La Pari-Pari : Where We Are

Some of you have been asking about progress on La Pari-Pari. Some of you even think that it is already under construction.

The truth is we're only in the early stages of La Pari-Pari's lifecycle folks. It takes (as we have found out) a lot longer to build a resort from scratch than it does to set up a shop in a mall. After all, we have to build our "shop" from scratch.

So here's where we are now, exactly:

Scene from one of our face-to-face

meetings in Ijam's apartment.

The last six months and change have been spent deep in design. La Pari-Pari was drawn and brought to paper life mainly across phone and Internet lines, with Ijam and us periodically meeting face-to-face in between. And even then, meetings have been far less than formal :-) Perhaps it's an indication of our life to come on the island?

My sister Karen, the other initial partner-in-crime who started

this whole thing. And yes, this IS a meeting!

It's been interesting for me - seeing how a business is built from scratch - as I've never been a true-blue entrepreneur before. I've always worked for people. So now, when I read about other entrepreneurs talking about how their business empires began at kitchen tables and in dining rooms, I completely get it. They literally mean what they say. I know we do, when we say that ours was given birth on tables in two different locations 45-mins flight apart.

Now that design of the resort's structure is done, it's on to interiors. Here's where I get to take out my proverbial box of crayons and have some fun!

Also on the cards are dealing with the quantity surveyor, contractors, engineers, etc, etc, etc - all just to get the documents ready for submission to the land office!

And this is BEFORE we even go to the banks for money :-)

With some luck and a lot of pushing, in about a month we should know what La Pari-Pari not only looks like from the outside but the inside too. And, we will have a logo!

Then, some time in September, we will go knocking on bank doors for the funding. If any of you can point us in the right direction, do holler!

This Land Is Our Land...

The future site of La Pari-Pari

FINALLY, it's ours!

Two weekends ago, we went once again to Langkawi to make the final payment for the land on which La Pari-Pari will sit. 

 The deed itself was without incident, thanks to the man who sold us the land and the lawyer who very kindly accompanied us to the land office for the actual signing of documents.  Otherwise, I am told, the whole thing would have taken much longer, with me being passed from one counter to another while the land office folks take turns to go on tea breaks.  OK I made that last bit up, but that certainly was the impression I got when I was there.  The man who had to witness my thumbprinting of the land grant had just come from his tea break when I got there.  And as soon as we turned the car out of the parking lot there he was, waltzing across the tarmac back to the canteen...

We also had a great meeting with Ijam who has been going full steam these last few weeks on the design.  All I can say is that it's coming along nicely and at a healthy clip.  Designs for the chalet and our house are certainly in good order.  Now there's only the reception and bar to get cracking on!

La Pari Pari's First Gift!

This month, I turned the BIG 4-0, which, as my friend who have crossed that hurdle before me say, is the new 20.

At the rate my life is going, I am inclined to believe it.  After all, aren't I the one who purposely decided to turn her life upside down by pursuing a dream?

Along with the well wishes and the lovely deluge of messages that I received via e-mail, on the phone and Facebook, I also had the opportunity to indulge in my favourite past time over my birthday weekend - spending time with people I really love.

And, La Pari Pari got its first gift!

For my birthday present, my long-time friend and extended family member Anne Foenander decided to gift me her services for creating La Pari Pari's webmercials.  Since we anticipate that most of our bookings will come via the web, knowing the target segment we are pursuing for the resort, webmercials will be crucial to our marketing efforts.  

Although there won't be a webmercial for La Pari Pari until much closer to our opening day, this still means a burden has been lifted off our shoulders :-)

Thank you Anne, for your wonderful gift.

Here's a taste of the magic Anne can do!

Dreaming La Pari Pari

Some of you have asked us, naturally, what La Pari Pari will be like.  Rustic?  Tropical? Modern?

Today we came one step closer to determining the answer.  After many months of discussions and visioning, talking things over and bouncing ideas off walls and ceilings and floors, the design brief for La Pari Pari has finally been completed.

So we do have an idea of what we're after.  But what eventually emerges is something that we are leaving open to our architect to explore, and we hope, pleasantly surprise us.

In the meantime, just to get a taste of the visions we hve in our head, here are two resorts we love.

La Banane is a stylish little resort (it only has nine rooms) on the island of St Bart's.  

A long distance away from Langkawi but close to our hearts as a source of inspiration for the intimate and very accessible feel we want to achieve with La Pari Pari.  

La Banane is modern yet not ultra hip in the way some design-oriented properties are - you know the kind, all metal and glass and concrete and cold.  It's somewhere you can feel comfortable lounging around in your shorts or in your swimmies by the pool, yet it still feels more luxurious than home because let's face it, who wants to go on a vacation only to feel like they're still in their own backyard.

Plus, seeing that La Banane is a well patronised location even though it isn't beachfront, we think it is a great benchmark for La Pari Pari which will also be a short walk away from sea and surf.

The only thing we would add for consideration in designing La Pari Pari is our inclination to ensure some element of local context is added to the design.  But not in that "kampung house knock-off" kind of way.  Something a lot more subtle - a swash of colour or texture, an ornament, even images on walls perhaps.

Hotel Azucar

As contrast, there's also Hotel Azucar on the coast of Veracruz, Mexico.  This twenty-room resort is all about quirky charm - something that ensures it will sustain its uniqueness for years to come.

It sits within its environment comfortably, a reflection and tribute to the sugar trade that has framed the history of its locale.  It's the heart behind its design intent that we admire - how its soul is expressed in the place and use of local materials, even driftwood!

So there you have it - a sneak peek into the images that have been floating around in our heads for over a year now.

With a visit from the creative muses and some small ingenuity, hopefully La Pari Pari will measure up to these two places we love, but of course in its own individually unique Malaysian way.

Isn't this all so exciting?

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?

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 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.