Visit Malaysia Year 2014 - Underwater World, Langkawi

To support Visit Malaysia Year 2014, I will be writing on various tourist attractions in the country. Let us work together to bring in tourists to our lovely Malaysia.

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If you grew up watching The Little Mermaid or any underwater movies, you will be enchanted by the beauty of this mystical world and would immediately sign up for diving lessons. But, if you don't know how to swim like me or have phobia of open water, then Underwater World Langkawi is your best solution.

There's more than marine life in the park

A popular attraction in the island, there are more to the theme park than just watching the marine creatures as they have other animals as well. However, as this being Underwater World, these sea darlings take the centre stage. 

The crew of Underwater World feeding the sea creatures

The park itself is 8 sections, namely sub antartic section, temperate section, tropical rainforest section, freshwater section, marine life section, coral section, koi pond and otter pond sections and reptilium section. Personally, the section I enjoyed the most has to be the sub antartic section for it was in this part of the park where the adorable casts of Happy Feet are at.

Angelfish

Corals are aplenty in the theme park

Nothing beats watching these penguins interacting with each other and moving around. In fact, just looking at them doing nothing worth every penny of the ticket for me. Instead of going to North Pole or South Pole, all I have to do is just to purchase the entrance ticket to the theme park and I can see them up clsoe and personal.

The cast of Happy Feet!

Aren't they all adorable?

Info Box

Underwater World,
Zon Pantai Cenang, Mukim Kedawang, 07000 Langkawi.
Open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. During public or school holidays, the park opens and closes at 9.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. respectively.

Tickets are priced at RM 40 for adults (RM 30 with MyKad) and RM 30 for children between 3 to 12 years old (RM 20 with MyKad). Malaysian senior citizens over 50 years old with MyKad can purchase the entrance tickets at a lower rate of RM 24.
For more information, click here.

Visit Malaysia Year 2014 - Mangrove Tour, Langkawi

To support Visit Malaysia Year 2014, I will be writing on various tourist attractions in the country. Let us work together to bring in tourists to our lovely Malaysia.

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For some, Langkawi is the perfect island paradise, with beautiful beaches, unlimited supplies of duty-free liquors, sunny weather, et cetera. Personally, my best moment in Langkawi had to be during the mangrove tour.

Kilim jetty

In Langkawi, it is rather common to do half-day trips, either island hopping or mangrove tour. There are many agencies near the jetty that offer these tours. You can also book it through the front desk of your hotels which was what we did. Back then, we chose mangrove tour and it was a wise decision.

Breath-taking view of the Andaman Sea

The itinerary of the trip was as followed. After fetching us from the hotel, we were brought to Kilim jetty where our journey began. We made a few stops (Gua Kelawar or Bat Cave, floating fish farm, eagle watching, lunch, isolated beach) before heading back to the island late afternoon.

Feeding stingrays in the fish farm

The tour was enjoyable. The floating fish farm was an informative adventure on the marine creatures as you get to see and touch some of them as well. Personally, my favourite part has to be the eagle watching. Seeing these regal animals soaring up in the sky is just magnificent. It has to be the best part of the whole Langkawi trip. You can read it here and here.

Regal eagles soaring up the sky

Info Box

Langkawi mangrove tour,

Langkawi, 07000 Langkawi, Kedah.

Tours start from 9 a.m.

Prices depend on the packages offered by tour agencies.

Langkawi - Mangrove Tour - Part 2

After the floating fishing farm where we had the opportunity of feeding stingrays, we then cruised off to the next destination, to watch the mighty eagles soaring up in the air. Oh, yea, before eagle watching, there was this Crocodile Cave but there is little to talk about so I’ll just skip it. Back to the eagle watching, which is simply magnificent and highlight of the tour, to see them flying freely and almighty in the sky. More photos after the jump.

Langkawi - Mangrove Tour - Part 1

*I seriously in need to wrap up my Langkawi trip already. I mean, it’s been almost 2 months and I’m just beginning on Day 2. I’ll definitely get it done, hopefully by end of the month.*

So, after the simple night eating by the quay, chatting up, the next day, it’s time to get eventful. I mean, we need to get something done, to do something everyone ought to do when in Langkawi and since we had failed at the cable car, we went for the mangrove tour. After our breakfast provided by the hotel, we arranged with the hotel receptionist for the mangrove tour. By 9ish (supposed to be 9am but Malaysians being Malaysians…), a van was here to fetch us off to the Kilim terminal where the expedition to the wildlife began.

