Langkawi - The Island of Legends

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Well that is the by-line as you arrive, and what they want you to believe. The legends are apparently many, including feuding giants that threw stuff about that turned into the landscape, and they then got punished by being turned into the two largest mountains on the island, and a maiden who was innocently executed and in turn cursed the island - by doing so and to prove her innocence her blood flowed white which seeped into the land staining the sand white here.

18th November 2010

Never more so than today has the day has the moniker “ the day after the night before” been appropriate on this holiday. So much so that I have zero pictures and not much to say. I did see the beach today and it was stunning - white sand pretty quiet and blue sea, but I was out on my own and only went for a quick walk so headed somewhere for lunch not long after my brief stroll. I had a nice pizza in an Italian place run by some Indian guys, and then headed back to the room.

I arrived back to find Lou asleep, and not much altered for most of the afternoon. I used the laptop while she slept, up until about dinner time when the clouds rolled in. I had been due to use Skype to have a chat with home but the rain, and the accompanying storm had other ideas. The lightning struck, the thunder rolled and the rain fell and somewhere along the line the internet failed. Not just in my hostel or the town, but the whole island, as I later found out.

When the rain eventually stopped about 10pm I did venture out once more to purchase some more toothpaste but other than that there is little to say about a day that should really be classed as a write off! I suppose as its our first we shouldn’t be too disappointed.

19th November 2010

The start of our second full day in Malaysia, began with an alarm, which neither if us welcomed, despite going to bed reasonably early in my case, and sleeping all day in Lou’s case! So we hit snooze and ignored it, like so many of us do. Our good intentions floating out the window as we rolled over. An hour later we finally did get up, shower, breakfast, and head out into the silence of Pantai Cenang. This place may be the biggest resort in Langkawi but it is anything from bustling. Certainly it doesn’t do mornings - we wandered about trying to find a place to stay as our two nights were up in our first abode and they were full tonight. So we wandered aimlessly asking in a few places, before agreeing to take a room for the same money at a place closer to the beach, with a nicer feel to it. We returned to pack our stuff and in the process drop off some laundry at the local place we had spotted (moving on all the time makes doing laundry quite tricky and I wouldn’t like to say how many times some of the garments had been worn!). We relocated and looked at the beach (Lou’s first look) and took a dip. After this we pontificated a bit on what to do next.

We realised that we had last done an activity in Chiang Mai, since then we had floated along, and not taken a tour, or been on a trip. As we realised this we made the decision to hire a car and go and see some of the island. The simple decision to DO something was like medicine and we both instantly felt refreshed to be "doing" ( It is very easy to be happy not doing much but it can lead to a malaise that is not always the best thing). With this decision made we decided to grab some lunch and then set out to discover what Langkawi has to offer.

Lunch was a decidedly mediocre affair but I suppose going into an Italian restaurant and ordering a local eastern dish, and a burger was not the most sensible idea, after all their pizza had been decent the day before.

We then wandered in the direction of the post office to send a few items, checking out car hire prices along the way. We reached where the map in the guidebook states the post office is but there was nothing there, and the only person we could find to ask gave us some hazy directions to a sub post office in a shop which may or may not be open and may or may not take parcels. With this quality information we decided to knock that idea on the head and just get the car.

We found a place which hired out cars and it was only 100 RM a day, after trying to barter, the guy reduced the price to 90RM but not because of my skills at bartering, more the fact that I could drive the manual car that was cheaper! It would seem that the US aversion to manuals means cheaper prices for us Brits 😊

The paperwork done, (during which point the guy was very surprised that Lou also had a license and the ability to drive manual cars) we got into the car, that was like a sweat box after being parked in the sun all morning. Leaking fluid from every pore, with the windows down until the fairly ineffectual aircon started to work, we got moving in the direction of the main town on the island, Kuah. This in itself was not an easy task as the slightly “kev’d up” car had a big metal gear knob on the gear stick, with no explanation of the gears (which wasn’t a big problem) and was hotter than the surface of the sun, meaning I was getting something akin to third degree burns every time I changed gear!

