After a rather disappointing day in Penang yesterday, we woke up early today to set off on our next island destination: Langkawi.
After a rushed breakfast, we hired a taxi and headed to the terminal to board our ferry to Langkawi. We bought our tickets yesterday itself, and its advisable to do so; our boat was full.
It’s air-conditioned inside and there’s a “first class” upstairs as wellThe ferry leaves at 8:15am every morningSoon after the ferry set off, we decided to get up from our seats and go ‘upstairs’…… and then outside. The mushroom cloud from yesterday was still there.
Goodbye Penang, until next timeOn one side it was clear sunny skies……on the other, dark clouds with some pockets of rainIn this wide panorama shot, you can see the pockets receiving rainfall in the distanceThere were some lovely cloud formations along the way
The fumes are coming from the ferryWith a cool breeze, calm waters, and sunshine…… it’s perfect for a napIt was cool to see rainfall like thisI wasn’t the only one on board donning our company t-shirts (Photograph by Loiyumba)By 10:30am, we were nearing LangkawiThe water was getting clearerAt this point, we were asked to go back to our seats
This was our ferry (Taken using my phone camera)Hello Langkawi! (Taken on the Nokia E72)(Taken on the Nokia E72) (Taken on the Nokia E72)Plenty of yachts out here (Taken on the Nokia E72)
We hired a taxi to get to our hotel, which was on Pantai Cenang beach. (Cost us RM24)
There is a pre-paid taxi booth outside the terminalThe main town in Langkawi is Kuah (Photograph by Loiyumba)
By the way, if you wondering where the iconic symbol of Langkawi (the eagle statue) is, you can find it near a park very close to the ferry terminal. We passed it while driving out of the terminal but didn’t bother stopping to take photos… as there isn’t much to it.
The drive takes around half an hour
We were quite happy to see all this
By 11:30 we were at Pantai Cenang
We could see a sign on the main road pointing to Sweet Inn Motel, the place where we had reservations. Problem is, the sign was pointing to the left side, into the mainland and not to the right, where the beach was.
We were a *bit* disappointed upon seeing the placeThis I’m guessing is the motel owner’s house (Photograph by Loiyumba)
When we made the booking via Agoda.com in August, the description read “on Pantai Cenang beach,” and though it is only a 2 minute walk away from the beach, it’s not a sea facing hotel. Oh well, at least it was cheap. Our triple room cost us Rs. 2360 ($52/€37) for two nights — that’s under Rs. 800 per person for 2 nights!
The rooms were also quite decent. The triple room was one double bed and a single bed, a TV with mostly local channels, wardrobe and a clean enough toilet with hot shower.
We couldn’t check in yet because our rooms weren’t cleaned and kept ready. So instead, we dumped our bags in the office room and hit the beach.
Is there any beach on the planet that doesn’t have a Jamaica-themed bar?Langkawi’s most popular beach — Pantai Cenang beach (panorama comprised of 15 shots)
We couldn’t hand around for too long at the beach. We needed to convert currency as we were running short of Malaysian Ringgits. Loi wanted to sit at the bar, so myself & Ramesh headed back to the main road in search of a money exchange.
There are a few Indian restaurants here
The resort you see above is Malibest Resort, and it’s by the beach.
So is this placeJust about every hotel has bikes for rentLanggura Baron resort is more ‘motel’ than ‘resort’. Reasonable rates & by the sea.
When we first came across a money exchange center, they were closed for lunch. We had to walk quite a bit before we came across one that was open. There really weren’t that many money exchange centers on Pantai Cenang road. Not as ubiquitous as I noticed in Thailand. My advice is to convert money either prior to landing in Langkawi or outside the ferry terminal if you come by boat.
Money in hand, we headed back to the beach.
