I had to get up super early (7 a.m.!) to get a ferry to Langkawi, another Malaysian island that sounded nice and beachy. The ferry ride took about three hours and the air conditioning was on so strongly that I had to get a long sleeved shirt out of my backpack to keep myself from freezing. I got a taxi to take me to Patai Cenang, a beach area that my guidebook said was nice and checked into a hostel- the Gecko Guesthouse, so called because there are a lot of geckos running around. The first time I saw one, I was quite excited because I thought it was an albino gecko: white/gray with reddish eyes. It turns out that's just what they look like. Anyway, I checked into the dorm and hung out at the hostel for a while, writing and chatting with a British girl named Fern who'd been living on Ko Lipe, a Thai island just north of Langkawi, who was on a visa run, which is when you leave a country because your visa is going to expire, so you just leave for a short time, then go back and get a new one.
Then I headed down to the beach with a book from the communal shelf to read. I was really happy to see how close it really was, something I hadn't been able to discern on my way there, and that it was covered in very white sand and relatively blue and clear water and sky. There were also a few scattered islands nearby that added nicely to the view.
Several hours of sunning and swimming in water that was almost the temperature of bathwater, I returned to the hostel, went for a run along the beach, seeing several women bathing in burkas along the way, and got dressed to go out. Fern and I went out for dinner (chili crab and Tiger beers) and then headed to a bar called Little Lulias which was on the beach with live music. A guy she'd met before who was obviously trying to get with her was buying us all rounds which worked out great for me. After a bit, we headed over to another bar, Sunbar. It was an interesting place. New, old style Malay architecture and decorations, with a mix of Malays and tourists. A group of British guys from our hostel were there so while Fern talked to her guy, I went dancing with one of them, Matt. After a while, I felt I was getting in the way of other people getting together, so I went home to the hostel.
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