Langkawi, the Jewel of Kedah.
We've finally graduated. 3 years of studying, cracking our brains and suffering in the hands of endless attachments, projects, assignments and 2 hours late evening tutorials/lectures. It's over.
Well, it's a joke isn't it. Nothing is over yet. This is what I called the beginning.
We had 7 weeks of vacation before starting our career as registered nurses, and please spare us the questions of "You're a nurse? Why do you want to be one?" because we get that ALLLL the time.
Okay, let's get back to our vacation. Three of my 'greatest' friends and I were planning on a trip, just to get out of this lion city and scream our lungs out for all the frustration that we had suffered. It was supposed to be a great feeling and a little bit of craziness.
As I could only remember 2 of the choices from the loooong list of places we were thinking of. It was Krabi or Langkawi. And in the end, Langkawi won.
It was the first time planning a trip on our own. Days and nights I reserched on places to stay, where to go, things to do and eat in the Jewel Island of Kedah, and finally we were ready to leave.
Alright, I won't ramble on and on about unnecessary stuffs. So... let the journey begins.
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26 March 2010
From Singapore Changi Airport, Terminal 1, we took the 1050am flight via Airasia. Check-in opens 2 hours before so we were there by 0830am. After checking in, we ate our breakfast at Burger King in Terminal 2, quite a long way down with our luggage and backpacks in hand. Boarding was at 1020am and by the time we finished our breakfast, it was already 1015am.
That was when the adventure begins. Just like in Amazing Race, as soon as we passed through the passport check, we began running towards our gate when the screen shows that it was the 'Final Call' for our flight. We had a good 5 minute run as the people who we ran pass gave us the weirdest stares ever. We let a big sigh of relief as soon as we reached our gate and went through the check point.
Goodbye Singapore.
selamat datang to langkawi
langkawi international airport
Langkawi itself is an archipelago made up of 99 islands on Malaysia’s west coast, with a total surface area of 478.5km2. The mainland is Langkawi Island, which covers 320km2 of land, less than half the size of Singapore, so there would definitely be no problem driving around on your own.
Our plane landed in Langkawi International Airport at 1220pm and the moment we stepped out of the customs, loud calls were heard from the vendors, which were lined up along the way from the corner, for car rent to booking tours.
One lesson to learn: Don't waste your time choosing the vendors because all of them offers the same price.
We were first offered a Toyota and tried to bargain but they don't accept any bargaining. In the end, we changed our car to a Proton Waja from Rost Holiday. I can't remember the exact price but all I can tell you that it was definitely worth it. The prices ranges from RM150-250/day depending on the type of car you choose.
Driving along the road of Langkawi was relatively easy with the big and clear signboards. The vendor of the car rent told us that nobody ever get lost here.
And finally, after a 10 minutes drive, we reached our abode, The Sunset Beach Resort located at Pantai Tengah.
We booked the Family room for 5 persons with breakfast for 3 nights, RM330/night. It has its own small private beach just a minute walk from the room. For more information and rates: Sunset Beach Resort, Langkawi's intimate hideaway
We parked our car at the parking lot available infront of the resort. As soon as I walked pass the small office, a lady called out my name. Although it wasn't that surprising since she probably would have anticipated our arrival, but it just gave us this nice and homely feeling. The staffs there were really smiley and will lend you a helping hand. You can ask them anything and they'll definitely help you.
We checked into room 98, a fully air-conditioned room which consists of 2 queen size mattresses and a single pull-out bed, a dressing table, a 2-door wardrobe, a small fridge, a water kettle, tv set, a small table with 2 chairs, bathroom with hot/cold shower, cups and complimentary coffee and tea. There was a small veranda outside the room with 2 chairs and a table with clothes hangers hanging on top for your wet clothes.
As soon as we settled down, we planned our itineraries.
Gamat
Langkawi is known for its gamat (sea cucumber) production. With many varieties of product to choose from for different ailments, you will be spoiled for choice, and so did we. We headed up Kuah Town and visited this gamat shop which was located at the back and bought some oil, honey and balm.
Makam Mahsuri
A mausoleum that memoralizes the famous legend of Langkawi, about a beautiful maiden who was accused of adultery caused by great jealousy for her beauty and was sentenced to death. As she was being executed, nothing could cut through her skin, not even the sharpest weapon available. At the point when she felt too exhausted from the suffering she had to endure, she told her executers fo bring her father's keris and kill her with it. The moment she was stabbed with the keris, she bled white blood as a sign of her innocence and before she died, she laid a curse on the island of Langkawi, that it would not prosper in the next 7 generations to come.
