Hello Langkawi and goodbye Malaysia!

So we're discovering that Malaysian public transport never runs to time! We arrived at Kuah on the south side of the island about an hour later than expected and jumped in a Grab to our hotel at Pantai Cenang, Langkawi's main beach on the west coast.

Langkawi has a night market that moves around the island every night and we were lucky enough that the night we arrived, it was at the end of our road! We spent the evening trying some tasty and some decidedly questionable things from the different stalls. Chicken roti won, sticky rice wrapped in dried padang leaves did not.

The next morning we woke to clouds. The edge of Storm Pabuk, the worst storm to hit Thailand in 30 years, was catching Langkawi meaning the normally clear water was pretty churned up and it was raining. Not to be deterred, we decided to go to one of the island’s main attractions, the cable car which takes you up to the top of Gunung Machinchang. It’s the steepest cable car in the world and takes you up to 708m.

Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, when we arrived the top was covered in cloud. But luckily there are many other attractions at the bottom to keep you entertained on a wet day. We therefore spent a very enjoyable hour or so in the 3D Art exhibition. The paintings themselves were very impressive even before you take into account their 3D nature. A selection of the best ones are below.

With the cloud still firmly planted over the top of the mountain, we decided to go up anyway. We got a bit of a view as we were ascending, but when we got out at the midstation, we were definitely in the cloud.

We continued to the top, hoping that maybe we’d rise above the cloud but no such luck. We went up the bigger viewing platform before crossing over to the slightly smaller one and suddenly the cloud started to lift and we could see the sea! It was amazing as first one side and then the other slowly came into view!

After soaking up the view back over Langkawi and out to some of the Thai islands, we descended to finish off the other “attractions” included in our pass - the SkyRex and SkyDome. Both were 3D simulations, one focused on dinosaurs and the other on a rollercoaster on Mars (don’t ask!). Both were pretty shoddy to be honest!

The other attraction near the cable car is the Seven Wells, a series of small pools that end up at a waterfall. Unfortunately we hadn’t brought our swimwear so instead we watched various other tourists slide from pool to pool in a natural water park.

We headed back to the main beach and took a walk up the strip. Langkawi is very touristy and felt a lot like a beach resort on the Med, full of shops selling inflatables and western style restaurants. Maybe if we’d stayed somewhere else on the island it might have felt different but our overall impression wasn’t that great. However, off the main strip we stumbled upon a lovely chilled bar called the Kasbah, which suited us perfectly.

The next morning we embarked on a guided mangrove kayaking tour. We were careful to book with a tour operator with a responsible attitude to the environment, so chose Dev’s Adventure Tours. This trip was amazing and highly recommended, particularly as we were lucky enough to be the only ones booked on the tour. We started off with a walk through a bat cave, where our guide told us about the local bats and other wildlife, as well as the stalagmites and stalactites. We then got a boat to a floating restaurant where we picked up our kayaks.

The mangroves on Langkawi are now protected by the government as part of the Kilim Karst Geopark. This is mainly because of the protection they offered to the island during the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, where they acted as a natural barrier and slowed down the wave, meaning Langkawi was less affected than other islands. The mangroves here are brackish rather than swamps meaning you don’t get crocodiles which was good to know! It was really peaceful slowly gliding through the mangroves, looking for wildlife. We saw lizards, snakes, eagles and kites but sadly no sea otters. We also got to have a swim in the river, although it was a bit of a challenge getting back into the kayaks afterwards!

The only sad parts of the tour were the large amounts of plastic trapped in the mangroves and also the other tour operators deliberately attracting the eagles by revving their engines and feeding them chicken skin. This is really bad as it’s made them lazy so they can’t hunt anymore and also their eggs are really fragile so fewer of them hatch. That said, they did stop feeding a few years ago but the eagles started dying out so they are now gradually feeding them less and less to encourage them to start hunting again.

After a tasty lunch at the floating restaurant we were dropped back at our hotel. The storm having passed, we were treated to a fantastic sunset over the beach before having dinner at a delightful seafood restaurant. We went for a drink on the beach afterwards and enjoyed some live music and some impressive entertainment from a number of flame throwers, one of which was only about 10!

The next morning, the water had calmed a lot and was back to being clear and turquoise, essentially what Langkawi is known for. We went for a quick swim in the sea before the sun got too hot and there was no more shade. We then packed up and headed to the ferry port for our short trip to Koh Lipe and Thailand!

I’m glad we got out and explored a bit of Langkawi as our impression of the main strip was not that positive. Our mangrove trip was definitely a highlight of our time in Malaysia though. And that’s it, Malaysia done!