Leaving Batu Ferranghi on Penang we caught a bus and arrived at the ferry port terminal (not the same port as where you arrive from the mainland, but not far) you can’t buy tickets there but there are local offices nearby where you can purchase one. We caught the 8:30 ferry and had to endure the worst happy hardcore music I think I’ve ever heard whilst waiting to set off. It seems to be a big thing in Malaysia, everywhere you go happy hardcore seems to be played!? The crossing took 3hrs and cost 60MYR (approx £11) During the crossing we stopped off at an Island close to Langkawi called Pulau Payar and it looked beautiful. We asked if we could get off there but were told that there is no accomodation or facilities on this island, day trippers on snorkelling trips are the only visitors and judging by the amount of fish and varieties we could see just by the jetty we both decided we were going to look into coming back here. The water was alive with the most vibrant coloured fish and unlike other places we’ve been these were bigger in size, parrot fish, morish idols etc.

When we arrived on Langkawi we were greeted the taxi drivers trying to gain your business, due to the size of the island we had presumed there would be buses but soon found out that taxis are the only transport available. After asking around again for where the cheapest accomodation was we headed to Pantai Cenang by taxi which cost £5 and took just over half an hour. We were taken to a place which is apparently in the lonely planet (we don’t use them anymore) can’t remember the name but ask anyone and they’ll suggest that place, it looked fine but was very busy and only had dorm rooms. I’d spotted a sign next door for a place called Daddy’s so we thought we’d check that place out first. As you can see from the pictures it was nice and clean and had a bedouin style room and hammock outside, they wanted to charge 40MYR but when we said we could get one next door for 30MYR they agreed to that price (approx. £5.50) We were relieved we’d been told accomodation was expensive here.

As like everywhere else we’d been the place itself was quite deserted and the beach only had a few people walking on it. It wasn’t bad a bit of rubbish on the beach but we’ve found thats common for most places. Unlike Penang Langkawi is a tax free island and so alcohol is much much cheaper, we were also happy about that!

Langkawi is a big island and so we decided to hire a car to have a proper look around, moped hire was 30MYR and a car was 40MYR a bargain really. If you have the money this placed is all geared up for you to spend it! there are lots of things to do with trips etc unfortunately none of them were in our budget, about £100 for a 6 hour fishing trip we didn’t think so! One big disappointment was that we thought we could go snorkelling here as that is what is advertised everywhere when you search for Langkawi, what wasn’t clear to us that what is actually meant is the island that we passed on the boat is the place to go snorkelling and that will set you back £45 for a few hours trip. Instead we visted everything that there was to see on the island like the Temurun waterfall and all the beaches. The best of which by far it has to be said is in the north east by Tanjung Rhu resort, there is no other accomodation near here and we wouldn’t like to guess how much it is to stay at that place with its library and selection of fine cigars and various dining rooms. We spent an evening there watching the sunset on the beach (which has apparantly been in a James Bond film) so we walked past an impressive looking pool and the fine dining and mediterranean restaurants to the pool bar where I discovered what I’d seen earlier wasn’t actually the pool but just a water feature!

We decided to keep the car for another day so we could finish off seeing all of the island and had decided that to save money we should check out of Daddy’s and spend the night sleeping in the car. That day we visted the Argo Park where you can go on a fruit tour! For £2 they drive you around the fruit plantation explaning what everything is and how it grows, then they pick some and you get to eat your body weight in fruit, a bit of a bargain we thought. On our trip we were told it was out of season for many things and so we only got to sample star fruit, dragon fruit, pomela, papaya, pineapple, banana and jack fruit…lovely! We planned to camp out on a beach somewhere and make a fire so armed with potatoes, cheese, bean, beer and a squirrel we headed back to Kok beach to make a fire and camp for the night. The squirrel and jackets went down well and it was beautiful sat out on the beach under the stars just listening to the sea. Next morning I went for a swim in the sea and leaving Sam to sleep I tidied the camp and set myself up on the beach with a book and crisps for breakfast. That was until I was bullied my some local monkeys who ransacked the camp throwing the rubbish everywhere, chased me down the beach and knicked off with the crisps!

Feeling we’d seen the most of Langkawi we headed back to Thailand to visit some of the islands in the Satun province, first stop Wilf’s recommendation of Ko Lipe with the water like gin.