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| A trip through the bat cave in Kilim Geoforest Park, Langkawi, Malaysia |
As we sailed into the Porto Malai on the island of Langkawi,
Malaysia, we were warned of a very hot sunny day. Our Arizona friends would feel right at home,
but 95 for Chicagoans in March it’s just a bit much. Even
harder to relate to is the forecast for 5-8 inches of snow in Buffalo for that
same day! Malaysia is another new
country for us since it was not on our itinerary last year. I was glad to visit it as I had very
substantial misconceptions about this country.
Our explorations speakers who we enjoy hearing on sea days had told us
that Malaysia has a higher standard of living than many other Asian
countries. For example, literacy rate is
about 96% and unemployment rate is only about 4%, with poverty rate very low as
well. While incomes by American
standards are quite a bit lower, cost of living is lower as is the price of
gasoline.
The trip is helping to understand Asian
geography much better because I hadn’t thought about how close Malaysia is to
Indonesia, but a major part of Malaysia shares the island of Borneo with
Indonesia (and the small kingdom of Brunei). The other major portion of
Malaysia occupies the lower part of the long Malay Peninsula and the island of
Langkawi which we visited is off northern Malaysia, not far from Thailand. Independence from Britain came on August 31,
1957 and originally included Singapore but within a few years, Singapore opted
for independence. The population of
Malaysia is over 28 million but, although it is approximately the same land
area as Singapore, Langkawi supports a population of only about 100,000. The island has 99 or 104 islands which seems
to suggest that someone can’t count; however our excellent guide told us the
difference in numbers may be accounted for depending on high or low tide, with
104 islands at low tide but only 99 at high tide. The island is approximately
79% Muslim since most Thais are of Malay descent and those people are
overwhelmingly Muslim. The rest are
Chinese and Indians followed by other nationalities. Langkawi Island is obviously the largest
island in the archipelago and it’s the island that we toured. We observed many of the beautiful islands of
Langkawi from the ship as we sailed in and out of port.
The economy of Langkawi is dependent upon
rice, most of which is consumed locally, rubber, though playing a declining
role with growing emphasis on synthetic rubber, and fishing. Langkawi is attempting to compete more and
more for tourism income particularly with Phuket, Thailand, our next port. Our guide explained that the growth of the
island has come primarily since 1987 and then he proceeded to explain a legend,
widely believed in Langkawi that indicates the importance of 1987 in Langkawi
history. A beautiful princess had a
husband called into military service.
She was wrongly accused of adultery by jealous citizens and sentenced to
death. The princess insisted on her innocence to no avail before her execution
by a sacred sword, claimed that if when she died her blood flowed red it would
prove her guilt, but if the blood was white, it would prove her innocence and
the island would be under a curse for seven generations. She was killed and the blood was white. 1987 marked the year of the completion of the
7th generation and Langkawi began its growth and modernization.
Our excursion was called Cave and Mangrove Adventure with
“adventure” turning out to be an unexpectedly important word at the start of
our tour. As our bus pulled away from
the dock, we headed up a small hill, stopped and backed up. We repeated the process with the same
result. The bus driver and Azam, our
guide, conferred and then Azam told us that the regretted to tell us that he
had had to make an executive decision that we needed to call for a new, backup,
bus. It seems our bus couldn’t make it
up the hill. The lady in the handicapped
seat in the very front of the bus had a bright idea that we could all get out
and walk up the hill to lighten the load.
How about that for a strange suggestion from someone theoretically so
handicapped that she needed to occupy the front seat! But the guide called for the backup which did
appear in just over 5 minutes. We
unloaded the original bus and got on the backup and off we went, just a few
minutes late, but after all the other buses from other tours drove past us.
