Langkawi – Island of unlimited sun! … ?

Well, we have seen the sun while staying on Langkawi and the rainfall was not as bad as in most parts of Asia, but sunnies were mostly needed to cover our eye rings in the morning. Because of the weather our primarily focus was on nighttime activities for which it came in handy that we stumbled over a very nice bar in our first night. We have taken the barkeeper into our hearts. Over the course of our ten days stay he made us quite a view special drinks and was always up for a chat. Mostly we ended up in clubs called Sunba or OneLove. We won’t forget the crazy parties and Sunba staff won’t forget us (right Rob?). One night we met nearly the entire crew of a real superyacht. All of them were great fun and we had a nice night out. Also we met Gregor and Martha from Poland as well as Nick and Natalia from GB / Russia (living in Australia though). Thanks guys for the unforgettable nights….

During daytime our main task was to find food, which was supposed to be easy, right? It was, but good, not overprized food? That was a different story. A low was reached when we finally gave in and went to the Italian / Mexican restaurant on the main street: the pizza was one of the saddest things I have seen in my entire life so far – hardly any toppings with a little flavor of nothing?! Seriously if you ever visit Langkawi don’t go there! The next pizza place only served very sweet pizza, however the Internet was freaking fast 😉 Eventually, we managed to find extremely good food. There are two places serving authentic Indian food (this might be the reason because _all_ staff is on a three years contract directly flew in from India!). 1. India Palace – rather pricey (in Malaysian terms around 6 – 8 € for a maim course). But the food is extremely good, so good that we started Christmas eve (24.12) there. 2. Our favorite 24/7 corner restaurant. Food is so cheap you are tempted to order way to much every single time. Their famous banana pancake cost as little as 50 cent! Chai Latte and Teh tarik (national drink of Malaysia- made from black tea and condensed milk) are also 50 cent – all that 24/7!

But Langkawi is more than just food and cocktails! The beach in Cenang – if the sun was shining – was really nice. Also we spend one very sunny day island hopping. A day tour for only 7 euro including the transport to the harbour, lunch and entrance fees for national parks is more than one can ask for. Another day we rented a super sports car (see pictur below) and drove around the island. Our first stop was at the Skybride – it was closed… However, the Skycab was operating and the view from the top was amazing (see video ;). Our next stops included some nice beaches and lunch on the beach. Only the planned second accommodation (“sandpiper”) was a downturn. It was far away from everything and on top overbooked. The owner wanted us to stay in a place without internet (!!!) and directly on the main street. We declined his offer and went back to Cenang where we found a great place to stay!

21_02_Langkawi_000

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Kuala Lumpur – Reunion with Rob

It all started in Newcastle by Rob saying: “so now you need to talk me into joining you guys for Christmas and NYE”. 5 seconds… That’s how long it took us. As I learned from Paul the salesman (he is introduced in the Halong Bay post later on) it only needs someone who either ‘needs’, ‘wants’ or ‘desires’ something you are selling. Obviously Rob was a very easy target as all of the above held true for him: he wanted to go, needed a break from work and desired to travel with us 😉

So the three of us were reunited. And again Rob picked us up from the airport, only this time it was not Sydney but Kuala Lumpur we arrived at. Our first task was to find food, which turned out to be more difficult than expected: even though all airport was extremely friendly, helpful and more than willing to help, we were send in a different direction every time we asked for a pizza place. But our unbreakable will finally lead us to the promised land. “Surprisingly” the pizza was amazingly good (KLIA2, lowest floor, in-between the coffee place and the China Restaurant). After satisfying our basic needs we got some beer and chatted till late night.

The next day “guide  Eva” showed us KL. First point of interest were – of cause – the Petronas Twin Towers. A staggering 452 meters high, they feature the world most famous skybride (172 m above ground). Mr. James Bond paid the Skybride a visit in one of his movies. However,  all of us found the viewing deck in one of the towers at level 86 more fascinating. I’d love to have an apartment with this kind of view one day.  Next on the sightseeing list was the park right next to the twin towers. It’s supposed to be the best spot to take a nice picture of the towers and their surroundings, if there wouldn’t have been a construction site 😉 The colonial quarter which we paid a visit next was free of construction sites but full of old historic buildings (one of the nicer parts of KL). From there we took the train back to the airport and headed off towards Langkawi.

It was just a short visit but enough for our taste;)

Petronas Towers in different lightPetronas Towers

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