Friday in Langkawi found May Lene and I with lots of time to fill before Ken's 9:30 P.M. arrival. We started our day by visiting Eagle Square in Kuah Town. Kuah is the town where our hotel was located and it is also where the ferry terminals and Jetty are located.
The eagle is the symbol of Langkawi and in tribute to this majestic bird there is a statue at the edge of the water in Kuah. At the time we visited, it was being repainted so we couldn't get a front view and the scaffolding was a bit in the way, but the statue is majestic even so.
From the jetty we could get a good view of our lodgings.
It looks most impressive from here. It was a fine place to stay but service was a wee bit off. We had plenty of room, though and even a balcony.
The area around the jetty has several bridges and islands, a marketplace, a mall and a park. We toured the basics but had another idea in mind for filling the afternoon.
As we headed off to our next destination, we stopped for a moment to visit with some friends by the roadside.
Our next destination was the beach at Tanjung Rhu. The drive took us through the hills and past several interesting sights. We arrived at Tanjung Rhu and discovered one of the most beautiful beaches anywhere.
As you can see, beautiful as it is there were not too many people on the beach because of the midday heat. However, the water beckoned and we found the perfect solution - a Mangrove Boat Tour. We went to a small kiosk and found that we could get a private two hour tour for RM$180 which works out to about US$30 each. We booked our tour and were told to head to the water's edge in about 10 minutes.
There was no dock that we could see and in a few minutes our boat appeared and came to pick us up.
Our boatman was a very happy fellow who was a great guide and pleasant companion for the afternoon. We started out heading up the river near Tanjung Rhu.
Our first point of interest was a bend in the river where Langkawi's symbol, the eagle, feeds. We spent several minutes watching these amazing creatures swoop and feed and soar. It was breathtaking.
We continued on through the mangroves and rock formations until we came upon a lazy monitor lizard basking in the sun.
Farther upstream we found a family of monkeys interacting with another boat. Luckily our boatman kept us just out of the reach of these little guys, since they are incredibly cute but still wild animals and not to be played with.
This last photo is my favorite of the monkeys. The facial expressions are priceless. I wish I knew what they were thinking.
After leaving our playmates behind, we continued up river and through a passageway to the Crocodile Cave. Our boatman quickly pointed out that there were no crocodiles, only the shape of one at low tide.
We then passed a mooring spot for visiting ships. Most were sailboats and the ports of registry were world wide. There were ships from Hong Kong, Sydney, Perth and Canberra in Australia, Germany, Thailand (a short sail) and even several from the U.S.
Our next site was an actual stop where we left the boat to tour the Bat Cave. At first I was excited to see the Bat Suit, the Batmobile and Batcycle, but soon discovered this was a creepier kind of cave.
Just when we thought we were in the clear we discovered that the way out was underwater with high tide and so it was once more into the Bat Cave.
Back on the boat we left the Kilim Geopark and headed out into the Adaman Sea.
Next up was a totally unscheduled event. About once or twice a month the dolphins will come play with the tour boats. We were incredibly lucky to be on the water on one of those days. There is nothing quite like watching the dolphins jump and play. They are very tricky to photograph but we did manage to get a few.
Our next stop was another cave which has a story behind it. There was a prince and princes who were in love but forbidden to marry. They were aided by a goddess who hid them in the cave. At the far end of the cave there is on the wall the shadow of two faces purported to be the prince and princess. They are not painted on but a part of the rock formation itself.
Our last stop on the tour was back into the river and a visit to a fish farm and restaurant. It is all on stilts in the middle of the river and the restaurant area also includes several pens for display of some of the more interesting local sea life.
Our favorite creature on display was a quite large and very friendly sting ray. He loved to be petted and once you got to know him he liked it best if you fed him a snack.
He really wasn't eating me. His mouth is on the underside and he kind of vacuums up the fish you are holding. It was fun. We also saw a tank with barracuda and a baby leopard shark.
