Langkawi & Penang

We crossed into Malaysia! After all this time, it’s just our fourth country visited on this trip. Due to dawdling a little longer in Thailand than we’d planned, we only had a single night to spend in Langkawi, less than 24 hours in fact. Unlike the two previous islands we’d visited, Langkawi is pretty big and pretty developed with several separate towns connected by a very thorough road system. Malaysian ethnic diversity was immediately on full display with mostly Malay Muslim people, but also many Chinese and some Indians as well. Also, everyone suddenly spoke more or less fluent English.  

We had chosen a place to stay based solely on its proximity to a famous tourist attraction, not realizing that it would take over half an hour by taxi from the ferry terminal. So we didn’t arrive at our little guesthouse until about 7 in the evening. We took care of some logistics, went out for a quick dinner at a nearby Chinese seafood restaurant, and went to bed early.

The next day, we had a slow, logistics-filled morning before taking a Grab about 15 minutes to the above-mentioned tourist attraction, the Langkawi Skybridge Cable Car. Upon arriving, we found a strange Disneyland-esque “Oriental Village” full of little shops and overly-cutesy bridges. Feeling like we were definitely not in Thailand anymore, we ate an actually quite good Indian lunch at a little food court, then wandered over to the ticket counter, which had huge cordoned-off queues (adding to the Disneyland effect) that were almost completely deserted. (The ticket price was also a bit Disney-ish at 85 ringgit per person, over $20.)

Finally, we got to the main attraction, a dauntingly vertical cable car that ascends over 600 meters from nearly sea level to the top of a huge forested karst. Each individual car was quite small, holding six people at most, and we were loaded on with three Malay teen boys who were very talkative and curious about us, asking if each could sit with us in turn and take a photo. Meanwhile, the ground got further and further away, and Chandler (more than a little afraid of heights) became increasingly terrified, but enjoyed it nevertheless.

After about a 20-minute ride, we made it to the top where we disembarked and enjoyed sweeping views of nearly the entire island as well as some smaller adjacent islands. On the opposite side of the cable car, an uninterrupted stretch of jungle cascaded down the side of the mountains back to the ocean, making for a pretty incredible sight. Finally, we payed a few extra ringgit each to go out onto the Langkawi Sky Bridge itself, a futuristic-looking suspension bridge spanning a gut-dropping 125 meters of mountain chasm and offering more incredible views and opportunities for anxiety.

Once we were back at the base of the cable car, we had to actually kind of hustle to get our Grab back to the guest house, collect our bags, and rush to the ferry terminal to catch the last ferry of the day to Penang.

We arrived in George Town (the principal city on Penang island), caught a Grab to our hotel, and basically just crashed out for a little while. Unlike Langkawi, Penang is actually majority Chinese. Plus, we were staying in Chinatown, doubling down on the China-like experience. We got a good meal at a nearby restaurant (Chinese food of course) before turning in early.

After a slow morning the following day, we walked a short distance to Little India, getting a delicious Indian-food lunch before taking another Grab up into the foothills to the Penang Botanical Gardens. We spent a really nice couple hours wandering around the gardens, which included sections of dense rainforest as well as some beautifully-landscaped sweeping grass fields with decorative palms and other trees. The best part, though, was the several troops of monkeys roaming around, and we had a great time watching them scurry around and play out the various dynamics within the group. That evening, we went out for another nice dinner back in Chinatown, this time getting a gorgeous pork belly hot pot as well as a delicious savory chicken soup.

In retrospect, it’s a bit of a shame we only had two nights to spend in Penang. With its beautiful architecture and proliferation of really cool little restaurants, coffee shops, and bars, we could easily have spent much more time chilling, eating, and exploring. Instead, it mainly amounted to a couple of much-needed recuperation and planning days. Though we have no regrets about the time we’ve dedicated to other places, for both Langkawi and Penang, we really feel like we got just enough of a taste to realize how much each had to offer. But that just means we’ll have to come back some day!

Next up: Kuala Lumpur & Taman Negara

Langkawi cable car & Skybridge

Penang sunset

George Town street art

Indian food lunch!

Macaques at Penang Botanical Gardens

More Penang BG

Hot pot!