2010 first trip - Langkawi

Had my first trip of 2010 to Langkawi. A really short trip though, just 2D1N but it's definitely enough to explore Langkawi.

We begin with a small drama at the airport. 2 of us almost couldn't fly because Silkair requires passengers to bring the CC that they use to purchase tickets to verify and 1 CC was forgotten at home.

Both flights are almost full and 90% of the passengers are Caucasians, Langkawi airport looks really simple and we need to walk unsheltered to the arrival terminal.

The motel which i am staying is Malibest Motel. It's cheap, RM150/night with 2 queen size beds in the rooms and it is located just at the Pantai Cenang beach which is the most popular beach.

Transportation
Taxi fares are readily available and rates are fixed. The cheapest way to get around is actually to rent a motorbike(RM25/day) or rent a car (around RM100+/day). Petrol kiosks are limited but the roads are pretty easy to navigate cause its mostly straight roads and signs are available. When you sign up for some activities like massage or island hopping, there are free transportation that will pick you up from your resort. You can only book a taxi for 4 hours, it costs RM100.

Shopping
The best stuff to buy there are alcohol and cigarettes, really cheap. My favourite - Wise Cottage Fries is also readily available and there are lots of Duty Free Shops around. Bulk of the shops there are selling beach wear and mini-mart. But there is also spectacles shop, internet shop, printing shop.

Activities to do there
1. Underwater World. Tickets cost RM38/adult. There are the clown fish, discus, penguins, sharks, stingray, eels, parrots etc but trust me, dun waste your $$ going there lar, not much things to see and there is even a dead fish in one of the tank, imagine that is the only fish in that tank!!

2. Island Hopping. Ticket costs around RM29 - RM40 per pax. Whole trip last about 4 hours. Trip will bring you to 2 island - the first is the island of the Pregnant Maiden to swim but the water seems really dirty and the monkeys are fierce there. Second island is much clearer and it is for you to snokerkling and parasailing. But Parasailing costs RM100/pax which is more expensive than that of Tanjong Cenang beach. There is also a stop for you to look at eagles and there are lots of it. Boatmen will throw chicken into the water and wait for the eagle to come. I am pretty unlucky cause on the day of my island hoppping, the water is really low tide and its really crowded, so by the time we boat the small boat, we are already 1.5 hours behind schedule.

3. Cheapest activity to do there is take a boat and read on the beach. Some beach chairs are free but you might need to pay for some, prices is around RM10/chair.

4. Water activities like Banana Boat, Jet Ski, Parasailing are available on the beach. Prices differ between operators.

6. Cable car and Oriental Village. They are at the same place. I don't have the courage to sit the cable car as it looks really scary and there nothing much at the Oriental Village.

7. Kuah Town. The town of Langkawi and there is market and shopping centres there.

8. A big no-no activity to do there is massage. The massage is really expensive there. Foot massage of 30 mins cost around RM49 and the quality sucks. Just don't waste your $$ and time on it.

Some other activities include island discovery where a tour bus will bring you around the main island of Langkawi including Kuah Town. Island crusie where you can have lunch or dinner on the cruise. Fishing or island hopping by renting a boat to bring you to whatever island/place that you want to go.

Food
Food are readily available there, ranges from pretty cheap food of RM4 for a bowl of wanton noodles to RM60+ for a main course at Casa Del Mar. Most are tourists like what i had mentioned earlier are Caucasian, they prefer bread and American breakfast. One of the chinese food owner told me that Chinese will only go to Langkawi once and they will never be back. Why? There is nothing much to do there, no shopping and stuff are ex.

1. The Loaf. A bakery cum cafe open by Dr Mahathir. The bread are really nice and the shop is facing the harbour but its not cheap. We ordered 4 drinks, some bread, 2 soups in bread bowls, it cost us RM140+!

2. Orkid Ria Seafood Restaurant. The ambience is good and it serve really nice and fresh seafood. Go early if you do not want to wait for a table on weekends. Alcohol are cheap here but i don't really like the housepour white wine. Our bill for 4 pax came up to RM120+.

3. Breakfast Bar. A place where we had our breakfast. All types of breakfast are available here like nasi lemak, wanton noodles, prawn noodles, roti prata, american breakfast, you name it, they might have it. The pricing is cheap and this is definitely the cheapest meal we had there. It costs only RM20+ for 4 pax.

4. Rose Tea 2. Thai Restaurant with Thais manning it. The food are not bad but the Fried Prwan Cakes are really nice. Must try. Total bill came up to RM120+ for 4 pax but we ordered quite alot.

Places that we wanted to try but there is no time or its too expensive.

1.La Sal at Casa del Mar. This is too expensive to try and they have reviews saying that they don't really like chinese.

2. Sawadee Thai Restaurant. This is cze char style. It looks really nice and smell really nice too. We only discover it after our dinner and we planned to have it for our dinner before our flight. But then, the island hopping delay ruins our plans.

One thing to note for all pork fans, you won't be able to find pork there.

Hope my next trip will be more interesting but i know my mummy enjoyed it.