Our fish farm host also showed us how a horseshoe crab can be used to get a hand massage or even a scalp massage.
We finally sat down to eat, but not before we chose our lunch - and I am not talking from the menu!
These two creatures soon reappeared as curried garoupa and grilled mantis prawn.
We left our floating luncheon and headed back to shore. Our two hour tour lasted three hours and twenty minutes and our guide just kept smiling. Of course we tipped him well (tipping is not usual here) for the extra hour and thanked him for letting us spend so much time being amazed at the sights.
And there was one more creature waiting on the beach to wish us on our way.
We decided to head back to Kuah Town and unwind with a nice view and a libation.
It was time to head back to change and hit the reggae bar before heading to the airport for Ken's arrival. What a fantastic day in paradise!
Selemat Datang is the official greeting of Malaysia. Selamat means "come" and Datang means "safe." I find this greeting very welcoming and indicative of the spirit of the Malay people.
As you may have guessed, we are once more visiting Maylasia. This time we decided to join our friend May Lene on a long weekend getaway to Langkawi before the week's work began. Ken had to teach a seminar in Beijing so his stay was a brief one since he could not join us till Friday evening. I headed to Malaysia early and met up with May Lene on Thursday afternoon in Kuala Lumpur where we boarded a short flight to our weekend destination.
Langkawi is an island at the northern end of Malaysia in the state of Kedah. It borders the Adaman Sea and when the weather is clear you can see the coast of Thailand. (I actually had a Sarah Palin moment - "I can see Thailand from my beach.")
We arrived at the Langkawi International Airport which has a certain charm to it. It felt like the first time I flew in 1961 - stairs pulled up to the plane, walking across the tarmac to get to the terminal, a small terminal opening onto a parking lot full of rental cars.
We headed to our serviced apartment to check in before heading out for dinner and a little unwinding at the reggae bar.
Palm trees are among my most favorite type of foliage. All of Malaysia is filled with palm trees. It just makes me happy to look out my window and see one swaying in the breeze. I took this as a good omen for the next few days.
The sun was beginning to set as we headed out and the sky was an explosion of color.
We headed to the Cenang Beach area and a dinner of local seafood. The feature was a grilled tiger prawn which filled a plate all by itself. Think shrimp on steroids.
After eating our fill of tiger prawn, fresh fish and veggies along with some great fried rice, we headed to the beach to a little place May Lene loved from her previous trips.
Babylon Mat Bar actually sits in the sand on the edge of the beach. There are a few tables for the less adventurous crowd, but most just sit on grass mats on the sand and sip cocktails while listening to live reggae music. There is an open air grill where you can have prawn and chicken and squid grilled to order. We actually did this for our Friday night dinner.
The moon rose over the sea and the palm trees swayed and we were in heaven. What a way to unwind at the start of a vacation.
We eventually headed back to our apartment to get some rest before our day of exploring on Friday. Even the traffic rotaries were happy and cheerful.
Last Wednesday we celebrated our last official festival and public holiday during our stay in Hong Kong. The Chung Yeung Festival is often referred to as the "Double-Ninth Festival," as it falls on the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese lunar calendar. On this day people traditionally visit the graves of their ancestors to pay their respects. Many also hike or hill walk together.
The custom of hill walking has its roots in an old folk story. Long ago, a man called Huan Jing received a prophesy that on the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar an evil spirit would attack his village. Fearing for his family's safety, he hid them in the nearby hills and returned to the village to face the beast alone. Huan Jing was successful in defeating the beast. Other nearby villages had also been attacked, but the evil spirits had all been slain. From then onwards, to commemorate the day families would gather together and hike into the hills.
So on Chung Yeung Festival day, we gathered together some of our Hong Kong family and put a modern twist on "heading to the hills." Janet is newly arrived in Hong Kong from Grand Rapids to spend three years here as the CFO of Steelcase Asia. Her two daughters, Catie and Michele, are taking a year off from their college studies to join mom in her newly adopted city. Since they had only been here a few days, we joined together along with Rommel and set out for our "hike."
