Langkawi

By: Emily

The task seemed impossible; getting nine adults and all their luggage into a shallow-sided longtail boat that would bring us out to the ferry that awaited in the bay. The tide was low, preventing larger boats from coming closer to the tiny pier of Ko Tarutao. Through some amazing balancing acts and the extraordinary ability of the boat to stay upright despite the onboard commotion, we successfully boarded the ferry.

Thus began our journey to Langkawi, Malaysia, an island that is about 50 km south of Ko Tarutao. However, in order to reach Langkawi from Ko Tarutao, we needed to first take a ferry to Ko Lipe, a smaller, very developed island, and from there catch a ferry the rest of the way to Langkawi. A little unfortunate that we had to go out of our way to a catch the ferry we needed, but the extra step seemed easy enough. And if only it had been just that one extra step. The journey ended up going something like this: boat, boat, floating pier, boat, land, boat, floating pier, boat, taxi, taxi, HOTEL! Even though Ko Lipe has been developing out of control, they don't have a proper pier. It was quite obnoxious because we first had to pay 20 baht (there are about 30 baht to each dollar) each to even enter the pier (conservation fee, so that's fine) and also 50 baht each to take a longtail boat to the actual island. Forcing people to pay to get from the pier to the island? What, are we going to float on our luggage to shore? I smell capitalism! I'll spare you the rest of the story but, overall, it was a very long and tiring day of travel. After all this madness, we finally made it to our hotel, dropped off bags, and headed out for dinner. We didn't have any particular destination in mind and ended up at a locally-run outdoor restaurant that featured grilled fish and local rice, noodle, and meat dishes.

Waiting on Ko Lipe for the ferry to Langkawi.

The next day dawned very hazy, which was a bit disappointing after so many clear days in Thailand (the things that one can complain about while on a beach vacation...) and also a little strange given the close proximity to Thailand. Such a short distance, such a different weather pattern. While Thailand has very distinct wet and dry seasons, Malaysia is somewhat rainy all year.

We ate our breakfast in the little hotel restaurant just off the beach and afterwards set out to find a laundry service so we could get some clean clothes. We were directed to a place not too far from our hotel that was cheap and priced by the kilo (that's how most laundry is done here). After dropping off our dirty clothes, we continued along the same road to see what we could find. The answer was not much. It was an interesting stretch to walk given that it was in its natural state and not altered for tourism but other than that, there was nothing of note.

Breakfast view.

Lush grounds of the hotel.

We turned around and went back to explore the area of Langkawi near where our hotel was situated (it's a fairly large island – 320 sq. km). As we have gotten used to during our beach-going stretch, the area was very touristy and filled with shops, restaurants, salons, etc. The shops can be interesting to explore for a little while but after you've been to a few, the wares start to look familiar. Most items are not authentically Malay or Thai or insert-country-here, but seem to be part of a global handicrafts trade. A good example of this was the duty-free complex that contains several stores, all selling basically the same items. There was the usual alcohol, perfume, and cosmetics, but also many "handicrafts" that consisted of nearly anything that could be displayed and/or seemed moderately Asian and/or could have the name Langkawi scrolled across it. We're talking anything from fruit baskets to picture frames to coconut husk kitchen utensils. Needless to say, we didn't buy any of it.

The main drag.

Eclectic shopping at its finest.

Sign at a construction site.

My one (unfortunate) purchase was a snack item called "Jelly Fish Crispy". My first thought was of venomous stings causing respiratory and cardiac failure (sometimes those in the health field can be such downers, huh?). YUM! But, they seemed unique (I didn't even know people ate jelly fish!) so I got them. I'm pretty tolerant of most flavors but the JFCs were just too fishy to handle. The first taste was actually quite good. After putting the crisp in my mouth, I gave Matt a thumbs up that quickly, and probably comically, turned into a grimace at the full force of the fishiness hit my palette. The rest of the poor JFCs ended up in the trash.

The unappealing main drag of Langkawi was punctuated by the even more unappealing stench of open sewage. The entire stretch of sidewalk featured sewage vents almost every 20 feet that hit your nose like a big, wet, sewage punch in the face. Many restaurants had sidewalk seating – which is unfortunate given the aromas – and some tried their best to cover up the grated vents with carpets, mats, or at least cardboard. How some city planner thought this was a good idea is beyond me!

