a bus straight to Thailand from Penang but we met so many people that told us we must visit Langkawi, so we decided to schedule it into our now, looser-than-ever, itinerary. We woke up early, around 6.45am and took a taxi to the port, where we caught a ferry to Langkawi. Also on the ferry, was a Chinese boy from our hostel in Penang and a girl we had met in KL. The 2 hour ferry ride went quite quickly because I was engrossed in a book about Cambodia called First they Killed my Father, which was recommended to me by one of Lid's friends, is absolutely harrowing and I highly recommend it. When we reached Langkawi, we were waiting to get off the ferry and a baby crawled onto my rucksack so I was playing with it and the parents wanted to take a picture of me with it. What a little cutie!

Malaysian baba

We then took a taxi to a hostel recommended in the Lonely Planet, and also by a girl in Penang. We got there and were greeted by the British owner, and had beans on toast from the bar. It was a really nice chilled out place, but when we went to check out the room, which was only £5 each for a private, I wasn’t very impressed. It was in a little hut and was really pokey and hot. It reminded me of one of the places we stayed in Fiji. I said to Jemma that I wasn't ready for Island life and that I wished I was back in a big city. Roughing it in a beach hut isn't what I came travelling for (although this is what many people want from travelling and I do like beaches to an extent, I just don't like wasting too much time on being a beach bum). So anyway, we told the woman we'd take it, and sat there having our beans on toast with daddy's sauce, and just out of interest I thought I'd google the hostel to see what came up. A host of horror stories appeared, about peoples huts being broken into and the owner and police not caring. I knew as soon as I read this I couldn't stay there. I left Jemma with the things and went off to look at the other hostels near bye. For just £3 more, I found an amazing hotel, with big beds, a TV, air con and a private bathroom. 

Our nice new hotel - better than a beach hut

There was nothing to deliberate over, we were moving. I went back to get Jemma and we sheepishly told the woman we had changed our minds. Luckily no cash had passed hands. We then checked into our new luxury room in the hotel next door and promptly fell asleep in air conditioned bliss. We woke up a couple of hours later just in time for sunset and went for a walk on the beach, where we bumped into the Chinese guy from our last hostel. He let us have a little go on his moped (we were thinking of renting one) but after both having a go, we decided it would not be such a good idea. We then went for dinner with him in one of the many restaurants along the beach and had an ice cream milkshake for desert. He was staying in a beach hut but saw an offer on a hostel that night for £2 for a bed so he decided to switch to that. We were happy in our hotel for £8 a night.

The next day, we decided to go jet skiing, as Jemma has wanted to do it the whole trip but it has always been too expensive. We found somewhere offering 30 mins for £20 so we went off to get cash and had lunch in a western place, before heading back to the beach to try the jet skiing. I really wasn’t too keen on going jet skiing and as we went over to the rental place, we saw a couple who had just come off theirs and all of their valuables had gotten wet and broken (why take an iphone on a jet ski??). They were a bit shaken because the waves had been quite big and the French guy who worked there said we should go a bit later because of the waves. We had to sign a form saying if we died it wasn’t their fault and it we damaged the equipment we'd have to pay. My gut was telling me at this point not to proceed, but Jemma was desperate to have a go, and didn't want to do it without me. So we got on, and Jemma drove first, and we sped along the waves, jumping up in the air at some points, my bum burning on the seat from the engine heat.

Jemma speeding away

 I had a little go too, but it really wasn't for me (I don't like speed), so after about 10 minutes, I got off and swam to the beach whilst Jemma continued, going faster than ever, jumping in the air and standing up. Luckily she made it back in one piece and told me afterwards that she had been a bit worried but didn’t say anything, because she had noticed the oil light flashing the whole time! No wonder my seat was hot! We were also lucky not to get ripped off, because I read on the internet when I got back, that it is very common in Thailand to get scammed for Jet skis: when you come back, they accuse you of damaging them and make you pay out thousands for the repairs. I was so happy we got it out of the way in Malaysia!

We needed to book tickets to get to Thailand in the afternoon, but we were so tired, we went back to the hotel for a little nap and woke up at 7pm to meet the Chinese guy for dinner again, still not having booked anything for Thailand. Neither of us could decide whether or not to stay in Langkawi another day or go to Thailand. In the end I decided we should just go to Thailand, because Langkawi was actually nothing special and the sea was quite dirty. So here I am now, sat on a ferry on the way to Satun in the South West of Thailand, where we will then catch a bus to our next destination, Krabi!

For more pictures: Penang & Langkawi