Chapter 2: Langkawi Island Adventures Island Interlude
From Kuala Perlis a ferry carried us across thirty kilometres of
turquoise water, leaving the mainland behind and delivering us to
Langkawi. After seven relentless days and nearly nine hundred
kilometres of cycling, the island felt like a pause button pressed on
the journey—a place to breathe.
Langkawi greeted us with postcard perfection: lush hills rising from
the sea, beaches stretching wide, and a duty-free hum that seemed
to buzz through every shop and stall. Yet Pantai Cenang, our first
stop, was 26 km away and a crowded and commercialised hamlet -
its charm buried beneath overpriced rooms and tourist bustle. We
settled instead at a modest hostel across from the beach, where the
sand and sea were still within reach, and where Ernest found delight
in the island’s duty-free treasures.
Circling Langkawi
The morning sun urged me onward, and I set out alone, leaving
Ernest behind. The island’s breezes were kind, but practical
challenges soon surfaced. School holidays had filled every
guesthouse, and budget beds were scarce. Even the ATM betrayed
me, its screen blank, forcing a twenty-kilometre detour to the airport
for cash.