As the morning progressed, we slowly made our way up the main street (and I do me mean slowly given the heat and humidity), stopping once for a blended fruit juice that we had become so fond of in Thailand. Right when we were especially in need of respite, we came to a place that our guidebook recommended (or at least seemed to recommended) called Laman Padi (Rice Garden). The description made it sound very intriguing. However, in reality, the place was somewhat dilapidated and had the feeling of being almost entirely deserted. Besides us we saw only a few other people walking around and exactly zero of the promised water buffalo. We did find a strange rice cultivation museum, that was at least a respite from the heat, so that was something.

To refuel ourselves after all the heat and all the walking, we had lunch at another small, locally-run outdoor cafe that featured Malay food as well as many Western offerings and had been recommended by a woman that we met on the ferry to the island. We ate chicken paprik, which is flavored with chili and lemongress, and sweet and sour chicken (the beef randang, which is cooked with coconut milk and curry, that we wanted to order was no longer available) with white rice and drank fruit juice and teh tarik ('pulled tea') , which tastes a bit like Thai iced tea would taste served hot. After lunch we went back at the hotel to rest during the hottest part of the day.

After the air had cooled, we headed back out for the evening. We started at a place called the 1812 Bar that was recommended by our guidebook. It was pretty much a dive bar that played loud, but rather catchy, pop music but at least had a great happy hour going. Dinner was at a restaurant called Red Tomato that served great salads, bruschetta, and pizzas. Fresh mozzarella, balsamic vinegar, and avocados were real treats after living in a place where getting those items is either impossible or prohibitively expensive. After dinner we went in search of drinks and ended up at a beach beer garden that had terrible service and served equally terrible cocktails. Having tried our hand at cocktails, we returned to the 1812 Bar where at least the drinks were cheap.

The next day started out similarly with a hazy morning and breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Having been somewhat disappointed by Langkawi the day before, we weren't in too much of a hurry to venture out. Part of the appeal of Langkawi was supposed to be the beaches but, having just come from spectacularly beautiful beaches in Thailand, those on Langkawi didn't even come close (again, the things one can complain about while on vacation...). In addition, there were some warnings about jellyfish in the water so that also didn't make us too eager to jump in the water.

In the late morning we wandered in the opposite direction than we had gone the day before and ended up having lunch at a place called Sun Cafe, which is run by the same people as our hotel. The food was delicious and the service was excellent. I opted for nasi campur, various meats and curries served with rice, which came out looking like a piece of artwork, and Matt went more Western with a grilled chicken sandwich and pesto potato wedges. I spent the rest of the afternoon at the spa (great place, great prices!) and Matt relaxed and explored on his own.

Nasi camphor at Sun Cafe.

For dinner we ate at a Chinese place called Fat Mum's that made absolutely delicious homemade tofu, curried chicken, and chili prawns, and was run by an endearingly gruff proprietor. (When we asked, "What do you recommend?" he replied, "No specials! What meat do you want? Prawns? Crab? Chicken? You tell meat!")

Fat Mum's

On the way home we stopped for dessert and a drink at Sun Coffee Shop, another chic and stylish joint run by the same people that ran the hotel we stayed at (while although nice, was not nearly as chic).

Patio at Sun Coffee Shop.

Fancy desserts.

We were unable to get on the early afternoon ferry from Langkawi to Penang so had to wait until 5:15pm to leave. Basically we hung around some more, ate lunch at a delightfully tacky restaurant (think red Chinese lanterns, plenty of blinking strings of light, and hanging crepe-paper pineapples) called Islandish that served disappointing and mediocre versions of Malay cuisine. The rest of the afternoon was spent at a little place called the English Tea Room where we chatted with the friendly owner who has been living on the island for five years. She told us about how much the island has changed in just the past few years and the negative impact that the development is having on the island. Not only is the development destroying all the natural beauty that drew people in the first place, the larger five-star resorts are contributing nothing to the local economy as most guests stay within the resort compound. This was an interesting conversation to have because Matt and I had just been discussing how sad it is that so much natural beauty has been destroyed in Thailand (and countless other places) by tourism. That's one of the reasons we so enjoyed staying at the national park – the natural beauty is preserved for all to enjoy and has not been encroached upon by developers. This dichotomy has definitely made Matt and I more interested in seeking out national parks during future travels. On a more positive note, I had a brief love for a tiny, adorable six-week-old rescue kitten at the English Tea Room.

