Langkawi Island, Malaysia
December 2016 – February 2017
We stayed in very comfortable homestay accommodation in Pantai Tengah, a quiet town with a superb beach and an excellent choice of restaurants. However, a great deal of the beach frontage has been taken over by major international developers who have moved in to construct luxury resorts. This means there are now only two or three access paths to the sand. In a couple of years time, we are sure the town will be unrecognisable with luxury resorts fronting the beach. We are lucky to have seen the place before that happens.
Langkawi is a lovely, picturesque island and they appear to employ street cleaners all day, every day removing any litter, fallen leaves, etc. As a result it must be one of the cleanest areas we have seen anywhere in SE Asia – and beyond! The beaches, too, are cleaned regularly. It is a perfect place for us with superb beaches, warm sea and very low living costs. Here is a view of the main road (the only road in Pantai Tengah) just outside our accommodation:
We rented a car at the amazingly low rate of the equivalent of UK£3 per day which includes full insurance and unlimited kilometres. OK, it's not a Lamborghini and although there are a few rattles, it does get us from A to B. Oh, and to start it in the morning you have to pump the accelerator pedal several times and are then greatly embarrassed by a screeching noise which alerts all the other guests that the ageing nomads are off for the day.
As you know, wherever we are in the world we love exploring and this trip had been no exception. We were on an exploratory mission last week towards the Datai peninsula when Elaine, who was driving said, "Let's go down that road". "That road", was a narrow gap between the safety barrier and a very uneven surface, with a just enough room for our small car to pass through. "We can't go down there", cries David. We could and we did!
In a few hundred yards we had views of the sea through the woods. We parked the car, walked on a path through the trees and were rewarded with the sight of a stunning beach. No one else there, no facilities just an idyllic location and making us feel like Robinson Crusoe and Girl Friday. It must rate as one of the most picturesque beaches we have ever visited. Well done, Elaine!
It takes about 40 minutes to reach this beach in the car but love it there so much, we are moving a few miles north when we leave Pantai Tengah. We have found lovely accommodation in a rural setting just 10 minutes away from this amazing place.
We have now settled in to our new accommodation. It is a small studio apartment in a lovely, peaceful, rural location in the north west of the island in the Datai Valley – and much closer to our “Robinson Crusoe” beach. Padimas Village is a small complex in the countryside with just three double bedroom houses for rental, the owners' very large property,
and our small home:
We were told there was no in-shore coral reef off Langkawi and would have to go to one of the other nearby islands. However, there is some lovely live coral at this beach close to the shore. It may not be Red Sea quality or quantity but it is good to explore the patches of reef. Here is a view of our base camp at our “Robinson Crusoe” beach. Some previous visitor had built a makeshift sun shade which we used. Squatters rights!
On a visit there last week we were treated to the sight of four sea otters, scampering along the beach into the sea.
We do have to keep our picnic well hidden and well covered. A family of monkeys come close to base camp and when we were distracted one day, one of them made a dash for the food. Fortunately Elaine spotted him in time or we may have gone hungry! They sit on a tree just a few yards behind us, calling out to make sure we know they're there; presumably in the hope we will give them some morsels. No chance; if we gave them some food they'd move in to join us!
One day, heading towards our favourite beach, we stopped en route to visit the Temurun Waterfalls. These are the highest on Langkawi, with a drop of 200 metres down rocks over 500 million years old.
Along the shaded forest walkway towards the falls you meet many of the resident Macaque monkeys, very friendly and obviously used to human visitors. We have never been closer to wild monkeys and were able to photograph them at close range - yes, this close!
The weather now continues as expected with cloudless days but in this part of the world we may still get the occasional shower and cloud. To be honest we often welcome some cloud on the really hot days!
Actually our 'Robinson Crusoe' beach got busy one day. Not with tourists, but with a family of hungry monkeys who tried to join our picnic lunch - or rather tried to gate-crash the party. One of them looked into our beach bag, threw out a couple of small towels and a couple of plastic bags looking for a tasty morsel. Fortunately the food was in a strong cool bag well sealed so he gave up in disgust.
But not before the cheeky monkey got hold of a small draw-string bag containing spare contact lenses, comb, etc. - and the car and apartment keys! It was a stressful moment and he refused to move on despite clapped hands and the threat of a large stick. He didn't try opening the bag, as we are sure his mother would have taught him, just tore it apart and took the items out one by one. Sniffed at them all then fortunately threw them unceremoniously onto the sand. Including the keys. Phew!
So at lunch time we now leave the beach on a one minute stroll through a wooded path to enjoy our lunch in the car - without uninvited guests. We were both in the sea today and saw one of the monkeys looking inside our beach bag again. But there is nothing of interest there now so we left him to it and he soon got disappointed and bored.
We thought we had found the perfect beach on the Datai peninsula but amazingly, during our last few days on Langkawi, we discovered one to beat it - on the north of the island - Tanjung Rhu. Or rather Dora the Explorer did! Once again, we continued to drive along a lane with signs suggesting cars were not allowed! If there is a more picturesque beach anywhere else to discover, we will be surprised. Here it is:
We now continue our travels with a flight across the Malaysian border into Thailand
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