What we actually did was cheating, I guess. We went to Kowloon to the International Commerce Center building. It is the fourth tallest building in the world and a stunning addition to the skyline.
The 100th floor is an observation deck with 360 degree views of Hong Kong and the surrounding islands. We bought our tickets and made our way into the queue for the elevators.
The 100th floor is the observation deck but is not the top of the building. Floor 101 is a restaurant and above that begins the Ritz Carlton Hotel which lists itself as the tallest hotel in the world. The elevator ride from ground to 100 takes 60 seconds. It is quite the ride and your ears pop pretty quickly. Upon alighting, the floor of the entry area is a diorama under glass of Hong Kong. It is fascinating because you can find where you live or work pretty easily.
Sadly, the day was quite overcast and hazy so the views were limited. Bur even with the haze it is breathtaking.
As you walk the streets of Hong Kong you are aware of how populated it is, but never more so than when looking down from up high. It is mind boggling to see how dense the city is.
We also spent some time walking through Elements Mall at the base of ICC. It is very large and has almost anything you can think of - including an ice rink.
It is marked off for hockey games as well as figure skating. And our favorite part was watching the little ones learn to skate with a little help from a friend.
We continued on to Langham Place (another mall) and had afternoon tea in a Japanese tea shop. It was a wonderful day and even though we cheated a bit, we did get to high ground (or floor) which is said to bring you success in business. Here's hoping.
National Day in China is October 1st. It is marked in several ways. Mainlanders get a full week of public holidays, there are huge fireworks displays and more shopping happens that you could ever imagine. Hong Kong is filled with luxury brand stores and every manager in town is salivating as we speak. Last night we saw queues lined up for entry at Prada, Louis Vuiton, Gucci, Channel and others. This was at 10:15 at night! Shopping bags abound on the streets and the usual crowds have swelled.
For we mere mortals who cannot afford such shopping, the highlight of the weekend was the HK$8 million + fireworks display. We have been anticipating this for several weeks. Originally the paper said it was to be at 9 P.M. On Saturday the paper said 7 P.M. Not knowing which was right and finding no start time on the internet and a recorded message (minus firework info) on the Tourism Board website, we played it safe and went down to the harbor at 5 P.M.
As we crossed the bridge to the waterfront we noticed that the Apple Store was just a wee bit busy.
We first spent some time at the end of the public pier. The ferries were shuttling passengers at their usual rapid pace.
And the harbor had more pleasure boats in it than we had ever seen. This area is quite busy with ferries and commercial craft. There are areas at either end that are more conducive for pleasure boating, but this night was the exception.
We met some fun girls who fed us french fries and chatted with us about their home and work. They are both from the Philippines and working in Hong Kong as domestics.
[There are thousands of young women who come here to earn money to support the family back home or took put together a nest egg to go back and start a business or go to school. It is a tough life, but their salaries (small though they are - about US$500 per month) are much more than they would earn at home. There has been lots in the papers here because of a recent court case suing for right of abode.]
Our newly minted friends showed us photos of family and helped us pass some pleasant time during our four hour wait.
As you can guess from the above photo, the winds were fierce and the skies were heavy. We kept expecting rain but the fireworks gods were with us and we had not a single drop.
At 8 P.M. the nightly light show along the harbor gave us some entertainment.
The crowds grew bigger and the soldiers for crown control were posted.
The Harbor was clear of all but police boats. The four barges were perfectly aligned. And the crowd was ready.
Ooooooh!!!!
Aaaaaaah!!!!
Oooooooh!!!!
And then the finale.
It was a fantastic display - think 20 minutes of finale with a bigger finale at the end. On the way back to our apartment we stopped at one of our favorite bars for a pizza and a brew. After missing the July 4 celebrations at home, this was a fun way to spend an evening and no longer feel that we missed this year's fireworks.
