I have just returned from a two days' trip to Langkawi island with 靖璇 last Sunday and I thought that it will be helpful to write an entry on my itinerary in case any of you are interested to travel there but in the dark on what to do and where to go. However, before you proceed on, keep in mind that Langkawi island is NOT a place where you can expect:
- sandy-white beaches with coconut trees swaying in the wind
- crystal-clear sea with colourful fishes swimming in schools
- beautiful historical landmarks (*cough cough* Padang Beras Terbakar *cough cough*)
There are two modes of transport that you can take to reach Langkawi island in one piece; ferry or flight. The ferry service is available from Penang island, Kedah and Perlis while I have no idea about flying there. If you are planning to go there in a small group of two to four, the ferry ticket - which can be purchased online - is the only thing that you need to worry about, though I would advise you to book yourself a hotel room as backup. A two-way ferry ticket from Penang island will cost you RM115 and approximately six hours of your lifetime with a few options on the departure time; 8.15am or 8.30am from Penang island and 2.30pm or 5.15pm from Langkawi island.
Super Fast Ferry Ventures' ferry is not-so-fast in reality. :P
If you have no one to drive you to the pier, you can have your car taken care of at the open parking lot near the Fort Cornwallis with a price tag of RM18 for every 24 hours. The security there is pretty good as I accidentally left my car overnight with the driver's window winded down but nothing was stolen.
Spending all three hours cooped up inside the wobbling ferry will do you no good so do take some time off to enjoy the gushing sea breeze on the open-air platform at the back of the ferry.
Once you arrive at the Kuah jetty, be prepared to get ambushed by aggressive illegal car rental agents offering you all kind of packages which might include hotel rooms as well. If you did not reserve any prior to departing and wanted to save the hassle of hunting around for available rooms, you may want to consider these unscrupulous agents' offer.
Do take note that somewhere in the Kuah jetty building, there is a booth distributing free Langkawi island maps that are bundled along with advertisement brochures. Forget about GPS for these maps are all you need to navigate your way all over Langkawi island. Even a person with horrible sense of direction like 靖璇 has no problem guiding me around... though we did a few U-turns as the maps were not exactly perfect. :)
We rented ourselves a white Perodua Kelisa for 24 hours from a legitimate car rental booth located just behind the KFC shoplot, at the cost of RM50 with another RM50 as deposit. Imagine my horror when I discovered that it was a manual transmission car, for the last time I drove one was almost four years ago! Taking this into consideration, you may want to request for a catalogue of much more high-end cars as they are usually the semi-automatic transmission type.
These rented cars are more often than not handed over to you with the fuel gauge hitting rock bottom, hence the very first venue that you have to drive to will most probably be the gas station, with the nearest somewhere in Kuah town. As we were strangers in Langkawi island, we foolishly fed the car RM30 worth of fuel, only to realize by the night that RM15 would have sufficed. :(
Most of the hotels in Langkawi island practise check-in time at 3pm so we decided to have our lunch in one of the many kopitiams in Kuah town. Although Langkawi island is famous for being the shopping paradise for duty-free goods, the same cannot be applied to the price of food there. Reading up on reviews on available restaurants near your hotel is strongly advised if you value good food with reasonable price.
Alcoholics and chocoholics can also take this opportunity to stock up on their much-needed resources for there is not much point to come back here again. I got myself a big can of Asahi beer plus an extra small whisky bottle of Jack Daniel's and Chivas Regal each.
Vacation-thwarting clouds.
With the sky looming dark, we rushed back to the Kuah jetty area to visit the Dataran Lang (Eagle Square) since it was just nearby. By the time the clock ticked 2pm, we made our way from the bottom right corner of Langkawi island to the Awana Porto Malai Resort - that I had reserved a week earlier for RM248 - with a buffer time of one hour in the event we got lost along the way.
Langkawi island's very own Statue of
Dataran Bunga Raya (Hibiscus Square) is located just on the other side of Dataran Lang.
Due to the hotel's location at the bottom left corner of Langkawi island, I had more or less calculated the time required for travel to a selected few places for the day. The hotel is three storeys high but consists of five interconnected blocks with the room assigned to us located on the first floor, first room of the last block. You should see the puzzled look on our faces while searching for our room, one block after another. Strange enough, the receptionist requested for a deposit of RM100 even though I had completed the full transaction through the Internet.
Four more blocks to go. :S
Our next destination?
We took a minor rest to unpack our belongings before heading out to the Oriental Village where the cable car base station is located at. I did try to give the cable car station a few calls - +604 959 4225 - to confirm that they were operating as the sky was terribly cloudy but no one picked them up. As luck has it, the sky cleared up a bit by the time we reached the top left corner of Langkawi island. Do remember to produce your MyKad at the ticket counter as this will allow you to purchase the two-way ticket at a lower price of RM15 per passenger.
The Oriental Village entrance.
The cable car is not the only attraction in the Oriental Village.
Our RM15 credit card.
I am not a fan of height so no point describing the experience of going up the Gunung Machinchang, though I must admit that the Telaga Tujuh (Seven Wells) waterfall that came into sight along the way was pretty eye-catching. It goes without saying that the scenery from the top of Gunung Machinchang was simply breathtaking, provided that there are not much clouds to obstruct your view of the landscapes below. I actually witnessed a number of visitors - particularly those from the Middle East - who took the cable car up, only to make an immediate U-turn back to the base station without coming out which left me scratching my head in disbelief.
