First post: Going to Langkawi in October

I will reach Langkawi at 1 pm on a Saturday via Air Asia flight to Langkawi International Airport, 07100 Padang Mat Sirat, Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia (Tel +6049551311 Fax +6049551314).

I will be traveling with my family with kids.

Before the travel
Booked the air ticket several months before the travel. The rate was very good from Air Asia. Occasionally, Air Asia will notify of irresistible promotions.

A few weeks before the actual travel date, we booked a hotel online. According to friends who travelled to Langkawi often, hotels are not a problem and you won't have problem getting a good bargain. Some even advised us that going to the ferry port/harbour or airport to hunt for bargain is better, but with kids, we tried not to risk not having a place. Renting a car is a must, but for those not comfortable driving around Langkawi, I guess there will be taxi/cab. I will be booking a car.

List of itinerary

1. Dataran Lang (Eagle Square) with the iconic 12 meter-tall sculpture of an eagle (hence the name "Lang" for Helang [eagle in Malay]). SE of island, near to Kuah Bay, residential area, shopping mall (Jetty Point Mall) and near duty-free shops selling chocolates, alcohols and other goods.
2. Underwater World Langkawi South of island near Pantai Cenang. 6 million litre walk-through underwater tunnel tank for observing underwater creatures.
3. Langkawi Sky Bridge located at the terminal of Langkawi Cable car ride, elevated 125 meter long curved bridge on top of Mount Mat Cincang. On the bridge, a breath-taking view of the rainforest and other natural settings (converge at Langkawi cable car).
4. Waterfall, Telaga Tujuh waterfalls (converge at Langkawi cable car).
5. Air/Ayer Hangat Village hangout to appreciate the culture, food, and duty-free products. Note that nearby there is a beautiful white beach at Tanjung Rhu (near Tanjung Rhu Resort).
6. Hotels and beaches.
7. Food, food, and food without the "chopping board" (being charged exorbitantly).

Contacts
Langkawi Tourist Information @ Kuah Jetty (Tel +6049667789).

Rice cooker on the go for family

For most people, traveling while on a holiday comes together with eating out. This is true if you are traveling to other countries with different culture, ambience, and importantly food.

Anyway, thanks to globalization, there is no food that is not available in Malaysia and Singapore. We have Middle Eastern, Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Pinoy (or Phillipines), Indonesian, Western, French, and many more. For those people, like me, who would prefer that once in a while to have a home-cooked meal that is heavy on the spices and hot chillies during travel (especially for a duration of more than 5 days) there must be a way to accomplish this...

When I was in Spain few months back, and after having taken so many Tapas and Paella (which were really great and tasty but still....), I was so desperate to look for Asian/Indian restaurants that I was willing to walk long distances to taste home. Unfortunately the food there was still foreign to me. That was when I realized that the only way to take home cooked meal with me (if there was a craving), was to get a mini rice cooker. One that can fit into a luggage and sufficient to cook for at least two people.

The advantages of rice cooker is plenty:

1. It can boil water. This is important for travelers with babies and who need to prepare milk (from formula milk powder).
2. Instant noodle. Any craving for noodles, rice cooker to the rescue.
3. Hot pot (or steam boat). You can find any fresh ingredients to your liking (in the market) and dump them into the prepared broth (after adding the prepacked spices or broth base). It will be super!
4. Steamer. If you have craving for anything that need steaming, the rice cooker to the rescue!
5. BBQ/frying. I have not tried it on a "basic" cooker (those portable ones with minimal function) before, but with a little bit of cooking oil and ingredient, I guess you can start stir fry them in the pot and it should work.
6. Bake. My wife had tried baking a bread with the rice cooker. It won't be as fluffy as baking them in the oven, but it is still tasty. However, I don't think bread is hard to get item in the world. Bread can be found all over the world!

There are several references describing what you can do with a rice cooker. I will list some of them here.

• 21 Surprising Things You Can Make In A Rice Cooker
• Frying foods in a rice cooker (eHow)
• Rice cooker recipes (Zojirushi)

Other tips

• How to opt for Digi super long life plan. This is a prepaid plan and you can increase the validity duration by opting for Digi super long life plan (to 365 days) at a cost of RM 30.
• Type of cameras that is most useful during travel.
• List of important things to take while traveling oversea.

