If there's one piece of advice that echoes throughout every guidebook for backpackers, it's: "don't leave your passport with anyone." So you can imagine our fear when we found ourselves without ours during what seemed to be a rather sticky border crossing from Thailand to Malaysia. As we transferred to a pontoon in the middle of the sea off Koh Lipe island (where we were to board our final speedboat to Langkawi), a strange Thai man insisted he would sort out our immigration exit stamps. Only as soon as he had them in his grasp, he jumped into a longtail boat and left us stranded as he dashed to the shore with a very large grin spread across his face.

We took comfort in the fact we were with eight other travellers at the time, who were all exchanging rather worried glances when another man appeared in a battered old speedboat, which he insisted we boarded for our onward journey. Together with two feisty Norwegian girls we stood our ground, refusing to move without our passports. Ten minutes later the Thai man reappeared with stamped documents. Apparently immigration staff just sit around sunning themselves on the island, waiting to terrify tourists with this little joke… They continued to chuckle at our expense once we climbed aboard the speedboat.

An hour later we arrived at Langkawi. It's an island that's more popular with package holiday makers than backpackers, but we decided to stick around for a day to break up the journey on to Penang. Without any Malaysian currency we wearily searched the pier for an ATM, before our boat driver reappeared insisting…. "Luggage in the van, we go to immigration first."

It turns out, we'd not arrived at the main (official) ferry terminal in our dodgy speedboat, so we were all squished into steaming hot minivans and driven 20 minutes around the island to check in at immigration…!

Once we had our fingerprints taken we were welcomed to Malaysia, and then the driver dropped us off at our guest house - a smart little place at the top of a very steep hill. Our room overlooked the tropical treetops , and we were warned not to leave doors or windows open if we didn't want monkeys to steal our stuff… charming!

The next day we hoped to see as much of the island as possible in the little time we had, and we were told the best and cheapest way to do this was hire a car. So after parting with a costly sum of 60 Malaysian Ringits (£12), Bret found himself behind the wheel for the first time in a foreign country. Don't get too concerned though, as even those clever little Malaysian monkeys could drive on Langkawi. There are about five roads on the island, and there's hardly any traffic at all.

By the time Bret had figured out the difference between the indicators and the windscreen wiper controls, we'd arrived at the island's most famous attraction - the cable car. It's a bit tacky, but we gave it a go and the view of the island from the top was gorgeous. Langkawi is actually made up of 99 islands, which is dominated by this main island which is officially called Pulau Langkawi. We had expected the island to be over-developed since tourists are attracted to its duty-free shopping; but as we looked out over the knife-edged peaks floating in dark vegetation, and the colour contrast of the ocean blues, we realised Langkawi remains a tropical paradise.

Back in the car, we cruised around stopping off at random, and utterly deserted beaches that didn't even appear on our useless map. Although Thailand's beaches are absolutely superb, these definitely gave them a run for their money. The sand was like powder, and the sea was crystal clear, and having them entirely to ourselves was bliss.

Eventually we came across an isolated beachside restaurant… a Scarborough Fish and Chip restaurant, no less! After weeks of Asian food (albeit mostly tasty!), the sheer thought of good ol' fish n chips had us both salivating. Before Nat could say, "Let's stop here," Bret had put his foot on the brakes and parked up…

After lunch we finished our circuit around the island, and dropped the car off before resting up back at our guest house after our oh-so-challenging day, while a huge thunderstorm crashed and banged around us on the hilltop.

We also tried to book a ferry for the following morning, but the only available spaces were on the evening ferry. That left us with a morning to fill, so we booked up on a four hour island-hopping tour. It included a stop for swimming at a freshwater lake; eagle feeding; and a very amazing hour on an equally amazing beach… Not bad as a time filler; eh?!

Now we're on board another ferry… this time to Penang where we will stay for a few days. The ferry terminal was more of an airport terminal, which was a nightmare to navigate. And, on board there are airplane style seats, as well as a rickety old telly at the front which is showing some dodgy copies of really inappropriately violent movies which seems rather odd.

There's a storm brewing outside, so we're hoping it holds off until we reach dry land…