Judging by the flags, Indians and Arabs form a large chunk of the tourists in LangkawiVilla Idaman Motel, I couldn’t find their official site so you’ll just have to Google for more infoDespite being Langkawi’s most popular beach, it wasn’t very crowdedAir Asia has plenty of daily flights to LangkawiNot sure if this hotel was open yetMelati Tanjung Motel, this another budget sea-facing optionThe usual watersports are on offer
Lovely ‘sand art’ by beach snails (I presume)…… and the shore line had lots of them!A dead jellyfish. Felt like poking it with my fingers… but didn’t.Inside Babylon bar
After having a beer to cool ourselves, we went back to Sweet Inn to check in to our rooms.
After we checked in, we freshened up and then stepped out again for lunch.
I had Nasi Lemak, pretty much the Malay-equivalent to India’s ‘meals’
Considered to be the national dish of Malaysia, Nasi Lemak consists of some rice, roasted peanuts, papadam bits, small dried anchovies, boiled egg and and sambal, a spicy sauce (in the above photo, it’s the red one with calamari in it). The meal is filling and is usually very reasonably priced.
Ramesh had the one on the left; Loi had the one on the right
After lunch, instead of taking a nap, we decided to rent bikes and head to the Langkawi Sky Bridge while the sun was still up.
We rented 2 scooters at RM22 (Rs. 325/$7/€5) each for 24hrs.
The bikes that were the most common were Modenas. This model is called the Karisma.
The rental shop made a note of all the pre-existing scratches and damages before handing it over to us.
It’s best you inspect the bike as carefully as possible, so that they cannot point at any scratch or damage on the bike claiming you did that when you return it.
Helmets on, we set off. Ramesh rode solo while I rode with Loi sitting behind me.
Photograph by LoiyumbaPhotograph by LoiyumbaPhotograph by LoiyumbaWe stopped to fuel up. Filled up petrol for RM8 (Rs. 118). (These are self service stations by the way)Quite a scenic drive
… and it kept getting better
This is one end of the Langkawi International Airport runwayThis is the route we took. ‘B’ is Pantai Cenang beach and ‘A’ is the Langkawi Sky Bridge.We had to stop to take a few photos. (Yes, I was aware of how big the helmet was on my head)Panorama comprised of 3 shotsHe’s fishing… not anything elseWe moved ahead and then stopped again. I don’t remember why though.Ramesh ridin’ solo
We stopped here on the bridge to take a few photos.
We moved on.
You reach a T-junction, from where you’ll see this fruit stall. Take the right.
Then, up ahead is a signal. From the signal, you have to take a left turn.
You’ll pass the Langkawi Yacht Club
The road to the sky bridge goes all around the marina
After setting off at 2pm, by 4pm we were at the Langkawi Geopark. It’s not that the journey takes that long, we just stopped on the way quite a bit.
There’s ample parking available for cars & bikes
There are stores and restaurants belowYou buy the tickets from hereTickets cost RM30 per adult (Rs. 440/$10/€7)
There are few mini-waterfalls here
This is the first station, there’s another leg to the trip to the topThe view is amazing even at half-way pointThat’s the sky bridgePanorama comprised of 10 vertical shots
We got into the cable car and continued up.
Great designOnce you get to the second platform, you have to take these steps to get down to the sky bridgeThat’s how high the sky bridge is above sea level
By the way, there are gaps in between the platform you walk on
Apparently the final scene of the Hindi film Don (starring Shah Rukh Khan) was filmed on the sky bridge. I didn’t see the film, but that’s what Ramesh & Loi said.
There were steps leading under the platform. Being curious, I took it.Apparently you can trek all the way down too. But you need prior permission.Walked a few steps down and saw this. So went back up again.
That’s the second highest observation deck
That’s the marina of the Langkawi Yacht ClubThis observation deck was closed for maintenanceSo we went to the other observation deckMe showing Loi where we were staying (Photograph by Ramesh)The first wing of the beach you see in the distance is Pantai Cenang. The one further up is Pantai Tengah.
If you want a video of the sky bridge, watch this HD capture by Ramesh:
The sun was setting, so we decided to head back down.
