Langkawi is an interesting place. It’s full of contradictions and differences but it’s still very friendly and very relaxed. It’s not a very pretty place, though – there’s garbage everywhere and development has been unchecked and poorly planned, but a lot of the natural beauty is obvious everywhere.
We made it to the Langkawi cable car, where we waited an hour in line to board the cable car to the top of the mountain. If you ever see the guy in the cowboy hat below, yell at him. He enjoys trying to push in line! Once we reached the top of the mountain, the views were spectacular, if a little hazy. The highest point was 710m above sea level. We saw all of Langkawi and some of Thailand, and it was a few degrees cooler (but not much) which was welcome.
We spent most evenings on the beach enjoying $1.30 beers and cheap and delicious food. It’s not a bad place, but it’s not as pretty as it could be.
It’s a very relaxed place, and runs pretty much on Malaysian time. “Later” could mean in a few minutes, a few hours, or even tomorrow. 3pm might be closer to 4 or 5.
We found this out when we went on an island hopping cruise. 25 ringgit – about $8 – for 4 hours. It involved a boat ride to one island with a giant fresh water lake, where we spent one hour, another boat ride (on the same boat) to another island where there was a beach, and a transfer back to where we were staying. Followed by more beer.
Tomorrow, to Kuala Lumpur!
We’re here! Our evening flight from Adelaide took us to Melbourne, where we transferred to the international terminal and waited five hours for our Air Asia X flight to Kuala Lumpur. The flight was delayed about half an hour, which wasn’t too bad. The flight was as expected: long, but not too long, and uneventful. I’m glad I paid extra for increased leg room. Travelling without it would have sucked! Entry to Malaysia was painless and before long we were on board another flight, to Langkawi.
Our lodgings are at some cool little chalets. Owned and run by two brothers, they’re very new. There are a few teething problems (lack of insulation makes the aircon pretty useless) but they’re new and clean and the two guys couldn’t be nicer. They drove us the few hundred metres to the main beach, Pantai Cenang, and showed us around. They also showed us a little short cut through a kampung (village) to walk there, and it’s beautiful. Even the cows are friendly. I like this place.
It’s hot. Really hot. Humid, too, but not too bad because there hasn’t been any rain for six weeks or more. It’s the dry season, and it shows. All the grass is brown and there’s no water anywhere. The reduction in the number of resident mosquitoes is a huge plus, though.
Plans for Langkawi: the cable car, Restoron Siti Fatimah, perhaps an island hopping trip, and… who knows.
Adelaide to Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi. Day One.
We’re here! Our evening flight from Adelaide took us to Melbourne, where we transferred to the international terminal and waited five hours for our Air Asia X flight to Kuala Lumpur. The flight was delayed about half an hour, which wasn’t too bad. The flight was as expected: long, but not too long, and uneventful. I’m glad I paid extra for increased leg room. Travelling without it would have sucked! Entry to Malaysia was painless and before long we were on board another flight, to Langkawi.
Our lodgings are at some cool little chalets. Owned and run by two brothers, they’re very new. There are a few teething problems (lack of insulation makes the aircon pretty useless) but they’re new and clean and the two guys couldn’t be nicer. They drove us the few hundred metres to the main beach, Pantai Cenang, and showed us around. They also showed us a little short cut through a kampung (village) to walk there, and it’s beautiful. Even the cows are friendly. I like this place.
It’s hot. Really hot. Humid, too, but not too bad because there hasn’t been any rain for six weeks or more. It’s the dry season, and it shows. All the grass is brown and there’s no water anywhere. The lack of mosquitoes is a plus.
Plans for Langkawi: the cable car, Restoron Siti Fatimah, perhaps an island hopping trip, and… who knows.
In just 12 hours, I fly from Adelaide to Melbourne where I will meet with two friends before boarding our flight to Bangkok. We are expected to arrive in Bangkok late in the evening… which is meant to be relatively cool!
Over the coming days, we will all meet in Bangkok. Early on Friday morning, we depart Bangkok for Koh Tao.
The trip wouldn’t be complete without a little drama, and it’s happened before we’ve left. An enormous plastics fire sent a plume of smoke over the Adelaide skyline earlier this evening:
Steven Travels now looks a little different. I took the header image a few months ago but only just got around to post processing it – crop, adjust colours, rotate, done!
I’ve also added some countdown timers to the right, and various other minor tweaks have taken place, too.
