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El Nido snorkeling Miniloc island Palawan Philippines

Philippines: Day 14 – El Nido island hopping tour A and sunset at Las Cabanas beach, Palawan

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Nov 29, 2011
/
Philippines, Travel

Date: April 30th 2011

I woke up at 6am today. Not that it was when I set the alarm for, but that’s when electricity goes off everyday in El Nido (until 2pm). As the fan stopped turning and the humidity crept in, I had no choice but to get up.

El Nido karst hills sea morning Palawan Philippines — Went downstairs to have coffee... with a view

I had plenty of time as I only needed to be at Art Cafe by 8:45am, but instead of having breakfast at Spider Pension House, I decided to have it at Art Cafe itself.

Art Cafe porch dog morning El Nido Palawan — Everybody was taking it easy

I wanted to have a light breakfast as I was going to be getting into the water for snorkeling.

Pancake Art Cafe breakfast El Nido Palawan — I ordered pancake, assuming it would be fluffy and light (Cost ₱100)

Unfortunately, the pancake at Art Cafe was quite thick and heavy. I felt stuffed by the time I was done and had my orange juice. I mean, the pancake tasted great and all, but… my tummy was already bulging!

El Nido beach outrigger boats Palawan morning — It was time for my tour A to begin

I didn’t want a repeat of what happened on my first island hopping tour in Thailand, where I slipped and ended up plunking my camera bag in the water, so I stepped into the water carefully and boarded the boat. I didn’t rush to get a spot in the front of the boat.

El Nido sea dog facing accommodation Palawan Philippines — Talk about living on the edge

El Nido outrigger boat Filipino boys holding on Palawan — As the boat reversed, these kids hung on

El Nido outrigger boat local boys holding on Palawan — The water must be second nature to them

El Nido hills in sea Palawan Philippines — The weather today looked perfect

El Nido South China sea Palawan Philippines — The seas were still calm, which meant a less bumpy ride

El Nido limestone hills South China sea Philippines — First stop on the tour was Miniloc island

El Nido limestone rocks sea Palawan Philippines — The boat slowed down

El Nido Miniloc island small beach kayaks Palawan Philippines — Our boat anchored itself outside the small lagoon

Those who paid for kayaking got into their kayaks and made their way towards the small lagoon. The rest, including myself, had to swim all the way there.

El Nido Mithun Divakaran boat snorkel Philippines — It was time to jump in (Disclaimer: No work out in over three weeks + heavy breakfast = thus tummy)

As I got in the water, I was supposed to follow the guide but got caught up floating in the water and staring at the corals underneath. It was a beautiful sight… which is all I can say, because I don’t have an underwater camera. (I really wish I did)

I couldn’t float around for too long as the guide had led the group through a small opening and into the small lagoon where there is a small cave.

So I swam fast and made it past the small opening, but just then, my limited swimming experience led to my right leg developing cramps. It hurt a bit as I stressed myself to catch up with the rest of the group. The guide came back for me and when I told him my right leg felt cramped, he told me not to stress it and asked me to sit on a stone inside the small lagoon. He had to lead the rest of the group inside the cave, so he told me to swim back after my leg felt better.

As I sat there massaging my right leg, a nice old Filipino woman who sat beside me on the rock suggested that I take her kayak back to my boat as she had another kayak in her group. I smilingly said “it’s fine,” but she smilingly insisted that I ride back instead of swimming back. I thanked her, and got in the kayak. Even though the kayak belonged to another tour agency and was even manned by one of their staff to paddle, I politely asked him if I could paddle instead. For someone who has always wanted to try kayaking, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be! I rode all the way back with relative ease and thanked the staff for letting me paddle his kayak.

Once I got back on board my boat, another one of boat staff massaged my right leg and it eased my muscles up a bit. As I sat on the boat, I felt I should have gone for the kayak option for this tour. It was a lot of fun and as soon as I got back to the boat, I felt like asking for another kayak. Sadly I couldn’t, as the tour boats can only carry the number of kayaks based on the bookings.

El Nido miniloc island small lagoon Philippines — I know you can barely see it from here...

Entry to small lagoon Miniloc island El Nido Palawan — ...but zoomed all the way in, that small opening in the center -- that's how you enter the small lagoon

Words are petty compared to actual photographs, so to see what the views are like under water and the cave, check out this guy’s photographs.

Pedro Fong swimming emerald waters El Nido Palawan Philippines — He was in our tour group (but will you just look at the colour of the water!)

