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

This isn’t going to be a short piece, mostly because Langkawi is such a dazzling and spectacular island that I personally can’t get enough of; so I'm going to make sure I cover every single detail and give Langkawi the love and attention it deserves. I'm talking as if I'm in a relationship with Langkawi or something.

Anyways I'm going to recall every activity there is to do in Langkawi, starting from the most exciting ones. I think the hotel you stay in is kind of not important, because honestly you aren’t gonna even be in your hotel for long. Unless you want a kind of vacation where you stay in and just use the hotel facilities in that case I definitely do suggest resorts like Meritus ( check out the previous post here:)

1) Langkawi cable car

The cute thing is that they call the cable car a “sky cab”; I love that name, it's so goofy and cute. Before I go any further, you guys should know that the cable car is usually crowded, specially during the weekends and peak seasons of the island, so that’s the only downside but it is still so worth it. You should not miss out on this at all. The cable car closes down for 10 days yearly, that is from the first until the 11 th of April, so if you are unlucky enough to travel around then, you can’t use the cable car.

(Here's a side view of the cable car)

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Here are a few text book facts about the cable car; this cable car is located in the oldest part of south East Asia, hovering over jungle and climbing over 550 million years old rock. That is a rather one in a life time experience. Imagine being asked about, where you were; and answering oh no biggie I was just visiting the south east asia’s oldest spot. That is some badass thing to say. Oh it's also has one of the world’s steepest ropes, I mean it's really steep, at some parts you just feel like yourself going. Anyhow there are three stations, the base station, is where you get on the “Sky cab”, then there is the middle station and lastly the top station.

(Just look at the mesmerizing view from the top, oh gosh how I miss it)

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Now the tickets are 55 ringgits per person for internationals it was actually cheaper when I went, it's a tad bit expensive now but I think the uniqueness of the experience makes it worth it. The package is inclusive of the SkyDome, SkyRex and 3D Art Langkawi; I know now you’re like what on earth are those even?

Well the SkyDome is something like a 3D cinema, it's actually quite lame, and the reason it was built is to make the waiting time to ride the Sky Cab less excruciating. Remember I told you, it's almost always crowded? Well that’s why they have these things to keep people busy. When I went there, they didn’t have the SkyDome yet; so I don’t have any experience. But as I asked around, it's something like a virtual reality creation with about 12 screens. I don’t think it's anything special but well it's better than waiting in the line and you don’t have to pay an extra amount for it so? Skytrex is something similar; it's a 3D stimulated environment.

(The sky dome)

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The 3D art Langkawi is an interactive art gallery containing more than 100 art work. It's that type of art that deceives you and creates those illusions of thinking you are seeing something when you are seeing something completely different. Photographers or selfie lovers will go nuts here, the picture worthy paintings are endless.

(One of the many examples of the art work here)

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Okay so I think I pretty much covered everything there is on the Sky Cab, hope you guys do get to try it out and have loads of fun.

2) Sky bridge

This other activity is actually near the Skycab and all but it is so special that I thought I’d put it in a separate section. Okay so to get here you need to use the Sky cab, get off at the top station. Once there you need to use this lift thingy called the SkyGlide to get to the bridge; it's truly a different kind of experience all together. That’s the thing about this complex though, everything is pretty exceptional.

(An overview of the bridge, now imagine walking on this)

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Here are some facts, the bridge is about 125 meters long, there are viewing platforms for you to stop there, take as many pictures as you want and just enjoy the magnificent view. It cost about 1. 2 million dollars to construct, but god knows how many times over, they have earned the money back. Alright no talking about economics and investments, we’re all about the fun here. Another cool thing about the bridge is the fact that it's curved so you get all these different views and sights. For a second I sounded like Ted Mosby here, oh gosh.

(The walkway)

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“It's definitely a great experience, you feel like you are suspended in the air and you can just get lost in the clouds” - Said Ileia my younger brother after visiting the bridge. I don’t know why he wanted to get lost in the clouds, it's not like he has any real adult problems to escape from. The price of the ticket for the sky bridge is 5 ringgits for adults. I know what you all are thinking, finally something cheap.

3) Parasailing

Langkawi is probably the best island on earth for all of you water sports junkies. There are a lot of companies offering water based activities all across the beaches in Langkawi, depending on which beach is the nearest to your hotel. The most famous beach of the whole island is the Pantai Cenang beach which offers a wide range of sports based activities, especially my dear parasailing. The beach has many other things to offer, in fact the Meritus resort that I mentioned in my previous post, is located somewhere along this beach side. Pantai Cenang is always swarming with people, which adds this whole dynamic and vivacious feeling to the whole place; so I do suggest taking up some activities here in this beach.

