My idea for the day was to cycle to the hill at the center of the island, and get to the top.
When I woke up, it was raining, and this continued until quite late on in the morning. It eventually dried up though so I headed to the restaurant where I ate yesterday for breakfast, with a view to renting a bike from the nearby hostel.
Breakfast today was fairly close to western, consisting of ied egg, fries, and a chicken sausage, with a bit of toast.
I made it to the bike rental place, and the lady there was adamant that it was foolhardy to cycle to the hill and climb it, and that I couldn't do it. I was inclined to disagree but she made such a fuss about my safety, I said that I would like to check the bikes before agreeing to rent anyway.
It was at this point that I realised that she was in fact right - it would be suicidal for me to use that bike. Not because of any lack of skill on my part or any fundamental problem with the idea of cycling a reasonable distance. It was in fact because, the bike's chain was so rusty it was liable to snap at any point, and the brakes couldn't even stop the bike at stationary in the dry, let alone once the wheels had become wet.
With that in mind, I decided to not rent the suicide machine, and instead wandered along the street to again look for an alternative bike rental place.
I made it all the way along the road and had not managed to find anywhere, despite the advice of the tourism office the other day. By this point it was around noon, and I noticed that the Bamboo Bar was open, so I thought I would pop in for a pint, since I was there, and since it's Langkawi and the beer is cheap!
I chatted with the barman who advised that it was going to get quite busy shortly, on account of there being a big rugby match coming up. As such I stayed the rest of the afternoon there enjoying the banter with another Martin and predicting the outcome being in favour of New Zealand.
The final result was a draw for the series, and it was rather exciting to say the least!
After that, I headed back to the hostel, and got my stuff ready for getting the taxi and boat back to Georgetown the following day.