I woke up in the morning and gasped - 5:50am?! Shit shit shit shit shit... I was running late. I sprung up from my bed and proceeded with my daily abulations at my MAXIMUM speed. After snacking on some food, I took my luggage and bag and mum fetched me to pasar. Sze Chyi, Zheng Wei and Zong Yao was already there - Zheng Wei was practically having a feast. The four of us then headed towards the bus station and boarded 401 to the bus station at Sungai Nibong. We went to the Plus Liner counter and passed him the online ticket we printed. We purchased the ticket from Sungai Nibong to Kuala Perlis for RM21, but after adding up with the taxes, the ticket costs us RM22.85.
Our journey wasn't a smooth one. The estimated time stated was 2 hours, which means that we would arrive at Kuala Perlis if we departed at 9am from Penang... but no. After 2 hours' ride, we only reached somewhere in Kedah and it took us another 1 hour before we reach Kuala Perlis. Kar Yi had to sell his ferry tickets that he purchased for 12:00pm because we couldn't make it in time. It was hard to imagine
that he'd have to muster the bravado and sell tickets to strangers
because he just isn't the type who can pull his face down to do this but
KUDOS to him becasue he did it! He then purchased the ticket for 1pm. When we reached the Kuala Perlis bus station, it was raining cats and dogs and the wind was raging like crazy! Luckily Kar Yi and his friend picked us just in the nick of time before any of us was blown away by the horrendously strong wind haha. Special thanks to KY's friend because he's just so awesome.
When we reached Langkawi, it was already 2pm++ The ferry took longer than usual to reach the island because of the bad weather. It kinda sucked because we had to cancel our Skytrex Adventure, which could've fit perfectly into the time slot if we arrived half an hour earlier. Also, I was STARVING to death. Bought myself some bread at Bread Story as alas perut. Kar Yi got us a rent Axia. After getting the car fixed at the petrol station, we went to our hotel - Tstar to check in and settle down.
Booked through: Expedia
Check in time: 2pm
Check out time: noon
Room: Cottage, Ground Floor with Fan
Included amenities: Free parking, Free wireless Internet
Price: RM50 per night
Taxes & fees: RM10
Additional charges upon arrival:
i. Deposit: RM100 per room per stay
ii. Tax imposed by the city: RM1 per night per room
When we saw the Tstar sign board, I was sooo excited but stunned at the same time because it looked like some dilapidated building o.o I was extremely worried that we had to spend two nights in some haunted house from Scooby Doo but luckily, that was just a sad-looking convenience shop in front of the hotel, not the hotel itself.
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| After walking through this verandah, it's paradise! |
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| Reception / Lobby |
The hotel is sooooo pretty I can't even tell how blessed I felt. It is full of elements of nature - abundance of flora and fauna. The environment is so tranquil and peaceful! I think RM50 per night is such a good bargain. The location of Tstar is very strategic as it is situated at Pantai Cenang, which is like the most active tourism spot in Langkawi. To be honest, there are downsides of this hotel as well. Basically, the Kampung houses are built with a groud floor room and an upper room. The lower ground rooms are air-con free while the upper rooms are equipped with air-con. Maybe because we were lucky enough to enjoy the serenity of nature without the humid weather in Malaysia bothering us since it rained for the two nights we spent in Langkawi (I am heat-tolerant too), but if you are one who really need an air-con room, you can pay an extra RM40 per night for an air-conditioned room. Besides, the room is pretty packed and narrow, you don't really have much space to jump about (not that I need any xD) Also, side note: they don't provide hair dryer (you can rent it for RM3 per day though), so you might wanna bring your own's.
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| Pathway to our rooms |
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| Our room is on the left while the guys' room is on the right |
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| View from our room is breathtaking! |
Basically our first day was pretty chilled. We settled down at the hotel then went out for a dinner at a beach-side restaurant called Sugar later in the evening.
The ambient was pretty light and happy. If I have to use a song to depict the ambient, it would totally be "I'm yours" by Jason Marz because it has beachy vibes and it just has a jovial and happy beat to it. We intended to go to Nest on the Beach, but ended up having our first proper meal in Langkawi at Sugar instead. The service was friendly and speedy. They did helped us to combine the tables together as their tables only had 4 seatings (while we have 5 in our gang). They also promptly gave us the menu. I think the price is way too high for a plate of beef hor fun but I think it has something to do with Langkawi being a touristy spot and the strategic place of the restaurant that offers a wonderful view of the sunset by the sea that makes it so pricey, hence I'm not complaining. The Beef Hor Fun tasted okay at the beginning but towards the end it tastes very salty and overwhelming due to its large portion. Overall, I would give it a 3.5/5 because the price and the food wasn't really tallying but the ambient and service was pretty good.
Later on, we went to 7.11 to get some beers and Zong Yao actually bought another cup of instant noodles because he wasn't full enough. We also got ourselves some bread and snacks to snack along the road trip whenever we feel hungry. Got back to Tstar and played poker and drank like we couldn't care less. Life is indeed good.
