Langkawi - A Luxury Break

We’re off to Langkawi today for a few days – staying in the Datai Hotel Resort on the beach, which looks absolutely amazing. It's pretty pricy, but I have booked as a Malaysian resident, which gives me 60% off...

The car that met us at the airport after the hour's flight was a bit of an expensive luxury, but it seemed appropriate. However, I was nearly sick on the last bit of the journey to the hotel up and twisting round these bends in the road – and the driver was not taking any prisoners either, he was driving like a complete maniac. There was one point where he had to slam on his brakes to avoid going into the back of a very slow moving car: he tried to overtake it, but failed to see the other car coming in the opposite direction. Scary.

We arrived, nevertheless, in one piece and the place is amazing, just as you’d imagine a beach resort on a tropical island would be: I think we are going to like it here. We are welcomed with a drink (alas no alcohol) and the concierge guy was trying to explain to us that we have been upgraded due to the room that we wanted now being unavailable due to the Prime Minister of Malaysia staying at the same place. I am usually suspicious when someone tells me I have been upgraded, as I don’t usually believe them – apparently I was upgraded on my holiday in Sitges a couple of years ago, but the room I was given had no windows, so I dread to think what the original room was like.

Anyway, our new room was in fact, a bungalow in the forest; about 5 minutes walk to the beach so we’d really done well – especially considering I had booked under false pretences under a deal that was specifically for Malaysian and Singaporean residents only. They didn’t check any of this information however, but I was still cautious when the staff asked me where I was from – answering, “UK, but I live and work in Malaysia”, just in case they suddenly go “Ah-HA! You don’t qualify for the 60% discount rate and owe us 1000s more Ringgit…”

But they don’t.

We head to the beach pretty much immediately – well, pretty much after having a bag of crisps, a pot of cashew nuts and a large gin and tonic on the balcony (petrified of attracting the monkeys out of the forest and into the room) and it’s stunning! I can’t believe this place is so lovely, pure bliss. We have a couple of cocktails on the sun loungers and watch the sun set.

After a luxuriating bath, we have dinner in the beach bar restaurant, which was another buffet and eat as much as you want! I think I’ll have put on a few kilos after this holiday, but what the hell. After the meal we are full and a bit pissed on wine, gin and cocktails, so we head back to the room for sleep: after all, tomorrow is another exhausting day on the beach.