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Published: February 1st 2006
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Langkawi sunset
Our first night, looking out from the balcony. November 2nd - 7th
I have to start this entry with an apology. I feel terrible that we haven't kept up with this blog like we wanted to, who knew that writing about your experiences could be so difficult and time consuming. We have had a great time here in Malaysia so far and are already half way through our time here. I will attempt to give you short updates of what we have been doing from November through mid-January (now).
This week is a major holiday week in Malaysia. Tuesday was a holiday for Hari Raya and Thursday and Friday are holidays for Deepavali, the Indian Festival of Lights. Since Phil took Monday off to be with his parents he only had to work Wednesday. Yay for holidays!
For the holiday weekend we decided to go to Langkawi. Langkawi is a group of islands north of Penang in the Malaysian state of Kedah. Although 99 islands make up Langkawi, only four are inhabited. The islands are much further away from the mainland so the water is actually safe to get in and there is some good snorkeling.
On Friday we drove up the mainland to
Fishing boats
The ferry terminal at Kuala Kedah. a city in Kedah and took a ferry out to the islands, about an hour. The ferry terminal was a complete free for all! The ferries are passenger only, no cars, so they are pretty fast. The ride was smooth and it was nice to see a blue ocean again, not the green/brown we have around Penang. We arrived in Kuah, the main town on Langkawi, and hailed a taxi to our hotel, the Langkawi Lagoon. The hotel looked really nice online, but we have been wrong before so I was a little apprehensive. As we drove across the island we realized that it was much, much bigger than we originally though. The mountains on the island are more like real mountains too, not just big hills like we have in Penang. The hotel was pretty far from the town, which was more than ok with us; it was on a lagoon/breakwater with only a couple other hotels, very quiet, a perfect place to relax. We booked one of the rooms that is out over the water and luckily got a room that was at the end of the pier on the top floor! I don’t think you can get
Stilted
Half of the hotel rooms are in these buildings on stilts. They are in the style of traditional Malaysian homes. any more perfect than that. We spent most of Saturday afternoon lounging around, reading in front of the big window in our room, and then we had the buffet dinner in the restaurant.
Saturday morning we rented a car and drove around the island. The first place we stopped was the Oriental Village. It’s a major tourist shopping area, a lot like a theme-park, with the biggest attraction being the cable cars that run to the top of the highest mountain on the island. Phil wasn’t too thrilled with the idea, but it was pretty cloudy at the top so he knew that part of the ride would be in the clouds thus obstructing his view, a good thing! We got in line and into the cable car which looked more like the glass elevator from Willy Wonka (the original). Phil went to his happy place and I had a grand time taking pictures, though near the top I got a little scared because we really were a long way above the jungle. One amazing thing about the cable car was how little impact the construction had on the forest. They did a wonderful job of integrating the towers
Phil on balcony
We got lucky and ended up with an end unit on the top floor. and stations into the landscape. As we neared what we thought was the top we saw another cable line that went higher, we were only 2/3 of the way up! We exited at the station, looked around and got back in to go up to the very top. It was really cool to see the cars appearing and disappearing into the mist. I’m sure the view from the top would have been incredible had it been clear, but it was still beautiful. As we came down we had a better view of the islands that surround the main island of Langkawi. After the cable car we had lunch and a little bunny therapy. Before getting on the cable car I noticed that there was a bunny petting zoo next to the station. I have always loved rabbits since seeing them at the State Fair as a child, though I’ve never owned one. We did some shopping and then drove around the island. The rest of the day was a bit like a wild goose chase, trying to go see things that looked cool on the map and discovering that they were hard to get to or disappointing or just not
there. We returned to the hotel and had planned on having a nice dinner at their “nice” seafood restaurant along the river. The “nice” restaurant was all outdoors meaning you were subject to mosquitoes and the heat, the furniture looked like it had been left outside for years and the waiter and chef were both asleep at the front desk (the place was empty). We had to wake them up! The topper was when we were walking to our table the waiter told us that two of the menu items were not available and one of them was lobster. I had just mentioned on the way to the restaurant that I really wanted lobster because I never order it. That was the last straw, we went back to the regular restaurant in the hotel, which is WAY nicer that the other one, and had a wonderful dinner. After we went to the beach bar for drinks and called it a night. We had a big day ahead of us, snorkeling!!
Sunday: There is a marine park about an hour south of Langkawi where there is some pretty good snorkeling. We had a pretty good time, though the area to
snorkel in was small and getting to the beach was a little scary. The coral came up pretty high so when the waves broke on shore you were getting pretty close. And there were these little fish that nipped us a couple times. I have enough of a water paranoia as it is without adding biting fish. We got over the coral and on to the beach. I have never been so happy to get out of the water! We relaxed for a while and then headed back to the platform for lunch. I managed to hyperventilate my way over the coral again and into deeper water where we saw a barracuda just before getting back for lunch. He was just hanging out by the platform, not doing much. I stuck around long enough to get some pictures and then got out of there! After lunch the crew ferried people over to another area where they were going to feed the baby sharks. This was the snorkeling area of another tour company, I’m glad we didn’t book with them. We snorkeled a little more that afternoon and the boat took us back to Langkawi. That night we had a relaxed
Mountain in the clouds
The top of the mountain was slightly obscured by clouds when we decided to go up. It got worse as we waited in line for the tram. dinner at the beach bar and good cheap drinks. Langkawi is a tax-free state so alcohol and tobacco are much cheaper here than anywhere else in Malaysia. Monday morning we had massages at the spa, heavenly!, and left for the ferry back to the mainland. We had such a great time, I would definitely go back if we get a chance.
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Judith
non-member comment
Handwashing
Ok, this is sort of scary but the very first thought I had when I read (before seeing the pics) about the bunnies was, "I wonder if they washed their hands?" :-) I'm glad you guys are having so much fun. That trip sounds amazing. I want to hang out in a glass tram above the trees... J