Langkawi over Christmas- great idea and perfect place to recharge the batteries 👍

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Short flight from Penang on Christmas Eve,then got a taxi from the airport to Camar Resort Hotel, our base for 5 nights. It’s located in Pantai Tengah south of Cenang Beach the main tourist location on the island. Checked in and shown to our room which we were very happy with. It had a very nice view of the fabulous beach and islands, was very close to the restaurant and bar but far enough away from the pool area and reception to be quiet. The bath was an added bonus 🛁😉. We sorted ourselves out and went for a wander to suss out the location of places to eat etc. We booked somewhere to eat at on Christmas Day, had a drink in the Bodega bar (being newly managed by an English man), found a spa, ate at a Korean restaurant then headed back to ‘our’ beach to watch the sunset and enjoy a cocktail.

On Christmas Day we had breakfast and met Bella the robot! She is very entertaining, and is used to deliver freshly made cooked orders or take dirty crockery back to the kitchen. Breakfast was again a mix of Asian and Western food with pancakes;noodles;fresh juices; choice of bread for toast; plain yogurt; dried and fresh fruit; tea and coffee as well as cooked items to order. We walked along the beach to research boat trips then had juice at a bar on the beach. We changed then had Virgin Mojitos at ‘our’ beach and swam in the sea. Chilled afternoon and I enjoyed the first of several baths before we headed out for dinner at The Fat Cupid. This restaurant used many recipes created by the family’s Grandmother and we enjoyed the food. Another cocktail enjoyed at the bar on ’our’ beach.

Boxing Day we used GRAB, the Asian equivalent of Uber, to take us North to the Skybridge cable car. Having learnt our lesson in Penang, we pre-booked fast lane tickets thus bypassing the long queue. Machincang Mountain is one of the oldest parts of SE Asia and the 2 stop 6 person cable Car takes you to the top where we walked along the 100m high Sky Bridge which offered amazing views across the island and the dense rainforest below. It was a bit hazy but thankfully not too hot 🥵 We had a swim plus a drink in the 70m long pool back at the hotel and I made friends with a group of Malaysian/ Indian children 😉Fantastic meal in the Cactus 🌵 restaurant - lemon chicken and sizzling beef 😋

Next day we had arranged a private boat tour and this began with a mini bus picking us up and driving us to the hotel next door, It would have been quicker to walk🤣First stop on the traditional boat was the Island Of The Pregnant Maiden and a lovely swim in the lake having run the gauntlet of the monkeys keen to steal food from tourists. Next visit was to see the beautiful sea eagles and Langkawi eagles. The boats all throw chicken skins in the water giving us a chance to watch these magnificent birds at close quarters. Finally we visited another island and a chance to swim at a different beach.Langkawi is an archipelago consisting of around 99 islands of which only a few are inhabited.A visit to ‘our’ beach for another swim then dinner at Bobi’s opposite the hotel.

Yesterday we had a relaxed start to the day before walking to Pantai Cenang which is made up of a main street filled with shops selling fake football shirts; duty free goods; beach wear; ‘Gucci’ bags; sportswear; many famous brands of chocolate as well as Starbucks; and restaurants. Bizarrely it is well know for its kitchenware, there was even a Pyrex store 😉 Not an altogether pleasant experience as it felt very geared up for tourists although discovering Loaf the bakery softened the blow a bit 👍Back to the hotel via the duty free shop where I bought some alcohol for my cocktail making 🍹A quick swim in the pool before dinner at Red Sky, cocktails at Bodega and a lovely full body aroma oil massage. We both slept very well 👍



We had read mixed reviews about the hotel but we were more than pleasantly surprised with our stay. Yes the gardens could be manicured and there is a lot of building work taking place BUT Malaysia only reopened its borders to foreign tourists in March and this is their first proper holiday season post Covid! The staff couldn’t have been friendlier, more obliging or helpful especially Natasha and Adrill. It was a perfect place to chill and unwind.

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