The Curse of the Wronged Woman: Langkawi Revisited part 1
Legend has it that a long time ago, a fair maiden, beautifully named Mahsuri, lived on Langkawi Island. She was the fairest of them all. Her beauty, charm, etiquette and intelligence was comparable to none other, and as the legend went, Mahsuri married the most coveted eligible bachelor on the island and borne him a son. They lived a charmed life and that became the source of envy and jealousy amongst the other woman in the island. There was no wicked stepmother here but the villain was the brother-in-law’s wife and among all the women on the island, she had the means and the power to execute a plan that was the downfall of Mahsuri. She somehow concocted a devious plan that implicated Mahsuri as having a torrid affair with another man while her husband was away fighting in a war. Infidelity and illicit sex was the bane of the society and the act was punishable by death. Unable to prove her innocence while she was alive, Mahsuri proved it with her death by bleeding ‘white blood’ that shot in the air when she was stabbed by her executioner. There were lightning, thunderbolt, and storms accompanying her tragic death and she swore on her last breath that nothing can be grown, no animals can be reared, and there would be famine and drought repeatedly on the island of Langkawi (’padang jarak padang terkukur’) for the next seven generation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I recoiled from the heat emanated from the tarmac at the Langkawi Airport as we made our way to the air-conditioned arrival terminal. Amazingly, while the southern states were experiencing the worst flood in a hundred years, and a red alert issued on the rest of the country due to extremely heavy rain, Langkawi remained hot and dry. Maybe the curse of a wronged woman was still very much occurring. After securing our luggage and rental car, we took a slow drive around the small island. Nothing much has changed since I was last there which was last year. It was too early to check in at our pre-booked chalet so we went to the small jetty just at the back of it and spend a good hour admiring the view of the sea. Boats were docked there with their engines hanging out and their Malaysian and Kedah flags were flying in the sea breeze. We continued our way to the cable car but a wrong turn took us to the Seven Wells instead. I was too lazy to make the climb up the steep hill to the Wells and the guide justified that point when he told us that the waterfall nearby was dry and we would be able to see them better from the cable car anyway. Instead, we sat down for a nice bowl of ‘laksa’ (rice noodles in sour fish broth) and coconut juice amidst the quaint little shops that display their souvenirs interestingly. We spent the evening watching the sunset in Langkawi from the balcony of our apartment. It does not matter how many times you have watched the setting sun, or where you watched it at, it will always make you think of the greater powers behind every rising and setting sun. ~Hope to continue with Part II soon!~
It had been more than a hundred years since then and the 7th generation has come and passed. Langkawi Island is now a federal territory and besides being a duty-free island, it boasts of white beaches and numerous small islands for fishing, diving and underwater activities, and thus attracting thousands of local and overseas tourists each year. It has always been my favorite holiday spot because of the mixture of old and new attraction, village and urban life, east and west culture and food, the sun, sea, beaches, the choice of seafood and cheap car rental. Not to mention that Air Asia has made traveling there cheap and relatively easy and the resort corporate rate was inductive to keep me coming back year after year………
After a long and relaxing siesta, we drove to Mount Mat Cincang where the famous Langkawi Cable Car awaits. En route, we passed by the Petronas Quay and the view from the roadside forced us to stop. For the life of me, I could not tell a catamaran from a yacht or a boat from a schooner, but I know the contraptions docked there were expensive and very much different from the ones we saw earlier at Mak Long’s. It was a scenic waterfront and brought back memories of Manly in Sydney, which I visited years ago. Such opulence does exist in our country! It would have been nice to stop and have tea at the waterfront café but I was too embarrassed even to suggest it, as I was such a glutton at lunch just now.
