Beautiful islands in Malaysia: Two days on Langkawi

Finally resuming the South-East Asian series, I will proceed with Langkawi, one of three destinations in Malaysia we visited around Silvester 2017.

We spent two days on this island and were very happy with our exploring achievements.

Padang Lalang (c) Cedrik Neumann

One of the must-do’s is the SkyCab, the longest free span mono-cable car. By the way, you can buy the tickets online (http://www.panoramalangkawi.com/buy-ticket/) and I would recommend you to do so as the queues get sometimes very long.

Langkawi’s SkyCab (c) Cedrik Neumann

For extra 5 MYR you can step on the longest free span and curved bridge in the world (as they state it on the internet site). The bridge is indeed huge and spectacular. It can be even literally breathtaking if you look down!

SkyBridge (c) Cedrik Neumann

Moments which take your breath away (c) Cedric Neumann

The little touristic village surrounding the SkyCab has plenty of shops and even a small market selling local food.

Local treats

We lived close to the beaches Pantai Cenang and Pantai Tengah (“pantai” is a beach in Malay). However, we liked the Tanjung Rhu Beach more – it’s cleaner and less boats are sailing along.

Pantai Tengah

Tanjung Rhu Beach (c) Cedrik Neumann

Unfortunately, the most beautiful part of the beach was private and we were politely invited to leave it.

Tanjung Rhu Beach (c) Cedrik Neumann

From the Tanjung Rhu Beach you can walk about one hour to Padang Lalang where one of the Malay night markets takes place. While we were walking, the sun went down and we witnessed a stunning sunset over the old plant.

Padang Lalang (c) Cedrik Neumann

The Ayer Hangat Friday night market was definitely the best experience of the stay on the island. It is held every Friday from 17:30 to 22:00 in Padang Lalang, Air Hangat, Langkawi. We were impressed by the size of the event – the rows of stalls seemed endless, thus we couldn’t decide what else to try: the huge variety of local food cooked by Malay families tasted great but the volume of our stomachs was limited.

Ayer Hangat night market (c) Cedrik Neumann

Normally, I try to avoid the street food in the Asian countries, but this time we have forgotten all our prejudices and savored the delicious (and really cheap, 2-8 MYR) treats. By the way, the night markets are organized almost every day at different locations: you can find more information here: http://www.langkawi-info.com/shopping/night-markets-langkawi.htm.

Ayer Hangat night market (c) Cedrik Neumann

Night food market stalls (c) Cedrik Neumann

Langkawi is a duty-free island, therefore the prices for the alcohol are very low. However, everyone has to show their IDs in the shop in order to proof their ability to purchase alcohol: the amount of alcohol sold to one person is limited to 72 tins of beer and five liters of strong stuff a month. The locals, who are Muslims, are not allowed to buy it. Many restaurants don’t serve alcoholic drinks at all. But here is good thing: you can freely bring your alcohol to the restaurants where it is not sold and simply add it to your non-alcoholic cocktails.

From all the bars in the Cenang area, I would suggest you to spend an evening at the Yellow Beach Café (Jalan Pantai Tengah, Pantai Tengah, 07000 Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia) with its proximity to the ocean and relaxed atmosphere.

The Yellow Beach Cafe (c) Cedrik Neumann

I can recommend you a place to enjoy the delicious cheap local food: Melayu Malay (Jl. Teluk Baru, 07000 Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia) Try Masala Lemak chicken and beef rending.

Masala Lemak Chicken (c) Cedrik Neumann

To our surprise, on the opposite side of the road from the restaurant we discovered a family of cows lying untied on the ground in the darkness, just like that…

Cow on the road

The taxi price on Langkawi is fixed: it costs around 30-40 MYR all around the island. My advice: don’t be scared off by the long lines to get a taxi at the airport. If you decide (like us) to go outside and walk a bit to stop a passing by taxi, you will realize than no taxi stop there and you are doomed to walk back to the airport. We had a rare luck and managed to stop a private person who was speaking good English and took pity on the tourists.

The arrival point for the most of the ferries is Kuah, the main town on Langkawi. There you can catch a speedboat to Koh Lipe (what we in fact deed) and to Penang (we headed there after several days at Koh Lipe). So, you probably can guess what my next posts will be about. Stay tuned!