Shakey Shane at Langkawi's Cable Car & Sky Bridge, "OMG".

Excitement built as we got closer to Langkawi’s famous Cable Car experience. From the taxi we could see the rugged peaks almost 20 kilometers away and there on top was our eventual goal, the Cable Car. This is no normal cable car but a whole experience.

As we pulled up in the car park we could see the daunting towers that climbed the steep slopes to the top. At the base the Cable Car experience is like a village/fun park of activities. There are cinemas, rides, clothing stores, food, drinks, souvenirs and much more. Time restraints meant that we would not get to see all of the facility but a trip to the top of the mountain was our aim.

Getting into the gondola was the same as Kuranda and other CC’s we’d been in. As it hits the terminal those in it get out before it swings to our side of the platform and we hurriedly scramble in before it takes off again into the wild blue yonder all the time without slowing down. Once in the cab we shot off up the hill with Shane already getting white knuckles from her tight grip on the rails. The further up we went the more incredible the view was and the more our altitude became a reality. I was sure we’d all get nose bleeds from the height!

Eventually after ‘flying’ over Seven Wells Waterfall we landed at the ‘Middle Platform’ where we got our first taste of the most magnificent views on Langkawi. I have had to cull at least 85% of our pictures from this blog because we couldn’t stop taking pictures. The only blemish here was what we thought was a small cloud turned out to be smog from a distant cement works. After a look around which included nice gardens and some geology lessons we got back into the CC for our lift to the ‘Top Platform’. From this vantage point beside the wonderful scenery we could also look down at the Sky Bridge (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpRqxtRk_9U) and this is when Shane really started to gasp for air.

To get down to the Sky Bridge you need to catch a funicular ‘box-like’ lift that only holds 10 people so the queue was agonisingly slow. This in itself is scary but fun at the same time. Once down to the level of the Sky Bridge (which incidentally is still bloody high in the mountains) you get to cross this marvel of engineering. It’s a 125-metre curved pedestrian cable-stayed bridge, completed in 2005. The bridge is suspended from a 82m high single pylon, hangs at about 100m above ground although it seems to be 100 kilometers off the ground.

Publicly I will apologise to my wife here and now. “Darling you were so brave to defeat your demons and do this walk with me. I’m so proud of you.” That aside you looked so funny waddling along, one hand always gripping the rail, taking one handed photo’s and shaking like a leaf. I was particularly impressed when you came to the glass windows in the Sky Bridge deck and actually lent over it to take some pictures vertically downwards. I wasn’t impressed when the bridge started to sway and you grabbed me in a death grip as if to say “If I’m going, you’re coming too!”

Having conquered our fear of heights we quickly moved back to the CC to descend to the village/fun park at the base. We had a sunset cruise to catch so we had to move but, gee, were we pumped or what? (More on the cruise in the next post.)

Last thing. The 3rd last photo – that is not blue sky in the background. That is the sea. Such is the height and angle we were looking down from.