I didn't take any photos of the grave but there was quite a number of birds and peacocks in cages with nice scenery.
An entry to the place cost RM5/person and you will get to walk through the musem that tells the story of Mahsuri with her potrait and her history.
Langkawi is known as a duty-free island where shopping is said to be cheaper. We went to Langkawi Fair Shopping Mall that day but didn't buy anything except ice cream from MacDonald's. It was actually quite hard to find food there. The nice restaurants were non-halal and the so-called coffee shop at the top floor where halal food are sold were closed. We then headed back to Kuah town and along the way managed to eat our dinner at a roadside restaurant.
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27 March 2010
Breakfast at the resort starts at 0800-1100am and by 0815am, we were already heading to the breakfast area as we had an island hopping tour coming up.
There's a menu written at the front of the kitchen, in black board and chalk. Scrambled eggs, sunny side up or half boiled eggs. Just tell the lady in the kitchen and they'll cook for you. They also cooked fried kway teow but if you're unlucky, it'll be gone by the time you reached. There's free flow of cereals, fruits, coffee, tea, bread with jam. You can toast your own bread with the 2 toaster provided, white bread or wholemeal bread. They give a glass of orange or mango juice each, no refill. But you can take the coffee, tea and milk as much as you like. The best thing about breakfast in this resort, was the beachfront dining area and you meet all kind of people there. The staffs in the kitchen will remember your name too.
The resort is tastefully decorated that you will never get bored taking pictures there, all pictures will be up along the way.
As we were waiting for our van for the island hopping that we booked from the airport at RM25/person, we saw a Japanese man sitting by the patio opposite the office. We asked him for help to take our picture and in the end, ended up talking to him. We found out he was staying at the resort for 1 night and came to Langkawi for work.
Island Hopping
Tasik Dayang Bunting is a fresh water lake. The 4th picture resembles a pregnant lady. The legend behind the lake is that a celestial princess named Mambang Sari was tricked into marrying a prince, Mat Teja, after he fell madly in love with her. The child she borne died after seven days and the grieving Mambang Sari left the child's body in the lake and returned to her heavenly abode. Today, some believe barren women who bathe in this lake will be endowed with a child.
You can actually swim in the cooling lake but have to rent a lifejacket at the booth.
For us, we were satisfied with just dipping our feet in the water.
The speedboat then took us to a place with eagles where they fed the eagle from the boats.
Next, Beras Basah Island, beautiful crystal clear water.
After they sent us back to our resort, we drove to a nearby food stall along the roadside for our lunch. They served very nice beef soup noodles. We surveyed the watersports shop just behind the shop and enquired about the parasailing, they told us to come back around 1600hours once the sun is a little less hotter and a little windy.
Back to the resort, we went to our own private little beach and talked about everything under the sun and swam till we had a sunburn.
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The highlight of our trip.
Speed, water and height = Parasailing.
Thanks to my wonderful friends who made me take that scary thing and scream my heart out. All I could do while I was up in the air was to pray to God repeatedly that I would survive it. And I promised myself, no more crazy stuff.
There are many water sports shop along the road and beaches. From the resort, just turn left and walk along the road for a good 7 minutes and at the end of the clothes shop, you can go through in between the shops to the back where you'll be able to see the beach. There's a water sports shop there. We took their parasailing 'trip' for RM50/person and all the other shops actually offers the same price.
Mind you, I wouldn't even think of doing such crazy stuff if I wasn't brainwash at that time. When we came in the afternoon at around 1600hours, the guy told us that we could ride with 2 person each and two of my friends went up first. But then the wind changed when they were landing and slightly injured themselves.
The guy told us we had to go to a smaller island just across from where we were and that we had to take a solo trip on the parasailing. That was when the fear really set in. Not only because I was verrrry reluctant to do it and the other reason was we were going on a speedboat to the smaller island with the 4 guys and us 4 girls. That was a difficult decision. Luckily, there were other people going there too for parasailing so that set our heart at ease.
In conclusion, that was a one in a lifetime experience, and no more please.
We made a trip to Kuah Jetty at night for our dinner and parked our car in the wrong carpark without realizing it. After eating at the restaurant with satisfactory food, we bought Baskin Robins and headed to the famous eagle statue.