How to opt for Digi Super Long Life plan

For those who bought Digi prepaid plan for usage in Malaysia, if you wish to preserve the phone number for future use when visiting Malaysia, it is best to get Digi Super Long Life that allows the number to be active for 365 days at the cost of RM 30.

To do this, you will have to change your Call plan to Digi Best Prepaid v4 plan. To do this, dial *128#
You will be given a list of options:

Digi Menu
0 Internet Subscription Packages
1 My Account
2 Super Deals
3 Internet
4 Music
5 Promotion
etc....

Key in 1 and ok, you will be brought to My Account

My Account
1 Balance
2 Reload
3 DG Savers
4 Call Plan
etc....

Key in 4 and ok, and you be shown

Call Plan: Digi Best Prepaid v3 (for example)

In order to change the plan to Digi Best Prepaid v4, you will need to dial *128*1# to change the Call Plan from Digi Best Prepaid v3 (or other plans) to Best Prepaid v4. A cost of RM3 will be deducted from your account. When confirmed, you will be able to change the validity of your plan from months to a year by dialing *128*1*7*3# (which is a short cut to opt for Super Long Life). Alternatively, you can key in step by step to get to the Super Long Life option.

Hope this helped.

If you allow your number to be inactive for a period of time, that number will be RECYCLED, unless you protected that number by added cost. I am not familiar with the plan nowadays.

Car rental with Rojam New Adventure Holiday Sdn. Bhd

Upon arrival at the Langkawi International Airport, we cleared immigration checkpoint and headed to retrieve our baggage. Before exiting the airport, there was a row of counters (more than ten counters) providing car rental services. There was no big names such as Avis, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, or Sime-Darby etc. Most of the counters was probably local companies.

We chose Rojam New Adventure Holiday Sdn. Bhd service. The car available was a Toyota Vios 1.6 and the rate was at RM100 per day. We took three days at RM300 plus RM50 deposit, with a total of RM350. The only setback/cons about the deal was that I had to pay by cash. They did not accept credit card. In a situation such as this, customers are at a disadvantage because:

1. You will have to bring sufficient cash with you and parting RM350 on the first day is too much. You will either need to carry much more cash, or you have to use an ATM to withdraw more cash for subsequent stays.
2. In case of a dispute or refund, it would be more difficult to get a refund if you had paid by cash as compared to credit card. If I'm not mistaken, credit card service do provide minimal protection to users in cases of dispute/fraud etc.

Anyway, to me, I think the first point is more pertinent to my case because I had to deplete my wallet of ringgit before I could even set foot out of the airport. Fortunately, I did prepare sufficient cash for the visit.

When the car was presented to me, my first impression was that the car was not good. The car was making a squealing sound and I highlighted this to the staff there. He said that it was "normal" and I just have to keep the engine running longer to minimize the squealing sound (from the engine). He also pointed out that the Toyota Vios is the last one available. Without much choice, I drove my family to our Hotel at Kuah town center. During the ride, the engine kept making the noise.

Fortunately, the car was able to bring us to plenty of places albeit with plenty of noise alarming other drivers, people, and even animals grazing beside the road. I guess on the bright side is that I won't be getting into any "accident", especially considering that most drivers will be made aware (and alerted) of my presence on the road.

I brought along my Garmin GPS during the trip to Langkawi. It was not a friendly machine and there is no way of doing a quick search like using Google. However, I was able to save locations for subsequent uses and that normally would save me time and hassle. I was able to travel with ease using the GPS, but not all the time because at certain places, the machine would be repeating, "loss of satellite". I tried Waze on my Samsung phone and I hated Waze. Without any Internet connection, Waze is a piece of crap. I was literally traveling on a white canvas because no map was loaded/downloaded due to no internet connection. I have decided to remove the apps upon reaching home. Sigh, when I returned the car to the staff at Rojam, I forgot to retrieve my GPS and left it there in the car. I guess the GPS is lost (considering that the staff had no information regarding my oversea address if they did want to mail it back to me).

