Getting to Langkawi – a rough travel day!

We got up very early to head out to jetty 14 where we boarded this ferry to take us to Langkawi:

Within minutes of us arriving to the island it started pouring…and we mean POURing rain. But we found shelter in a Starbucks with free wifi. Not already having a place to stay, we began searching online. We found expensive resort after expensive resort, some that were upwards of $500 US a night! It got to the point that we had looked up so much that we couldn’t keep track anymore of the ones we thought we should try, and due to the medication Mindy had taken, she was very loopy making moves and thinking was a very slow process. So Ligeia chose a hotel that said it was about $60 US online. We discovered that Langkawi is a very spread out island and everything is a cab ride away so Ligeia guided Mindy into a cab (she was really loopy, tired and hungry at that point) and told the driver to go to Awana Resort. Twenty-eight RM (about $10) and about 20 minutes later we arrived at what looked like a much more expensive place than what was quoted online. But we went in to check out the price of a room for a night. When the woman at the front desk handed us the “low season” room prices where the cheapest was 315 RM (more than $100 US) per night, we knew we had to start walking.
We were so tired from getting up early, standing on the ferry and having empty bellies (especially Mindy who had thrown up). But we ventured on to try to find a place that was much less than $100 per night. With every overpriced resort we passed we became more and more discouraged and tired. But there were a few things that distracted us a bit, like a gorgeous view every once in awhile or these awesome Ducky Leaf Monkey or also called Spectacled Langur Monkey in a tree we passed:

After walking for an hour and being quoted 300 and 400 RM a night or finding places that looked like a shack on the side of the road where they wouldn’t even let us see a room before we booked, we finally came to yet another place to try. We saw the place and everything about it was perfect for us. It had a private bath and it was facing a bit of a jungle that you could walk through to get to a beach. We quickly took it!

Then came the matter of food. Even though we could have easily taken a well-deserved nap, we needed to eat. We set out walking yet again in search of food. We found a Turkish restaurant and having been in Turkey just over a year ago, we could easily anticipate the menu items that fit into our vegan diet. We walked right in and asked for mecemec and they had it! We also got hummus which came with bread. That first bite when you’re hungry is always the best, isn’t it?

After a glorious afternoon nap that extended into the early evening, Ligeia went out to the beach to sit and relax for awhile. What beautiful scenery! Ligeia’s concern that maybe we made a mistake in coming to this island slowly dissipated with every soulful breath of salty sea air.

Today was one of those days where you can easily look back and say that everything turned out alright, but while walking and not knowing what lies just around the next corner, the comfort that eventually found us was hard to imagine. We fell asleep wondering what else Langkawi had in store for us.
Stay tuned!
Love,
Mindy and Ligeia :):)