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Jalan Pantai Tengah,
Langkawi 07000, Malaysia.
04-9553928
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| Beef Hor Fun (RM35) |
Later on, we went to 7.11 to get some beers and Zong Yao actually bought another cup of instant noodles because he wasn't full enough. We also got ourselves some bread and snacks to snack along the road trip whenever we feel hungry. Got back to Tstar and played poker and drank like we couldn't care less. Life is indeed good.
Woke up quite early today to take a few shots of the hotel when it started pouring down like CRAZYY! Got a few beautiful shots of the hotel in this rainy season though. Really really LOVE the greeny and the crisp in the air!
On our way to McD for breakfast, we saw people lining up at Subway - the crowd was FRENZIED! (Let me know if you know what promotion they had on that day!) After our breakfast at McD where someone spilled some sauce on me (what a good start for the day), we headed to Paranoma Langkawi for the Skycab cable car ride and a stroll in the Oriental Village. The entrance to Oriental Village is free but to board the Skycab and to be entitled to enter some really cool and awesome facilities in Oriental Village, you need to purchase tickets. The queue for Skycab was sooo CRAZY even though we reached there around 11:30am (they operate at 10am). Luckily, we already pre-booked our tickets online. All we had to do was to redeem our tickets at SkyDome with the online ticket that we have printed out.
Our boarding time was 12:45pm, so we figured we still have some time to explore the Oriental Village. We then decided to go to the 3D Art Langkawi where we took lots of fakeass-looking photos.
After our little endeavour at 3D Art Langkawi, we headed to board Skycab. I've been on Skycab once and honestly the experience wasn't that scary but I really couldn't pay attention to the beautiful scenery when I was suspended so high up in the sky. I guess I was just really worried that the cable car might fall off anytime, and also I'm super not chill about heights... so there you go. I couldn't even Snapchat even if I wanted to because I was too scared to make any moves. Even though I'm scared as hell, I'd really love to try the Glass Gondola someday because YOLO. Also, it sounds so cool hahaha. It's like I'm scared but I want to try stuff and test my limits as well. Yeap, I am a seriously contradicting woman (who am I kidding) ._.
So after the not-so-fun Skycab episode, we finally reached the top of Gunung Machinchang (Machinchang mountain). While the air was invigorating and fresh, I don't really enjoy the environment much because of the crowd was super overwhelming. It got better when we walked up to the observatory deck. The view of the island was really picturesque and the blue crystal clear water surrounding this beautiful island is just so gorgeous! It's such a pity that our trip did not involve any water polo activities or stuff like that :(
On our way to McD for breakfast, we saw people lining up at Subway - the crowd was FRENZIED! (Let me know if you know what promotion they had on that day!) After our breakfast at McD where someone spilled some sauce on me (what a good start for the day), we headed to Paranoma Langkawi for the Skycab cable car ride and a stroll in the Oriental Village. The entrance to Oriental Village is free but to board the Skycab and to be entitled to enter some really cool and awesome facilities in Oriental Village, you need to purchase tickets. The queue for Skycab was sooo CRAZY even though we reached there around 11:30am (they operate at 10am). Luckily, we already pre-booked our tickets online. All we had to do was to redeem our tickets at SkyDome with the online ticket that we have printed out.
Booked through: Paranoma Langkawi official website
Package: Basic Package (you can add another RM50 per pax if you wish to opt for Express Lane where you have the privilege to skip the queue)
Price: RM30 for Malaysian child, RM40 for Malaysian adult; RM40 for non-Malaysian child, RM55 for non-Malaysian adult
Our boarding time was 12:45pm, so we figured we still have some time to explore the Oriental Village. We then decided to go to the 3D Art Langkawi where we took lots of fakeass-looking photos.
After our little endeavour at 3D Art Langkawi, we headed to board Skycab. I've been on Skycab once and honestly the experience wasn't that scary but I really couldn't pay attention to the beautiful scenery when I was suspended so high up in the sky. I guess I was just really worried that the cable car might fall off anytime, and also I'm super not chill about heights... so there you go. I couldn't even Snapchat even if I wanted to because I was too scared to make any moves. Even though I'm scared as hell, I'd really love to try the Glass Gondola someday because YOLO. Also, it sounds so cool hahaha. It's like I'm scared but I want to try stuff and test my limits as well. Yeap, I am a seriously contradicting woman (who am I kidding) ._.
