Together with Enrique, the German couple, and Shawn, we took an early bus up to Penang and took the ferry across to the island to stay in Georgetown. I stayed in the same hostel as Enrique and parted ways with the rest of the travelers.
A quick stop in Penang
I did some exploring around with Enrique around Penang. We saw some floating houses and tried some delicious cheap street food from a Hawker center (first time after Singapore!) The food was delicious and there was a lot of cultures going around. I’d like to come back and explore the rest of the island with more time.
I suddenly freaked out. I realized I had about 10 days left in SE Asia and I wasted an entire week being sick and slogging through places. I really wanted to move onto Thailand, so I rushed my stay in Penang for one night.
I left Enrique in Penang, took a ferry back to the mainland, a bus to Kuala Perlis, and a ferry boat ride to Langkawi
Langkawi
After a 2 hour boat ride into Langkawi and arriving at the port I walked past the taxi-men hungry for my money, and walked the 4 km or so to my hostel in the local city of Kuah.
The weather was nice, with a little breeze passing along. I saw a man selling coconuts and bananas on the street, holding onto an umbrella pole, eyes closed and asleep. It was this sight that for some reason gave me a good feeling about Langkawi. I had made mostly a full recovery at this point, and had that feeling of hopping off a vehicle and being in an entirely new place. The man wasn’t advertising his coconut sales to anyone. He was chilling on his chair. Not a worry in the world. Seeing someone this laid back let a feeling of peacefulness run through my heart, and gave me a good feeling about Langkawi.
I gave the man a jerky “Hello!”, and he opened his eyes from his nap and shot me a grin and a chuckle.
The view from my hostel was pretty sweet. The rooms had aircon and were really clean.
There wasn’t a beach within walking distance of the Hostel, so I rented a motorbike from some guy and took it around the island looking for something. The island is quite small. I was able to drive entirely around the island in about half a day (consisting of mostly driving). I even considered walking around the island if I had a week or so to spend there. There are hostels throughout the island, so I would theoretically only walk a couple of miles each day in the circumference of it. Walking around the island might also let me appreciate the scenery at another level.
However, I only had a couple of days so I decided on the day trip on the scooter instead.
I headed up a cable car that allows you to go above some of the mountains on the island and get some breathtaking views. You can see the entire island from all the way up there. There’s also a suspension bridge that you can walk on which as an engineer I marveled at.
And if you don’t feel like paying for the cable ride to ride up with all the other tourists taking selfies, there’s a really cool waterfall (7 wells waterfall) close by where you can hike up for free and get immersed in nature.
When I was walking along the waterfall, I saw some malaysian guys in their underwear coming from a certain swimming hole downstream of the big waterfall. One guy may have been drugged but told me he found the most beautiful place in the world down there and was with nature. Maybe he was just high on life.
I headed down to see it myself and found a small pool with the sound of running water, noone else within sight, and the water temperature was cool, perfect for swimming on this warm day.
I sat and listened. Relaxed, took in a deep breath, swam in the water, and felt peaceful.
Moving on
At this point, I only had 1 week left of travel, and I wanted to get to see Thailand. I also didn’t want to go to the overpriced tourist islands by speedboats (and 1 week wouldn’t be enough). I walked back to the port of Langkawi and bought a cheap ticket for Satun – a small port city on the southwest point of Thailand.
See things for what they are
For any trip (especially long ones), there will be ups and downs. There will be times when you’re sick, unmotivated, debilitated. And there will be times when you hop off a boat into an island dying to go explore, feeling like you’re being pushed from behind to go as fast, as far as possible.
To any place you go, everyone around you may see it differently. You may be looking at the same exact thing, at the same time, but see something different through your own perspectives. You may meet a traveler that has been to a place they absolutely hated, and you go there and see why but also love it for other reasons. Take people’s recommendations with a grain of salt, and then go wherever you want to.
Unfortunate things can happen to travelers, but they are part of the experience. Good or bad, it’s there and it’s part of life. Getting in a slump in Kuala Lumpur was not pleasant but was part of the entire experience of my travels, and I don’t regret it happening. It’s best to just accept misfortune and try your best to cope with it.
I think these things can also apply as a metaphor for life. One can choose to see things differently than everyone else, and one can choose their own path in life regardless of what you hear everyone say. The way travel allows you to have freedom of movement, life also allows you to have freedom to choose your own path.
Tourist circuit
The Malaysian circuit felt a little weird to me at first. Everyone was doing the same thing and heading to the same cities. There was a ton of infrastructure built to get tourists between these cities with ease. At first, I felt a little stuck. I felt as if I had to follow this route because it was what everyone else was doing.
However, try to see places for what they are. The tourist locations must be popular for a reason. Don’t only see them through the small screen on your phone. Don’t just glance at them and turn away. Really try to open your eyes and feel a certain place. You just might learn something new you didn’t expect to. Reflect on places you’ve been to a week or two afterward and you might even see them differently.