Langawki lament

Today we leave Langawki with mixed feelings.

On our first visit to Langkawi in 2019 we enjoyed the relaxing pace of life in the sleepy beach village. There were things that were a bit rough around the edges and you could see a lot of new large scale hotel development in it's early days. Fair enough. 

Now post Covid you have to wonder if they have the recipe right for development on this little island. Some of the basic civic functions, from what we see, are not functioning well.  

The street rubbish collection is non existent and where good citizens have deposited rubbish in the large communal skips they either haven't been emptied soon enough or the monkeys and dogs have gotten into the rubbish and it's strewn around and not exactly hygienic.  

We've seen locals just toss rubbish out car windows or off motorbikes without any qualms...not cool when you can see it's spoiling what could be a beautiful little island. Plastic washes drown the streams from villages into the sea and water bottles just get tossed willy nilly including from island visitors grrrrr.

When jet skis retire

Each day we see small stall owners brushing the patch in front of their shop/stall to make it nice but they really are fighting an uphill battle. 

The impact of Covid and border closures has clearly hit the island hard. Like many places around the world there are staff shortages everywhere, the Villa we are staying in is only open  at half capacity as they can't get regular cleaning staff.

There's a big new Langkawi City development with a tower and revolving restaurant being built at the Kuah Port which looks lovely but it sits smack bang in a really grotty area that would cost a small fortune to upgrade and the million dollar question is will it attract domestic and international visitors?I'm not sure the island locals will be able to afford it. Something with the development strategy feels a bit out of kilter. 

There are wonderful locals that are so friendly and caring. Last night we saw these stray cats and kittens being fed a mix of rice and fish by the cafe 'Aunties'💓

I was wondering why so many cats had either no tail, short stubby tails or tails that had an almost 90°bend.   It turns out  that the short-tail gene, carried by Japanese Bobtail cats and Siamese cats (who  have naturally short, kinked tails which have been bred out in Western countries for aesthetic reasons), has gradually spread all over Asia to the extent that it has become the norm. We first saw this in Penang and thought it odd but on Langkawi it's everywhere.

 We've seen amazing wildlife right by our villa. Check out the Monkeys in the short video below.

 You could watch the monkeys for hours, from a distance :)

 The bird life is fantastic too. We haven't been quick enough to snap some of the brightly coloured birds but we've seen  bright blue, canary yellow and the Toucan birds are incredible. The Kingfisher is electric blue - picture below courtesy of the internet :)

With temperatures consistently around 30 - 40° the sun worshippers love the beach here. You just have to be able to cope with the high humidity. 

We've had a lovely time. The smells of frangipane and jasmine as you wander about are divine. The locals are friendly and welcoming. So it's farewell Langkawi and we wish all the best for the plucky locals trying to get through after the border closures. And we're off again :)

Next stop Kuala Lumpur 👍