Langkawi Island is located at north region of Malaysia penisular. Has more than 100 island surrounding the Langkawi Island; with Langkawi is the biggest island among them. For some people, Langkawi is a popular destination for holiday due to the beautiful beach or the modern and historical attraction; but for Malaysian people, the more important is was a duty free island. It is heaven for shopping for all type of people.
15 years ago since the last time I went to here, I was susprised to see a lot of development has been done here, especially the Cenang beach. For me, the Cenang beach has turned to be like a Phuket in Thailand but without the prostitution business. (Not sure 100%..hehe). However, I believe local government has worked hard to preserve the natural beauty of Langkawi with not disturb other places.
Travel & Transportation
It take about 1 hour to travel to Langkawi by plane from the LCCT. The flight ticket cost me MYR 100 each pax, for go and return; thanks again Airasia :). If you want to travel by car or others land transport, the nearest jetty is located at Kuala Perlis which taken up to 8 ~ 10 hours for travelling from KL. From the jetty, it take about 1 hours to reach the island by the ferry. Both has a bad good reason.. but if you want to shopping, it is recommended for you to choose the land transport.
Convenient transport in Langkawi is a rent car or motocycle. The rent price for the local car and the import car is quite similar in normal day; but it would increase double/ triple during the school holiday. For me, this is the time for testing the car. So I pick up Nissan Almera for two days; cost me MYR 80 for each day. I am targeting to replace my old car with a new car but not so sure what is the best. So I take the change in this vacation to test drive also. Next time, I will rent the pajero sport or any mazda car.
The company I rent the car is RST Holiday. You can call the number given in the website but I bet you will face the communication problem. The person that answer my call has a strong local accent and quite difficult for me to understand the language. He also can't read the message from the Hp or the email (I knew from one of his employee- due to the old disease). That why he didn't reply my email. What you can do is just bank-in the money and inform him back and he will secure you booking by verbally. That's all. Huhu. The last hours before departure, I called back the company and he give the no.phone of the person in charge...who have better communication in malay or english. I'm not worried about the money, I'm just worried about the car that I want. But in the end, I can said that I can trust this company and maybe I will take their service again in the future.
After you get the car, what you need to do if find the petrol pump station (normally they leave the car with almost empty gas). The nearest gas station is 2km from the airport and about similar distance from the Jetty. There is no many gas station can be found here, so just fill in wherever you see it. With MYR 30, it will be enough for travel around the island, I also managed to climb up the highest peak in the Langkawi with that amount of gas.
Don't forget to buy the parking coupon as the local authority is practice this system. You can find the coupon from most of the shop at Kuah town. Just find the shop with the sign of agent parking coupon. Just get the coupon for one day ~ MYR4. Otherwise you will get summons if you parking at Kuah town during the working day Sunday ~ Thursday.
Island Hopping
I took the package from my hotel under company name Tiger Line. It cost me MYR 30 per pax. Some people say, it only cost you MYR 25 but I do not have much time to find it. The island hopping package take you half day by visit three point/island surrounding the Langkawi island.
At the Jetty. Waiting to be transfer into the boat.
The man who wear the blue shirt is taking every one photo to make a plate souvenir that cost you MYR 10. By the way, it was up to you to buy it or not :)
First destination is... Beras Basah Island.
Taking a speed boat to Berah Basah island. It take about 1/2 hour from the Jetty.
Welcome to Beras Basah Island where nothing I can do. The beach is nice but I save my pants for the last island. Then, the time given is not enough for doing anything except taking photo.
Seriously, there is nothing I can do except playing with the monkey.These monkeys are wild but so tame. What they want is only a food. Even my isotonok drink they want. Just be careful with your goods because they are a good burglar. We try to stop many times these monkeys from stolen one of the tourist bag but eventually they managed to open that bag. The owner happily play at the beach without no idea what the monkeys has done.
Last photo before I go on board.
Second Destination - Eagle feeding
langkawi island is derive from the malay word as the eagle is known as Helang.. (Lang). So now I know why this place is famous with the eagle. They brought us to see the eagles hunting fish. At first, I tought it was us who will give the food but the eagle prefer to catch the fish by their ownself. Think again, it's quite scary to feed the eagle using our own hand.
Third destination - Dayang Bunting Lake
Dayang Bunting lake is located in the Dayang Bunting island. In English, dayang bunting mean a pregnant lady/maiden and maybe come from due to the shape of one the hill. From the photo below, the hill is like a pregnant lady with the left side is the head, breast and the belly.
