20. Beers and beaches in Langkawi

At the ticket agency they told me it wasn’t possible to bring my bicycle on the ferry, but a walk down to the harbour and a chat with the right person and it turned out to be no problem at all. Actually, when I arrived they guided me past the hundred people or so queuing for the ferry and loaded my bike like pros. Three drowsy hours later, I am not used to get up at seven in the morning, I disembarked the boat in Langkawi.

Having a quick lunch at KFC I heard someone speaking Swedish and joined Erik, Joacim and Simon from Helsingborg, who are on their way around the world. It turns out they also like to drink beer! A lot!

It feels like it is getting warmer the further north I get, which seems a little strange, and the past few days have been no exception. I have been travelling for a month now and I am guessing summer, or whatever they call the slightly warmer season, is getting closer. It is important to drink a lot, therefore it is nice to be in a tax free haven where you pay no more than 1.30 ringgit for a beer (3.50 in the restaurant).

It is the high season in Langkawi and from what I’ve heard it should be a pretty touristy place, which made it a pleasant surprise when it turned out to be not that bad. No buildings had more stories than the ground floor and the absence of high-rises and luxury resorts gives the place a relaxed feeling. We shared two rooms in a guesthouse right on the beach, with several bars and stores within 50 meters. Unfortunately, the store closest to us charged 1.50 for beers, forcing us to walk 200 meters to get the cheaper price. However, a few beers into the night and laziness won over economics.

Lying on the beach trying to improve my pretty horrible farmers tan the hardest work was to drag my sarong further away from the water, when the tide was getting too close. Now and then you just had to chill in the ocean for no other reason than it was right there in front of you, but at one point the temperature in the water became somewhat less than perfect and I had to move a couple of feet to get out of the slightly cold stream. The palm trees lining the beach were not uniformly spaced, which annoyed us a little. Things were not ideal, but we agreed it was good enough for us.

A local guy came by and asked if we wanted to attend a beach party on another island. As we were all very eager to try local stuff we agreed and late that evening we were picked up by boat. At a secluded beach, with nothing but jungle surrounding it, a bar and barbeque had been built, and dozens of people were having a great time. Dozens of Swedes and Brits that is.

The days passed in the same manner. Buy a few beers. Drink them before they get warm. If they turn warm, throw them away. Buy more beers. This unhealthy way of living has made me regain some of my body fat. I guess it is a good thing, but I haven’t been cycling for almost a week and I think it’s going to be hard to get started again. But it’s alright, it’s not worse than a common hangover.

Leaving Langkawi, we took the ferry to Satun, Thailand, were I said goodbye to my newfound friends and checked in to a pretty nice hotel for the sum of 200 baht. I was getting hungry and found a fantastic restaurant in a bamboo setting. Surreal is the best way to describe trying to order something from an unreadable menu to a waitress who doesn’t speak a word of English, while Swedish pop music is playing. The food was fantastic but lesson learned: When a Thai woman shakes her head to the word “spicy?” it doesn’t actually mean anything.

Distances:
1 km from the guesthouse to the harbour in Georgetown. Ferry to Langkawi.
Total: 913 km.

LARHAK1: 153.

Unloading my bike in Langkawi.

View from the room.

Secluded beach with a bar.

Life is hard.

Life is really hard.

 

Life is really, really hard.

Clubbing.

Cheap beers.

Sunset from Cenang beach.

Restaurant in Satun.