06.17 I am hearing a whizzing sound from the air con and another sound from my sleeping friends. It is time again. It is time again to travel. It is time to once again to part from Shu Ming.

07.27 With breakfast in our stomachs and our packing in our backpacks we´re ready to leave Bayview Hotel.

08.02 We’ve said good bye and see you later to Shu Ming. We’re now seated on the lower deck. I guess we will remain here for a while. We are going with Kenangan 2. That is the ferry which will take us from Penang to Kuah.

Christer looking at the rain. Photo taken at Starbucks in Kuah.

11.33 We’ve reached Kuah and gone ashore on one of the paradise islands of this world, Langkawi. Here we plan to spend two lazy days. The next thing we will do is to get some coffee at Starbucks. There will be no check-in at our prebooked hotel until 15.00.

13.02 We are still at the ferry terminal. Here we’ve bought postcards and freshened up. Now we are thinking about the good thing they have here. They´ve got school uniforms with name tags. Each school has a uniform of its own. Everyone would know if the pupil go to that school and everyone would be able to address the pupil with the right name instead of, hey you… The rain keeps us inside the ferry terminal. The hunger does its best to get us away from here.

13.35 We’ve had lunch here at the restaurant Hameeds in the ferry terminal. Hameeds is a restaurant chain in Malaysia that can be recognised with its bright yellow and green signs and plastic chairs in the same colour. We had Nasi Biryani. At least we think so. We got a plate each at the counter. A plate with rice and two drum sticks. We just got the bill and the meals cost us 25 ringgit, around US$8. As the rain just stopped we´ll start to stroll towards the hotel.

The mighty eagle, symbol of Langkawi.

Looking back in the direction we arrived from.

13.56 We’ve come to a halt and we´ve sat down on a bench. In front of us an enormous red brown eagle is spreading its wings. It is what Langkawi means. Helang means eagle. Kawi, here there are different meanings, it means either reddish brown or strong. Others say that kawi is Sanskrit and means marble, something that can be found around here. Yet another theory is that it all comes from the Sanskrit words Langka, beauty and Wi, endless. It is what ever the case a high humidity after the rain.

15.20 We've checked in at Eagle Bay Hotel (http://www.eaglebay.com.my) in Kuah at Langkawi. The only thing that we really managed to do on the way here was to sweat and sweat a lot. It was dripping from us as we were about to check in. After the rain with all its humidity a blazing sun appeared. On the inside of the room door there is a sign with prices of the things in the room. This is just in case any souvenirminded guest would like to buy something. To call stealing guests “souvenirminded” is just another case of Asian hospitality.

Tourists gathering in front of the big "Langkawi eagle".

Sunset on Langkawi island.

16.40 We’ve watched a game of football on the field below our hotel room. No, it isn’t a league game; it is some boys from school who are playing with different skills. One doesn’t have time for this back home, to just slow down, sit down and watch what happens around you.

19.02 We are sitting under the right wing of the Langkawi Eagle and looking at the sunset. We are not the only ones here. Tourists have gathered to get the perfect eagle picture. Dataran Lang, "Eagle Square" is the name of the open area here behind us. We took some time to stroll down here from the hotel to look at the surroundings, among them CHOGM Park opposite the hotel. The park has flags from the British Commonwealth as a memory of the summit here in 1989.

20.03 The darkness falls and lights are lit around the town and around the eagle. We are getting hungry.

20.36 We’ve sat down in the wicker chairs at Sunday Bistro & Restaurant. We are at the mall Langkawi Fair. It is time for dinner. Some fishes are swimming around in a pond.

21.52 The ceiling fan spins around above me. We are back in the room to look back on yet another day. Not much activity today, more a lazy kind of day. It is time to plan tomorrow and to write some postcards.

23.44 We just had a Tiger, an evening beer each and are watching TV. It is a program called Tilawah Interaktif. The viewers are reciting a verse from the Holy Quran and a muslim scholar is commenting and correcting it. It is time to sleep.

A friend in the dark.

Sunday 29th of June

08.40 A new day has dawned. It is gray skies outside of the window. We have a lot planned today. We’ve done a “to-do list”. We will see what we´ll do when and if we´ve done it all.

09.49 We are getting ready to start doing things that have to be done. We´ve got some stuff that needs to be taken care of. We´ve got to arrange with money (baht) for the future and a ferryticket for the trip to Thailand tomorrow. We will also try to find the local post office.

The beautiful Lagenda Park (Taman Lagenda) in Kuah.

11.37 We have got our tickets to Thailand from a counter that was hard to find. Now we are sitting in yet another Délifrance-café. Our earlier visits have been in Singapore (12/8 2006) and Fort-de-France (2/8 2007). We will have coffee and three pastries with mixed fillings. We are not the only ones in Kuah who have pale skin. We’ve seen a young couple that might be Americans or Europeans of some kind. We didn´t find the post office. At least we think so. The only thing we found seems to be some staff entrance to something that might be the post office.

