Leaving Ourselves Behind

We were so looking forward to our week in Langkawi, attracted in part by Lonely Planet’s assessment that “Langkawi is synonymous with tropical paradise and for good reason.” Perhaps we should have looked closer at that copy (circa 1982, reprinted 2013), and realized that a lot can change in even 13 years.

We started out on the wrong foot (no fault of Langkawi). We had booked a charming little cottage through Airbnb, with promises of sensational breakfasts and a view over a rice paddy (including water buffalo.) When we arrived, we discovered that there was indeed a rice paddy, but our charming little cottage overlooked a walled garden. Our front porch was baking in the heat. The rice paddy was in the back.

We knew ahead of time that we were a bit isolated and we would have to take taxis everywhere, but they’re plentiful and super-cheap. What we didn’t stop to think about was that the closest restaurant was a kilometre away and there was nowhere to go even for a walk. Absolutely everything, from beach time to attractions, was many kilometres away. We would be trapped in our room.

So… we decided to take a bath on our reservation (we got back less than half) and find another place more suitable. With such short notice, we did manage to find a hotel just two blocks from the beach. It is bare-bones modest, not 100% clean, but the price is right ($42 a night), the owners are simply lovely and there are plenty of restaurants and shops close by.

This was our first sunset, a 6-minute walk away.

We have seen no end of self-videos in Malaysia. Is there a term, like selfies, to describe the act of setting up your phone and performing dances and twirls and poses? This woman must have twirled about for 15 minutes.

Langkawi is an archipelago of 99 islands dotted around the main island. It has a population of about 100,000 people, measures 25 km. north-to-south and a little more east-to-west. It can be driven around in less than two hours and in that space of time, the landscape changes from mangroves to mountains to jungle to small villages to beaches.

The beaches are described as being pristine with clear water, but we did not find that to be the case. There are certainly remote beaches that might fit that description; this northern beach Tanjung Rhu was a stunning example. We stopped there for a half hour on our mangrove tour ( more on that later).

Langkawi’s main beaches, Pentai Cenang and its sister beach, Pentai Tengah ( the one closer to us), are certainly beautiful to look at. The beaches are wide and white sand, and the water is so inviting at first glance. But the water is murky and on a few days, we both felt the sting of baby jellyfish (or water fleas, as our new friend Wendy accurately described them.) Not a criticism, this is the ocean after all. But my warm-water gold standards are the truly crystal waters of Greece, Albania and Turkey, and I half-expected to find the same thing here.

And, my idea of tropical paradise is more closely aligned with the photo above. The main beaches, although they are by no means crowded, are the natural location for jet-skis and giant flotation devices. Every day, piles of excited tourists marched down the beach to their assigned steeds. Led by a testosterone-driven young man who would swoop and scream around first to set the tone, this entire flotilla would then roar off for, admittedly, a thrilling two-hour ride.

So this is not my cup of tea, so what? Do we want a cranky grandmother spoiling their fun? No, we do not. Just saying – we showed up to the wrong party.

There were other more sedate beach pastimes to enjoy. Sunset parasails.

Building sandcastles.

Beach strolls.

Paddleboards.

We joined a mangrove tour and again, the reality fell far short of the expectation. We’ve been on a couple of mangrove tours in Mexico and in India and they were incredible. Small low boats steered through mangroves so close on either side you could reach out and touch them. Vivid bird life, mysterious jungle sounds and smells – very heart of darkness.

This tour was the opposite of that. Dozens upon dozens of boats lined up, each ready for their load of 20 passengers, all falling out of dozens of white vans.

Our first stop, inexplicably, was a fish farm, where we all disembarked, dutifully stared down at these wooden containers filled with fish ranging from minnows to grouper-sized fish. We could also use the toilet. Then we got back on our boat.
Zero information about anything.

We entered the mangrove area, but the water channels were quite wide – none of the boats entered right into the mangrove. Still, it was nice to be out on the water, chatting with an animated group of young Danes.

For a while, we were back out on open water.

We could view the sign for the Kilim Geoforest Park, which is a UNESCO site, and is also 500 million years old.

Back into the channels we went to find the sea eagles, who were predictably swirling about by the dozens, as they know this is feeding time. You’ll have to take my word for it, as we were on the “wrong” side of the boat for photos; I deleted a dozen shots of trees and skies and partial eagle bodies.

Then, off to the bat cave for a quick stroll, which honestly, was a non-event. A short cave, in and out, but we were warned to be careful of the monkeys. This little family was adorable – they cuddled together and groomed one another.

