Jewel of Malaysia's islands: Langkawi island (I)

Here we go, I actually wrote this piece once before, I dedicated so much of my time and attention to it, and it was such a perfect piece but my laptop decided that it was too perfect to be released into the world, so my laptop crashed right before I could post it and I lose the piece. I promised myself I make this one sound even better.

Langkawi Island is one of Malaysia’s most famous islands but it is so much more than just a famous island. One of the most beautiful, breath taking and incredible islands in all of Malaysia, Langkawi has so much to offer to anyone visiting it for holiday. Sometimes it offers way too much and then you just don’t want to leave. I wish I could live in Langkawi forever, avoid all of my responsibilities and stay by the beach. How amazing would that be? All I'm saying is that visiting this island is one in a lifetime opportunity, and you don’t want to be missing out on a one in a lifetime opportunity.

(The eagle square, Langkawi's most remarkable landmark for tourists).

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Okay enough of me daydreaming. Let’s get factual, Langkawi is also known as the jewel of kedah, because it's too precious and I honestly do agree. It's also a duty-free island so feel free to smoke and drink as much as you possibly can. Since it's cheaper than anywhere else in Malaysia. Actually please don’t do that, that’s bad advice, forget I ever said that.

Another fun fact, Langkawi is actually a cluster of 99 islands, no one lives in any of them, I'm thinking of going and conquering it for myself, what do you guys think? Now before I go all crazy and imaginative, let’s see how we can get there cheaply. I mean I do want to the islands but I honestly want to save some money on my way there.

(Beautiful Langkawi)

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How to get there?

By air:

By far the easiest way to get to Langkawi, although it can be slightly more expensive if you book last minute. However if you plan ahead for your travel and book the ticket some time before your travel time, you can actually save some money and it even becomes cheaper than the bus and ferry ticket. If you use airasia to book your flight way ahead of time, you get unbelievable rates for sure, sometimes as low as 27 ringgits. Yes as low as that. It all depends on your luck and the season you travel in, peak season (summer time) is obviously more expensive. The flight duration is about 1 hour and most of the flights take place from KLIA2 that is the other airport of Kuala Lumpur where most domestic flights take place. Keep in mind that if you are staying in KL, you will have to pay about 65-70 ringgits to go to the airport. That is an added cost. I have only travelled to Langkawi by air and I find it super convenient.

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(Langkawi airport)

By bus

Given Langkawi is an island, most buses take you to another city first and then you have to ride the ferry to Langkawi island. Now buses from KL, usually start their journey from TBS terminal or the Hentian Duta bus station in KL, both of which are rather accessible, I will explain how to get to the stations shortly.

Now you should want to book a ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Perlis, the journey takes about 6 to 7 hours, depending on the stops. Once you reach there the ferry station is about a 5 minute walk from the bus station, so you can just walk easily and book your ferry tickets. The ferries work from 7 am to 7 pm, the frequency depends on whether it's peak season or not but there is one every one hour. The price for adults is 18 ringgits; quite cheap actually.

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(Langkawi ferry)

The bus tickets vary from company to company but let’s say something from 35 ringgits to 65 ringgits. Some of them have VIP seats and they are pretty good and comfortable given the journey is kind of long.

From Kuala Lumpur, you can get to TBS terminal, which is the main terminal of Kuala Lumpur now, very cost effectively. I don’t think it's really efficient to go the terminal using this way I think it is easier to get a Grab or Uber especially if you are more than two people, the price is going to be the same or less anyway. You can use the KTM from KL Central to get to TBS. Get a ticket from the KTM counter for Bandar Tasik Selantan and head there. Once there, the TBS terminal is a few minutes by walking.

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(TBS terminal)

Hope this stuff clarify it, now let’s get to what we can do once we reach the island.

How to get around in Langkawi itself?

I know you guys are thinking like, okay let's say we get there, how are we supposed to travel around? And I'm here like Okay give me a minute I'm getting to it. Anyhow, Langkawi hasn’t really developed in the area of public transportation to be honest; that is mostly due to the fact that almost everyone owns private cars and motorcycle and it has quite a small population frankly. So public transport is out of the picture, I do hope they do something about that in the future.

You guys can always use Taxis but in my opinion they are rather costly and they probably will rip you off, if they see that you are a tourist. The best option is to rent a car or motor cycle. It's rather easy process; you can even rent a car in the airport itself. Or even use websites like this one. I think it's better to book it in person to avoid any scamming. Now the rates different depending on the season and the car you choose. They usually vary from 60 ringgits a day to 600 ringgits a day, the gap is huge I know but that’s because there are way too many different types of available cars.

Description and experience:

I don’t think a single person can say that they went to Langkawi and they didn’t have fun or enjoy the beauty of the island. The activities here are endless honestly; you can’t possibly get bored. The thing about Langkawi is that it is developed enough so you don’t feel like you’re in an abandoned island and yet it is untouched enough to preserve the natural beauty and the authenticity of the island. You get me?

