Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi!

For a couple of years, but especially the past months, we were really looking forward to this trip, and now it has all started! We still can't believe it, to be very honest. Every morning when we wake up, we say to each other: "Is this real? Can we really do 'this' for the next four months?" It really feels like a dream coming true. We can't believe that the things we need to worry about right now are, for example, which book to read next on our e-reader, what to wear (will it be 25 or 35 degrees?) or which beach to go to (sunset or sunrise beach?) Or the dilemma of today was whether to take a tour with a speedboat to go snorkeling (13 euro for a full day trip) or to take a longtale/normal boat (8 euro).  

We are having an amazing time and now we have (finally) a good internet connection to upload some pictures, we would like to share with you some of the highlights of the past week! ;-) 

The 3rd of November we said goodbye to our friends an family at Schiphol Airport. Although we will miss all of you a lot, the past days confirmed that it was the right decision to go and travel for a couple of months. Although it feels a bit strange that we currently do not have a 'home', since we decided to move out of our apartment in Utrecht, we can't describe how nice this feeling of 'total freedom' feels. No one will tell us these months that we 'have to' do something... 

Saying goodbye at Schiphol Airport

After a stop-over in Istanbul we were arrived at Kuala Lumpur Airport the 4th of November. We booked an apartment at the city center, which was absolutely fantastic. We were picked up at KL Sentral by our Airbnb hosts. We couldn't have had a better start of our trip. The Airbnb hosts even took us for dinner to the best place in town for the best Malaysian chicken sateh.

Our Airbnb studio in Kuala Lumpur

View from the roof top of our Airbnb

We stayed in Kuala Lumpur for two days and we explored the city. KL was a very compact city that was easy to explore with public transportation. There was much to see and we visited a temple, the Petronas Towers (of course!), Little India, Chinatown and many other nice places. Below an overview of the highlights of the two days in KL. :-)

Thean Hou Temple

Petronas Towers: check!

KLCC Park

Little India

Chinatown

Chinatown

Dinner with our Airbnb hosts at Titiwanga lake

The 6th of November we took a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi, a beautiful tropical island off the Malaysian coast. When we arrived, it was raining and the first day we spend reading a book and relax. We stayed at the Tubotel, a nice hotel at the west side of the island. We really liked the place, which offers also a nice breakfast in the morning. We booked a tube with sea view and when we woke up in the morning, the rain had stopped and the view was fantastic! 

Tubotel

Good morning! The view from our tube.

View from the Tubotel

Main beach of Langkawi

Love is in the air! ;-)

Private beach :-p

Sunset from our tube

We rented a motorbike for the full day to explore the island. The weather was beautiful and we really enjoyed driving around. Below some pictures of our tour.

The next day we booked a tour to go island hopping. We were told that there are many beautiful small islands around Langkawi that we wanted to explore as well. Early morning, we were picked up from our hotel and, although the weather forecast was not so positive, the sky was clear and as the pictures below will show, we were very lucky! The scenery amazing: white beaches, blue sky, clear water, just like a postcard! We couldn't believe that we were actually here. After the tour we walked to a private beach of a resort to relax and to enjoy the sunshine. 

Yesterday we made a hike through the jungle. We came across a beautiful waterfall and at the end of the day we had a drink in a very luxurious five star resort (700 euro per room per night!) with an amazing view. 

This morning we took the ferry from Langkawi to Koh Lipe, an island off the coast of Thailand. It was funny to go through immigration in the small harbour of Langkawi and again at the beach of Koh Lipe. 

The weather is very good today and first impressions of this small island are good, especially the clear light blue water. ;-) We just checked in at our hostel (a small hut) and we look forward to the next couple of days in Thailand!

We keep you updated! 

Lots of love,

Erik & Annemarie