The high speed ferry wasted no time in propelling us across the waters to Langkawi, and we were soon approaching a group of picture perfect tree clad islands rising from turquoise waters. We pulled in to a jetty at the largest of these islands, actually very large, being Langkawi itself.

We craftily nipped off the boat before the hordes and made our way into the large terminal building where we were instantly greeted by a taxi driver offering us his services. We enquired about the price to the beach resort town of Cenang, our intended destination, and satisfied with his fare agreed to use his services.

Just then a German chap approached and enquired where we were heading. We told him and he suggested that we share the taxi, an idea we had had ourselves, so we agreed and soon the four of us were in the taxi and on our way across the island.

We drove through the rather built up town of Kuah with its high concentration of duty-free shops and into the countryside. The island looked great under the bright blue skies, with lush green hills rising towards its interior.

Around 15 minutes later we found ourselves on a strip of restaurants and hotels which comprised the main street of Cenang. The place we intended to check out was just across the road and up a dirt driveway so we walked up with our bags to find some pretty white bungalows arranged in a sort of motel fashion around a garden courtyard.

We enquired about prices at the reception and had a look at one of the rooms. Although it was a bit more than we had intended to pay, the rate for the room was great considering the room was huge, spotlessly clean, with air conditioning, a private bathroom and the pleasant surroundings of the courtyard. We decided to go for it and paid up front for 5 nights to secure a good deal.

As our room wasn't ready to check in to, we left our bags at reception and went for a walk through the town to the beach. The street was rather uninspiring, with a clutter of shops and hotels strung along it, but once we walked between some of these and past the big metallic 'Underwater World' building we found ourselves on the pretty beach running the length of the town.

Although the beach was a bit crowded around our end with parked jetskis and the like, and backed by hotels, bars and cafes, it was still lovely and had a great outlook over the water to some of the small surrounding islands.

We wandered down the sand, cooling our feet in the surf before stopping for a bite to eat and a drink at one of the beach cafes. After eating, we walked the length of the beach then doubled back, just enjoying the sunshine and sea breeze. Along the way we enquired about island drop offs, discovering we could be shuttled out to an island of our choice from the 99 in the area and left there for as long as we liked for a reasonable fee.

From the beach we then cut back to the main street in town and walked back towards our hotel. Along the way we picked up some duty free beer and some other supplies to keep in our room's fridge, then relaxed in the room, updating some blog entries.

In the early evening with the sun getting low in the sky, we made our way into town again to find something to eat. We took a detour down to the beach to watch the sun sink down behind the clouds on the horizon in an orange blaze, then cut back up to the main srip. We walked along the street and soon reached Tomato restaurant, a 24hr establishment serving all manner of Malaysian foods for a good price. A lot of the other restaurants we'd looked at were expensive in comparison with the rest of the country, so we were happy to find this place.

We sat in the busy outdoor area at a plastic table and ordered some roti canai, butter chicken masala, aloo ghobi and a naan to share. I also had a drink which I'd seen a lot of locals with but didn't know the nature of. It turned out to be fresh lemon and rose syrup in water; a ruby red concoction with a lovely fragrant flavour. We enjoyed all the food and, after eating walked back down the street, stopping at a lot of the tourist shops to look for bikinis for Lucy.

When we finally got back to our room we relaxed for the rest of the evening then got off to sleep in our lovely cool room.

Whether it was the comfy bed or our need to catch up on sleep, we didn't get up until nearly midday the next day. When we were finally up and about, we chucked some stuff in a bag and took a walk from our accommodation out to the main road and this time took a left. We walked past lots more restaurants, tourist shops, and some spas before taking a right and walking down to Pantai Tengah, the beach separated from the Cenang by a rocky headland a few hundred metres wide.

We found this beach much quieter than Cenang, but not quite as appealing, with a sharp slope down into the surf and quite large waves churning away at the sand. We sat for a while in the shade of a palm tree before taking a walk to find some food, as we still hadn't eaten. We walked a little way along Tengah beach but found it was backed only by accommodation, with nowhere obvious to eat. We doubled back and walked back towards Cenang, before turning down a driveway to Oasis Bar and Restaurant, which we'd read was supposed to be quite nice. We found that it was, with a large seating area right on the beach and a great, uncluttered view over the sea to the nearby islands.

