We wolfed down an urgently needed breakfast at the hostel (apparently McDonald’s leaves me with a raging morning appetite) and met up with the British volunteer, Charlie, to hop onto the bus over to the mangrove forest. We thought we were going kayaking, but we had no idea what was really in store…
Mangroves grow in tidal, salty water which is occasionally refreshed by streams, depending on the tides, and with Langkawi being a big island there are plenty of river areas where the water switches from fresh to salt on a daily basis.
Arriving at the river jetty, we were allocated a guide (called Yan, easy to remember!) and hopped onto a boat around the corner. Yan introduced to the various mangrove root types, which are all amazing. Trees with legs! And snorkels which bubble in the tides. Pretty cool. We also saw fiddler crabs everywhere, wandering around with their huge asymmetric claws. Too far away to catch a photo though…
We know what we’re doing 
It’s always rainy season here! 
Trees with legs! 
We were told the spiny protrusions are snorkels. For trees.
A short walk around took us through a cave filled with interesting stalactites and stalagmites, and bats. Tons of bats:
We found the bat cave. Bruce Wayne would be proud. 
Mind your bags
After we’d walked the caves and board around the mangrove roots (ignore the small curious monkey – she’s locally renowned for stealing items from people’s bags) we were taken to a floating restaurant, where we dropped our bags off and launched the kayaks. At this point, I realise now that I should really have put my phone away in the dry.
Paddling our way down the river, we followed a couple of motor boats to an area reserved for feeding the Kites and Eagles. They’re both beautiful, fantastic birds, and with the kayaks we could get pretty close as they ducked and dived into the water, fishing out a mixture of river fish and the chicken skins thrown by tour guides. A part of me wishes it was a little more natural, but there are plenty of eagles here as a result and maybe that’s a good thing? I’m not sure.
Reaching the end of the river, we sat bobbing in the kayaks listening to Yan recounting Langkawi myths about sea spirits and snakes. The island clearly has its own mini cultures and histories set apart from Malaysia, and they’re rather entertaining.
In order to get back to the restaurant, we snaked our way through the mangrove forests in a completely un-straight line.
Drenched from above and below! 
Mangrove forest meeting room
Entering the glugging, chirping forest by kayak was utterly mind-blowing, a tour like nothing I’ve done before. Seeing everything so close, feeling a part of the jungle and floating through the shallows made the experience intense and exhilarating. It was accentuated when the storms came, flooding us with fresh water, cool, refreshing and incredibly loud:
That’s really something I won’t ever forget.
At some point during the storm I realised that my phone had stopped working, misted up, and suddenly started to get very hot. I accepted pretty much straight away that the salty water probably wasn’t going to spare the electronics inside. Bye bye!
We squeezed out of the forest shallows into the main river, crossing swiftly as the rain battered us with ferociousness we didn’t feel in the shelter of the mangroves. We stopped only briefly to take a picture of a HUGE lizard which had clambered up onto a nearby log:
We navigated more mangrove forest back to our floating restaurant and wolfed down a terrific hot local lunch of rice, fish and curry soup while the rain pounded onto the roof above us. That really hit the spot! Things got interesting when we were introduced to the various fish available at the restaurant too. They catch and farm them right at the riverside, ensuring that the food served is always fresh. Extra fish are sent to market. Apparently this is quite common amongst the floating restaurants in the area. I think it’s quite clever really!
We didn’t get back to the hostel until quite late, but it was just enough time to grab a scooter and zoom off to the Sunday night market.
Once I got there I quickly realised that I hadn’t brought any cameras with me, and with my phone dead I found myself unable to shoot pictures of the fantastic food, trinkets and thingummybobs available for sale. “That’s OK,” I thought, “I’ll make up for it by trying EVERYTHING”. This was like Penang Little India Part II: By the end of the night I was utterly stuffed. With the amount I ate, the scooter would only go 2/3 the speed it did on the way there… plus it was making a funny squeaking noise. After a couple of kilometres I realised the squeaking noise was actually Clara, terrified every time the speedo rose above 50km/h. Admittedly, it was dark, and the roads weren’t great, so we took it easy and made it back in time for a good night’s sleep. Moving hostel across town tomorrow, as this one is fully booked.