Howdy!!

Right where were we.... on sunday morning we got up nice and early and caught our 8.30 ferry from penang to langkawi, all went smoothly and we arrived in Langkawi around 11.30ish! When the boat was coming into the port we could already see that this island was going to be pretty beautiful...and it has certainly be so!!

We hopped off the ferry and coming into the terminal were greeted by a taxi driver who offered us a good rate for a cab, and he knew where our hostel was, so in we got and arrived at the hostel about mid day! Upon entering the hostel we were confronted by a rather hyper irish woman covered head to toe in tattoos, this was nieve, the lady that runs the place, and apart from using the word "sweety" every other word, shes been a great host!! she showed us to our rooms, and we decided to head out and check out the place, nieve happened to be driving to her house at the other end of the strip and so gave us a lift, then dropped us off so we could walk back along it all! We took a walk back along two of the best beaches ive ever been on to date, grabbed some food and a drink and made our way back to the hostel, in the evening we headed out for some food and a couple of drinks and watched the liverpool everton game. Everyone in malaysia, and i mean everyone supports liverpool, never realised they had such a big following out here, but every shop basically sells liverpool merchandise!!

the next day we snuck into a nearby hotel and lounged on their sun loungers, used their pool and basically led the live of someone who could afford to stay in one of these amazing resorts, and then in the evening after a good days sunning we decided it was time to get a little drunk for the first time. We headed to a restaurant next door to us where you bring your own to keep it cheap, and then did a mini bar crawl ending up in a little reggae bar on the beach where all the travellers gather. We met some nutty australians who were here with the air force for the langkawi airshow (has been running the whole time we're here), but they werent really making much sense, too drunk and funny accents! we had a good night though, and also sunk our first bucket, im sure there will be plenty more to come! a bucket for those wondering is a kids beach bucket filled with a lot of spirit and mixer of your choice, dead cheap and the guy put alot of rum in ours!!

the following day we took a chill day, first hangovers and the sun was hiding so we just bummed around the hostel, planned our next destination and how to get there, and basically didnt do much!! we had decided to rent a car the next day to see more of this gorgeous island, so about 9pm after dinner we went and picked up our proton...see the pics, beauty!! anyway when we got it the guy, we think, explained it was low on petrol and pointed us towards the nearest petrol station! we took a little drive up our hostels road to get used to it and then decided it was best we got some petrol as the dial was on empty...we drove for about 10mins and could just see the lights of the petrol station when the car started shuddering, shaking and then died!! i managed to push the car off the main road, almost anyway, and headed off to the petrol station leaving chloe manning the car!! i got there and didnt have anything to put petrol in..no car, that was 50metres down the road, and no tub!! luckily there was a store back by the car and the lovely fella inside gave me a tub for me petrol and a small funnel! back to the petrol station i go with the tub, get there, grab some petrol and head back to the car and chloe! i tried to our the petrol in but was getting more on my feet than in the car (the funnel was too small)!! we decided to phone the car company and get someone out, so i popped back to the shop and the kind fella leant me his mobile, and then took the phone, as the person i phoned didnt speak english, and conveyed my problem to them! 15mins later a guy turns up in a car, didnt even say hello, tried the car, then took the petrol and poured it in...a lot better than i did, he got most of it in the car....then walked round to the keys and started the car, gave us a odd look and walked off!! anyway we were back on the road, got some more petrol and headed home to bed wondering how someone can rent you a car without enough petrol to even get to a petrol station!!

In the morning we got back in the beast, and headed off on a full lap of the island, we fed some elephants, sadly couldnt do the famous cable car due to high winds, drove up and down a few dead ends, saw some waterfalls and several gorgeous beaches and coves, a lot of which we wouldnt have seen without the car! so was a good day! we also drove to the ferry terminal to try and sort out our ferry off the island, but was told you cant book and have to turn up on the day, so we got a KFC instead!! wasnt quite as good as at home but still hit the spot!!

That was yesterday, today we snuck into another hotel and used their sunbeds, pool and jaccuzzi, the sun was back in full force so enjoyed a good few hours of reading and getting the tans up to scratch! then we decided to rent a scooter, mainly because they are so cheap, and easy to get around on, and we wanted to have a practise on one, here as the roads here are really quiet, so we got one from our hostel and headed off on a mini trip up the west coast!! i was drive for the day after chloes day of driving yesterday and got on fine!! parents look away......even got the little b***** up to 80km/h and it still had some go in itbut i pussied out of going any faster... anyway we brought the scooter back and took a walk along the beach for the sunset...we have tried to take a couple in but had been cloudy previous evening...tonight was clear....untill sunset when a little b***** of a cloud snuck in infront of the sun, was still pretty though and we treated ourselves to a big dinner on the beach as we've done so well with money so far, we had a pizza each, chips and garlic bread...a fine feed in any country!! hit a bit of trouble after dinner, we had planned to get some money out to pay for our hostel bill (they run an honesty system where you help yourselves to drinks and then pay when you go) but the only cash point on the island stopped working three people infront of us in the queue!! means we have to get up exrtra early tomorrow and get back on the scooter, and if the machine hasnt been fixed we'll need to head to the airport which is only about 15mins away, but i didnt fancy making the ride in the dark, so going to wait for light and empty roads!!

tomorrow we hope to catch the 09.30 ferry over to Satun, Thailand, and then grab a bus up to Krabi, which is the gateway to all the west coast islands!! We'll be spending one night in Krabi before heading off on another ferry to Koh Lanta where we plan on spending 3 nigths before the next island, which we'll choose once out there!!

We're excited to be moving on to our second country on our travels, but both also really sad to be leaving malaysia behind. Firstly Langkawi has been a really nice few days, felt like a beach holiday in paradise, its so nice here. But we are more sad to be leaving Malaysia as a whole, we've both fallen in love with the country and its people and im glad we plan on being back here for a few more weeks towards the end of our asia stay, we cant fault it in anyway, and the people have all been so welcoming, helpful and made our short stay so enjoyable!! oh and the food has been superb, unfortunaltely my plan to lose weight by eating dodgy curries, getting the trots and shedding two stone in a week has failed as the food is actually very good, the only thing that has turned my stomach so far was a bag of spicy prawn crackers from the 7eleven, but they were rank!!

So there we go for now, its goodbye to Malaysia and good bye from me....will update soon form thailand!!

Bye!!!