Pantai Pasir Hitam Pulau Langkawi

West of Tanjung Rhu is Langkawi’s much touted but ultimately disappointing ‘black-sand beach’. It isn’t technically a black-sand beach, but mineral oxides have added their colour scheme to the coast. There’s a children’s playground, a small tourist market and, as a disturbing backdrop, the Kedah cement plant, which stands out like a post-apocalyptic, smoke-belching thumb amid the green.