Showing posts with label langkawi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label langkawi. Show all posts

Saturday, February 15, 2020

SkyCab, SkyBridge, SkyGlide and SkyBistro in Langkawi, Malaysia - Day 03 - Ep 07

Day 03 - Ep 07 - SkyBridge is a must-visit attraction of Langkawi - it attracts tourists from all around the world, throughout the year and is the busiest tourist attraction of Langkawi. So, you better plan to go early in the morning. SkyCab opens at 9:30pm during normal operation days. Do not forget to checkout their up to date timing calendar on the day of your visit here.


As mentioned in previous episode the entrance to SkyBridge and all other Sky* attractions are through the Oriental Village and you might get distracted with other attractions :), so even if you want to spend some time exploring other attractions and Oriental Village itself, we recommend to go straight to SkyCab first because the queue at SkyCab grows very quickly. You will have all the time to come back and visit rest of the attractions, the same day.

Please note that you are not allowed to carry along any food & beverages with you. You will have to submit these at the entrance and can collect them back on your way out.

Ticket prices for foreigners are as follows:

Adult: - Normal Lane - RM 85 & Express Lane - RM 135
Child (2-12 years): Normal Lane - RM 65 & Express Lane - RM 115

(Shared) Glass Bottom Cable Car or Gandola - Per Person - RM 105 - Shared mode with Express Lane (inclusive) and complimentary entry to SkyDome, SkyRex and 3D Art Langkawi

Private Glass Bottom Cable Car or Gandola - RM 550 - Private with Express Lane (inclusive) and complimentary entry to SkyDome, SkyRex and 3D Art Langkawi

(Private) VIP Cable Car or Gandola - RM 550 - 3 Sofa-type extra comfy seats. Inclusive of Meals, Express Lane, and complimentary entry to SkyDome, SkyRex and 3D Art Langkawi.

The SkyCab Cable Car or Gandola boarding happens periodically after every 15 minutes and throughout the day, back and forth.

The SkyCab station at Oriental Village, from where you'll start your journey, is called Lower Station. Once you reach almost 90% of the height, you will see the Middle Station, and if you like you can stop by and explore the viewpoints at Middle Station and then from the same point hop on to incoming Cable Car or Gandola to reach to the Top Station. It would take less than 10 minutes for you to reach to top station, non-stop from lower station and for the record, this is the world's steepest cable car with highest slope angle of 42 degrees!

At the top station, you can do sight seeing from wonderfully designed view points. You can also get some healthy snacks, juices, confectionaries, etc from the SkyMart. There's also a restaurant/cafe called SkyBistro where you can enjoy your lunch or supper, offering both local and continental meals.

From the top station, you will have two options to reach SkyBridge (1). Use SkyGlide, which is like a tram and will take you down to the SkyBridge entry point. The ticket price (two-way back n forth) of SkyGlide (which includes SkyBridge fee as well) is RM 16 per person (2). Trek through the Nature Trail called Sky Walk - free of cost and then pay fee for SkyBridge at entrance - RM 6 for adults and RM 4 for children.

Skybridge is known to be the longest free span and curved bridge in the world. The bridge is suspended from a 82m high single pylon, hangs at about 100m above ground and it can accommodate up to 250 people at the same time. It swings out over the landscape to give visitors a unique spatial experience, and to bring them into otherwise unattainable locations, above virgin jungle with spectacular views.




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Sunday, February 9, 2020

Oriental Village in Langkawi, Malaysia - Day 03 - Ep 06

Day 03 - Ep 06 - Serving as a base station or a gateway for the top most attraction of Langkawi, Oriental Village is a beautifully designed open-air themed complex with strong architectural influences from China, Japan and West. Bright colors, aesthetically paved pathways and arc bridges over streams connected to central lake, all making it an amusing place for an enjoyable stroll. A vibrant marketplace that includes several shops, stalls and outlets all offering food and beverages, souvenir items, gadgets, exhibits, tours and rides.


Entry to Oriental Village is free for everyone. There's plenty of (automated) charged parking spaces in Oriental Village as it attracts a huge crowd throughout the year because of following attractions:

SkyCab
SkyBridge
SkyRex
SkyDome
3D Art Langkawi
SkyBoutique
SkyBistro
Eco Ride (Twizy Electric Car & Revgo Electric Bike)




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Tanjung Rhu Beach - The Best Beach of Langkawi, Malaysia - Day 03 - Ep 05

Day 03 - Ep 05 - Emerald blue, crystal clear water, white powder-fine sand, dense jungle on one side and islands at a distance - Tanjung Rhu Beach is without any doubt the best among the beaches of Langkawi. And, a cherry on top, it's not crowded! the area is absolutely secluded and the atmosphere is silent and peaceful.


