Langkawi, Malaysia Dec 2010

Did a last minute planning to go Langkawi for 4 days 3 nights during end Dec 2010 :)

We finally boarded the plane to Langkawi after an hour delay. Was feeling excited to go Langkawi for the first time! :D

We touched down Langkawi at 12.45PM after about 1.5 hours flight. I had pre-booked the airport transfer from the airport to our Hotel in Kuah Town.

After a 40 minutes ride, we finally reached Bayview hotel located in Kuah Town. Basically it’s the tallest building in that town :P Very obvious to spot.

This is the view from our room window. Kind of nice and relaxing.

The room is very spacious and clean as well. No complains there :)

As we still have not rented a car yet, we decided to walk to the Langkawi Parade Shopping Complex as it looks near from the map :P

After walking for what felt like forever, we finally reached the shopping complex. First thing we did was to find a nice place to rest and eat our late lunch.

The café we were at is actually quite nice. It’s a café and art gallery in one.

And the best thing? ~~ the beer is cheap! lol.. I ordered beer to go with my lunch.. hehe.. It’s about RM3++ whereas the soft drink cost just a little cheaper.

Overall, the shopping complex is disappointing though. Nothing much to see. Pretty boring to be honest.

Oh, if you want to surf for free, do go to the Mc Donalds within the shopping complex. We went there after our meals and did some surfing. WiFi speed is good there :)

After surfing, we decided to walk towards the Kuah Jetty where I heard that you could rent a car there.

On the way there, we stumbled upon this place called Lagenda Park and found some nice views along the way.

Approaching Kuah Jetty with a nice, tranquil lake

Some walking area are a little rundown. A little dangerous for children and the elderly. I hope the authority can do something about it.

This is kinda zen… ah.. peace….

As we walk towards the seaside, the gigantic soaring eagle came into view :) That’s the eagle square. The main landmark of Langkawi! :D

At the square, we spotted our hotel at the opposite. That’s how far we have walked.. :P

The obligatory shot :D

We then walked towards the Kuah Jetty area and attempted to get info on car rental. The amount of people trying to pitch their travel and car rental services is really overwhelming. I would rather compare each counter in peace than to be swarmed by these people. In the end, we gave up getting the car rental from there as I was worried that the cars are not properly insured or approved by the official.

Told my buddy that I will try to get info from the internet so off we went to the most logical place to be – Starbucks of course! lol..

After a few failed attempts to call the car rental agent, I was told to call them back the next morning as most likely their office is already closed for the day.

After having a nice break, we set off to go back to our hotel.. yes, we are walking back again! lol.. For some reason, we love torturing our poor feet.. haha..

After dinner, we went back to our hotel. This is the view taken from our hotel room. The brightest area you see here is the ‘pasar malam’, the night market.

Good night for day 1 :)

Langkawi, Day 2

Breakfast was included so we had our breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant.

After a few phone calls to the car rental agent, we finally secured a car. They offered a standard deal published on their website. If you do have more time to research, do send email in advance of your trip to negotiate discount for the car rental.

Taadaa ~~~ it’s a Perodua Myvi. It was sent directly to our hotel for RM 20 fee. Well, at least it’s hassle free.

We decided to drive to Langkawi Cable car, however, at one main junction, we took the wrong turn and ended up at Pantai Cenang. Oh well, just make the best of it and might as well just sightseeing there.. lol..

We took a stroll along the beach and stumbled upon this big jellyfish!

As it was mid afternoon, the sun is scorching! We went off after loitering around for a while. We then proceed to go to the Langkawi cable car since we thought we could hide from the Sun for a while :P

At the entrance of the cable there, there is this Oriental village with some shops and restaurant around. I didn’t quite get the oriental feel but the place overall is quite nice and relaxing. This is one of the shop there renting segway

We bought our tickets for the cable car ride. The queue was really really long to board the cable car. We then realised that it is a Saturday and a public holiday! Luckily the waiting area is well ventilated making the wait more bearable.

Oh, if you have food and drinks with you, I suggest that you place them inside your bags out of sight. Otherwise, the staff might request that you leave your stuff on the table (which probably already have tonnes of food and drinks on it belonging to other customers). I caught sight of the no-food-and-drink rules at the very last minute and scrambled to keep my water bottle inside my bagpack! :P

The view of the cable car from the queuing area

Finally we boarded our cable. Spotted the hanging bridge!

Nice view from the cable car!

The view from the observatory deck

Spotted anything interesting in the background? They formed a smiley face :) ! lol.. I wished I had notice that when I was there!

The view from the hanging bridge

See how far the cable car had to travel? It’s an engineer feat if you ask me. It’s even cooler than the cable car in HK.

After the cable car ride back towards the Oriental village, we found a nice place situated on a lake and decided to have late lunch there. I can sense that the owner there is very passionate about their food. The lady who prepared and served our food actually carefully placed the plate on the table and rotate it to a nice angle. I seldom see people with such passion on the details.

The view from where we were seated

Some folks trying out the Segway

After lunch, we decided to visit the Tanjung Rhu beach which is located at the northern most tip of the island. The road leading to the beach is winding, narrow and secluded. We were almost convinced that we have lost our way! lol

Some boats at the beach

As we walked along the beach, we stumbled upon a nice resort, the Tanjung Rhu Resort. I would love to stay here the next trip! But I’m sure the price will be jaw dropping as well. :P

The place is surrounded by well landscaped plants and trees. So nice and cooling

The rooms with balcony to chill out

Guests at the resort relaxing by the beach.

After the adventure, we drove back to Kuah town and walked around to look for a place to have dinner. We settled in what looked like a pub since there were not many choice to choose from :P

The view from where we sat

Back to our hotel! Beers bought from a store in Pantai Cenang earlier in the day :) Cheap cheap.. lol These are slightly above RM 10.. ho ho

Good night for day 2! ;)

Langkawi, Day 3

We decided to visit the Laman Padi Langkawi Museum as I have read raved reviews about the free guided tour.

When we reached the paddy field, we tried to look everywhere for the guide. After wandering around for a while and feeling clueless, we spotted the guide who is in the midst of providing explanation to 2 other guests. I asked if we could join them, luckily the friendly guide says ok.

With the guided tour, things begin to sound much more interesting and fun!

The fields were divided into different sections to show the various stages of the rice growing process.

The bunch tied up on the left is for planting of new batches of rice

The paddy on the right is finally ready to be harvested!

A closer look at the paddy. They even have scarecrow in the middle of the field!

Our guide demonstrated how the farmers chase off the birds. A string attached to a metal zinc is pulled to make noise which scares off the birds.

Our guide demonstrated how farmers catch fish in their paddy field. There is a poor fish inside the cage to show guest how it is done :P

Real buffalo! lol.. Kudos to the staff effort to make this an authentic experience!

Scrapped coconuts using the traditional scrap manually by hand.

The guide showing off a type of grape. I remember it’s really sour.. lol..

After the fruitful guided tour, we drove to Pantai Cenang again which is just a 3-minutes drive away.

We found a spa and decided to try fish spa for the first time! I was giggling the whole time as it felt really strange. But it was quite a fun and happy experience as we were laughing a lot! After the fish spa, we decided to try their foot massage as well. What a relaxing day.. lol…

Fish spa!

After the spa trip, we went back to Cenang beach since sun is setting and it is not so warm now. Perfect time to chill out and walk around.

There are lots of little crab there digging away and forming mini sand balls. So cute. This is one of the ‘art’ the crabs created.

The entire stretch of beach is full of these cute shapes!

Sun is finally setting

It’s time to go home after a nice relaxing day.