Langkawi

I was considering skipping Langkawi entirely. It’s a beautiful but fairly touristy island, and from what I’ve read and heard from others, the Thai islands nearby just do a slightly better job of that. When I tried to work out how to get to Koh Lipe, the first of said islands, however, it seemed the easiest way was to get ferries via Langkawi. In that case, I might as well spend a day there and see what the island has to offer.

Upon entering the hostel I met Nicky and an hour later when out for dinner I met Kristina. The three of us spend the evening and the next day together, ticking off all the touristy things to do - more like a day on holiday than one backpacking. We took the slightly overpriced, but very impressive cable car up to the top of a mountain called Gunung Machinchang and walked along the Skybridge up there - apparently the world’s longest curved single-pylon suspension bridge (reminds me a bit of Flight of the Concords being New Zealand’s forth most popular folk comedy duo). We walked a short trail to a waterfall and some bathing pools around it, and cooled off in the water while enjoying the views. Later we headed to the Dream Forest, a light, video and projection exhibition in a dark forest. These, along with the beach fire show the night before were all brilliant fun, mainly due to the excellent company I was in. Nicky and Kristina matched my combination of interest, cynicism, humour and childlike wonder perfectly. We enjoyed some drinks on the beach far later in to the early hours than we planned and I realised after only around 24 hours I’d made some genuine friends. I’ll remember Langkawi not for the island, but for the people I met there. I hope our paths cross again.