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Published: December 15th 2009
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We decided to have a wee holiday (!) so jumped on a cheap Air Asia flight from Kuala Lumpur to the tropical paradise island of Langkawi!, off the northwest coast of peninsular Malaysia. It was quite hard to find accomodation on the island as the Malaysian school holidays had just started so we had to stay in 3 different hotels on 2 different beaches during our 12 night stay! Our first hotel, AB Motel, was our favourite and the cheapest as it was located right on Cenang beach. It was really cloudy for the first few days but then we had glorious blue skies and sunshine for the rest of our stay!
Cenang beach is the main tourist beach on the island. Although it's popular it doesn't feel too busy or crowded and has a really chilled out atmosphere. The water is lovely and calm and the surrounding scenery is stunning! - green forested hills in the distance and a scattering of small tropical islands in the surrounding water. The beach is popular for watersports so in some parts the water can get a bit busy. The second beach we stayed on was Tengah beach which is much quieter and
just as gorgeous!
We loved spending time relaxing on both beaches. One day Gordon hired a jet ski. He loved zooming about the bay and had a huge smile on his face the whole time and for many hours afterwards! He was put to shame though by 3 local girls on jet skis wearing full muslim dress, as they were doing some very fast, slick moves on the water! While on the jet ski Gordon saw some huge jellyfish, so after that Jen was a bit apprehensive about going into the water!
From Tengah beach we walked round to the nearby port (Awana Porto Malai). The scenery around this area is breathtaking! Lots of exotic looking rocky outcrops popping out of the sea covered in lush green vegetation which reach down to the waters edge and the bay is surrounded by dramatic hills. There's a grand hotel complex around the jetty with a souvenir shop and a few bars and restaurants.
We hired a Proton car for one day to see more of the island. (Yeah, we know it's a rubbish car but it was cheap and they are backing the Lotus F1 team next year after
all so can't be that bad!) Our first stop was Telaga Harbour Park which is a marina with lots of expensive boats and cafes/restaurants which look out onto the water but most were closed when we visited mid morning. From there we went round the corner to yet another amazing beach called Pantai Kok. It was a surprise to see such a nice beach absolutely deserted. Loved it! Next stop was the Oriental Village - a purpose built tourism/shopping area centred round a man-made lake, which is the base for a cable car near Mount Machinchang. It was a roasting hot day and we were shocked to find that you weren't allowed to take bottles of water up the hill! (JP's top tip - hide the bottle in a bag and you'll be fine!) It was a steep cable car ride with two viewing stations with excellent views of the island. At the second station there's a short walk across a suspension bridge that joins the cable car station to the mountain range. Driving on we stopped at Pasir Tengkorak Beach where we were met by loads of monkeys foraging in the rubbish bins in the trees beside the beach!
This beach seemed particularly popular with Malaysians. Afterwards we headed to Tanjng Rhu beach passing a few exclusive 5 star resorts. This beach really has the WOW factor! Final stop was Kuah Town, the largest town on the island and where you can catch a ferry to the mainland and other islands. There is a huge, impressive eagle statue which looks out to sea. The significance here is that the word 'Langkawi' means 'brown eagle'.
There are plenty of places in Cenang offering cheap massages so we felt we had to take advantage of this! They used some strange pointed wooden implements on our feet which was really painful at the time but felt good afterwards!
There were plenty of shops and a local market to keep Jen entertained for an afternoon, though like the rest of Malaysia the shop assistants like to follow you round the shop and point out the obvious!
On the last few days on the island there was an air and maritime show so we saw lots of jets and helicopters flying over our hotel and there were large battleships anchored nearby. The island was very busy as it's a popular annual
event.
Cenang has a good range of cafes, bars and restaurants with some fab ones directly on the beach, one of which was used to film a Malaysian soap opera while we were dining there! (Fame at last!) We had some great Thai curries, Indian tosei masala (pancake stuffed with curried potato), Chinese and Mexican food.
Jen doesn't like fish so she was horrified one day to find a big fat prawn in her chicken noodle dish, but the waiter told her she was lucky to get extra meat, not understanding that it was actually a complaint!
It wasn't all fun in the sun as we spent a fair bit of time on the internet researching our Christmas 'holiday'! Tough life, eh?!!
Next stop - Penang!
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StevieBoy
non-member comment
No way....
....nice check shirt there Doors, see yer taste in shorts husnae improved any.