Soft melancholic lights of dawn bathe the overcast sky outside the Sunset Beach Resort. The waves were rough and the beach was surprisingly abandoned...* * * * *
It has been ten years since I last set foot on this famed island of Mahsuri. My first impression of this island dates back to the time when Malaysia first hosted the Commonwealth Meetings in the 80s. It was just after the summit. Everything was pristine and clean. Enough was developed without sacrificing much of Mother Nature. It was exotic enough to be here IN the country but feeling absolutely OUT of the country.
* * * * *
The 2010 sun was ever intense, compelling the use of sunscreen as before and the air was equally humid and balmy but the quiet exotic air was somehow missing : missing because there are too many tourists in the ever so many failed to take off schemes everywhere, missing because things are too commercialized and you can't make another turn without hitting on some cemented structure in the landscape, missing because the genuine warmth of welcoming smiles no longer greet the strangers but rather, strangely out-of-place tourist dollar hungry grins from imported labour greet you at every bar, restaurant and spa. This was not the Langkawi I fell in love with back in 1988 and I definitely didn't come here for another shopping experience. I was looking for nostalgia from a bygone era and I was too naive thinking that I would find it here again ...how much a price should we pay for development?
Raging waves of the Andaman Sea at Pantai Tengah.
Dawn...
A hole on the beach made by a sand crab.
Our treasures collected from the beach. They turned stinky after a day and had to be thrown away. Dommage...
At the Sunset Beach Resort...
A Frangipani blossom on the morning lawn.
View of the Machinchang Mountains from Pantai Cenang.
View of the Machinchang Mountains from the bay near the airport.
The suspension bridge at the summits of the Machinchang mountains.
A troop of common macaques along the road of the Datai Bay.
A familiar sight around Langkawi - the Sentang trees that flank the roads.
At the jetty - Ewa Bay
A small fisherman's motorized sampan.
Some of the last remaining patches of Langkawi not touched by tourists.
Teluk Yu - shark bay.
An enigmatic small island in the horizon. Our calm was abruptly broken when some local tourist agent armed with fierce brochures approached us (actually pestered us) to ask for business- for snorkeling trips to Pulau Payar. For one I can't be sure if I am being conned again since I was already at the very beginning of the trip at Kuala Perlis. Then, again at the jetty...'proposals' like these are things which I had to categorically refuse almost everywhere. Are we THAT hungry for money in Malaysia these days?
Calm, fresh green of the rice fields outside the Mahsuri tomb.
May peace be with the Lady of the island.
A traditional Kedah house, built from wood minus a single inch of iron nail.
Trying to snap a photo minus the tourists.
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