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The Q & R Page
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Q is for....
Quay - In the mid-90's another quay was built, post-haste, in Tanjung Lembong to cater for the ever increasing volume of freight and the accompanying logistical problems that outgrew the facilities at the jetty in the North-Western part of Langkawi called Teluk Ewa.
Queue - Generally speaking, the civilized habit of forming queues does not come naturally to Malaysians, and for this reason it has become standard practise for some establishments to install machines that spit out numbered tickets with every press of the red button, to help instill the habit of waiting-for-your-bleeding-turn among the obstinate majority. It is impossible to understand the reason why Malaysians are so bad at forming queues, because they always love to portray themselves as "friendly" and "polite," but the fact remains that queue-jumping is neither! Maybe, they only reserve those sterling qualities for national TV cameras, or in front of foreign tourists!
Furthermore, "haste" is NOT a valid excuse, because if you walk into any office, there is a very high mathematical probability that you'll get to see more "thumb-twiddlers" than people actually doing work! Could it be that they are impatient to wait in queues because they couldn't wait to get back to their respective offices to resume their thumb-twiddling activities?
Quiet - There is absolutely nothing remarkable about this, except of course, when you happen to be all stressed out and are yearning for some peace and quiet!
The good news is that, there is Langkawi - a place to run to, when your nerves are shot to pieces. Away from it all... away from the hustle and bustle of city life... the stress of being caught up in a one-way rat race with no real winners where the first to reach the finishing tape is the loser because you've just had your first cardiac arrest!
However, the bad news is that, it might be a tad boring for some hyper-active people who should, in the first place, have opted for Mallorca, Rio, or even Phuket... where the party never stops and you're a step nearer to that finishing tape!
R is for...
Radio - Langkawi has a radio station which attempts to pass itself off as a "tourism radio" - -whatever that is supposed to mean-- but failing miserably! Without a thorough understanding of its own corporate goals, the station has gone from bad to worse... even after ten years of broadcasting, which proves that bad habits, like inefficiency and complacency must be learnt.
Wonder if they are civil servants?
Don't be silly... of course they are... after all, a normal human is born intelligent and efficient... and it takes lots of practice to degenerate into a mindless servile sycophant... something which only the civil services, the world over, can efficiently offer. But, then again, never put down to inefficiency that what could well be attributed to malice!
Have you ever wondered why the announcers, or DJ's if you insist, are so bad?
It is precisely the reason they were employed in the first place! Well, this might sound ridiculous but there is some sinister element at work here.
You see, the previous station head saw a way to make some extra money by employing bad announcers because these DJ's would be so happy and honoured to get the job that they won't bother complaining about the money that they should be getting.
Now, they should be paid RM 25.00 per hour and after 6 months, this would automatically rise to RM 35.00 and so on until you reach the maximum. The scam was to just pay the announcers a flat rate of RM 25.00 an hour and the station head pocketed the rest! A nice tidy sum when you consider the 18-hour daily broadcast... and at just RM 10.00 per hour off the top makes RM 180.00 per day. Please also keep in mind that it broadcasts 7 days a week for the whole year. The mind boggles!
So, if you happen to be in Langkawi and keep hearing bad DJ's on air... always remember there must be some kind of sinister element or another at work!
Corruption? What corruption?
And, remember, RM 70,000.00 buys a lot of influential deaf ears!
Rainforest - Now we come to a question of semantics. If we wish to be technically correct, then the section on jungle should find itself here under "rainforest" but this has 3 syllables, as opposed to the more exotic and two-syllable jungle.
So, go into the jungle to find out more about rainforest.
Religion - The majority of Langkawians are Malays. According to the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, all Malays must be Muslims - you can't argue with the constitution, can you? - so, the main religion is Islam.
However, the Constitution also guarantees the freedom of worship. So, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity are also practised along with whatever religion that has been deemed "legal" by the powers-that-be!
Rental - Vehicles are available for hire and the average daily rental rate for each vehicle is as follows:
cars - the usual rate is about RM 50.00
motorcycles - small engined bikes go for about RM 20.00
bicycles - RM 10.00 is the going rate, these days.
Prices are, however, usually subject to change without notice, especially during the biennial L.I.M.A. (It's the classic case of when demand by far exceeds supply.)
Resort - It goes without saying that there are several resorts in Langkawi; the concentration is along the Pantai Cenang/Tengah stretch, where there are 7 major resorts. For detailed information, please refer to their respective websites. But, what these websites won't tell you is that, although the service is --generally-- nice and friendly, but this shouldn't be --presumptuously-- equated with a "fast and efficient" one! It all comes down to the "minimalistic attitude" towards work, which the civil servants must have, somehow, helped propagate!
