On Sunday, we left the gourmet heaven that is Georgetown, Penang and made our way to yet another Malaysian paradise island, Langkawi, where we've been languising for the last few days. Due to flooding in northern Malaysia and southern Thailand some of the roads in this province were closed and the main port town with ferry links to Langkawi island was under half a metre of water, so we thought it prudent not to attempt to cycle through the floods and instead caught a ferry here directly from Penang. We then cycled the 30km or so to the western side of the island and, despite cycling in the blistering midday heat, were glad we did, as the beach here is a long stretch of white sand perfection. We're also treated to the most amazing sunsets every evening, which we usually enjoy whilst having a cold beer – Langkawi, in stark contrast to the primarily Muslim Perhentian islands, is a duty-free island!

We had planned to cycle from here across the border into Thailand, but the floods in the south have made our proposed route a bit more complicated. It seems that we can't cycle in over the road border in the Satun province, as many of the roads there are impassable due to the floods. To further complicate matters, travel through the other provinces along the Thai-Malaysian border is strongly advised against by both the Irish and British foreign affairs offices, due to insurgencent attacks and a recent history of violence against tourists. As a result, we've decided to get a ferry from here to Satun town itself at the end of the week. Hopefully, we'll arrive after the worst of the flooding (the rains there have eased) and north of the worst affected areas and will be able to merrily cycle our way north through Thailand from there. But, before then, we still have a few days in Langkawi to laze, sunbathe, soak, potter around on a moped I rented, enjoy the sunsets and say a fond farewell to Malaysia after almost six weeks here.