Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia
March 31, 2014
We had to be up really early to catch the ferry to Langkawi. We needed to be at the ticket office near the jetty at 7:15am and it felt like I had slept in a room the temperature of the sun, not the best way to start the day.
After an hour or so sitting around the most sparse boat waiting room ever we were finally on board and gliding through the water towards Langkawi. I might be wrong here but I thought the film they put on ‘Captain Phillips’, was an interesting choice for a ferry as all the passengers peered out the window at various speedboats on the horizon. Still and unsurprisingly we made it to Langkawi without a sniff of a Pirate. We hopped off the ferry and I know Langkawi really well now so we chilled for a while to grab some breakfast and a cuppa and to try and wake ourselves up a bit more before sorting a taxi out to Temple Tree resort and the animal shelter.
Yet again Narelle was really nice and this time put us up in one of the properties at the Temple Tree resort for a couple of nights so I’ve well and truly exceeded my luxury accommodation expectations for this trip, and as always more free nights is a very welcomed gesture.
It did feel a little strange being back in Langkawi. I lived there for two months and I was really looking forward to seeing the dogs again and the friends that I had met there. Once we had sorted the bags out and made ourselves at home I took Dani round to the animal shelter to introduce her to the dogs and cats and the people who work there, Leah, Tim and Dr Goh. It was really good to see everyone.
I was also very happy to see Poppet again and glad that she remembered me. Poppet is the dog that used to sleep under my bed when I stayed in with the dogs at the shelter and has obviously been abused at some point as she is very wary and timid around men she does not know. She was happy to see me though and it was great to be re acquainted. After catching up with Leah and the rest of the staff there we went for a chill out in the pool before borrowing Leah’s motorbike and heading along to the beach.
Zoe, a girl who I used to work with in Sunderland was in Langkawi but I wasn’t sure where she was staying. I was sat with Dani grabbing some cheap Indian food when I looked up and sure enough who was wandering past but Zoe. Talk about a small world when your round the other side of it and an old mate from work tootles past on their way back from the beach. It was really cool to catch up over a few beers with a familiar face and to share our stories of traveling and what we have experienced the past few months.
The next day was straight in to work at the shelter. I was up early and went down to help walk the dogs with Dorothy, another friend from Langkawi and Tim a new volunteer from the states. Somehow I ended up being talked into doing the dog rotation in the afternoon with Tim to show him how to do it and before I knew it I felt as if I had never been away.
I got free lunch at the resort again for helping out and I was getting curious as to where Dani was as she hadn’t followed me down when I left in the morning as she said she would, so after lunch I popped back to see where she was. When I left I had locked her inside the room we were staying in by bolting the door across from the outside….oops! So while I did the dog rotation later that afternoon Dani chilled in the pool and kicked back. By 5pm once the dogs were sorted the beach was calling yet again. For the princely sum of 60p we filled the tank on Leah’s bike and borrowed it again to ride along and catch sunset from the quiet end of the beach, relaxing with a beer and a beautiful sunset.
When I had seen Dorothy earlier that morning she had asked how long I was staying and if I can help out a bit more with the animals at the shelter. We had only planned on staying a few days before catching the boat up to the Thai islands but after she had sorted out another two nights for us in the nice swanky pad courtesy of Narelle it was hard to turn down the request to stay so another couple of days of dog walking followed by beers and sunset’s was had.
From there we moved out of the shelter accommodation and further along the coast closer to Cenang beach at a place called Rainbow Guesthouse. The place itself was nice. Great communal area to chill in and very friendly however we could not get any sleep for love nor money. it was far too hot on a night with the fan turned off and it sounded like the intro to Apocalypse Now when the fan was on so we needed to move. We sorted out the next night at a place called AB motel and treated ourselves to some aircon for the night expecting that we would be moving on the next day and leaving Langkawi behind.
But no. Langkawi ended up keeping us for longer after we were offered Dorothy and Jerome’s house to stay in and the use of her car as they were off to Phuket for a few days holiday. It was a kind offer and one I couldn’t refuse, yer more free accommodation and the added bonus of transport was very welcomed. Our mornings were spent dog walking and the afternoons were spent lazing around with drinks and food.
We had told Dorothy we would leave hers on the Saturday but we extended the stay even longer as there was a blues festival on at one of the resorts along at the beach for the weekend so we decided to check out the music and kick back for a bit more. We didn’t get to see too much of that festival though as on the Friday night Tim one of the vets at the shelter kindly took us out for dinner and we didn’t realise he was taking us to Kuah at the other end of the island. The food Tim bought us was pretty good as well. It was pigs intestine soup! I highly recommend it if you ever get the chance to try it, as it’s surprisingly fragrant. After the meal Tim dropped us off at the beach and we caught the last couple of bands at the festival.
On the Monday we did the standard tourist thing in Langkawi and took the cable car up to the peak at the end of the island. I had resisted doing it the first time round in Langkawi as I’m not one for spending money on such things but Dani wanted to do it so off we mooched in the car and bought our ticket for the ride up and down. At the top of the peak there is a famous bridge which Langkawi is known for however like many things I have come across in Malaysia, they build some amazing feat of structural engineering then when it breaks or becomes unsafe they leave it and never bother to maintain it so we were unable to access the bridge due to safety issues.
So after what started as a couple of days stop over before heading to Thailand turned into a 10 day jaunt around some free places to stay, cheap bike rental, free car rental, some interesting food and many a cold strong beer down at the beach for sunset. It was now time to move on and maybe we shouldn’t have stayed as long as we did, but looking back it’s been another enjoyable visit to Langkawi.
I’ve been in touch with Dorothy since we left and said that I may go back towards the end of my trip and give another month or two of my time to helping at the shelter again. I like the place and the people who work there every single day, giving their time and energy to helping the animals on the island and I would like to give them more. I’ll just have to see what happens and how my money stretches out after we have worked our way round mainland Asia. It’s now time for Thailand and a new chapter in this journey.
