Langkawi's Top Dog

Top Dog is the leader of a pack of dogs we see most days, either in the village or on the beach. The pack look really healthy and appear to work as an extended family group.   We were sitting  on the  beach watching the sunset and we watched in admiration of Top Dog's cunning. He scoped the beach, spotted a bag unattended and casually strolled up to it, did a further 360,° lookout and then straight into the beach bag and out with a long plastic bag that had a picnic in it. He then trotted about 10 metres and did a further scoping  to see if anyone was chasing him. The coast was clear so he trotted down the beach to a safe spot  to share the picnic. 

The next evening we saw them hunting crabs on the beach, boy they were quick. There was a young pup with them missing all the crabs but rolling in the waves having a blast.   We have also seen them getting fresh water out of the fountains in the village, clever dogs.

Apparently the dingo was brought to Langkawi way back from the mainland by the Kensiu or Kintaq tribes people. There is a move to protect the pure dingo dogs but they are breeding with ferral dogs and the population is increasing and some now carry rabies. In the remote villages they raid the chicken coops at night which makes them unpopular with the locals. There is concern the tourists and construction workers are feeding the dogs and making them dependant on humans. The pure dingos are very healthy, strong and  well adapted to living in the jungle. They all have a curly tail which is a bit different.

When we were walking back from watching the sunset we walked past a massive construction site for the new Park Royal Hotel and it was dusk so the site was quiet apart from a block on the side which I realised was the hostel for the workers. You could see their laundry hanging and hear cooking in woks, typical end of day activity but all slotted into this tiny strip of accommodation. The saving grace for the Indian and Chinese labourers who toil all day in 35°heat and 90% humidity must be being able to swim in the sea each day, even if the sea is 28degrees.

The heat and humidity here takes some getting used to. At the end of each day we have a lovely swim in our pool which is cooler than the sea. 

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