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)
>