El Nido limestone rocks Miniloc island lagoon Palawan — Once everyone was back on the boat, we left the small lagoon

Entering big lagoon Miniloc island El Nido Palawan — Next up, the 'big lagoon' in Miniloc island

El Nido kayak to big lagoon Miniloc Palawan Philippines — Those who booked the kayaks set off from here itself (But I know what you are thinking -- BEAUTIFUL isn't it?)

El Nido big lagoon clear water Miniloc Palawan — This part is shallow

El Nido Miniloc water big lagoon Palawan Philippines — Sigh... again.... look at those colours! 🙂

We were supposed to anchor here and then be allowed to do whatever we opted to do, but the boat operators were informed they couldn’t anchor their boats for some reason.

El Nido big lagoon Miniloc island Survivor set Philippines — I don't know if it was because this setting was used for the filming of some reality show (the guide told us, it was the Swedish version of Survivor)

El Nido boat reversing big lagoon Palawan Philippines — We had no choice but to turn back... slowly

Filipino family El Nido boat tour Palawan Philippines — The nice lady and her family who lent me their kayak earlier

El Nido Art Cafe staff boat tour peace Philippines — The staff who helped me rid the cramps I had on my right leg

El Nido big lagoon Palawan Philippines panorama — Panorama comprised of 6 shots

El Nido Filipino boats South China sea Palawan Panorama — Panorama comprised of 9 shots

Twin islands El Nido Palawan Philippines — We moved on to our next spot

El Nido sunny day clouds Palawan Philippines — We were heading to Entalula island for our lunch break

Entalula island private beach Palawan Philippines — This is a private beach

Entalula island public beach Palawan Philippines — This is the public beach

Entalula island El Nido tour lunch stop Palawan — The off-colours make it look a bit cartoon-ish, doesn't it?

Entalula island rock shade El Nido Palawan Philippines — We could rest here for some time before lunch, but I got in the water instead

Nose edged rock Entalula beach Palawan Philippines — Got back on shore after a few minutes

Entalula island El Nido public beach panorama Philippines — Panorama comprised of 11 shots

And if you thought: “Man, that above panorama shot would make an awesome wallpaper!”, then here’s a 1920×1080 sized version! 🙂

Spade arrow shaped rock Entalula island Palawan Philippines — Cool huh?

El Nido Art Cafe staff cooking lunch Palawan — The staff were grilling meat

Fish pork barbecue El Nido island tour Palawan Philippines — Grilled fish and pork cubes

Mithun Divakaran El Nido lunch bbq Palawan Philippines — I like watching food being cooked... I guess it's one of those traits of being a foodie

Entalula beach El Nido beautiful Palawan Philippines — Postcard, isn't it?

El Nido island tour lunch bbq rice Palawan Philippines — Lunch was ready

The food – grilled fish, grilled pork and sticky rice – was, well, quite dry for my liking. So I just had to gulp it all down with some beer (which the staff were selling for ₱50 a can). Post lunch, we sat on the beach while the staff cleaned up and took all the trash back to the boat.

Leaving entalula island El Nido Palawan Philippines — We left the island at 1:45pm

El Nido boat tour islands Palawan Philippines — We moved on to our next stop on the tour

El Nido Simizu island Palawan — I don't know if this was Simizu island

El Nido open sea Palawan Philippines — The plan was to swim out into the open sea (for something, I forgot). But because I didn't feel like swimming after lunch (& beer), so a few of us stayed on board

El Nido outrigger boat in blue sea Palawan — I stared out into the blue with my feet wading in the water

El Nido jellyfish in sea Palawan Philippines — My feet stayed in the water until I saw this

Jelly fish El Nido waters Palawan Philippines — Oh look, jellyfish!

One of the women on board kept screaming to her partner in the water warning him of the presence of the jellyfish, though some only swam to get closer to it for a better look.

El Nido Art Cafe staff sitting boat jellyfish Palawan — The staff said it doesn't sting. Well he wasn't sure, it was more like "I think it doesn't sting".

El Nido South China sea water Palawan Philippines — We waited for the rest of our group to return

When they did, some of them were panting for breath. The two Italian girls in our group said the currents were quite strong and they required help from our guide swimming back. Quite a scary experience according to them.

Emerald green water El Nido sea Palawan Philippines — It was time to leave these emerald waters and head to our next stop

Secret lagoon beach El Nido Palawan Philippines — We were going to check out a 'secret' lagoon, which is on this island (I believe this was Miniloc again)

Our boat didn’t anchor itself close to the shore, so we had to swim all the way there. I wasn’t going to stay on the boat again, but this time I really wanted to take my camera with me. So the guide told me he would carry it in a plastic bag and ensure it didn’t get wet. He’s obviously a much better swimmer, so he raised the bag in one hand and still swam to the island.

