Ramadhan in Langkawi.....

I had bought the MAS tickets to Langkawi during the airline's zero-fare promotion a few months ago without realising that it was smack in the middle of Ramadhan. Anyway it turned out to be a good break from the city and allowed us to get a feel of what Ramadhan was like in this resort island.

The MH flight that afternoon had at most 12 passengers! If this was not proof that the global economic malaise has now reached our shores, then it must be partly from the fact that Ramadhan is generally a low season for Langkawi.

The Andaman Hotel where we were booked was also eerily empty. There were only four couples at dinner and we were told that at most maybe 15 rooms were taken up that weekend.

The hotel staff were mostly young Indonesian and Filipino girls and guys. I wonder what have our colleges and universities churned out from their institutions. Oh...maybe their graduates are all only good for posts of managers.......

The driver of the limousine that picked us up from the airport was a Malay gentleman...and so was the handsome boy at the concierge. They both thought that we were foreigners....Filipino? Indonesian?...Indian maybe.....one chap at the restaurant even suggested that we were residents of Australia ( Malaysians who have migrated..) who were on a late winter break.

breaking fast at the Teppanyaki bar of the Andaman

Both these chaps spoke to us in English and I must commend them for effort. They could help us get by with their English, so I guess it should be helpful enough for the hotel's English-speaking guests. But once they discovered that we were 'Melayus' they apologetically addresssed us in 'loghat' Kedah . I told them that they should practise their English language skill with us and not be shy about it!

We spent the first day lazing around the the beautiful hotel but unfortunately it rained heavily in the afternoon which forced us to our room for a quiet time for catching up on reading. We tried out their restaurants for dinner, the coffehouse served a fusion cuisine and the japanese restaurant offerred the whole range of japanese dishes.

As we had four days to kill we decided to rent a car for 2 days to check out some of the island's attractions which we have not done during our previous visits.

view from cable car ...Telaga Harbour Park and Marina

The Langkawi Cable Car is a must for tourists to Langkawi. The ticket costs RM25 but if you are a Malaysian with a valid MyKad you only pay RM15. Schoolchildren pay much less I guess. Being a low season, there was a very small crowd and there was no rush nor queue to the cable cars. I must admit the view from the car as you are hauled up the steep mountain was simply majestic. This is as good if not better than the cable car ride up to the Table Mountain in Capetown, South Africa.

lovely view of the Macincang Range from the highest point of the cable car at 710 metres above sea level...

Having spent half a day at the cable car, we drove to the Telaga Harbour Park which has not improved much from the time we were last there 2 years ago. There were the usual number of yatchs anchored there and only Che det's Loaf Bakery and the Russian CCCP Restaurant were open. Many of the shops and boutiques which were there 2 years ago were now closed.

The Langkawi Fair - Langkawi's biggest mall - was also a pitiful sight. And many shops in Kuah town looked like they have closed down for business.

Fortunately there was a big and lively Ramadhan Bazaar in Kuah town....a few times the size of Bangsar Ramadhan Bazaar in KL and definitely a popular food site for the locals and tourists alike. ( For a photoblog of the Langkawi Ramadhan Bazaar look up my partner's blog at http://www.aginghippietales.com/)

Having had dinner twice at the hotel we decided to go for a seafood meal at one of the few seafood restaurants at Pantai Cenang/Pantai Tengah district. The lobster, prawns and fish were fresh and these restaurants are recommended if you happen to go to Langkawi. Their prices were reasonable too.

The next day we drove to Tanjong Rhu with a view to sneak into the Four Seasons Resort. We ended up at the Tanjong Rhu beach instead and while admiring the white powdery sand of the beach ( Tanjong Rhu has the beast beach in Langkawi I believe) we were approached by an enterprising young man offerring to take us on a 2 hour boat ride up the Kilim River to watch the famous white belly eagles of Langkawi. Business was really slow he said, and offerred us the outing for RM100 per head provided he can get another couple to fill up his boat. We were lucky as a French couple arrived on their motor-cycle and agreed to share the boat with us. During normal times it would cost you between RM160 to RM200 per head for that trip. So coming to Langkawi during Ramadhan has its own advantages!

the white sandy beach of Tanjong Rhu...

I have read about this tour and was glad to be able to do it this time. Furthermore the weather that day was just perfect. My partner has also put up a nice photoblog of this trip in her site.

Man ( Rosman), our boat boy, is an enterprising chap. He too thought we were foreigners and only took courage to ask us where we came from after we had warmed up to him half-way through the trip. He spoke enough English to get by and he kept checking with us whether we could understand his English.We encouraged him to learn and improve his skill and I was impressed by his knowledge of the habitat, the animals and the flora and fauna of the area.

my partner and our boat-man,(Ros) Man, at the wheel and doing a good job as a tourist guide..

As there were very few tourists, Man told us that the eagles were all quite hungry and will come out in droves whenever a tourist boat approached the river. It was spectacular to see so many eagles suddenly appearing from the nearby hills and trees upon hearing the rumble of our outboard engine!

The next part of the cruise took us upriver through the Crocodile Cave and down the Kilim River where I was surprised to see so many yatchs and boats anchored in the middle of the river. Man told us that these boats are mostly owned by Aussies and it is cheaper to anchor the boats here ( about RM 750 a month) instead of keeping them at the Telaga Harbour Park or the Langkawi Yatch Club ( maybe up to about RM2000 a month). The boats and yatchs anchored at the river are looked after by the operators of the fish-farms located along the river, some of these fish-farmers also operate sea-food restaurants there.

boats and yatchs anchored along Sungai Kilim....at a discount

We visited a fish-farm and had a good close-up look at some barracudas, sting-rays,etc and interestingly a 'jumping and spitting fish'!

a fish-farm on Sungai Kilim...

From Sungai Kilim, Man took us out to sea and visited a boat catching prawns. While waiting to see the prawns being hauled up with their net, a school of dolphins suddenly surfaced near our boat. What a lucky day for us.....Man said that he had not seen the dolphins for about a month!

fisherman catching prawns from the Andaman Sea....