Langkawi
Island was the second and final Malaysian island we visited whilst travelling
Southeast Asia, and it was also our last stop in Malaysia before we headed on
to Thailand. 
The
ferry between the two islands was pretty painless, minus the early morning,
although they did play Ted 2 on the ferry full of children, which made for
quite an uncomfortable viewing. If you’ve seen either of the Ted films, you’ll
know what I mean. 

The
main beach and touristy area of Langkawi Island is Pantai Cenang, which is a
fair distance from the side of the island that the ferry arrives. Hilariously,
the two guys we had shared a taxi with in Penang were also on our ferry so we
all took advantage of the situation again and split the cost of the
journey. 
Our first night of three in Langkawi was spent at White Lodge Chalet. Our
initial thoughts were that we wanted to stay somewhere on the beach, but the
place we chose only had availability for the second two nights, so we stayed at
White Lodge Chalet for the first night, which was one road back from the beach.
In retrospect we would much rather have stayed here for the whole three nights;
it had a lovely feel to it and the rooms were so clean and were decorated in a
way that made it feel much more expensive than it was. It was a little over
budget I suppose, so we couldn’t really have stayed here any longer, but it set
our expectations far too high for the next place. 

Once
we’d dropped our bags at White Lodge, we went out for some lunch at Yellow
Beach Cafe before walking along Pantai Cenang. Langkawi, or at least Cenang,
was very different to what we’d experienced in Penang. The beach was very
commercialised and full of water sports, and the main strip could have been
placed in almost any touristy beach town in the world. I guess what I’m saying
is that this part of the island just didn’t have much character. 

We
also spent some time on Pantai Tengah, the next beach along, which was much
quieter, both in terms of the volume of people and the noise from water sports. 

That
evening we stumbled across a creperie, My French Factory, run by a French
couple. It was a welcomed break from noodles and rice, although we definitely
made up for the lack of carb-related bloating by just plain eating too much.
Come on, how could you resist?!

The
next morning we had to move hotels to Mali Mali Beach Resort, and like I said,
we were a little disappointed. Having been told our room would be ready in half
an hour multiple times only to be sent away again, we finally entered our room
to find that it was full of mosquitos (but with no mosquito net or hooks) and
generally a bit dirty. Plus, the beach bar (which was part of the reason we
chose the ‘resort’) was under construction. 
Instead
we headed to another bar, Thirstday, before spending the rest of the day
swimming and watching this amazing sunset. 

It
was back to Malaysian cuisine that evening, and we had a great green curry and
veg and cashew from Rose Tea 2. 
We
weren’t sure what to do for our final day in Langkawi, and although it was a
little over our budget, we decided on visiting Panorama Langkawi, the Cable
Car, as it was voted as the top thing to do on the island. 
Panorama
Langkawi was well worth the ten pounds on taxis and the eight pounds each for
entry, as the views from 708 meters above sea level are spectacular. 

You
can also pay a little extra to go on the SkyBridge, which was completely
submerged in cloud whilst we were there. 

Close
to here is Seven Wells, a waterfall with natural pools you can swim in.
Swimming was a lot of fun and it was a great way to end our time in both
Langkawi and Malaysia. 

I also vlogged our stay which gives an even better impression of Langkawi, so give that a watch and subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss the vlogs from the rest of the trip!


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