Postcards form a Backpacker

Langkawi Shark Fin Soup

Posted in South East Asia, Malaysia, Langkawi

Langkawi is a group of 104 islands centering around the main largest island. The islands are my last stop in Malaysia before I re-enter Thailand by boat and head for Phuket. I was able to find simple wooden beach hut style accommodation with a fan and bathroom for 35R per night. The hut was set right on the beach and a few seconds walk to some shops and restaurants. The beach I was staying at was the place most backpackers stay on the island due to the accommodation being less expensive than some of the other more upmarket resorts and hotels on the island.The beach front at Pantai Cenang on the west side of the main island. that is also known as Penang. is where I based myslef.

The Straights of Malacca, the sea to the west of the island, was as warm as bath water and felt warmer than the air temperature when a cooling breeze blew in from the north. The water while not jade coloured as the seas on the eastern coast, still were opaque and underwater visibility was about six feet. On my stay the swells never reached more than a few inches above the water and it made for a pleasant swim along the shore line.

Next to the Grand Beach Motel, the name of the place I was residing, is a seafood restaurant that served all manner of fish and crustations. During my stay as well as sampling the fried squid, scallops and a hot Thai style tiger prawn soup, I also decided to try the Shark Fin soup. I know that it was not the most ethical of lunches and have seen the reports of Asian fisherman catching live sharks, cutting off the fins for this soup delicacy and pushing the fin-less shark back into the water to die. While not being happy with the fishing practices. I decided they must have the fins already if the soup was on the menu and by not ordering it was not going to save the life of an unlucky shark. While on this trip I wanted to do the things I might not get a chance to do in the future, and eating shark fin soup is one thing that should and probably will be banned in the future. The soup itself had a delicate seafood flavour and had transparent strings floating in it with what looked like, but did not taste like, crab meat and sliced mushroom. The soup was tasty but having tried it once I would not order it again due to the barbaric fishing practices.

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