Langkawi Getaway Day2

Our second day of this getaway is the only day that have a pre-planned itinery for the entire trip - The Mangrove EcoTour. This is a half day tour which we have booked from a travel agent at the Langkawi Airport. The entire package cost us RM250 inclusive of return transfer from our motel to Tanjung Rhu jetty and a private chartered boat. A deal you can only get during super low season.

Probably because of our last minute booking (yesterday evening), there are some miscommunication between the travel agent and the tour operator. We waited for more than an hour with constant annoying call to the travel agent... evil me...

无止境的等待。。。
The Endless wait...

The tour pickup service finally arrived around 10:40am with a Nissan Livina. It is a comfortable car and the journey to the jetty took 25 minutes. The only real attractive scenery is when we pass through Tanjung Rhu where rows of pokok rhu line up on both sides of the road. The jetty is hidden behind trees at the end of the road and looks doughy from far. However, it is a really clean and neat place when we got down from the car.

It started to rain right after we arrive at the jetty. We paid the tour operator there and our boat man brings our boat to the embarking platform. It begin to pour heavily when we head out from the jetty... we are forced to take shelter at a floating restaurant.


天不作美。。。
Into the storm...

While waiting for the rain to stop, the boat man show us his pet. It is a stingray which he rear beside the floating restaurant as a showcase to all patrons. "It is supposed to be a fish farm in the making" he told us.

表演仰泳
Stingray backstroke

The rain stop just before noon and the sky is slowly clearing up. It is a blessing in disguise as the weather is just perfect after the down pour with the sun just bright enough but not too hot. Without much ado, we quickly board our boat again and continue (or rather start) our Mangrove EcoTour.


阳光再现
The clearing sky



重新出发
Here we go again

Our first stop is the old charcoal plant... or so they called it. It is some abandoned charcoal making stoves by the river bank. Nothing much there so we just merely slow down while passing by.

遗弃的炭制造地
Abandoned charcoal plant

Next attraction is to see some eagles. These are the smaller ones which our boat man told us they are Brahminy Kite... This boat man really knows his stuff! Kudos to him. Our tour does not include watching the open sea hawk which is far more larger.

饿鹰抢食
Fighting for food

After the feeding frenzy, we cruise along the river admiring the natural habitat of the Mangrove bakau trees. My camera battery is getting low as I forgot to recharge it yesterday. Therefore I have limited photos of the cruise.


猴母子在望什么？
What is the monkey looking at?

Our next highlight of the tour is the crocodile cave. We should be passing through from one end to the other end of the cave but we are late (thanks to the pick-up agent). The tide has raised and there is not enough room for our boat to pass through it. We could only take a peep from the exit of the cave...

鳄鱼洞
Crocodile cave

Then bat cave (gua kelawa) is located deeper into the river. We pass by foreign registered boats where they sail and park there as a pit stop. The cave is accessed by foot. We got down and paid for the cave entrance (RM1 per person) while our boat man wait by the platform. We were guide into the cave by a small boy with a tiny torch light. I only managed to snap one picture with flash before my camera battery died.

蝙蝠洞
Bat cave

The rest of the tour include the fish farm where they showcase the Archerfish, some giant fish (forgot its name), horseshoe crab, and stingray. Here we can experience feeding the archerfish from our finger where they will jump out of the water and suck the food from our finger. Other close interaction with these sea creatures include tickle-ish claw of the horseshoe crab on our palm and the rough jelly feeling of the stingray.

[My camera is out. Please refer to Casendra's blog for more pictures here and here.]

The tour ended with a speedy boat ride to catch some wind on the open sea. We opt to have lunch at the floating restaurant before heading back. Our boat man is more than willing to bring us there and wait. Later we found out that he is one of the share holder of the restaurant as he is helping out with the restaurant renovation. We ordered individual meals each and 3 dishes for share which include 1 steamed fish, 1 grilled fish, and fuyong eggs. The fish tasted very good and very fresh... too fresh for Casie when she saw the man scoop up the fish from the fish farm and into the kitchen...

The lunch cost us RM194 and we feel satisfied as our whole Mangrove EcoTour plus lunch is much cheaper than RM180 per person. Casie mum sponsored RM10 tips for our boat man for being a nice guy. It is almost 3:00pm by the time are back to the jetty and were sent back to our motel by the pick up service.

After resting and charging my camera battery, we went to Awana Porto Malai Resort for some scenery before heading to Eagle square (Dataran Lang), Langkawi designated main attraction. The sunset there is beautiful and everyone is snapping non stop with whatever camera they have.

Awana Porto Malai light house

Sea view from Awana Porto Malai

Boat parking @ Awana

Dataran Lang

Building reflection at Dataran Lang

Spread your wings and fly...

Sunset of Langkawi

Golden evening at Eagle Square

It was getting dark when we are done taking photos of the sunset. It is time for dinner and we make our way to Kuah town hoping to get some ayam percik. To our dismay, it is puasa month and all stalls have cease bussiness by 7:00pm and foods have mostly sold off by the time we arrive. We took a leisure stroll at the night market there not finding anything interesting and head back Cenang beach for dinner.

Our first choice is to try the Bontton Restaurant that we passes by so often... big NO NO after we went in... its a freaking expensive fine dinning restaurant! Why do we bother to have fine dinning here in Langkawi? We leave Bontton (after being seated... pai sei...) and had a normal 大炒in a chinese along the row of shops in Cenang beach. Decent food and reasonably priced.

After dinner Casie & mum accompany me to look for fridge magnet as souvenir for my sister-in-law while FaiTh escorted Annie to have her leg tatooed. When we are done, went and grab some beer before going back to our motel. Later that night, we had beer by the beach. The night is still young after we finished our drinks so Annie, FaiTh, and I took a moonlight shower while sauntering along the beach... It was around 2am when I prepare for bed... Tomorrow would be a more relaxed day, wouldn't it?