Day 20 - Langkawi

We wake to another brilliant sunrise and  head to breakfast just a short 200 metre walk from our chalet. We are really lucky being so close to the lobby... some of the chalets are hidden away over half a kilometre away up in the rainforest. The trolly busses regularly run around the resort so you don't have to walk but sometimes the wait can be quite long.

Today is an "Out" day.... Liz reckons every second day is her "Pool Day" when I catch upon the Blog and have a read while she heads for the pool only to find that the smart ones have already staked out their claim to a couch by putting their towel on it as soon as the towel guy opens his stall. Still, she manages to find a spot amongst the "Pink Brigade"... they haven't heard about skin cancer and like the ad back home says... there are a lot of skin cells under extreme stress here. Madness! 

Liz wants to head back to Pantai Basir Hitam (Black Sands Beach) because the stalls there have some cheap clothes... the 747 will definitely need a trailer on the flight home! Guided by the reliable TomTom it takes about 25 minutes, wheeling through pretty kampongs and rubber plantations. 

While Liz hits the stalls I head down to the beach for some shots of an amazing cloud bank hanging over the Ko Tarutao islands to the north. Lot of other visitors walk down to the beach and it seems they all want a photo so I am kept busy taking shots of them using their cameras. Most are Arab tourists and can't speak a word of English but they are polite and thankful for the photos.

I meet up with an Australian couple enjoying their first time in Langkawi. They have been up in Phuket but they reckon here is better... they like the unspoilt villages and less crowds. They try to take a shot of themselves with their heavy DSLR so I grab their Canon and we make sure we get the islands and scenery in the background. We discuss the political rubbish happening back home and agree that our country has become a laughing stock. They are staying at the same hotel so we might meet up for drinks.

A couple of local lads from the nearby kampong are flying their kites and keeping cool in the water. They speak no English but are keen to have their photo taken so they ham it up and pose for some shots. 

It turns out they are from the local fishing village which is called Kampong Yu... about 300 metres away towwards the cement factory. I've been here once before and it is tucked away down a side road so no tourists go there. It is very picturesque so we drive around and manage to capture some of the magic. 

These small fishing villages are the soul of the island... they are generally unkempt, with rusting engines and other gear laying about and the smell of fish is ever present, but they are fascinating places with so much character. Seafood is a big part of the local diet both here and on mainland Malaysia so these villages are kept busy.
 

We head back to the hotel for a quick shower and freshen up... it seeems a waste of time... step outside the air-conditioned hotel room and you break a sweat almost immediately.

We then head out to visit Dr Abdul Hussain, Rahmat's brother, who lives on the other side of the island. He's retired but is doing research into herbal medicine and he conducts tours of his herb garden called Dr Ghani's Herbwalk and even former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir (the one who crossed swords with Paul Keeting) is a friend of Dr Hussain and has visited.

We enjoy cups of tea and some Malaysian sweets while sitting under the trees in the garden and Dr Hussain tells us all about his work and family. He has nine children... 5 with a former wife and 4 with his current wife! As the sun sets over the rainforest, I can already hear squadrons of mosquitos warming up in the nearby mangroves, preparing for their nightly sorties to cause havoc amongst the human invaders. 

Time for us to go so we bid the Dr and his family farewell and we decide to dine at the restaurant owned by Tun Dr Mahathir and recommended to us by Rahmat, The Loaf at Perdana Quay, right next to the Mare Blu where we dined a couple of nights ago.

We score a table right next to the marina overlooking the expensive cruisers and yachts moored just a few feet away. These two are both over 100 feet long and we find out that the weekly charter rate is 280,000 ringit (about $85,000!)


The end of another interesting day... tomorrow is "Pool Day" so Liz will soak up the sun... and get a little more pink before we head home on Monday.