December 3-5, 2012
Today is our last ride in Malaysia. We rode the short distance to the ferry and got onboard. The process was painless and the trikes had to be lifted separately. We were charged an extra $10 for both trikes. Kathryn has motion sickness and took some dramamine staying below deck for the 3 hour journey. I was outside with my feet dangling over the railing enjoying every minute. It was a beautiful day to be on the water. We crossed the Straits of Malacca arriving on Langkawi Island before noon. Getting the trikes off the boat and onto the deck was very interesting. First of all, there wasn't any space and then there were stairs up to the deck. The scene was very chaotic but some of the deck hands helped us bring the trikes up the stairs. It took awhile to get organized and then we checked in with the tourist information office. I didn't know anything about this island and was hoping to get ideas of where to stay. The island is big and there are three main areas. The info lady suggested we go to Cedang Beach and highlighted some guesthouses on a map. It is about 15 miles to this area. Kathryn wasn't feeling well after taking her dramamine and it was slow going. We stopped many times along the way to get out of the hot sun. There was one fairly good climb where we were broiling in the heat. Eventually we made it to Cenang Beach and started looking at guesthouses. Kathryn really needed to sleep so we took the first place that had an opening. We ended up at the Sandy Beach resort which has a motel like setting across the street from the beach as well as one on the beach. The rooms on the other side of the road were much cheaper and that is where we booked a room. The motel had a kind of industrial feel to it and not the resort beachy ambiance I was expecting. $33 got us a basic room with a bathroom and ac but no hot water. It is so hot we really don't need hot water. The hallways are open and we locked up the trikes outside our room. After getting settled and cleaned up I went to the beach. It was lovely and reminded me of the beaches in Thailand. Well, we are very close to Thailand.
We will stay here a day or two to relax and get the journal updated. It's been a long time since I've had wifi strong enough to upload pictures and get a posting up. From here we will be island hopping into Thailand. First to Koh Lipe then to Koh Lanta, Koh Phi Phi and Phuket. Each island will have its own character and stuff to check out. 2 years ago I was in this area. I did some diving and snorkeling but the Christmas tsunami had killed all the coral and everything was white. It will be interesting to see if any of the corals are recovering.
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