We've moved!

To our new location - www.laparipari.blogspot.com.

Building To Last

Last night, for Earth Hour, we turned off all the lights and fans in my parents' house.  Dinner was by candlelight - a feast prepared by the loving hands of Mom and her enthusiasm for a new grilled, butterflied leg of lamb.

The nephews and nieces played in the semi-darkness, the TV off for a change.  Noise was from ambient chatter and the sound of children laughing as they raced toy trains on a double track.

From the start, our intention with our little resort in Langkawi was to create something sustainable.  Something that would leave the lightest possible imprint, or at least endeavour to do so, on Langkawi island.

La Pari-Pari, named after the Malay word for "fairy", will, when it opens, be a magical place.  Built from the ground up with heart, and a goal to incorporate as many ecological conservationist measures as we can.

Already, in our discussions with the architect and between the two of us, ideas have surfaced.

Solar lighting for the outdoors at night, to save electricity.

Rain water catchment pipes, to help irrigate the landscape.

An organically-fertilised outdoors, with edible plants and hopefully fruit that will adron our breakfast table.

A linen reusage policy, perhaps with rewards to incentivise our guests to join in and help us in our efforts to save water.

And if we can, a small contribution from our profits each year to a local cause nominated by our staff and chosen by our guests.

In looking for ways to green La Pari-Pari, we've uncovered some information.  Yet some others still remain unsolved.  How do we find a commercially viable solution for cleaning materials?  Often, ecological cleaning solutions are expensive, mostly imported.  And how do we ensure guests turn off their air-conditioners when they leave their rooms?

More importantly, how do we create a space that makes sense to the community and environment in which it sits?  Building a building is easy.  But building one that makes commercial sense and acts as a catalyst for something greater, something longer lasting, takes time, thought and deliberation.

But, as I've always said, if we don't do it, who will?

Money, Money, Money

Money is such a complex thing, especially when you're trying to figure out how to get more than you have.

Last night, over dinner, we were talking to a couple of friends about our Langkawi project and the conversation turned inevitably to the question of money.  Anim, Pari-Pari's Ms. Moneypenny has, over the last few months become quite the expert, having spent hours braving traffic jams and patiently waiting for bank officers to come back from their tea breaks and prayer breaks, medical leave and goodness knows what else can cause absence from their posts.  

And what we have discovered, in our naivete, is this:  if you need money, chances are, there is a way to get it.

Malaysians are a funny lot.  Many of us are disgruntled citizens, always moaning about the wastage of our taxpayers' money, the bloat of Government coffers and those of the corrupt.  Yet, many of us have actually done little to try and get hold of some of that funding ourselves, including Anim and me.

Until now.

We've decided that since our tax dollars are already going to unscrupulous hands, we might as well get our hands on some - so we can use it the right way.

This is, as I was telling my Mom this afternoon, how we fight back at the system.  

On one of her recent visits, Anim met with a Government officer who generously dispensed advice on how we could apply for matching grants to help us get up and running.  And he said, "You know, 89 per cent of those applying for these grants are Chinese.  The Malays, they're just too lazy!"

Apparently, even the exercise of obtaining three quotes from one's supplier is considered too much of a hassle for some of our Melayupreneurs to bother!

How la, to do business like that???

This reminds me of an incident that happened about a week and a half ago.  At 7:45 am on a mid-week morning, 15 minutes before my alarm was set to go off, I got an SMS.

"Ms Karina, this is Pakcik Mokhtar, the man who showed you the piece of land you bought.  Congratulations on your purchase, but I also know you're actually a land broker your self and have since sold the land to someone else."

Five minutes later, another SMS came from him: "You should give me some commission, since I was the one who originally showed you that plot."

It amazes me how people seem to think money is something that should be given in return for zero effort.  I've always had to work for every cent, so I don't understand this mentality.  Even if I was a land broker in this instance, I hardly owed the man anything, since the land already belonged to me.

In the end, we contacted our lawyer who advised us to just sit tight.  But not before I had got out the wrong side of bed a little too early for my liking and spewed out curses for the next three hours.