Ramesh took video of our journey back down:
(You can view it in HD for better clarity)
Temurun waterfall
Once down, we checked out the Oriental Village.
The Oriental Village mostly comprises of shops, restaurants and other services like massage spas. We were a bit hungry so we sat in a cafe to have something to eat.
This is what I had: Roselle flower juice (L) & beef burger (R)
It was was past 6pm, which is also closing time for the cable car ride. We wanted to make the most of whatever sunlight was available while heading back. So we set off…
…buuut we ended up stopping again near the Langkawi Yacht Club
A beautiful evening to close out a lovely first day in LangkawiThere’s a Petronas gas station near the yacht clubYes, me and my big helmet (Photograph by Ramesh)
As darkness fell, we still managed to get back to Pantai Cenang beach road in around 45 minutes. Instead of heading back to our rooms, we decided to make the most of the bikes while we had them. We drove straight, on to Pantai Tengah beach and past it as well, until we hit a dead end which looked like another docking bay for boats.
So we made our way back and decided to return the bikes tonight itself.
This is the place where we rented our bikes from
The reason why we returned them is because the next morning we had booked ourselves for an island-hopping tour which would last until afternoon. So by the time we would have gotten back to our rooms, it would have been past the 24-hour limit.
For our early dinner, we went to this restaurant which had a sizable crowdIt’s lovely place and isn’t that expensiveYumHmmm…Errrr…
(I kinda wanted to try it though)
But Loi & I ended up ordering this interesting looking butter pan-fried tiger prawns
We had a large plate of fries, some beers, and some pasta; all of which came to around RM44 (Rs. 650).
For dessert, and in my quest to try out new things, I had Kit Kat ice cream. It was okay.
With that, day one in Langkawi came to a close! We had woken up early in Penang today morning and tomorrow, we had to wake up early again for our pick up for the island-hopping tour.
Organized by Gigbox, a relatively new player in the concert scene, the Led Zepplica concert was held at the UB City amphitheatre last month. I figured I’ll never see Led Zeppelin live in concert so what the heck, might as well see a tribute band. Got to love the name: Led Zeppelin + replica = Led Zepplica!
Clever
There were two opening acts before Led Zepplica hit the stage. First up, a young Bangalore-based band called Fahrenheit.
Fahrenheit take the stageThey mostly played their own original compositions...... & they were quite goodNext up was this frustrated dude and his bandThe band was called rajeev's Wolfpack -- and they mostly played U2 covers
The lead vocalist did forget some of the words, but they get props from me for playing U2’s older hits such as “I Will Follow” & “‘Bullet the Blue Sky” before moving to more recent fare like “Vertigo“. I was happy to hear those songs but to keep the masses awake, they had to play the pub-staple “With or Without You“.
As it neared 8:30pm, Led Zepplica took to the stage.
They kicked things off with "Rock 'n' Roll"
Here’s a video of some of the first few songs Led Zepplica performed:
Lead vocalist Joe Retta playing Robert PlantOn lead guitars, Lenny Mann, playing the role of legendary Jimmy PageBassist Johnny Bruhns, playing Led Zeppelin's John Paul JonesAnd finally, playing the role of the late great John Bonham, Daryl Johnson on drums
Here are some more videos:
“Dazed & Confused”
John Bonham’s greatest moment — “Moby Dick”
“Stairway to Heaven”
Their encore performance included:
“Kashimir”
“Whole Lotta Love”
... and with that, the show came to an end
Though the gig was 2 hours long, Led Zepplica still didn’t play classics like “Since I’ve Been Loving You” or my favourite, “Trampled Under Foot”. But I figured it’s not possible to cram every Led Zep classic in a standard 2 hour show. Their catalogue of great rock requires at least half a day!
Led Zeppelin are the greatest hard rock band of all time. A band who were way ahead of their time — and legends in the world of rock. They broke up soon after John Bonham died and though Robert Plant & Jimmy Page did make music as a duo and even released an Unplugged album, the band never toured as Led Zeppelin for 19 years until 2007. That year, all three living members, along with John Bonham’s son Jason Bonham, got together for their reunion gig at London’s O2 Arena to pay tribute to Atlantic Records’ founder Ahmet Ertegun.
