It was the easiest border crossing we have experienced yet. Just under a two hour boat trip from Ko Lipe over to Langkawi, in Malaysia. Chris and I disembarked at a ferry port, our names were called for us to step forward to collect our passports to be stamped, and that was it, we were in!
We got talking to a Swedish couple at the ATM who were headed the same way as us - to the main beach area, Cenang. We shared a taxi, with us jumping out at the cheap backpacker end of the beach, and them heading down to the more expensive end.
We hadn't booked a room, but I had marked a few options for us to suss out. Not before long we decided on a spacious, clean, local family run room with en suite, for a fairly reasonable 50 MYR (£9). Kampung guesthouse was simply what looked like an old stable block, converted into about six rooms, some with, and some without en suite. Each had a small porch, perfect for enjoying a beer or two!
It was mid afternoon, so we went to explore and grab some food. We stumbled across a busy Malaysian restaurant and without discussion headed in. Having a guess at the menu, I ordered a chicken, veg, rice, stir fry dish. Chris asked the waiter for his recommendation and ended up with a very tasty and spicy beef stir fry. Not washed down with a beer as it was run by Muslims, we went in search of a bar along the beach front.
We found a nice spot on the beach to read up about Langkawi, and having done so, we had to change our plans from a nice cold beer, watching the sunset on the beach, to hunting down a moped, so that we could scoot off to find the best weekly night food market. The food market was only open until 8pm, but we managed to arrive just after 7pm.
It was a perfect size; not too big with too much choice, but enough to have to make some decisions!
We made a circuit around to suss out our options, and then we began...first up we went for some bbq'd corn on the cob, chicken and beef satay, and a couple of samosas.
Finding some plastic chairs and a table, we sat down to enjoy round one.
Round two - a chicken frittata, a small noodle dish, and some spring rolls.
Back to the plastic chairs and table to enjoy round two. Then for dessert - a folded pancake containing sugar, coco, peanut and sweet corn (weird but it worked!), some coconut rice steamed in a bamboo shoot, with brown sugar and shredded coconut, and finally some fried brown sugar and rice doughnut type things.
Tummy's well and truly full, we biked back, stopping off to buy a beer to drink back at the ranch.

Having hired the bike for 48 hours, we decided to take the opportunity to explore the island. It is roughly 25km from north to south, and slightly more east to west.
First on our agenda was obviously breakfast, which we went traditional and had coconut steamed rice with a buffet style choice of various curries, from a street vendor. Although the food was tasty, my stomach wasn't too sure about curry for breakfast.
Our next stop was at the Langkawi cable car, or Sky Cab, as they call it.
Set to the north west side of the island, the cable car takes you over 700 metres above sea level, where you have the option to pay a little more and walk across the Sky Walk. A 125 metre curbed bridge, suspended 700 metres above sea level. It was pretty cool, but unfortunately due to the time of year, being the dry season, the visibility wasn't that great. It's best to visit just after the wet season.
We then enjoyed the ride around the island, and decided to head to most northern tip of the island, to Tanjung Rhu beach. It turned out it was a private beach, and a fair few miles before the beach we were stopped by security to ask where we were going. Security then handed us a piece of paper with a list of 'rules' to abide by, but they were nothing out of the ordinary. Mainly about respecting and preserving the environment, which we do anyway.
The beach was deserted. Beautiful landscape, and very peaceful, but by this time we were looking for somewhere to have lunch. So after a short walk along the beach, and a quick paddle, we were back on the bike, and headed for the main city, Kuah.
Not a lot to really see or do, we ended up spying a shopping centre and ventured in hoping to find something quick and easy for a very late lunch. We actually ended up at McDonald's, for the first time since the very beginning of our trip, over four months ago. Not bad going!
We made a brief stop off at a large eagle statue, Langkawi roughly translates as strong eagle, then made our way along the coastal road back to Cenang beach. During the ride back we could see something in the middle of the road.
Chris, thinking it was some rope, rode on past. But I took a closer look and noticed it was a snake! Shouting to Chris that it was a snake we had just driven past, he decided he would turn around so he could have a better look. I was not too pleased about turning around, but didn't have much choice in the matter. We rode on by nice and slow and it became clear that the snake had been hit, perhaps by a car. It was a huge snake, estimating around 3 metres.
There were no further exciting antics on our journey back, but with Langkawi being a duty free island, we of course had to make a stop at one of the many large shops. It would be so easy to get carried away, but we were very disciplined and just bought a few beers, and ciders. Chris also tried out the freshly made mango ice cream. We took our drinks to the beach to enjoy and watch the sun set, having planned to do this the previous night.

A nice slow morning and walking just down the road for some Malaysian pancakes, 'roti', for breakfast. The Malay's tend to eat theirs with curry, and Chris decided to have the egg roti with a curry sauce. I opted for a more 'normal' roti with banana and syrup. We also found out how good their iced coffee is - nearly as good as the Vietnamese coffee.
With the moped still in our hands, we looked to see where else to visit on the island. Having spoken to our neighbours, Claire and Phil, from Leeds, they recommended a visit to a chocolate and coffee tasting shop.
En route, we pulled over to an animal rescue centre so that I could donate my beach towel. Realising I was not using it, and it was taking up a lot of space in my bag, I decided it would be better off used where needed.
The lady in the chocolate shop did well at offering us samples; macadamia, banana, coconut, durian, dark. Washed down with various flavoured coffee; coconut, durian, peppermint and vanilla. Coming to a compromise, we bought some vanilla coffee, knowing that we had a kettle in our room so we could straight away enjoy some delicious coffee.
We stopped by Tengah beach, just down from Cenang beach. It was much quieter, but the idea of getting some cold beer and finding some shade took over, so we rode back to Cenang.
We also had the opportunity to try our very first mangosteen. Etienne, who we met at the elephant conservation, had told us about mangosteen, and how amazing he thought it tasted. Ever since then, we have been keeping an eye out for it. Finally we found some, and wow, yes it was amazing. A cross between a lychee and mango = delicious! It's a shame they are so small.
Later that evening, I treated myself to some red wine, not being able to resist the duty free pricing. We sat out on the porch for hours, chatting away to Phil and Claire, as it turned out they were also heading down to Kuala Lumpur (our next destination). Before we knew it, it was nearly 10 pm and we hadn't eaten! We found a surprisingly busy restaurant for the time of night, with reasonable prices, and both had stir fry type dishes with rice.

We went back for roti and ice coffee the next morning, then checked out of our room. We had a flight booked to KL late evening, so had the day to use as a 'planning' day, i.e looking into the Philippines, and catching up with my diary, the blog, emails, social networking etc.
The flight was a last minute booking, as Claire and Phil had told us their flight was just £7! We never even thought to look into flying, as we were set on just getting the standard bus. But when the bus was going to cost us £20, and nearly a full day travelling, versus less than an hours flight for £22, it was a no brainer!
We managed to fit in some final beach time, before showering, grabbing some street food, and making our way to the airport for our flight to KL...