It's a wonder Athena, our live-in Boxer hasn't tried running away from her Evil Mommy yet.

Off The Beaten Path

Contrary to popular belief, there is a lot to do in Langkawi.  You just have to be a bit adventurous.

Unlike its more commercialised neighbours - Bali, Phukat, Koh Samui - Langkawi is almost like a half-kept secret that people only talk about quietly or escape to when they don't want a high-fidelity vacation.  Even during peak season, you can still find a decent spot of sand on Chenang.  The streets never get as crowded as Patong or Kuta.  The tour touts are not aggressive nor do they hound you in numbers.  While there are no masseurs or manicurists at your beck and call on the beach, there also is an absence of other vendors.  OK, once in a while you get one or two strolling by, pareos spread out for sale.  But nowhere near the swarm you are confronted with on the main beaches of Thailand and Indonesia.

Neither is Langkawi small.  I believe it's actually bigger than Singapore!

The best thing to do when there is to rent some form of transport - motorised or not - and take some time to explore the island, even if it means driving along its coast.  From the airport and Chenang you can take the windy, scenic road that passes the Naval base and leads to Kuah town.  On a clear day, the bay almost looks like San Francisco - dotted with white sails and embraced by the hills of smaller islands.

On the other side, there is Tanjung Rhu and the upscale end of the island, where hotels like the Datai and Four Seasons lay claim to the sand.

But the point is to just enjoy the journey.  Notice how the terrain changes as you go from one part of the island to another.  Laugh at the monkeys you will inevitably encounter.  And when you tire of going round, go inwards, towards the rubber plantations and paddy fields, along the windy little kampung paths.  That's where the locals really live.  That, to me, is the heart of the island, the part that I hope never gets overtaken by modernity and keeps the island anchored at a leisurely pace.

If you really must know....

This is WHY.

Since telling friends and family about Pari-Pari, we've often encountered these questions.

Here, once and for all, are our answers.

Why Langkawi?

Because it's an island.  Because it's not as touristy as Phuket or Bali, plus it's Malaysian and we're Malaysian.  And it's not as rustic as our other resort islands.

And more importantly, Karina can live there.  There's Starbucks when I need it and a Body Shop for my girly fixes.  You don't get that on Tioman.

But are you sure?

YES!  YES YES YES!

In fact, we can't think of a reason NOT to go.  What's there not to love?  24-seven access to sun, sea and surf, no traffic jams, lovely paddy fields for evening bike rides right at our door step, and all without having to forego the comfort of broadband!

But aren't you two going to miss Kuala Lumpur?

OK, we admit, we're not exactly kampung girls.  But neither are we uber-urban types who NEED to go clubbing every weekend or visit a mall.

Infact, I don't like malls.  My favourite mall is the one a stone's throw away from my house, and it ain't exactly Pavilion.

We know we will miss our friends and family.  But we figure that Langkawi is a nice enough place for them to consider visiting once in a while.  Plus, KL really is only a 45-minute flight away.

You know running a resort is hard work....

Yes we know.  We are fully aware that we will have to make beds, mop floors, bartend, play receptionist, bellboy, housekeeping, etc despite our plans to hire staff.  There will be days when we will want to throw up our hands in despair.  

But there will also be days - and we hope these far outnumber the mad ones - where we will be able to sit quietly on our back porch and listen to the island settle down for the evening.  The changeover from day to nocturnal animals and insects.  The turn of sky from bright blue to gold and then black. Without having to deal with smog and the constant buzz of traffic.

But it will be HARD work!

Personally speaking, I think it's worth it.  After all, we get to be our own bosses.  We get to build something from scratch and know that when, not if, it succeeds, it will all be entirely our own doing.

Plus, it means we will hopefully never, never have to sit in long meetings with 25 people discussing something that doesn't really matter in the larger scheme of life anymore.

So there you have it :-)  Now, you know!

Drawing Up Plans

For a couple of urbanites who only have the experience of renovating one home between them, the prospect of building a whole resort is, to say the very least, a daunting one.   Neither of us knew any architects (or at least not personally) who were within reach. 

But like everything else to do with this project, we cast our nets hopefully.  And as the universe would have it, several architects emerged.

