| At the hotel, we found a taxi driver who
offered to drive us to the waterfall for 5 RM (US $1.25). When we reached the waterfall,
he said he would give us a tour of Langkawi and rattled off half a dozen places he could
take us. His price was 120RM (US $30). Frankly, we just wanted a ride back to the hotel,
but we agreed. As travellers unaccustomed to travelling in SE Asia, I wasn't sure what to
expect from our driver. However, his service turned out to be the biggest bargain of the
weekend. Not only did he take us everywhere he promised, he gave us a map of the island
with all the attractions and let us pick what we wanted to see. At the end, we had to make
him take us back to the hotel, although he was willing to take us to a restaurant in town
and wait for us to eat dinner before taking us back to the hotel. In all, we had his
services for nearly five hours. Of course, a big tip was in order for his great service
and patience in waiting for us to do our sightseeing. |
|
| The accomodations at Berjaya Langkawi
resort were not hotel rooms, but little chalets built on the water and on the side
of the mountain. It felt a lot like going to camp. One interesting thing about the
remoteness of these chalets is the fact that monkeys like to try to get into your room and
look for food (I guess like bears would at Yellowstone Park). According to Jayne, who is
usually very reliable about these sorts of things, one such guest came knocking at the
window while I was in the shower. If you're not used to having a monkey rattling your
window (and who is?), this can be quite shocking. We were
awakened again in the middle of the night by a clap of thunder that shook our little
chalet like a birdcage. Apparently, June to September is monsoon season in Langkawi, and
we were experiencing, well, a monsoon. Another flash of bright light followed immediately
by ground shaking thunder took out the power to our air con. Amazingly enough,even in the
pouring rain and nearly third world conditions, the staff of the resort had power restored
before sunrise. |
|
| The next day, we scheduled a tour to a
dive platform on an island about 20km south of Langkawi. To get there, you take a large
high speed catamaran. As you know, the weather had not been good the night before and the
ocean was choppy and unforgiving. About 25% of the people were seasick by the time we
reached the platform, including Jayne, and I wasn't feeling so great myself. Worst of all,
the platform was not attached to the ocean floor, so it rocked almost as badly as the
catamaran. It took another half hour before we could get from the platform to the beach,
and finally started feeling better. The coral around this
platform and island is supposed to be among the best in the Indian Ocean, and from what we
could tell, it was gorgeous. Unfortunately the weather made the ocean too rough for good
snorkelling and visibility was very limited. We could tell, however, that in prime season
(November to March), the reef must be excellent for diving and snorkelling. The moral of
this story is not to go to Langkawi during the monsoon season, or at least, don't expect
to do any snorkelling. |
 |
| Our final day in Langkawi was spent by
the rather large pool, sipping tropical drinks and soaking up the sun. Because the
Malaysian Ringgit is a highly devalued currency, food and drink remain a great bargain for
tourists, especially those with stronger currencies like Americans and Europeans. We had
three huge meals and all the tropical drinks we wanted for US $60. We left Langkawi Airport a little more tan, waving goodbye to our new monkey friends and promising to return when the monsoon season is over. |
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