Hi all,
You know something? All these while when I am writing about almost anything that came to my mind, I forgot something that is close to my heart. The place I live, Langkawi. An idyllic, quiet little place surrounded by mountains and stretch and stretch of beaches. Well, not totally quiet as in some other islands but compared to other places in Malaysia, our island is peaceful and readily welcoming anybody who wish to spend their holidays here.
If the write up is going to be too long, then I will break into two parts. Right, let's start up with accessibility. One can always get on a plane from Kuala Lumpur or Penang to reach here. Especially from Kuala Lumpur, the flights available are almost hourly once. It takes about 1 hour to reach here. There are Malaysia Airlines, Air Asia, Firefly and Malindo Air. Take your pick. Check the flight rate regularly. Sometimes when you least expect it, you'll hit the best rate available.
Then, there are boats leaving either from Kuala Kedah (Kedah region) or Kuala Perlis (Perlis region) that leaves daily. First boat usually leaves at 07:30hrs (either way) and the last ferry departs from both sides are at 19:00hrs. Tickets from Kuala Kedah is RM 23.00 per person and RM 18.00 per person from Kuala Perlis. Trip from Kuala Kedah takes about one and a half hour whereas from Kuala Perlis takes about forty five minutes.
Don't expect the boat to leave on time. There usually be a leeway of about 10 ~ 15 minutes before the boat actually departs from the pier.
The island has about 103,000 population (I got the figures from Langkawi District Office website) with the Malays being the majority. Our crime rate is relatively low. I can leave my car engine on for 10 ~ 20 minutes to get my grocery stocks in a supermarket without worrying about my car being stolen. So what if it were to be stolen? Where can they go? I'll get it back one way or the other (I can say this coz I am on an island). I will only lock if I left something inside the car. However, it is still advisable to be careful. Better to be safe than sorry.
Car rental operators are in abundance on this island. Langkawi is known for it's tax free status, thus cars are cheap over here. That makes renting a car is truly affordable. One can get a rental car for as cheap as RM60.00 per day (24 hours) depending on the seasons. I must emphasize on the insurance coverage. Some of the cars rented out don't have an insurance coverage. Those cars with coverage will come visibly higher in price compared than the ones without it. If, by any chance you decided to drive the ones without coverage, you might be flagged down by a traffic police and issued a ticket for it. It's the chance you have to take or if you were to get involve in a car accident, then you will have to fork out your own money to pay for the damage of the car you're driving and if you are at fault, then for the car that you collide with as well.
This island is full of luxury cars from all made. The roads on this island is quite well-maintained. You may at some point think of speeding since the road is almost empty and passing cars were scarce especially late at night or early mornings. These are the time you must be extra alert as some roaming cows or buffaloes might be crossing or worse still, sleeping on the roads like its their home.
Food: Food everywhere you go. If you decided to stay at the famous Pantai Cenang area, the whole stretch of this road were filled with restaurants. Just name whatever food you have in mind. I am pretty sure it's there. Only thing is, all these restaurants are mostly catered for tourists thus the price is a tourist price.
I will give some ideas as to where you could have some good food without burning your pockets.
For Muslims, most of the little restaurants or coffee shops are halal as the food handler are Muslims.
For seafood :
1) Selera Nelayan Restaurant. Not too cheap but acceptable. (Malay Seafood)
If you are coming from Kuah Town heading towards Pantai Cenang, once you passed by
general hospital, (which should be on your right), drive about another 100meter until you reached the
traffic light, take a left turn and drive slowly for roughly another 200meter.
You will have to drive down a little slope and there you are. It looks shabby but the
seafood items are truly fresh.
2) Wonderland Restaurant : Chinese seafood Restaurant situated in Kuah town. Also quite
affordable. If it's your first time to this island, you will find it a bit confusing to find. What I
can say is that the restaurant is close by to Bella Vista Hotel. This restaurant was separated from
Bella Vista Hotel by a little canal.
3) For a cheap locally cooked western food, head to EE Burger. The locals often frequented
this shop as there are varieties to choose from. This place is in the same area as
Wonderland Restaurant. They have almost everything you may wish to eat.
4) For Thai food lovers, do try this restaurant, Wan Thai Restaurant. Also in Kuah Town.
This restaurant was not centrally located in town. Kind of hidden. You need to find either
Affin Bank, Bank Simpanan Nasional, Hotel Bahagia or Kamdar (textile supermarket).
About 150 meters away from these banks. I tried a couple of times and was satisfied with
the food. Reasonable price.
5) Mangoes Bar & Grill : A true Western Style of cooking. The price is good (for European
standard) and even quite affordable for local standard. So if you're here for a few weeks
and missing home, maybe you could head to this little place and get acquainted with these
lovely people. The owner is a couple from Australia/Germany. Address : Kuala Teriang.
Simply stop and ask directions from the local. They'd be delighted to show you the place.
There are hundreds of other restaurants mushrooming on this island. All you have to do is stick out your head around and look out for your favorite food.
By the way, there are a few of fast food restaurants around as well such as :
Kenny Rogers (Jetty Point, Kuah),
1) Mc Donalds (Kuah Town and Pantai Cenang),
2) KFC (Kuah Town, Telaga Harbour and Pantai Cenang)
3) Artissan's Pizza (Kuah, Pantai Cenang and Telaga Harbour) : delivery is available depending on the area.
Shopping in Langkawi: Don't get deceived with the tax free island status. It doesn't mean everything is cheap. In fact, having meals at a restaurant may cost you more that what you can have in the mainland. This may be due to food items that had to be imported from Thailand or mainland.
One can get really cheap stuff such as liquors, cigarettes and chocolates and oh, dishware and crockery as well. You can get all these items at a truly amazing price. Anybody interested in a car? That's a steal too!
I guess I will stop here for today and will continue with the second part within these few days. Just in case you guys were wondering if you can rely on my review on this island, the answer is yes (confidently) as I have been here since 1994. So I know quite well about this island. Send me an email should you wish to know more about it. I'll be happy to help you the best I can.
Bye for now and watch out for the next entry.
Lots of love,
Rose
1st. July '13
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