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Pulau Langkai laidback adventuresFeb 21, 2009
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| At our our final destination together in Malaysia, Pulau Langkawi, Josh and I decided to do nothing more than relax on the beach, eat and drink beer at the local reggae bar. After our somewhat whirlwind tour, we are feeling a little bit lazy, and tired! We did however hire a car to drive around the island and see some of the sites, as there is no public transport here, so it's an option of hiring a car, or a scooter. Seeing as it's boiling hot everyday and the sun just beats down, the car option with air conditioning sounded very appealing, and easy on our fair skin! We hired a car for only AU$12 for th whole day, talk about bargins! That was about the only bargin we found which was a disappointment, as we were going duty free shopping! Now Langkawi Island is supposed to be a duty free island, but the only cheap things here are alcohol and cigarettes. EVERYTHING else, including electronics (I wanted to buy a mini laptop), sunglasses (Josh wanted a pair), perfume and clothing, is all really expensive! The laptop I wanted to buy was almost twice as expensive as in Australia, so not sure quite how that'a counted as being duty free! So we quickly left the duty free shopping area at Kuah Jetty, and went in search of some more natural wonders in the interior of the island. The sights all turned out to be a bit disappointed to be honest, although we hadn't really known what to expect. The Cultural Craft Centre, which touted itself as the premier place to get traditional Malay crafts, was a cross between a dodgy market and typical souvenir joint. So we did a quick reccie of the place and headed off. Next stop was the crocodile farm. Josh and I had a conversation in the car about what kind of place the farm was: was it an actual farm, where they breed crocodiles to kill them, in which case it was kinda weird to go and have a look at them, or was it more like a crocodile zoo or park, somewhere that they do conservation? Well, it turned out to be a bit of both, which I know sounds strange. Basically at the crocodile farm they breed the crocodiles for their skin and meat, there was a lovely range of handbags, belts, wallets, shoes and chinese medicine at the very start of the farm :P But apparently by breeding them this way, it also assists with conservation efforts because it reduces the likelihood of people poaching the wild crocodiles illegally. So it was a little strange to go around looking at crocodiles that you know are going to end up as a handbag, but oh well! There was also a crocodile show of various death-defying feats of various handlers lying, sitting and putting their hands inside the crocodile's mouth... the funny thing was, the crocodiles were so fat and overfed that they could barely get out of their pools to do their tricks, let alone chase after the handlers (or be bothered, for that matter!) Second to last stop was the tallest waterfall on Langkawi, which I was really looking forward to and thought i might even change into my swimmers and have a dip, as the waters are supposed to have healing properties and be very very nice. As we walked closer and closer to where the waterfall is supposed to be however, I said to Josh, "I can't hear anything, can you?" And sure enough, the previous three months of no rain on Langkawi interior has resulted in the waterfall totally drying up! We did see some very cute monkeys who seemed to be hanging out in hope of bath as well, but alas! We also stopped off at several very nice beaches along the way, which were very picturesque and had warm blue water, about 24 degrees :) You really are spoilt for choice in Langkawi of gorgeous beaches to swim and relax at, and generally the sand is very fine, soft and feels lovely to walk on. Although we made it out to the cable car, we decided that the 25RM was better spent on beer and nachos back at our favourite bar in Pantai Cenang where we were staying, as it's Josh's last night today, the 25 February. Soon I'll be a lone, intrepid traveller, eek! :P Unfortunately no photos as the internet cafe appears to have deleted them all off my camera and fried it somehow :( |
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