Don't get me wrong, we have had some really good vacations before, but there has always been a little something to complain about- the beaches in Bali are really only so-so, and the traffic is maddening, the beach we were at in Phuket was basically non existent and the hotel involved a lot of stairs...Krabi was suffering from a terrifying jellyfish infestation. And generally we have had some iffy weather on our vacations last year. All good trips- for real- but nothing left us begging for more. (I know, its like getting a dozen chocolates and complaining you didn't get two dozen... but we are being honest here right?)
And then we met Langkawi (cue the sappy love song). We were cautious because, well...our previous foray's into Mah-lay-zia have been somewhat underwhelming. KL is never going to be described as paradise and Kota Kinabalu was fishy....literally-our hotel reeked of decaying fish. But Malaysia really out did themselves with Langkawi. To be fair there were even some minor issues with the trip (ie: wee little jellyfish stings and not our ideal demographic at the hotel- more about that later), but the rest of it was SO great that the sub-par bits were totally forgive-and-forgettable.
It. is. heaven.
Hello Langkawi- we have arrived! Yay for mini-vacation!
Has to be one of the prettiest beaches in the world.
The sand is brilliantly white and so soft, there are pretty jungle islands right off the shore...
(pardon the poor quality pics- I understandably didn't bring the serious camera to our lounging in the sand adventures)
Paradiiissseeeeee.
We had heard that the thing to do on the island is rent scooters and scoot scoot around on the relatively uncrowded roads- so scoot scoot we did. And I LOVED it. Having previously proved to Dave on a trip to Uruguay that despite a spotty history with motorized vehicles and grave bodily injury- I can in fact be trusted with a scooter (no such evidence has been found with respect to jet skis and rollerblades)- we rented these cute little yellow automatic scoot scoots for the low price of 35 Riggitt (US$12 dollars-ish) and we were OFF zooming around the place for 24hrs. We saw a ton of the island and generally had a great time. My favorite moments included navigating around cows that were strolling down the middle of the road. Wish I had a picture, but my scooter skills require both hands, which limits my picture taking abilities. Perhaps next time I should get a helmet cam...
There is not a ton "to-do" on the island (which is fine by me) but the big attraction is this gondola ride to the top of a peak- where it is claimed one can see Thailand on a clear day.
We wouldn't know- because one good look at this bad-boy and I chickened out so quick it would make your head spin. Its hard to see in the picture, but there are only 3 polls- and between the 2nd and 3rd- there is a big saggy cap of wire which leaves the gondolas hanging precariously over a really freaking steep mountain side. Now this aversion to gondolas may come as a surprise, since I have no qualms about taking them at ski resorts. But I trust that ski resorts know what they are doing with these things- and I remain utterly unconvinced that a bunch of Malaysians- who live reallly far away from any ski resorts- can be trusted to properly operate the lift- and totally convinced that plunging to my death on the side of a tropical island is not how I want to go. Also, after reading about a few unfortunate accidents on the goldola ride in Singapore and avowing not to ride it- it seems like good policy just swear off all cable car rides in Asia. This is probably an overreaction- I am sure Malaysian engineers are very capable people- but I am pretty cool with both feet firmly on the ground at all times.
No matter, it wasn't a clear day anyway
More love notes to Langkawi later- for now I am off to bed in Manila!
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