I left my hotel at the hideous time of 7.15am on Tuesday to be taken to the jetty in Penang for the ferry over to Langkawi.
There is only one boat a day going north to this island, and it leaves at 8.15am. I found it slightly bizarre that two major tourist destinations in Malaysia are so poorly linked, but consoled myself with the thought that it would probably be a pretty decent ferry and a picturesque journey. This would be something of a relief after the puke and diesel smelling vessels I had travelled on in Thailand.
After collecting my boarding pass from the port 'terminal' - two women sat by a desk outside a shed - I was slightly concerned by the look of the boat that would be taking us to Langkawi. This was more a prison ship than a passenger ferry, and my hopes of spending the journey in a cafe having a spot of breakfast as I looked out over clear blue sea were quickly evaporating.
There were absolutely no facilities on board - you couldn't buy so much as a bottle of water, which for a journey lasting the best bit of three hours is pretty damn disgraceful. As we got on our way, the sea became incredibly choppy and at times it felt like we were aboard some kind of amusement park ride - only without the fun. After a while, I braved my way to the grim toilets at the back of the boat, which had thick metal rusty doors and stank. After I had finished and was putting the old chap away, a Chinese girl burst in and threw up in the bog just as I was leaving. Nice.
We arrived in Langkawi just before 11, and my mood instantly brightened as we sailed through crystal clear waters and the sun shone brightly on the island's palm trees. From the jetty I caught a taxi - which was basically a bloke driving a clapped out old van - to Cenang Beach, the most popular part of Langkawi and where my hotel was.
I was due to meet my friend Laura, who was flying in from her holiday in Singapore, at the hotel. We were not expecting much of this place - it was a relatively cheap option, it had rooms available and it guaranteed us a place to stay in Cenang for the next three days.
Despite low expectations, I was still unprepared for what I encountered at the ironically named Langkawi Boutique Resort. The front of the hotel is a huge building, with a vast wooden hallway and restaurant, and a massive staircase. It might have looked impressive at some point, but in its run down and desolate state it seemed like something from another age. The building looked like something out of the Soviet Union. I was half expecting to see a bust of Stalin on the reception desk
After checking in, I was then led out of the vast building and behind it down a road, past a building site and to where the rooms were. By now things were getting worse. If the reception of this place was Kiev circa 1978, the accommodation was more Elephant and Castle. It was a vile concrete block of buildings, with a 'swimming pool' in the middle that looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the Berlin Wall came down. The rooms were tidy and relatively clean, but the furniture was battered and the carpet and curtains were a slime like green colour. In Laura's room the tv and safe didn't work. In my room there was no safe, and the tv only showed two channels with a poor reception!
Fortunately the weather was amazing, and we quickly became philosophical about our accommodation after a few cocktails by the stunningly beautiful beach. We decided that, despite having paid for three nights at our 'boutique' hotel, we would swallow the cost and try and find somewhere - anywhere - on the beach to stay. After a few enquiries, we both found beach huts with all the facilities we wanted and at a low cost. We would spend just the one night at our Moscow multi-storey car park and then we would be free...
There is only one boat a day going north to this island, and it leaves at 8.15am. I found it slightly bizarre that two major tourist destinations in Malaysia are so poorly linked, but consoled myself with the thought that it would probably be a pretty decent ferry and a picturesque journey. This would be something of a relief after the puke and diesel smelling vessels I had travelled on in Thailand.
After collecting my boarding pass from the port 'terminal' - two women sat by a desk outside a shed - I was slightly concerned by the look of the boat that would be taking us to Langkawi. This was more a prison ship than a passenger ferry, and my hopes of spending the journey in a cafe having a spot of breakfast as I looked out over clear blue sea were quickly evaporating.
There were absolutely no facilities on board - you couldn't buy so much as a bottle of water, which for a journey lasting the best bit of three hours is pretty damn disgraceful. As we got on our way, the sea became incredibly choppy and at times it felt like we were aboard some kind of amusement park ride - only without the fun. After a while, I braved my way to the grim toilets at the back of the boat, which had thick metal rusty doors and stank. After I had finished and was putting the old chap away, a Chinese girl burst in and threw up in the bog just as I was leaving. Nice.
We arrived in Langkawi just before 11, and my mood instantly brightened as we sailed through crystal clear waters and the sun shone brightly on the island's palm trees. From the jetty I caught a taxi - which was basically a bloke driving a clapped out old van - to Cenang Beach, the most popular part of Langkawi and where my hotel was.
I was due to meet my friend Laura, who was flying in from her holiday in Singapore, at the hotel. We were not expecting much of this place - it was a relatively cheap option, it had rooms available and it guaranteed us a place to stay in Cenang for the next three days.
Despite low expectations, I was still unprepared for what I encountered at the ironically named Langkawi Boutique Resort. The front of the hotel is a huge building, with a vast wooden hallway and restaurant, and a massive staircase. It might have looked impressive at some point, but in its run down and desolate state it seemed like something from another age. The building looked like something out of the Soviet Union. I was half expecting to see a bust of Stalin on the reception desk
After checking in, I was then led out of the vast building and behind it down a road, past a building site and to where the rooms were. By now things were getting worse. If the reception of this place was Kiev circa 1978, the accommodation was more Elephant and Castle. It was a vile concrete block of buildings, with a 'swimming pool' in the middle that looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the Berlin Wall came down. The rooms were tidy and relatively clean, but the furniture was battered and the carpet and curtains were a slime like green colour. In Laura's room the tv and safe didn't work. In my room there was no safe, and the tv only showed two channels with a poor reception!
Fortunately the weather was amazing, and we quickly became philosophical about our accommodation after a few cocktails by the stunningly beautiful beach. We decided that, despite having paid for three nights at our 'boutique' hotel, we would swallow the cost and try and find somewhere - anywhere - on the beach to stay. After a few enquiries, we both found beach huts with all the facilities we wanted and at a low cost. We would spend just the one night at our Moscow multi-storey car park and then we would be free...
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