Trip to Langkawi, 2-4 January 2009

Caution: This will be a very long post...enjoy reading it nonetheless ;)
Note: I've removed the info on food & restaurants from this post & put up another post on food alone ;)


Date: 2-4 January 2009, Friday-Sunday
Venue: Langkawi island, Kedah Darul Aman
Occasion: Annual Get-Together/Trip/Retreat with a group of friends
Price: RM364 for the package - includes 2 nights stay at Langkasuka Beach Resort, Island Hopping (3 islands) + lunch, Snorkeling activity at Coral Island + lunch, car rental (Avanza) throughout the 3 days on the island. ~ RM220 for return flight tickets (LCCT-Langkawi with AirAsia & Langkawi-Subang with Fireflyz).

Sun, sea, sand, & ... a bunch of crazee friends!! *woot!!*

This trip was a long-awaited one :) We've been planning for it since the beginning of year 2008 & we managed to get a reasonable package from the 1st Matta fair last year. We only managed to gather 6 of us friends for the trip, so the package was a 'lil more expensive (since the package catered for 8 persons). Furthermore, we scheduled the trip for the 2-4 Jan, which are super-peak seasons...as we tried to accomodate our friends who are studying/working abroad...but in the end, none of them could return to join us for the trip...*sigh* That's the only sad part, I guess.

I'll just summarize my 'mak-nenek' stories for your reading pleasure:

Day 1, 2 January 2009 (Friday)
4:30am - Woke up
4:45am - Left the Gloria's house for KL Sentral station
5:15am - Arrived at KL Sentral station & met up with Chris, Jinn, & Kat
5:30am - Hopped onto the Skybus to LCCT Airport
6:45am - Arrived at LCCT
7:20am - Checked in


8:20am - Took off on the AirAsia flight to Langkawi

The Air Asia plane
Slightly more spacious, but in Air Asia, everything is about cash! Food also have to pay, check in luggage also have to pay RM10.00/luggage :(

9:20am - Arrived at Langkawi International Airport. We were greeted by Kak Rose, our tour agent. We were given the Avanza, loaded our stuff into the vehicle, & left directly to the jetty for our 1st activity - Island Hopping.




Island Hopping
In this package, there were 3 islands to cover: Pulau Beras Basah, Eagle Feeding (at I-dunno-what's-the-island-name), & Pulau Dayang Bunting. We took a speedboat from island to island, & the driver of our speedboat was actually quite a cheeky & funny Malay chap :) We got all wet & salty thanks to his manuvering of the boat. *bah* Salty sea water was SO bad for our eyes!! *wergh*




Pulau Beras Basah
Hmm...supposedly the island for Water Sports, but we didn't go on any. In a way, we were quite unprepared for the day...hahaha...there wasn't any toilets, no place to change, no place to pee (or do any 'business' for the matter of fact)!! *sigh* A few of us didn't wear our beach wear from KL itself (we wore t-shirt & jeans instead) as we thought it will be slightly cold on the airplane. Our initial plan was to change into our beach wear upon arrival at the island, but bummer, we didn't have enough time & there wasn't anywhere for such plans to take place :(

In the end, 3 of us girls had to change in the jungle-area among the bushes...bleagh! Furthermore, all of us had no choice but to pee in the jungle, right in the open where monkey & bugs live...how 'awesome'...well, not like I've never done it before, but I just dread going through such things again...*lol*

We ended up using that 1-hour on this island for lunch, which was packed for us by Kak Rose, & just relaxing, lazing, & catching up with one another :) Good enough, I guess.

First Meal in Langkawi
Ayam masak kicap (chicken in soya sauce...so difficult to eat such chicken with a plastic spoon), fried fish (quite dry & hard...may kill a sparrow if we throw the fish at the bird), & stir-fried mixed veggie

Eagle Feeding
Okay, I think I'm one of the silliest girls on the face of this earth to think that eagle-feeding means literally feeding the eagles. *BAH* I was initially quite excited with the idea of "eagle-feeding". When I found out that all we do is to sit in the speedboat & WATCH the eagles swoosh down into the waters & grab their food, I went into 'wergh-mode' straight away. We tried getting pics of the eagles, but it was just too difficult to do so with a compact camera *sigh* Ah well...next island...