At around 11 am in the morning, we went to visit the beach and it was too hot at that time. Generally, the weather in Langkawi is hot throughout the year, and on such a sunny day with scorching heat from top, it became too difficult for us to even attempt a maiden stroll at the shoreline :(

So, recommendation for all of you, who can not bear the heat and hot temperature, please do visit this amazing beach at early hours of the day i.e. early morning or just before sunset. And, OMG! can you imagine how it would be like to witness sun-set on a scenic beach view like this :)

We wish, we had that in mind and scheduled our visit accordingly :( but nevertheless, more reasons to comeback to Langkawi again :)

Tanjung Rhu Beach is a public beach, open 24 hours and entry is free for everyone. Part of the beach is private and separated by a fence, belonging to Tanjung Rhu Resorts. There are few shops, cafe's and restaurants on the beach and you can find small huts, umbrellas, bean bags and benches there with all sort of hot and cold beverages, smoothies and shakes, snacks and local Malaysian cuisine.

We recommend you to try the delicious Coconut Ice Cream Shake at this beach, because that was one of the best shakes we had in Malaysia.




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Monday, February 3, 2020

Dataran Lang or Eagle Square, Geo Park and Jetty Point, Kuah in Langkawi, Malaysia - Day 03 - Ep 04

Day 03 - Ep 04 - It was around 7 in the morning and a wonderful overcast weather with smooth soothing breeze and we were at the jewel of Malaysia, called Langkawi :)


This morning we went straight to Jetty Point, Kuah to start our sight seeing and exploration of this beautiful island, and the first attraction that we started from was, Dataran Lang, which is right beside the Jetty Point and is also called Eagle Square. It is actually built in the form of tiled corniche at one end of the jetty in the shape of a big pentagram (or five pointed star).  Right at the middle of this star is the main attraction of this square, a big sculpture of a brown eagle on top of a carved stone, poised to take off. Brown eagle became a symbol for Langkawi over the period of time and they say that the work Langkawi is actually a combination of two words "Lang", meaning eagle and "Kawi", meaning "Redish brown" - literally meaning Redish Brown Eagle. These eagles can be seen all around the island signifying the association of this bird with this beautiful island.

Dataran Lang also has two covered halls with different stalls and benches for visitors, from where they can get snacks, ice creams, hot/cold beverages, juices, souvenir items, caps, bags, etc..

The entrance of Dataran Lang is through the Geo Park, a small park right at the edge of Kuah jetty, which is also part of the Langkawi UNESCO Global Geo Park (langkawigeopark.com.my).

While we were strolling around enjoying and taking pictures, drizzle started and made our experience more exciting :)




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Padang Matsirat Sunday Night Market in Langkawi, Malaysia - Day 02 - Ep 03

Day 02 - Ep 03 - It was quite interesting to know that Night Markets in Langkawi are setup throughout the week i.e. all seven days, however, each night of the week they are setup in different locations:



(Click on the links top open Google Maps in a new window)

Sunday @ Padang Matsirat Night Market
Address: Kampung Padang Mat Sirat, 07100 Langkawi, Kedah
Address: 2, Taman Wawasan Indah, Kampung Padang Gaong, 07000 Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia
Address: Kampung Chenek Kura, 07000 Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia

Address: Lencongan Putra 3 Kuah, 07000 Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia
Address: Kampung Lubok Buaya, 07000 Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia
Address: Jalan Padang Gaong, 07000 Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia
Address: Lencongan Putra 3 Kuah, 07000 Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia

The timings of these night markets are from 6pm in the evening till 10pm in the night. 

Because we were happen to be in Langkawi on Sunday, we got the chance to explore Padang Matsirat Night Market. The market is comprised of several stalls setup alongside the street and in the open lot. We saw both locals and tourists in great numbers sprawling over stalls/booth selling all kinds of pickles, biscuits & confectionaries, snacks, local food and juices, clothes & drapery, souvenir items, watches & sunglasses, wallets & handbags, artworks, DVDs, small gadgets, etc..

If you haven't tried the King of Fruits i.e. Durian, you can try these here :) and also the huge Jack Fruits (checkout the video) weighing, I think around ~ 10-15kg.

We tried a number of food items from these stalls (checkout the video), including:
  1. Mee Goreng (RM 3) :- made with (spaghetti) noodles, (scrambled) eggs & (stir fried) vegetables, topped with green chillies in some black sauce (soya?) - didn't like the sweetness in it :(
  2. Biji (RM 1 for 2 pcs) :- Deep fried crispy rolls & triangles with mashed potato filling - again sweetness killed it :(
  3. Ayam Goreng (RM 2) :- Deep fried (lightly battered) chicken pieces - batter used for coating lacks taste. Won't recommend :(
  4. Murtabak Ayam (RM 4) :- Fried flat bread with filling of mince chicken, scrambled eggs, chopped onion, chopped green chillies and some light spices - tastes good :) but lacks wow factor
  5. Nasi Kukus (RM 5) :- Sticky coconut white rice, deep fried chicken piece, sambal sauce, spicy curry (made from chicken/beef stock), sliced cucumbers - Didn't like it at all :( specially the curry, although it looked quite similar to the curries made in Pakistan/India, but it tastes very differently in a negative way. May be it's because our taste bugs are not accustomed to such taste.
  6. Cucur Bilis (RM 1 for 3 pcs) :- Spinach and bean sprouts fritters - Oil alert! 
  7. Doughnuts (RM 1.5) :- Best snack/desert among the ones we tried in this market. Different flavorful fillings of chocolate, blueberry, lemon cream, durian, date, strawberry, etc. Other doughnuts include plain ones and sugar coated, chicken floss coated and chocolate glazed. Very fresh and very tasty. Highly recommended :D
  8. Dorayaki (RM 1 for 3 pcs) :- Small pan cakes with different varieties - Sri Kaya (coconut milk) and Nenas (pineapple) - Lacks taste and spongy :(
We weren't disappointed because in our experience you won't necessarily find all quality items in food streets, there are good and bad, and expect both. However, one recommendation is to always try fried, snacks, hot food items then and there; don't parcel them and carry along to eat them afterwards, because they will loose the warmth, freshness and become soggy.




