Ramesh’s blog This is Me!!

My visit to KL and Langkawi

Planning a maiden trip to someplace where no one we knew lived was not going to be easy. So Malaysia it was and it was around early May that we started reading up hotel reviews and checking on airline deals etc online.  The recession globally, if any, only made it easy for us to get far too many offers than we could handle. Just to give us an idea on how much one should expect to spend, we also tasked a reputed Travel Agency to work out a 7 day tour package for us.

Langkawi came as the natural choice of the second place to visit in Malaysia when Silk Air extended us a fantastic promotional offer at the time I went in to book my tickets. And this was one time when I enjoyed the benefits of working for the Indian Government in full measure for at a time when more than half the world  reeling  under a falling economy not only was I getting a fantastic pay hike but also the arrears in one go.

08 Jun 09 - We finally arrived in KL airport after spending 6 hours in Singapore. I knew the city was a good 50 minutes away. A car ride was inescapable I knew all along but I didn’t realize that for what I paid I would be travelling in a gleaming black chauffeur-driven Mercedes. My elder son jumped into the front seat unable to contain his excitement and some forty five minutes later I could hear the chorus of both of them echoing their “Wowwwws” when the Petronas Tower came into view. Our hotel the Dorsett Regency - one of the few that offered quad occupancy in the heart of KL - was very close to the Petronas and without a doubt we were received in great style when the doors of the Merc were opened.

Four days in KL was adequate to go around and see what was worth seeing. KL being a bit city, sometimes it can take a good part of a day going from one place to another. We soon realized that it was best to take a Taxi on a daily hire basis on a fixed rate and that automatically ensured we had a cab waiting for us wherever we went. During the four days we went around to Batu caves, The Royal Selangor Pewter factory, The National zoo (Zoo Negara) and to the top of the Menera towers and Beryl’s Chocolate factory besides walking the streets of KL and shopping around. Despite our best attempts, we didn’t find an authentic Malay food restaurant in KL. It was disappointing!

12 Jun 09 - After four days in KL I didn’t know what to expect of Langkawi except for what I had seen from a few photographs  and hotel reviews I had read online. We all certainly looked forward to tasting some authentic Malay food after not having got much whilst in KL. It was on the Air Asia flight that I finally got to have some Nasi Aayam (or Chicken fried rice and it was mmm to say the least ' possibly because I was hungry too).

Talking about the Air Asia flight I am reminded about the previous evening we got down to telling our sons about flying over water and stuff like that when my younger one asked me if we would land on water. It was just one day before that over 130 people had died in that mysterious disappearance of the Air France aircraft over the Atlantic on its way from Brazil to Paris and I couldn’t help recollecting that as I answered my son by saying “We just might … one just did yesterday and a lot of people died”. By the time I realized I had made a terrible mistake he was crying his lungs out in mortal fear refusing to fly the following day. Fortunately and thankfully there are these Happy Meals from McDonalds that do a fantastic job in diverting the attention in times like these and believe me they work their magic every time. 

Langkawi being among the biggest of the islands there, was connected to the mainland by air and by ferry service. The drive to City Bay View hotel took us about 25 minutes. Langkawi being so close to the Thai coast has a fair mix of Malays and a small Thai speaking population with few Chinese or Tamilians compared to the mainland.

The hotel room was bigger than the one we had in KL and the view from the room was breathtakingly beautiful. Sitting on the bed with the curtains drawn one could see the bay and the yachts at a distance and each morning I couldn’t help the sing the song “…Oh those sailing boats with their sails afloat..if only I could see…that familiar sunrise through sleepy eyes…how happy I would be”.

The first evening we just walked around a bit near the hotel the first evening familiarizing ourselves with the area before hopping into a restaurant to have our first real Malay meal. It was all I had anticipated! The following day I flagged a Taxi down and struck a deal with him as we did in KL to take us around on a fixed price per day basis. Nazzer, our driver, had a lisp to his talk but was a kind man and over the next few days grew friendly enough to take us over to his house. He showed me a portion of the house he had built himself indicating to me he too was a DIY buff. His collection of antiques ' irons, wall clocks, coins and china ' was interesting. Nazzer took us to the Underwater world, the Black sand beach, the secluded but beautiful Tan Jung Rhu beach, the waterfall in the Book Village which is a library, where we all played in the cool waters. The high point of our stay there and quite literally was the cable car ride. The ride to the top of the 720 odd meter high mountain through a 42 degree incline as it climbed had me sitting on the edge of my seat clutching onto anything and everything I could lay my hands on while my sons had a hearty laugh seeing my mortal fear of heights.

Of the two places I fell in love with Langkawi and the fact that there were only about 50000 people on the entire island made it appealing. It was quiet yet not too quiet, it had all the modern facilities and connectivity and it was in the centre of South East Asia. The fact that it was a Duty Free Port made it even more attractive as a destination to visit. Having travelled quite a bit around South East Asia, I found the absence of that unfriendly, rude, cold feeling one gets in Singapore (Sorry Singapore!!) while interacting with the locals contributing the most to making me feel at home.

Before long we were packing our bags to get back home my wife suggested that we should try and come back to Langkawi next year. Well the heart desires for sure'.who knows? Just as my Taxi Driver replied to me when I asked him on the way to the airport if he had been for a Haj, I think I will leave it to destiny and 'Insha Allah' we will come back.

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