We were impressed when we arrived at the jetty for our ferry to Langkawi to be greeted by the sight of a huge modern gleaming white ship. Until we were directed to the small ramshackle boat bobbing beside it. Somehow they managed to squeeze hundreds of people into the belly of the boat in tight rows of seven. Once we set off the windows were so splattered with spray that we might as well have been in a submarine, the obligatory DVD kept skipping and losing the picture and there was no room to walk around. I slept for three hours of the (allegedly) two and a half hour crossing as there was sod all else to do! It made the journey pass very quickly. Once on Langkawi we practically inhaled a KFC then caught a cab across to the other side of the island. Jak was extremely happy once he realised that beers at our hostel only cost 60p! Apparently the whole island is a duty free zone. Happy days :-)

Since being here we have laid on the beautiful beaches that Langkawi is famous for; been driven off them by the sheer strength of the sun and the pesky sea lice; eaten lots of delicious food (the best being the 10p chicken satay sticks) and drained many, many cans of beer at the hostel. There's a good group staying here which makes for a cheap night as there's no need to go out for entertainment. Last night we had whole barbecued fish, the fruits of a guest's fishing trip, which was delicious but gruesome; they had little beady accusing eyes and Jak kept making his fish talk by opening and shutting its mouth. Tonight we went out for Malaysian curry and found the road back blocked by wild cows grazing on weeds - only in Asia!

On our most productive day we all hired a longboat and a guide and took a trip through the mangroves. Along the way we threw food into the water so that we could watch eagles dive and swoop to pick the meat up and wild monkeys swim out and stuff the peanuts greedily in their cheeks before hurrying back to shore to devour them. It was so funny to watch the monkeys, they looked so furtive and guilty! At one point we jumped off the boat to walk through a cave filled with stalactites and stalagmites as well as hundreds of fruit bats. We also visited a traditional floating fish farm where Jak hand fed a bloody massive stingray that sucked at his fingers with a surprising strength. The fish farm wasn't that great actually as they were clearly keeping too many fish in too small an area and there were several fish corpses floating on the top of the water :-( Unfortunately it rained before we made it to the secluded beach we were aiming for but it was still a good day.

A head cold has been making the rounds at the hostel so for the first time in months I have been ill. It was odd to be all fluey when it is so hot outside! Jak seems to have escaped scott free, lucky b*****, and I feel better now so fingers crossed we will both feel well for Xmas - only a few days to go now!