The first, Azrina, was someone we had met by chance and is coincidentally the daughter of a family friend.  We were lucky to have met her then.  She was patient in her explanations, and tolerant of our Architecture 101 questions.  She helped us get our first glimpse of what was in store.  Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of her.

Then, we met David through who else but Aida.  We loved David at first sight.  He's now a friend and will be attempting to conquer Mount Kinabalu with us in June.  But that's another story altogether.

Meantime, I decided to take a stab at letting the winds of fortune do some work for me and left a few postings on Facebook.  Wherever there was a Langkawi group, I posted a note indicating my interest to set up business on the island.  Soon, someone contacted me.  And a few months plus a couple meetings later, he is now our architect and project manager.

Meet Ijam - although this isn't a very good photograph of him (He's the one in the center).  Architect, sailor, informer extraordinaire, Daddy of Nena, our favourite Langkawi resident under 10, and all-round trove of interesting information about the island.  By a stroke of luck or maybe fate, Ijam, who resided in Perlis when we first got to know him, has moved to Langkawi and is setting up his architecture practice on the island.  He was a natural choice for us, as it means having someone there on site once construction begins.

We are now commencing our monthly project meetings with him.  The first took place on January 2, 2009 at his home in Langkawi.  The second was at our home over a whole Sunday in February.  Our discussions stretched long into the night, even pulling in my sister, Karen into the fray.  We visioned and dreamed, and talked about our individual ideas for what Pari-Pari will be.

And I must say, I love what I've already heard.

A Piece Of Magic

Our search for a plot of fairy magic ended quite by chance.

One evening in October, after months of searching, I sat in our Klang Valley home, surfing the net on the slim chance I would uncover a glimmer of hope that would lead to the fabled acre or so of earth we were looking for.

At that point, both Anim and I knew we needed a place that was not too far away from the madding crowds yet just enough to build a quiet sanctuary for people who wanted to rest their spirits.  As large as Langkawi is, the tourist trade is largely concentrated around the Pantai Cenang and Pantai Tengah vicinities, where most of the accommodation and facilities were centered.  

Just then, I saw an ad for a land broker and proceeded, over the next few weeks, to contact him and make arrangements to view the plots he had for sale.

November finally rolled around, almost a year to the day my sister and I first set out to the island, baby in tow.  This time we were accompanied by Graham, the husband of a friend of mine.

On the first day, we were taken to see a beautiful little piece of land situated in a paddy field across the road from the famed Bon Ton resort.  The view there was spectacular, a 360-degree panorama that afforded different things to catch the eye at every angle.  One side looked out to the sea and distant sunset.  Another was braced by the ragged peaks of the MatChinchang range, crested with the white structures of the Langkawi cable car.  Behind and beyond stretched green fields of paddy ringed with more hills.

But, it was too small.

Over the next 36 hours or so, we drove around the island, Graham patiently in tow, to continue our search.  In between, Langkawi-style, we detoured to get acquainted with a charming Pakcik who proceeded to invite us to his home for a mug of buffalo milk.  And that was AFTER he gave us a tour of the buffalo farm where we found this fella!

Then, on the second afternoon, the Pakcik who had shown us the paddy field plot rang.  He found a plot we "just had to see" and he sounded excited.  A little while later, we found ourselvesstanding on the little kampung slip road that bordered the first plot we had ever been shown months ago - the odd, triangular slip of land that we had written off on account of the unusable space.  Our hearts sank.

Turning to him, we told him we had seen this plot before.  

Then he said, "No, the one I want to show you is here!" And he pointed across the road to a piece of land we hadn't actually noticed before.  Immediately, I knew our search was over.  It was perfectly located, relatively flat and as a bonus, had full-grown trees!

It didn't take us long to ring our requisite "Island Consultants" - Aida and our architect Ijam - to tell them.  Sooner rather than later, everyone who needed to see it did and gave us the thumbs up.

The only problem was the asking price was too high.  So we attempted to negotiate with Pakcik Number One - the man who had shown us the land.  Boy, we had no idea the kind of ride we were in for.