Dayang bunting lake is the largest fresh water in the langkawi and was formed after the collapse of the cave in the middle of this island. The local people said, swimming in the lake can cause the women get pregnant for those who has the problem. But you need to wear the safety life jacket because the lake is too deep. I have try to reach the bottom of the lake, but I felt scary in the half way. I swear, I will never do this again. Huh! Love your life. Don't take unreasonable risk.
Mount Raya
After the trip for island hopping, I have a free time to test the car. So I decided to go the highest peak of langkawi, Gunung Raya. It take just 30 minutes from Kuah town to this peak. On the peak, they have tower watch and it cost you MYR 10 just to climb it. The scenery from this point compare to the tower is about similar, so I don't pay it. :)
Dataran Lang/ Lang square
It is stupid for me if you come to this island but do not take photo with this giant eagle. The eagle statue is located at the Jetty after the Kuah town. The lamp at the left wing is broken, but the photo look more amazing. Hehe
Cenang beach
Cenang beach is located near the airport. Is a popular place for the foreigner tourist. For me it look like second phuket as I mentioned earlier. Here also located Underwater world. You can bring your kids to see the penguin here. I went to this beach on my last day to see the sunset. I do not know the short cut way from Kuah but luckily still can get those photo below. :)
Shopping time
The last day I spent my time to shopping with my wife. Actually, I have nothing to buy here except for the car which I cannot buy to bring home. Here is the heaven for those who smoking because the price is very cheap because we do not need to pay the tax. There is something that make the women feel crazy when the come here is the houseware.
To be frank, I do not know how much the government tax charge for the houseware but my wife said is cheaper about MYR 50~100 than the price in KL. So I bought her plates, cutlery set, knife set and magic grill. Luckily I just bought 25kg for luggage.Woh..The popular shop to buy all the things are Langkawi Saga, Haji Ismail group and Ram. Other shop is okay too.
Its time for chocolate. Some chocolate is very cheap compare the price in KL but some not. I don't think is worth enough to buy the KitKat or cadbury chocolate here. For me only ferrero rocher,nutella, belgium chocolate is the only thing worth to bring home.
The most worthy is the cigarette..hehe.Just stop two years ago.
One advice, you should not buy the chocolate until the last hour of your trip if you do not want you chocolate melt like ours. :(. So sad.
Time to go home
After a short trip to Cenang, its time to go home. I need to go to Airport before 9 PM to return the car. Not sure what they will charge if over use the car. I just drop the car at the taxi area and the person in charge will check the car body before return me the deposit.
I wrapped my luggage before check in. You can find the wrap service after the customs inspection and cost you MYR 10 per bag.
Time to end my story in Langkawi. I know ,there are many better experience/blog shared than my story for Langkawi tips, so I wrote in English just to help our friend in Thailand, Vietnam others country. Apologize for the bad English in my blog.Bye!
View from the jetty.
Scenery at Beras Basah Island.
Scenery at Mt. Raya.
15 years ago since the last time I went to here, I was susprised to see a lot of development has been done here, especially the Cenang beach. For me, the Cenang beach has turned to be like a Phuket in Thailand but without the prostitution business. (Not sure 100%..hehe). However, I believe local government has worked hard to preserve the natural beauty of Langkawi with not disturb other places.
Travel & Transportation
It take about 1 hour to travel to Langkawi by plane from the LCCT. The flight ticket cost me MYR 100 each pax, for go and return; thanks again Airasia :). If you want to travel by car or others land transport, the nearest jetty is located at Kuala Perlis which taken up to 8 ~ 10 hours for travelling from KL. From the jetty, it take about 1 hours to reach the island by the ferry. Both has a bad good reason.. but if you want to shopping, it is recommended for you to choose the land transport.
Convenient transport in Langkawi is a rent car or motocycle. The rent price for the local car and the import car is quite similar in normal day; but it would increase double/ triple during the school holiday. For me, this is the time for testing the car. So I pick up Nissan Almera for two days; cost me MYR 80 for each day. I am targeting to replace my old car with a new car but not so sure what is the best. So I take the change in this vacation to test drive also. Next time, I will rent the pajero sport or any mazda car.
The company I rent the car is RST Holiday. You can call the number given in the website but I bet you will face the communication problem. The person that answer my call has a strong local accent and quite difficult for me to understand the language. He also can't read the message from the Hp or the email (I knew from one of his employee- due to the old disease). That why he didn't reply my email. What you can do is just bank-in the money and inform him back and he will secure you booking by verbally. That's all. Huhu. The last hours before departure, I called back the company and he give the no.phone of the person in charge...who have better communication in malay or english. I'm not worried about the money, I'm just worried about the car that I want. But in the end, I can said that I can trust this company and maybe I will take their service again in the future.
