Above: Maha Tower in Langkawi, as seen from my hotel room.
Today I leave the little paradise island of Koh Lipe to return to Langkawi. I walked from my hotel to the ferry pier, the furthest of the three piers on Pattaya Beach, about 200m away.
Having noticed how professional porters carry bags on their shoulders rather than by hand, I tried it and found it easier as well.
Despite the queue, check in was done in 15 mins. That meant we that sat and waited for about 45 mins before boarding by way of longtail boats to the actual Langkawi ferry.
It became apparent that this was the main immigration check-point with seats and a roof. The one closer to my hotel for the other company only had tiny box-office and people sat on chairs in the hot sun.
Our passports were kept by the immigration officers and passed on to the crew. Today’s ferry, Alaf Baru, was similar to the one I came on but perhaps smaller. Once it started moving, the crew promptly gave our passports back to us.
This 1100 service left a little ahead of schedule and took about 1h40 to reach Kuah in Langkawi.
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- Goodbye Koh Lipe.
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- Long-tail transfer to the ferry.
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- Kuah ferry terminal in Langkawi.
It was around 1330 Malaysian time by the time I sat down for lunch at a restaurant in the ferry terminal.
I ordered a car to the We Hotel nearby, getting there at 1430 but check-in started strictly at 1500. Chatting to the Malay driver en route, I learnt that his siblings are split between Malaysia and Thailand.
Once in my room, I attended to emails, in particular seeking consent from my neighbour in Auckland to grant access through their property to remedy a landslide hillslope from early this year.
After dinner, I went to the local duty-free stores to pick up a bottle of wine and some chocolates for family in Kuching. Langkawi is a duty-free port and when I checked four years ago, their prices were 60% cheaper than at Auckland Airport duty free.
Today, I found that:
- Ferrero Rocher chocolates was about 33% cheaper than in New Zealand,
- a particular Australian chocolate about the same as in New Zealand, and
- Whittaker’s New Zealand chocolate are slightly more than a cheap supermarket in New Zealand but less than the pricier ones.
With chocolates in my hand, there was suddenly pressure to eat and return to the air-conditioned room. I made a bad choice with dinner and ate at cheap fast-food place that served roast chicken that had been sitting for a while.