Once we all swam to the island, we had to walk barefoot on prickly shells to enter the lagoon through a small opening.

Secret lagoon El Nido tour Palawan Philippines — Panorama comprised of 3 shots

Secret lagoon Miniloc El Nido island Palawan Philippines — It was pool of water surrounded by rocks -- so not sure it counts as proper lagoon

Secret lagoon Miniloc island entrance El Nido Palawan — This is how one enters and exits the lagoon -- through an opening in the shape of Australia 🙂

Secret beach miniloc island El Nido Palawan Philippines — We spent a few minutes on the beach

German youth climbing up coconut tree El Nido island — It gave these Germans a good chance to do something they can't do back in their country

Toilet seat on island El Nido Palawan Philippines — The secret lagoon beach also has this toilet, which despite the views, people still wouldn't use

El Nido beach shack Palawan Philippines — The lone shack on this beach

Secret lagoon beach kayak El Nido Palawan — That's not a huge banana, it's a kayak... and I asked if I could ride it back to the boat 🙂 They allowed me to do so

El Nido rocky hill swallow nest farming Palawan Philippines — As the boat reversed, we saw what looked a like a ladder in the middle of the rock

Bird's nest cave guarding El Nido Palawan Philippines — The guide told us the man up there was guarding a cave where they farm bird's nest. For those who don't know, bird's nest (specifically from the cave swifts) are a delicacy in China, and are among the most expensive food products in the world, a la caviar and truffles.

The ride got a bit bumpy on the way to our final stop on our tour, 7 Commandos beach. I shielded my camera bag from all the saltwater that was being splashed at us.

7 Commandos beach El Nido Palawan Philippines — Called 7 Commandos beach because seven soldiers were once stranded here

Seven commandos beach Palawan Philippines panorama — Panorama comprised of 12 shots

Seven commandos beach coconut vendor El Nido Palawan Philippines — The stop was to give this man some business and have a drink. I ordered coconut water...

Boy sitting on coconut drinking cola 7 Commandos island El Nido Philippines — ... like everybody else. Except this kid, I'm sure he's sick of coconut water living here -- he drank Sprite.

7 commandos beach basketball hoop boys dogs El Nido Palawan — Sparsely populated island... but they still have a hoop 🙂

7 commandos island house El Nido Palawan Philippines — I saw two or three houses on this beach, that's it

Seven commandos beach woman bikini El Nido Palawan Philippines — We left Seven commandos beach after spending 45 minutes here

With that, Tour A was over.

El Nido sunset boat ride sea Palawan Philippines — It was past 4:30pm

El Nido Palawan hills blocking sunset Philippines — My day wasn't done though, I needed to get to Las Cabanas beach quick

El Nido tour boat arriving Art Cafe Palawan Philippines — The boat anchored itself a bit away from the shore, we then got in knee-deep water and walked back to Art Cafe

I went upstairs to pay the balance amount for the tour, which cost ₱700 ($16/€12) plus the ₱50 for the beer I had. I told them I used the kayak once, but they said that’s fine.

Even though I may not have made full use of the tour (due to my limited swimming capabilities), as you can see from the above photos, it was still pretty damn worth it! Sadly, today was my last in El Nido and I so wished I had another day to do another tour (like Tour C).

El Nido island Map tour A, tour B and tour C Palawan Philippines — This is the map of the tours on offer (from Art Cafe)

I left Art Cafe, said my goodbyes to the rest of my tour group and walked on. I now needed to go to Las Cabanas beach which is a five minute drive away.

I approached a tricycle taxi and asked how much it was to get to Las Cabanas beach. He said: “₱200”. I asked if that was to take me there and back, and he said “no”. I said ‘no freakin’ way’ and continued walking. As expected, he followed me and we ended up bargaining it down to ₱80.

Rough road las cabanas El Nido Palawan Philippines — It's a pretty rough road to Las Cabanas

Cashew nut apple Las Cabanas El Nido Palawan Philippines — Found a cashew fruit on the ground

Las Cabanas beach evening Palawan Philippines — It was 5:30pm

Las Cabanas beach evening sun El Nido panorama — Attempted a panorama photograph from here

Las Cabanas beach foot prints dog Palawan Philippines — Decided to walk barefoot for a while

Orange pearl resort Las Cabanas beach Palawan Philippines — Orange Pearl Resort

Las Cabanas beach evening El Nido Palawan panorama — Panorama comprised of 10 shots

Las Cabanas beach El Nido Palawan Philippines — I ended my walk here

Las Cabanas beach sunset Palawan Philippines — I placed my bag down and found a spot from where to shoot my sunset timelapse

But it wasn’t a pleasant experience. There were mosquitoes and other bugs buzzing around me and I just couldn’t stand still, having to whack each one away. The tripod with the camera would often tip over in the sand as well.

