After two wonderful days in beautiful Langkawi, it was now time for the last leg of our journey. We reached Langkawi airport for our morning flight to Kuala Lumpur. After having our breakfast at Kenny Rogers Roasters (not a whole lot of options at the airport), we checked in and waited for our 11:45am flight.
Our flight was on time (Above photos taken on Nokia E72)
We all sat together but Ramesh chose the window seat. The following are his photographs.
That’s a wavebreaker
We landed at Kuala Lumpur Low Cost Terminal nearing 1pm and was out in 30 minutes. There were plenty of buses from KL LCCT to KL Sentral, which is the main transportation hub in Kuala Lumpur city.
We got a ManU fan for a driverThe bus ride costs RM8 (Rs. 117/$2.7)Soon after, it began to rain heavilyBut halfway through the journey, the rain stopped
Malaysia’s landmark in the distanceAfter nearly an hour, we arrived at KL Sentral
After reaching KL Sentral, we then hired a taxi to where were staying.
It cost us RM35 from KL Sentral to Berjaya Times Square
(Above photos taken on Nokia E72)
After a 15 minute journey, we reached Berjaya Times Square. There is a metro service from KL Sentral to Berjaya Times Square, but with our luggage, we decided to just take a cab.
We chose Irsia after much deliberation and researching on the location. We made our booking for a triple room.
Which by the way, looks like this
After freshening up and making our payments, we headed to Berjaya Times Square for lunch.
Berjaya Times Square is relatively old but still remains one of Malaysia’s biggest and popular shopping destinations. It’s pretty huge, with 7 floors of shopping — high ends brands in the lower floors and more affordable stuff in the higher up floors. There’s also a 5-star hotel, Berjaya Hotel — among other things.
(Photograph by Loiyumba)
We headed all the way up to the 10th floor to the food court. We chose our meals from a place selling ‘mock non-veg’ food.
Pick and choose
By that I mean, stuff that looks like chicken and fish but are actually vegetarian because they are essentially soya-filled made to look like non-veg items.
The view from up here
When I mentioned “among other things” earlier…
… there’s also an indoor theme park with a rollercoaster inside the building
I tried to the get the whole theme park section of the building in one frameWe stepped outAnd decided to check out the area we were in
We chose to stay at Irsia because it was close to a lot of places we wanted to go. One among them being Low Yat Plaza, Kuala Lumpur’s famous IT mall.
After crossing the road, it was a short walk to Low Yat
This isn’t the main entrance6 floors of gadgets
I couldn’t get to spend much time in Singapore’s IT malls to pick up the things I wanted, so I consoled myself assuming I could get them at Low Yat.
Sadly, the selection of camera tripods weren’t very exhaustive and I couldn’t really find everything I wanted. Also, more importantly, the prices we found for some items were far more than what we saw in Singapore. There isn’t an incentive for tourists either via a tax refund scheme like Singapore has with its GST refund and Thailand has with its VAT refund scheme.
I checked out pretty much every floor
After lingering around for nearly 30 minutes, we left.
We were soon on Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur’s popular shopping district.
A short walk from here is Jalan Alor, also nicknamed ‘Food Street’.
Not buzzing just quite yet
Quite a lot of malls in Bukit Bintang
KL’s monorail service (Photograph by Loiyumba)We were walking towards Malaysia’s world famous landmarkIt’s tall, but it isn’t KL TowerThat’s where we were headed — Petronas Twin TowersI had plans to go to Menara KL too
Menara KL (or KL Tower) is in fact taller than Petronas towers, but that’s because it’s perched atop a hillEven half of one tower is impressive to look at
Suria KLCC is the shopping mall (KLCC is the convention centre I believe)Plenty of bank headquarters in and around Petronas TowersStunning
We walked into Suria but there was a sign saying at certain sections of the mall, photography is prohibited. So we just kept our cameras in and walked through the mall and out the main entrance of Petronas Towers.
Petronas is the Malaysia’s national oil company — and one of Asia’s largest companies. Petronas Towers is the company’s headquarters, thought I’m not sure if all 88 floors are Petronas’ offices.
But what an office to work in!The lobby is quite niceThat’s the Skybridge observation deck. We planned to go check it out in the morning.
