langkawi magazine
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Living It Up On Langkawi - a British Perspective
Tropical Langkawi will torment you. Not while you're there; oh, no, you'll love it then. It's when you've had to wave goodbye to it and fly home, when the suitcase is tucked back under the bed, when the tan has faded and normal life has been resumed. You'll be huffing and puffing along with your daily routine, minding your own mundane business, and suddenly you'll have a flashback: the swaying palm tree; the salt air and squeaking sand; the rhythmic lap of turquoise waves; the drifting in and out of sun-soaked consciousness on a well-reclined deck chair. And then you'll snap out of it, back to the drudgery of Grey Britain - it's pure, painful, delicious torture. Call it Post-Holiday Stress Syndrome (PHSS).
Langkawi is an island on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It's a good 6,000 miles away, but that's how far you have to go to find this kind of holiday paradise. It is lined with the sort of beach you only dream about - long, white, clean and virtually empty. The water is bath-warm. Even the jellyfish are tiny and have a cute name - 'jelly bugs'. They do sting, but only in a nice, friendly way. And, of course, there's the beautiful sunshine, relentless by day but mercifully cooled down by the regular-as-clockwork evening storm. By night, while the Corfus, Ko Samuis and Malagas of the world transform into seedy strips of rip-off bars and dodgy nightclubs, Langkawi offers candlelit cafes and superb restaurants.
It's far from being deserted, but development here is much less rampant than on other holiday islands. There is no loud music to block out the sound of the breaking waves as you make your way home along the beach.
Most of the hotels are based along the bustling Cenang and quieter Tengah beaches on the southwest of the island. There are five-star options here, but you're better off going for the moderate or cheaper places. If you're after luxury, there is only one place to stay - the Datai, located on the entirely private northwest tip of the island. Perhaps the perfect combination is to spend two nights in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's exhausting capital, before flying to Langkawi and spending a week in the bank-balance-friendly Cenang area, rounded off with two or three nights of hand-and-foot waiting at the Datai. Guaranteed PHSS.
Start at the top: the terrifyingly precipitous Langkawi cable car takes you to the top of Gunung Mat Cincang, 2,326ft above sea level. From there, you can see most of the main island, a good wedge of the 99 outlying islands and a large chunk of southern Thailand. It's an essential ride, and costs RM2.50. Unfortunately, piped music is all the rage in Southeast Asia, and this beautiful mountaintop is no exception. You'll have to take the stairs away from the main cable-car station to escape the electric-guitar riffs, unless Mr Cable Car Boss reads this and spares you all the horror.
Where to watch the sun set: all along Cenang beach, small bars with tables in the sand provide the perfect venue for a sundowner. The Reggae Bar was the coolest last month, but these beach-shack establishments open and close with almost tidal frequency, so just wander along till you see one you like. Tengah beach, just a few rocks from Cenang, has the same view but is more peaceful. Find a palm tree, lie back and don't think of England.
Watersports: cheap-cheap on Langkawi. Some hotels have their own equipment, or you can hire it from beach kiosks. A windsurfer costs RM8 an hour, a two-man sailing boat is about RM10 and a 15-minute bash at water-skiing (try everything once) is RM8. Try to resist the temptation of cut-price wetbikes - they're dangerous, unregulated and pretty much the only source of noise pollution on the island.
Snorkel with the fishes: Langkawi has a large aquarium, imaginatively entitled Under-water World, but a far better way to see the blue planet is on a trip 20 miles south to Pulau Payar Marine Park. The waters here are packed with groupers, barracudas, parrotfish and lots of other weird but friendly sea creatures. The coral in the areas in which you're allowed to swim is dead, but the flash fish make up for it. Dozens of baby black-tip reef sharks swim around your legs just off the beach - enough to send Roy Scheider on one of his 'Get out of the water!' missions. The day, including snorkel hire, lunch, ferry transfers (one hour each way) and hotel pick-up, costs a highly negotiable RM38 with Langkawi Coral (00 60-4 966 7318, www.langkawicoral.com), and there are several other companies offering similar trips. If you-re interested in learning to dive, a four-day Padi open-water dive course costs about RM250, and it's worth shopping around.
Ready, steady, noodle: Malaysian curries are amazing, and perhaps the best souvenir you could bring home is the ability to cook one yourself. Sign up to 'Cook with Shuk', head chef at the very decent Lighthouse (Pantai Tengah; 955 2586). He takes you to his traditional wooden house and teaches you the finer arts of Southeast Asian spices. The six-hour course - ending with a big scoff - costs RM23.
Getting there: there are no direct flights between the UK or Ireland and Langkawi, but there are good options via Kuala Lumpur. Emerald Travel (020 7312 1700, www.emerald. co.uk) has flights with Malaysia Airlines from Heathrow or Manchester to Langkawi via Kuala Lumpur; from RM466. Getting around: you won't need transport to get from your room to the beach to the bar, but you can nip off to restaurants and explore the jungle interior on a moped.
There are rental companies all over the place - pick the one nearest your hotel, and don't pay more than RM 80 a day. Taxis are also relatively cheap. When to go: officially, July and August are the rainiest months, but the rainy season isn't quite what it once was, and Langkawi is now pretty much a year-round destination. From now until the end of June is perhaps the best time to make a dash for the tropics.
For information & booking visit www.langkawi-insider.com
Langkawi 18/05/2003
