Day 11 - Off to Langkawi Island

Since we're on holiday, setting an alarm is not something we're prepared to do  unless it is absolutely neccessary for onward travel. This morning we set an alarm. It was still dark when it buzzed!

We headed downstairs and macde oursleves a healthy-sized bowl of instant oats and strong coffee. letting ourselves out (the guys running the Guesthouse weren't even there), we trugded along down the road with our heavy backpacks to ctach the free shuttle bus to the ferry terminal. Thank goodness for that bus!

Reaching the terminal we were happy to have listened to the advice of a local - we had booked in advance. The waiting area was teeming with tourists all itching to get to Langkawi. Our ferry left at 8.30 am and while we waited I sat judging those with bigger bags than mine. It's the small victories that amuse me nowadays!

The ferry over to the island was comfortable and felt more like a bus with air-con and nice padded seats. We sat next to two German travelers and hit it off. The gal, in particular, has traveled extensively through some of the places we're headed to. When we arrived, we split a minibus taxi with them for the 20-minute journey to Pantai Tengah. Our Guesthouse is pretty basic and very chilled. We checked in and headed to the beach in the midday sun; our host protested. It reminded us of Josie always warning us that only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday heat. I guess it's fair to add South Africans to that list now!

The beach is beautiful. I know my words will do it a disservice if I try to describe the sparkling stretch of coastline. We found some shade, swam, slept, read, and chilled. Later we bought some cheap beers and beer shandy's (Langkawi is a duty-free island) and sat watching the sun set on all the beach activity around us. There is paragliding and other water sports on offer; we just sat watching the operators work the crowd until we got hungry for dinner.

We walked along to the next main beach, Pantai Cenang, and found a nice enough restaurant in the sand. We smuggled in our own gin and just ordered tonic water. After we ordered food, an elderly American couple at the table next to us struck up a conversation. They're from Seattle and are "practising retirement". They were very friendly and we ended up chatting for abouit three hours until the rain chased us home. They even settled our bill for us. What a nice treat from two strangers! We'll try return the favour down the line at some point to someone else we meet... You know, what goes around comes around.

The rain brought with it some cool respite from the humidity and a good night's sleep.

Until next time,

Luisa