Sunset at Las Cabanas beach El Nido Palawan Philippines — None the less, I began shooting my sequence of photos

(I’ll update the page with the video once it’s ready)

I took one last panorama shot and left Las Cabanas beach at 6pm.

Las Cabanas beach sunset Palawan Philippines panorama — Didn't come out perfectly after merging it though

Las Cabanas path to main road Palawan — I walked back to the road

Frog squished flat road kill Las Cabanas Palawan Philippines — Bikes often pass through this path... as experienced by this unfortunate frog

Once I got back on to the main road, the tricycle taxi driver who dropped me here was still there and I approached him to take me back to the village. He said: “₱100”. Sigh. I told him I paid ₱80 to come here, why should I pay more to go back. He just shook his head to say ‘no’. So I started walking…. and again, he followed me and asked me to get in. Ugh!

As we rode back, I had to ask the driver to stop again when he showed me an observation deck they built for a nice view of the sea. The sky looked beautiful and I just had to capture it!

Las Cabanas sunset sky El Nido Palawan Philippines — Unfortunately there are trees obstructing the view, so this is all I took

Once I got back to the village, I went back to the ‘family day’ celebration which I visited yesterday to see if there was anything special going on today.

El Nido barangay family day kids dancing Philippines village — The men were drinking as usual, but yesterday's cock fighting ring had turned into a dancing ring for the village children

I leisurely walked back to Spider Pension House and told Joy that tonight I would like to try their seafood buffet for dinner. Electricity was gone again, but Joy still managed to make me a ‘boku milkshake’. I was then joined by three French youths who had just arrived today, and we began chatting.

Lobster crab soup rice dinner Spider Pension El Nido Palawan — When dinner was served, it was crab soup, fried tuna, grilled lobsters, rice and salad. Cost? ₱250 ($5/€4)

After a satisfying dinner, I settled my bill and paid for everything as I was checking out early tomorrow. I asked Joy to book me a seat in a private van back to Puerto Princesa.

El Nido private islands lights at night — Joy told me the glowing in the distance is from lights from resorts and other private islands

I couldn’t have asked for a better ending to my Philippines journey. Coming all the way to El Nido for these beautiful waters was worth it! If these 159 photos (out of the 861 photos I took) don’t tempt you to take a vacation to El Nido, well, then try this video — it’s all real!

(It’s available in 720p HD)

P.S: There is still one final post left in this series

Previous posts in this series:

Philippines 2011: Day 13 – Puerto Princesa to El Nido by bus

Philippines 2011: Day 12 – Puerto Princesa Underground River tour, Palawan

Philippines 2011: Day 11 – Arriving in Puerto Princesa, Palawan

Philippines 2011: Day 10 – Bohol tour: Chocolate Hills, Loboc river cruise, Tarsiers, churches

Philippines 2011: Day 9 – Cebu: Fort San Pedro, Basilica of Santo Niño, Taoist Temple

Philippines 2011: Day 8 – Manila tour: Rizal Park, Intramuros, Manila Cathedral, China Town

Philippines 2011: Day 7 – Leaving Angeles City for Manila, Mall of Asia

Philippines 2011: Day 6 – Good Friday in San Fernando, San Pedro Cutud Lenten Rites

Philippines 2011: Leaving Sagada for Baguio, and arriving in Angeles city (Days 4 & 5)

Philippines 2011: Day 3 – Sagada’s Lumiang burial cave, Sumaguing cave, Hanging Coffins of Echo valley

Philippines 2011: Day 3 – Banaue town; heading to Sagada via Bontoc

Philippines 2011: Day 2 – Banaue rice terraces; trekking to Batad village

Philippines 2011: Day 1 — Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Fort Bonifacio

Philippines 2011: Flying over South China Sea for the first time

Langkawi Dayang Bunting Loiyumba jumping water

Malaysia 2010: Day 6 — Langkawi (Island hopping tour, Pantai Tengah beach, Night market)

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Mar 18, 2011
/
Malaysia, Travel

Date: 30th September 2010

After a great first day in Langkawi, today morning we were up and ready for our island hopping tour.

