Saturday April 9, 2016 – Langkawi is an archipelago of 104 islands in the Andaman Sea 30 Km off the North West coast of Malaysia And part of the State of Kedah, Malaysia, bordering Thailand. There are only 2 inhabited islands – Pulau Langkawi (population 65,000) and Pulau Tuba. The main Island occupies 3,000 hectares of the total 47,848 hectares of all the islands, much of which is forest covered mountains and natural vegetation. Lang – Eagle and Kawi – red/brown or strong makes Langkawi Strong or red/brown Eagle and indeed one of the key attractions in Kuah the capital town, is the marble sculpture of a gigantic Eagle staring out to sea about to take flight. Kuah means “gravy” and legend has it that two fighting giants overturned a large pot of curry and that is where the town started. The 1999 version of “The King and I” with Jodie Foster was filmed on Langkawi as Thailand refused rights to film. The main island is a little larger than Barbados and is developing into a major tourist destination with an international airport and many 5 star resorts. There is relatively little to see or do, but if it’s a beach holiday, with shopping and a couple of attractions, it is an ideal place with nice beaches and beautiful warm sea-water. Dr Mahathir Mohammad (Prime Minister 1981-2003) was a country doctor practicing in Langkawi and during his time as PM, Langkawi was given duty free status and infrastructure started attracting investors for holiday making activities. There is virtually no crime on the island, but there are a lot of vehicular accidents apparently. The guide told us that Rice, a local staple has to be imported from Burma or Thailand due to the weather conditions not being favourable for rice production. However, we passed a Rice museum, where they have various fields of rice growing and there is a demonstration of how it is converted from seed to a meal. Unfortunately we did not have time to see that, nor the Giant aquarium, which all the literature indicates is spectacular. Perhaps next time! There are 6 clinics and one hospital, which unfortunately one of the passengers had to make use of as they broke their leg. Hopefully they will get a chance to re-join the cruise.
The early history of the island is cloudy, but one myth that is important to the island and indeed we visited the location, involves the gorgeous lady Mashuri who married the brother of the Governor. The Governor’s wife became very jealous of her beauty and set about destroying her. She was falsely accused of adultery in 1819 with a male who served her a glass of water, and after a mock trial was tied to a tree and executed by stabbing. One of these stabs with a kris (Malay dagger) caused white blood to flow from her body confirming that she was innocent of the charges. As she lay dying, she placed a curse that Langawi would lay barren and not be developed for 7 generations. In practicality, this occurred and it is only recently that development has really started.
After Berthing Port to dock, along a barren narrow concrete Quay with spectacular sunrise, we boarded the coach (carpeted roof) with Guide Ranawi, who whisked us off on the bumpy road for the 16 Km ride to Kuah to see the Eagle at Eagle square. It is a magnificent work of art, beautifully constructed and dominates the landscape. Each talon is about the size of a human arm. Unfortunately the sun in the 40C (104F) heat was directly behind the eagle so pictures straight on were difficult. From there, we motored to the Mashuri Mauseleum Museum. Here the guide charged off and we didn’t know what to expect or do, so we saw a couple of cardboard cut-outs of people, then came across a good quartet playing music on local instruments before reaching the gift shop. As this is usually at the end, we figured that was all there was to see. However, we were ushered on by the shop-keepers, and made our way down the paths until we found the guide and asked why we were there. He gave us a good explanation and took us to a well, where a baby was being bathed and then to a house on stilts which was supposedly Mashuri’s house. After vaguely indicating we could enter the house (no-one did), he wandered towards a very good video presentation that gave us the story of the legend (it would have been good to see that first), then to the exit and so back onto the coaches. However, it was informative and an enjoyable visit giving us a feel of life on the island. We were told that it had not rained for three months and all seemed very dry. They expect the monsoons to start later this month. This all made it rather curious as to why there was a tractor with grass cutting blades dragging behind on one of the fairways of the 18 hole golf course. Not that the tractor and blades was out of place, indeed it is the usual way of mowing the fairways. The question was, the grass was bone dry, had no irrigation and thus no growth for three months! Perhaps it was Saturday and that fairway gets mowed on Saturdays irrespective of what is going on! The next stop was at a rubber plantation, where we had hoped to see the full process, however, what we saw, which was very interesting was a husband and wife who owned a few hectares of rubber trees. The wife showed us how to scrape the trees and produce the latex liquid which was caught in a bucket – a process resembling taping maple trees to produce maple syrup (sugaring as is said in Vermont). The wife cut the bark of various rubber trees in a downward spiral so the white sticky sap flowed, which when dry resembled a rubber band. Unfortunately the 15 minute tapping demonstration was the full extent of the plantation. We then headed to our last stop – a batik factory, where a couple of ladies showed us how batik cloth is made. We then were ushered into the show room for purchasing some of the merchandise, which was indeed very nicely done. It was back to the ship time and as I was still not feeling all that well, we decided to stay on board and not take the shuttle into the small town. Diana and Nelson were on another tour which took them to two of the other islands, where they had an amazing time amongst the monkeys which are wild and can come and take your possessions, if not careful. The pictures of mothers and babies all around them gave us a great idea of what it was like, it must have been fabulous.
There are three types of guides – 1) Basic – Inteligiable English, group control, basic facts of location including what to see and amenities; 2) Good – Better English, more in death knowledge and very good group control; 3) Outstanding – flawless English; adds amusing anecdotes, personal when appropriate imparting great knowledge and superb group control. The guide we had in Singapore was clearly in the Excellent category, whereas the guide we had here in Langawi did not meet even the basic guide criteria. English was as good as one could expect on a small island, but he had no sense of group control. He would depart from the coach followed by the people in the front, so those in the middle or rear had no idea where he was and indeed by the time one found him he had already given whatever he had to say and was moving on . He did not explain where facilities could be found (important for the older crowd that is on the voyage). For example at the first stop all he said here is the eagle be back in 25 minutes. The eagle was nowhere to be seen and he was off chatting with friends. There was no mention of toilets or the direction to find the eagle. This continued throughout the tour which made it frustrating. About half way through the Mashuri home compound, when I was able to catch up to him, I eventually asked – Why are we here? What is this all about? He only then gave those standing nearby a reasonably good explanation. He never took us or mentioned souvenir shopping, a must for any organised tour, just the visit to the Batik factory. I needed to get that off my chest!!!
So in summary an island in development which has certain things to offer and is gradually becoming a destination for Beach Holiday makers. It has a lot of potential and in the coming years will likely be a terrific place to visit. There were things we did not see like the previously mentioned aquarium and indeed one of the towns had 2 Mexican Restaurants, which we were never able to get back to, but that makes for good prospects. Same time Next Year???????
Roger & Anne Travels 