Langkawi Island : Langkawi Island Hopping

[caption id="attachment_1877" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dataran Lang, Langkawi, Gunung Mat Cincang"][/caption]

Langkawi Island is quite possibly one of the best and beautiful island to visit in Malaysia. The first time I visited Langkawi Island with my family was way back in the 90's where Langkawi is just about beginning to bloom as a hot tourist spot in Malaysia.  I went back to Langkawi again in 2009 and wow, Langkawi has changed a lot - for the better that is. One of my main reason to come back was to go on a Langkawi Island Hopping trip besides checking out other cool, new places around the island as well.

We went with a group of 4 and thanks to some promotion with AirAsia, we got to fly straight into the island inclusive of staying for 3 days 2 nights at Awana Porto Malai Resort with total cost per person (air tix + hotel) for about RM300. That was like super cheap and a real bargain.  For the Langkawi island hopping trip we bought our tickets from one of the tour operators booth along Pantai Cenang. I think we paid around RM 35 or was it RM40 (can't really remember)/pax for the and the standard three islands hop : Pulau Beras Basah , Tasik Dayang Bunting and Pulau Singa Besar. The tour is inclusive of transport from your hotel to the jetty which is located just beside the Awana Porto Malai Resort.

I don't know if July is an off season for Langkawi and probably it is because throughout the whole day of our Langkawi Island hopping trip, it was raining really heavily. The tour guide was even asking us if we wanted to skip the trip and do it tomorrow instead because of the weather and we were like, " Hey it is more fun to go on a boat ride while it is raining heavily, right? " . So we hopped on the boat with a couple of crazy tourists who probably are just about as adrenaline junkie as us and man, that must have been the best boat ride I have even been to.

The whole boat ride was bumpy and at some point it started to rain really heavily and all of us in the boat were drenched in rain with the chilly wind and waves. It was just the coolest boat ride ever. Haha. Thankfully, no one got thrown out of the boat and we reached our first destination Tasik Dayang Bunting. Since we were already wet from head to toe, we decided to jump into the lake for a swim and who cares if it was raining. The lake is surprisingly warm and it was a good dip to get out from the cold. However, the lake is really dark green in colour and God knows what are sitting at the bottom of the lake. Overall, Dayang Bunting Lake is really beautiful and it is good a place to snap great picture and we would have done that if not for the rain.

Next, everyone hopped back on the boat and we went to the second island which was Pulau Singa Besar.  This is where the boat driver started to throw some food, I think it was bread to those huge eagles. Yet again, this place is a great spot for picture snapping.

Finally, the last of the island hop ended at Pulau Beras Basah. I was literally 'basah' or wet and began shivering the moment we stepped on the beach of the island. A couple of us from the boat had to knock on the door of the one and only coffee shop at the island so that they can start making coffee or anything hot for all of us to drink. I guess I wasn't the only one feeling the cold. It was still drizzling by the time we got at Pulau Beras Basah and we were just hanging out, drinking hot drinks and checking out fish at the jetty.

Soon after, everyone boarded the boat yet again and we headed back to the jetty that we had departed from. You can purchase some souvenirs with your photos stuck on it - some kind of a plate picture frame thingy, which we bought because we look good and candid in the pictures and off we went back for lunch at our hotel.

The whole trip was incredibly fun, adventurous thanks to the rain and bumpy boat ride and yeah, it was a fun trip altogether. If you must visit Langkawi Island in the future, it is a must for you to do the Langkawi island hopping trip. Also, don't bother pre-booking the island hopping trip from websites online because it is usually cost a whole lot less or cheaper if you buy the tickets directly from the tour booths along Pantai Cenang. And yeah, you can bargain for the price too if you are good at it. :) All in all, Langkawi Island hopping really rock on!

* Note: The pricing for the Langkawi Island hopping trip mentioned here (RM35-Rm40) was the pricing for 2009. The price may have gone up for 2011.