We ordered a Caesar salad and some mixed chicken and beef satay skewers, as well as some garlic bread, and tucked into our feast. The food was great and the view even better, so we resolved to come back later than evening for a sundowner to enjoy the pleasant surroundings.

After eating we wandered back up to the main street, stopped at a shop to pick up some duty free gin and a few other bits and pieces, before heading back to our accommodation for a bit.

Back at our lodge, we set up outside on our sun-drenched porch with a G&T and Lucy read while I tried to catch up on our blog writing. A little later we went out for some food, and found a really cheap local place just across from the entrance to our accommodation. We had some spicy fried noodles and sweet and sour chicken and some fresh lime juice, which we were growing quite fond of. Basically just a lime squeezed in some ice water with a dash of sugar syrup, it was so refreshing especially after spending any time in the heat.

After dinner we walked back to our room, had a shower and relaxed in the air conditioned cool with a cup of tea and a biscuit before going to bed.

We woke the next morning to a torrential downpour outside. This put our plans of getting a boat out to a nearby island on hold, and we lounged around in the room for the morning until the rain cleared and the sun came out. At some point during this time, Lucy developed a really bad pain in her back meaning she could barely walk. So, although the sun was out we couldn't really get out and do much.

In the mid afternoon I took a walk down the main street, in the now baking sunshine, and picked up some food at the trusty Tomato restaurant to take back to the room. We ate this and whiled away the rest of the afternoon reading and on the internet, until around half 6 when we decided to get out and get some fresh air.

Lucy's back was feeling a bit better, so we walked down the driveway of our accommodation and across the road to Oasis bar, where we knew we'd get a great view of the sunset. We arrived just in time, and got a great seat out on the sand where we sat and watched, along with lots of heavily-clothed Malaysian bathers swimming in the surf just in front of us, the sun paint the sky some incredible orange and pink hues as it crawled down into the sea.

With the sun's show over, we headed back to our lodge and sorted out some photos on the computer before calling it a night.

Although it wasn't raining, the next morning was still a bit overcast and we didn't think it would be worth paying to go out to another island only to see it in the rather dull version of sunlight. We still packed up a bag with some beach stuff though, and took a wander down to the main beach at Cenang, which we found quite busy even with the sun being so shy. We noticed once we reached the beach that the tide was also very high, so most of the small beaches on the surrounding islands would be mostly submerged, and therefore definitely not worth visiting.

We placed our beach towels on a relatively quiet stretch of sand, and ourselves on them, and remained there for the rest of the day, only getting up to go and buy some cold drinks and to have an occasional splash in the sea to cool down. Apart from watching the comings and goings of the other beach users and jetskiers zipping about, our entertainment was provided in the form of our Kindles, on which we had both recently started some books which we were keen to read.

The only interruption to our peace and quiet came in the form of a strange episode, when two Indian couples walked down onto the beach and one of the men, completely inexplicably, chose the corner of Lucy's towel over all other points on the huge beach as the place where he would set down his bundled up towel and a plastic bag full of stuff. He dropped these without a word as he passed, then accompanied his wife and friends, all fully clothed of course, into the sea. We stared after them, utterly confused and not sure whether to be annoyed, until on my instructions Lucy cast the offending articles across the sand a few metres away from us. Shortly, a wife was dispatched from the water to remove them to a more appropriate location, namely a sun lounger behind us which they probably should have used in the first place. This foursome later concretised their reputation as mentalists as far as we were concernced when they asked a European girl, minding her own business sunbathing nearby, if they could take some photos with her. we onced again looked on in astonishment as they took turns posing with the confused and embarrassed looking girl and began snapping shots.

The sun never came out quite as strongly as the previous couple of days, but it did turn out pleasantly bright and the temperature was perfect for lounging around on the beach, with a gentle breeze coming in off the sea. The cooler atmosphere was rather decptive though, since both of us ended up rather patchily red at the end of the day despite reapplying strong sunblock during the day.

Around 6pm we finally got up and wandered along the beach, past the hundreds of parked jetskis, then cut up to the main street and continued to Tomato, where we got another cheap and tasty meal, this time some fried rice, roti canai and some tomato soup for Lucy.

After dinner we cut back down to the beach to watch the sunset, this time in the form of a patch of cloudy sky near the horizon which, beginning a vibrant orange, simultanesouly softened and became more intense as it moved through the spectrum to red and finally an incredible shade of pink before we turned and walked back to our lodging.