Jetty at Kilim river

Langkawi - Perdana Quay

The sun was mercilessly glaring right into our eyes, forcing us to shield it from the brightness when we stepped our feet off the jetty terminal. There is little doubt that we were on an island soil, the heat of the sun being our evidence. It was already around 3pm and we were behind our itinerary by 3 hours. Right after we had done with our car rental business, off we went to our hotel to check in and drop off our luggage.

First time using GPS

Our hotel room

We tried to take off with our itinerary, going straight to the Langkawi Cable Car station to go up the hill for the scenic view but another thing that was off from our mind was how far it is from the town center. About an hour of car ride and no thanks to the GPS device which led us the scenic road, by the time we parked the car, it was around 5pm, leaving us about 2 hours at most for the views at the top of the mountain excluding the queue to get the tickets and the cable car ride itself. Therefore, it was postponed to the last day itself (which, unfortunately, we failed to see it through) and we spent the time at the oriental village, doing what we do best, shopping.

Gateway to the cable car

A view by the lake (man made)

Souvenirs to buy

After that, we went to the nearby Perdana Quay for a stunning view of the sunset with the many yachts docking there making a breathtaking vision. Everyone was playing model with the view as background. When photo taking session was over, we had a simple meal at an expensive Chinese restaurant along the quay, chatting till we lost track of time. That is the best part of travelling with good friends.

Sunset by the Perdana Quay

 

The many yachts docking there

 

Model shot

  

*TO BE CONTINUED*

Sharing is caring. A word of advice and a piece of information.

If you want to go for the cable car ride, be well prepared for the scary queue awaiting you. There is a high possibility of queuing for more than few hours before being able to get onto the cable car. However, if you are feeling rich and RM 50 to you is nothing but a piece of paper, you can take the VIP Access where you can skip the queue. The cable car ride itself is RM 30 for foreigners and RM 15 for MyKad holders, return trip.

Langkawi - Kuala Kedah Jetty

*Note: It's been almost a month since my last update. There is always a sense of fear when it comes to writing. Afraid that what was being written will not do justice to the fun we had. Fear that it was somehow inaccurately portrayed. I'm always too self-critical when it comes to words and I guess it's true that the greatest critic you'll ever faced is yourself. Anyway, I'm back and here is my last month's trip to Langkawi.*

The sky still retained its blueness when I left my home early in the morning around 6.20am but by the time I finished fetching the last of us, it was about 7am and there was a pint of glorious yellow in the sky, creating a totally new colour resembling indigo. So much for being extra early, I thought.

The drive up to Kuala Kedah jetty was a tiring one. Joyful ride for sure, but nonetheless, tiring. Most of us were dead beats, waking up so early in the morning after the late train ride back from KL to Ipoh the previous night. A weekend relaxation in Langkawi was what we needed to rejuvenate our spirits back to its normal selves.

The journey up north can best be described in two sections just as the highway from Jelapang toll to the Alor Setar toll being halved at Juru, Penang. The Jelapang - Juru highway boosted nothing spectacular to see. Tall palm trees had made permanent residences along the roadside. Factories were something of a regularity when we were getting nearer to Penang. Maybe it was because this stretch of highway I'm too used to it having drove to Penang quite frequently for the whole three years.

However, after the Juru toll and as we were heading further north, the scenaries began to change for the better. Beautiful paddy fields began to populate our visions as we crossed into Kedah, a paddy state. By this time, the sun was already at its glorious self, giving off warm glow of light which reflected well with the green pastures on my left and right.

Look at the crowd!

It was already about 10am by the time we reached the jetty. A huge crowd was what I had expected but never did I imagine it would be this many people. Parking was scarce and the queue to buy the tickets was long. The next ferry ride which was at 10.45am was all sold out and we managed to secure the remaining four tickets for the next one at 12pm.

The serene fishing village of Kuala Kedah

As with everything in Malaysia, punctuality is not our greatest asset and the ferry was almost 30 minutes late when it arrived. The whole 2 hours ferry ride was a doze fest for all of us and before we knew it, we were already docked at Langkawi jetty. It was already around 3pm.

The luxurious yachts docking at Langkawi

We had arrived!

*TO BE CONTINUED*

Sharing is caring. A piece of information and a word of advice.

You can take ferry ride to Langkawi at three places; Swettenham Pier in Penang, Kuala Kedah jetty in Kedah, and Kuala Perlis jetty in Perlis. There are only two slots from Penang while it is quite frequent in the other two jetties. From Kuala Kedah, it takes about 1 hour 45 minutes and it's RM 23.00 for a single trip.