Langkawi was our first stop in Malaysia, and it turned out to be a fascinating mix of culture shock, many wildlife encounters, hair-raising cable cars and mood-changing heat.
Explosion on the senses
I’m sure I’m not the only one who has a sense of relief after clearing immigration and customs — that irrational ‘phew, I definitely didn’t accidentally pack anything illegal’ moment.
Then, it’s time to relax, step outside and suck up the new world of unfamiliar smells, sounds, food, language, and culture, all electrifying the senses.
Arriving in Malaysia by ferry from Thailand
Travelling from Thailand into Malaysia was no different.
Despite the ferry from Thailand’s Tammalang pier to the Malaysian island of Langkawi being about an hour, the difference in culture was vastly noticeable.
As we entered the modern ferry terminal, there were posh signs and electronic advertising, the opposite of the run-down building on the Thai side.
Everything seemed organised, official and a bit too serious after the seriously laidback Thai-side.
After immigration, as we headed outside of the ferry terminal, we were met by a Starbucks, Subway and KFC and on the streets, there was noticeable reduction in the number of scooters tearing around and less fumes to inhale.
The heat seemed to have been cranked up a few more degrees even though we’d only travelled 50km. Not only did I feel like I was melting, I think the pavements were too.
We were tired, boiling and clearly in a very new world.
Either that, or I had reached that grumpy complaining middle-aged man stage of my life.
The taxi dropped us at our apartment, and we headed straight out to eat to feed those poor hungry mouths that had told us “I’m hungry” 79 times on a ferry that had no cafe.
Clearly seventy minutes without food was impossible. Luckily, the kids didn’t know the hotline number to Thai social services.
The struggle to find food & back to fussy eating
And that is when we really noticed the difference, and we could not help by immediately drawing comparisons to Thailand.
We could hardly find anywhere to eat.
Whereas Thailand is blessed with somewhere to find food at every step, here we struggled to find anywhere while wandering around. We had to search online.
We found a place not too far away and we played it safe by ordering the kids Chicken Fried Rice, a dish they had grown to love in Thailand.
“Daddy, what’s this?” they both said in chorus with a turned-up nose, starring at the plate that had just arrived in front of them.
“that’s a fried chicken leg my lovelies, it’s still chicken fried rice, just presented slightly different to how you’ve been having it in Thailand.”
“Yuk, I’m not eating that”.
And so, we were back to square one, just as we had been at the start of the Bali leg of the trip and a repeat of the first couple of weeks of the Thailand leg. Fussy eaters.
Most places were buffet-style — which is great unless you enjoy your food hot, fresh, without crunchy bones in each mouthful and not being fought over by flies.
That was even if they stuck to their opening hours which seemed to be made up each day.
We certainly started to miss the Thai food and realised we had been spoilt with the food there, but we had to just crack on with it.
Missing the Thai smiles and warm welcomes
We also experienced a noticeable change in the people. Gone were the huge smiles and warm welcomes at every turn in Thailand to a noticeably more reserved welcome.
But we did manage to remain positive by remaining grateful for this opportunity to experience another culture because that is the reason we travel. “Character building” were some wise words somehow gave me many years back. Shame the kids still don’t get it, just yet.
We just had to accept it after all; a definition of culture is “the way we do things around here”.
Experiencing cultural differences
The kids got to experience the cultural differences first hand at the playground where they met a very friendly talkative local Muslim girl called Irah with impeccable English, at a similar age to our kids.
Our kids playing around, in proper Kiwi-fashion, in bare feet, drew some attention.
Irah told the kids that she is forbidden to stroke dogs or pigs, which brought some quizzable looks and deep questioning from our kids, but a cultural learning all the same.
Our apartment was located close to a mosque. As the first call to prayer echoed out across town, I got a “dad, who’s that singing with the speaker turned up so loud?”.
We took it as an opportunity to teach the kids about Islam, and how in three countries so far this trip, we have experienced Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam.
These were real world examples of world schooling – the kids learning first hand, not just from a textbook or the TV.
Where are all the tourists?
We had read that Langkawi was a popular destination for tourists, so we were surprised to hardly see any Westerners as we drove around the entire island on our first day with the rental car.
Now that the frequency of 7-Elevens had dried up since Thailand, and thus the “spot the 7-eleven” game, the kids needed a new game. That game came in the form of “spot the Western tourist”.
On our three hour stop/start explorative journey around the island’s ring road, they only spotted a handful.
We assumed that everyone must be staying at resorts and hardly venture out onto the streets.
Malaysian wildlife adventures: snakes and crocodiles
Langkawi Wildlife Park was our first major thing to do for the kids.
We got there early with an aim to be finished by the time the midday heat came to try to kill us off.