The moment we tried to drive out of the carpark, we found that the carpark was actually meant for overnight vehicles and it closed at 2200hours. There we were stuck in the carpark going in circles. But in the end we managed to get out, just don't ask us how.
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28 March 2010
On our third day, we woke up abit later and had our breakfast at 0900am.
Oriental Village and Cable Car
A must thing to do in Langkawai: Ride its Cable car. The journey covered a total of 2.2 km at an incline of 42 degrees. The steep ascend and descent made our ride a truly exhilarating one.
From the cable car, you'll enjoy the breathtaking view of the surrounding lush greem rainforests, the Telaga Tujuh waterfalls, the blue ocean and some of the pristine islands that make up the Langkawi island cluster. A ride in the cable car will cost you RM25/adult.
From the base station, the cable car brought us up to the middle station where we alighted and walked to the viewing platforms at 652.5 meters above sea level, offering us a panaromic view.
The top station, 710 meters above sea level offered amazing veiws and fresh mountain air. We walked down a ten minutes trail to the suspension bridge which was 125 meters long with gaps in between the platform that we walked on. Frightening, yes. One advice, don't look below if you're too scared, it's not going to help.
Rabbit Feeding
We had pass by the rabbit farm on our way to the cable car, and once we were back down, we just had to go in. There's no entry fee but you can buy chopped carrots to feed the rabbits, each packet cost RM1.
Beras Terbakar (The Field of Burnt Rice)
Located in Padang Matsirat, don't fool yourself by believing that you're going to see a big field filled with burnt rice.
The legendary beras terbakar is located inside a private residence once you've passed by all the souvenirs shop with zink rooftop. T-shirts, batik, gamats and other kinds of souvenirs are available at cheap prices and you can bargain for a lower price. What left of the beras terbakar is just a small area with a sign.
For five night each week, there will be a night market at different places. Saturday and Wednesday night, it'll be held at Kuah town, supposedly the largest night market. Since the day we came, we tried finding the night market but was unsuccessful even with the help of the locals, wonder why. That day, the night market was going to be at Padang Matsirat and we were there in the afternoon, so we had to forgo it.
Pantai Pasir Hitam
We went to the Black Sand Beach to see for ourself how black the sand was.
It wasn't all black but it was kind of nice and the sand was soft.
On our way to Kuah Town, we stopped by a mosque. It was really quiet there.
We headed towards Haji Ismail Group for CHOCOLATES! I bought lots of chocolate that my one big backpack was only meant for them. We went window shopping along the many rows of shop, perfumes, clothes, shawl and many more.
After shopping, we went back to Pantai Cenang and headed towards the Sun Cafe which was located a mere 5 minutes drive from the resort to pay our bill. From the resort, turn right and drive all the way to the end where there's this big hotel then turn right again then left before driving up for a few hundred meters and you'll see this big beautiful cafe on the left side of the road.
At night, we had dinner at a seafood shop nearby our resort as we were too tired to go somewhere far and we couldn't find the seafood restaurant that was recommended by the resort lady. Then, it's time to pack, pack, pack.
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29 March 2010
Our last breakfast and the pictures of the resort.
Since our flight was at 1630hours, we checked out early and went to the Langkawi Plaza to buy some chips before heading to The Eagle to take some nice bright pictures.
And back to Singapore, our homeland with Tiger Airways.
Finally, our trip to Langkawi ended and what left are memories.
On summary:
Food: It's relatively easy to find food around but finding great food is like finding an exit to a maze. Try to avoid eating in Pantai Cenang area where they charge you at a higher price especially for seafood because it is densely populated with tourists.
Shopping: Free duty shopping, yes. Lively and enjoyable shopping, no. The shopping mall/plaza were mostly empty, no customers around and the few are locals.
Sightseeing: Langkawi is an island filled with legend and beautiful smaller islands. If you love water, sand and sun and on a budget trip, then this is for you. If you can afford it, then why not stay at a more luxurious resort with a more beautiful beach.
Activities: Watersports, yes. I know that I shouldn't say this, but why not try parasailing.
Conclusion, actually I would love to come back just by the fact that it is easy to drive around in Langkawi.
Smile, you're in Langkawi :D
For more information you can visit some of this websites.
Langkawi-info
Langkawi online
So you can't really blame me. 
18 °C