For a Malaysian, it's very easy to fill in the application form for car rental service. I had to fill my name, phone number, and probably identification number. Rojam had no GPS rental service, and they don't have a baby seat for babies/toddlers.

The interior of the car was not really clean. The seat was fabric and hence, difficult to really clean it. The interior was a little musty (probably due to high humidity of the place).

All in all, the car did not fail us. There was only one time at Underwater World Langkawi that the car did not start. It was probably due to the heavy rain that probably cooled the engine and made it difficult to start up (especially when the engine was old). Fortunately, after several attempts and switching off the air-con and other electronics, I was able to revive the car.

For our next visit to Langkawi, I think I will opt for locally produced car such as Proton or Perodua. They will be cheaper and work as well as branded cars. Furthermore, some of the local cars might be newer. Also, I will try to look for counters that will accept credit card payment (if any). Alternatively, I will search for car rental services that allowed online booking and hence online payment via credit card. Online car rental services will normally have reviews from patrons and it would serve as a guide to choose for the best deal and friendly service.

Related blogs

• What to expect upon landing Langkawi Intl Airport.
• The hotel we stayed while in Langkawi.
• We visited the largest Langkawi Underwater World.
• We visited the Cenang Beach nearby the Underwater World.
• We visited and enjoyed the hospitality at Mardi Agrotechnology Park in Langkawi (highly recommended and if you like durian, then wait for the season, e.g. from June to August)
• We visited the Langkawi cable car and passed by the waterfall.

Tips during travel

• How to opt for Digi super long life plan. This is a prepaid plan and you can increase the validity duration by opting for Digi super long life plan (to 365 days) at a cost of RM 30.
• Type of cameras that is most useful during travel.
• List of important things to take while traveling over
• Rice cooker on the go for family.

Langkawi Cable Car

That's a place in Langkawi (near the Oriental Village). The whole place is known as Machinchang Cambrian Geoforest Park (and is available in Garmin GPS). Within that area, we could go up the mountain top via the cable car. There are two stops. We visited the sky dome, which is an indoor entertainment center. Then continued to the cable car. There are three stations for commercial photo shoots. We got one at the first station at RM 30. We shun the next two to save money. 

There are plenty of packages for cable car (or Skycab), e.g. Most basic cost RM35 for adult and RM25 for child (2 to 12 years old).

 

Pic. Different rates for different packages of SkyCab.

 

 

Pic. Ticketing counter and child is considered as 2 to 12 years old. Free entry for below 2 years old.

The hill top was cooler than the valley. I think at the bottom it fared 34 degree Celsius. The top was at 25 to 26 degree Celsius. It was windy and cooling that we were tempted to overstay there the whole day.

Going to the toilet costs RM 0.30 to RM 0.50. There is no tissue paper/toilet roll and you have to buy them from the counter before going to the washroom/toilet.

Drinks are not allowed to be carried during SkyCab and visitors will be to leave their drinks before traveling up the Skycab. You can keep your drinks in your bag in order to prevent them from being "confiscated". The rationale for disallowing drinks could be due to making sure visitors who needed drinks (afterwards) may patronize the shops that sell them at the stops. It's more of business sense rather than safety or other reasons.

The scenery at the top is beautiful. The ride up there is a little scary for me, and is considered the steepest cable car ride in Malaysia. The skybridge is still under maintenance and I was told that it will be ready next year 2015. Hopefully it will be open soon.

For adventurous visitors, they may opt for hiking along "animal tracks" and enjoying the trees, flora and fauna, and probably food for mosquitoes (remember to bring along repellents as there might be Aedes mosquitoes although I'm no expert to be certain).

After the cable car ride, we travelled by car to the nearest Telaga Tujuh Waterfall (or Seven Wells Waterfall). The climb was too far for my family and we ended up at the base of the waterfall. It was fun for kids. The pebbles were a little sharp for my liking, and kind of painful to walk on (I'm 74 kg). There were fishes in the stream and the water was cooling. There was no mosquito there, although during the walk to the waterfall, we encountered plenty of mosquitoes. I'm a B+ bloodtype and a magnet to mosquitoes.