In urban Klang Valley, purchasing property is a relatively straight-forward affair.  You like something, most probably found it through an agent, agree on a price and off you go.  Not in Langkawi.  Over the next month after finding our desired plot, we were nudged along from one Pakcik to another, all claiming to be the relative of the land owner and authorised to negotiate the land price on his behalf.  Each pakcik we spoke to offered a lower price.  The brokerage tier ran about five or six deep.

In the end, tired, we went back to the land broker who had introduced us to Pakcik Number One.  Not surprisingly, he had no idea about the plot. But, kind soul that he is, he did us a favour.  That's one thing you realise quickly on the island.  For every person that's out to get you, at least two or three are willing to watch your back, even if you're nothing more than a stranger who just happens to be nice and gives them the time of day.  True story.

Bahad the broker, feeling bad for us two silly city girls, contacted his Grand Vizier of all Earthly matters who turned out to be none other than Pak Man.  Of course the old man knew who owned the land.  It belonged to a Chinese towkay who had bought it at an auction.

With Pak Man's help, we got in touch with the actual land owner and by New Year's Eve, were on our way to see him and close the deal.  Fairies in Langkawi don't always come in the shape of tiny winged creatures, but they're definitely there alright.

Island Faces

Now, one year and some months down the road since we started our attempt to move to Langkawi, it almost seems as if we partially live there already.  So much so that we come back to KL with anecdotes of the people we've met, befriended and woven into our life memories.

Our first contact point on the island was our friend Aida. Someone we had only briefly known in KL through a mutual pal.  She moved to Langkawi a few months before my sister and I first went out there to investigate the inn for sale from the Classifieds.  Today she is a Langkawi resident and a naturalist by profession.  

A passionate environmentalist, I also suspect she's caught the bug and will someday look for her own plot of land on the island.  The more the merrier, I say. Plus, it's always nice to begin life in a new place where you already have a friend.

This is Pak Man, who someone once referred to as the Jinn Tanah, on account of his ability to broker land deals.  He was the first land broker we met in Langkawi.  A fiesty old fella, who doesn't hesitate to climb a hill just to check out the view from its best vantage point.  Thanks to him, several of our visits gave us decent workouts!  And be warned - often times I had to resort to makeshift hiking poles of deadwood while he skipped along ahead of us in his flip-flops.  He also introduced us to the famous Langkawi Ikan Bakar shop where the locals mostly go for their fix of Malay rice and fish grilled a la minute.

We first met Pak Man during the historical March 8, 2008 elections and he had plenty to say on the subject of politics.  If our leaders in their ivory towers think they can get away with hoodwinking the grassroots, I'd suggest they talk to him.  Maybe then they would realise that we Malaysians don't suffer fools gladly.

Although in later months we broadened our search to other land brokers, Pak Man unwittingly became a crucial factor in us securing our eventual plot of land - even though he didn't broker the deal.  Maybe it's the way things work in small communities like an island - everything revolves in concentric circles so that you often find that your new starting point is almost exactly where you began in the first place.

This lady is who I want to be when I grow up!  I believe she is already well into her seventies, but she is such a delight. 

We had arranged to meet her at the plot of land she wanted to sell - a good three-acres set among a vast expanse of paddy fields.  It's hard not to fall in love with the sight of paddy fields at harvest time.  Patch after endless patch of lively green stalks, heads bowed from the weight of rice ready for reaping, swaying like uncertain toddlers every time the breeze tousled their leaves.

The minute we met Makcik, I knew Anim would buy her plot of land if she had cash to spare.  The lady alighted from her ride - a noisy, little motorbike driven by her seemingly underaged grandson or grand nephew (one never knows the specifics) - with the agility of a teenager and the certainty of someone who intended to continue living for a long while yet - despite what the universe may have in store for her, thank you very much.

Later, we found out she was a well-recognised figure around Langkawi.  It turned out she actually had her own motorbike, and would have rode it to our meeting had it not been out of petrol.  Her only concession to modernity was to wear a helmet while riding.  But she didn't bother with a driving licence.  By her calculations, she was too old for the policemen to be stopping her for no reason.