So after the not-so-fun Skycab episode, we finally reached the top of Gunung Machinchang (Machinchang mountain). While the air was invigorating and fresh, I don't really enjoy the environment much because of the crowd was super overwhelming. It got better when we walked up to the observatory deck. The view of the island was really picturesque and the blue crystal clear water surrounding this beautiful island is just so gorgeous! It's such a pity that our trip did not involve any water polo activities or stuff like that :(
We lingered for awhile on the decks and then went down to purchased the tickets to SkyBridge. KY said he has been there twice but had never gone up to the SkyBridge. I have been there once and never been on the SkyBridge too, which almost made our visit to SkyBridge obligatory. The tickets can only be purchased right on the spot at the SkyBridge Ticketing Counter at the Top Station because they need to see if the weather is suitable for SkyBridge to be opened to the public. SkyBridge is actually crowned "the longest free span and curved bridge in the world", which my little mind couldn't comprehend what it means ._. Basically SkyBridge is a multiple award-winning construction/bridge measuring at 125m in length. Easy. They have two types of tickets to be offered: RM5 if you walk on feet through a jungle trail which will take probably around 10 mins; RM15 if you take SkyGlide which will take 2 mins to reach SkyBridge. Of course, we poor ol' students opted for the RM5 ticket.
The trail was pretty long but I think for normal people whose stamina perform more optimally than mine, I think it should be an easy task. Some of the steps are really small and steep so you might wanna be careful with the steps you take. All the climbing and hiking was worth it when we finally reached SkyBridge! The wind was chilly, sunbeam was subtle and warm and the view was awesome. At some point when we were walking on the bridge, we can actually feel the bridge swaying a little due to the turbulence in the air. There were some see-through glass panes where you can see all the way down the valley of Gunung Machinchang. A lot of people lied down on the glass panes to take cool shots (I'm blaming this on Instagram). We then sat on the bridge and soaked ourselves in the beauty of nature. Enjoyed the billowing wind and the rest of the afternoon very much.
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| Photo courtesy of Zheng Wei |
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| Photo courtesy of Zong Yao |
Later in the evening, we went to a very beautiful Petronas petrol station where there were so many yachts by the seaside, Pantai Pasir Hitam (Black Sand Beach) and the Tanjung Rhu Beach. It's basically a very beachy evening (no pun intended)
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| Photo courtesy of Zong Yao |
According to legend, the sand of the beach is black in colour because of a war between the land and the sea kingdom. When the sea kingdom was seen taking an advantage of the war, the land kingdom burnt the beach so that the sea kingdom would think that the armies of the land kingdom was defeated and chaos were ensuing by the beachside. Scientifically, the sand turned black because a mountain nearby - Gunung Raya (Raya mountain) contains large amounts of tourmaline and ilmenite, which are the minerals that caused the sand to turn into black colour.
We lingered at Tanjung Rhu Beach for the longest time. The beach was beautiful and lively with all the caucasians sunbathing there, families having picnic and not to mention couples frolicking in the sea haha. Time slowed down when we were there - we were just enjoying the simplest and purest joy just by looking at the waves rise and subside, anticipating the the ripples and mini waves and picking up seashells and pebbles. I have to agree with the saying - the best things in life are free.
After basking in all the vitamin D by the seaside (and also got ourselves sunburnt), we went for a little detour to Four Seasons hotel at Tanjung Rhu simply because Google recommended us Ikan-Ikan restaurant for dinner and Tanjung Rhu Bar for a drink after dinner. When Sze Chyi and I went to ask for the menu and price, we were flabbergasted by the hotel as the design was super gigantic and magnificent. Although the place seemed to good to be true, the price was like WHOOAAA - even nasi putih costs RM15 and I'm like wah lau, seriously? Nontheless, we took a few photos there to show off before we left hahaha
Finally, we decided to go back to Pantai Cenang (Cenang beach) to hunt for a place to EAT. We ended up eating at a Chinese restaurant called 椰林中华料理 "Yeh Lin". The food we ordered we superb and the prices were reasonable as well. Overall, I would give it a 4/5. I took some pics of our food but they were all blur because I was too hungry. For more info, photos and reviews, click HERE. After filling our tummies, we headed back to our hotel to shower and change and went out to a bar near the restaurant later that night.
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| Tequilla Sunrise (RM15) |
I guess it's not fair for me to review this bar because I don't really drink that often. All I can say is, the tequilla cocktail was pretty savoury. We also exchanged drinks and tasted what each other ordered. The one I like the most was Zong Yao's baileys. The drink is somewhat a mixture of milk and alchohol, and you know what? Don't laugh, because it legit tasted like caffeine. The price for bailey was RM10 for a shot, so I guess it's pretty okay-ish. We talked about everything back in high school and even primary school! Some memories made us cringe, some memories made us guffawed, some just made us tugged at our heartstrings. That night, I think I saw a smile crept over the moon's pretty face.
Woke up to a fabulous view out of my room. I swear I could wake up to the same view everyday foreverrr. Packed our stuff and checked out of Tstar. Went to Kuah town, had our breakfast, bought some sourvenirs and we headed back home. I sure hope that we have more up-coming trips like that. It's a blessing to have high school friends who are still your very best friends after so long.
I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed compiling and organizing everything. Till next time, ta.
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