After you get the car, what you need to do if find the petrol pump station (normally they leave the car with almost empty gas). The nearest gas station is 2km from the airport and about similar distance from the Jetty. There is no many gas station can be found here, so just fill in wherever you see it. With MYR 30, it will be enough for travel around the island, I also managed to climb up the highest peak in the Langkawi with that amount of gas.
Don't forget to buy the parking coupon as the local authority is practice this system. You can find the coupon from most of the shop at Kuah town. Just find the shop with the sign of agent parking coupon. Just get the coupon for one day ~ MYR4. Otherwise you will get summons if you parking at Kuah town during the working day Sunday ~ Thursday.
Island Hopping
I took the package from my hotel under company name Tiger Line. It cost me MYR 30 per pax. Some people say, it only cost you MYR 25 but I do not have much time to find it. The island hopping package take you half day by visit three point/island surrounding the Langkawi island.
First destination is... Beras Basah Island.
Second Destination - Eagle feeding
Third destination - Dayang Bunting Lake
Dayang Bunting lake is located in the Dayang Bunting island. In English, dayang bunting mean a pregnant lady/maiden and maybe come from due to the shape of one the hill. From the photo below, the hill is like a pregnant lady with the left side is the head, breast and the belly.
Dayang bunting lake is the largest fresh water in the langkawi and was formed after the collapse of the cave in the middle of this island. The local people said, swimming in the lake can cause the women get pregnant for those who has the problem. But you need to wear the safety life jacket because the lake is too deep. I have try to reach the bottom of the lake, but I felt scary in the half way. I swear, I will never do this again. Huh! Love your life. Don't take unreasonable risk.
Mount Raya
After the trip for island hopping, I have a free time to test the car. So I decided to go the highest peak of langkawi, Gunung Raya. It take just 30 minutes from Kuah town to this peak. On the peak, they have tower watch and it cost you MYR 10 just to climb it. The scenery from this point compare to the tower is about similar, so I don't pay it. :)
Dataran Lang/ Lang square
It is stupid for me if you come to this island but do not take photo with this giant eagle. The eagle statue is located at the Jetty after the Kuah town. The lamp at the left wing is broken, but the photo look more amazing. Hehe
Cenang beach
Cenang beach is located near the airport. Is a popular place for the foreigner tourist. For me it look like second phuket as I mentioned earlier. Here also located Underwater world. You can bring your kids to see the penguin here. I went to this beach on my last day to see the sunset. I do not know the short cut way from Kuah but luckily still can get those photo below. :)
Shopping time
The last day I spent my time to shopping with my wife. Actually, I have nothing to buy here except for the car which I cannot buy to bring home. Here is the heaven for those who smoking because the price is very cheap because we do not need to pay the tax. There is something that make the women feel crazy when the come here is the houseware.
To be frank, I do not know how much the government tax charge for the houseware but my wife said is cheaper about MYR 50~100 than the price in KL. So I bought her plates, cutlery set, knife set and magic grill. Luckily I just bought 25kg for luggage.Woh..The popular shop to buy all the things are Langkawi Saga, Haji Ismail group and Ram. Other shop is okay too.
Its time for chocolate. Some chocolate is very cheap compare the price in KL but some not. I don't think is worth enough to buy the KitKat or cadbury chocolate here. For me only ferrero rocher,nutella, belgium chocolate is the only thing worth to bring home.
The most worthy is the cigarette..hehe.Just stop two years ago.
One advice, you should not buy the chocolate until the last hour of your trip if you do not want you chocolate melt like ours. :(. So sad.
Time to go home
After a short trip to Cenang, its time to go home. I need to go to Airport before 9 PM to return the car. Not sure what they will charge if over use the car. I just drop the car at the taxi area and the person in charge will check the car body before return me the deposit.
I wrapped my luggage before check in. You can find the wrap service after the customs inspection and cost you MYR 10 per bag.
Time to end my story in Langkawi. I know ,there are many better experience/blog shared than my story for Langkawi tips, so I wrote in English just to help our friend in Thailand, Vietnam others country. Apologize for the bad English in my blog.Bye!
Very useful, thanks for writing this in English, it was good advices for us coming from Singapore! Happy future trips / blogging! :)
ReplyDelete