13.11 We are halfway through the to-do list. We’ve finally found the post office. It is inside the purplecoloured building Lada kompleks. We’ve returned to cool down on the inside as well on the outside. After that will we return to the heat and humidity again.

13.55 Our mission to finish everything on the list goes on. We’ve taken us to the parts of Kuah which seem to be more suited for the tourists. We are having a break on a small bridge. The paleskinned couple we saw earlier just passed here.

A nice bridgephoto from Kuah, Langkawi.

Peter buying something cold to drink.

14.31 We’ve arranged with Thai baht. A cool wind blows over the footbridge, birds are twitting merrily and an Indian man is passing the bridge with small steps. I guess it is time to take small steps back home for us as well.

18.02 We’ve just laid down on our new fresh sheets. We also had a shower and dried us with our new towels. We also got fresh coffee. This is as Christer put it like being in a hotel. We have also learned more about tomorrow´s destination, Trang.

Eagle Bay Hotel, our Langkawi hotel. Peter booked it because the name is almost
similar to the name of his home community Örnsköldsvik.

18.20 We’ve walked to ”our” mall and we´re now at Langkawi Arts & Café. Here we will be having coffee and brownie. Around us there are paintings for viewing and for sale.

19.11 We have bought some other necessary things. We have bought things that might come in handy. Now we will go out on the internet before we have dinner.

21.07 We looked around on the internet and went to have some dinner. We’ve returned to the part of Kuah we visited during the afternoon and we´re at Jai Island Café. Our place lacks a wine list but has a juice list. This is a non alcoholic place. We are in the state of Kedah which is really influenced by islam. Due to this no alcohol can be found in this kind of places rarely visited by tourists. This is also why Friday is holiday and Sunday is a working day.

22.01 We are back after a dinner which consisted of beef- and squid dishes. During the dinner a cat fell asleep on my small backpack. I didn’t like to wake it up.

Sleepy cat at Jai Island Café.

Monday 30th of June

02.45 The time has come to once again take part of a soccer final. (30/6 2002, 4/7 2004, 5/7 2006) The last time we did this was also in Malaysia. Then it was the World Championships and now it is the European Championships. It is Germany vs Spain. It is just as tricky time as two years ago, but we are awake....barely.

03.19 Fernando Torres just gave Spain the lead. I hope it will remain like that..

04.36 Viva España! There were no more goals. 1-0, Spain are the new European Champions. It is time to sleep.

07.49 We’ve slept for a couple of more hours. Now a new day awaits us and a new trip. This trip will take us to a new country, Thailand. It will be the 60th country for Christer.

09.07 After breakfast we´ve packed our final belongings and slowly walked to the ferry terminal. Here we´re waiting to go onboard. We know that we should have seen more of the sights and beaches here on the island. But we also know that we need to relax to be able to make it through a seven weeks long trip.

09.31 We’ve been stamped out of Malaysia and just sat down on the ferry Tammalang 1 with destination Tammalang in Thailand. It feels great somehow that the name of the boat and our destination is the same.

Out on the sea, on our way to Thailand!

09.49 The pier is moving away from us. Our next trip abroad has begun. It is time to set the watches back one hour and maybe catch some sleep.

09.08 After having passed some leafy islands and fishermen in small boats we are now heading out on the open sea. The TV onboard is showing some Thai music videos with karaoke text. Most of the passengers seem tired. I wonder how many of them watched the game last night.

THAILAND

10.23 We’ve reached the pier in Tammalang. We’ve been stamped in and we also bought a ticket with a VIP bus to Trang. A really eager young lady met us and took us to a small office where the tickets were bought. Her English was perfect except her ability to say "r", a really important letter from time to time. We got a white sticker each stucked to our clothes. On them we can read Trang with our letters and Thai letters. Now it is time for breakfast at Dawan Restaurant here at the ferry terminal.

10.47 The breakfast cost around $1. We are now sitting on a bench which is blue and padded in a sãwngthãew. Our backpacks are resting on the roof. We are rolling towards the bus station in Satun. Our vehicle is to put it easy a pickup with benches on the back. Some British (or Irish) ladies and a man are riding with us. I don’t know whether they are Scottish, English or Irish.

Peter having a quick cheap breakfast at Tammalang pier.

Now everyone knows where we´re heading today.

Travelling with British ladies to Satun.

10.59 We’ve been driven to the bus station in Satun. Tammalang is more or less just the pier and the terminal. Satun is the main city of the province. Now all we´ve got to do is to wait for the bus to Trang.

11.59 We’ve sat down on the upper level in the pink VIP-bus. Upfront is none other but Buddha himself seated. He is painted on the windshield.

