March 2001 - I got a free airfare to anywhere in Malaysia and thought that Langkawi sounded ok. I flew into KL and caught the connecting flight to the small island near the Northern border with Thailand ... airport security was a little strange, there were soldiers with machine guns everywhere, and signs up on walls telling you how much trouble you would be in if you got caught smuggling drugs... but at no stage during my trip through both airports did anyone ask to check my bag!

Next morning I woke up on Langkawi Island and jumped into my hire car... the car (and pretty much my whole trip!) was arranged through the guy who drove me from the airport to the hotel.... what can I say.. the guy had connections....
My plan that day was to drive around the whole island, which I reckoned would take me about 4 hours, depending on how hard it was to make out the Malaysian road signs... worst come to worst I figured if I kept the water on my right hand side I would end up back where I started... eventually.

First things thirst, I needed some fuel for the car, (and a cool drink for myself... it was like a million degrees out!), apparently the Malaysian car hire standard is to leave around a cupful of petrol in the bottom of the tank. I spluttered into a petrol station got yelled at by the owner for trying to fill the car before paying...

My first real beach stop was at Tanjung Rhu, the topmost photo. Langkawi is the main island in a group of around 80 to 100 islands (depending on the tides!)I walked around a bit, but the white sand was reflecting the incredible heat straight back up... you didn't want to be out for too long. I took some photo's and grabbed another cold drink and took off for the next spot.

Next beach along was Pasir Hitam or Black Sand beach. This pretty beach was a little cooler than Tanjung.. but only a little. This is Northern part of the island and therefore close to the border... infact the island you can see in the distance is actually part of Thailand.

Around this time I started to feel a bit ill.. I don't know if it was the heat or something I ate, but for the rest of the day I needed to make regular pit stops along the way. It was okay though... I always aimed for the fanciest hotels I could find (and there are alot of them in Langkawi). My favourite was the one Jodi Foster stayed in while filming Anna and the King here. The bathroom had a moat!

From the north I cut through the middle and visited a croc farm, then went out to the western part of the island to wait for the sunset. I visited an aquarium, took the photo below near the airport, then found a deckchair near the bar at Pantai Cenang and sipped on a few cold Tiger Beers while watching the sun go down...

One thing you notice about Langkawi is the people. They are very friendly, but their ways are very different to ours, or at least mine... For example, everyone zipped around the place on these little 2 stroke motor bikes, and I mean everyone. Whole families... Im talking husband, wife and three kids all squeezed up taking blind corners at 60kph!
Another interesting site was a large group of muslim ladies taking a swim at the beach above... fully clothed from head shroud to sneakers!

Next day, after a bang up seafood meal on the beach I went out to Pulau Payar... Then next day I flew back to KL to do a bit of shopping and sightseeing, which included visiting the famouse Twin Towers below.