ASIANish

Time to see the sights! Eleanor and I like to take our time and enjoy our vacations, but we still took in quite a few of the attractions today: the Cable Car, 7 Wells waterfall, Underwater World, Eagle Square and Jetty Point.

Breakfast, err Lunch @ the Westin

We woke up "early", but not early enough to catch the breakfast buffet. So we ended up having a nice lunch at Westin's outdoor restaurant, The Tide. Surprisingly, there weren't very many people around. Other than ourselves, there was just one other couple at the restaurant; So we ended up with great seats that overlooked the ocean and beach.

Eleanor had the club sandwich with salad, and I, of course, had the bacon cheese burger with steak fries. Since Malaysia has a strong Muslim influence, they don't serve pork in Langkawi. So my bacon was actually "beef bacon". It was sort of like deep fried beef jerky, but more tender and still very good!

Oriental Village and The Cable Car

We took a 50 minute cab ride from the Westin and arrived at the Oriental Village parking lot. From the parking lot the Oriental Village was very unassuming, but after walking in a 100 meters, it opened up into a very beautiful, but very touristy, set of stores, water fountains, and bridges. Many of the stores had all sorts of random trinkets, which of course were much more expensive than what you'd find in town at the main shopping plazas. After making our way across a couple of bridges, we found ourselves at the Cable Car ticket booth.

One of the main attractions in Langkawi is the Cable Car ride which takes you up to an arcing bridge that is suspended high up in the mountains, providing a spectacular view. Unfortunately, we arrived 2 weeks too late; The bridge had recently been closed for renovation and wouldn't be re-opened until December 2008.

Even though the bridge was closed, the cable car ride was awesome! It was probably the best cable car ride I've ever been on, and it only cost $25 ringgits per person ($7.15 USD). We spent a little more than an hour up in the clouds, enjoying the view and the cool breeze. At the highest point on the observation platform, we were 710 Meters above sea level and had a 360 degree breath taking view of the entire island. It's definitely something that you have to experience in person.

Taxi Side Tip: Today was probably the only day where having our own car would have been ideal. The 50 minute drive from the Westin to Oriental Village normally cost 40 ringgits ($11.50 USD). However, the concierge at the Westin recommended booking a taxi for 4 hours @ 100 ringgits ($28.50 USD). Since we didn't know how much time we needed at each location and given the round trip taxi ride would take 1 hour 40 minutes we initially decided to book the taxi one way. But once we got to the Oriental Village and noticed that there weren't any taxi's around, we bargained the driver down to 80 ringgits ($22.75 USD) for 4 hours.

The Seven Wells Waterfall

We hopped back into the cab, and drove it 5 minutes up the road to the start of the Seven Wells waterfall. The cabbie told us that the waterfall was only a 20 minute hike, but he forgot to mention that it was up a steep mountain. At first we didn't know there were stairs along side the closed road, but after 5 minutes, there was an opening to the stairs which took us up the rest of the way. Another 5 minutes and 270 steps later, we came to a fork in the road. The side road looked very inviting since it was flat instead of continuing up the insanely steep hill, and it was the path to the base of the waterfall.

10 more minutes down the flat and level path, we finally came to a clearing where a beautiful white waterfall greeted us. It was middle of the afternoon by now, and it was very hot and humid. So the cool water and the breeze coming off the waterfall was very welcoming.

We spent a short time here, taking pictures at the waterfall and watching others bath in the cool stream coming off the waterfall. Sadly, we hadn't worn our bathing suits, so we didn't get to cool off like everyone else. But it was still worth the hike to see the waterfall.

The Seven Wells: 367 More Steps!

After the short trek back to the stairs, we had to make a decision. Hike another 367 steps up to the top to see the "7 Wells" and the top of the waterfall, or head back down 270 steps and proceed to our next destination. Even though it was hot and humid, we knew we probably wouldn't be back to Langkawi in some time, so we decided to go for it.

The next 367 steps made the last 270 feel like a walk in the park. It was much steeper and by the look of the poorly maintained stairs, many people don't make their way to the top. On the way up we saw several rest points, with well shaded benches, but we were forced to going since they were riddled with trash, rocks, and over growth. When we finally got up to top, which seemed like an eternity, I was out of breath, my legs were burning with lactic acid and we were soaked in sweat.

The "7 Wells" was a neat formation at the top of the waterfall. As the river came to it's end, it flowed down into several terraces which in turn created several waist deep calm pools of water. There were several people wading around in the pools, cooling off, and taking pictures.

Unfortunately for us, the "7 Wells" was anti-climactic, because we hadn't worn our bathing suits. Also, there really wasn't a whole lot to see other than jungle and the pools of water. I even climbed up a wooden outpost tower, which was clearly rotting and unsafe, to see if there was anything else around, but all you could see was jungle.

I'm sure we would have fully enjoyed the 7 Wells, if we had more time, and we brought the proper gear. There were jungle trails that you could walk through and even camping areas. Although, given the condition of the poorly maintained stairs, I'd be somewhat hesitant to stay at one of the camp sites.

After a few pictures, and watching with envy as the people play in the cold water, we started our long journey of 638 steps back down to the taxi. When we got back down, there were plenty of waiting taxis which kind of made us regret the 80 ringgits deal we had made with the cabbie. The whole waterfall experience too over an hour and a half, and we were near the end of our 4 hours. But since we didn't go swimming it all worked out in the end.

Underwater World

From the Seven Wells Waterfall it was a 30 minute ride to Underwater World, which is the "largest" aquarium in Langkawi (whatever that means). I'm a big animal lover, and I've always loved going to Sea World, especially when I went to school at UC San Diego. Of course, I didn't expect Underwater World to be like Sea World, but it was probably the biggest disappointment of the entire trip.

The admission was $35 ringgits per person ($10 USD), and probably the biggest waste of money.

The aquarium was small and there weren't very many variety of fish. We breezed through the entire main section of the aquarium in about 10 minutes. What was even more sad was the "cafeteria" area seemed larger than the entire first section of the aquarium. Finally, the cherry on top was the "main attraction" of Underwater World.

Underwater World advertises their penguin exhibit, where you can walk through a clear tunnel underwater, and observe penguins "flying" through the water. To our surprise, the entire exhibit was closed. There wasn't even a sign in the front, before we paid admission, informing visitors of closed exhibits. All they had was a small side exhibit of a few penguins behind very dirty windows.

Disappointed, we continued on, passing a small tank with a seal that sadly was swimming in a small corner, and another exhibit with what looked like a jailed sea otter. Needless to say, I felt a little cheated by one the headlining attractions in Langkawi.

If you're looking for an aquarium in Asia, stick to the one in Singapore, it's very good; and forget about going to Underwater World in Langkawi.

Jetty Point: Shopping and a Giant Eagle

The last stop of the day took us to the largest shopping center in Langkawi, and then to Jetty Point where a giant Eagle statue over looks the ocean.

The shopping wasn't all that great, but I did end up getting a small Cohiba Cuban cigar, which set me back $45 ringgits ($12.85 USD). Later that night, I enjoyed my my first Cuban cigar while relaxing on the waterfront.

After an hour of shopping, we walked toward Jetty Point which took us over a lake, on our way to Eagle Square. The eagle is the symbol of Langkawi, and the giant statue is a landmark of Langkawi which makes for a great photo opportunity.

We took some pictures, ate some dinner, and took a nice sunset walk back to the hotel. It was a good day.