Loungin' in Langkawi

Enjoying our own (almost) private beach in Langkawi
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We finally made it to Malaysia but it took us a while to get here.  The day started in Railay with our alarm rudely waking us at 4:45 am.  We packed up and walked the 15 minutes or so to East Railay where the longboat was supposed to pick us up at 6:00am.  Six o'clock came and went and both of us (without letting each other know) were getting a bit worried as it was still pitch black out and there was no one around.  Finally, the sun started to rise and we saw an outline of a man waving his arms and yelling "Boat!"  We figured this was our ride and we were right.  The tide had not yet come in so we walked 100 feet or so in the mud out to the long boat and jumped aboard.  The ride was surprisingly pleasant as we were actually cool (for the first time in a long time) while we saw our first sunrise.  We were dropped off at some pier which appeared to be in the middle of nowhere.  About 10 minutes later, a mini bus came and picked us up.  It was cramped and hot and we thought things couldn't get much worse.  That is until we were dropped off in Hat Yai and got on an even more cramped and hot mini-bus.  This ride was a bit shorter than the other and finally we arrived in Satun, where we would catch the ferry to Langkawi.  We arrived right at 1:30pm, the same time the ferry was to depart.  Even with the trouble I had at immigration (due to the passport I lost in Thailand  5 years ago), we managed to make the ferry and finally relax.  The ferry ride was about an hour and a half and we arrived at 4pm local time with the hour time change.  We easily found a taxi and hopped in for the ride to our guesthouse.  We were in the cab about 30 minutes before we're dropped off at a back lane (not uncommon) and told our guest house is just "down there."  Well, it wasn't -  scammed for the first time this trip.  Fortunately, our guest house was only a few minutes away by (our second) cab.  We got there, hot, hungry and pissed off, to find that there was no one there to check us in.  A few minutes later, the owner arrived and sanity was restored.

View from our favorite watering hole, The Oasis Pub
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Despite our first experience, we ended up really enjoying Langkawi.  It is cleaner and seems to be more advanced than Thailand but the food and drinks were still delicious and cheap.  At our guesthouse, we had the cheapest beer yet - about $0.85 a can.  We spent our days on a great beach and our evenings at the Oasis Pub.  Located on the beach, it's a fantasic place to have a beer and watch the sunset.

Next up - Penang