Oct 18, 2009

Going to Langkawi

frostier / People and Places / abstract, holiday, langkawi, trip / 0 Comment

Langkawi Island is located at the northwestern coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Being the Jewel of Kedah, it is an archipelago of 99 islands and famous for being a duty-free island. Note that Malaysia is the country whereby implying the heavy sin taxes. Thus, being able to go to Langkawi will means cheaper booze and freaking cheap cigarettes.

Known as one of the tourism spot, Yatz and I were on our journey (or yat and only journey…) to Langkawi last week. Being my first time to Langkawi Island, there were plentiful of tourism spots for me to feast on. With Yatz previous experience of taking the bus which leads to winding road and long hours, we decided to Get the Deal from the national carrier – Malaysia Airlines. It is as low as RM69 one way. You need to sign up with for the updates from the Get-the-Deal packages. Tempting to go to K.Kinabalu or Tawau now. More seafood!!!!

Anyway, back to our trip that the two of us we giving our first time together. For me, it was my first time to Langkawi despite being a Malaysian whom never visited Langkawi for its cheap booze. Not even during my teen years. As for Yatz, it was his first time flying. Never been on a plane, I find myself as doing a documentary shooting for Yatz in our 3 Day 2 Night stay. *mental note to Yatz: you should give me chocolates that you bought from there… mana itu Ferrero Rocher?*

I took a cab from Gombak on the Friday morning to KL Sentral which cost me RM11.30. Not bad except the heavy traffic at the Jalan Tun Razak intersection near to the Flat Pekeliling. The taxi driver and I talked a lot which reminds me of the short film from 15Malaysia. Yatz was there when I reached KL Sentral. I almost couldn’t recognize Yatz with his new look. I was searching for a young tall white male with a long hair. Silly me.

First, we try to get the ERL ticket first followed by checking in. Realized that if we were to check in our luggage in KL Sentral, it has to be 2 hours before the flight. I told Yatz the night before whether he wanted to check in online or only when we were at KL Sentral. We choose the latter one. We took the ERL which was only 28 minutes trip and arrived in KLIA sooner that we estimated. The ticket only cost us RM35 each. Not bad for a 28 minutes ride.

We boarded the flight MH1446 – a Boeing 737-400 which can caters up to 144 seating with the wing spanning 28.90m. The maximum fuel capacity is 6200 US Gallons and can reach the cruising speed of Mach 0.74. That’s 797 km/h. MAS have about 37 unit of this aircraft.

Inside the flight, seated at the seat number 23E I told Yatz I wanted to pick the seat next to the aisle so I can meet up with Anges Soh again and snap some pictures of her sweet smile snap some photo of the cabin crew when they doing the demonstration how to put on the life jacket when emergency happens. With the spacing between the front and back seat, I was able to move around adjusting my position to shoot the cabin crew.

Contrary from what I imagine how long the flight might take based on my previous flight (back in 10 years old then) which took more than 30 min from Johor Bahru to Kuala Lumpur, we were doing touchdown around 2pm-ish. That was pretty fast and I was expecting they served muffins (like back in 15 years ago). Well, cannot complain about the meal when the flight ticket is now lower and affordable compared to last time. If were to compare to other airlines, this one comes free.

Since it was my first time being in Langkawi, I leave the planning to Yatz. First of all, we get a car. This is to enable the ease of moving from 1 place to another – since we will be running around the island. So, we approached or being approached by the car rental provider within the airport itself. Either way, I could not hinder myself from getting from this company. Yes, the sales girl was practically showing off her cleavage. Non-intentional because it only happens when she leaned forward to explain the cars available and the accommodation available in Pantai Cenang.

In the midst of the discussion, we opted for the brand new Proton Saga which was a couple month old compared to year old Sentra. The difference was only RM60 per day. Well, like they say.. “belilah barangan buatan Malaysia”. With the transportation settled, time to hunt for the accommodation. According to Yatz, the best place to stay is along the Cenang Beach. They have endless fine sandy beach that is stretch long. By the way, it is a happening place too.

We rented a room at Mali Perdana Resort. Our room was just right next to the beach. I could hear the waves from the sea hitting to the shores. In fact, on the second night there were some guys there were doing film shooting. It was a decent room with reasonable price tag on it. It comes with aircon, water heater, tv and wifi. *note : Langkawi got 3G Maxis coverage, don’t play play.*

By the time we settled both the car and the place to stay, it was around 5pm. Haste not, Yatz and I headed to Awana Porto Malai to take some photos. Time for me to try out Chua’s Sigma wide angle. It was a quiet place. Peaceful and calm. The majestic of the building give me the feeling of exquisite. Wonder how does the room interior looks like. Meantime, I was getting busy myself trying to catch some angle and a couple of nice shots.

Soon, the day is getting dark and it seems like the sun is settling down. We headed to Cenang Beach to take some sunset shots. The Lighthouse Restaurant at the end of Cenang Beach claimed that it has the best sunset view. Most of the patrons are the foreigners that visiting Langkawi Island. I couldn’t resist but to take some photos of it.

When we were on the move, Yatz notice the signboard “Fat Mum Seafood Restaurant” which he told me that this place must come and eat. It was recommended by his friend for Fat Mum’s famous “Noodle on Fire”. Little that we know that the Fat Mum famous not just for her specialty noodle on fire but her tofu, homemade noodles and more.

Yes, more detail about Fat Mum later on. She even got Facebook.

For the rest of the photos, check out my facebook albums:-

1. Sunset at Langkawi’s Cenang Beach
2. Langkawi Island Day 1

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