Me and the tiny kitty!

 

Now she's just some kitty that I used to know.

As I mentioned previously, Langkawi ended up being a disappointment to us, perhaps due to the fact that we were coming from the beauty of Thailand and perhaps because we didn't give the island enough of a chance. Our guidebook was less than helpful in terms of suggesting activities outside of the beach and it was not until the last day at the English Tea Room that we discovered a whole number of other places that we could have explored, although not on foot. Unfortunately, it was too late to pursue any of them. Langkawi is definitely not a place we would return to, especially not after getting a taste (literally) of what else Malaysia has to offer.

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Ko Tarutao

By: Matt

Slipping through rubber tree plantations at impossible speeds, our driver just smiles and smiles. Thailand is, after all, the Land of Smiles. We had left Ao Nang before the sun had even peaked above the limestone cliffs, groggily stuffing ourselves into a van that would take us down to the port of Pak Bara and then onto a boat to the island of Ko Tarutao. The highway between the two places was well-appointed and, because of this, our driver felt that it was the Thai version of the German Autobahn. Regardless, we made it to Pak Bara in one piece, although having ended up in the back of the van, my stomach and my head felt like they had been littered on the highway.

Bak Para is the main jumping off point for the resort island of Ko Lipe, which is still part of the Ko Tarutao National Marine Park but somehow evaded the development restrictions. As the Lonely Planet guide describes it, "Ko Lipe is the poster-child for overdevelopment." There is a portion of Naomi Klein's excellent book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, that details how resort and development speculators rushed into places like Ko Lipe after the devastating 2005 tsunami and eagerly replaced all of the local fishing towns with their idea of progress. In Ko Lipe's case, real estate developers had coaxed the native inhabitants – what the Thai call chao leh, or 'sea gypsies' – into selling their land at low prices and then sold it again at enormously inflated prices. Most of the chao leh were left out of the prosperity that came to the island, although there are a few exceptions. Needless to say, Ko Lipe was not that appealing to us.

We opted to depart the Ko Lipe ferry at the island of Ko Tarutao, the main island of the National Marine Park that is made up of 51 islands overall. Ko Tarutao is the park headquarters, and there are bungalow accommodations run by the National Park Service. There were very few of us that got off the ferry at Ko Tarutao, which we saw as a good sign.

And, indeed, our first impression of Ko Tarutao was magical. The absence of human-made noise was humbling, and the natural sounds of the beach and the jungle washed over us like the rolling tide of the three kilometer Ao Pantae beach on which we landed. A long concrete promenade greeted us, lined with shady trees and with bungalows set back on either side. The ocean sat across from the promenade and a large open area that felt like an old parade ground.

The bungalow "promenade"

Eating lunch at the canteen.

A wild pig hangs out by the kitchen, hoping for scraps.

After checking in, we settled into our bungalow and then grabbed lunch at the canteen. There are three such canteens on the island, all serving approximately the same things – your choice of some kind of meat/vegetable/rice/noodle combination. Given the relative remoteness and low activity on the island, the food was surprisingly good and cheap. In contrast to the busy hum of activity at our previous locations of Ao Nang and Ko Tao, Ko Tarutao was relaxed and peaceful. I would venture to guess that maybe there were 50 to 100 people staying on the entire island which is a fairly large 152 sq km in area.

It seems that these travel days take a lot out of us, and we slept most of the afternoon in the tropical heat of our bungalow (there is only electricity here from 6pm to midnight ... so no fan until the evening). We forced ourselves to wake up in time for supper, but we were pretty out of it. In the evening we read and went to bed very early.

The next day we were more refreshed and ready to do something active. We decided to rent mountain bikes and go down the road to the other beaches of Ao Molae and Ao Son. There was another ranger station and set of bungalows at Ao Molae, and canteens at both Ao Molae and Ao Son. It was about 8 km all the way down to Ao Son, which was sometimes road and sometimes rough gravel, and all the time hilly. Given that it is sunny and over 90 degrees here, the going was pretty tiring. Along the road, though, we witnessed a symphony of tropical sounds as the birds, monkeys, and insects competed with each other.

