PART ONE - Penang and Langkawi

Early February saw us in Penang. We were lucky enough to be there for Chinese New Year, which was spectacular.

There were lots of celebrations on during the two weeks we were in Penang. Two events were quite memorable – visiting the Kek Lok Si Buddhist Temple, also known as the Temple of Supreme Bliss. It was an amazing sight during the day, but even more so at night as it was beautifully lit up for the Chinese New Year period.




We also went with other yachties to a celebration being held near the marina.



It was like an ‘open home’ – there would have been over a thousand visitors; everyone was fed and provided with soft drink/coffee; there was entertainment all afternoon and evening, including a dragon dance and children doing a drum display; and the evening culminated in magnificent fireworks. It was pretty amazing that we could get to something like this, be a part of the local festivities, and it was all provided at no charge. Certainly a fantastic way for Penang to promote itself to visitors.

From Penang we travelled to Langkawi, stopping for two nights at beautiful anchorages just south of the main part of the island. We only had two days at Langkawi town itself, so hired a motorbike to have a look around the island. Langkawi is duty-free, and fairly laid-back, so has become a popular place for expats (particularly Brits) to settle.


We started to notice the change in the landscape – whereas Malaysia is fairly non-descript and low-lying near the coast, Langkawi has the limestone cliffs that Thailand is famous for.
We checked out of Malaysia at Langkawi, and had about a week to get up to Phuket and check in there.



On the way north up Thailand we stopped at Ko Muk, a beautiful anchorage with lovely clear aquamarine water.

Lots of tourist boats come to Ko Muk each day to visit Tham Morakot (Emerald Cave). It is a beautiful limestone tunnel that can be entered by boat at low tide, or by swimming through the cave.

It is named Emerald Cave for a reason; the tunnel stretches 80 metres in darkness before finally emerging into an open pool of emerald hue! It is truly an awesome sight.





Our first experience at Emerald Cave was somewhat spoilt by the people on a tourist boat who screamed the whole way through the tunnel; we went back to the cave again at the end of the day when all the tourists had gone and experienced the peace and tranquillity.



With spots like this we knew we were going to like Thailand!