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“stunned by the breath-taking scenery” |
We had an early start, in order to catch the ferry to Langkawi at 0845am. We left our big bags with Hotel Mingood reception and headed off to the shuttle bus stop to catch the free bus to the jetty. We waited a while and nothing showed up. Unsure as to whether we were waiting in the right place, we began to walk instead. Eventually we came across another stop and waited for the yellow shuttle bus, which took us to the jetty. We were given our boarding passes (RM85 rtn), which we’d pre-booked, and had to wait a little while to get onto the boat. The journey was fairly uneventful. Kiwi felt sick, but luckily didn’t actually vomit, unlike the chap sitting opposite who vomited all over the seats and carpeted floor. Strawberry felt absolutely fine, not a hint of nausea. We stopped at the Langkawi Coral Reef island to let the day trip snorkellers off, but unfortunately we weren’t allowed off the boat. We continued our sea journey, and Strawberry went up on deck. It was really nice weather but incredibly windy and totally wrecked her hair. We arrived on Langkawi and were immediately accosted by hundreds of taxi drivers. After we’d got ourselves together, had a cold drink in KFC and analysed the free Langkawi maps, we walked to the shopping mall. We went past the giant eagle which overlooks the bay – it’s absolutely massive! The shopping mall was quite good, with some duty-free shops and we had Chinese fried rice in the food court. We caught a taxi, there are no buses on the island, to our accommodation at Cenang Beach. The taxi cost RM20 and took around half an hour to get to Melati Tanjung Motel, and we were given our little beach hut. They had no twin rooms without TV, but we managed to knock RM5 off the asking price for the twin en-suite with air-con, fridge and TV so it was RM70. The little huts are right on the beach and you can hear the waves crashing on the sand. After we’d cooled down, we plastered ourselves in suncream and went to sit on the gorgeous yellow sands. Paradise. Although it was hot, the sea breeze nicely took the edge off. Strawberry sat and read a book, whilst Kiwi went for a dip. We spent most of the afternoon relaxing before heading out to find dinner at around 6pm. We ate at a little Indian place, with scrumptious naans. We investigated the mini-marts and bought some loo roll and postcards before heading onto the beach. Unfortunately, we’d missed the orange sun going down, but caught it just as it had gone behind an island, and the sky was an amazing colour.
So much for the early morning swim Kiwi had been planning! We eventually got ourselves up and spent the morning lazing around on the beach. We walked down the beach to the Red Tomato Splash Beach Café, where we had a tasty sandwich lunch and hot Milo – yum. After lunch, we caught a taxi (RM15) to the Langkawi Cable Car. Upon arrival, we bought our ticket for RM15 and had a nosey around the shops, hoping the cloud would lift a little before we went up. The cloudy skies blew over slightly, and so we boarded the cable car up to the Lower Station. It took about 10 minutes and gave us amazing views over Langkawi. We could see a waterfall in the forest from the cable car too. When we got off at the Lower Station, we looked out over the little islands and Langkawi Lagoon. The views were really spectacular. We stayed there for some time before catching the cable car to the Upper Station. This station had two viewing platforms and even a café and a place where you could get foot reflexology whilst admiring the views. The whole set-up was very tastefully done, managed by eco-tourism and wasn’t an eyesore at all. We stayed about an hour at the Upper Station, stunned by the breath-taking scenery. After a while, we walked down lots of steps to the curved suspension bridge, which is the Middle Station. It was really interesting to walk above the mountainous forest, with little wispy refreshing clouds blowing in our faces. After we’d taken it all in, we climbed the steps back up to the Upper Station and took the cable car right back down to the bottom. I really enjoyed myself, and it was well worth the trip. It’s not in the Rough Guide, so we shall have to tell them about it! We had a bit of an issue getting a taxi back because no-one would charge less than RM22. After we’d waited around for ages hoping to get some other tourists to share with, we decided we’d better just pay the RM22 since we had no other way of getting back! We relaxed a while, before heading out to dinner. We decided to go to the same place as we ate last night and had a delicious aloo gobee masala with garlic naan. Yum.
Although we didn’t quite get up for dawn as planned, we went for a relatively early swim for about an hour. The water was a bit warm, but not as warm as we had imagined. Feeling refreshed, we showered and dressed and headed to Underwater World. We were initially a bit put off since adult tickets were RM38, whereas the Rough Guide said they were RM15. However, on production of our ISIC cards, we managed to get our ticket for RM20 – cheaper than the child ticket so not so bad. The aquarium was quite good, and we even saw penguins and otters. There was a 3D Theatre Show, which made us slightly paranoid about swimming in the sea with sharks. The end of the aquarium was an underwater viewing area, which opened out into a souvenir shop and a seafood shop – bit mean! After unsuccessfully trying to find some roti canai, we ate lunch at the Breakfast Bar. We spent the afternoon lazing about, reading our books. In the evening, we used the internet for a while at the AB Motel and tried to catch the sunset, although it wasn’t as good as the first night. We went for dinner at the Palmview Seafood restaurant, which was scrummy and Kiwi had a drink in a whole coconut. Just as we finished eating the heavens opened and there was an almighty downpour. It was quite amazing watching a big group of people get their steamboat inside! We took shelter inside for a while and paid the bill. Armed with an umbrella, we set off home and listened to the rain in our little hut.
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