13.03 Our journey is taking us through a flat landscape. There are plenty of trees, both natural and planted ones. Here and there are fields and paddy fields. There are mountains at the horizon. We are currently in Kumpang. The smaller places just have signs in Thai which makes it hard to know where we are exactly. Wherever we look there are yellow royal flags and portraits of the king and queen.

We waited for a long time, but now it´s here, our pink VIP-bus.

15.06 The bus let us out at the bus station in Trang and we got out. The pink bus with Buddha on it carried on to Phuket. We were offered a ride by a man. He took us to his tuk tuk (a motorcycle taxi with three wheels). It had a birdcage on the roof and in the case there was a bird. We sat down on the back and the man with bird in its cage sat down at the front. The vehicle has got its name from the sound its engine makes..tuk tuk tuk... We were brought to My Friend Hostel. Here we´re staying in room 312 at a cost of 490 baht ($ 15)

17.08 We have to bow on entering and exiting the bathroom. This has nothing to do with paying some kind of respect. It is because of the fact that the door opening is just 1.80 metres high.

Bathroom door for short people. Photo from My Friend Hostel.

17.27 The hunger is starting to make its presence felt in our bodies. We’ve walked across the narrow square to the German-owned Wunderbar (http://www.wunderbar-trang.com) We will get to know our home area just as soon as we have finished eating.

17.57 They are all but shy when it comes to spices in the food. Christer had some really spicy green curry. As soon as we´ve paid the bill we will get to know more about Trang.

The square in front of Trang Railway Station.

20.14 The time as come to really go out, on the internet. All the earlier visits have just been briefly, temporary.

21.38 We popped in to 7 Eleven after having withdrawn money from an ATM. Now we will gather strength and stamina. I guess we´ll also consume what we bought. We are wondering how we shall get to Bangkok in a couple of days. The original plan is to take the night train but we will see about that. Christer has caught a nasty flu and has a light fever as well.

Tuesday 1st of July

09.38 We started the day with sleeping a bit longer than usual just to get some more power. After that we´ve had a relaxing start of this Tuesday. Now we will head out to settle some things straight.

10.35 We went out to have a combined breakfast/lunch at Wunderbar but realised that they hadn’t opened yet. We strolled quickly back to our room.

11.38 We’ve checked out from our room and together with our backpacks we returned to Wunderbar for some, well.. brunch? We will eat.

12.22 With some food in our bellies and after a short tuk tuk ride, we´re back at the bus station. Here we went straight to a bus to Krabi. Our home at My Friend Hostel was just OK, well worth the cost. It is a pretty young place, recently opened with young staff.

12.53 We’ve bought tickets to Krabi. Our tickets are around half a metre long. Each single ticket cost 10 baht. The trip cost 100 baht hence the long ticket.. As I am writing this we´re in Huai Yot.

14.35 During the last minutes we rolled into and out from the bus station in Krabi.

14.45 We are on our way in a taxi to our next home. Our driver has offered us to be our driver during our stay here. He has given us his calling card. He also claims that Swedes are the best tourists.

15.10 We had no problems checking in since the room was already paid for. Now we are seated in room 429 at City Hotel Krabi (http://www.citykrabi.com/city_hotel.html). The next thing we will do will be to unpack. The toilet paper is folded like origami.

17.19 We’ve rested and are on our way out to expand our views. It is time to get to know a new place.

Maharaj Road, Krabi.

Christer and a street sign in Krabi. Soi means backstreet.
In this case it´s the second backstreet leading from the main street Maharaj Road.

18.31 We’ve learned more about our neighbourhood. We are currently sitting on a yellow green bench overlooking the Krabi River. A dog is chasing some birds in a park behind of us. It is a pleasant town and easy to move around and navigate in. Some food would be great right now.

19.13 We ended up at Bolero. It might be an Italian restaurant but we have ordered Thai food. We had aimed for the floating restaurant in the river and covered ourselves (all according to the guide book) in mosquito repellent stuff. But it was I am sad so say, closed. Outside dusk is crawling in and countless of motorcycles and scooters are passing. Behind Christer a caucasian (white) woman with a green scarf is reading is a book. To my left there is a French middle-aged couple dining.

20.21 On the TV in our room there is a tennis game from Wimbledon between Venus Williams from USA and Tamarina Tanasugarn from Thailand. It isn’t going that well for the lady from Thailand. Before we left the restaurant a tired old man passed with a big cart filled with buckets and other things.

Krabi River.

A floating restaurant in Krabi River. Unfortunately it was closed.

22.54 Venus won the Wimbledon match. Her sister Serena just did the same. Now we are watching a Buddhist monk who is explaining something. No, it is time to switch channel.

23.45 It is time to switch off the light. Our room is pretty cool with the air condition and pretty moist without it. I hope that Christer´s flu will give in soon. We have many plans for our stay here.

The provinces of southern Thailand.