Meeting Makcik made me a little melancholy.  Here was a local resident who had a valuable asset to sell and limited means to do so.  The reality is that a fair number of land deals on the island are being increasingly transacted with foreigners - most looking to retire on Langkawi or make it their holiday home.  But without the ability to converse with them in English, locals like Makcik are at the mercy of multiple land brokers whose layers sometimes can run up to five or six deep, leaving the land owner with a lot less once commissions had been paid.

I have heard that the situation in other more developed islands like Bali is very bad.  To the point where locals are harrassed by land brokers to give up their land for not-so-pretty pennies.  As a result, local Balinese are moving further and further inland, pushing them farther off from the economically lucrative tourist trade.

I hope this doesn't happen in our own Langkawi.  The more I frequent the island, the more I see how we can stop what is happening in Bali and Phuket to Langkawi.  But it will take Malaysians with a conscience to exercise some self-discipline in ensuring that while we improve the commercial viability of the island, we also do it responsibly, with least negative impact on its residents - be they human or flora and fauna.

It's not someone else's job to preserve the gifts we have.  It's ours.

Land Ahoy!

Looking for land in Langkawi can be a really confounding experience.

First, there's figuring out who knows what is up for sale.  Our search for land took over a year, during which we made trips to the island every two to three months, following leads of land for sale.  Some came via friends who knew we were on the lookout, some came from sources as random as the Internet.  After several visits, we even had leads coming from people who knew people who knew we were looking.  You get the picture.

We traipsed across paddy fields.  We climbed big hills and small ones, through rubber plantations and orchards, peered through trees to uncover hidden vistas and pretty much saw most of the island.  

I have always known, deep in my soul, that I can have anything I set my heart on.  Call me a brat, but that's the way my life has always worked out.  I decide what I want and I just go and get it.  At times, confidence wavering, I wondered whether we would ever find something we liked.  After almost a year, we were both a little ragged from all the looking and looking over of plots previously seen. 

But on good days, I just knew.  Having Anim in the whole equation was also a huge help.  She's the more patient of the two of us, and whenever Speedy Gonzales me got irritated at the lack of progress, she was always the one who reminded us to take the deep breaths and let things just flow.

I distinctly remember a certain rainy evening in Langkawi when I was almost at the end of my rational tether.  We were due to return to KL in a couple of hours after yet another weekend of fruitless searching.  It wasn't that there was no land for sale.  It was just that nothing felt right.  Either a plot was too hilly and would cost too much to develop, or too far, or too small or too big, too rocky or too inaccessible.

Tired, I resorted to less pragmatic ends and decided to try a bit of wishful thinking.  I asked Anim to drive down a small village road in the pouring rain just to take a look at what was there.  During the entire journey, I recall telling her, "This is where we need to be.  We need our plot to be in this area."

And believe it or not, that was exactly what happened the next time we went to Langkawi.  

The first plot of land we were ever shown on the island was a strange little triangular piece that looked like a martini glass.  Its svelte figure aside, the piece of land was in a great location.  Subsequently, that plot was perhaps always our mental benchmark for location, location, location.

I don't know if it's serendipity or just the universe working its magic, but the plot we finally decided to purchase was directly across the road from the martini glass.  Weird, isn't it?

Taking The Plunge

My sister and I didn't start out as bosom buddies.  Born four years apart, I was the eldest and she the youngest with a brother in between us.  In our childhoods we shared a bedroom for some time but led pretty separate lives and little confidences.

As we both grew older and became the selves we are now, we discovered each other somewhere along the way, shared secrets and worries, rants and silly girly excitements about love and all sorts of growing up things.  She taught me some things I should have probably taught her, me being the older one.  I, in turn, was probably just there for her in any way I could be when I felt she needed some propping up.

Over the last ten years we have shared a particular bond from some weird and wild adventures that we may not have fallen into without one another.  Impromptu drives to Singapore and back, unscheduled flights home from a foreign country, long-distance phone calls to chase imaginary ghosts from a hotel room and a random trip to Spain.

Given our inclination towards stepping out into the unknown together, it was perhaps fitting that she was the one who accompanied me on the maiden trip to Langkawi to check out the little resort advertised in the papers.  Only this time we had an extra companion - her then baby son.