The park has an interesting mix of native and foreign species including numerous snakes, much to Alex’s delight, a couple of horses, much to Sofia’s delight, and an ice cream shop, much to my delight.
The star of the show had to be the 4.5 metre long Reticulated Python that, at 11am, was taken out of his enclosure to pose for photos wrapped around tourists’ necks.
That tourist was me.
To be fair, I was not too nervous as I have some experience of handling snakes thanks to a kid at school who kept several in his bedroom.
However, this was a different beast altogether. Weighing 15kg, the strain on my shoulders was the thing I noticed most, along with the power of his 10,000 muscles across his scaley body.
I managed an awkward nervous smile for the camera before handing him back to his handler.
Alex was beaming with delight at his brave Daddy.
The kids also got to stroke a small caiman, see mum cuddle a very cute racoon, and feed all kinds of exotic animals from this tropical part of the world.
Several days later, keeping the reptile theme going, I took the kids to the Crocodile Park where 300 of the world’s largest crocodile, the Saltwater, called home.
Upon entry, we were given a small bucket with chicken pieces and a homemade rod with a wire attached to hold the chicken. “You can feed the crocs” said the guide and after a very brief demo with no real safety warnings, we were left to dangle our rods with chicken as bait over the fence.
Immediately several 4-foot-long baby crocs came swimming over and waited below the dangling snack.
After a few seconds of eyeing up their lunch, they leapt out of the water and grabbed the raw meat, pulling on the wire. The power of these baby crocs was incredible as we each fought to keep the rod the right side of the fence.
Utmost to respect to the strength of these fearsome reptiles.
We wandered around to view the many ponds with various shapes and sizes of Saltwater crocs, the largest being “Colossus” at 4.5 metres long.
There were a couple of shows where two trainers performed various tricks like laying on the crocs back, putting hands in their mouths and even kissing the crocs on the snout.
That poor guy’s wife – having to welcome him back home each night with a big kiss, while he still has croc saliva dribbling down his chin. Yuk!
The star of the shows was the jumping feeding frenzy.
Chicken heads were slowly lowered down a zip line into the croc pond.
As soon as the feast was within striking distance, the crocs leapt from the water with incredible power to snatch the meat from the air several feet above, before crashing back down into the water with an almighty splash, echoing around the park.
Within two gulps, the food was gone. Crocodiles are unable to chew, only being able to gulp their food down, making them pretty messy eaters.
It was like our dinner table each evening.
A memorable experience for the kids.
Tummy churning cable cars & floating bridges in the sky
The Langkawi Skycab is the world’s steepest cable car as it steeply climbs up a mountain side over seven hundred metres above sea level.
As if that wasn’t enough, someone then had the great idea of building the world’s longest curved suspension bridge, 125 metres long, between two mountain peaks, with sheer drops either side down to the jungle below.
The ride up was a tummy churning accent high above the trees below almost scraping the side of the mountain.
At the top was a viewpoint with expansive views of Langkawi’s dozens of forest clad islands, and in the far distance, Thailand, looking invitingly back at us. We could almost smell the Pad Thai we missed so badly.
To get to the bridge, another short cable car and a steep climb down. The kids just strolled across like it was any old bridge, hardly batting an eyelid at the view.
Anya and I trod cautiously as the wind slightly wobbled the whole structure and with sheer drops either side, it was a bit of a nervy walk.
The view though was spectacular as the sun lit up the vast blue ocean below and the tiny specs of sand of the deserted beaches of the neighbouring islands glistened.
After a quick stop in the 3D gallery, on the way down, it was time to head back home after an exhausting day.
Whilst Langkawi does have several white sanded beaches on its west coast, we only briefly visited a couple, primarily because it was just so hot.
The trick was to get up early or go very late in the afternoon.
But given our routine, we just didn’t get into gear and achieve it, so we made use of the apartment pool most days.
Finding Nemo, and everyone else!
On our last day, after a brief look around Langkawi’s aquarium, which contains the usual water world characters – turtles, sharks, Nemo and jellyfish, we took a walk-up a nearby street to have a look for a place to eat.
And that’s when we found everyone!
We had stumbled across Langkawi’s tourist hub, Cenang Beach.
Western food cafes galore, souvenir shops and sunburnt tourists.
Whilst we generally aren’t too keen on massively touristy places, we indulged in ice cream, souvenir shopping and hearing European accents.
Slow-paced, beautiful Langkawi has taught us a lot.
It wasn’t always easy, but we’ve learnt a lot about culture, gratitude, and how to find where the tourists hang out.
We now head down to Penang, hoping it will be a little cooler and a few more food options.
Thoroughly enjoy reading your blogs. What an amazing time you are having and a great experience for the children. Look forward to your next blog.
Another great blog don’t think I could have walked across the bridge