We Found Paradise and It's Called Langkawi

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Selemat datang (welcome) to paradise! We spent our last 3 days in Malaysia on the island of Langkawi, and it didn't take us long to fall in love with this special place.

Langkawi has it all - beaches, delicious food, scooters, frozen drinks with tropical fruit garnishes, monkeys, waterfalls, friendly people, beautiful scenery, and scuba diving.

Langkawi is about 2.5 hours north of Penang by ferry and is the first place we've gone without booking any accommodation beforehand (look at us being spontaneous in SE Asia!). All we had was one recommendation from the hostel staff in Penang and another recommendation from Lauren's trusty Kindle edition of Lonely Planet - SE Asia on a Shoestring Budget (guide books on a Kindle...best idea ever). Both hostel potentials were at the same beach, so we grabbed 2 other backpackers at the pier and split a taxi to Pantai Cenang, a beach on the west coast of the island. We got really lucky and the first place we stopped, Gecko, had 2 rooms left. We were told to stay as long as we like and pay at the end, and at 35 ringgits per night for a private room (less than $6 each), we would've loved to stay longer.

Ecstatic about the sunshine and starving from our day of travel, we threw down our packs and headed to the first restaurant on the beach we could find. Freshly squeezed pineapple and lime juices hit the spot, but even better was the Pattaya Fried Rice, a delicious omelette filled with chicken fried rice and covered in hot sauce. Malaysian food really makes me grateful for all those buffalo wings I ate at the Kodiak Club in Melbourne...I'd never have been able to enjoy all this spicy food in SE Asia if I hadn't already burnt off all my tastebuds on the best hot wings ever!

After a stroll, a swim, and a sunbathe on the beach, we found another beach restaurant where conveniently enough we were right on time for happy hour! (it was 3 pm...i love islands) By the time we finished our daquiris, margaritas, and Langkawi Breezes, an afternoon rainstorm had moved in so naturally we left the safety of our beach tent and sprinted through the monsoon rains to go for a swim. If I were a doctor, I would prescribe swimming in a tropical rainstorm to anyone who wants to feel young forever. It's awesome.

The only casualty was Lauren's first ever jellyfish sting, but the restaurant was equipped with vinegar in a spray bottle and saved the day.

Our hostel's breakfast doesn't start until 9 am, so the next morning we slept in and went to order around 10 am, only to find out that the chef hadn't arrived yet. Island time! Luckily Pantai Cenang has a great strip of restaurants and shops along the coastline, so were able to grab some brekkie and head down to the scooter shop to pick up our wheels for the day. Each bike cost 25 ringgits ($8) for 24 hours...I love this country!

We puttered up the west coast to the Langkawi Cable Car, dodging cattle, water buffalo, monkeys, and giant lizards in the road. For real. The cable car took us up to the top of a mountain for some stunning views of the harbor and a walk across the Sky Bridge, a bridge suspended between two ridges by just one pole. The hike up to the observation tower was tough, but nothing compared to our lighthouse hike on Penang, so we handled it like champions and even stopped to be in a few photos with middle eastern tourists along the way (not sure if we should feel like celebrities or circus freaks here).

Once back down in the Oriental Village at the base of the cable car, we had a delicious lunch of Pineapple Fried Rice, glass noodles, and a banana milkshake. The best part was that my fried rice was actually served in a hollowed out pineapple! Bonus points for Langkawi!

We jumped back on our trusty scooters and headed next to the Seven Wells Waterfall, where after some more uphill hiking, we were rewarded with a refreshing swim at the base of the waterfall. Some locals showed us where to sit under the falling water to get the best back massage, and then we finished off the afternoon with some fresh coconut juice, straight from the coconut.

On the way home, I spotted another monkey on the side of the road and pulled over to take a photo. Seems harmless enough, right? But the monkey immediately jumped onto my bike and at least 30 other monkeys came out of the trees and started coming towards us. It was pretty intimidating, and even worse when we discovered we had unintentionally pulled over at a monkey feeding site and had no food to offer. Two monkeys were now on my bike and when they realized I hadn't brought them any snacks, one tried to eat my dashboard and the other just peed all over it. That was a pretty clear sign that it was time to leave, and I drove the rest of the way back to our beach glaring angrily at the monkey pee on my bike and thinking that monkeys are totally overrated.