The island Langkawi is right by the Thai border, and is definitely one of Malaysias “gemstones”. The sunshine is strong on this pearl of an island, which is something we got to experience on the beautiful two hour boat ride over from the mainland. Even before getting to the beach, we had already caught a sunburn. Since tanning was not an option, we decided to spend a few days exploring the island by motorbike. Gas and shopping was super cheap, since the whole island is tax free, so the first thing we did was to drive to the city Kuah where we could find all the shopping malls. The next place we stumbled upon was a national park on the north side, closed down for regular traffic. Before entering we had to sign a waiver saying that we would not make noise, litter, make campfires or drive fast. When we got in, we could see why this had been necessary. The white sanded beaches seemed untouched by human hands, and the water was crystal clear. There were only a handful of tourists and they all stayed at the luxurious beach hotel we are hoping to visit the day we win the lottery.
Even though this is a tax free island with many luxurious hotels, there are also a lot of budget options around “”. We were so lucky to be the first customers of a newly built guesthouse called Kampung, close to the main beach on the island. The life there was wonderful, with lazy days in sunchairs at the beach and quiet evenings in our very own hammock. We also made our own fishing poles, but without getting any fish we ended up eating at the local restaurants instead. Since the atmosphere was so relaxed, we rescheduled our travel plans and decided to stay a whole week, not leaving before we had to catch the Full Moon Party in Thailand.
