Day 93 – Langkawi to Kuala Lumpur to Hanoi.

I woke up when Steph and Lucy were leaving to say goodbye, one of the worst things about travelling is saying farewell to people you meet! I then got up and caught a taxi just gone 9 to take me to the airport. Today was mostly spent in airports and on planes… WOO!

My flight from Langkawi was supposed to leave at 11.25am but didn’t end up leaving until just gone midday, which for once I wasn’t bothered about as my flight to Hanoi wasn’t until 7.10pm. That flight landed in LCCT so I then had to get on a shuttle bus to take me to KLIA. I arrived over there just gone half 2 so I had about an hour until check in and 4 hours until my plane. I wrote some more of this blog and updated Facebook. Once through immigration I then had to get on a train to my gate. Luckily the wifi in the airport was pretty good, giving me something to do!

I’ve become one of those people who wait to the last minute to board the plane. Well, I sit by the gate and don’t join the queue until there are only a few people in it. I don’t really see the point in queuing when I don’t put my bag in the locker and I have a seat number anyway. My flight was with Vietnam Airways and I didn’t realise until I looked yesterday that the flight included a meal! It’s only 3 hours long and cost me about £40, winner! It was some chicken and rice dish and is probably the first plane meal on this trip where I’ve eaten all of it. We had little turbulence and overall was successful journey.

My visa was really simple to do and I don’t really know why I was worried about it. As soon as I walked out there was a guy waiting for me and within 40minutes I was at my hostel. Absolutely cream crackered I went over the road for some water and then just crashed out. I’ve gained back an hour though! WOO!

Day 92 – Sunburn Chill & Night Market

So Steph and Lucy decided to stay an extra night before heading to Thailand and luckily managed to fit in at Happy Hut Guesthouse, which is where I am staying for the night. We checked out of White Lodge at 12 and could check in to Happy Hut straight away, which was awesome so we didn’t have to carry our bags around, we are all in the same room as well which is a bonus!

Tim had a boat to catch at 2 so we had one final breakfast at Red Tomato before we said farewell. When he left we weren’t quite sure what to do. We didn’t really want to be in the sun as Lucy was a bit worse on the burn than me and we all agreed it wouldn’t be a good idea. We sat in the mall for a bit and used the wifi, then got some snacks and went back to our hostel. The internet there was terrible, worse than dial up!

We got ready and then jumped in a taxi to another night market. This one is further away than the other one but was still worth it. The taxi driver, who took us there, even said he’d wait for us to eat and then take us back, which was awesome! There were no samosas, so we were quite disappointed so we all went for some spring rolls, then I got some satay chicken and these little coconut pancake things for afters. DELISH!

We went straight back to our hostel after this as Steph & Lucy have a taxi picking them up for the ferry at 7.30am and I need to leave by 9am for my flight back to Kuala Lumpur.

Day 91 – Cenang Beach Banana Boat.

We had a lie in and then went over to Red Tomato for breakfast. Now this is what we wanted, it was so delicious we’ve already decided we are coming back here tomorrow. We then grabbed some water and made our way down to Cenang beach. We went in the water for a bit, then lazed around and we then decided to make our day more extreme we’d go on a Banana Boat, which I’ve never done before. When I’ve been on holiday before all forms of water sport are normally really expensive but this was £3 each for 15mins, which is a right bargain! It was tamer than we were all expecting but nether the less we enjoyed it. The guy chucked us in the water really far out, so that was quite amusing watching us all trying to get back on this thing. He then did it again to finish the ride. I quite enjoyed being in my life jacket because it was massive so it was keeping me really high above the water and I didn’t really have to do anything to get back to the shore.

We dried off in minutes being in the sun and made our way back to the apartment to freshen up before going out for dinner. This was also when I discovered my first proper burn of my travels. I think I’ve done very well to survive 3 months without being burnt! It’s mostly just the tops of my legs and a little on my arms, I had sun cream on, honest! We went out for dinner and ended up in the same place as the night before because the food was so good.

Day 90 – Hired scooters and explored Langkawi.

We got up about 9am and went for breakfast at ‘The English Tea Rooms’ we should have known it was going to be terrible when Steph asked if they had marmite and he said no but they had marmalade… as if that’s the same thing! Anyway, I went for beans on toast and it was pretty good but our food didn’t come out at the same time so they had all finished when I started mine and it was just a bit overpriced for the quality and service.

We decided to hire 2 scooters for the day so we could really explore the island. I was on the back of Steph’s and Lucy was on the back of Tim’s. We made our way up past the airport to the Crocodile farm. For an Australian, Tim was just a bit too excited to see them. They were playing various Aqua songs but with more of a techno beat as background music, which was quite weird. It started to rain as we arrived and were given umbrellas to walk around with, we saw some being fed and in this one pond there were probably a good 50 crocs!

When we left here the rain had mostly stopped and so we hopped back on the bikes and started to head for the black sand beach. We got a few minutes down the road before it started to rain again and as soon as we found somewhere to pull in we did. We were stranded here for about 15minutes along with other tourists who were doing the same thing. Eventually we got back on the road and couldn’t find the black sand beach, we either never made it or it wasn’t very black. We got right up to the north east of the island and had lunch at Tanjung Rhu Beach. Once again it was so cheap and so good. We then chilled out on the beach up there for the rest of the afternoon and around 6pm made our way back to our apartment. 

On the way back I drove the scooter instead of Steph and I actually did alright! I still prefer driving a car though. We showered, changed and went out for dinner and then to a beach bar after. It started to rain (again) so we didn’t stay out that for that long.

Day 89 – Langkawi Night Market.

Once again check out was at 12 and that was probably one of the best nights sleep I’ve had in a while, despite the crazy thunderstorm at 4am. I walked to Starbucks, bought an Iced tea and settled into a sofa as I knew I was going to be here for a while. I wasn’t quite sure where White Lodge Chalet was, the booking was in Steph’s name and you couldn’t check in until 2 anyway.  It gave me time to write some of my blog and do some other research. It also meant I could send a card from Moonpig to Lisa as she just got a new job! Very exciting!

At half 1 I got a message saying they had checked in and would be with me soon. Steph, Lucy and Tim (a guy they met in Bali) met me and took we took my stuff back to the apartment. Next stop, lunch! We stopped in some hawker centre over the road and got 4 meals for about £5! We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling on Cenang beach, which is only a couple of minutes walk from where we are staying. Around 7pm we made our way back to shower and change before heading to the night market for dinner. Imagine a carboot sale but just food, that’s kinda what this night market looks like. I got some samosas and a pancake thing for dinner, meaning I spent 4.50 ringgit, which is about 85p!