Langkawi
The ferry ride from Penang to Langkawi lasted almost 3 hours on a rough Andaman Sea, hence the sighs of relief when the boat finally docked in Kuah harbour. Pulau Langkawi is an archipelago of islands in the North West of Malaysia with Langkawi being the largest and most important one. Beautiful scenery but with increasing tourism it is more difficult to preserve the natural beauty. July is Arab season when Arabs all take off on holiday with large numbers heading off to Langkawi. Despite the frequently arriving planes to the international airport we found Langkawi not as busy as we had anticipated. We chose Pantai Cenang as destination, mainly because of choice of accommodation and large beach with shallow sea. Pantai Cenang itself is nothing special and can be found on any coastline around the world: a long strip of resorts, restaurants and souvenir shops to lure tourists and their wads of Malay Ringit. Fortunately, the coconut tree rule applies here so all buildings are not higher than two storeys.
We ended up in the Malibest Resort where we booked a wooden bungalow with A/C for € 24 per night. The Andaman Sea was a mere 25 meters from our porch and the warm water begged for a first swim. Sara started building sand castles and was happy again after several days spent in traffic busy cities. The water was not as clear as on the East coast, partly due to the starting monsoon season. During the first days it rained only at night while during daytime the sun came out regularly. For the first time we also noticed more mozzies than before so finally we could make use of the mosquito net which actually made the otherwise rundown room a bit romantic. Sara’s travel cot we drag along is completely closed and perfect against these ferocious little monsters. Well worth the effort of carrying the extra 2.5 kilos.
Our favourite hangout became the Red Tomato Garden Cafe, close to our house. Run by Tanja from Germany who while on her own world trip 10 years ago ran into a Malaysian guy and stayed ever since. Red Tomato is a cosy little place with relaxed music, free wireless internet and a spaghetti aglio olio to die for. Sara made friends with Leha, the friendly Malay waitress and got an extra treat every now and then. The tsunami apparently hadn’t had a great deal of impact on Langkawi as Sumatra had served as a buffer. The only person killed was a tourist who got stuck in the sand with her wheelchair and was forgotten in the mayhem. What you did see was traces of a steadily increasing tide, washing the sand in front of the palm trees away and making them hang almost horizontally over the beach.
The weather as this time of year was quite unpredictable, so when the sun did come out we were on the beach, Sara’s favourite spot. She could spend hours playing in the sand and sea. Was it at times difficult to make her sleep back home in Maastricht, here she would suddenly get up and walk back to our house mumbling that she was tired and wanted to go to bed.
The last 2 days we rented a car to explore a bit the island. Remembering a holiday driving through England and panicking with the clutch at unexpected situations, I made sure we got an automatic this time. Renting a car in our part of the world normally involves several papers with terms and conditions and a long list of risks you can cover if paying extra. Here I signed a small A5 paper which basically said I was responsible for any damage or theft and had to carry all costs. This probably explained the low rent of € 12 a day. We took our chances anyhow and drove to the cable car on the North West coast. Unfortunately, Brigitte’s vertigo was stronger than the prospect of a fantastic view of Langkawi and the Thai coastline so we went to the next door Geo Park instead. Parts of Langkawi and its surrounding waters are marked as Unesco nature site. The Geo Park tries to make some money out of this by building a small eco look-a-like site with wooden houses and pond but is actually nothing more than a set of souvenir shops and food courts. Nevertheless, Sara spotted an elephant after a brief walk and desperately wanted to ride it. Elephants are original inhabitants of Maylasia we told ourselves to justify this circus act and bought a half hour ride through the jungle. Lasha the Asian elephant went on his way with a great deal of routine but Sara loved it to be so high in the trees and became even euphoric when she spotted a few monkeys. We also visited a small animal farm with loads of aggressive rabbits who displayed a true Pavlov reaction the moment Sara stepped over the small fence by jumping up against her. A visitor meant food and quickly we bought some carrots before they would start to nibble on Sara. There were also some snakes and a beautiful but caged Brahminy kite, the bird Langkawi was named after, but altogether the park was a rather depressing experience.
Before driving back to our house we decided have a look at one of the top end resorts on the island, the Datai. Hidden in a small bay the resort is named after, the hotel is beautifully constructed with wood and stone into the landscape. Lots of perfectly dressed staff, a beautiful pool and an almost serene peacefulness. No place to bring your kids but great to spend some quality time as newly weds or if you have to fix something relationship wise if your budget allows for this kind of luxury (www.lhw.com/datai). Driving home we saw quite a few monkey families next to the road who were not shy of cars at all. Although they look very friendly, they are still wild animals so we didn’t get out of the car but took a few pictures from the open car window. On of the older monkeys was suffering from the same thing I do when pictures are taken, always have the eyes closed (this also explains why I am not on many pictures). Every time we wanted to put him on film he closed his eyes as if on purpose.
The next day we drove to the North coast to Tanjung Rhu. Having your own car is much more fun than a taxi. Traffic is low and you only have to watch out for the occasional dare devil who wants to overtake at an almost impossible part of the road. The only thing we didn’t get was a child seat for Sara, so was strapped in the back with a belt with Brigitte next to her. Not so strange if you saw who locals transported their offspring in cars or motor bikes. Tanjung Rhu was the hub for tours into the mangroves and bat caves but we opted for a take away lunch on the beach enjoying the stunning scenery. Emerald water and small islands with the coast of Thailand on the horizon.
The rain now started to come during the days as well, time to move on again. The East coast was our initial goal but apart from the nine hour bus ride it would be difficult to get to Singapore again from Kota Bahru. The prospect of several long bus rides throughout Malaysia was not appealing but surfing the Internet we found another solution to our logistics problem. More on this in our next post on the blog.
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