Langkawi roti canai — 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.

Langkawi island hopping tour private speedboats — These were the kind of boats we were going to be driven around in

Langkawi island hopping cloud sunny skies — It was a lovely sunny day to be out on a boat trip

Langkawi island hopping tour boat steps — All the tourists were divided into groups and we got into our boat

Langkawi island hopping tour wave splash — 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.

Langkawi island hopping tour Pregnant Maiden island — Took me a while to make out where the ‘pregnant maiden’ was

Langkawi island hopping Pregnant Maiden island panorama — This is a panorama comprised of 6 shots. See if you can find her. (Hint: Head is on the right)

Langkawi island hopping tour tourists speedboat — We moved on

Langkawi Dayang Bunting Marble geoforest park arrival — 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.

Langkawi Dayang Bunting monkey at pier entrance — Our welcoming party. The monkeys, not the old guy.

Langkawi Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest park monkey on tree — Needless to say, there were going to be a lot of monkeys here

The stop was for us to check out a lake inside.

Langkawi Pregnant Maiden island park monkey opening bottle — But I was more amused watching monkeys

Langkawi Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest lake — The lake inside is famous because despite being in an island located in the sea, the lake’s water isn’t as salty

Langkawi pregnant maiden island lake — You can also swim here

Langkawi pregnant maiden island lake paddle boats — There 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.

Langkawi Pregnant Maiden island lake tourists catfish spa — Plus it’s free

Langkawi pregnant maiden island lake catfish massage — The water is cool, but the nibbling at your feet can be ticklish… and slimy

Langkawi Pregnant Maiden island lake catfish spa — But when people throw bread crumbs near your feet…. it can get a *little* too much!

Langkawi pregnant maiden island lake swimming — We had nearly an hour to spend here

Langkawi Pregnant maiden island changing rooms — They have changing rooms for men and women here itself

Langkawi pregnant maiden island women's changing room — … but it kinda helps to know English

45 minutes in, we made our way back to the pier

Langkawi Geoforest park monkeys on stones — 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.

Langkawi geoforest park monkey coke bottle — 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.

Langkawi geoforest park boats leaving — We got into our boats and moved on

Our next stop was a short trip away.

Langkawi island hopping tour fish feeding farm — Next up was a fish feeding farm…

Langkawi island hopping tour fish feeding farm arriving — … 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.

Langkawi fish feeding farm baskets — 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.

Langkawi fish feeding farm tourist — Boring huh?

Langkawi fish feeding farm teal water — Fortunately it was only a 30 minute stop, so I continued clicking

Langkawi geoforest islands blue sky huge cloud — We moved on

Langkawi island hopping tour guide smoking — Our boat driver, smoking

We rode up to what looked like a mangrove forest, where we would witness an eagle feeding session.

Langkawi eagles grey sky — Langkawi gets its name from eagles. Malay word ‘lang’ = eagle, kawi = reddish brown colour

Langkawi island hopping tour eagle feeding mangrove — The 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.

Langkawi white breast eagle Photograph by Ramesh — (Photograph by Ramesh Iyer)

Langkawi brown eagle Photograph by Ramesh — (Photograph by Ramesh Iyer)

After the eagle feeding session, we moved on to our next and final stop on this tour.

Langkawi island hopping tour Beras Basah island — Beras Basah island

Langkawi island hopping tour Beras Basah island sign — If you wanted to swim in the sea or just hang around on the beach, here is where you are allowed to do it

Langkawi island hopping tour Beras Basah island beach — We were all keen to hit the water!

Langkawi island hopping tour Beras Basah island swimming — But I didn’t feel like leaving my camera on the beach

Langkawi Beras Basah island sea level — So 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.

Langkawi Beras Basah island Loiyumba coral reef — Loi and Ramesh found broken corals

Langkawi Beras Basah island Ramesh Loiyumba corals — So I asked them to make use of them and pretend to be reindeers!

Langkawi Beras Basah island Mithun corals — Because you know, reindeers in water are… ermm… 🙂

Langkawi island Loiyumba Davidoff ad — Couldn’t help but turn this into an ad 🙂

Langkawi Beras Basah island Mithun floating head — Attempting the ‘head floating in water’ shot

Langkawi island hopping tour Beras Basah island hotel — After some time, we made our way back to shore

Langkawi island hopping tour Beras Basah island overcast skies — Overcast skies in the distance

Langkawi island hopping tour Beras Basah private property — Not sure if this was a hotel or not

Langkawi island hopping tour Beras Basah island dock — After drying ourselves up, we headed back to the pier

Langkawi island hopping tour Beras Basah island monkeys — Monkeys inhabit this island too

Langkawi island hopping tour Beras Basah island monkey — Amazing how they survive on the island, considering there are no human residents here.