Since that show, there were persistent rumours of Led Zeppelin doing a world tour but rumours about Robert Plant’s unwillingness to do so, shot down the chances of that happening. So for me, seeing a decent tribute band was the next best thing.
The tickets were Rs. 500 for the ‘General’ seating but we got them for Rs. 300 via Taggle.com. Come Feb 26th, Gigbox is holding another tribute concert. This time for another legendary British rock band: Breathe – the Floyd Sound.
We decide to set out early as we had only a day in Penang. While the others got ready, I decided to take a few snaps of the place we were staying.
Old Penang Guesthouse is a restored building that retains the charms of the colonial era with rooms at rates from the current backpacker era.
This is the shower room and toilets upstairs
They have a ‘living room’ of sorts where you can watch TV & read the papers while you serve yourself breakfast
This is breakfast: toast, butter (but usually margarine) & fruits
I made list of things I wanted to eat when in MalaysiaYou’re instructed to walk softly at night as the flooring is all woodenThe dining areaThe skies were getting clearer
Once we were all ready, we soon stepped out to head to the harbour, which was walking distance from where we were staying.
There are a lot of budget hotels on Love Lane (that’s the name of the street we were on)
There’s a 7-Eleven very close to our guesthouse
Han Jiang ancestral temple
Nagore Durgha Sheriff mosque
Strolling through Georgetown reminded me of Fort Kochi (I need to put up those photos as well) in Kerala, with its heritage buildings by the sea.
Many places of worship in and around GeorgetownLim Kongsi Clan Temple; when we entered, there was this one dog ‘guarding’ the templeWhich came hopping all the way towards me and my camera. And then Loi patted it. Then it went and peed in the bushes.
Just walking past the many temples – be they Indian or Chinese, mosques etc. you get a sense of the religious harmony that exists in Malaysia. Of course, this was only the start.
We reached the road by the ferry terminal and made our way to the other side.
There’s a bus station near the ferry terminal
There’s a sea-facing restaurant at the end of this walkwayThat’s where the ferries dock
We stepped into a few travel agencies to inquire about ferry prices to Langkawi. Everywhere, it was the standard RM60 (Rs. 900/US$20/€15). It was the same price quoted by the guy at Old Penang Guesthouse, but fearing he may have been quoting a higher rate, we thought we’d ask near the ferry terminal itself.
We bought our tickets for the next day and continued our walk.
Georgetown’s landmark Queen Victoria Memorial ClocktowerA short distance from the clock tower, and you get the beautiful sea
This where we went next; entry is just RM 2 (Rs. 30)Statue honouring Sir Francis Light
Ramesh dishonouring Sir Francis Light statue
You can read about the history behind Fort Cornwallis on its Wikipedia page, but from a tourist’s point of view, its nothing spectacular. Then again, when the entry is just RM2, you shouldn’t be expecting much.
But we still hung around a bit longer
It was quite sunny
After checking out the fort for around 15 minutes, we made our way out.
Fort Cornwalis is right near the Town Hall grounds.
Town Hall & City Hall buildings in the backgroundThe esplanade is a nice place to laze under a tree on a sunny day
I wasn’t imitating Loi, it was sunny (Photograph by Ramesh)We continued our stroll along this path
Then, a young, kooky Japanese couple came excitedly towards us and asked us if we could pose for a photograph with them. Assuming they’re tourists wanting to pose with tourists from another country, we figured “Sure, why not”…
… and so we asked them for one for ourselves too!
They weren’t the only Japanese we came across. The Japanese were aplenty in Penang, we would later find out.
The building in the back is the Penang High Court
That was one big ‘nuclear’ cloud
We decided to walk towards the popular Gurney Drive.