I was taken aback by this sign. We were certainly warned about the aggressive tendencies of the monkeys and the necessity of hiding all food and resisting the urge to bare our teeth at them, but…death? I looked it up and yes, there have been documented cases, mainly in India, of monkeys killing humans. We considered ourselves warned.

So what happened next was extremely perplexing. Our guide made a BIG point about telling us not to feed the monkeys, but we no sooner had gotten back into our boat and glided down the channel for a bit than the captain pulled over to one side and stopped alongside two other boats. Within a minute several monkeys climbed down and onto our boats. Our captain pulled out a bag of chopped apples and started tossing them to the monkeys, presumably to allow passengers to get their money shots.

INSANE on so many levels. First of all, feeding monkeys is prohibited in Malaysia. Secondly, our guide had gone on and on about the importance of not feeding the monkeys, and yet, this was obviously a planned part of the tour. Thirdly, we were all being put at risk, being trapped in close quarters with the monkeys and one of our fellow passengers became hysterical with fear. After a couple of us complained, the captain pulled away from shore and set off for our journey home.

We had a more successful outing with our cable car ride up Machinchang, one of the steepest in the world. It is an undeniably vertiginous 20-minute ride and our day was particularly windy, so while it was thrilling, it was also a relief to step off onto the platform of the first station.

Stephen, looking a lot braver than he felt.

The cable car stops at two locations – Middle Station and Top Station. At Middle Station is the glass-bottomed Skywalk, a restaurant and several viewing platforms. Take another cable ride up to Top Station and that is the entry point for the Skybridge, which runs for 125-metres at over 2300 feet above sea level.

Views from Middle Station.

We made the decision (wrong decision, as it turned out) to begin our exploration by first taking the cable car to the Top Station, and then come back down to Middle Station to go on the glass-bottomed SkyWalk.

It was so incredibly windy up there that in order to take photos, we had to hang onto our phones firmly with both hands and then quickly snap a shot. It felt precarious, to say the least. It would be an exaggeration to say we risked being blown off our feet, but, as they say down east, that was some wind.

Among the world’s notable cable cars – Vancouver! (Probably the same company who built this one 23 years ago).

This shows just a fraction of the love locks attached to both sides of the fence. I always wonder two things when I see these love locks. 1) How much weight do they add to the fence and 2) how many of these “love you forever” couples are still together? If it was a bad breakup, would it irk you to think that you and John are still cozily linked?

This is where things got real. We hopped on the cable car to Middle Station, only to discover to our horror that while it stopped on one side to take on new passengers, there was no way for us to disembark on the other side. We were forced to ride all the way down to the base again, but felt sure that the operators would be sympathetic to our plight.

No, they were not. Our many pleas that we made an honest mistake and there were no signs telling us that there was only one route to take, etc. etc. fell on deaf ears. We assured them we had not yet taken part in our Skywalk adventure and we had paid for it, and their solution was for us to pay again for a new cable car ride ( $80 for two, plus a long lineup – not happening.)

We realized that while they had the power to make an executive decision, judge us to be truthful and let us go up, they were caught in bureaucracy that would not allow that. So, I had to pull out the big guns – I burst into tears. We were sent down to customer service, where my tears finally made a difference, and after a few phone calls to the higher-ups, we were allowed to go back up the mountain. Drained, but happy.

Now, in theory, this adventure should be simply a thrill. You are walking on glass over 2000 feet above ground, and you are 100% safe doing so. We were all properly prepared with booties on our shoes to prevent scratching the surface, our bags stowed in lockers and our phones outfitted with straps to prevent dropping them.

But, your mind plays tricks on you when you look down. My stomach just did a flip looking at this photo. Big mistake wearing a dress, btw.

Lots of staff around. This lovely man demonstrated how I could sit down on the glass, if I wanted. I did not.

He also kindly took a photo of us.

And now, our week in Langkawi has come to an end and we leave with quite mixed feelings about it. It certainly wasn’t all bad – the people here are so engaging and helpful and kind, as are all Malaysians we have met so far.

The island feels a little crumbling and in need of TLC. The contradictions are puzzling. On the same island that a Four Seasons, a Hilton and a number of other $$$$ hotels exist, there is also a predominance of budget and mid-range places that could use a refresh. There seems to be a glut of building cranes and projects going on, but the basic infrastructure is in need of repair.

The attractions feel dated and yet there are duty-free shops in abundance. Food is great and while there is fancy dining, there are loads of places that serve up fabulous dinners for between $5 and $10. Getting around is easy, with bike and scooter rentals everywhere and Grab taxis ( their ride-sharing taxis) costing just a few dollars.

It is undeniably tropical, but it is not quite paradise.