There isn't much to do at the Oriental Village. We took plenty of photos. We fed the fishes in the man-made pond. There was a Japanese restaurant with air-conditioning and we had our lunch there (surprised that there wasn't any patron). There were plenty of shops selling souvenirs, clothing, hats, shades, snacks, etc. There was a horse ride but I opted not to take the ride because the horses looked exhausted. I dared not think about the well-being of these horses in the care of the staff there (I hope they are treated well). At the village, there is also a place where you can pat animals (we didn't visit that place).

Do note that there isn't sufficient parking bay for cars and you will have to park elsewhere which is near the bus parking bay. Before entering the Oriental Village, there is a Duck Tour which we did not try. For those who would prefer to travel under shelter and away from the scorching sun, I guess the duck tour is okay.

Related blogs

• What to expect upon landing Langkawi Intl Airport.
• Car rental while in Langkawi.
• The hotel we stayed while in Langkawi.
• We visited the largest Langkawi Underwater World.
• We visited the Cenang Beach nearby the Underwater World.
• We visited and enjoyed the hospitality at Mardi Agrotechnology Park in Langkawi (highly recommended and if you like durian, then wait for the season, e.g. from June to August)

Mardi Agrotechnology Park Langkawi

Our visit to Mardi Agrotechnology Park was made interesting and fun, mainly thank to our guide Ms. Marshuhada and her fellow driver who drove us to different parts of the station/stops around the plantation/orchard. Our guide gave wonderful explanation, helped us took plenty of interesting photos, and made grasshoppers and rings out of palm leaves. For those who are interested to learn how to fold a grasshopper out of palm leaf, visit Youtube entry (Palm Leaf grasshopper by Sanny Ang).

 

Pic. Entrance fee for Malaysian is RM 7 per head. There is a 30 min guided farm tour on an open truck that allowed sight seeing and picture taking. It is a convenient way to travel from one place to the next. The first stop was around plantation field filled with starfruits, dragon fruits, mango, and other trees. The station/stop allowed visitors to savor different types of fruits available. Some of the fruits are seasonal and depending on the month of our visit, we get to savor them, e.g. durian (king of fruits) are available from June to August.

 

 

Pic. Staircase to the counter. The place is also wheelchair friendly with sufficient alternative route catered for wheelchair or baby pram. 

Note for durian lovers, the durian season is from June to August. You can have "all you can eat" durian!

  

Related blogs

• What to expect upon landing Langkawi Intl Airport.
• Car rental while in Langkawi.
• The hotel we stayed while in Langkawi.
• We visited the largest Langkawi Underwater World.
• We visited the Cenang Beach nearby the Underwater World.
• We visited the Langkawi cable car and passed by the waterfall.

Cenang beach and activities

Cenang Beach or Pantai Cenang is a stretch of beach that is near to lots of interesting places to visit, eat and hangout. With a family with kid, our first stop to the area was Underwater World Langkawi. 

Fig. Cenang beach highlighted green. Underwater World Langkawi is pinned.

 

Pic. Smooth/fine sandy beach with lots of activities to try for adventurer. My daughter loved sitting on the beach and building her sand castle. The waves was intriguing to her. The sun was bright and never tires until it sets in the horizon (it's the West side).

 

There are coconut trees that served as shade, but not sufficient to cater for all beach goers. If anyone wants to hide under a shade, parasols are available for rent. Remember to bring sun block/tanning oil, sunglasses/shades, and plenty of water. Coconut drinks are available. A public toilet/shower is available.

Cenang beach is walkable from Underwater World. There are plenty of shops selling beach wears, toys/floats, sand castle tool kit, restaurants, shopping malls (e.g. Coco Valley Pte Ltd), Cenang Mall, and many more that we didn't get to visit.

I didn't try any of these but they are available at the beach:

1. Paragliding
2. Snookering
3. Water scooter rental
4. Sunbathing
5. Swim/dip
6. etc.

Related blogs

• What to expect upon landing Langkawi Intl Airport.
• Car rental while in Langkawi.
• The hotel we stayed while in Langkawi.
• We visited the largest Langkawi Underwater World.
• We visited and enjoyed the hospitality at Mardi Agrotechnology Park in Langkawi (highly recommended and if you like durian, then wait for the season, e.g. from June to August)
• We visited the Langkawi cable car and passed by the waterfall.

