Suddenly they take off, in hot pursuit of a flying squirrel, soaring effortlessly from trunk to trunk and keeping well out of reach of the menacing macaques.

It may feel like being in the middle of a David Attenborough documentary, and in a way it is a reality show – for this is daily life, Langkawi style. Even on the largest and most inhabited island of this magical Malaysian archipelago in the Andaman Sea, you don’t need to be off the beaten track to come face to face with the teeming and extraordinary wildlife.

Deserted, white powdery beaches are commonplace; rainforest jungles 10 a penny; and towering, limestone mountains within easy view as well as reach, on a cable car soaring above the tree-tops. Sea eagles dive for fish, village life continues as it has for centuries around clusters of stilted houses, water buffalo wallow in the fields and the spicy smells of satay and lahksa soup waft tantalisingly from street hawker stalls.

There is little nightlife on the island, just a scattering of hotels, restaurants and cafes in the ‘busiest’ resort – Pantai Kok, though the food is often mouth-watering with its mixture of influences and flavours, from Malay, Chinese and Indian to Thai. In a culture where drinking is not the done thing, there are no throbbing nightclubs or karaoke bars to drown out the much more tuneful chorus of cicadas. Our most memorable nights out included dinner at the highly recommended Bon Ton, a Crystal Yacht sunset cruise, watching the sky turn from gold to orange to red while enjoying cocktails and a barbecue on the seafront at Pelangi Beach Resort.

A legendary curse on Langkawi is said to have halted its development for seven generations, which perhaps explains why this tranquil corner of the Far East has remained so mysteriously undiscovered. Yet recently the Malaysian government has woken up to the goldmine in its midst and begun to push for development. The island

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend