Langkawi Island

PULAU LANGKAWI
Date: 25th - 29th OCTOBER 2003

Pulau in Bahasa Malaysia means island. Langkawi is situated north of Peninsular Malaysia, close to the Malaysia/Thailand boarder. The size of the island is about 480sqkm.

We flew to Langkawi with Air Asia, it was an easy, reasonable from price and comfortable flight. I would call it airbus, as no food and drinks served. Of course whoever wish to have some food on board, could buy it from the stewardess. It is free-seating concept and the service was alright for one hour on air. Make sure to book early in order to get a better price. However there is quite a high surcharge on flight changes.
Langkawi is a beautiful Island, tourists started to pour in since mid 80s. Since then there were a lot of improvements on roads, resorts, hotels and sea sports to meet the tourists' demands. End of last year, Langkawi welcomed the first Malaysian Airlines flight direct from London to Langkawi.
Langkawi is not just purely a tourist island. They are locals who live there for generations, basically they are farmers and fishermen. One our way from the airport (west part of the island) to our hotel (southeast) we could see a lot of Paddy fields, beautiful green carpets. For someone like me who grew up in Kuala Lipis with a lot of rubber trees and Oil Palms, seeing Paddy fields is something new to me.
Our hotel: Sheraton Perdana Resort Langkawi We came to Langkawi at the right time, off season and managed to get a good bargain for a 4-night-stay. Otherwise, it could cost as much as €250 per night. This is a very new hotel, about 5 years old. Near to Kuah town and has its own beach. The beach here is no that great, but in the hotel there are enough facilities to keep you busy and enable you to relax. After 5 hectic days in Bangkok, you could imagine what a paradise you would see here! Transportation: I would give 5 stars in Langkawi. Family of two, four, six or nine would never find it difficult to get around on this island without own transportation. Langkawi might be a bit commercial to many people, but it is a very good holiday place for families. No matter which side of the island, what hotel you would be staying, no worries. Taxi pickup service could be easily arranged. The charges from 5RM to 20RM, depends on how far you travel.
Makan (Eating) Place: The hotel reception recommended us this seafood eating place called Wonder World. We had to get there by taxi and the restaurant owner called a taxi pick-up for us after dinner. Good service huh! We had prawns, two different types of crabs, squid, vegetables, rice and drinks enough for 9 people, the dinner cost about 150RM. The food was absolutely great and delicious. Restaurant Sangkar Ikan: Tips from Lonely Planet. Located next to kelong (floating fish farm), It has a nice bay view but the food served was half as good as in Wonder World, besides that it was twice as expensive.
For the taste of a Malaysian, not worth making the trip all the way there just for the food. Langkawi has quite some nature attractions. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to venture out into the nature. Our main purpose to Langkawi was to relax and be lazy, which we did. For those we love to walk could take this opportunity to experience walk in the rainforest. Besides, Telaga Tujuh (Seven Wells) was recommend by our travel agent, from what I know it is about water falls downhill through a series of 7 wells. Another worth visiting waterfall is Air Terjun Temurun (Temurun Waterfall). Other interesting spots are Gua Cerita (Cave of Legende) and Telaga Air Hangat (hot sprints) Beaches in Langkawi might not be as clean and beautiful compared to East Coast Malaysia. The beaches here are much better compared with Penang beaches. Pantai Kok has quite a nice beach and the water is cleaner. There are some other parts in Langkawi, where you could find clean and beautiful beaches. For example, at Teluk Datai and Tanjung Rhu. Unfortunately, some parts are not public beaches, there are only accessible by hotel guests.
Shopping: It is more interesting for us (Malaysian) but not foreigner tourists. Langkawi is a duty-free island, where we could buy cheap alcohol, chocolate and household things. Besides that, we could also buy nice Ikan Bilis, dried prawns (haebee) and cashew nuts.
Holiday in Langkawi is affordable for everyone. There are different ranges of hotels, from budget accommodations to mid range to five-star luxury hotels. Everyone could choose according to his/her own budget.

Hotels in Langkawi

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