The New Year’s Eve party was a predictably jolly affair. The star of the event was most certainly my sister who drank and danced the night away
until close to 3.00 am and then wanted to help with the washing up and general cleaning! Prior to that, on the stroke of midnight her son welcomed in the New Year in pyromaniacal style making use of some outdated marine flares.
Inevitably, a quiet day followed with much alcohol soaking up snacking.
These banana fritters are to die for.
Being a free port, boating in all its forms is an important part of life in Langkawi be it refuelling the mega yachts of the obscenely wealthy, running charters to the outlying islands, operating dive expeditions or simply messing about on the water.
Apart from that and the obvious natural beauty of this tropical island there is little to attract the tourist. In fact the whole place is a bit run down and in desperate need of investment and a redevelopment plan. Half finished constructions abound,
many being obvious projects of pure vanity
No progress has been made in finishing the building of this tower since I was last here 12 months ago. If it is ever completed it will be serve no other purpose than being just that – a tower! Elsewhere, crumbling monuments to previous short term investment initiatives are everywhere.
And even the more grandiose projects that do get finished are in need of refurbishment.
It’s really all quite sad, the more so as the action needed to reverse this situation is quite obvious but the local government seems content merely to involve itself in such micro projects as a bit of street cleaning.
Picking weeds out from the cobbled street surrounded by edifices in need of bulldozing
does seem faintly absurd.
Every once in a while, though, you do come across evidence that someone, somewhere recognises the importance of accentuating the positives.
A proclamation that the installation of a new hotel lift will ‘take your experience with us to the next refreshing level’ says it all, I think!
Whilst I have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my sister, my nephew and his very hospitable friends here, I am looking forward to returning to Bangkok tomorrow – and so is my liver!
Phileas.
thelasthurrahsite 