If you're a bit more serious about marine biology, however, a separate trip may be necessary to the marine park at Pulau Payar. The chief attraction here is a privately maintained coral park featuring its own observation platform, both over and underwater, guided snorkelling tours of the corals and the thousands of fish that cluster around them, and excursions in a glass-bottomed boat. Back on board the Kanagara we are idling within a stone's throw of one of the smaller islands, bringing into sharp focus the dark caverns that punctuate the white and grey limestone cliffs. The captain cuts the engine, and all that remains are the lap of the waves and the shrieking of the thousands of bats that roost inside the caves. Clearly visible in the soft evening light are pale lines of makeshift ladders, little more than notched coconut palm trunks, lining the opening of the caves.
Agile locals fly up and down the ladders to harvest the nests built in the caves by swifts.
From the time they leave the hands of the Langkawi harvesters and arrive at a Hong Kong or Taiwan restaurant, the nests may have risen in price a hundredfold. The sun paints the whole arc of the western sky in flaming reds and oranges, the light reflecting on to the limestone and shimmering marble that make up the surface of other islands. For a moment, the sky, the sea, the islands are all one and at peace. In the rich man's world. Review Publishing Company Limited, Hong Kong.