The reason why we we didn’t want to go up to the skybridge is because, one, we were already late as the skybridge closes at 5pm and two, there is a particular method to which you need to get the tickets to visit the observation deck — which I’ll get to in a later post.
I had to step back a bit to get the whole building in my wide angle
We attempted a portrait shot of all three of us in front of the Petronas Towes, but because we didn’t have a tripod with us, Ramesh fit the tripod on his camera and used his Kata bag to stand the camera.
Me donating some money to some Chinese school girlAfter a few attempts, we managed to get the shot
The Malaysian MotoGP was happening the following week, and they had some competing superbikes on display.
After nearly an hour just staring at this beautiful building, we finally left the base of Petronas Towers.
The Petronas Towers are a symbol of modern day Malaysia. Just like Burj-Al-Arab signifies Dubai, and now Burj Khalifa, the Petronas Towers are an architectural icon. Inaugurated in 1998, even to this day, the Petronas Towers design stands as ‘modern’ – and yet, truly Asian in its influence as it can be. No visit to Malaysia is complete without having seen what was once the tallest building(s) in the world.
Even though Taipei 101 took over the throne of “Tallest building in the world” in 2004 (until Burj Khalifa did the same in 2010), the Petronas Towers are still one of the best looking skyscrapers in the world in my opinion. It shows how important good architecture is in creating a true global landmark. You can play the game of attempting to build the tallest structure in the world, but unless it looks good, the investment is futile.
If you disagree, just go around and ask people if they are aware of ‘Taipei 101’.
TANGS is a department store
We walked back and through some of the malls in Bukit Bintang district.
Musicians performing in front of Pavilion MallPavilion Crystal Fountain, the Tallest Liuli Crystal Fountain in MalaysiaJapan’s UNIQLO is now in Kuala Lumpur’s Fahrenheit 88 mallThis Ferrari F430 was parked in front of Fahrenheit 88 mall
There are a few street performers at Bukit BintangThese guys were trying to perform street dancing but looked nervous when the crowd grew bigBukit Bintang monorail station
It was time for us to now figure out what to eatSo we headed to Jalan Alor a.k.a ‘Food Street’Quite a change of scene from earlier isn’t it?
These restaurants even sprinkle water in the air to cool off its guests
While myself and Loiyumba found enough options for dinner, as was the norm on this trip, Ramesh didn’t. So I ordered what I wanted to eat, so that we could head to some place Ramesh could get his dinner.
I ordered some duck dish, forgot what it was calledWas tempted to order some seafood tooA lot of the restaurants on Jalan Alor are Chinese
It maybe a bustling place by night, but if you feel like staying amidst all the food, here are some hotels on Jalan Alor:
Apple Inn (http://www.appleinn.com.my/)
Once I got my takeaway, we headed back to our rooms only to stop at the 24-hour Subway store on Bukit Bintang where Ramesh picked up his dinner. (There’s also a 24-hour KFC on the same road)
We also pick up a few drinks from a convenience store on the way and had our dinner outside our hotel, where Irsia had put up a few tables for its guests.
My dinnerWhen I say we stayed right behind Berjaya Times Square, I’m not kidding
Dinner over, we hit the bed early. Our plans were to go see the famous Batu Caves tomorrow, which we knew were on the outskirts of KL… which meant getting up a bit early.
So what was our first impression of KL? Not so good, to be honest. In fact, after a whirlwind 3 days in Singapore during a buzzing F1 weekend, it’s understandable we were a bit disappointed with Kuala Lumpur. But the fact is, things are a lot cheaper in KL, so it’s no surprise Malaysia’s capital city isn’t as glamourous as glitzy Singapore. Unfair comparison I’d say.
Oh well, we still had two more days in the city to change our minds about the place.
After a great first day in Langkawi, today morning we were up and ready for our island hopping tour.
For breakfast, I had ‘roti canai’ which is similar to Kerala parota, but fluffier. To drink, Milo, which is waaaay more popular in Malaysia than it is in India.
We were picked up by the tour operator at 8am and dropped off at a pier where other tourists were gathered as well.
These were the kind of boats we were going to be driven around inIt was a lovely sunny day to be out on a boat tripAll the tourists were divided into groups and we got into our boat
Given my past experience going on a similar trip in Krabi, I was more careful this time in protecting my camera equipment
Our first stop on the tour was to get a glimpse of the Pregnant Maiden Island, called so because it looks like a lady lying down with a pregnant tummy.