My hotel (Meritus Pelangi Resort):

I stayed in a 5 star hotel named “Meritus Pelangi beach”, yes I had mention that it was a 5 star hotel to show off. It was a family vacation so I didn’t pay for anything, why lie. Meritus was the definition of paradise; I don’t think I have liked any hotel as much as I liked Meritus; the place was tranquility and bliss! Even talking about it, gives my whole being this sense of calmness. I wish I could go back in time and get that whole experience once again. I was actually planning to go back to Langkawi one last time but to be honest I couldn’t, I'm on such a tight schedule nowadays, that I write my blog pieces between my lunch and dinner breaks.

Back to Meritus, we arrived to the hotel with the official hotel transfer because well we booked a tour; and it was more convenient because we were travelling with family members and young kids. Once there we were served our complementary drinks, while our registration took place. Our rooms were shortly ready, and we got on those golf cars to be transferred to our room.

Now let me tell you something, during spring until mid-summer, it's raining season in Langkawi, we went in August. So it was still raining season, sudden rainfalls and you all know how tropical rain is; it's not like sweet romantic rain, where two rain drops fall out of the sky, it's the type of rain that turns the streets into a swimming pool. So that wasn’t a very good decision, the best month to travel to Langkawi is September, and then any month after that.

We had a room for 3, but we asked them to add an extra bed, since it was me, my parents and my younger brother. Our suite had the garden view; they have three other options for view, one is the lake view, which is a small man-made lake which belongs to the resort, there is another one by the view of the swimming pool and saving best for the last, is the room with the view of the beach or as the resort calls it the “beach front”.

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(The beach in front of the resort. )

Now for me the view of my room doesn’t matter much, mostly because I don’t spend much time in my room, so garden view was the cheapest view and that’s what we settled for. I also don’t really suggest getting the swimming pool view, because it can really get noisy with all the people using the facility and all.

I went there about three years ago but I remember it like it was yesterday, the memory has been hacked into my brain; again we did go with a tour, so our rates were a little bit different, now I suggest you guys to book beforehand, to avoid getting all those last minute, expensive deals. This is their website which you can use to directly book your room:

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(How the interior of the rooms look like normally)

The rates are rather expensive; I'm going to take a room for two as an example, the beachfront room for two, starts from 1180 ringgits per night that is without the service charge, you need to add another 10 percent to that. That is quite expensive and I don’t think it includes breakfast, there is another option which is like for couples, and it includes a bed and breakfast which is like 1980 ringgits per night. Now that is just way too expensive.

The garden view rooms for two, starts from 830 ringgits per night, rather acceptable. Keep in mind that these are only rooms and don’t include the breakfast buffet. Lake front rooms start from 930 ringgits per night for two and lastly the rooms with the pool view starts from 1030 ringgits per night for two. Again the pool view is definitely not worth it.

Okay now that we have covered the rooms, let’s get to the facilities of the hotel; I mean the facilities don’t need much explanation. It's a five star hotel everything is full option. The swimming pool is one a kind, honestly I absolutely adored the swimming pool, and it may or may not have been due to the fact that it had a water slide; don’t judge me okay? It was three years ago, I was like 16 back then, I was allowed to use water slides meant for 6 year old kids. Ok what am I saying? You can totally judge me.

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(The main pool of the resort)

The swimming pool actually is made up of three pools, so you can swim all you want, one whole round is gonna take ages. Then there is the gym, which is alright, there are enough equipment, it's not full option but then you’re on vacation, how much are you gonna hit the gym anyway? The other activities like bicycles, tennis, badminton, archery, mini golf and squash. There is also a spa, which you have to pay for separately.

What’s there to eat in the hotel?

Now let’s get to answering the most important question of all time, what is there to eat. Now my suggestion is to eat in the city, try out the local food, the local cuisines, because Langkawi has amazing food, it's just too irresistible. But the hotel food is amazing too, the variety itself will make your head spin.

Wait I'm getting flashbacks now, even though the whole hotel staff was extremely courteous and polite; the kitchen staff was kind of disrespectful, anyways that was years ago and nothing could ruin my vacation; I just got flashbacks of it for a second.

The buffet was just spectacular, it really held up to my expectations; the food quality was astonishing. Everything about it was great, I don’t know how else to explain it. But the hotel buffet aside, there are bunch of small bars inside there too. First there is this restaurant, called the “Spice market”, I personally tried one or two things and it was alright, I don’t really have a strong memory of it, if it was great I would have remembered it. It's a fusion restaurant, mostly focusing on Asian food. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

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(Hotel breakfast buffet )

Next up we have the pool bar, it's called the cascade pool bar, it's open till 1 am, in case late at night you felt like dipping your toes in the water to have a martini or two. I really liked the pool bar, even though I was 16 and I had orange juice, it was still a party. Anyways the prices were kind of expensive but it's expected since it's a pool bar.

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(The pool bar)

Lastly there was the bar in the lobby, where I only had one drink, it's called the “Pelangi Lounge”, this bar has live music, mostly on the weekends but weekdays too if it's peak season; the bar is open till 1 am and it's pretty lively. Although I didn’t like the lighting, I have this thing with extremely dim lights, they annoy me. The live music was good though, they were local bands that performed both local and international songs. It was a warm atmosphere.

Okay now that we have covered everything there is on the resort and how to get to Langkawi in general, let's get to the more exciting stuff...

Stay tuned for the second piece!

Cheers! :)

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