Langkawi and Beyond

The night before I sailed on the ferry to Langkawi, my computer developed a major problem. Windows stopped working. It wouldn't load, no matter what I did. As a result, I couldn't access my blog file in order to write any new entries, or look through photos in order to choose which ones I would include in the blog. I could look at photos through some HP software that was included on the computer. I could listen to music files. And I could access the internet. But all the other functions that I have grown used to having on the computer were inoperative. So I woke up annoyed. And I had no time to deal with problem at all. I had a ferry to catch.

I checked out and headed to the ferry terminal and caught the ferry to Langkawi. When I arrived, the Langkawi terminal was located a fair distance from the town and accommodation. It meant a taxi ride. Now, I normally don't like taxis anyway. I find taxi drivers to be generally dishonest and out to take the passenger for a very expensive ride. And if I can find a way not to have to take a taxi, I will generally do it. Added to this was the fact that I was already annoyed about my computer. This was very bad news for the prospective take-Ken-to-town taxi drivers. But there were no tuk tuks. There were no motorcycle guys. There were only cabs and my feet. It seemed there was no other option. Until I thought about it a bit more. I had come to Langkawi so that I could take another ferry over to Thailand. So I had the option of continuing on to Thailand right away instead of spending any time on Langkawi.

I probably should have given Langkawi a bit more of a chance. I gather there is a fairly nice national marine park there. But I was just not in the mood. So I bought my ticket to Thailand and headed out a couple of hours after arriving. The lone photo I took in Langkawi was of their unofficial mascot, the eagle. And tourists can apparently feed eagles on one of the tours available on the island.

Next I thought I would spend a day or two in Satun, on the Thailand side of the ferry ride. But when I arrived in Satun, one of the travel agency types in the terminal informed me that Satun really didn't have anything very interesting and that there was really no reason to stay. I should have ignored him. I suspect that it might have been a somewhat interesting place, but not for anything of touristic value. I think it might have simply been a good way to view ordinary Thais doing ordinary things without the insane focus on getting money from foreigners that exists in the places where tourists congregate. However, I took the guy at his word and let him book me on a bus up to Krabi. I visited Krabi a couple of years ago, and I quite liked it. But this time I wanted to stay on the beach instead of in Krabi town. There wasn't really any way to get to the beach that day though. I was going to be arriving in the middle of the night. I got a booking for a place in town and decided to figure it out the next morning. And off I went. So instead of being ensconced in a room on the island of Langkawi in Malaysia, as I expected and intended when I woke up that morning, I ended up a fair distance up the peninsula in Thailand, after a long day, booked into a rather shabby room in a guest house in a nice little tourist town. Oh well.