Took me a while to make out where the ‘pregnant maiden’ wasThis is a panorama comprised of 6 shots. See if you can find her. (Hint: Head is on the right)We moved on
Soon after, we arrived at our first major stop on the tour
We were at the Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest Park, which is located inside the Island of the Pregnant Maiden.
Our welcoming party. The monkeys, not the old guy.
Needless to say, there were going to be a lot of monkeys here
The stop was for us to check out a lake inside.
But I was more amused watching monkeys
The lake inside is famous because despite being in an island located in the sea, the lake’s water isn’t as saltyYou can also swim here… or jump in, like Loi didThere are also paddle boats for hire
They also have one of those “fish spas” here with small catfish ever ready to nibble away at your feet’s germs.
Plus it’s freeThe water is cool, but the nibbling at your feet can be ticklish… and slimyBut when people throw bread crumbs near your feet…. it can get a *little* too much!We had nearly an hour to spend hereThey have changing rooms for men and women here itself… but it kinda helps to know English
45 minutes in, we made our way back to the pier
Like I said, lots of monkeys here
You have to be a bit careful though. Yes, they are more afraid of you than your are of the monkeys. But if they see anything enticing in your hands — like juice bottles or food packets — sometimes they will come at you and just grab it. Also, I saw some idiots throw things at them. Please don’t do that.
2 seconds ago, that Coke bottle was in that old man’s hands. He didn’t fight for it back… because that would make human race look inferior.
We got into our boats and moved on
Our next stop was a short trip away.
Next up was a fish feeding farm…… which was also a restaurant. Hmmm.
The thing was, you had to pay to feed the fishes. This isn’t exactly included in the package.
But we didn’t go for it
We didn’t opt to feed the fishes because, 1) all 3 of us weren’t interested 2) the concept of paying to feed fishes, fatten them up and who then (possibly) end up on the restaurant menu didn’t sound right to me.
Boring huh?Fortunately it was only a 30 minute stop, so I continued clicking
We moved onOur boat driver, smoking
We rode up to what looked like a mangrove forest, where we would witness an eagle feeding session.
Langkawi gets its name from eagles. Malay word ‘lang’ = eagle, kawi = reddish brown colourThe island is inhabited with a lot of eagles of that colour
The eagle feeding session works as such. The boats all float apart from each other and the drivers/guides throw some eagle feed (bread bits or some meat) into the waters, and the birds of prey come sweeping in with their beaks ready to eat.
Problem was, I didn’t have the right lens for this part of the tour. The most zoom I had was with my Tamron 28-75mm f2.8, which as a macro lens is great, but isn’t much when it comes to photographing fast moving birds.
Here are a few shots Ramesh got using his Canon 55-250mm telephoto lens.
(Photograph by Ramesh Iyer)(Photograph by Ramesh Iyer)
After the eagle feeding session, we moved on to our next and final stop on this tour.
Beras Basah islandIf you wanted to swim in the sea or just hang around on the beach, here is where you are allowed to do itWe were all keen to hit the water!But I didn’t feel like leaving my camera on the beachSo I took it with me into the water! But I trod very carefully so as not to get a drop of water on the lens.Loi and Ramesh found broken coralsSo I asked them to make use of them and pretend to be reindeers!Because you know, reindeers in water are… ermm… Couldn’t help but turn this into an ad Attempting the ‘head floating in water’ shotAfter some time, we made our way back to shoreOvercast skies in the distance
Not sure if this was a hotel or notAfter drying ourselves up, we headed back to the pier
Monkeys inhabit this island tooAmazing how they survive on the island, considering there are no human residents here.
We left Beras Basah island
We got a bit of rain as we neared the pier from where we set off in the morningPretty cool looking resort
The rain was mostly a drizzle once we got back. They were selling memorabilia plates of everybody who went for these boat trips and since they were only RM10, we all picked up our respective plates.
This was a half-day island hopping tour and it only cost us RM30 (Rs. 450 approx.) per person. I’ve done a similar tour like this last year in South Thailand. Of course, that trip didn’t start of well, with my camera getting wet and all, but I doubt I’ll ever get sick of seeing clear blue water and less crowded beaches far away from civilization.
