Umm...I got my days a little mixed...Friday, May 31 we were in Singapore and on Saturday, June 1 we were visiting Kuala Lumpur. On Sunday, June 2, Langkawi, Malaysia was the place to be and we were there!
On Sunday, both Jeff and I took an unusual tour...sometimes I think people dig a little to find some of these places and this tour seemed to exemplify that thought. The tour was labeled
"Underwater World, Mahsuri Tomb, and Lagenda Park".
Langkawi is an island very close to Thailand...about "20 minutes by speedboat" we were told. It was also mentioned that Langkawi has no typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, or cyclones, only monsoon-like rains which cause flooding, mudslides, and sinkholes. And, of course it rained excessively as we boarded our bus. Again we were reminded that the King has a celebration about his official birthday happening so things might be a little crowded. Like we needed reminding!
Our first stop was the tomb....well, it was in a neighborhood...sort of...and jammed with cars, vans, buses, motorbikes parked every which way but orderly. The "tour" and I use the term very loosely, wandered from room to room trying to tell the story of a beautiful young mother whose husband traveled in his job. She had a jealous sister in law who accused her of adultery and for this she was sentenced to death. No one seemed able to kill her and half dead she revealed that someone in her family using a family sword would have to do it. When they tried that, she wailed that she was innocent and a curse would be on the island for seven generations. She then died and Mahsuri bled white fluid...a sign of her innocence...and the curse was on. Up to this point we didn't have a clue when all this happened...the pictures looked very recent, but Jeff guessed 1957...it was actually 1819...we think. Accordingly, the curse was recently lifted and the island is becoming prosperous thanks to rice and palm oil. This location was definitely a family business and led you right into a general store kind of enterprise that featured candy, but also had household items and souvenirs...even bottles of "Essence of Mahsuri". We couldn't begin to think what that might be!
Traffic jams were the continuing challenge along with our guide, who seemed to take a special liking to Jeff. Interesting and unexpected and slightly creepy because the guide initially looked like he had only one eye...but later the other appeared, but the second eye didn't communicate we'll with the first one and we could never tell if he was looking at us, or out the window...or both places at once which was often the case. And although at times, his English was pretty good and we understood just about every word, at times he would lapse into something else entirely and we were left wondering if it was a problem with our ears! Oh, boy!
We made two more stops...Underwater World...an aquarium in a shopping center strip mall kind of place, and then a park featuring a huge eagle, the island symbol. The aquarium was basic and although built in 2003, was much too small for their exhibits. But still we managed to get a few pictures. It was very crowded too, with families who insisted on taking pictures of their children in front of each of the 100 little fish tanks making for very slow going for the rest of us.
The last stop tested the driver's ability to get through a very narrow alley with cars parked on both sides. He made it but made the rest of us very nervous. The park was a quick picture stop, but bathrooms were the bigger challenge for the women! Our first choice featured no toilets, but the ceramic holes in the ground with a hose and faucet included. I couldn't figure that out and elected to wait a bit longer to see if a more Western facility would be offered. And actually Jeff found one for me at the other end of the park...but worth the trip since I'm still trying to think through how I could manage the first one while wearing shorts and regulation USA underwear!
Although that day was rainy and very cloudy and overly humid, I think we were lucky the sun was hiding...it would have been nearly unbearable otherwise. At 89 degrees we managed, but I couldn't wait to shower after that tour.
We had a late and light dinner and lost our trivia...came in about third out of 25 teams or so.
I learned that I won't get off the ship in Mumbai because I have no Indian visa...Jeff can get off because he has a "Seaman's Book" which is kind if like a passport and gives privileges for shore leaves. I'm not fretting about it but I am looking forward to Dubai. One of Jeff's ship friends is head of excursions and because he helps with dispatch so often on port days, she has invited us on a special one off tour of Dubai ending with high tea at the "7 star" hotel there. Wow!
Quote: I may repeat, but hope I don't..."Long voyages, great lies." - Italian proverb
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