Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Indian Ocean 2012
Monkey business
I had breakfast a little earlier and found it to be very much quieter, except for a large group occupying much of the indoor area. An unforgettable moment came when a large monkey dropped onto the umbrella that was shading the big round table next to mine. He skilfully positioned himself down onto the table's surface, deftly lifted all the sugar sachets out of their container with a single hand movement, and scarpered. Moments later, I spotted him brazenly and somewhat comically sitting on a sun lounger by the pool and eating the packets one at a time, paper and all. The staff commented that it happened all the time: the monkeys always removed the sugar and left everything else undisturbed.
My driver and Toyota car were ready and waiting for me at 0900. First stop was the al-Hana mosque in the island's capital, Kuah, followed by a visit to the nearby Eagle Square (Dataran Lang) shopping complex and tourist attraction. The 40-minute drive to the first objective confirmed how civilised, orderly and above all, quiet the roads were after the chaos of Sri Lanka. Should I ever be lucky enough to return to Langkawi, I would have no hesitation in renting a self-drive car.
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LEFT: The al-Hana mosque in Kuah |
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RIGHT, BELOW and BELOW-LEFT: Eagle Square / Dataran Lang |
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The third and
final stop was the Oriental Village, an artificial and
extremely touristy complex forming the base station for the
Cable Car, Langkawi's premier man-made attraction. My driver
showed me to the cable car line, which unfortunately
appeared to have a waiting time of around two hours.
The driver explained that we were currently in the middle of
a two-week school holiday in Malaysia: suddenly everything
became clear about the situation at the Andaman as well. I
decided that I couldn't possibly stand in a queue for that
length of time in the sun and heat, and instead contented
myself with a 40-minute look around the 'village'. Sadly the
mountain-top vistas, said to be a must-see for all visitors
to the island, would have to be left as unfinished business. |
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| ABOVE: Horrendous queue for the cable car | ||
I arrived back
at The Andaman at 1205, having used the three hours that I
had paid for, but only five minutes of the extra
complimentary hour that formed part of the deal. My Scottish
sense of thrift felt mildly offended
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but it had undeniably been a thoroughly enjoyable morning. I
cooled off in my room for half an hour and then had lunch in
the lobby-level bar. The delicious chicken satay and rice,
washed down with a Tiger beer, was most enjoyable and the
experience was enhanced by excellent, polite and attentive
service. |
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| ABOVE LEFT: Attractive lobby-level bar | |||
| ABOVE RIGHT: Pool seen from 4th floor | |||
The rest of the day was a relatively lazy affair. I retreated to my room during the worst of the searing heat before returning to the pool area around 4pm, when the sun and heat tended to be less intense. Once again, I ended the day with a room-service dinner and a movie.