LANGKAWI

March 29 to April 3.

 BELLA VISTA BY NIGHT

Tony had been working very hard on the boat while I was in Australia for the birth of our grandson; we had to go to Langkawi to pick up some paint that had been delivered there from the U.S. and we were hoping to meet up with Doug, Pam and Paris the cat on Helly, friends from way back in Hastings so decided to make this trip a mini holiday.

 VIEW FROM OUR ROOM

We had booked the night bus to Penang leaving at 9.30pm from Larkin, the bus station that serves Johor Bahru. Buses from here go all over Malaysia and are only a 10 minute taxi ride from the boat. Most buses are very comfortable with reclining seats; some buses even have massage chairs, but we haven’t managed to score one of them yet!

We managed to get the last two seats, so even though we were right in the back left corner we were quite happy. The bus was to leave at 9.30pm, but it was nearly 10.30 before we finally got underway. Apparently they had combined both buses so we had to wait for those who had booked on the 10.30pm to turn up.

Once under way almost everyone including us settled down to sleep the night away. Everyone that is, except the two bozos sitting alongside us! They kept up a dialogue until the first stop at 0130am when one of them disembarked much to our relief. Yay, finally fell asleep, only to wake up an hour later feeling very cold. Now the aircon on these things are usually very efficient and I usually take some sort of covering, but this was ridiculous; my legs were freezing. Not only freezing, but what’s this? Wet as well!! Bugger, looks like I got the seat with the leaking roof. Great! Only 6 hours to go before we get to Penang. Luckily our previously garrulous co-passenger had moved so we were able to move one seat along so I could stay dry. 

The rest of the trip passed uneventfully and we dutifully arrived at 08.30 am in Penang at the ferry terminal. Fantastic, this is all too easy. Yep, definitely too easy.

 BAD WEATHER

We follow the signs for the ferry, and arrive at a ticket office. I ask if this is the ferry to Langkawi, I get a “yes”, okay, that’s good. He says “you give me three ringgits.”($1.00). Okaay, it’s two and a half hours to Langkawi so that sure is cheap. I ask again for the ferry to Langkawi and once again he asks for three ringgits. I give him three ringgits, he gives me three separate piles of change, indicates that we each put one ringgit thirty in the turnstile and the rest is my change.

We look at one another, think “what the heck” and proceed through the turnstiles. Once through, there is no turning back! In front of us are rows and rows of seats with people patiently sitting there, all facing forward and obviously waiting for something. Hopefully the ferry to Langkawi. After about ten minutes, we can see a ferry approaching. It doesn’t look too good, and right about now all those news items about ferries in Asia capsizing or sinking flash through my mind. It looks like a rusty old bucket that certainly should not be going out into the open sea. God, now what do we do? No way back, so I guess we go forward and hope for the best.

Once on board it does nothing to inspire confidence in us. Once again we all sit on rows of wooden (some broken) seats facing forward. The sides are open, the weather is bad and the rain is coming in. The boat starts moving oh so slowly, definitely going to be a very long trip. Ten minutes later the rain clears and we see land! Huh? I thought Langkawi was a lot further away, this can’t be right. Well, it turns out that that was the ferry you catch to go catch the ferry to Langkawi. All very simple? Sure!!!!

 LANGKAWI FERRY

Right, let’s see if we can find this darn ferry. A taxi driver asks where we want to go and when we explain his reply goes like this. “Oh, very long way miss, much too far, I take you for only ten ringgit”.  Well, why not, after all it is only $3.30. As we get in I said to Tony, I bet you we’ve been had! Bet you it’s just around the corner! And sure enough, down one street, in another and round a corner and voila! there we are. We had a good laugh as we really should have known better by now.

 LANGKAWI YACHT CLUB

Without further ado, we finally got the ferry to Langkawi! The trip cost us $20.00 each and it rained the whole time so our view wasn’t really all that good. See, all just too easy.

 BELLA VISTA HOTEL

On arrival we took a taxi to our hotel, the Bella Vista. All the cruisers anchor in front of it and call it Disneyland. You can see why. We arrived at 12.00 but apparently check-in is not until 3.00 pm, and as our room was not ready they could upgrade us. Okay, what will that cost us? Oh nothing sir. Oh? Well okay then, please feel free to upgrade us and is there any possibility of a sea view? Well yes of course sir. Great, this all sounds too good to be true. Well the room was a little on the small side but otherwise great. For $35.00 a night we had a great shower, aircon, jug, coffee and tea, cable TV, free wifi, and a huge smorgasbord breakfast with western and asian food.

 

 BELLA VISTA VIEW

After a catch-up snooze we wandered off to explore nearby and find somewhere for dinner. Stumbled into a bar and restaurant called The Pier frequented by the yachties cos the beer is cheap. Actually the beer is cheap all through Langkawi as it is a duty free haven. That must mean the shopping is good! Something to look forward to when we come up with the boat.