As we were walking to our vans, Ramesh and I were talking about visiting the Langkawi Underwater World, just when one of the Sri Lankans who was on our boat overheard us. He turned back and advised us against it, saying that the Aquaria KLCC in Kuala Lumpur is “much better”. So we decided to take his word for it and dropped the idea of going to Langkawi Underwater World.
The lobby downstairs at Sweet Inn MotelOne of the many cats that visit Sweet InnIt had just finished raining
We stepped out again, this time for lunch.
We stopped by a restaurant to quench our throats first with some chilled beer. I tried SKOL which I never had before. It was average in taste.
Unfortunately, looking at the menu, it offered very little in terms of vegetarian for Ramesh. So after beer, we sought some other restaurant.
So we went further down Pantai Cenang road to check out other restaurantsThis is Underwater World LangkawiWe sat down at a restaurant in front of Underwater World after Ramesh found something he could eatBut the food wasn’t particularly good. I didn’t like my chicken curry rice.
Post lunch, we checked out some Duty Free stores. Langkawi is a Duty Free shopping destination, so one would assume you would find some great bargains. But as we hopped from one shop to another, that wasn’t the case. Especially with electronics. We walked into the Canon store at a mall adjacent to Underwater World and found the prices to be far higher than that of Singapore. We were aware Malaysia isn’t as cheap as Singapore when it comes to electronics, but still, the prices we came across were a bit exorbitant. Some even higher than prices back in India.
I feel Langkawi businesses were taking advantage of the “Duty Free” label and jacking up the prices because you never know, some less-informed tourist would buy into the whole gimmick and assume they got a good deal here.
At this point, Ramesh and Loiyumba wanted to head back to our hotel in Langkawi for some rest. This being our last day on Langkawi, I didn’t feel like resting, so I told them I wanted to roam around a bit more.
I was contemplating heading to Kuah, Langkawi’s main town, just to see what that side of the island had to offer. But since we had already walked quite a bit, I decided to head further on and visit Pantai Tengah beach. In the process, also share some more beachfront hotel options on Pantai Cenang in case you wanted to know where to stay (I highlighted some places in the previous post).
Durian (similar to Jackfruit), is the national fruit of Malaysia (I think)
Head straight down this road to get to Pantai Tengah beach
This is Pantai Tengah beachIt isn’t as big as Pantai Cenang… and the sand isn’t as soft eitherIn fact, the sand was mostly broken shells. Not the best for walking barefoot then.At this point, it began to rainFortunately, I had my umbrella in my backpack. So I walked back instead of taking cover.This nice looking resort isn’t open to publicUpon research, it belongs to a bank and is meant only for its employees. Posh.Debbie’s Place Irish pub on Pantai Cenang
There’s a laundry shop very close to Sweet Inn, very reasonable rates for service
I went back to the room to drop off my laundry, and to see what the other two were up to. Ramesh and Loi were taking a nap and so, I decided to step out again.
I wanted to explore the area behind the motel
Some of the houses here have been turned into budget accommodation for tourists. Good income for villagers.
Apparently all water buffaloes do is stare at you
I had reached a main road at this point
I saw this market by the main road…… and since there was a lot of food on display, I had to check it out!I forget if these were fish balls or cheese balls… or fish balls with cheese powder coatingApom Balek, sweet stuff. I sampled a few of these. (‘apom’ sounds like India’s “appam”)
‘Nasi’ is Malay for rice and ‘Beriani’ is well, biriyani (RM 3.50 = Rs. 50)Seemed like this was some sort of weekend market, not a mainstay
Guess I knew where to bring Loi for dinner
Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables on offer
Dried fish… lots of it!‘Cempedak’ is a type of fruit, ‘goreng’ I’m guessing means friedNot sure what these wereAll these colourful juices made me thirstySo I had corn milk juice. Weird choice, I know. But I didn’t come all the way here to strawberry milkshake.
You got budget accommodation out here as well
After spending some time at the market, I knew I was coming back here for dinner. Great street food at very low prices — who am I to complain? I headed back to let the other two know about my ‘discovery’.
Once I got back to the room at around 6pm, Loi was still napping. So we forced him to get out of bed and get ready. We set out by 7:30pm.
