Langkawi

An island off of Northern Malaysia's west coast, Langkawi is an absolute tourist magnet. This wasn't the reason for our visit, we were just keen to travel up into Thailand along the coast. We found a quiet beach called Tengah and spent our first day relaxing around the waters edge.

Hiring a scooter was our aim for day 2 but the shops were way more thorough than we had expected them to be. My drivers license has a picture of a motorbike, along with that of a truck and all the other codes of licenses it's possible to get, so I was good to go. Jackie has a UK license with no pictures. So with a single 125cc scooter we spent the day zooming around the island, slowly up to the top of a mountain called Gunung Raya, to a beach called Tengung Rhu and to the Seven Wells Waterfall. After returning a very tired bike we settled into the Oasis Beach Bar for a couple of curries and beers. Fate dealt us a wonderful hand, bringing to our neighbouring table a elderly irish couple who have spent most of their winters, for the last 15 years or so, in Thailand.