On our only full day in Langkawi, we had breakfast at the same restaurant where we had dinner the previous night. We chose the best resort on the island so that we could dine at the hotel and minimize the planning and travel time required to choose a restaurant. The spread was quite elaborate, not as extensive as the ones in Kuala Lumpur or Penang but it made up for that in quality. The service was again splendid, the best of our trip so far. The server even remembered that Sereen was sleeping when we were there the previous night for dinner. We had omelettes, Samia had pancakes and I had waffles. Sereen woke up when we were finishing breakfast so we decided to go to the swimming pool.
We went up to the room to change Sereen into her swimming costume. The idea was to dip her in the pool but Samia heard a kid tell his mom that the water was so cold that he couldn't hold in his pee and then we decided to not take Sereen in the contaminated water. We chilled by the pool in a shaded cabana with a view of lush green hills and the bright blue ocean sparkling in the blazing tropical sun. A server brought us cold water which was perfect for the weather. When it started getting too hot, we decided to escape back to the comfort of our air conditioned room and relaxed there for a couple of hours.
Having recharged our batteries, we decided to head out for the most popular attraction of the island, the cable car ride up to the tallest peak of the island. We took a taxi there and it was only when I got on the cable car that I realized that it wasn't going to be a pleasant ride for me. The cable car ride was almost 15 minutes and covered a distance of 2 kilometers but to a person like me with a fear of heights, the ride seemed like it went on for eternity. I made the mistake of sitting on the wrong side of the cable car where I could see how much higher we had left to go. Samia tried her best to calm me down but I couldn't take off my eyes from our destination. It was a terrifying ride for me and seeing me that afraid, Samia also froze and didn't look outside. Sereen was in my arms and every time she moved, I pleaded with her to stop moving.
We got off at the first stop which was a vista point with wooden floor. Samia took some pictures while I sat on a bench with Sereen, trying to mentally prepare myself for the ride down. Then Samia gave me bad news that we had another short segment of upward climb before we could head down. This segment wasn't as scary since there wasn't much of an upward climb. Once we reached the second and final stop, we had the option of going to the so-called sky bridge that's a bridge between two peaks and definitely not meant for a person afraid of heights. I declined to go and Samia didn't want to leave us. She told me later that she actually really wanted to go on the bridge but my fear had guilted her so much that she decided to not go because she was scared that I would get upset again. This stop comprised concrete structures surrounded by bushes and even had a restaurant. I was comfortable walking around on this stop unlike the previous vista point. We took some photos on the top level that was above the restaurant. We had magnificent views of the ocean and the beaches but it was too hot so we had to get back down to the shaded area after a few minutes. Then we headed back down on the cable car and the ride back wasn't scary for me for two reasons - psychologically, I knew we were getting closer to the ground; and there were two other gentlemen in our cable car and the extra weight helped stabilize the cable car, as opposed to our ride up where to my horror, even the slightest wind would move the cable car. Sereen was chattering on the ride back down too whereas she had been quiet on the ride up. Maybe she shares the fear of heights with her dad!
I was glad that we reached back to the safety of the ground. We decided to check out the 3D center. It's a very interesting concept where the walls and the floors are painted such that if you take photos, the people standing in front of them blend in as part of the scene which makes for some splendid pictures. We spent almost an hour in there and took lots of fun photos. The best one was an accidental shot where Sereen cried for an instant while I was holding her in front of a scene of the jungle with a tiger ready to pounce. In the photo, it appears that she spotted the tiger and was screaming whereas I was oblivious to the tiger's presence. Sereen was getting tired so we decided to head back to our hotel. She fell asleep while we were walking to the taxi and kept sleeping even when we reached our hotel.
It had been an exhausting afternoon so we took a nap in our air conditioned room. When it was dinner time, we didn't feel like going out of our room so decided to order room service. We had vegetarian spring rolls and chicken soup for appetizer. I had the chicken karahi and Samia had a trio of rendang - beef, chicken and lamb. The food was amazing and it was our first experience of fine dining in the comfort of our night suits. After dinner, we stayed up for a little while and then went back to sleep.