Note: More pics will be uploaded later

Pulau Dayang Bunting
The speciality of this island is the shape itself. It resembles the shape of a pregnant lady lying down on her back. Hmm...quite interesting how people's imagination could carry them ;) This island boasts the FRESH water lake on top of the hill...yes, right in the middle of the salty sea, you'll find fresh water on an island. Pretty facinating :) Many people go there for a dip & I could say that it is very refreshing :) The hike towards the fresh water source/lake was quite a tiring one for a person like me who lacks the exercise. It's as if this is my annual dose of exercise! Ahahahaha....







After the 1-hour spent on the island, we left on the speedboat back to 'base', where our car was parked. Once again, the speedboat driver sped the boat SO fast & purposely swerve to get us splashed wet with the sea water *bah!* It was quite funny though...I had the chance to sit beside him at the back, so I didn't get as wet as the rest...watching my friends getting wet & giving those funny expressions were hilarious :P

That pretty much concluded the activities for our day-1. We left the jetty area for our hotel around 2pm...but annoyingly, our rooms weren't ready for check-in until 3:15pm, so we spent some time at the beach picking up seashells & getting ourselves wet...


Langkasuka Beach Resort, Pantai Cenang
Located along the Pantai Cenang beach, this hotel carries a 4-star rating for its facilities & comfort. Note that this hotel is different from the Langkasuka Hotel in Kuah town. It is 15-min drive from the Langkawi International Airport, which is rather convenient for those who fly into the island, but it takes at least 30-min to drive to the Kuah town *sigh*

This hotel owns a private beach, which is pretty clean, but lacks the sparkling beauty & clear-blue-waters. There isn't much on the beach anyways. Not many coconut trees at sight, not many shells, black-stuff gets washed up to the shore, & not that much shade for a relaxing outing. Nevertheless, the sand is rather fine & quite nice to walk on :)

I can't deny that their rooms are actually pretty spacious to begin with...6 of us occupied 2 rooms as there were 4 girls & 2 guys. The beds were quite comfortable & so were the pillows :) Both rooms' bathroom had a bathtub & a cubicle for shower, which was rather cool, especially after a long day on the island, & all we need is a nice, warm bath :D The only thing that kinda ticked us off was the sliding door to the balcony-- the sides were rusty & it was SOOO difficult to get it opened AND close! *bummer* Oh yes, at the place where we stayed, there was an elavator, even to the 1st floor, which I thought was very nice! At least for those who have huge luggages, they don't need to drag their luggage & themselves up to their rooms :)





This resort's swimming pool isn't inviting at all. The beach would be more inviting if I were to compare them both. I guess it's the color of the tiles of the pool. It made the pool looked brown, dirty, & just uninviting lah...hahaha...we didn't bother swimming throughout our vacation there :P

After washing up & getting enough rest, we drove out to Kuah town for dinner at Wan Thai, a place recommended by my new friend, also a foodie, Shirley. The rest of the night was spent splurging on chocolates at the Haji Ismail Group store, & shopping for liquor & ciggies (LY's friends wanted some)...it was quite a long day after all *zzzz*

Haji Ismail Group Chocolate Shop
This is the recommended place to buy chocolates. On the overall, it's cheaper to get it here & they have a larger selection as well. No doubts, there will be certain chocs that you can only get it at other shops, & some places may offer certain chocs cheaper by a few cents. Nevertheless, this shop's good enough to make us spend more than RM100 just on chocolates!