Langkawi island hopping tour Beras Basah island forest — We left Beras Basah island

Langkawi island Malaysia yacht — We got a bit of rain as we neared the pier from where we set off in the morning

Langkawi island resort hotel — Pretty 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 tour company dropped us back to our hotel.

Langkawi Sweet Inn Motel chairs lobby — The lobby downstairs at Sweet Inn Motel

Langkawi motel cat licking — One of the many cats that visit Sweet Inn

Langkawi Pantai Cenang village — It had just finished raining

We stepped out again, this time for lunch.

Langkawi Skol beer Chang beer — 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.

Langkawi Pantai Cenang lane — So we went further down Pantai Cenang road to check out other restaurants

Langkawi Underwater World Malaysia — This is Underwater World Langkawi

Langkawi restaurant soda pop iced tea — We sat down at a restaurant in front of Underwater World after Ramesh found something he could eat

Langkawi Malaysian chicken curry rice — But 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).

Langkapuri Inn hotel Langkawi — Langkapuri Inn to the left; the yellow building is a BBQ restaurant

Sugary Sands Motel Langkawi — Sugary Sands Motel

Tanjung Malie Beach Motel Langkawi Malaysia — Tanjung Malie Beach Motel

Green Hill Beach motel Mali Perdana Resort Langkawi — Green Hill Beach motel is the one with the green sign

Sunset Beach Resort Langkawi Malaysia — Sunset Beach Resort (http://www.sungroup-langkawi.com/sunset/)

The Cabin Langkawi budget hotel — The Cabin Langkawi (http://www.thecabin.com.my/)

Aseania Resort Langkawi Malaysia — Aseania Resort, not on the beach though (http://www.aseanialangkawi.com/index.html)

Langkawi Durian fruit melons stall — Durian (similar to Jackfruit), is the national fruit of Malaysia (I think)

Langkawi way to Pantai Tengah beach — Head straight down this road to get to Pantai Tengah beach

Langkawi Pantai Tengah beach Malaysia — This is Pantai Tengah beach

Langkawi Pantai Tengah beach grey skies — It isn’t as big as Pantai Cenang… and the sand isn’t as soft either

Langkawi Pantai Tengah beach sand Malaysia — In fact, the sand was mostly broken shells. Not the best for walking barefoot then.

Langkawi Pantai Tengah beach shore rain — At this point, it began to rain

Langkawi Pantai Tengah field — Fortunately, I had my umbrella in my backpack. So I walked back instead of taking cover.

Langkawi Sri Kijang Bank Negara resort — This nice looking resort isn’t open to public

Langkawi Sri Kijang Bank Negara resort Pantai Cenang — Upon research, it belongs to a bank and is meant only for its employees. Posh.

Debbie's Place Irish pub bar in Langkawi — Debbie’s Place Irish pub on Pantai Cenang

Langkawi Sweet Inn Shida Laundrette — 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.

Way to Rasa Eksotika The Palms guesthouse Langkawi — I wanted to explore the area behind the motel

Langkawi Pantai Cenang house lodges — Some of the houses here have been turned into budget accommodation for tourists. Good income for villagers.

Langkawi village field water buffalo — Apparently all water buffaloes do is stare at you

Langkawi Pantai Cenang Malay house — I had reached a main road at this point

Langkawi weekend market fish Malaysia — I saw this market by the main road…

Langkawi weekend market Nasi Beriani Malaysia — … and since there was a lot of food on display, I had to check it out!

Langkawi weekend market fish balls Malaysia — I forget if these were fish balls or cheese balls… or fish balls with cheese powder coating

Langkawi weekend market Apom Balek Malaysia — Apom Balek, sweet stuff. I sampled a few of these. (‘apom’ sounds like India’s “appam”)

Langkawi weekend market Nasi Beriani price Malaysia — ‘Nasi’ is Malay for rice and ‘Beriani’ is well, biriyani (RM 3.50 = Rs. 50)

Langkawi weekend market van vendors — Seemed like this was some sort of weekend market, not a mainstay

Langkawi weekend market sotong kangkung Malaysia — Guess I knew where to bring Loi for dinner

Langkawi weekend market fruit stalls Malaysia — Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables on offer

Langkawi weekend market dried fish — Dried fish… lots of it!

