Port Malai, Langkawi, Malaysia - Feb 13, 2013

The beautiful island of Langkawi is also called the Jewel of Kedah. It is an archipelago of 104 islands in the Andaman Sea, 30 klms off the mainland coast of Northwestern Malaysia. Langkawi, meaning Land of the Eagle is mainly a resort island with many hotel chains along the water front as well as many tourist type attractions including, go carts, golfing, cable cars to the incredible view points, underwater world etc. Fortunately the hotels are not the big skyscraper types but more in the bungalow style. We shared a taxi van with two other couples and paid a whopping $20.00 US a head for 5 and a half hours of touring, great value. We toured many of the main sights, including the huge Eagle statute at the gate of the town, a rubber tree plantation, the cable car, a rice plantation and the sight of the Makam Mahsuri Mausoleum - the legend of the wrongly accused princess who was put to death as it was thought that she committed adultery, as she was being stabbed to death her blood was white and not red so the town’s people realized their mistake but were too late, as she died she cursed the island for seven generations. The island was indeed cursed where they are now just coming out of this cursed period - hence the popularity of this island now being a tourist destination. We arrived back at the ship in time to watch the Malay Cultural Dance show - where possible Holland America brings local productions on board which are always great to see. Some pictures of our day...