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Published: September 22nd 2008
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5 nights in Langkawi. Probably the best of my many many trips out here over the years 😊 We stayed at The Andaman as it's Sprog's favourite hotel in Langkawi - this in no small part owing to the intermittent presence of its Resident Monitor Lizard. The beach at The Andaman isn't as nice as the wide powdery-white stretches at Tanjung Rhu or the super luxurious Four Seasons - but I like it here a lot. It's the familiarity - being nodding acquaintances with Resident Monitor Lizard and all.
Sprog was on a quest to find as many
'LIZARDS' - from geckos and skinks to alligators and frilled dragons - as possible. Yeah - he watches a lot of Harry Potter and National Geographic... As such, I was forced to trawl every possible reptilian haunt with him, on the island. This he managed with varying degrees of success. This I too managed with varying degrees of enthusiasm... ... We covered a LOT of ground in five days. The Crocodile Farm (it's run down and a bit of a sorry sight but feeding time is actually pretty entertaining - there's a sweet malformed toothless croc that
Sprog is particularly fond of); the Snake Farm (smaller garden variety geckos, jungle runners, pygmy chameleons, blue-tailed tree lizards - though Sprog was hoping for a Green Basilisk), the Aquarium (has its share of crawling, slithering reptiles amongst all the fishes and ooh! - my favourites - the penguins and walruses). Moved on to the tangled undergrowth behind our room - didn't find any iguanas but eyeballed a young wild boar at close proximity - !!! Then
the search for lizards continued along pathways and in padi fields just about everywhere - HUGE success - spotted TWO monitor lizards - all forked tongues and beautiful scales on their daily strolls! Yay!
Spouse was working everyday from 8 till 4 down in Pantai Tengah (a good 40 minutes away) on Big Sister's current project - team building with her NGO staff. Langkawi really isn't a bad spot for a working week 😊 He rented a
lime green MYVI (yes that's a car) for the purposes of this daily commute. He thought it was zippy and practical. I found it hideous. Big Sister loved it
and wants to buy one - she doesn't drive.
Spouse (before/in between/after work) and I were on a quest to eat as much as possible. This of course is something we've just about honed to perfection through plenty of practice 😊 Langkawi restaurants are NOT cheap and generally (
naturally!) not as good as anything in Penang (Spouse is originally an island boy from THE PEARL you see). We managed more than 15 eating establishments in our time there - the trick is to have 2 breakfasts, and dinner mains and dinner desserts in different places
😊 My favourites were
Warung Mak Tam - RM1 for very good nasi lemak bungkus with your pick of sambal sotong/udang/ikan bilis OR chicken curry OR beef rendang - seriously -
RM1! The Pavilion at the Datai - Thai fine dining in a canopy of trees - the green curry! those crab & prawn cakes!
The Lighthouse Restaurant - not the best food though I did quite like the prawn percik. But that old lighthouse setting - rickety wooden tables on the beach, sand between your toes, salt in the air, wind in your hair, streaky red sky, golden
sun setting... you get the picture - does it for me everytime 😊 Everyone goes on about L'Osteria and the Sun Group of restaurants, and whilst they're trendy and stylish - the food's pretty mediocre... sorry! Oh and I DO like Bon Ton and Barn Thai there too. Note: service in Langkawi follows Island Time. It's s-l-o-w... very obliging but s-l-o-w.
MY solo ambition was to snooze by the pool/on the beach at some point! I managed about thirty minutes on day ONE - that was IT! 😞 😞 😞 Sprog, Spouse and The Weather conspired against me... ... Oh well - it's amazing how irresistable overpriced beaded pouches, straw bags, terry-cloth dresses, terry-cloth
shorts, mother-of-pearl notebooks, paper mache vases, fish key-chains and plastic coral snowglobes are when it's raining... 😊
After some debate - Should we swim with colourful fish at The Marine Park? (been there, done that and would definitely do it again); Explore the Mangrove Swamps for yet more sightings of reptiles and amphibians? (not enough time given Spouse's work schedule); Cruise the islands with champagne? Cable car rides? Rent some bicycles and wash our hair under a waterfall?? (Uhm -
too much rain and no Timotei
😉 ) - The unanimous decision by all 3 of us was to intrepidly trek a little slice of magnificent rainforest...
Boots laced and mosquito repellant sprayed - we met our earnest, well-schooled guide, Khairul, and set off... It was dense, damp and slippery, and the light was fading, but we saw our first lemur (just gorgeous, such a thrill - we're Kenny Hillbillies - we
live with monkeys - but lemurs... !!), chewed fresh raw Tongkat Ali (yesss - Spouse was most interested in the natural properties of said root...), learnt about bulwark roots, soil erosion, bamboo thorns, hooks on vines, respecting anthills (Langkawi is after all a land of many many myths... ), failed to find any pangolins (that was my mini mission - have loved pangolins since my first safari in South Africa -
what Big 5? ;) )... ... oh and Spouse managed a somewhat pale but commendable imitation of Tarzan on the vines (will not post the video here - he is a respectable professional 😊).
The rainforests truly ARE awesome though. Learning just a little more about them here was
inspiring and humbling. I really would like to come back to do the herbwalk, the ethnobotanic mangrove study, and the canopy adventure trail - abseiling, climbing, rappelling,
gliding high above ground through the rainforest treetops on a cable system with platforms and bridges! OR -
alternatively - maybe just doing what we actually opted for :
Hot stone massages all around the next day 😊 HangLiPoh
xoxox
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About the MYVI...
I loved that pea green MYVI car- exactly what I want when I drive, one day.What was wrong with it? Sister no 1