Saturday 4th August

We woke up nice an early to get in a mini van, to take us 10 seconds down the road to another mini van, this seemed pointless!

We drove for two hours, just the two of us to a stopping off point where we had to wait for two hours for another minivan. We chilled in the tour office and played with the dog they had.

We got back in a now full minivan, the same minivan as before, with the same driver…! We drove for another two hours to another stopping point, where we got some toasties from the 7-Eleven, where we got into another car! Who drove us to the pier, I don't know why we couldn't get into one car and drive all the way there! Never mind!

We had a bit of time to wait before the ferry so we got our handed over our departure cards for Thailand, where we had to pay a small fee. The women also gave me a heart attack when she asked for 600 Baht! I was like for what? She assumed we didn't have a boat ticket until I gave them to her. The staff laughed at me!

We got some food and waited for the boat to arrive. We went through passport control in record time and boarded the boat. It was a couple of hours ride and we chatted to our fellow passengers Matt and Jan.

We finally arrived in Langkawi and went through the otherside of passport control. A few Indian men got stopped to be interviewed further. Ooops!

We got into a taxi and headed to our hostel down the South West of Langkawi. It was a nice area and we settled in.

Our impeccable timing has ensured us to be in Malaysia for the holiday of Ramandam. Malaysia is a Muslim country, why do we have no luck? We were told eating in resturaunts and the hostel was fine, but we weren't allowed to eat while walking about. This was ok, most holiday makers didn't seem to care though, but we tried to respect the culture as much as possible.

We went to find some food, but were told the hostel were having a BBQ and pool party so we decided to stay. The food was good and we all chilled round the pool with a few beers.

I didn't realise the time until I got out as I was freezing, it was gone 2am! No wonder I was cold! I warmed myself in the shower before hitting the hay!

Sunday 5th August

We woke up early, had breakfast and headed to underwater world down the road. It was a small aquarium on the island but it was really good! There was plenty of walk through tanks, including one for the penguin enclosure! We enjoyed it here for a couple of hours before heading back to the hostel to pick up our swimming gear.

We made the short walk through an neighbouring resort to reach the beach. It wasn't the nicest beach in the world, and the water was kind of dirty. We only stayed for a little while before heading back to the hostel.

We had some dinner down the road before sitting in the hostel watching the Olympics. It had better events on, other than the badminton or tennis like in previous hostels!

We also spoke to Mark and Chelsea and booked our flights to Perth a day later than planned due to our extra stop in Krabi, but we will be arriving in the Southern Hemisphere in the middle of their winter on the 16th August! Hurray!!

Monday 6th August

We woke up early and headed out to rent a car, we were both scared, as we haven't driven in six months! We got the smallest car, quite similar to our micras and off we went.

It took a bit of time to get used to it, but we got the hang of it quickly. We headed to the cable car to get a view of the North East side of the island. We paid a steep fee of 30 Rigginits (£10) to get to the top, 700 meters above sea level.

It was a good view from the top and the ride up was great. There was a lot of tourist about eating while walking which annoyed me. Most things here close early due to the holiday which is a pain, but what can you do?

We got back into the car and continued round the island (there is one big road circuling the island!) we headed North and stopped off at a secluded beach, which was clean, empty and beautiful. We laid on the beach for a while and Stu took a swim.

We continued round the North end and round the West coast before getting confused in the one way systems of the main town Kuah! We managed to battle our way our and headed home.

The locals aren't so crazy here like elsewhere in Asia, thank god, but the motos are still insane and will pull out without even looking!

We came across a market so stopped and grabbed some food to take away. We got some chicken and rice with a tomatoey sauce and some kind of bready somoas. The guy selling them was very kind in letting us try what he put in the pastry before we brought them. We instantly loved them and brought one each. We spent about 6 MYR which is $2, not bad!

We returned the car back, full with petrol and headed back to the hostel to eat our food.

We had another chilled night watching the Olympics and having a few beers.