Langkawi and Penang, Malaysia

You can find the pictures of the trip from my facebook gallery or from picasa or flickr. (i might not be updating the flickr so check picasa)


So the whole trip to Langkawi and Penang was an ad-hoc trip with a little or no pre-planning. We actually decided the places where to travel on saturday around 9pm and after we got back from the beach party on Siloso beach we ordered the flights around 4am. It was 8am we woke up and started heading for the Changi airport to do the check-in. The group consisted of one singaporean, one spanish and two norwegians and me of course. We had a little episode on the airport security check when our lovely spanish companion had his nail scissors with him, but he survived just by signing a form. He had to leave his precious scissors that he'd stoled from his mother though.

One could say that we were a bit tired from the Siloso beach party, cause one of the norwegians fell asleep on the airplane even before the plane took off! The flight to Langkawi was only 1hour 20minutes and it went quickly, i just remember taking off and waking up when the tires reached the surface of the runway. We were arrived to Malaysia.

Pulau Langkawi

To say something about Langkawi, the Jewel of Kedah. Langkawi is a archipelago of 104 islands and it's located in the Andaman Sea about 30 km off the coast of northwestern Malaysia. It has the population of 65k and it's one of the duty-free islands in Malaysia.

So we arrived to the Malaysian airport, there we went through the normal procedures without any hassling. There was one thing though that was quite extraordinary, they took everyones fingerprints. And actually when we were checking our tourist visas one of the officers just started to laugh when we stated that we just bought the tickets and we don't yet have any accommodation there, dunno why!

From the airport we rented a four wheel drive for one day, the price of the car was stated as 380 RM, they offered 180 RM, we got it for 130 RM. Then the journey started, it had been a long time since anyone of us had driven a car on the left-hand traffic side. So first one to drive was the Singaporean and i was the co-driver. We started heading towards the ferry terminal to book us a tickets to Penang for the next day. Ride to the terminal was fun, filled with some upsy daisy moments like when we had to make a u-turn to get to a gas station before gasoline would end. One motorist almost crashed into us, they just wouldn't give any space or slow down. At the terminal we bought some duty-free fun for the evening and got the last five tickets to the ferry to Penang. We also had this one episode with giant mantis jumping on one of the norwegians and he was just yelling something about flying snakes! Everyone was just laughing!

Now it was my turn to drive and ride to the beach started. I admit that for the first hundred meters we had some kangaroo gasoline! But it was just due to the reason that i tried to drive automatic car using my both feet at the same time... So after a quick recess the trip continued. We turned our car towards the Four Seasons Hotel (private) beach. The views were amazing, the island is just filled with steep mountains and unbelievably green forests. I really enjoyed driving.

Around 2pm we reached the beach, it's really hard to describe the feeling that you had when you got there, it was just overwhelmingly beautiful. The beach reached out far to both ways and the sand was so fine with the tiniest granularity. Over the ocean you could see some smaller rocky islands around 500 meters away from the beach. There was only one option, we had to go there! We started walking and swimming. Our Singaporean friend just shouted from the shore that watch out for the blowfishes and everything, it was funny cause for a little while some of us freaked a bit! On the way to the island, at some point it felt just like small children's play. When we were about in the middle of the way we started to have this ticklish feeling in our feet. We soon realized that those were small fishes that were like eating something from your skin, it was a very funny feeling! And we had also new (not flying snake but) swimming snake experience with the same guy. Good laughs! It mid had actually been a eel, but dunno. One of us turned back but three of us continued. When we were closing in to the island the water started to be so deep that we had to actually swim. We also realized that there was a very strong current pulling us so we had to be careful and staid close to each other.

Finally we reached the small island. When I was walking to the shore I saw this tiny palm sized sea crab. On the small beach we found some caves that was only visible on low tide. We crawled inside and could here bats whining. We tried to scare the bats out by throwing in some rocks but we didn't succeed and actually that was a good thing, because then we started to think that if one of us get scratched we might have to start looking for a rabies shot. At some point we decided to head back for the beach to get a camera cause the view back to the shore was so great. But still we decided to hit some waves first that were clashing close by. The waves there weren't so big, but I'm pretty sure that I'll get my big waves someday!