Langkawi weekend market cempedak goreng Malaysia — ‘Cempedak’ is a type of fruit, ‘goreng’ I’m guessing means fried

Langkawi weekend market lychee Malaysia — Not sure what these were

Langkawi weekend market juices Malaysia — All these colourful juices made me thirsty

Langkawi weekend market corn juice Malaysia — So I had corn milk juice. Weird choice, I know. But I didn’t come all the way here to strawberry milkshake.

Langkawi economic rooms village — 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.

Langkawi Palms guesthouse at night — It was pitch dark and there weren’t any street lights on this route

Langkawi street market orange susu air kelapa — ‘Susu’ is the Malay for milk (yup); ‘kelapa’ means coconut and ‘air’ is water (seriously)

Langkawi street food spring potato — Wondering what this is?

Langkawi night market spring potato — It’s potato

Langkawi night market putu mayong — Keralites, looks familiar?

Langkawi Malay street food putu sign — Puttu! Albeit, a slight variation

Langkawi street food making putu — This is how they make lots of it

Langkawi street market fried fish — This is fish apparently

Langkawi street market pizza vendor — I ordered a seafood mini-pizza from here

Langkawi night market seafood pizza — Mostly crab meat and prawns; RM 5 (Rs. 75) for one

Langkawi street food fried rice noodles — A lot of the food was already sold out

Langkawi night market boiled meat — You take the basket and tongs, pick up whatever you want and you will be charged accordingly

Langkawi street food Loiyumba boiled meat — After you choose, you cook it in boiling water

Langkawi street food baby octopus — … even stuff like this (Yuck)

Langkawi street food spring rolls samosas — Picked up some chicken samosas and vegetable spring rolls (RM 2 = Rs. 30)

Langkawi street food fried chicken bbq — Was tempted to get some fried chicken too but I didn’t want overeat 🙂

Langkawi street food burgers — Picked up a beef burger as well. ‘Daging’ = beef, ‘ayam’ = chicken, ‘benjo’ = egg (RM1 = Rs. 15)

Langkawi weekend market stalls — 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.

Langkawi Pantai Cenang Rasa restaurant — 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.

Langkawi stray cat Loiyumba petting — While we waited, Loi petted stray kittens

Langkawi Pantai Cenang Mithun Divakaran — As it is this post has over 200 photos, might as well squeeze in one of me. (Photograph by Ramesh)

Langkawi stray cat fight scar injury — Wonder what animal this cat fought with

Langkawi Sweet Inn Zee Cinema — Back at our motel, this guy was hooked on Hindi movies

Langkawi hotel dinner street food beers — Dinner! 🙂

And just when you thought we had seen enough cats for one day…

Langkawi Sweet Inn cat eating — This came to our door. We had to share our food with it too.

Langkawi Sweet Inn cat Loiyumba — 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.

Other posts in this series:

Singapore & Malaysia 2010: Planning and preparing for the trip

Singapore 2010: Day 1 – Little India, CBD, Clarke Quay, China Town… and a lot of walking

Singapore 2010: Day 2 – Orchard Road, mall-hopping… and already shopping

Singapore 2010: Day 3 – Singapore Zoo, Marina Bay Sands; leaving Singapore for Penang

Malaysia 2010: Day 5 — Langkawi (Ferry ride from Penang, Cable car & Sky Bridge)

Malaysia 2010: Day 7 — Kuala Lumpur (Low Yat Plaza, Petronas Towers, Jalan Alor)

Malaysia 2010: Day 8 — Kuala Lumpur (Batu Caves, Petaling Street/China Town)

Malaysia 2010: Day 9 — Kuala Lumpur (KLCC Aquaria, Merdeka Square, KL Tower observation deck)

Malaysia 2010: Leaving Kuala Lumpur… and about going back

Unseen Malaysia | 41 Bucket-list-worthy Destinations. View the interactive version here

Palm Islands Jumeirah Atlantis hotel Dubai

UAE 2010: Driving around Dubai (Souk Madinat Jumeirah, The Atlantis & The Palm Islands) – Part 1

Date: 9th April 2010

Today was going to be one heck of an ‘out-&-about’ day. My friend Jassim was free to drive me around and show me the parts of Dubai (as of the above date) the metro service hasn’t covered yet. After all the sight-seeing, we were then going to close out the night with one of the biggest events of this trip — catching David Guetta’s performance in Dubai!

But first, the day.

The morning started out slow and I was mostly indoors. As for lunch, Azhad decided to treat me to a local experience. So we headed to Al Rigga road in Deira.

