This past week has seen us fly up to Langkawi for a few days to meet up with friends Celia and Danny. Cel’s & Danny are both Navy ex-pats who I met through facebook and who we met up with last time we were here. Great people and as always full of laughs and heaps of advice.
As a reminder here’s two links to our previous foray to this tropical paradise; here and also here. This 2nd link in particular is worth a look!
We’d normally go to the island by ferry from Penang but decided this time to fly. By the time you go through the processes of boarding a plane (both Penang and Langkawi airports are ‘international’) and jumping through their security hoops the ferry takes just about as long but the plane is a bit more comfortable even if a bit more expensive.
After landing our AirBnB landlord for the week (Elke) met us with a wide Langkawi smile and drove us to our unit. We had the first of a set of ‘triplex units’. Very comfy but had the unfortunate problem of a leaky dunny. (I can’t remember anywhere we’ve stayed up here that hasn’t had plumbing issues.) Very conveniently the walk to the beach took us past Cel’s & Danny’s front door to the centre of Pantai Cenang or Cenang Beach in english. All up we were about 600 metres from the beach with the last part being down the side of a construction site.
Once in the unit we unpacked then set out for the beach. This took us past a place that breeds Bengal Cats. It was a sad sight to see such beautifully marked cats so poorly treated but that’s the Asian way. When we got to the beach we were in time to catch a typically gorgeous Cenang Beach sunset. Too good not to take a selfie. A few drinks then the stroll home. Next day we sauntered down to the Hugging Hippo where we’d seen a very nice menu the evening before for brunch. It was a pretty quiet day. After a beer or three with our friends we all drove down to a nice local restaurant for tea before a few more ales then home again.
Day 3 was a bit more active. Danny and Celia loaned us their car to circumnavigate the island on our own. This was going to be a good trip if only I could get past that huge, ginormous cactus at the end of their driveway. Oops! What a way to start our journey. Once out of the townships and away from the main tourist spots it’s not so hard to find some lovely beaches on Langkawi. One interesting feature we came across was Langkawi Falls. This strange waterway apparently used to run across the roadway so a watercourse including the “highest man made waterfall in Langkawi at 66.9 metres” was constructed complete with a road tunnel under it and walking paths over it.
After a trip around the island we returned to another Cenang Beach sunset where we were obliged to enjoy a few more drinks (this time at Au Chong Beach Bar) before moving on to dinner. Pizzas at Thirstday was the order of the day so as we watched the green lights of the squid boats just off shore Danny and I drank Tiger’s while Shane and Celia had Lemondrops. That pretty well wrapped up day 3 in Langkawi.
Oh, if you’re wondering. The cactus is no longer cactus. It should survive with some water and TLC.
On to Day 4. We both love the natural wilderness so for today we’d booked seats on “Dev’s Mangrove Tour (by boat not kayak)”. I don’t think this will ever be the feature of a David Attenborough special but nonetheless it was a very enjoyable day. Our guide, Cirro (I think), was knowledgeable and we saw and learnt some interesting things. The wild dogs on Langkawi are actually Dingos brought to the island many years back. There is a short walk through a limestone cave with bats attached to the ceiling and wonderful stalagmites and stalagtites throughout. Long Tailed Macacs roam the beach and if a boat stops close to the edge they will close in for a free feed. We watched Brahminy Kites and White Bellied Sea Eagles swoop on food on the water’s surface and got close up with a local viper that sleeps in the trees over water waiting for unsuspecting food to swim past. More than once we saw big monitor lizards in and around the water. After a swim on a secluded ocean beach accessible only by boat we turned back for a lunch of local fare before speeding back to the jetty. I used the word ‘speeding’ on purpose. Our boat, despite the heavy timber build was pushed by a Suzuki 200hp outboard flying about the mangroves at around 35 – 40 knots. For the non-nautical double it and call it kph. It was a good day and when we got back home at 3:30pm we were a bit worn out to say the least. But we had to battle on so about 7pm we walked back to the main street again for a feed. I have added two shots here for your perusal. The last two shows the price of alcohol here on Langkawi. Divide MYR (Malay Ringits) by 3 to get Aussie dollars and cents. So the Hollander Beer is about 60 cents a can while a bottle of JW Black Label is $27 (Red is $12). Sadly Bundy isn’t exported.
That was about it for Langkawi this trip. I am trying to get the next blog out pretty quick. A few hours after we landed from Langkawi (it’s only a 35 minute flight) we shot into town to the Hokkein New Year celebrations. This is one blog worth seeing.
Till then, take care.
Garry & Shane.