We drove approximately 45 minutes
across the beautiful island from southeast to northwest to a jetty in Kilim
Geoforest Park where we began all of our interesting activities. We were told to separate into four groups of
eight people and since we were joining our friends Sally and Ange, they had
found four other friends of theirs to be on the boat with us. The small boats rocked as we climbed down the
steep stairs to board them and stepped onto the bow before arranging ourselves
so our weight would be balanced on the boat.
Our first stop was at the bat cave where we were told to carry
flashlights as we entered the dark cavern.
Through the darkness we could see bats hanging from the ceiling. Our guide told us that if the bat was hanging
by one foot, it was sleeping but if hanging by two, it meant it was awake and
aware of our presence. Likewise it was
recommended that we not touch railings as they were covered in bat guano! Flash photos were permitted though good
quality of pictures was difficult. In
several areas we had to crouch down very low to avoid bumping our heads. At one point Barb told me to watch my head
and suggested I move as a lady was trying to get past me while I stopped to
take a picture. Why it was so urgent for
this lady to get ahead was impossible to comprehend as all the boats would
leave at the same time and no one would be left behind. I avoided hitting my head but in the process
of warning me, Barb hit her head on the ceiling. Fortunately, she said the bump was a very
minor one. As we came out of the caves,
we walked along the stand of mangrove trees at low tide. Mangroves thrive in wet tropical environments
and their roots grow best in water.
Since it was low tide, we could observe the tangle of roots that would
be hidden below the waterline when tide is high. One person notice a tiny sand crab scurrying across
the mud giving most of us an opportunity to observe it as well.
After reboarding the boats, we skimmed
the water through some outstanding mountain scenery and thick lush green
foliage toward our next destination, a fish farm. Here we saw lots fish and one of the workers
showed how a small fish, known as archer fish would literally shoot water at a
small piece of bread he had stuck on a post perhaps a couple feet out of the
water. The shot of water would loosen
the bread, causing the bread to fall into the water so the fish could eat
it. We had the opportunity to see other
kinds of fish and before leaving, one of the workers demonstrated the underside
of a crab, showing its legs, eyes, mouth and other parts of the crab. Several people held the crab including
Barb. She can now add the crab to the
list of animals she has held or posed with on this trip.
Our boat ride took us next to an area
on the water where we put the four boats together so the guide could tell us
about Brahminy kites, a type of raptor similar to eagles. They and white breasted eagles would swoop
down to the water to get the pieces of chicken that were thrown in the water to
get these birds to appear for us. All of
a sudden, perhaps a couple dozen appeared out of seeming nowhere while we
watched them get their food. A short,
fast ride out into the open sea took us to the Andaman Sea for a short time
before returning to the jetty, back to the bus and eventually to the ship.
Our guide, Azam, was one of the best
guides we had had on this trip. He
apologized for having only three years experience but one would never have
known he had led tours for such a short time since his English was excellent
and very easy to understand. He had a
wonderful personality and even sang a goodbye to us, the Frank Sinatra hit, “My
Way”, including all verses. As we got
off, I heard one woman tell him she considered him to be one of the best guides
she had ever had. I think we would
concur with that.
After lunch on the ship, Barb and I
took the shuttle back to Porto Malai for a brief look at the shops. We returned in time for the an outstanding
performance by the Malay Kompang Dance Show by eight graceful dancers, four
males and four females, as they made rapid costume changes and danced nonstop
several Malaysian dances.
Our first visit to Malaysia
was informative and interesting. Certainly I had some misconceptions about the
country and have a much better understanding about the people, economy,
culture, and definitely the geography.
We enjoyed our introduction to Malaysia and were pleased to hear that we
gained an hour since, although Langkawi is only 120 miles from Phuket, Phuket
is an hour behind. We utilized the time
change by going to bed as though we didn’t change times and got up at 5:30
Malaysia time but in Thailand it was 6:30.
Thailand will be our last stop in Southeast Asia before we cross to Sri
Lanka. Time on this cruise is really
flying now but we are thoroughly enjoying the beauty that this planet offers.
CT
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