The trip, like any that mark a turning point in one's life, was unremarkable in its minutiae.  We saw the little inn, marvelled at the creeper trellis that was probably it's only charm, sunk our toes in the sand behind the rooms and contemplated uprooting our lives and moving to the island.

Prior to this visit, I had not been to Langkawi for some four or five years.  In my numerous previous visits, it had always been somewhere to get away to and nothing more.  But this time round, things felt different.  There was an inexplicable pull that goaded me to keep walking on a a stretch of beach each time I felt like turning back.  It felt, for lack of better words, familiar and new at the same time.  Not like a home you've known your entire life, but a safe place where your soul could be happy and perhaps start a fresh chapter of your life.

We came away from it determined to try and give things a shot.  Anim did the numbers and we talked about the possibility of moving.  We were excited at the prospect of things.  But in the end, as fate would have it, the inn was bought by someone else.  

In retrospect, it was perhaps for the best.  Once the inn slipped from our grasp, I turned my thoughts to the idea of building something from ground up, the way we want it.  And the more I thought about it, the more frightening and exciting it seemed.

I suppose I cannot deny that I have the attention span of a goldfish.  Things that are new and unfamiliar captivate me.  But once I figure them out, they cease to keep me fixated.  So the idea of crafting an entire little resort all by ourselves appealed because it was so different from what we've both done in our professional lives.  Plus, it was a dream we both somehow had tucked away in between the loose leaf pages of our lives and what ifs.

Once Upon A Time....

While flipping through the newspapers during lunch hour one seemingly unfateful day, I paused to peruse the Classifieds section.  I don't know why I did it.  It's an old habit I picked up some years ago out of boredom.  And there, nestled in between ads for once-loved furniture of an expat couple moving out of KL and puppies for sale was THE ONE.  It was a modest entry, considering the possibilities it offered.

It advertised a small resort for sale on the island of Langkawi.  I blinked and re-read it a couple times.  It seemed too good to be true.

Finally, I gave the advertiser a call.  The resort was a small place, just over ten rooms, already operating and apparently turning a decent profit.  The owner was leaving the country and needed to sell it quickly.  Even the price sounded right.

A few hours and excited phone calls between Anim, my sister Karen and I later, we made the decision to go and check the little resort out.  Little did I know then, how much it would change my life.

I suppose my reason for wanting to explore the possibility of completely trading in my life for a new one was at once impulsive and at the same time paradoxically calculated.  I had spent over 15 years building a career for myself in the Malaysian corporate world.  In that span of time, I guess I felt I had exhausted all attractive possibilities.  By my mid-thirties I had already become Bosswoman to some twenty-over staff in an international communications agency.  Then I went on to what some would say is a plum job in quasi-Government-linked company land.  A job that some would say was a cradle to grave one - the only way you would lose it was to leave.

There was little else I saw worth pursuing upwards of my rung on the corporate ladder.  Most of the people I knew in senior management were unhappy, pressured largely by the need to not fail than the passion for their work, worried about keeping up with the payments on their Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs rather than wondering what new horizons lay within their lines of sight.  Internal politiciking that resulted in too many inconclusive, drawn out meetings that ultimately were of little consequence didn't help either.

In short, I was bored.  And there was a part of me that increasingly wanted to pursue a personal passion of mine - to write and be published.  I felt creatively strangled by my nine-to-five job.  I hated going to work in the morning and when I got there, there was little to keep me interested or inspired.

Over the years, I had always played this cat-and-mouse game with my mental self.  Changing jobs and moving on to newer and better things - all of which only served to keep me enamoured for a little while until routine and boredom set in again.  The truth is, I did a decent job and got on well with most of my colleagues in almost every place I have ever worked.  But the prospect of chasing sales targets and Key Personal Indicators that kept moving farther and farther away each year didn't appeal to me anymore.

So when I stumbled across the ad, I had to stop and breathe.  It was as if all of a sudden I literally found myself at the crossroads where I had been for a while, except this time the fog had cleared and a new path had revealed itself.