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Published: December 7th 2009
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Day 24: Alor Star to Langkawi Island
When I woke up, J surprised me with a new plan to reroute, taking a ferry west to spend his birthday on Langkawi Island the next day. So we embarked right away for the ferry, unsure how far it would be. But first we ate breakfast. Of course. At the Chinese place around the corner, where we’d joined the party the previous day.
This time it was open and packed with customers, tables spilling out the doors and on to the pavement. Three stands were set up, apart from the main kitchen, and they each seemed to be competing with each other for business. Although one had a sole monopoly to serve drinks, so someone from that stand would come to your table, you’d order your drinks, and then you’d pay that person, right away. The obese man from yesterday seemed to be the star chef, and he was sweating buckets, cooking up a storm over a wok at one of the outdoor stalls. We asked a friend from the previous day for a recommendation and she brought us our first laksa, a very popular red curry noodle dish that sticks in
your throat and makes you cough. Two types of noodles, baby corn, carrots, onions, chicken and a lot of spicy red curry paste make up the dish. We also enjoyed a spare rib fried rice, recommended and prepared by the obese man.
Satiated, we said good bye and hopped on our waiting bikes, already loaded with our bags. We biked across town, by beautiful old mosques and ancient Islamic office buildings. Only ten miles out of town, we came upon the ferry terminal. Efficiently, we bought tickets for 23 ringit each, plus 5 ringit for each of our bikes, (about $9 each). We waited in a modern ferry terminal, with no goats, no chickens, not even any motorbikes! What a disappointment! There were all types of Muslim women to try not to stare at though, (let’s be honest here), including women in burkhas, only their eyeballs visible, with ten-year old daughters completely uncovered. Wearing normal clothing. (I later discovered that it is very rare to see a Malay Muslim woman wearing a burkha. Most of the women wearing burkhas in Malaysia are actually tourists from the Middle East, not locals.)
When the ferry was near, we were instructed
to go to the end of the pier and wait. Big, clawed crabs and sandfish crawled about on the sand below the pier, beside which rows of colorful fishing boats were docked. When the boat arrived, we were directed inside, to sit like sardines in tightly packed rows, like a schoolbus, and all the luggage was strapped on the front deck, our bikes lashed to a guardrail. The two-hour journey was tumultuous; the boat rode low in the water, rocking heavily side to side, waves splashing across the deck, soaking the luggage. People were nauseous and miserable, there was much puking, and a one-year old child with the face of a sixty-year old man screamed next to us the entire way. When the boat arrived at Langkawi Island, the passengers couldn’t wait to get off the ship, eagerly pushing their way out, us included. (We later found out there had been a small earthquake off the coast of Indonesia that afternoon, only a few hundred miles from where we were. We felt blessed that a rough ferry ride was all we felt.)
We disembarked on to a long jetty; to either side of us a blue, blue sky melted
in to an even bluer ocean. It was beautiful. While the others had to walk their belonging all the way down the jetty, we could just hop on our bikes, our luggage handily strapped to the bike sides, as usual, and bike the quarter mile to the dock. The dock was actually a fancy mall. I mean, the pier literally ended directly at the doors for this mall, which featured expensive jewelry shops, luxury chains and American fast food restaurants. There was a bakery that was so elegantly done that we actually thought it was a jewelry shop for the first five minutes we were in there.
We ate the most dreamy pizza sitting outside of the mall, by the water. It had a garlic, cheese base, with a cream cheese crust, plus olives, capers, bacon and beef. At 30 ringit, or $10, it was extremely expensive for our budget, but it was so, so good. Realizing that Langkawi, by all signs, was a luxury vacation spot for rich people, we were feeling a little concerned. In all directions, we saw nothing but skyscraper hotels and luxury rental vehicles. We probably should have researched this island more before visiting…But
then our waiter drew us a map to a nearby cheap hotel and we untensed a bit.
But when we arrived at the recommended cheap hotel, looking tiny and quaint between two mega-hotels to either side, it was 60 ringit, about $20. We biked on, saw a few more little places at the same price and were almost ready to settle when we found the CocoTop, a lovely, new hotel set discreetly atop a bakery. Just ten rooms, all smelling thoroughly like delicious baked bread, the reception inside the bakery. Only 40 ringit; boy were we amazed! In this land of new and expensive we had found a place new and inexpensive! Right on the main road. We immediately got to work watching the bakery in motion. Fifteen very, very busy and unfriendly employees made white bread, buns, pizza and pastries, zipping around the large kitchen, ignoring our fascination. Where was the tour!? Couldn't they tell we needed to learn!?
Alas, we eventually peeled ourselves away and set off biking to an Indian restaurant we’d heard about. About an hour later, we said, “Hmm…this island is bigger than we expected,” and we settled for Shrimpz, a shrimp farm
Women in Burkhas at the Mall
Probably tourists from the Middle East, as most Malay Muslim women do not wear burkhas. cum restaurant. Here they had tanks of fish, manatee shrimp and lobster so you could choose your own dinner. Wooden tables were set outside overlooking the wet fields where the shrimp grew. Unfortunately, upon consulting the menu, we discovered a 1 lb lobster to be $80! Embarrassed, we quietly slipped away and back on to our bikes. I think my blood sugar was too low, because I soon became very unpleasant. Twenty minutes more of biking, the Indian place nowhere in sight, we settled for a cute Malay place by the side of the road. The tables were set outside in a little garden, each table like a little hut, covered with a roof.
We dined on ice lemon tea, roti (a popular bread similar to a crepe), a vegetable and meat omelette, and vegetable nasi (an excellent curry). A TV was pulled out to the edge of the main building, and we moved to another little hut to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics with a group of Balinese men. Meanwhile the sky had opened up and it was pouring rain. When we were ready to go home, we asked our server to call us a taxi.
No taxi appeared but while talking to a local kid and his friends, one boy said he would call his father, a taxi driver. Hmm…another half hour and no taxi. Meanwhile, I spoke to the Muslim girls that had served us. They were my age, and told me, “You wear the headscarf because it makes your face look cute. But you don’t have to sleep in it,” answering two of my most pressing questions. We giggled together, talking about cultural differences. They loved their headscarves and were proud to wear them.
It stopped raining and we biked back to our hotel. But the main road was well-lit, the air was cool and refreshing after the storm, and the moon and stars were out. It was lovely and there were few cars.
Back at our hotel, hours later than we’d planned, we began the celebration for J’s birthday. Prior to departing for dinner, we had visited the nearby “Duty-Free” shop. There are no liquor stores allowed on the island, due to some Muslim regulations, but the “Duty-Free” shop can sell all the booze it wants. Hmmm… For J’s birthday, I’d bought him an exciting collection of beers to try,
as well as chocolate and pistachios. We didn’t have a fridge, but we’d put some of the beers in the sink, with ice. The ice had all melted but the beers were cold. We were able to get an Olympic basketball game on one of the three channels on our TV. Relaxing on our comfortable bed in our little room, drinking imported beers and imported chocolate, we felt truly blessed to be celebrating in such luxury.
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tanhb
non-member comment
Actually those burkhas u saw are not locals. They are tourist as well from Middle East. Very seldom you see malaysian wearing burhkas. It is not common here except the Middle eastern tourists