On our way back, we picked up some biscuits and water, then returned to our place where we made some G&Ts and whiled away the evening continuing our books and doing some online research.

We got up around 10am the next day and, upon looking out the window, discovered it was a glorious day. We decided we'd try and hire a scooter and have a look at some of the island outside of Cenang. To that end, we got some stuff together and wandered around to the nearby convenience store which also hired out bikes. When we asked about hiring a scooter, the shop owner asked if we had our licenses with us, since the police often check them. I replied that I didn't even have a license for a bike, so maybe we should look into other options. He did suggest renting a car instead.

We could have probably hired a scooter at another unscrupulous rental place, but we couldn't be bothered with the hassle of dealing with the police if we did get asked for our licenses. Instead, we went back to our accomdation, and asked at reception about car rental. We found there was a nearby rental agency who we decided to hire a car from. The receptionist called them for us and a guy soon turned up with a basic but fairly new Proton Saga. We hopped in and he drove us round to the rental place where we filled in the paperwork and took possession of the keys.

By the time we got everything sorted it was around midday and we were pretty hungry, so we took our shiny grey Proton down the street to the trusty Tomato restaurant, where we knew we'd get a cheap tasty lunch. We did exactly that, chowing down on some noodles, before getting back in the car and continuing north out of Pantai Cenang. Along the way we made one more stop at a travel agent where we bought tickets for the fast ferry to Ko Lipe, a nearby Thai island, for the following morning.

With our tickets bought, we drove out of town and up the coast, taking some long straight roads around the small airport and across a bridge before meandering through the countryside in amongst the trees. We passed by lots of local houses and monkeys sitting by the side of the road, with views through the trees of tall jungly hills and occasional glimpses of the turqouise sea with small islands dotted about.

We took a few turns and continued on the gently curving, quiet roads until we emerged on the north coast of the island. We passed a big cement factory which even looked attractive against the clear, sunny sky then drove parallel to a beach on our left overlooking small islands between Langkawi and the nearby Thai island of Tarutao, which could be seen slighly further away. The road then took us through a forest of soft-needled pines, with a calm stretch of water full of mangroves off to our right.

Soon we found ourselves at the end of the road, around which a small strip of basic shops and eateries were arranged before the road terminated in the white sand of a beach. We parked the car in the shade by one of the shops and walked onto the beach, which we found to be lovely. Although a fancy resort was just along the beach, there weren't many people around and it was much quieter than the highly commercial Cenang beach. It was also even more picturesque, with a quiet bay backed by the pine trees and looking out over rocky, tree-topped islets and a rocky headland at the mouth of the mangrove filled river we had passed.

We set down our towels udner a shady palm tree on the beach, then went for a quick splash in the sea to cool off. We thought we detected a few little stings whilst in the water, so didn't spend too long in there before returning to our towels and reading our Kindles. I soon nodded off and enjoyed a very comfortable nap under the palm tree then, when I woke, we had another quick dip (this time with no stingers) before walking down the beach and back. It was 4pm by this point so we decided to move on and see some more of the island while we had the car.

We bought some banana fritters from one of the stalls, got changed and got back on the road. Just as we got in the car, a strong wind picked up and the sky got very grey. Eating our banana fritters on the way, we drove back the way we had come, but took a road leading to the north-west corner of the island. This road undulated and wound its way smoothly through the jungle for a distance, before terminating in a locked gate to some exclusive resort. Along the way, the grey sky lived up to its implied threats and began to rain on us, so we didn't stop at any of the little car parks or beaches we passed. When we reached the locked gate however, we had no choice but to turn around and drove back, before deciding to stop at a little beach once the rain had stopped.

Here, we parked and watched some monkeys crawling along the top of a fence before walking down to the small sandy beach, not as nice as the one we had spent time on earlier. The beach did offer a great view of the Thai island of Tarutao though, only 5km away and looking just like a typical tropical island with green peaks rising from the waters.

We didn't spend long at the beach before hopping back in the car and driving back towards Cenang. The grey clouds were now long gone and, although it was after 5pm it was still lovely and sunny. We decided to make one more stop before returning to town, at the cable car we had seen signs for on our way across the island earlier. This cable car ran to the top of one of the island's tallest peaks and was supposed to offer amazing views over the island. We thought that as evening was approaching, we'd see if it was possible to get up to the top of the hill for sunset.