Penang museum
The Eastern & Oriental hotel
We stopped here for a break as Ramesh was quite tired from all the walkingGurney Drive was over thereThe Mansion, a high end restaurantWe got back on to the main road
We even stopped by this food court for lunch but it was empty — and closedSo it was back to the main roadAnd a few minutes later, we were finally on Gurney driveA LOT of luxury apartments on this stretch
It took us more than 30 minutes of walking to get to Gurney Drive. If you think that’s too much (or can’t do it), just hail a cab.
Though there were many restaurants along this stretch, plan was to have lunch from the food court at the end of Gurney drive, which is a very popular local joint.
But first, we had to quench our thirst.
We entered the only major shopping mall on Gurney Drive, Gurney Plaza. They have the usual gamut of mall brands and about the same as far as eateries and coffee shops go. I don’t remember how or why, but we sat down at the Chili’s in Gurney Plaza for beer.
We ordered Guinness… and I stared at the ceiling… for some apparent reason. (Photo by Ramesh)The mall isn’t bad at all. We picked our Malaysia SIM cards from the 3rd floor which housed a lot of tech stores.Gurney Plaza shopping mall
The plan was to sit somewhere and have some beer along with lunch, but after the heavy mugs of Guinness and nachos we ordered, we were honestly quite full.
The food court was closed too. Seems like they only open at night.
This is the major roundabout at the end of Gurney drive
Post ‘lunch,’ we realized we still hadn’t seen any of Penang’s major attractions. So we boarded a local bus and headed to the main bus station.
The plan was to see Kek Lok Si temple and take the tram ride up Penang hill
The ride took nearly 20 minutes
Once at the Komtar bus terminal, we boarded a bus from Lane 1 that goes to Kek Lok Si temple.
This ride took another 30 minutes and was headed towards Penang hillPassed through mostly residential areas and housing colonies for the middle class
When we reached the town of Air Itam it was already well past 5pmBut there it was: Kek Lok Si Temple
Unfortunately, the locals told us that we were too late and it was closing time. Sucks.
So all we could do was zoom in and take photosSeemed like some renovation work was going onI really wanted to check out the biggest Buddhist temple in Penang…… but we still had to go further up to get to the temple.
So yeah, if you want to see Kek Lok Si temple, make sure you are here well before 6pm.
Instead of waiting around, we decided to head to Penang Hill (or Bukit Bendara as it called locally). So we hailed a cab as the locals said it would take us at least 15 minutes to walk it there.
The Chinese taxi driver quoted RM7 which sounded reasonable, so we got in
The journey barely took 5 minutes.
We soon reached the foot of Penang Hill and could see the tram line
But unfortunately (again)….
….Loi didn’t take the news too well
Turns out renovation work here as well. Couldn’t the taxi driver have told us it was closed? Of course he could have. But he didn’t… ‘cos he was a greedy b@#$%&*!
Disappointed at the turn of events, we decided to simply head back to town. Oddly enough, the very same bus we took to come here was waiting for departure near Penang hill.
As you can see, Kek Lok Si temple isn’t that far from here
The cultural mix in Malaysia is truly admirable
Passed through the same landmarksPenang State MosqueHmm, not that different from India isn’t it?
(Photograph by Loiyumba)Banjo is fried egg (Photograph by Loiyumba)
We got down near the ferry terminal but contemplated going back to the rooms just yet. I wanted to have dinner at Gurney drive, so from the ferry terminal bus station, we availed the Hop-on free bus.
The Hop-on buses follow a particular route
The Hop-on bus was taking a long route, so we got down at KOMTAR.
Komtar Tower — the tallest building in Penang (Photograph by Loi)
Once we reached KOMTAR, we checked out the adjoining mall.
The offerings are anything but glamourous. Not a high-end mall at all. Just the usual clothes, electronics, grey market goods, coffee shops etc.
We didn’t spend a whole lot of time in here
We boarded another bus to get to Gurney Drive.
We got down near Gurney Drive… or at least we thought it was near Gurney Drive.