Golden Fish restaurant Deira Dubai — The Russians must love shrimp

Chinese union society Deira Dubai — The Chinese presence in Dubai is exponential

The restaurant was Bait Al Mandi, a popular Yemeni joint.

What’s unique about this place? Well, they serve Al Mandi — essentially meat on top of flavoured rice. You might be thinking biriyani. but you’ll get a better picture once you see the photos.

We sat upstairs, where you had individuals cabins in which you sit down on the floor.

Inside Bait Al-Mandi Deira Dubai Mithun — That's me

Inside Bait Al-Mandi Deira Dubai slippers — Slippers outside

Bait Al-Mandi chicken mutton rice — Food inside

The meal consists of a lentil soup (which was lovely), an entire cup of curd, and the main dish itself — be it mutton or chicken. And yes, that is an entire half chicken you see above.

Bait Al-Mandi Deira Dubai Azhad — Thumbs up on the food alright

Just that… it was too much! We couldn’t finish all the meat. And the amazing thing is, all this costs less than Dhs 50 (Rs. 600/$13/€11). You can’t ask for a more filling meal in Dubai.

Once we were (partly) done with our heavy lunch, our friend Jassim arrived to pick us up. He had a plan in mind (since he’s done these ‘tours’ for visiting family) and we began our drive.

Dubai clock tower roundabout — Before all the buildings, this was once Dubai's most iconic landmark

Dubai Honda showroom building to-let — Dubai Festival City in the distance

We made a quick stop at the Al Badia Golf Club — an impressive, built completely from the ground up, golf course.

We moved on shortly after.

Dubai skyline buildings afternoon Burj Khalifa — Never tired of Dubai's skyline

Sheikh Zayed buildings Dubai — (Took these photos from inside the car)

DIFC village office building Dubai — The Dubai International Financial Centre

Sheikh Zayed LG old building — This is the oldest building on Sheikh Zayed Road

We then made a brief stop at the gas station to stock up on junk food.

Vimto light can drink Dubai Eppco — Ahhh Vimto, how I missed you. (Now available in 'Light')

After stocking up, Jassim then took us to Souk Madinat Jumeirah.

The souk is the shopping mall attached to the Madinat Jumeirah resort, an impressive resort offering from the Jumeirah Group — the owners of the iconic Burj Al Arab.

Yes, this yet another mall and I thought I was done with malls because once you’ve seen the biggest and the best, it takes a lot to interest you in another. But Jassim assured me this was a mall that was quite different from the others.

Madinat Jumeirah in Arabic translates to ‘City of Jumeirah’ and is resort complex designed keeping in mind old Arab architecture. It houses two hotels, several restaurants and a few hundred stores.

Souk Madinat Jumeirah elevator — From the elevators...

Souk Madinat Jumeirah hall way stores — ... to the mall,

Souk Madinat Jumeirah water — ... the place tries to invoke an 'old Arabia' atmosphere

We just did a roam-around of the mall.

Souk Madinat Jumeirah hall Jassim — (That's our friend Jassim)

Souk Madinat Jumeirah coffee shop restaurant boats — Madinat Jumeirah is a very popular wedding venue too

Souk Madinat Jumeirah bridge abra dock — There are traditional abras to take guests for rides around the water way

Souk Madinat Jumeirah waterway Mithun Burj Al Arab — The obligatory 'You know i'm in Dubai because you can see the Burj Al Arab in the background' photo

Of all the malls I’ve been to in Dubai, the Souk Madinat Jumeirah really stands out as one of the best. It really is a great place to visit, be it for a date or a casual hangout. Plenty of restaurant options and you really can’t beat the setting.

With that, we were done.

Up next was another landmark of Dubai — and one that is best seen from the sky.

But since we couldn’t afford a helicopter ride, we had to see The Palm Jumeirah islands from the ground.

We drove past a lot of (what looked liked to me) empty apartments. To the left of the above photo was the proposed Trump Tower, now on hold.

We were heading towards to tip of The Palm Islands to see the famed Atlantis resort.

Palm Islands Jumeirah monorail Atlantis hotel Dubai

Palm Islands Jumeirah tunnel to Atlantis hotel Dubai — And then you go under water

Palm Islands Jumeirah Atlantis hotel Big Bus Dubai — Very much a major tourist attraction in Dubai

There’s a lot more to Atlantis The Palm than it’s exterior — but to enter the hotel, unless you are guest, you have to pay an entrance fee. I wasn’t too bothered because we had still more on ‘Jassim’s planned drive tour’ of Dubai’s hotspots.