We pulled into the cable car place and parked, after eventually finding one space amongst the hundres that wasn't reserved for taxis. We then walked through an odd little shopping village which was built around the cable car base station, ignoring all the shops apart from one where we bought an ice lolly. We found out that the cable car ran until after sunset, so we bought some tickets and after eating our ice lollies, hopped in a bubble to be conveyed up the hillside.

Once out of the base station, we soon accelerated and got a view of the monstrous cliff we were about to be pulled to the top of. The steep rocky face rose before us, with jungle underneath and the cable rising steeply to the top station, some 600m above us. We enjoyed the view as we ascended, looking out for landmarks such as Cenang beach and the beach we had visited earlier that day.

We reached the top cable car station about 10 minutes later, but found out that it was not in fact the top station, but only an intermediate station with another cable taking the cars across a deep valley up to a peak slightly above us. However, from the observation platform at the intermediate station we got an amazing view of the island laid out beneath us, not to mention all the smaller islands dotted all around. We could see over to the other peak where there were two higher platforms, and also a huge suspended walkway curving between that hill and another above a steeply plunging valley.

We got back into cable car and completed the journey to the higher peak, where we got off and first headed for the suspended walkway. To get there we had to walk down quite a few rough concrete steps which actually took a while, but was worth it for the sight as we walked out onto the curving walkway, suspended from cables radiating from one large central pole in the middle of the deep ravine. We walked the full length of the bridge, checking out the views from all angles including another, even better view of Koh Tarutao, before turning our attention to the sun which was making its way lazily towards the horizon.

Originally we had planned to climb back up to one of the higher viewing platforms to watch the sunset, but we realised that we would get an amazing view from the bridge and that we would avoid having to race up the stairs to get to the platform in time. Therefore, we stayed leaning against the shiny railing of the bridge watching the light shift gradually towards the warmer end of the spectrum as the sun crawled downwards, painting a stunning golden trail across the water between the horizon and the island.

Unforunately, before we could see the sun move below the horizon a big pesky cloud appeared from somewhere and the sun instead went behind this. The cloud showed no signs of shifting in time for us to see the proper sunset, so we took the opportunity to climb back up the stairs and check out the view from the high viewing platforms before the light started to go.

After a last look around we got back on the cable car and rode it downwards, which involved a rather heart-in-mouth moment as we rolled over the guide wheels at the top of the huge cliff and saw how steeply the cable dropped away very down the hillside.

By the time we got to the bottom and back to the car it was dark, and we drove the rest of the way back to Cenang past the lit-up restaurants and resorts of the island. Back in town we dropped off our bags at our accommodation before nipping to a nearby petrol station then returning to the car hire place to drop off the car.

With that sorted, we walked back to the main street and to the Oasis restaurant across from our accommodation, on the beach. We decided that although Tomato's food was indeed cheap and tasty, we were in the mood for a nice view and some western food. Therefore, we ordered some garlic bread, a chicken cordone bleu with chips and some beef and mushroom goulash with mash, to share. We enjoyed this, accompanied by a beer, whilst sitting at a table out on the sand with epic lightning illuminating the sky in the distance as a backdrop.

After a tasty dinner we went back to our lodgings for the last time, packed up some of our stuff and relaxed before getting off to bed and to sleep.

In the morning we packed the rest of our things, then just before 8am there was a knock at the door, which turned out to be from the driver of the shuttle bus which would take us to our ferry. We followed him out to a minibus, loaded in our bags and took a seat in the nearly-full bus. We were driven down the main street to another hotel where our driver waited outside and talked impatiently to two members of staff, before driving off, doing a U-turn and coming back to the same hotel.

Evidently we were waiting for some other people to turn up, but we were starting to worry about missing our ferry. Soon enough though, a muslim couple appeared with the woman covered head to toe in her burka. They got on the bus, having to split up a European couple sitting in the seat in front of us just so the couple could sit together. Even though we were already running late, the guy then decided he needed to get off to fill up his bottle of water, to the exasperated groans of everyone else on the bus. Finally though we got underway, and although our driver had to race along the road back to the island's main ferry terminal at Kuah we made it in time.

We had a short time to grab some food and change money before we were herded through passport control and out onto the jetty, where we boarded the sleek ferry which would take us to Koh Lipe.