Bayview Hotel at Langkawi

Bayview hotel at Langkawi. That's our hotel during our stay here. There is a car park, not spacious but sufficient. There are rooms catered for "sea view" and "hill view". We chose the latter because we wouldn't be staying in the room for long to appreciate the view. The pros about the hotel: there are kettle (for boiling hot water to sterilise and prepare milk for baby), empty fridge (for storing drinks or yogurt, and other food items), friendly staffs, fun facilities/amenities (e.g. swimming pool, gym, and unisex sauna), restaurant (Flamingo), and lounge. Another plus point is that free wifi is provided (which is useful for searching for interesting places).

Fig. Bayview Hotel and the interesting places within driving distance.

Cons are, carpeted floor was a little damp (probably due to high humidity in Langkawi), room was musty (similar to our rented car), and TV didn't pick up any program (probably too remote from any TV signal tower). 

There is a night market nearby the hotel every Wed and Sat. The night market (or "pasar malam") had few stalls that sold food and drinks. There are more stalls selling dresses/souvenirs than food. I thought I would be able to savor skewered meats such as satay, sausage, etc. but was disappointed

 

Breakfast at Flamingo restaurant was okay. Breakfast covered a wide variety of choices. There are roti canai/prata, Nasi Lemak, porridge, fried noodle, French breakfast, Western breakfast, and a variety of fruits. The fruits at Langkawi was sweet.  This is probably due to the hot and sunny climate here. 

The hotel is a walking distance to many shops selling duty free items such as alcoholic drinks and cigarettes. Other items such as chocolate and sweets are not cheaper than home. There are plenty of souvenir shops to get great items.

We got a room for three adults and a kid for SGD 85 per night (inclusive of breakfast and extra bed on top of king size bed). We booked via Agoda dot com. In this hotel, there is a spa (Alun Alun Spa) worth the visit. I had a 30 min message and it was totally relaxing. It was near a gym (with instructor), near a sauna, and swimming pool is open from 7am to 7pm. The best time for a swim would be when the sun is not way up there. It could be very sunny and hot. However, it's a best place to get a tan for those who love the "bake".

Related blogs

• What to expect upon landing Langkawi Intl Airport.
• Car rental while in Langkawi.
• We visited the largest Langkawi Underwater World.
• We visited the Cenang Beach nearby the Underwater World.
• We visited and enjoyed the hospitality at Mardi Agrotechnology Park in Langkawi (highly recommended and if you like durian, then wait for the season, e.g. from June to August)
• We visited the Langkawi cable car and passed by the waterfall.

Underwater world Langkawi

It's the largest underwater world/aquarium in Malaysia. The staffs are friendly. The animals are in good condition. African penguins were adorable. There were plenty of marine animals, some were singletons (probably made that way due to their natural behaviour, e.g. territorial). There were giant spider crabs, amazing seahorses, giant eel, coral fishes, tuna fish, and plenty of others. There was an eatery located half way of the exhibit

At the end of the walk, there were shops selling souvenirs, toys, and chocolates.

Coming soon was "adopt a penguin" program for visitors.

Note that there is no flash photography allowed. However, you can still take pics by disabling flash. You can also capture video of the lively animals in the aquarium. The entry rate for Malaysian is RM 30 per head. There are three main sections to visit, i.e.

1. Antarctic Experience
2. Rainforest (just a brief walk)
3. Marine 

Related blogs

• What to expect upon landing Langkawi Intl Airport.
• Car rental while in Langkawi.
• The hotel we stayed while in Langkawi.
• We visited the Cenang Beach nearby the Underwater World.
• We visited and enjoyed the hospitality at Mardi Agrotechnology Park in Langkawi (highly recommended and if you like durian, then wait for the season, e.g. from June to August)
• We visited the Langkawi cable car and passed by the waterfall.

Langkawi Sunrise seafood restaurant

The restaurant is a walking distance from Bayview Hotel.