When we started to head back to the shore we saw a weird view. That moment we realized that the reason behind the strong current we had witnessed was the low tide. In the middle of the ocean were forming these stretches of beach and now you were able to walk to the islands! From us the trip took around 40min and now you could just walk there in 10minutes. Around 6pm we decided to head out from the beach.

Our next target was to hit a cable car to highest parts of Langkawi to see the sunset. The ride to the top was unbelievable, even though the final height was only 700 meters from the sea level it was awesome. From the top the view was just breathtaking, there were observation decks and then a curvy bridge over a big gorge.

After we got down from the mountain the sun was set. And also the Spanish guy wanted to buy a football for us to play when we get back to Singapore and NUS, even we told him that he might not be able to take it with him on the airplane. We started to head towards other side of the island to find a beach resort for us to stay in. After a while search we found the Sunset beach resort. Nice place beside the shore with amazing treetop houses. We just booked the rooms and hit to the showers before gathering to go for a dinner. We actually went to eat some mexican food at that evening. At the dinner beside our table there was this meowing tiny black cat walking cautiously with three legs. So now there wasn't any flying or swimming snakes, only a little cat but the same guy just freaked when the cat touched his leg. He jumped up from his seat, almost knocked the table and our drinks over. Again we got good laughs! This episode was called snakes under the table.

Rest of the night elapsed with walking around the beachside and then sitting and chilling in the beach drinking some whiskey on rocks. Beside us there was a reggae party so we were just jamming on the beach. On next day we had to leave our rooms at noon and we started heading back to ferry terminal.

The ferry ride from Langkawi to Penang took three hours. It was the best roller coaster ride ever! The ferry was actually a boat with hundred seats packed tight together. We went to sit in the front row and oh boy that would be mistake if you have weak stomach! At the beginning it was quite fun when you flew into air 40cm above your seat and smacked down. But after a while people started to get seasick and vomit. I'm a lucky one blessed with a good strong stomach and sleeping skills like no other. Even though people were screaming etc. I just started to nap. After the first stop around 40minutes of ride time I finally fell asleep completely. I can remember couple of times waking up from the fact that I was literally flying in the air and smacking down back to the seat! I woke up after the trip when we were docking to Penang.

Penang is state in Malaysia, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Penang is highly urbanized and industrialized and it's one of the most developed and economically important states in the country, as well as a thriving tourist destination. The population of 1.5 million is very diverse in every way.

In Penang after a short walk we jumped to a bus and started to look for a hotel to stay. We decided to stay in a Grand Continental Hotel cause the sun was already setting. We booked a room of three for the five of us and got an extra bed there. On the top floor of the hotel we found a sky pool which was a tiny disappointment but still a welcome refreshment for the daily trip.

After a while in the hotel we headed out to have something to eat. We tried to find a local food court but they were all closed inside the local mall we went. So we ate in a little bit more expensive Fusion restaurant, but then the food was also nice. While walking around in the mall we found this shop that had all different dried fruits and plants to sell as little snacks. You could taste them all if you wanted, i preferred dried rose pedals.

From the mall we decided to head out for a drink or two in a local bar. There we enjoyed a tower of beer for the price of 70RM which is cheap, in Singapore tower costs 75S$ (1S$~2.5RM). There we also heard some local karaoke talents. After started to head back to the hotel we decided to have snack in a close by food court which we happened to walk by. The Red Garden was lovely place and filled with people with good spirit. There were people dancing, singing and just watching and chatting. After a while we started to head back to the hotel cause we had a early wakeup waiting.


It was around 6am when we had to wakeup, we didn't had time to go to the hotels complimentary breakfast even though it was included in the room price. We had to take a bus to get to the airport in Penang. The bus ride to the airport took around one hour and we made it in time for check-in. And of course guess what happened at the check-in, our spanish guy had another episode when trying to get through the security. They argued about 10minutes about the ball and finally he had to leave the ball behind, even though the nice officer offered to puncture the ball for free. We had some good laughs! The first but not the last trip was near to it's end, next thing I recall is waking up in Changi airport in Singapore.

Amazing trip! Thinking about going to Penang for a longer trip to see it better, but we'll see because there is so much to see everywhere!

Ps. I accidentally deleted all my photos from the trip! But luckily with a help of my friends and a free software called PhotoRec I was able to recover all of the photos I had deleted! I truly recommend!