Langkawi was the relaxing leg of our journey but the tourism resumes in the last leg of the trip, in Singapore. The tropical weather in Malaysia has been a great respite from the cold weather of Calgary albeit too hot at times. Our impression of Malaysia is that it is like Hawaii but with exotic food and colonial history. It's family friendly, has great weather and welcoming people. It's quite advanced and is similar to Turkey in that respect. We will head to the city-state of Singapore next. Till the next update from the lion city, take care!
We went up to the room to change Sereen into her swimming costume. The idea was to dip her in the pool but Samia heard a kid tell his mom that the water was so cold that he couldn't hold in his pee and then we decided to not take Sereen in the contaminated water. We chilled by the pool in a shaded cabana with a view of lush green hills and the bright blue ocean sparkling in the blazing tropical sun. A server brought us cold water which was perfect for the weather. When it started getting too hot, we decided to escape back to the comfort of our air conditioned room and relaxed there for a couple of hours.
Having recharged our batteries, we decided to head out for the most popular attraction of the island, the cable car ride up to the tallest peak of the island. We took a taxi there and it was only when I got on the cable car that I realized that it wasn't going to be a pleasant ride for me. The cable car ride was almost 15 minutes and covered a distance of 2 kilometers but to a person like me with a fear of heights, the ride seemed like it went on for eternity. I made the mistake of sitting on the wrong side of the cable car where I could see how much higher we had left to go. Samia tried her best to calm me down but I couldn't take off my eyes from our destination. It was a terrifying ride for me and seeing me that afraid, Samia also froze and didn't look outside. Sereen was in my arms and every time she moved, I pleaded with her to stop moving.
We got off at the first stop which was a vista point with wooden floor. Samia took some pictures while I sat on a bench with Sereen, trying to mentally prepare myself for the ride down. Then Samia gave me bad news that we had another short segment of upward climb before we could head down. This segment wasn't as scary since there wasn't much of an upward climb. Once we reached the second and final stop, we had the option of going to the so-called sky bridge that's a bridge between two peaks and definitely not meant for a person afraid of heights. I declined to go and Samia didn't want to leave us. She told me later that she actually really wanted to go on the bridge but my fear had guilted her so much that she decided to not go because she was scared that I would get upset again. This stop comprised concrete structures surrounded by bushes and even had a restaurant. I was comfortable walking around on this stop unlike the previous vista point. We took some photos on the top level that was above the restaurant. We had magnificent views of the ocean and the beaches but it was too hot so we had to get back down to the shaded area after a few minutes. Then we headed back down on the cable car and the ride back wasn't scary for me for two reasons - psychologically, I knew we were getting closer to the ground; and there were two other gentlemen in our cable car and the extra weight helped stabilize the cable car, as opposed to our ride up where to my horror, even the slightest wind would move the cable car. Sereen was chattering on the ride back down too whereas she had been quiet on the ride up. Maybe she shares the fear of heights with her dad!
I was glad that we reached back to the safety of the ground. We decided to check out the 3D center. It's a very interesting concept where the walls and the floors are painted such that if you take photos, the people standing in front of them blend in as part of the scene which makes for some splendid pictures. We spent almost an hour in there and took lots of fun photos. The best one was an accidental shot where Sereen cried for an instant while I was holding her in front of a scene of the jungle with a tiger ready to pounce. In the photo, it appears that she spotted the tiger and was screaming whereas I was oblivious to the tiger's presence. Sereen was getting tired so we decided to head back to our hotel. She fell asleep while we were walking to the taxi and kept sleeping even when we reached our hotel.
It had been an exhausting afternoon so we took a nap in our air conditioned room. When it was dinner time, we didn't feel like going out of our room so decided to order room service. We had vegetarian spring rolls and chicken soup for appetizer. I had the chicken karahi and Samia had a trio of rendang - beef, chicken and lamb. The food was amazing and it was our first experience of fine dining in the comfort of our night suits. After dinner, we stayed up for a little while and then went back to sleep.
Langkawi was the relaxing leg of our journey but the tourism resumes in the last leg of the trip, in Singapore. The tropical weather in Malaysia has been a great respite from the cold weather of Calgary albeit too hot at times. Our impression of Malaysia is that it is like Hawaii but with exotic food and colonial history. It's family friendly, has great weather and welcoming people. It's quite advanced and is similar to Turkey in that respect. We will head to the city-state of Singapore next. Till the next update from the lion city, take care!
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