The “7 hour” bus ride to Kuala Lumpur actually lasted about 10 but neither Brigitte nor I were very bothered by it. For a good part of the ride (hours on end), palm trees lined both sides of the freeway at times interrupted by the occasional rest stop or gas station, somewhat reminiscent of the New Jersey Turnpike. And around 7pm one of the most amazing sunsets painted the distant horizon pink-red and left us in awe of the fiery spectacle.

We had heard about Langkawi from our friend Allison and Brigitte’s cousin Kelly. They had both mentioned it was worth the visit. After our own research yielded positive results, the Malaysian island of Langkawi became our next destination. To get there from Thailand we embarked on a 6-hour minibus drive coupled with a 1.5-hour long ferry ride. All in all we had about a 14-hour long travel day (including overall waiting time plus the 1 hour time zone difference).