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Now the best water based activity that has existed in the history of water based activities is Parasailing. Any argument you have is invalid. Ok Jet skis are really freaking cool but parasailing is like flying, nothing ever beats flying. Okay now that we’re on the same page, parasailing in Langkawi is quite safe, they always brief you beforehand and let you know about the safety precautions, so I don’t think it's a risky activity in any way. Plus you’d fall into the water even if anything happens. The ride is usually for 10 minutes max, the price usually varies, it was way cheaper when I did it and if there are 2 or 3 of you, you can haggle for a bit and ask for a discount. Honestly if they ask for more than 120 ringgits per person it's kinda too expensive, 120 is the fairest price.

(Parasailing before going way high)

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As for my experience I love parasailing, I did mine around the sunset, the sunlight was fading, but I still wore loads of sunscreen because well I like to protect my skin. The view was amazing, the breeze touching my face as I stared as the fading sun, it reminded me of a lot of deep topics I'm not going to write about because I know you guys would be like oh there she goes again trying talk about life. I'm going to tell you guys to just do it; do the parasailing, it's something you will hold dear to your hearts from Langkawi.

4) Local night markets

I'm sure you guys are familiar with this term now after my piece on KL’s night markets.

Yes so Langkawi has so many local night markets, I know it's quite deceiving when we say night markets since they are actually like evening markets but let’s forget about the semantics. Anyways as I explained before these type of markets are the best chance to get to see a place from the eyes of a local, basically live like a local even for a few hours. Well they are also a good opportunity to try out the local food, all at once and cheaply, which is the best way to go.

Now the night market my family and I went to; I had to do a little digging to find the exact location but I've always been a good detective so I did find it. Again it is located in Pantai Cenang, you can ask your hotel receptionist to give you the exact directions to it. Now if you are staying in any other part of the island, there are other locations that have pretty good markets as well, I haven’t been to any so they aren’t saba certified but they are all over the internet so I'm guessing they are good. This pasar malam takes place every Thursday, there are other ones in other locations almost every night.

(Kuah night market)

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The other locations are Kuah and Padang Matsirat. You should just check to see which one is near your accommodation and head there; also the days are important as there usually isn’t a pasar malam every day. Just ask your hotel receptionist for help, as most of them are locals are well aware of the pasar malam dates and locations.

Another reason why I love pasar malams so much is the cheapness of the food, I mean it's really cheap to eat in pasar malams, food prices usually begin from 2 ringgits and rise till 8 ringgits. That is absolutely insane, I mean we just pay 8 bucks for a soda in normal restaurants, let alone for food.

The thing about me is that I'm extremely picky in food, I try not to be and so I eat everything but don’t necessarily enjoy eating everything. Nonetheless I did find some tasty treats for myself in Langkawi so here are my favorite must try items in any pasar malam in Langkawi.

First there are the beef and chicken satay, their dipping sauce was too good, it made the whole satay way better. The thing about eating food in night markets like this is that, I need to see the food being prepared in front of me or else I’d kinda be cautious about it. So this fit my category perfectly.

(Deliciously prepared satays)

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My other suggestions would be local style grilled sea food, I mean you can’t go to an island without trying out the seafood there and here it's so cheap that it's a shame if you don’t try. Some of them are really spicy though so do be prepared for some real tears. Oh and for those of you that are keeping it healthy, don’t forget about green mango salad, it's so freshly prepared and tasty that you will definitely run back for more. It's been so long since I had one of those, I wonder where in kl I can find some.

Apart from that my advice is to try different foods as much as you can, after all you only come this way once so might as well get the full experience.

5) Snorkelling

I don’t think this activity is limited to Langkawi island in anyway but I think it is a pretty awesome experience nonetheless. If you are travelling to other islands like Redang or Perhantian I suggest snorkelling there; there is just more to see around there. But if you aren’t the Langkawi marine life is about to drop you dead to your tracks. I don’t even know if I'm using that correctly. Now my suggestion is to not go snorkelling around Langkawi beaches, as you can guess that is what I did and it wasn’t that exceptional. However my brother recently went to Langkawi and he snorkelled in one of the nearby island beaches and he said and this is only to quote him “Epic”. What they did, is that they took a boat ride and went to one of the offshore islands, the island they went to was called the Pulau Payar marine park. That is the most famous and popular one for snorkelling as well as swimming. This part of the trip may cost a little money but it's worth it.

I loved writing this piece, it brought back so many memories. I hope you enjoy it, as I put a lot of thought and love into it.

Cheers!

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