Ordered lemon (plum sauce) chicken (small portion, RM 20), salt and pepper mantis shrimp (small, RM 20), home-made special tofu (small, RM 16), daily soup old cucumber (small, RM 15), and home-made barley drinks (RM 3 each), and watermelon juice (RM 5 each). Total bill was RM90.

The place was okay. The staff was friendly. The food was not so good. The lemon chicken was okay because it's fresh, but the sauce and cooking style was not impressive (not memorable). The mantis shrimp was filled with batter to the extent that I can't make out if there is any shrimp at all. The tofu was nice and better than most of them. I didn't like the soup. 

I don't think I'd miss this place although I won't mind trying their other dishes, if chance permit.

 

Related blogs

• What to expect upon landing Langkawi Intl Airport.
• Car rental while in Langkawi.
• The hotel we stayed while in Langkawi.
• We visited the largest Langkawi Underwater World.
• We visited the Cenang Beach nearby the Underwater World.
• We visited and enjoyed the hospitality at Mardi Agrotechnology Park in Langkawi (highly recommended and if you like durian, then wait for the season, e.g. from June to August)
• We visited the Langkawi cable car and passed by the waterfall.

Upon landing at Langkawi Intl Airport

Arrived at Langkawi Intl Airport. Went to immigration checkpoint. There are three counters for foreign passports and one counter allocated for Malaysian and APEC passports. After clearance, we went to baggage collection. Got the bags and headed out. On the way out, before the custom clearance counter, there are rows of counters promoting rental cars. The process is breezy for Malaysian, not sure about other nationals, e.g. requirement for driving license, passport, etc. We got a Vios 1.6 for a total of RM300 for three days. The car was with fabric seat, not really clean, musty, and the engine was making squealing noise. At least it was moving... There is no child seat, no GPS. There is minimal insurance coverage.

Driving in Langkawi is no problem. The drivers in Malaysia is generally friendly. Of course you will meet a handful of ugly drivers, but in Langkawi, it's way better than in highly congested cities. To drive in Langkawi is hence very convenient to explore more places of interest at the shortest and flexible time.

Language is no problem. Most people we met spoke English. Knowing Malay will be advantageous sometimes :)

We didn't spend too much time at the airport. A brief walk indicated that there are duty free shops selling liquor, chocolates, cigarettes, and others. There is a Tourist Information counter, phone shop to get a prepaid SIM card or to top up talktime credits (Hotlink; didn't notice other counters). There are restaurants/eateries and places to suit and drink coffee. At the airport, you can get a taxi. I didn't take one. We drove off with our squealing car.

Related blogs

• Car rental while in Langkawi.
• The hotel we stayed while in Langkawi.
• We visited the largest Langkawi Underwater World.
• We visited the Cenang Beach nearby the Underwater World.
• We visited and enjoyed the hospitality at Mardi Agrotechnology Park in Langkawi (highly recommended and if you like durian, then wait for the season, e.g. from June to August)
• We visited the Langkawi cable car and passed by the waterfall.

Air Asia flight from Singapore to Langkawi

We got a best buy for the airfare. Added extra cost for seat selection so that family members can be seated together. Added SGD 45 for a baggage check in. We travelled with our 2 plus year old girl. The seats were spacious and comfy. The plane was clean and fresh. I studied the menu. The selection was savory. I wanted to try the Pak Nasser's Nasi Lemak but I've got other food with me (so, probably on my travel home I'll order that). I've tried the coffee, asked for 3-in-1 and surprisingly, it was nice. It was just RM6. The travel time was just 1 and half hour.

All in all, it was a short pleasant trip.

 

Related blogs

• What to expect upon landing Langkawi Intl Airport.
• Car rental while in Langkawi.
• The hotel we stayed while in Langkawi.
• We visited the largest Langkawi Underwater World.
• We visited the Cenang Beach nearby the Underwater World.
• We visited and enjoyed the hospitality at Mardi Agrotechnology Park in Langkawi (highly recommended and if you like durian, then wait for the season, e.g. from June to August)
• We visited the Langkawi cable car and passed by the waterfall.