 BELLA VISTA POOL

The next day after a great breakfast, we headed into town, which is quite a walk. Halfway there we found a motorbike rental place and promptly hired one for two days, at a total cost of 78RM ($25.00) including insurance, helmets and rain ponchos. Bargain!!

 

FARANG BIKIE

While cruising around town the heavens opened, and I mean that literally. We were soaked before we even had a chance to put on our ponchos. Manage to shelter under a carport, ten minutes later the sun is shining and not a cloud in the sky.

 REBAK

Friday we decide to go and check out Rebak Marina and Telaga Harbour. It was just lovely on the bike, nice breeze and very little traffic. There was a police block and of course we don’t have a motorbike licence, so we stopped, and I went up with map in hand to ask how to get to Telaga Harbour. Oh, just follow this road and at the T intersection turn left. Bye, have a nice day! Boy, that was easy. Nice one.

 TELAGA HARBOUR

Telaga Harbour is a lovely spot, and has a great anchorage behind a couple of wave break islands. Very pretty place, look forward to spending some time there. Once again the heavens opened, so had lunch while we waited for it to stop. It finally slowed to a drizzle, and thanks to our ponchos we got home dry. 

 IT’S A HARD LIFE

Our friends on Helly were delayed due to bad weather in Phuket, and when the weather finally cleared up and they were ready to leave their cat Paris went AWOL. They searched high and low, spent hours and hours and all next day calling him and combing the neighborhood to no avail. That evening when they arrived back from eating and searching there sat Paris on deck, looking for all the world as if to say “hey guys, where have you been?” 

 VIEW AT DINNERTIME

Because of this, if we wanted to catch up with them then we would have to stay another night. Okay, no problem, I’ll just pop downstairs and extend our stay. Too easy? Yes indeed; too easy.  The conversation goes like this:

“Yes madam, of course we can book you for another night, but not for same price as on internet.”

 Okay, says I, that was 100.00RM ($33.00) so how much if I pay cash?

 “That will be 200.00RM madam.”

Now let’s see if I got this straight: if I go upstairs and book online it will cost me $33.00 and if I pay cash here it will cost me $66.oo. Hmm, what the?

“What if I book on the internet?” I ask.

“No problem madam, but I need a printout of the receipt”

“Well I don’t have a printer with me, just my computer”

“No problem madam, just email it to me.”

Great, that sounds good, I go back to my room, book another night, pay 100RM, email the receipt to my friend downstairs, and trot back down to reception.

“Ah, madam, you have emailed it?  Just one moment. Yes, it is here.” I turn to leave thinking that all is well, but that would be too easy. “No, no, no, just one moment.” He then proceeds to print out the receipt, hand it over to me, I hand it back to him, he enters it on the computer, writes out another breakfast voucher and thanks me for staying at his hotel. Needless to say I return to our room just slightly bemused.

The next morning after we took the bike back we wandered through the beautiful park in town. There is a huge statue of an eagle, their symbol for Langkawi.

 EAGLE

Helly finally arrived that afternoon having sailed (with Paris) overnight to be able to spend time with us. We met up for dinner and had a wonderful evening. Paris was confined to barracks for the duration! The next morning Doug and Pam came over for a swim and the use of our shower. If you are a yachty then you will understand what a luxury that is. Spotted a Chinese in snorkelling in the pool. Yes, snorkelling in the pool while taking photos!!!! 

 ONLY THE CHINESE…

After we checked out we left our baggage at the ferry terminal and wandered off to a local eatery. You dish up whatever you want, order your drinks, and sit down. Somebody ambles over, checks out what is on your plate and gives you the bill. For meals for four and 7 drinks it cost us 30.00RM, that’s just $2.50 each. And it was delicious!

 ON THE FERRY

We were booked on the 4.00 o’clock ferry to Kuah Perlis, which was only an hour away. Our bus was due to leave at 8.15 pm, so that gave us time to look around and have something to eat. As we were leaving from Kuah Perlis and taking the Express, the trip would take 11 hrs, so hopefully we would manage to get a decent sleep. Yeah, right!!! First of all the bus was more than half an hour late, and when it did finally arrive our seats were in the second last row which put us right above the springs. Yes, you guessed it! The springs were sprung and we squeaked our way home for the next thirteen hours. Not only was it not express, it proceeded to meander through most of Malaysia ( okay, maybe a slight exaggeration) stopping every two hours or so and yelling out the destinations and turning on all the lights which made sleeping almost impossible.

Spotted this sign on the way to Langkawi marina… not sure who the sign is meant for.

 WHAT THE???