Langkawi - Last of the Lot !

The last of the Langkawi lot here ;)

We debated on our second dinner at Langkawi. To go back to Mare Blu for it's all-you-can-eat of grills and sausages or to Sheraton Langkawi for it's buffet dinner. Why I mentioned buffets and all you can eat ??? We were hungry from bad breakfasts and lousy lunch. Debate debate debate.. we changed our minds thrice and ended up at :

Feast @ Sheraton Langkawi Beach Resort.




I was craving for this :

So many days sans freshly brewed coffee, I was jittery and this is the reason I chose Sheraton. Hubs wanted to go back to Mare Blu again, he was sure the food will be good but I said the magical words 'free flow of freshly brewed coffee you know??'   to draw and float him back to Sheraton.


The other reason was the hotel being so clean n comfy. It just smells nice and the lobby is fully air conditioned. As I recall, not many resorts .. or maybe only those that I've been to at Langkawi ventilates their lobby with natural sea breeze. Not even Datai or Andaman has air conditioned lobby but ahhh... Datai is an experience not to be forgotten. BIL asked what was so good about Datai that people raves about. It's the luxury of having privacy and being pampered at the same time.. you know iced water and chilled face towels at the beach, dvd player in the room so you will not want to go anywhere but stay at the hotel. That's Datai. We'll  not go there anytime again soon, not with Amber. Children are not welcomed in this exclusive and private resort.

Back to our dinner.. we surveyed Sheraton the night before and I liked this :

Yippee, I thought, her food matters are resolved.  I asked the chef to cook her a egg free, dairy free soup and they did a chicken and vegetable soup for her, at no extra charge. Now, that's going the extra mile. Another reason to justify our dinner here.

 

I was hungry and had a soup, took all things grill, I think at least 20 grilled jumbo prawns, some meat, sausages and such. No carbs except for cranberry pudding which was heaven made match with freshly brewed coffee.

And she had her share of food and fun : 

Kueh lapis, the way it should be eaten, that is peeling off the white layer, then pink, then white.

                                                                                    

And that was our dinner at Sheraton. If you want a nice buffet dinner with first class service and that's not too far away, 10 minutes from the airport, go to Sheratons.

Since our hotel is not located by the beach, we spent some fun time visiting other beaches.We took an afternoon flight home and had plenty of time to go to the beach again in the morning.

                                                                                        

We dropped by at Holiday Villa's beach the following morning. Armed with bags, beach bags, beach toys, sunbock all carried by Mama, the coolie we beach bummed again.

She insisted on the bikini again but I insisted she's fully clothed. I don't want to risk a sunburn !

     

Sunblock, sunshades and hat - the beach essentials.

Father and daughter.. chasing the waves.. or was it being chased by the waves ? Me ? Lazing on the sundeck lah !

       

She had the beach all to herself. That's the advantage of travelling during fasting month. Less crowd.  

Bye Bye Langkawi ! And we'll be back next year. Hubs already asking me to check rates for Sheraton and Holiday Villa.

Pantai Cenang

Amber's been asking to go to the beach the moment we arrived at Langkawi. To her, Langkawi is beaches, sand and sea, not duty free shopping and dining.

Our hotel has no beach, only a big pool with slides and we drove to the nearest beach at Pantai Cenang, the most happening spot at Langkawi, full of excitement and life and pubs, booze and bikini clad top girls too.

 

Applying sunblock on the little fart. 

I'm careful not to miss any spots, else she'll have a painful holiday ! She wanted to wear the 2 piece suit that Annie Q gave her. She calls it 'bra and panties' suit. Bikini, I corrected her.

 

Done and ready for the sun !

Deck chair available for rent at RM10 but not worth it.. I'll tell you a better bargain.. later

Pantai Cenang is so well equipped. All you need is to bring extra towels and sunblock

Amber and her sook-sook playing with the sand. I like going to the beach on late afternoons. The tides are low and I can relax and soak up the sun and watch Amber from afar and not afraid of her being swept away by the tides.

We found this cool place 'Yellow Cafe', a very hip cafe with lots of hammocks. You can hop from the beach with soaked body and sandy feet to this little cafe which is just reaching out the the beach. Very lovely atmosphere.

Do go to Yellow Cafe when you are at Pantai Cenang. Service is fab and drinks cheap.
Chilly cold beer at only RM5 a mug and you can swing round the hammocks and have your beer. Much better deal than renting a beach deck.

 The swinging hammocks. Once Amber discovered this, she dumped her beach toys !

We could see families having fun with water sports, people landing from parasailing, couples basking in the sun, to me, this is an ideal holiday, lazing around with a cold chilly beer and just watching the world go by.

We stayed till sunset and had to make a move for we had dinner reservations waiting.

Pantai Cenang has it's charm and we'll be back.

Langkawi Fish Farm Restaurant

We revisit Langkawi Fish Farm for lunch on our second day. We've been here couple of time, years ago, back then it was known as "Sangkar Ikan". Quite a novelty to dine at a fish farm, the restaurant is located by the sea and you can walk out to the fish farm to select your catch of the day.


