We won’t have time to visit the more famous beaches in southeast Asia, so we decided to visit the closest we could find of some repute. Langkawi is an island in Malyasia that, I think is actually north of the Thailand border. It’s popular among Malays because it’s a duty free zone. That means there’s no tax on alcohol and cigarettes. Party time! Well, not really, because the Malays are a pretty wholesome lot. But Langkawi is still a nice place to unwind a bit.

Jern and Kai dropped us off at the ferry terminal, but not before introducing us to squid noodles and coconut shakes for lunch. We ate, snapped a few pictures, and said goodbye to each other. They were going to a wedding party while we were headed to our ferry.

Squid noodles

The ferry ride was uneventful. We split a minibus with a few other backpackers who were headed in our direction. I told the driver the name of a big hotel near which our hostel was situated. “Ahh that’s a very nice hotel, for rich people!” the driver said. The other backpackers looked at us with awe and admiration. I’m pretty sure one of the young British girls was thinking about how to drive Cindy off so she could woo the handsome and wealthy Chinese man with her charms. “Yeah… we’re staying at a cheap hostel right next to it,” I replied. The young British girl never looked my way again.

Since we’re old and lame, we chose a hostel was in a quieter part of the island, next to a quieter beach. The whipper snappers in the minivan were on their way to the bigger and sloppier beach with techno music and flirting. Have fun, young ruffians! It was late afternoon when we arrived at our hostel. Our plan was just to sit near the old man beach, watch the sunset, and have a tax free beer. It was a much better idea than going on a hike in 100% humidity.

Sunset beach

Tax free beer