The Langkawi archipelago is made up of a cluster of 99 islands, sprinkled just off the shores of the Northern Kedah State in Peninsular Malaysia. During low tide, the number of islands expands to 104. It's understandable that only a few islands are inhabited. Many of the islands are little more than rocky outcrops separated by narrow canals where only sampans(little boats) can travel through. Langkawi island (478.5 sq.km) is the largest of them all and is not much smaller than Singapore (646 sq.km) but has a much smaller island population of only 62,000.

Pulau Langkawi's landscape is painted with marbled mountains, vast paddy fields and rural villages, miles and miles of white sandy beaches, secret caves, and pockets of virgin rainforests dating back millions of years .

Although tourism is the main industry for the people of Langkawi and has been for the past decade or so, the sea remains a healthy source of income for local fishermen. In pockets of local fishing communities one can still find the age-old cottage industry of harvesting, drying and processing of sea cucumbers into a balsamic oil for all sorts of minor ailment.