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Sunday, February 2, 2020

Traveling by Ferry to Kuah, Langkawi from Kuala, Perlis Jetty in Malaysia - Day 02 - Ep 02

Day 02 - Ep 02 - Langkawi was among the top places which we planned to visit during our trip to Malaysia and although we initially planned to reach Kuala, Perlis as early as 6am in the morning, to get onboard to the very first ferry that leaves at 7am for Kuah, Langkawi; we were late because of border crossing delays mention in previous episode.


So, we reached Kuala, Perlis at around 2:00 pm and I read online that there's an option to take your car to Langkawi as well via the Auto Ferry, but they mentioned online that it would require you to bring your car at least 2 hours before departure. Now, because we were already too late and I don't want to wait further, we decided to leave the car at Kuala, Perlis and go via Passenger Ferry to Langkawi and then get a car rental there. But even then, I went to offices of 2 different Auto Ferry operators to check the booking status and both were fully booked and were only offering booking for next day. There was at least one more Auto Ferry operator, whose office (cabin) I can see right after these two. So, if you are planning to take your car along, make sure you book your slot with one of these Auto Ferry operators early on and yes they provide option to do booking online as well. Do note that these Auto Ferry operator offices/cabins are right beside the beautiful Mosque Al Hussain.

The Passenger Ferry Terminal and operators are a little further, few minutes walk from the Mosque Al Hussain. I went further to the newly constructed building right opposite to Kuala Perlis Ferry Terminal. This new building hosts a number of different passenger ferries operators, and you can get your passenger ferry tickets from here. This building also hosts a number of other stalls selling food, snacks, beverages, souvenir items, etc.. 

The Passenger Ferry operates from 7am to 7pm with departures to Kuah, Langkawi after every 30 minutes and the price for single ticket for one person one-way is RM 18. So, I bought two tickets for me and wife and then I went a little further ahead to make arrangements for my car parking in one of the several Charged Car Parking Sheds/Areas. There are options for both covered and open parking spaces and they charged me RM 15 per day for covered car parking. Do note that, the day ends at 12 midnight, so although I parked my car at around 3pm and if even if I took it out before 3pm next day, they would charge me for 2 days. The parking operator gave me a parking ticket with a contact number of person to contact once we return back to Kuala, Perlis from Kuah, Langkawi.

Because, we haven't purchased the Malaysian SIM cards yet, and I saw Celcom counter in the building from where we purchased the ferry tickets, so I head straight back to that counter. Our total trip of Malaysia was of 10 days and we need good voice and data coverage for that period of time and we end up purchasing two similar Celcom packages for me and wife, with following configurations:

Celcom SIM Card = RM 10
Pre-loaded credit on new SIM = RM -6
1 x week package with 5GB data = RM +19
2 x day package with 2 GB data = RM +6
Topup for additional voice calls = RM +1

Total Cost per package = RM 30 and you will get total 9 GB of data and voice coverage for 9 days. Do note that, throughout the next 9 days, the data was ON on our smartphones 24/7, though we used only Google (Maps, Navigation, Search, Translation), WhatsApp (with on-demand media settings) and sometimes Facebook only for check-ins. No uploads on WhatsApp or Facebook. And, the total data we consumed in these days was less than 2 GB.

Next, we headed towards the passenger ferry terminal of Kuala, Perlis. It was good, centrally air conditioned with entry and exit gates for departure/arrivals. There was too much rush and we were unable to find seats to sit back and relax for sometime while waiting for our 4pm ferry. During that time, we enjoyed very delicious home-made ice-cream (checkout video for details).

Few minutes after 4pm, they announced the boarding on our ferry and we lined up carrying our luggages. It took another 10 minutes to finally settle down on our seats inside the ferry. The ferries were quite big, air-conditioned and have too many seats covering two floors. The total ferry time starting from departure from Kuala, Perlis to arrival at Kuah, Langkawi was an hour and fifteen minutes.

We arrived at Kuah, Langkawi, around 5:15pm and the first thing we noticed that the jetty at Kuah, Langkawi was much better than Kuala, Perlis (though Kuala, Perlis one was not bad either) and looked more like an airport.

As we were walking out of Kuah, Jetty ferry terminal (called Jetty Point), we saw different car rental operators handing over their cards to incoming passengers and because we were trying to safe as much time as possible, we picked an automatic hatchback which was one of the recent year models of Perodua Myvi. It turns out to be quite good one throughout our stay in Langkawi and was smooth to drive all along and costs us RM 90 for a day.





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