The Unplanned Trip of Penang/Langkawi 2008: Langkawi

May 26, 2008 in Close Encounters of Misadventuring Kind, Holiday Mayhem, Non-Events
Tags: Air Asia, cable car, Chong Yi Xiang, Chow Zhen Long, Langkasuka Hotel Penang, Langkawi, Langkawi Oriental Village, LCCT, Lee Sze Shee, Penang, rented car, road trip, Su Yintse

For the sanity of my readers (yes, the few of you) and myself, I am pondering breaking up my recent holiday to Penang and Langkawi into a few parts, but if I am feeling up to it, I may just mix everything together into a blog post of gigantic proportions. Anyway, I just returned to Seremban late yesterday afternoon after a grueling 6 hour bus ride from Penang.

To sum it all up, it was absolutely fun from the get go!

We took a Air Asia flight from LCCT to Langkawi on Thursday morning, right after Manchester United won the Champions League, so a) I was ecstatic and b) I was a walking zombie with a luggage and bag pack. I was really expecting Air Asia to announce that they were the official low cost airline for the Champions of Europe, but alas, as they want business from Chelsea fans as well, they were smart to not rub the Moscow defeat in their blue from heartache faces.

And yes, that is our mode of transportation!

If you know my friends and I well enough, you’ll know that we can camwhore anywhere, whether in the LCCT McDonalds or even up in the sky! It was a really short journey though, as it took us under an hour of babies wailing and screaming to reach our destination.

We managed to obtain some kick-ass window seats. This is the view from where we were seated; breathtaking to the core.

Welcome to Langkawi, readers of the Good, the Bad, and the Plain Old Lazy!

The first order of business was to rent a car. I have no idea why Yi Xiang was so deliriously happy at the prospect of acquiring a beat-up looking Proton Wira. I mean, you see one beat-up looking Wira and you have seen it all.

A short while later, and we were checked into our room at Langkasuka.

With the formalities out the window, we were now ready for our unplanned road trip of Langkawi Day ONE! And what would be an unplanned road trip like without a driver, a map, and a navigator?

First stop was the Langkawi Oriental Village Cable Car!

I am petrified of heights among other scary non-paranormal related stuff, so I was really reluctant to follow my friends up the cable car, but in the end, I took one for the team!

Despite my fear and obvious anxiety, the view was impeccable from the top.

None of these photos were taken using my camera, thanks to my other fear of things falling from a high place.

I could not wait to kiss the ground an hour later. Hallelujah!

Next up, we went to Telaga Tujuh or the Seven Wells Waterfall which was just a few minutes away from the Oriental Village.

Everything was fine and dandy, but we really did not expect to walk THAT far to see the sights.

The water was cool, and the view was great.

I even managed to take a photo of Zhen Long taking a photo of Yi Xiang’s ass while Yi Xiang was taking a photo for the girls. Totally perverted behavior! Caught in the act!

Next up, we took a rather long trip towards the Black Sand beach after some wrong turns here and there which were totally not my fault if only partially!

Pasir Hitam was black alright, but presently it is really hard to distinguish between whether it is dirty dirty or naturally dirty-looking black. You be the judge.

We were there for quite a bit, admiring the scenery of an otherwise deserted beach.

Yeah I know, my penmanship may not be the most exquisite, but I blame it on the black sand running out at the crucial moment.

After more camwhoring, we headed for Kuah where we had a totally overpriced dinner and some duty-free shopping where we got some really yummy chocolates and some beer which I still cannot bear to consume due to my recent drunken experience which included some hangover pain.

We also managed to stop by the jetty and the Langkawi Eagle.

This might look like an ordinary photo of the Langkawi Eagle, but look closely, we are actually in the photo albeit miniature sized!

Not convinced, here is the close-up.

After limited rest, island hopping was the name of the game the next day.

The tour would take us to the likes of the Pregnant Lady Island, eagle feeding, and an unknown sandy beach.

Ok fine, it does look like a pregnant lady, but gosh, it really sucks when your only claim to fame is the mountains on an island looking like a lady in full baby-bearing mode. Well, we Malaysians really know how to milk it.

Next up, we went to the island where catfishes bite your feet.

I do not know if they bring anything healthy onto the table, but hey, it was part of the deal, so hell be damned if I don’t let those fish bite my feet off. And before anybody says anything, those feet do not belong to me.

The islands we visited were infested with monkeys. No, not those monkeys from the Balinese Monkey Forests which are friendly and cute; these monkeys if we can call them that are a cross between a miniature King Kong and a pissed off Chucky! One monkey stole our water bottle while some other tourists were forced to give up their food.

There were some tourists who were man enough to oppose the iron fists of the monkeys. Did he succeed. Let’s just say that guy will have nightmare of monkeys in the foreseeable future.

The biggest bummer was eagle feeding. The boat driver fed the eagles. We just watched and tried not to get sea sick. False advertising!

We went to an unknown sandy beach as our last destination. It was really scintillating!

Not for our two resident candle princesses though as they took refuge under a tree.

After that, we fled back to the hotel at around 1 pm in hopes of catching the 2.30 pm ferry to Penang. There was also the small issue of returning our rented car as well as buying the ferry tickets. Would we reach in time? Would we miss the ferry? Would we ever get some lunch?

The answers to those age-old questions and more when the Good, the Bad, and the Plain Old Lazy returns with the sights and sounds of Penang as the Unplanned Trip of Penang/Langkawi 2008 returns in a few days.

Till then, anyone who is interested in seeing the full extent of fun we had in Langkawi, here is the link from my Facebook album.