Langkawi island is a simple and rather touristy town. It has the 'kampung' feel everywhere, except along Cenang beach which feels more like Phuket, and Kuah town which is the commercial centre and shopping hub. I wanted to stay in a unique accommodation, somewhere tranquil but not too far from Cenang beach and I'm so glad I chose Tanabendang Banglos!
This resort is owned by Shariffah Azlina, a lovely and kind lady who lives there. She hosts all her guests personally and also takes care of the resort hands-on. There are only 6 traditional kampung houses, in a row with one side facing a paddy field. It is SO peaceful and relaxing to just lay in bed and look out of the window! Without further ado, photos!
My dad, the boys and I stayed in this quad room, the first house after the entrance.
There is a small garden in front of our house, so I think this house has the most relaxing view from the balcony.
Upon entering the front door.
This is the only house with 2 double beds.
Note: The mattress is the hard type. Some people don't mind it, but I couldn't sleep well on it because I'm bony! Haha.
View from the bed.
Wash basins and bathroom entrance.
The bathroom and toilet.
The adorable wooden bathtub.
The chill balcony.
Just a few steps away is the pool and dining area. There is also a small kitchen here.
Me and grandma.
The host also offer her Toyota Avanza for rent if you need a car to get around, which was perfect for 7 of us. The charge was RM100 for 24 hours.
On our first night, we went to Orchid Ria Seafood Restaurant along Cenang Beach and then walked along the row of stalls mostly selling local crafts and souvenirs.
There are also many tour companies where you can book your tours and activities like island-hopping, mangrove tour, hiking etc.
Our first breakfast at the resort, personally bought by the host. She even takes requests if you have any.
Nasi lemak.
Kuih-muih.
Coffee, tea and Milo.
At 10am, we drove to Skycab station which took 40 minutes where certain parts were winding roads.
I must say, I DID NOT expect the place to be so crowded! There are time slots to book your cable car tickets and we got the 1pm slot, so we had 1.5 hours to kill. But worry not! The ticket package includes 3D Art Museum, SkyDome and SkyRex. So we spent a good whole hour in the 3D Art Museum.
You can see who was the most enthu in The 3D Art Musuem...hahah.
Our cable car slot was delayed by 30 minutes because of strong wind condition. Then it rained quite heavily!
The snake queue in the station.
Thank God the weather cleared when it was our turn! So blessed!
There is a stretch towards the middle station that goes scarily steep.
Not in this photo as I was freaking out already...
Breathtaking view from the middle station. I learnt that you don't have to alight at the middle station and continue the ride to the top station where the Skybridge is at.
At 4pm, we finally set foot on the Skybridge! What a day!
The wind was very strong on the bridge, so strong that at one point I felt like it was going to blow my skinny body off. Quite scary.
There is a rabbit petting area at the Skycab station.
There is also a row of stalls selling finger food like mango rice, curry puffs, kacang putih and steamed kacang tanah, popcorn etc. This ice cream is the most unique because the 'cone' is a U-shaped corn cracker and it tastes delightful!
Our host recommended us this restaurant at the jetty. It was quite hard to find the location or direction at first because we didn't have the exact name. But we managed to find it after asking some locals along the way.
The food is local Malay style but has a Thai influence. In fact, a lot of restaurants in Langkawi have that as well. There is always a steamed lime fish on every menu.
Such a relaxing place to dine.
Mangrove tour on the next day! It is very easy to find these tours everywhere on the island. We booked ours through 012-4787561, as recommended by our host because they speak better English.
In our RM100 per adult package, the itinery included return hotel transfer, visit to fish farm (kelong), eagle watching, mangrove cruising, monkey stop, bat cave, Geopark icon, lunch at the fish farm and a beach stop.
Tanjung Rhu beach, which is the beach stop in the itinery. Honestly, this isn't the best beach I've seen.
Our guide briefing us on the itinery, do's and don'ts with scattered jokes.
See? Not the best beach.
Our boat ride.
Fishing farm (kelong). Among the creatures they showed us are parrot fishes (don't eat them please, they help to restore the corals), giant trevally, humongous groupers, the spitting Archerfishes and horseshoe crab.
Eagle watching.
Mangrove cruising.
We fed monkeys here.
We had to disembark to visit the bat cave. It is actually small cave, not that spectacular I would say. But a good experience to see bats.
Our dinner at Paradise restaurant in Kuah. We decided not to go around Kuah town because it looked like a regular Malaysia Chinese town. So we went back to Cenang area and shopped for chocolates at Coco Valley.
On our last day, we woke up earlier to go to Skytrex Adventure park as I booked the earliest slot of the day at 9am. Since it was their first time, they tried the 'Little Legend' route for beginners. Darren was exhilarated, and Daniel was a little bored because it was very easy. Haha.
The trainer and guide teaching them how to use the harness equipment.
The favourite part is the zipline.
After the sweaty adventure, the boys chilled at the pool while my dad and I drove out to the nearest nasi campur stall to buy lunch back. DELICIOUS.
That concludes our holiday!
No comments:
Post a Comment