We walked through a residential colony
Before finding ourselves behind Gurney Plaza
In the afternoon, Gurney Drive was quite empty…
… but the scene is quite different at night!
Beef. Looked yum.
As you can see from the above photos, lots of sea food available here
Very limited (to virtually no-existent) pure vegetarian options though.
Before we sat down for dinner, I wanted to check out another joint near the roundabout that I had seen during the day .
Saw the lobster sign and assumed it was another food court by the sea
But turns out it was a big ‘mid-to-high’ range restaurant. Looked nice but we didn’t want to spend too much and sit for long — because it was only going to be me & Loi eating. The vegetarian in our group Ramesh still had nothing to choose from.
Anybody notice the drain vent in the sea — or is that litter?
Once back at the food court, myself and Loi each ordered what we wanted.
I chose ‘raw oysters and egg’ scrambledLoi had his boiled meat on a stick. With some beer of course.
Us two had to eat first, and then head back to Gurney Plaza so that Ramesh could find some vegetarian to eat.
But Loi wasn’t done with his boiled meat. He wanted more! I had Soyabean curd with hot brown sugar sauce for dessert (RM1 = Rs. 15)
After we were finally done, we headed back to Gurney Plaza so that Ramesh could now eat.
We went back to our rooms by taxi.
Old Penang Guesthouse, next to Red Inn, next to a pub
But instead of calling it a night, I told the guys I wanted to roam around a bit more. So as Ramesh and Loi went back to the room, I walked on.
This temple was just across Old Penang Guesthouse
There are several budget hotels and guesthouses on Love Lane
The reason I wanted to walk around a bit more was because I wasn’t truly content with all that I saw today. I don’t think I can say I ‘saw’ Penang. I visited Penang, sure, but I don’t think I saw all there was to see.
We landed in Penang after 3 crazy days in glamourous Singapore. So obviously, everything felt a world apart. Throughout the day, every mall we went to, all we talked about was how much cooler Singapore felt. Well duh. Obviously its a unfair comparison… but given how little we actually got to experience in Penang, we could only feel disappointment.
When we were planning our trip, we knew before hand there wasn’t anything stunning to see in Penang. In many ways, it is true. Especially if you have travelled throughout South India, seen Singapore or Thailand, Penang really doesn’t offer anything great in terms of new experiences. Sure, I would have loved to have gone for the tram ride up on Penang hill… and seen Kek Lok Si temple all lit up at night. But we all wanted to even take a ride on Penang Bridge. I also realized Penang isn’t just the island, but there exists Province Wellesley with towns like Butterworth and other attractions on the mainland as well.
So clearly, there was a lot more to Penang than I thought.
I saw this ‘food garden’ which I thought I’d check out
Line dancing + food court = Not badNot enough space in tummy to try out everything edible Penang had to offer
This is the entrance
Ho Ping the food is safe to eat
Yes, this street is named after Malabaris
(You can read about the history behind Kampung Malabar here . Besides me, I didn’t find any other ‘Malabari’ — it’s all Chinese)
Saw these outside, what I presume was a store dealing in sculpturesWhy didn’t anybody steal them? I dunno, probably too heavy to lift and run withGeorgetown is a UNESCO World heritage siteThe same road was wet yesterday
Penang is very easy on the pocket
Would I have liked to have stayed just another day longer? Yes. I was curious what was across Penang Bridge on the mainland to see. But alas, this was our last and only day in Penang.
Tomorrow, we were going to be heading across waters to another island — Langkawi!
We stopped here on the bridge to take a few photos.
We moved on.
Apparently the final scene of the Hindi film Don (starring Shah Rukh Khan) was filmed on the sky bridge. I didn’t see the film, but that’s what Ramesh & Loi said.
The sun was setting, so we decided to head back down.
Ramesh took video of our journey back down:
The Oriental Village mostly comprises of shops, restaurants and other services like massage spas. We were a bit hungry so we sat in a cafe to have something to eat.
