Langkawi, December 2010

The parents-in-law arrived. And we were taking them to Langkawi, an island in Malaysia, an hour 30 minutes by AirAsia from Singapore. It is relatively small island where you can drive from coast to coast for 30-40 minutes.

To be honest, I wasn't really thrilled to go there but I found the island is not too bad. I have been there once for a wedding of our friend when I was 5 months pregnant of Noelia. The wedding venue was in Frangipani resort, it is a beautiful wedding facing the sea. The beach is within walk.

I will start with the positive note. The island is pleasant and relatively clean (living in Singapore, we can compare the cleanliness of a city now). The inhabitants are really friendly and simple.

The first few days, we stayed in The Andaman Hotel. We rented the car with reasonable price to drive around the island with the family. A 8 seater Avanza car we rented per day cost about S$40. It is pretty convenient if we really want to venture out rather than enjoying hotel facilities only. The Andaman is a huge hotel but we do not feel that way due to the tropical setting of the vegetation around the building. This hotel is pretty much good for family visitors with huge kids club and interesting shape of swimming pools for adults and children. Be careful not to open the windows of the room for too long because the monkeys will sneak-in to look for the foods in our bags. But having the monkeys roam around the resort added another excitement for the kids and adults. There are different types of monkey roam around the island.

Down below is the catamaran to catch the beautiful sunrise or sunset. You can request the reception if you prefer to ride this baby with family or people you love to enjoy the scenery with the glass of champagne.



The room is big and they can provide the baby cot. So, loving it! It is easy to travel with the facilities like that.





The second day, we drove to Langkawi Bird Park. It has pretty decent building and not only varieties of birds around the island but also some reptiles, and game animals. Of course, it is interesting for a toddler like Noe who is allowed to feed the animals from the special package foods we bought at the entrance. Even we found it amusing to be able to feed the flock of birds in the big cage, or the rabbits, and the baby goats who aggressively climbing up our t-shirt to reach the vegetables in our hands.

After a few days at The Andaman, we stayed in Bon Ton Resort. A small boutique resort belong to Australian lady. The highlight of this resort is the traditional Malay House who look like a stage house with its stylish and unique interior design. It's suprisingly family-friendly resort. We had a baby cot and additional bed for Noelia. We found this small resort is quite charming and the staffs are helpful. The only downside of the resort is the breakfast time, they will put our breakfast in the fridge of every room the night before. So we can wake up anytime and serve our own fruits, bread, cakes and coffee/teas. In every room, there are coffee makers, electric kettle and different teas/coffees. We must say the cakes are excellent! We love it.





The restaurant serves good food and apparently it is famous around the island for bohemian chic tourists. The rooms are in 8 Malay timber houses which each of them has its own cat. The owner of the resort is an animal lover. She also set-up Animal Protection shelter for dogs and cats, but some of them left roaming around the resort.



They provide some pool toys for the young ones. Most of the guests are the savvy travellers from different countries who stay more than a 4 days.



The second day we stayed in Bon Ton we were ready to venture out in the villages near by. We walked more than 2 hours passing by paddy fields, houses, and water buffalos. Four adults, a toddler and a baby were on adventures on a hot morning until 1 pm. After collecting the wild flowers for a bouquet, Noe was too tired to walk so we need Grandpere's shoulder to carry her on his back. She fell asleep soon after. Raffael was really patient though he cried of his fatigue at the beginning, he too surrendered to his tired body.



After the nap for the little ones, we headed for lunch and swimming.



Have you seen the stylish bathtub?



Voila! Our stay in Bon Ton resort, Langkawi is pretty good. I love the stylish colour of every corners and details. And most of all, it is family friendly resort where the kids can also have fun watching videos (they have tremendous collection of DVD movies), read the books, swimming or playing with cats around.





The parents-in-law, Ludo and Noelia went for another adventure the next day to visit 3-4 islands by boat. One of them is The Pregnant Maiden's island. The tour guy picked them up at around 11 am and they were back at 3 pm. Me and Raffael were staying at the resort because we are advised not to go in the boat as it is too windy for a small baby. According to Ludo, the driver of the boat went too fast and Noe was a little bit worried. They advised the driver not to go too fast but he ignored them because he used to it with the tempo and there hasn't been any problem with it. Well, apparently they are not really impressed with the islands crowded with local tourists at its beach as it was school holiday period.



We checked out early morning at 8 am as Air Asia for Singapore departs at 8.55 am. Unfortunately, no one was there to help us with the baggages. The staffs are usually come after 9 am. That is another downside of this resort. We have paid the bills the night before but no service in the morning to help us load our baggages in the car, nor saying goodbye or greets from them. I think we pretty much expecting them saying personally 'hope the stay has been enjoyable for you' as we regard this resort like a guest house.

But we packed all GOOD breakfasts (Bonne Maman's jam, organic orange juices, good breads and chocolate cakes) in a bag and hopped into the car with the luggages to the airport.


USEFUL INFO

CAR RENTAL:
The most convenient to rent a car is to book it a head of the time and have it waiting for you. That has the advantage that you can ask them to give you a full tank and that you will return the car with a full tank. Otherwise, you can fill up a tank easily in any petrol station around the island.

Why rent a car in Langkawi?
1. Drive down to Tanjong Rhu, a scenic beach, for a quiet time picking seashells.
2. Visit the 'roaming' night market (check with your hotel for location).
3. Make your way to restaurants.
4. Save on taxi fares.
5. Drive along the coastal areas.
6. Drive to the cable car base station.

The List of car rental:

1. Kasina Car Rental
Main Office
Tel: 04-644-1842
Email: rental@kasina.com.my

2. Envomarine Car Rental
Main Office
Suite 1, Atrium Block, Langkasuka Beach Resort
07100 Langkawi, Kedah
Tel: 04-9554068, 04-9553842, 04-9552988
Fax: 04-9556127
Email: envomarine@yahoo.com

3. Any Car Rental agent at the airport. Bargain with them the price. Mark all the scratches and fuel level.

ACTIVITIES

Off course, the obvious activities are beach, swimming and sea sport activities. The children can easily do most of these in the hotel. I would say that Langkawi is not an interesting place to discover much. It's a small island and the inhabitants speak mostly Malay with a little bit of English. Langkawi can only offer the best natural sites for its visitors.
Although the local government has made a major effort to promote Langkawi’s many colourful legends associated with natural sites, which add dimension to the island. But I found it is not enough as to compare to Bali or Jogjakarta (Even I am Indonesian, it is interesting to discover my own country).

Check out down below which I think it is pretty okay for the family to visit:

1. Crocodile Farm
There are over 1,000 species of alligators and crocodiles on site, kids can have a safe but intimate experience with these
ancient and deadly creatures. The exhibition centre provides detailed displays of every aspect of a crocodile's life.

2. Underwater World Langkawi
Underwater World is the island's most popular attraction for the families. There are 100 tanks on site, including an amazing
walkthrough Plexiglas tunnel where visitors are surrounded by sharks, sea turtles and manta rays.

3. Langkawi Bird Paradise
Open daily : 9 am - 9.30 pm
Its worth to visit with the children and don't forget to buy the foods at the entrance.

4. Monkey
Everywhere along the road and some at the resorts

5. Waterfall
Temurun Waterfall is within walking distance.

6. Spa
Not my favourite activities in Malaysia because it is not as good as in Indonesia or Thailand. The pressure is much softer and it is not my style. But try the one in ALUN-ALUN SPA.

7. Shopping
Kuah Town area. Check out the NIGHT MARKET too, they are worth to visit.