My Trip
| When | June 2009 [3D2N] |
|---|---|
| Itinerary |
|
| General Info | About Langkawi |
| Accomodation | AB Motel Pantai Cenang Beach |
| How | AirAsia Airline [1hr 20 min] Singapore - Langkawi outgoing flight time: Friday 0910 - 1030 (GMT+8) Langkawi - Singapore incoming flight time: Sunday 1055 - 1220 (GMT+8) |
| Total Cost | SGD450 per 2 persons [Flight: SGD166, Hotel: RM200, Transport: RM160] |
How I Spent My Days
My Day1
Airport
We arrived Langkawi airport at 10:30. After passing through immigration and picking up some maps and brochures from the shelves located at the side ways before the exit, we saw several counters providing car rental service. Some of the counters claimed their rental services were the cheapest one in town and we could not get the same rate in the town. It was not really true because you can rent a car easily in the town, just be aware that in order to make the prices cheaper some agencies do not provide insurance.
Check-in
A taxi ride of about 20 minutes (RM18) took us to AB Motel. Prices are standard, so there is no need to bargain. Taxi drivers have a set of papers with the prices from one place to another. During the trip we got the impression that the city was very quiet: there were no traffic jams, no many people in the streets, etc. Around 11:30 we checked in to the hotel. While waiting for our room to be cleaned, we checked the places we could visit at the tourist information counter 'AB Internet Cafe' located a few meters from the hotel reception. As it was a sunny day we decided to take an island hoping tour in the afternoon. The girl from tourist information counter told us that the weather here is kind of unstable and you never know when it will rain, but if it rains they will give us back our money.
Lunch
Just after we bought the ticket we were informed that our room was ready. We left our stuffs in the room and went out to look for lunch. Although there were a few restaurants ear by, not all of them were opened. We chose 'Palace of India' restaurant located next to Malibest Resort, 5 min walking distance from our hotel. We got disappointed with the food, not only because of the price (RM55 for two fruit juices, naan (Indian bread) with grilled chicken and mutton curry) but also the quality.
Island Hopping Trip
After short rest in our room we walked to the pick up point at the hotel lobby, where a mini-van was supposed to take us (around 14:00) to the jetty where we started our adventure. Our itinerary was Dayang Bunting island, Beras Basah island and Eagle Feeding near Singa Besar island, in approximately, four and half hours (RM25 per person, transportation from/to hotel was included). Later, we found out it was one of the cheapest tours, if not the cheapest. At 14:15 the mini-van appeared with some passengers inside. In about 20 minutes (including picking up some other guys), we reached the jetty located at the southern edge of Pantai Cenang. There were total 9 people on the boat.
On the way to Pulau (Pulau means island) Dayang Bunting Geopark, the driver stopped for 2 minutes to show us some mountains which formed into a figure resembling a pregnant woman lying on her back. After arriving to the Geopark, we were informed we had about 1 hour to be spent in the island. The activity was a walk about 15 min to reach the lake of Pregnant Maiden. Be careful do not carry any food in small bags because the monkeys will persecute you. The lake has fresh and warm water and it is suitable for swimming. Its waters are also said to possess magical powers that will enable barren women to bear children if they drink water from the lake (this sentence is copied from Internet and we do not know whether it is true). If you are planning to take a swim, take into account that the changing rooms are under the monkey's control, so you better wear the swimming-suit under your clothes. You can refresh with a can drink in the small kiosk situated at the swimming area of the lake.
Second stop was eagle feeding near Singa Besar island. The boat entered in a small cove and then circled the cove while reviving its noisy engine. The boat driver threw some meat into the water and moved a bit far away. There were 20~30 eagles circling in the sky hovering the water for food. Once they sighted the pieces of meat, the started to swept down and grab the meat. The scenery was spectacular.
Then the driver drove the boat into a sea forest for I do not know which reason. The forest was a bit dark and it looked like the place where crocodiles or anacondas usually come out in the movies. Maybe he wanted to terrify us.
The last stop (Beras Basah) was an island with white-sand beach and clear (but not crystalline) water, where we stayed for an hour and the unique activity was to take a bath. Therefore, that was what we did. We put all our stuffs on the beach and took a bath in the very warm sea water with no waves at all. There were no changing rooms.
