Byatangajwe: 29.05.2018
Thailand - Malaysia - LANGKAWI - George Town - Taman Negara National Park
🎥Video for the post:
Malaysia was not originally part of our travel itinerary, but we quickly decided that we wanted to visit this country as well. Just like Singapore, Malaysia will follow.
Although we are already in Malaysia, we are still not on the mainland. The islands somehow hold us back 😅, and that's how we ended up on Langkawi.
How do we know that we are in a different country? First: the state religion, Islam, and when is Islam most noticeable - during Ramadan. Many shops and restaurants are currently closed. Second: the language, they also say "yes" (ya) and "hello" (Halo) here. And third: the currency, 1€ = 4.66 Ringgit.
Other than that, the landscape of Langkawi is very similar to the Thai islands.
We spent a total of four nights in Langkawi and so far we haven't met many backpackers, but rather Indian and Chinese tourists. Accordingly, the island has also adapted. Many Indian restaurants next to all the seafood restaurants, many hotels, and entertainment on the beach, on the water, and in the middle of the island.
Not our cup of tea. But what we liked were the many duty-free shops where you can buy beer and chocolate tax-free.
We rented our beloved scooter and raced across the island to discover a few things for ourselves.
Our discoveries on Langkawi after Emely had recovered a bit: lots of lizards and monitor lizards 😍, waterfalls, beautiful and not so beautiful beaches, a park with sculptures (which were supposed to represent Malaysian myths, but unfortunately without description), and an overpriced cable car (a little more than €11 per person) with a skybridge (for an additional €1).
Since the cable car only offered combo tickets with some entertainment activities, we had considered not doing it, but I (Emely) really wanted to go up the mountain. So we did it, even though the weather wasn't nice. Instead, we went into the clouds. And it turned out to be really cool because it cleared up at times, so we could enjoy the view of Langkawi. Higher up (about 700m altitude), we could feel the passing clouds around us and stand on a bridge that felt empty of space. In the evening, we always ate at a market and stocked up on sweets for the night. 😋
During the days, we experienced the rainy season a few times. But there are worse things than waiting for an hour until you can continue, except if you are accompanied by amusement park sounds during that time.
Now we will leave our nice private room and take a three-hour ferry to the next island "Penang". ....next island 😅, but this one already has a bridge to the mainland 😉 We are getting closer to the mainland 🧐