Friday 6th April 2012 - leaving Penang to go to Langkawi

I woke up at 7am today to get the local bus to the airport. Joe said he would charge me rm50 but I was adamant to try and save some money. The local bus only cost rm4 and despite waiting for an hour for it and it taking 2 hours to get to the airport, I saved cash.  Whilst waiting for the bus it was so endearing to see the mums taking their children to school on their scooters with their little cartoon bags on their backs. It was completely normal in Asia to have kids on scooters, either on the back holding onto their parent, in front of their parent, and sometimes you saw whole families (kid, adult, kid, adult). There were women carrying new born babies, men carrying televisions, people looking like they are moving homes with big platforms either side of them filled with things. It was crazy to watch! Seeing all the kids going to school got me thinking about a conversation I had with Burung on the day I was leaving perhentian islands, when he was taking me back to the islands until the last boat. It was a Thursday and his boat was filled with school kids that had been at school all week and were now returning home to the islands to their parents. The school week in Malaysia (I dont know if it is just in Kuala Besut) is Sunday to Thursday. There were no schools on the islands and education is not compulsory so if a parent wants to send their child to school, not only do they need to pay for their education, they have to send them to the mainland. Also, because it is a far distance to travel everyday, the kids stay in a hostel in dorms - girls separate from boys. The boats taking the children back to the islands were also like that - the girls were on one boat and the boys on another. Also another interesting fact is that children are not put into classes based on their age, instead they have to take tests and are put into classes based on their IQ.  Anyway, the flight to Langkawi was super quick, only 45minutes. Anaz from Monkey Bar had recommend that I stay at Gecko guesthouse on Cenang Beach. I got a cab from the airport and was pleasantly surprised that it only cost me rm18. On the way from the airport I saw loads of tourists on scooters so decided there and then that I was hiring a scooter - none of this getting conned and paying ridiculous amounts for trips. I would find my own way around like I did in Thailand last year. I loved the freedom I had in thailand and loved that the scooter allowed me to explore at my own pace and stop in the most random of places if I saw something of interest. I got to Gecko Guesthouse, checked in and then walked the local area for a bit until i found somewhere to hire a scooter. I got my scooter and jumped on it and just drove. I had been told by many different people that I must do the skywalk once I got to Langkawi so was happy when I drove past where it was - atleast I knew where to go when I wanted to go. Also along my ride I saw some people that had stopped on the side of the road and could see that there were monkeys everywhere. I did a u-turn so fast and walked as quietly as possible to the couple and the monkeys. They were common long tailed monkeys and had come to the side of the road to eat mangoes that were growing on the trees there. The male monkeys are so aggressive and fight with the females and babies so they are too scared to come to get food. One of the males even just casually moved the tail of one of the other monkeys and started humping it!!!  I eventually came up to the cable cars and skywalk - many people I have met along my journey so far have recommended this place . I wasn't going to go on it now but having seen where it was I planned to come back tomorrow. Eventually I drove back to my guesthouse just as the tropical rain started. Apparently in Langkawi it is the wet season now - although it seems to only rain for a short while at night. I waited for the rain to pass and then walked out onto the main road to find somewhere to eat.  The place I found looked super busy, which usually signifies good food - or stupid people in this case!! I ordered a Tiger Prawn curry, prawns that i picked from their fresh fish display. I waited about an hour for a curry that was watery and tasted like flowers. I love prawns and these prawns were huge but i left them - it was vile.  I walked around a bit, bought a local phone and called my mumma munchkin after finding out that her mum had passed away :-(  My first impressions of Langkawi were good. It seemed to have a lot to offer but it seemed a lot more difficult to integrate into as I has done in perhentian islands. Day time was fine as I can just jump on my scooter but night times seem like they might be a bit more difficult.