When we finally reached Ao Son, we were hoping to see sea turtles, as that is a prime nesting spot for them (and a big reason why this island is conserved and not overrun with all-inclusive resorts). Unfortunately, our timing wasn't quite right to see sea turtles nesting or up on the beach, but we heard that they have been around in more favorable tides. After exploring that beach, we biked up to a trailhead and ditched the bikes and walked about 3 km to a small set of waterfalls called Lu Du. It was a nice trek along the stream, although the marked trail petered out after about a kilometer and the rest was just a scramble along the river rocks.

The rocky beach of Ao Son.

These little sand crabs spent their whole lives digging holes in the sand, making little balls of sand, and then rebuilding when the tides roll in.

Emily at Lu Du Falls.

After the waterfall trek, we biked back to the canteen at Ao Molae for lunch and then the last 4 km to our bungalow. All in all, we had biked 16 kilometers on less than ideal bikes (the ocean air is not kind to them) and hiked another 6 kilometers. All in the midday tropical heat. We were pretty beat! Basically, we threw our bikes next to our bungalow and jumped into the ocean. It felt good, although the beach at Ao Pantae features stingrays and lionfish (which both sting you), so we didn't splash around too much. The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging around the beach and our bungalow. Ahh, the island life...

On Monday, we went for a hike in the morning up Toe-Boo Cliff – which was just a short kilometer up. The view from the top was great, and along the way we were entertained by the Dusky Langur monkeys. Ko Tarutao is teeming with wildlife, and we have seen the aforementioned monkeys, wild pigs, sea eagles, kites, hornbills, macaques, and lizards. Apparently, other animals that we could have caught a glimpse of were sea turtles, sea otters, monitor lizards, and other animals not typical of Bhutan or North America.

Ko Taurtao is not just an interesting wildlife destination, but has an interesting history as well. There is a small, neglected museum that tells the tales. While the Taurtao Archipelago has been featured in historical trade routes since the 1st century CE, its modern history does not begin until 1938 when the Thai government established the island as a penal colony. There were two prisons on the island: one for common criminals and another for political prisoners. The common criminal camp was more dedicated to hard labor, but the political prisoner camp was more leisurely and the prisoners were allowed to wander where they wanted and pursue intellectual activities such as agricultural cultivation and scholarly letters. One of the famous prisoners here was So Setabura, who finished the first Thai-English Dictionary while imprisoned here. The son of King Rama VII (of Thailand) was also imprisoned here, and spent his time experimenting with agriculture. When he was pardoned, he went on to become the Minister of Agriculture. While escape was mostly impossible due to the crocodile and shark infested waters (the Thai Government picked Ko Tarutao for a reason), one famous escapee went on to become the Minister of Education.

If that wasn't enough cool history to write a book in and of itself, the WWII period in Ko Tarutao's history takes the island in a whole other interesting direction. During this time, supplies from the mainland dwindled and hundreds of prisoners died from malaria. To compensate for the lack of supplies, the prisoners and the guards both mutinied and banded together to become pirates. Seriously. The Tarutao Archipelago became infamous during this time for its piracy and was much avoided by supply lines to Pak Bara, Satun in Southern Thailand, and ports in the Strait of Malacca in Northern Malaysia. The prisoner/guard piracy confederation was finally suppressed by the British Navy in 1944, who may have also had some other things to deal with at the time. Eventually, the prison was permanently closed in 1948 (even though it was more like a pirate hideaway from 1940–1944. The island lay mostly dormant until the 1970s when it was declared a National Park by the Thai Government.

Nice topographical map of the islands of the Park.

The prisons still sit, abandoned, on the East side of the island. We could have gone to see them, but we ran out of days since it is kind of a big day trip to get to them (either a 15 km bike ride each way, or a long kayak paddle around the island). The jungles have mostly overtaken them, but the buildings are still there. I was mentioning to Emily that it would be awesome to come back to Ko Tarutao and write an exciting history of its trade, imprisonment, and piracy. I would have to do "research" for at least 6 months, which would involve lots of sitting on the beach ...

The rest of Monday was another fantastic one of lounging, reading, eating, and the like. This is what a true holiday is like for us. Ko Tarutao is a beautiful and peaceful place; relaxed and unassuming. It was a nice change from Ao Nang, even though we enjoyed that place as well. All in all, the West Coast of Thailand is turning into a real winner and Emily and I would not hesitate for a second to return to this magical place.

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