Pulau Langkawi (Malaysia)

Langkawi

Getting from Thailand to Malaysia by boat was easy and the immigration was by far the quickest yet. When you arrive on the island of Langkawi, you soon realise how big it is. It's more like a small country than an island and you definately need some form of transport to get around. Perhaps it's size shocked me more than most because I had just arrived from the tiny island of Ko Lipe!!!

Langkawi wouldn't be the highlight of my Malaysian voyage but it was a good introduction to the new cultural lifestyle here, as Malaysia is predominantly Muslim. No pork on the menu's, you have to dress a little more conservatively and alcohol is either hard to come by or expensive. Still, i'm sure I can cope.

Arriving in Malaysia, you also realise what food delights await you. Because the country is a complete mish mash of origins, from Chinese, Indian and Indonesian (as well as others), the choice of cuisine is excellent.

The whole island of Langkawi is actually a duty free zone. It has a westernized feel to it and is packed with family tourists who have ventured here for their few weeks holiday. My only highlight on the island was a visit to underwater world which had a variety of impressive sea life and there are some good looking beaches around too. I was currently still travelling with Isabelle and Peter but had planned on going seperate ways after Langkawi. However due to two inter-related problems that my Dutch friend had, he was tied to my side for some time longer.

As we enter the country, he gets a call that his credit card had been cloned in Thailand. Within a few days it was being used in Wall Mart in the USA and 2000 Euros were already missing. Then he finds out that through customs, his debit card strip had been wiped when he was being scanned. He literally had no money. To make matters worse, it was Friday evening and the banks wouldn't open now until Monday!!! He had about 10 pounds to his name, and his bank in the Netherlands said there was nothing they could do except apologise. If I had not been with him - I seriously don't know what he would have done except perhaps spend a few nights on the street. I hope that such unfortunate events are not part of my future.

I had myself, only planned on staying a couple of days on Langkawi but due to a Malaysian holiday, there was no transport and I was literally stuck on the island for an extra day. Actually, only very recently I had changed some of my plans altogether. Originally, I was to spend three weeks in Malaysia, then head to Sumatra (Indonesia) before making my way to Singapore before the end of the Asian part of my journey. However, while flicking through the Bible, known to most travellers as the Lonely Planet, I soon realised that I could fit in the island of Java (Indonesia) too and that meant one thing.....more Volcanoes. The globe really is one big playground, if you have the means and the will, then you can change all your plans from one day to the next. You pick where you want to go and just have fun!!! I was now cutting Malaysia short by a week and that meant a change in route around the country. Instead of doing this world famous city last, I would now be heading there next......