March 3, 2025

Since I knew so little about Malaysia, I certainly had never heard about Langkawi, a small up and coming resort island off the west coast of the country. We had had a relatively easy tour the day before in KL so feeling courageous, I booked us on a tour described as “strenuous” and it was titled “Bat Cave and Eagle Feeding Adventure”. It sounded harmless enough. At 9:00 AM off we went into the searing heat and humidity for our ¾ mile walk to the muster point. Fortunately, we had great hats, water, cooling neck cloths (thanks Amazon) and 70+ sport sunscreen so we were somewhat prepared for the death march to the bus.

Completely wilted we clambered onto a big tour bus and its air conditioning, were handed a very welcomed bottle of ice-cold water and headed to our preferred spots at the back of the bus. Soon, everyone was aboard, and we were off. Again, we had a great tour guide who spoke perfect English and we headed to our bat cave on the other side of the island. If I was looking for where the 3rd world type area was in Malaysia, I found it here. Very much like a Caribbean island as I remembered, a few high rises in the far distance that must have been luxury hotels and then we traveled through the real Langkawi. That is, open-air everything from restaurants, mosques, shops, schools and homes. The guide explained that when he arrived on the island some 30 years ago, the population was 20,000 and was now about 90,000. Add another 30,000 in tourist season. He said that the wildlife on the island basically consisted of dozens of beautiful indigenous and other birds including the hornbill. No tigers or orangutans but giant pythons and cobras up to 10 feet long. But not to worry, the giant snakes could detect footsteps over a football field away and would head for the hills. I marveled at the mountains in the distance which must have been the Malay mainland. They were about the height of the San Gabriel mountains by LA that run from 6,000 to 10,000 feet. Tod even thought he saw snow on some of them. On we traveled listening to more interesting info about the area and in about 1 hour we arrived at our embarkation point for our boat trip to the bat cave.

They split us up into a few groups, so about 18 of us boarded an open-air boat protected from the sun with a canvas covering with 9 of us on each side. It had padded seats and albeit a little rough and ready, we felt safe and comfortable. We had a new guide climb in, and we were off. It wasn’t far to the cave area that had a small dock, and we filed out and awaited further instructions. While waiting for our group to gather I noticed a big sign with a picture of a snarling monkey with huge teeth that said, “Warning, beware of monkey – you have been warned – not responsible for injury or death”. At first, I thought it was a joke. So, I went to the tour guide, pointed to the sign and he said, “Oh yeah, that”. Wait, WHAT??? You’re saying I could be murdered by some rampaging primate, and you just call it “that”?? He gathered us all together and said that he needed to explain. Yes, please! Apparently, there is a group of monkeys (crab eating macaques to be exact) that live in the cave, an alpha male and about 20 females. He said you MUST remember not to do 2 things. That is, don’t look the male in the eyes and whatever you do, don’t smile and show your teeth because that’s a threat and he will attack you. Dang that Colgate Optic White toothpaste. I could just see tomorrow’s headline in USA Today, “Elderly California Woman Tragically Killed after Smiling at Malaysian Ape”. He then said to just avoid the male, and you could easily identify him because he had the very big, “well, you know”. I thought, how am I supposed to avoid the monkey with the very big “you know” if I can’t look at him? What if I met his eyes? What really amazed me was that no one in the group seemed even slightly concerned as we all paraded off to the cave and we passed at least 4 more large signs warning us of our possible impending doom.

I considered completely baling and not going in, but Tod seemed game and not wanting to be “that” lady, I kept my mouth shut and reluctantly followed the group. I thought of wearing my sunglasses as an extra precaution but soon realized that wasn’t going to work in a cave, duh. So, in we went with me staring at the path and looking up only once to snap a picture of the bats. After about 50 yards of hanging bats and no sign of monkeys, the guide announced we were coming to a very narrow area where we would have to crouch way down for about 10 steps to complete the cave loop and anyone who didn’t want to do this, could just turn around and go back the way we came in. You bet, BYE, I thought, grabbed Tod and we nearly sprinted back the way we had come. In the sunshine, I remarked that it was odd that possible death at the hands of a monkey was not part of the tour description. Soon, the rest of the group came out the other side, happily all in one piece and reporting no monkey sitings. It was back to the boat for the next part of the tour which we hoped wouldn’t involve risking life and limb.

We were off to the mangrove swamps that are a key part of the ecology of the earth and are literally the lungs of Malaysia providing tons of oxygen every day. It was fascinating to learn all the fine points of the ecosystem. We toured the Kilim Geo- Forest Park that was a beautifully preserved area – if you ignore the huge white Hollywood-esque sign marking the entrance. The guide happily offered to take anyone’s picture in front it but there were no takers. I think we all felt the same sentiment, that it was a blight on this otherwise pristine area that we didn’t care to memorialize. On we proceeded to the eagle feeding which also included kites (the bird, not the toy). All the birds appear when the guy driving the boat revs his engine. They throw chicken innards in the water and the birds swarm and descend to pick up an easy meal. The guide said a ton of the birds died during Covid19 and I thought, gee, I didn’t know birds weren’t susceptible to the virus. Then he said they died of starvation because they had become so dependent on the tourist boats for food, they didn’t know how to hunt. Hmmm, I would have hoped they would have stopped the practice after that being so concerned about the balance of the ecosystem and all, but I’m trying not to judge these countries we visit. Who knows why they do the things they do and I’m not visiting to judge or criticize (except for the whole killer monkey thing).

The boat driver kicked it into high gear and soon we were back to the dock and the bus. We took the same route back to the ship and I thought to myself that if Hawaii was considered the 2025 Cadillac of tropical tourist locales, Langkawi was the 1964 VW Bug. It gets you to the same place of gorgeous beaches and plenty of activities, it just lacks a bit of refinement.

It was our lucky day because they were running a shuttle the kilometer back to the ship. They probably reasoned passengers keeling over from the heat of the afternoon as they walked back wasn’t a good look. We were met with icy lemonade and cold, wet towels by many smiling crew members and climbed onto the gangway after another incredible day.

Tonight, we sail to Phuket, Thailand.

Langkawi, Malaysia

Phuket, Thailand

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia