Dear Ashish,
It is nice to see you are on the CONCH-L,welcome.
I am your neighbour, we can discuss and exchange info very easily, so do not
hesitate
to contact, maybe even privately.
Regards.
Gunasena de Silva,
Colombo, SRI LANKA.
E-mail: [log in to unmask]





At 10:00 AM 12/23/99 +0530, you wrote:
>Dear Betty,
>
>Thanks for welcoming me in. Over the last 10-15 years and before the age of
>the Net, I have always felt like a lonely conchologist because I have never
>found any other collectors in India and corresponding with collectors abroad
>via airmail was a one-to-one interaction and time consuming. Conch-L has
>really changed that. I feel like I belong to a family now, and that I can
>share my thoughts, ideas, with other people and almost instanteously receive
>feedback.
>
>I will send out a report once I am back from Langkawi.
>
>Cheers,
>Ashish
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Betty Jean Piech <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Thursday, December 23, 1999 3:02 AM
>Subject: Ashish Gupta and LANGKAWI
>
>
>>Dear Conch-Lers -
>>
>>There has been entirely too much time wasted recently on my stupidity.
>>Let' s move on to other more important things.
>>
>>Recently Ashish Gupta of India joined our group.  He sounds like he will be
>>a good addition - even if Ranellidae is not listed as one of his favorite
>>families.  So -  welcome, Ashish, we are happy to have you with us.
>>
>>But I was even more interested in his second email asking about beach
>>collecting in Langkawi  and Panang Islands - LANGKAWI WAS THE BEST SHELLING
>>PLACE I HAVE EVER BEEN TO.  I am going to send you a copy of the email I
>>wrote over a year ago in response to the same question.    I don't think I
>>sent it on Conch-L before but if I did this is where you should hit the
>>delete button.
>>
>>"I usually don't answer requests like this because everyone doesn't like or
>>want the same things on a trip.  But when you mentioned Langkawi -  well I
>>think of all the places I have ever collected, it was tops - so I wanted to
>>tell you about it.
>>
>>"Our group flew from Los Angeles into Kuala Lumpur (the capital of
>>Malaysia), spent the night at the Holiday Inn in the City and flew out the
>>next morning for the island of Langkawi off the northwest corner of
>>Malaysia.  The hotel was one of the nicest I have ever stayed in.  It was
>>called the Pelangi Beach Resort and it was right on the beach.
>>
>>"At first we had several boat trips to nearly islands. But eventually we
>>stopped that because we found the shelling right in front of the Palangi
>>was fantastic.  There were huge sand flats that came out at low tide (and
>>we had good low tides) so you had two to three hours of excellent shelling
>>- one hour before and two hours after.  I am no good at judging distances,
>>but I think at low tide the exposed area went out into the ocean a good
>>quarter of a mile or more and probably close to a mile along the beach
>front.
>>
>>"We found quantities of both crabbed shells as well live ones, both
>>gastropods and bivalves.  Shortly after the turn of the tide the Babylonia
>>spirata were literally popping out of the sand, maybe at one time you could
>>see twenty or even more.  I got a lovely growth series.  Another very
>>common shell was Murex trappa, although they were usually crabbed but in
>>good condition. There were some BEAUTIFUL bubble shells (actually the
>>mantle was lovelier than the shell), and lots of other things.
>>
>>"The only other place we found comparable was a beach on the north side of
>>the island (the Palangi Beach Resort was on the west side) where the group
>>went by bus.  We found pretty much the same things that we found at Palangi
>>but also Marginella elegans. This beach was called Tanjung Rhu.
>>Unfortunately they were doing some dredging there to bring more sand in for
>>a beach for a condomenium they were building, but hopefully they have not
>>ruined all the molluscan habitats.  I am sure I have said enough.  I would
>>love to go back there again and I wouldn't go out on a single boat, but
>>just shell those two beaches.  (continued)
>>
>