*****
Day 2, 3 January 2009 (Saturday)
6:30am - Dragged ourselves out of bed
7:15am - Went downstairs to the Sunset Cafe for breakfast (which has such a small buffet variety)

8:05am - Waited at the entrance of the hotel for the bus to Coral Island (snorkeling)
9:00am - The bus finally appeared!! *grrr* It was supposed to arrive at 8:10am! (well, that was the time that Kak Rose told us to wait for the bus! *bleagh!* )
10:00am - Arrived at the Jetty Point. We felt very lost & didn't know what to do next...finally, the staff there called our names & gave us our tickets & instructions for the day.
10:30am - Went onto the ferry heading to Pulau Payar for snorkeling.
11:15am - Arrived at Pulau Payar...45min ferry ride to the island :S We were given further instructions & off we are to play! Woohoo!! We were given our snorkeling gears & a lunch box to keep us alive for the next few hours....
01:15pm - Shark feeding. Nice!
04:00pm - Left the island for the Jetty Point again
04:45pm - Went onto the bus to head back to the hotel
05:15pm - Arrived at the hotel....quite dead :S Washed up, lazed, & played a card game called Lotto...
08:15pm - Went out for dinner at Pantai Cenang itself. We headed out to search for Sun Cafe at Pantai Tengah, but was told to wait for another half an hour to be seated, so we left to do some clothes & souveniers shopping first before heading back to Sun Cafe for dinner.
10:00pm - Finally had dinner!!
11:00pm - Went back to the hotel to call it a night....*phew* Another long day this was.... :S


Pulau Payar Island
This island is located 45min ferry-ride from the mainland. It's an island rich with corals, sea creatures, & everything natural! There isn't any source of fresh water for bathing/cleaning up, & there ain't any stalls, restaurants, or source of 'civilization' as well (except for the humans who go there & the monkeys & sea creatures that live there).






The sand on the beach was soft & fine....very nice to walk on...the sea was filled with fishes (and baby sharks) plus loads of sea cucumbers!! Eeee.....quite 'geli', but we held them anyways! :D Fun! Snorkeling, although quite tough for a 1st timer like myself, was pretty fun :) I guess the nicest part was to swim among the fishes & sea creatures :)

Second Lunch in Langkawi
Yes, it's still packed food :S Euww...I thought we would get like rice box or something, but nope, we got this instead...doesn't look too appetizing, eh? For the 4-5 hours in the deserted island, we were only given a piece of fried chicken (looks SO dead & not fresh :S ), 2 pieces of nuggets, 2 frankfurters, 2 pieces of tuna sandwich, & an apple. I must say that the best among them all was the apple - crunchy! ;)

When we got back to the hotel after our snorkeling trip, we got kinda hungry & Gloria brought these cup noodles to the trip. It's really cute! It's quite expensive though...S$4.50/pack of 6 mini noodles.

Super cute, right??
I've never seen these being sold on the shelves in Msia! Those animals are made of flour...like fishcakes...the noodles taste just like our normal instant noodles - chicken/curry flavour :)

Prior to dinner at Sun Cafe, we hung out at the rows of shops along Pantai Cenang. We had quite a lot of time to shop 'cos there weren't any tables available at Sun Cafe around 8:30pm when we went there. I managed to get some t-shirts for myself & the Kuantan kids! *yay*



*****
Day 3, 4 January 2009 (Sunday)
09:00am - Finally dragged myself out of bed
09:30am - Went downstairs for breakfast


10:15am - Went back to the room to pack & laze....almost all of us ended up sleeping again...hahaha...
12:00pm - Showered & clean up the room
12:30pm - Checked out & left for Kuah town
02:30pm - Met up with Shirley for lunch at Langkawi Fair Shopping Mall...we were supposed to meet her at 1:30pm, but we got lost after going to the bank, & ended up driving to some jungle-ish place before turning back to the bank to start our journey again :S Bleagh...
03:15pm - Shopped around at the mall & said goodbye to Shirley
04:15pm - Left the mall to Eagle Square nearby (just to take photos :P )



04:45pm - Went to Kuah town to get liquor & whatever else that we haven't bought & wanted to get :D After that, we went back to the mall to buy our dinner before heading back to the airport.



06:30pm - Arrived at the Langkawi International Airport
07:15pm - Checked in


08:45pm - Boarded the Fireflyz airplane for Subang Airport

Firefly Airplane
The airplane is certainly more narrow, but it's comfortable enough. I guess the part of the plane ride that thrilled us the most was the food! *lol* At least they give us free snacks...a chocolate muffin each & a cup of orange juice :) Pretty nice :P

10:00pm - Arrived at Subang Airport & went separate ways :) That concludes our whole trip!! Awesome ;)





- Ruth