Like kids in a candy shop!
Trip Start
Feb 01, 2004
1
17
44
Trip End
Jun 01, 2004
Pulau Langkawi,
Malaysia
Friday, February 27, 2004
We had a great trip here, but it just goes to show you that even the best planning can go awry..we arrived on a public holiday and all rooms were booked (or so we were told)...we envisioned sleeping on our camp hammocks with our mosquito nets on the beach until the holiday was over...our guide book didn't say anything about Awal Muharram (Muslim New Year) but all was well in the end. We paid more than we wanted to but we spent a day in a great hotel in Kuah and moved to the beach the next day.
Langkawi comprises about 100 islands off NW Peninsular Malaysia
PL1
. The main town is Kuah (meaning gravy), associated with an ancient legend of two battling giants who overturned a giant pot of curry on the spot where the town now stands. Lamgkawi (according to local folklore) derived its name from eagle (helang). In old malay kawi denotes reddish brown, hence the name Lang Kawi meaning reddish brown eagle (and there are thousands of them here...)On one of our island hopping tours, the boatman fed them and they arrived in droves!The night market in Kuah was amazing and one can eat the best food ever for 1 ringitt (about 35 cents)!!! We have had a blast in the duty free where we got our first liquor of the trip (a litre bottle of Stoli for about 6 dollars CAD). The food is a mixture of Malay, Indian and Chinese. A typical breakfast is nasi lemak...coconut rice with sambal, peanuts, fish (dried anchovies), egg and assorted curries.
Malaysia is busy with great events. They just had the Malaysian Open near KL, and here they just finished the Tour de Langkawi bike race, and now they begin both the Ironman and the Royal International Regatta. We had breakfast with some of the competitors for the upcoming Ironman...so we're sticking around for it on Sunday since Canadian Gillian Bakker is defending her women's title!
We have done tons of jungle trekking, seen a traditional Malay dance show; we rode the cable car earlier today and trekked to Seven Wells, and had a blast island hopping the past few days.
We have been really reluctant to drive (other side of the road) and we have been reluctant to boat in strange waters as well. Luckily it is cheap to charter a boat and we visited three islands (one with tons of monkeys, one with a fresh water lake and one with tons of eagles.) Some of these islands have the most beautiful uninhabited beaches ever!
We will spend Sunday in Kuah for the Ironman, and we have opted to take a boat to Satun in Thailand. From there we have a few hours (about five) to get to Krabi, where we will do some caving and snorkelling. Then it is on to Phuket and parts north!
