Shortly after arriving I spotted him and jumped in the long-tail boat and we left paradise to head for a nearby port. From there I took a minibus and following that a hispeed ferry to Langkawi in Malaysia. Journey was good and talked to an Australian woman. However, I swear the film they were showing on the boat was porn/action movie which kinda made it hard to focus on the conversation while the guy in the movie was having sex/shooting at the same time!

Arrived in Langkawi at about 2pm where the health officials checked my temperature. She took it about 3 times and I thought I was going to get pulled out for having swine flu. Fortunately, they allowed me to enter.

Got in a taxi outside the ferry port. Unfortunately, my haggling skills are wasted here as the government controls the price of the taxis. Shared the taxi with 2 Norwegians. The taxi dropped them off outside their hotel (very posh) and I realised it was way outside my budget.

After following directions given to me by a local I headed to the area where the cheaper accommodation could be found. Walking into a shop I spoke to a guy for advice, he passed me onto his mate walking past the shop. Without saying anything to me he took me down the street into another shop. I walked in and once again said I was looking for accommodation. When asked how much I wanted to pay I thought I’d start low. I quoted 7 Ringits. This (I thought)  is the equivilent of five pounds. The guy looked extremely shocked and said the cheapest he knew about was 50 Ringits. Cue me looking really shocked.

I said I couldnt afford that and asked for something cheaper. They went through all their resources in the travel shop and couldnt find anything. At this point they suggested I stay with the guy who had been standing behind me. Unfortuanately he doesnt want me to stay. The woman who’d been phoning up people says I can stay at hers. But once again, she’s joking (I think). The other 2 places they can think of is on the floor in the shop or at the police station. I say I quite like the idea of the shop floor. At this point the woman tells me to follow her outside and she’d direct me where to go. However, outside she opens the boot of her car and tells me to put my stuff in. I’m exhausted so I get in the car, and find that all the other Malaysians have got in as well. (The shop seems to have now closed). So anyway, we drive off and cruise down the main street.

Eventually, we arrive at a nice looking place and they get out to find how much it is.The guy quotes 35 ringits. I say its too much. They take me to the next place. The next place we arrive at quotes 15. I realise at this point thats the cheapest I’m going to get and realise it would be rude not to accept as these guys have gone to a lot of trouble for me. I walk into the dorm room and start chatting to Ty, an Australian who I’ve made friends with since. We discuss my dilema about how expensive Langkawi is and then it dawns on me. I’ve got very confused about the exchange rate. So 15Ringgits is infact not 10pounds like I’d thought but 3pounds. Turns out I’d got an incredibly good deal!

So thats my advice when travelling, whenever anyone quotes you a price look shocked and go on about how cheap England is.

I wondered if the Malaysians who drove me roundexpected me to pay for their troubles. However, I think they were just really friendly people trying to help out a poor Englishman. The woman gave me her card and said if I needed anymore help call her up. So turning up in Langkawi really pissed off about money to realising it really wasn’t that expensive and being very happy. And then I saw the beach. At the point everything was perfect.

Anyways, am going to find the others to go to the bar now. Will tell you about today another day.