After driving for about 15 minutes and using a cloth to protect my hand to change gear, the metal had cooled enough to allow me to touch it with my skin, and the ride became a little smoother.
After such a long time without driving (nearly 3 months) it was odd to be behind the wheel again, but the quiet roads made for an easy re-adjustment. What wasn’t so pleasant was the fat exhaust pipe on the car meaning every time I accelerated the car roared at us - something Lou wasn’t impressed with.

We got to Kuah and drove through looking for both shops and the cinema en route. Neither seemed very apparent, and we eventually reached the ferry port where we had arrived days earlier. We stopped here to view the few shops there were, and take a look at Eagle Square, a pretty large monument to the sea eagle, the avian mascot for this place.

This done, our hunt for a post office continued still to no avail as we remembered that being a Muslim area, and a Friday afternoon it was likely closed anyway as the working week includes Sunday but not Friday.

Onwards we drove, back through the town with no sign of any shops worth viewing nor sight of the cinema (despite me spotting it on the taxi ride in on our first day). We headed across the island towards the Western tip and one of the “Geoparks” on the island, this involved passing a look out point so we stopped. As we parked the car we could see nothing, but there were some stairs leading up to a shelter of some kind above us, where we assumed we would have a beautiful view of the ocean. We climbed up and there in front of us in all it’s glory was Langkawi airport. Ian would have loved it, but it didn’t do much for me. I did take a video of a little plane taking off especially for him but I have no idea what type it was. Beyond the airport we could see the sea and it wasn’t a bad view but not what I was expecting I have to say.

So we went back down the stairs, and as the little car park was deserted Lou agreed to have a little drive around the car park. One lap was enough and surprise, surprise I was back behind the wheel. We ploughed on to the Geopark which also has a cable car ride, and whilst the park was pretty average the cable car was another story. It ascends the mountain at a 45 degree angle rising over 500m on the way. You ride over tropical jungle/forest and can view 2 different waterfalls, before arriving at the first of two different lookout stations and these truly did deserve the title. The view was spectacular over the island - with the ability to see both coasts at once, and to the South many more of the Langkawi archipelago, whilst to the North some of the Thai islands.

On another 100m or so in a mainly horizontal plane to a second lookout point and also a sky bridge. As we arrived Lou was getting very nervous about the descent in the cable car, and took one look at the sky bridge and declared “I’m not going on that”. We agreed that she would come at least to the start and, if not go across, take a couple of pics of me on it, but as we got there she bravely walked the entire length of the bridge whilst holding my hand in a slightly sweaty death grip. I didn’t tell her at the time, nor afterwards but the design of the bridge meant that the cables supporting it were moving and the whole thing was swaying in the breeze by a good foot or so, enough that I felt slightly nervous it has to be said.

We returned across the bridge and stood in a queue for the return car down the “mountain” (at only 570m above sea level I think it is technically a hill). We got into the car built for 6, just the two of us, and at the last minute a huge guy and his wife got in, making the car shake, and Lou a little more nervous. Lets face it the last place you want to be stuck with a 30 stone plus guy is in a cable car!

After the first fairly easy horizontal trip to the first station we went around the corner and started the real descent. We swung off the edge and rocked a bit, the death grip was back, and then, to Lou’s horror, it seemed that we had stopped. In actual fact the car had merely slowed a bit, or maybe our perception of it had, as we left behind the noise of the wheelhouse and once again seemed to be floating over the jungle canopy. Soon enough the whoosh of the cars in the opposite direction confirmed we were not only moving but moving at a similar pace, but it had certainly panicked both Lou and the other lady in the car a little.
After we “landed” on terra firma we returned to the car(of the driving variety) and back to our hotel, to check if the internet had returned. It had and we re-established contact with the world, whilst chatting to a couple from London who were coming to the end of their holiday here. After pumping them for info, we returned to our room and then headed out into the night to visit a restaurant they had recommended.

The food was good, and Lou even made the better choice, which is a rare event when we dine. We finished our meal and wandered home after what had felt like a really busy day, ready to settle in for the night, only to discover the beach bar/club next door has live music, and our room may as well have been in the place. Luckily we were both able to drop off still without too much bother, making the inconvenience only minor.

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Photos

View from our room's front door
the building in the foreground is the extension to the club next door!

A Long Way Down
and we hadn't got to the top yet!

Waterfall
Through the smoky glass of the cable car