1987 West Malaysia 1 - Langkawi Is.

This trip was to use all Malaysian Air System (MAS) aircraft.

For anyone who hasn't travelled on the big international aircraft, this is a view forward from the back cabin inside the Boeing 747. In Economy Class, seating is 3-4-3 across the cabin in each row.

These were the days when flights to the Far East and beyond needed refuelling along the route, so a stop off somewhere in the Arabian area was always on the schedule. This time, the stop-off was at Dubai.

Dubai was a modern airport, with contemporary styling to the buildings.

As we took off from the airport, the plane turned about over the Sea Front, before resuming the south-eastern heading out to the Indian Ocean.

After an over-night stay in Subang, near Kuala Lumpur we picked up a local flight in a smaller Fokker F27 "Friendship" aircraft, linking to Penang and onwards to Langkawi.

We had a nice view of Penang Airport, as our plane flew past, before doing a U-turn approach.

The U-turn gave us a nice view of the new Bridge linking Penang to the Mainland. From our planned itinerary, we would later be driving over this bridge from Penang down to the Cameron Highlands.

After passenger changes at Penang, we resumed our northerly flight, with signs that our arrival would actually be in the Monsoon season.

Langkawi is one of a large cluster of islands extending northwards along the Thailand Mainland. Here we are on final approach over one of the smaller islands.

A long view of Langkawi, confirming that the rainy season was well under way. At this time it is not ideal for Sun-lover type of holidays, but great for wildlife.

When we booked the holiday, we were really not sure how we would get to this island, as there was no indication of an airport available. However, this nice new Airport showed interest in developing tourism for the area.

All maps we could find of Langkawi were small dots, no bigger than about 4mm across, so this map, which was on a packed lunch box for one of our later trips here was as informative as it got. An interesting fact was that the boxes were collected at 23.00 ready for an early morning start, only to find that two were warm to the touch. Opening them, we found them filled with hot chipped potatoes! We decided not to have them cold the following day, so had an almost midnight meal, so as not to waste them.

The Resort buildings were designed around typical Far-Eastern Malaysian styling, making quite picturesque subjects for pictures.

Although a fairly new complex, with many of the trees only recently planted in the gardens, wildlife had already moved from the Jungle close by. The area around the pools had plenty of wild residents. Every morning, the pools had to be worked with long handled nets to remove frogs and toads swimming around. Also, whilst swimming, you had to be prepared to duck occasionally as the water was repeatedly skimmed by Swifts flying low and taking drinks.

What can you say! The view from this hotel was amazing, no matter the weather, with this tranquil scenery. Occasionally, a ferry boat would pass back and forth from the Mainland, all adding to the interest.

At our first Evening Meal, we queried the Staff about a deep sound which repeatedly sounded through the evening. It turned out to be this small frog which was around in numbers around the pools, taking advantage of the acoustics of the walls there. It is also known as a Chubby Frog.