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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.