This place was long forgotten in my 'to eat' list until I came across it on the travel brochure. For old times sake, we wanted to see how it fared. Not easy to find this place as the signages are quite bad. It's located between Kuah town and Kuah Jetty. Once you come to Langkawi Fair Shopping Mall (with a McDonalds on the front), turn to the back and follow along the road, only then you'll see signs to Langkawi Fish Farm.

Jalan Inderaloka
Kuah, 07000 Langkawi, KEDAH
016-4149267

at 12 noon, we were the only patrons. Not very promising for a restaurant advertising on the travel brochure and Langkawi map eh ? As a note, this place is run entirely by foreigners employed by the owner, whom I presume is a Malaysian.. so you know what kinda expectations to set should you decide to patronize this place one day.

We ordered very simple dishes, fried choy sum, garlic mantis prawn and orange chicken. Bill came up close to RM70. I didn't take any pics of the food as they were nothing to shout about. Basically, it was enough to keep our tummy filled.  The orange chicken was chicken with Sunquick sauce, nothing fancy.. so you get what I mean about dining here ?


Nevertheless, it's an interesting experience to bring the family here, walking out to the fish farm and checking out the catch of the day. I'll let the pictures do the talking : 

safety ? what safety ??

 

walking out to the fish farm.. not for the faint hearted .. the planks are wobbly and there's gaps in between.

Amber had to be carried. We only went halfway.

Nice view though...

 

She would make any situation fun. She plucked lalangs and presented to us as flower gifts

 

It doesn't matter if the food is good, or not... she has most fun !

Langkawi Again !!!

We did a short trip to Langkawi a week ago. This is our second trip in less than 6 months. I'll tell you why we like this island

- cheap booze
- cheap chocolates
- cheap car rental
- no traffic jam

actually, the very main reason we went again was getting free accommodation. BIL has time sharing at Aseania and would be a waste if he doesn't utilize it.

At 7cho-8cho, only she has this kinda energy !

We took the first AA flight out at 7.30am. Got up at 4.15am, first time ever, getting up at this unearthly hour to catch a flight. Guess what ? Amber woke up too, despite only getting to bed at 11am the night before. Her first words were : Today we go Langkawi ah ??

She must be been very afraid we'll leave without her coz hubs had threatened her the night before, Sleep now or else you are not going tomorrow. If you don't sleep late and wake up late, we'll be gone and you have to go to Boon Kor-kor's !

Poor girl, the horror thought of not being able to make it to Langkawi must have kept her body clock tuned up to wake up at the slightest sound.

Had our breakfast at Old Town LCCT. Very expensive. I should have just ordered the Pak Naseer's inflight nasi lemak online. That would have saved us precious time, instead of waiting impatiently for our half boiled eggs and toast while watching our time ticking by the seconds, the gates were closing !!!

Arrived Langkawi safely and early, despite a very turbulent flight. Thinking back, luckily we didn't order any inflight meals, otherwise our nasi lemak would have flung out of our seats or the kacang tersumbat our nose!

Rented a car. Since it's puasa month and low season, we got a better car at a cheaper price.

Nissan Latio sports. Small and nifty. I volunteered to drive. I'd rather enjoy the drive and scenery than entertain a 4 yr old who yaks non stop ! I've always liked white car but never had the courage to choose a high maintenance white so at this occasion, I fast fast take white !

Hubs took some pics of the car and along came a little model, posing along with our rented car.

Since we arrived at the island early, we went on our usual ritual checking out the prices of boozed and chocolates and loaded our car before checking in at the hotel. There's only a couple of shopping places at Langkawi - Kuah town, Teow Soon Huat, PL Soon Huat, and the Duty Free Center next to the Underwater World.

To cut short your shopping time, I'd suggest get everything settled at Kuah Town and PL Soon Huat - a run down supermart opposite the Petronas station, just off the airport. The car rental fellas will ask you to top up your tank here before you embark anywhere. It's where the locals shop for groceries. Go inside the store, right to the back, there's an air conditioned room where they stock up all their wine and alcohol.  Prices here are really reasonable and items are genuine too.

After checking in to Aseania, we headed to the pool. It was a hot and sunny afternoon, perfect for a beach holiday. I'd very much prefer hot and sunny weather for our holidays, we can't do much if it rains right ?

At this duty free island, drinks and booze are cheap. Dirt cheap !  We holiday-ed in style and ordered cocktails from the pool bar. I had a Long Island Iced Tea and hubs had the Blue Lagoon. Only RM10 each. Happy hour price. Cheap hor ???

Since we've been to the island many times, we planned ahead where to eat. Hubs wasn't going to give Mare Blu a miss and if I didn't stop him, he'd be here 2 nights in a row and ordering the same dish too ! I did blog about the wonderful fillet mignon we had on his birthday then and now, we ordered the same item. Fillet mignon for him (rare), me and BIL (medium rare) and Amber had fish and chips. Are we boring ? Take a look at the fillet mignon and you'll know why I can't resist having it again and again.

She don't have much choice, fish and chips is one of the very few dishes that do not contain egg and cream, except for the tartare sauce. She finished 80% of it , so the fish n chips must have been good or she's too hungry from all the swimming and playing.

Hubs picked up this wine for our dinner from the duty free outlets.

Amber knocked out in the car ride back to the hotel. She behaved very well despite lack of sleep!