Pantai Cenang Beach
Back to the jetty, the mini-van took us back to our hotel (some guest asked the driver to stop in the town that was on the way, so you might consider planning some visit after the island hopping). We took the second bath on Pantai Cenang beach, located in front of our hotel (this time with some few waves). On the beaches the locals offer some activities such as banana boat, parachute sailing (the prices vary a lot in this activity, you probably need to bargain), etc. We decided to do parachute sailing on the next day, but unfortunately, the sky was cloudy and for some reason the parachute did not rise up (it was funny to see how some people were more time doing "water sky" than "flying").
My Day2
Raining
Our day started cloudy and thundering. We run to have breakfast at a local breakfast shop situated across the road. Again the food was quite disappointing. Even worse, when we were about to leave the shop, it started to rain heavily. After waiting 30 min for the rain to slow down, we run back to the hotel. We were completely soaked as if we fell into a swimming pool. We were informed that during raining season it might rain all the day long. Fortunately, the sky was cleared a bit at noon. We decided to take a risk to go to the Cable Car located at Oriental Village, even though, we knew that the cable car does not operate on bad weather conditions.
Cable Car
It took us around 30 minutes from our hotel to the cable car by taxi (RM23). When we reached the base station, we found that the cable car was not operating since morning, hence, there was a long queue waiting the ticket office to open. Hopefully, after waiting 10 minutes in the queue, they started to sell the ticket (RM25 per person). Luckily, within additional 5~7 minutes we got our tickets.
We saw a beautiful view of the Seven Wells Waterfall from inside the cable car. In about 15 minutes we reached the middle station, from which you can have a spectacular view of the Langkawi islands. After taking a few photos, we had to take the cable car again to go to the top station (peak of Gunung Mat Chinchang Mountain). While waiting to enter in the cable car, we saw how the clear view of the mountain and the sky bridge was covered by a dense fog. It was amazing.
Before we realized, we reached the top station (5 min). We first walked down the staircase, surrounded by jungle, to the sky bridge (10 min). The fog was so dense that we could not see anything further than 2 meters away. We enjoyed the foggy sky bridge for 15 minutes before we went back to the peak of the top station (need to pass by the top station). Cable Car is one of the mandatory places to visit.
WaterFall
We had lunch at the food court located at base of the cable car station. Again the quality of food was not good. After lunch, we headed to Seven Wells Waterfall which was 20 minutes walking distance from the cable car base station. On the way to waterfall, we found a taxi offering a ride to waterfall for free but later on we needed to take his taxi to go to fruit farm without extra charges. Because of time constraint, we only visited a small waterfall which we believed it was not Seven Wells Waterfall.
Mardi Agrotechnology Park - Fruit Farm
When we left the waterfall, it was around 4pm. It took around 40 minutes from waterfall to reach fruit farm (RM25, but I cannot remember the exact price. It was the standard price that all drivers in Langkawi followed.) The latest admission was at 17:00 and entrance fee was RM10 per person. A fruit farm guide took us in a mini-train-car that did not have doors. The car was able to take around 30 people per trip. The guide stopped at Rambuton trees, Jack fruit trees, Dragon fruit plantation, Pineapple trees, etc and let us ate all fruits as much as we liked. This was a really a nice trip.
Back To Hotel
We went back to the hotel around 6:20pm and took a quick bath on the beach in front of our room. As we were running out of time, we appreciated to have the room by the beach. Today there were bigger waves than yesterday and we enjoyed a lot.
Night Market
After a quick shower we decided to go shopping at Kuah town. There are two big duty free shopping malls at Kuah town, Langkawi Fair Shopping mall and Langkawi Parade Megamall. We took a taxi at 19:40 (RM20) from our hotel reaching Kuah town about 1 hour later, even without traffic jam, leaving us with very few time to go shopping. Luckily, the night market was at Kuah town on Saturday. We ended visiting it instead of shopping malls.
Most of the shops at night market were selling local snacks, only few of them were selling grocery, fishes or fruits. Somehow, these local snacks became our dinner. The local snacks were very delicious and cheap (check them in the photos!). The night market was the only place where we enjoyed food in Langkawi. If you really want to try the local food, the night market is a mandatory place to visit.
My Day3
We had our breakfast at nearby Italian restaurant 'Viva Italian' and didn't like the food. Unfortunately, We had not enjoyed any food in Langkawi except at the night market. After checking out from the hotel and getting back deposit RM50, we headed to the airport by paying RM18 taxi fare. The most expensive taxi fare in Langkawi is to/from the airport.
2 comments:
Oh! Finally you published your blog! Congratulations! I love it!
Very interesting..Good itinerary but sadly I notice difficult to find food. 3days 2 nites are too short and rushing. And the costs are still under expensive range. Anyway, good quick experience..
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