In all honesty, the employees are not entirely to be blamed, as they were only taught to be "nice and friendly" by the middle-Management, who themselves are clueless when it comes to "fast and efficient!"
All the above would translate into... you, the customers, having to wait a bit longer for whatever it is, that you have asked for! But, then again, it would seem "heartless" to complain against somebody who is, after all, seen to be "nice and friendly!"
Hence, we are collectively guilty of effectively "rewarding" slow-and-inefficient-service-but-with-a-smile!
Restaurant - There is certainly a lot to choose from, as they keep mushrooming all over the place -- offering a variety of cooking styles. The only thing that you should be aware of is, the "unscrupulous" practice of a few restaurant proprietors, who pay out commissions to taxi-drivers and guides for bringing in the customers.
There is no harm in this because we subscribe to capitalism, as you might be well aware, but what you might not be aware of is that you are paying between 5%-30% more than what you should for that "goo" you just ate. This is not capitalism but downright con"ism"
So, how does one know which establishments offer such incentives?
Easy... All you have to do is board a taxi and ask the driver to bring you to the "best" restaurant and when you get there, you'll know that that is the place NOT to have your meal!
Elementary, my dear Watson!
Also, do keep in mind that there are, basically, 2 types of restaurants; one caters exclusively to the tourists, and the other caters for the rest of us, and the best way to authenticate this, is by going through the menu.
If a plain fried rice costs more than RM 3.00... then that would be the irrefutable proof because with rice being the staple food, no sane rice-eating person living in Langkawi would ever entertain the notion of forking out more than RM 3.00 for a plate... even if served on a golden plate!
Another thing to look out for is when you patronize a seafood restaurant where you get to choose the items (e.g. lobsters, prawns, fish) which are then weighed, cleaned and cooked. The only question here is, "How can you be sure that the items that you've picked out a moment ago, are the same fresh items which are now being served to you?" Think about it...!
For the benefit of the "extra" naive among you, here is another rhetorical question," How sure are you that the plate of lobster served is NOT in reality pieces of prawn-flesh served in a lobster-shell?" A tip: the worst offenders are the bigger, flashier seafood restaurants!
The widely regarded theory that the quality of food served in any restaurant is directly proportional to the physical headcount of customers found on it's premises, is totally fallacious - especially in the Langkawi context! Fact is, if you see bus-loads of Taiwanese or Japanese crowding a restaurant it would only mean that their respective tourist guides must have brought them there because of some incentives offered by the establishment.
On the other hand, if you see lots of the locals hanging about a restaurant there is a very good possibility that the "waitresses" are some PYT's (Pretty Young Things!) from the neighbouring country. This is especially true if most of the customers are males!
Rice - Our staple food!
We love rice so much that we must have it at breakfast-time, coffee-break time, lunch-time, tea-time, dinner-time and anytime that people eat between now and breakfast tomorrow.
We love rice so much that we even take the time to give it 3 different names; padi when you harvest it; beras when you de-husk it and nasi when it's cooked... while the English word is always rice... but then again, the English don't care too much for rice!
Road - On the whole, the quality of the network of roads found here is above average that makes driving a pleasure... however, it has to be said that the road signs can, at times, be quite misleading... which might explain the increasing number of road-rage cases, nationwide!
The situation is under control in Langkawi because no matter how hard one tries, it is quite impossible to get "lost!" In this sense, it is recommended that you hire a vehicle and set off to explore the island at your own pace and leisure.
Another plus point is that, due to the relatively small and decentralized population there are no massive traffic jams to worry about other than on those few occasions when road works are in progress or during LIMA.
Interestingly, the roads built before the 1990s were paved with marble! There are not that many left but there is, however, a sign posted at one stretch of road, leading to Mahsuri's Mausoleum, that highlights this fact.
Rubber - This would be the plant rather than the contraceptive variety... although it has to be said that Malaysia is, indeed, one of the largest producers of the latter.
Anyhow, during the days of the rubber boom, vast tracts of jungle were converted into rubber plantations and large numbers of Indian workers were brought in by the then British colonialists. This is very much evident in the northeastern part of the island, but have since been neglected when the world price for rubber spiralled downwards.
Nowadays, some of these plantations have been converted into a golf course, a resort and some other tourism related projects!
Rubbish - Coming soon.
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