The island is one of three inhabited ones in an archipelago of 104. Langkawi is the biggest island and tourism is its primary source of revenue.

This is an island shrouded in myths and legends, the most famous of which seems to hold some truth.

The legend goes that Princess Mahsuri - wrongly accused of the crime of adultery and sentenced to death - cursed the island for seven generations as she lay dying. Interestingly enough, in the 1980s - seven generations later - the island awoke from its slumber and has in the last decade has become a thriving tourism destination both for domestic as well as international travellers.