"Oh shit, we are PLUMMETING!"
Telaga Tujuh waterfall.
Langkawi International Airport's wave breaker and Pantai Kok islands.
Telaga Harbour Park and Pantai Kok.
Over here, you have two viewing platforms that you can climb up to but they are nothing compared to the curved suspension bridge. Walking along the swaying pathway, I could not help visualizing the scenario of the bridge collapsing all the way into the deep valley below. Every time something hit my toes, I would quickly check inside my bag to ensure that nothing - especially the ingredient - was lost. If it was not for the crowd, I reckon that this would be a suitable altitude for me to initiate my barbeque session.
On top of the
Langkawi island's biggest smile from the sky.
At this height, even leaning on the railing will not give you any slight sense of security.
If I draw out from my bag an extra big pair of scissors, will the crowd leave us alone?
After some sightseeing, we decided to go down and this was when my heart started beating like a war drum. We waited and waited for the crowd to dissipate in order to have a cable car of our own but those idiots who refused to come out really make me felt like kicking them down the mountain since they were the main reason why the crowd kept building up. After more than 30 minutes of hanging around, we managed to spot an empty cable car which we wasted no time in jumping in... only to have an European couple bursting in before the door could close completely.
超级白!
超级白!
超级白!
Gone! Poof! This was the very reason why I came all the way to Langkawi island and thanks to these two ang-mohs who appeared out of nowhere, a few months worth of preparation disappeared into the thin mountain air.
-sigh-
I was literally sulking all the way down to the base station and by then, it was already almost 6pm. Our next destination was the Underwater World but we decided to postpone it to the next day to avoid unnecessary rush and instead headed east towards the Pantai Pasir Hitam (Black Sand Beach) which was highly recommended by 靖璇's twin sister. In my mind, I was fantasizing about how a beach with black smooth sand and a sunset as background could compensate for the disappointment I had in the cable car earlier. What greeted me later was a smelly, dirty, quiet beach with nothing to see except for a few pipes coughing up food wastes from the adjacent hawker food stalls.
Not-so-black sands.
In case you do not understand, avoid Pantai Pasir Hitam at all costs!
"One small bottle of Cactus mineral water, please."
With the sun halfway down the horizon, we agreed to call it a day and set out for dinner. I did a search on the Internet prior to the trip and a found a lot of thumbs up for Cactus Restaurant, which was conveniently situated at Pantai Tengah - same area as our hotel. The restaurant is a very-down-to-earth type with no air-conditioner and I noticed that a lot of foreigners like to dine there with a number of them having scribbled their testimonials on the ceiling in the past. The waiters there are not only very friendly but multilingual as well with great varieties of tasty food to boot. After an hour or so, we retreated back to our hotel room in jolly good mood with full stomach.
Fancy having your meal under a chalk graffiti'd ceiling?
Instead of beach, Awana Porto Malai Resort has an elevated wooden platform constructed between the hotel and the crashing waves. Although it was quite nice to have a stroll on, my only gripe is that it was a tad too quiet during the night, almost bordering on seclusion. After surveying around and with the day - 25th has always been particularly memorable to the both of us - coming to an end, I have no choice but to pop the long-awaited question under a starless sky with the ingredient laid bare in front of 靖璇's eyes. I did not attempt the traditional down on one knee position as there were people close-by or I would risk her running away due to embarrassment.
Awana Porto Malai Resort's very own backyard.
We spent the rest of the night watching the English-dubbed Kung Fu Hustle that was broadcast on the Vision Four channel, testing the alcoholic beverage that I bought in Kuah town - none tasted good - and played a few rounds of card game before we hit the bed. A word of advice is to shop for a pack of ice or two - if you need them - from the convenient stores along the road as the hotel may charge you an exorbitant bill for one.
My preciousss... ingredient!
嫁给我吗?
And no you perverts, nothing intimate happened in the course of the night. :P
The next morning, we had our complimentary breakfast before checking out at 11am for the Underwater World, a mere 10 minutes drive away. Similar to the cable car ride, flaunting off your MyKad at the ticket counter will earn you a RM10 discount instead of the normal RM38 per head. The built-up area is pretty humongous so be prepared to spend approximately an hour and a half there - or more if you are an enthusiastic photographer. In my opinion, the seals and penguins are the main attractions there, hence you might want to time your visit with their feeding hours.
What are flamingoes doing in the Underwater World? O.o"
Spot the two little Marmosets?
Penguins playing hide-and-seek.
African Nemo?
Wow, look at the spiky, green seagrass!
Since the car rental duration expired at 1pm, we had to cut-short our photo snapping session and hurry back to the Kuah jetty. After a simple meal at the KFC as our lunch, we got stuck at the customs for a while before boarding our ferry back to Penang island. Alcoholics are to bear in mind that there is a certain limit on the amount of alcoholic drinks that you can carry out of Langkawi island, failing which will incur duty tax on the spot. If your ferry stops halfway in the middle of nowhere, fret not as there may be passengers dropping off or picking up at the Payar island, though this will burn another 30 minutes of your life away.
Total amount spent for the trip this time was less than RM700 for two, which is pretty okay I guess. No doubt that there may be many more interesting places that I did not manage to visit but to summarize it all up, the trip to Langkawi island WAS in fact, my barbeque pit. :)