It was pitch dark and there weren’t any street lights on this route
‘Susu’ is the Malay for milk (yup); ‘kelapa’ means coconut and ‘air’ is water (seriously)Wondering what this is?It’s potatoKeralites, looks familiar?Puttu! Albeit, a slight variationThis is how they make lots of itThis is fish apparentlyI ordered a seafood mini-pizza from hereMostly crab meat and prawns; RM 5 (Rs. 75) for one
A lot of the food was already sold outYou take the basket and tongs, pick up whatever you want and you will be charged accordinglyAfter you choose, you cook it in boiling water… even stuff like this (Yuck)
Picked up some chicken samosas and vegetable spring rolls (RM 2 = Rs. 30)Was tempted to get some fried chicken too but I didn’t want overeat Picked up a beef burger as well. ‘Daging’ = beef, ‘ayam’ = chicken, ‘benjo’ = egg (RM1 = Rs. 15)
The night market was a lot more crowded than earlier
Unfortunately, everybody except Ramesh got what we wanted. There was very little in terms of pure vegetarian on offer at the night market. So we headed back to the main road so that Ramesh could pick up his dinner from a proper restaurant.
Since this was our last night in Langkawi, we hit the beach to the feel wet sand on our feet one last time.
This is the restaurant from where we had lunch yesterday and breakfast today morning
After checking out a few restaurants, Ramesh ended up picking up a vegetarian pizza from Italian coffee chain illy Cafe, which cost as much as all the food myself and Loi picked up from the night market.
While we waited, Loi petted stray kittensAs it is this post has over 200 photos, might as well squeeze in one of me. (Photograph by Ramesh)Wonder what animal this cat fought withBack at our motel, this guy was hooked on Hindi moviesDinner!
And just when you thought we had seen enough cats for one day…
This came to our door. We had to share our food with it too.We kept referring to the cat as ‘it’. So, Loi felt the need to check. It was a ‘she’.
Dinner and drinks done, I ended the night satisfied with all that I saw today. Actually, I did want to head to Kuah town after we came back from our island hopping tour. But given that it ended up raining in the afternoon, it’s a good thing I stayed put in Pantai Cenang.
With 208 photos and over 2000 words, this is the largest post I’ve worked on. There were still some more photos I felt like using because they looked good, but in the end decided not to.
It was good day today, but tomorrow onwards, it’s four days in Malaysia’s capital — Kuala Lumpur.
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.
Sadly, the selection of camera tripods weren’t very exhaustive and I couldn’t really find everything I wanted. Also, more importantly, the prices we found for some items were far more than what we saw in Singapore. There isn’t an incentive for tourists either via a tax refund scheme like Singapore has with its GST refund and Thailand has with its VAT refund scheme.
We were soon on Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur’s popular shopping district.
A short walk from here is Jalan Alor, also nicknamed ‘Food Street’.
Petronas is the Malaysia’s national oil company — and one of Asia’s largest companies. Petronas Towers is the company’s headquarters, thought I’m not sure if all 88 floors are Petronas’ offices.
We attempted a portrait shot of all three of us in front of the Petronas Towes, but because we didn’t have a tripod with us, Ramesh fit the tripod on his camera and used his Kata bag to stand the camera.
The Malaysian MotoGP was happening the following week, and they had some competing superbikes on display.
After nearly an hour just staring at this beautiful building, we finally left the base of Petronas Towers.
The Petronas Towers are a symbol of modern day Malaysia. Just like Burj-Al-Arab signifies Dubai, and now Burj Khalifa, the Petronas Towers are an architectural icon. Inaugurated in 1998, even to this day, the Petronas Towers design stands as ‘modern’ – and yet, truly Asian in its influence as it can be. No visit to Malaysia is complete without having seen what was once the tallest building(s) in the world.
Even though Taipei 101 took over the throne of “Tallest building in the world” in 2004 (until Burj Khalifa did the same in 2010), the Petronas Towers are still one of the best looking skyscrapers in the world in my opinion. It shows how important good architecture is in creating a true global landmark. You can play the game of attempting to build the tallest structure in the world, but unless it looks good, the investment is futile.
While myself and Loiyumba found enough options for dinner, as was the norm on this trip, Ramesh didn’t. So I ordered what I wanted to eat, so that we could head to some place Ramesh could get his dinner.
It maybe a bustling place by night, but if you feel like staying amidst all the food, here are some hotels on Jalan Alor:
