Travel Log: Weekend Getaway a la Boozes, Foods & Pools

Destination: Langkawi, Malaysia

Duration: 2 Days 1 Night (May 23~May 24, 2015)

In the midst of the crazy working life, we’d decided to plan an impromptu trip to Langkawi for a lil R&R. Our purpose is simple – Langkawi is the heaven for cheap booze, so we plan to drink as much alcohol as we can during the weekend before getting back to reality.

Since this is a last minute plan, it also means that it’s not the most economical. We’d be going to Langkawi from Penang with Ferry and back to Penang by Air Asia flight. Both options are based on normal price as it was simply too late to enjoy any available discounts. We did booked Aseania Hotel using Groupon (link). The main attraction of the hotel? A mini water theme park with longest pool in Malaysia and of course its strategic location between Pantai Cenang and Pantai Tengah.

A Map of Pantai Cenang with Aseania Hotel Location

Day 1: Ferry, Boozes, Foods & Pools

We arrived in Swettenham Pier for our 8.30am ferry ride which took around 3 hours. If you have seasick, DO NOT takes this option! People were puking their guts out right & left (they do provide FREE plastic bag, how thoughtful!) and there was nothing you could do but to endure this for 3 hours unless you want to jump off the ferry. Anyway, one of the best spots to avoid seasickness would be the outdoor deck but it might not help much too. *puke*

There is the Ferry

Heading for 3 hours of Disaster!

What a Pathetic Sight! Lil one fainted and me puking my guts out

We finally reached Langkawi after 3 hours of excruciating ferry ride and took a taxi to Aseania. It cost RM45 for 4 adults & 3 kids. We reached Aseania and was told our room was not ready yet (the check-in time is 3pm) so we planned to leave our bags there, freshen up at the restroom a bit before heading out for lunch. Funny thing was after we freshen up in the restroom, the reception suddenly told us our rooms were ready. Great!

Someone checking out the Pool!

We were pleasantly surprised by our room condition as we read some comments in tripadvisor regarding how run-down the rooms were. I guess our rooms were those newly renovated batch. After settling down, we proceeded to walk to Cenang for some lunch. The best thing about Aseania is Pantai Tengah and Pantai Cenang are both within walking distance thus you can save up car rental if you just want to explore the area.

Our Room! Kukukai went right to the bed!

Toilet

Some Toiletries

Travel Essential in Langkawi? - UMBRELLA & SUNBLOCK SPF130+!!!

Since we are ‘firm-believer’ of tripadvisor, we’ve decided to lunch at the currently no. 1 rank restaurants in Langkawi – The French Factory (link). The small eatery specializes in French Crepe and we ordered the “chicken breast + egg + cheese” crepe and the “banana + homemade chocolate” crepe along with pink lemonade. The lemonade was fresh & sour – just nice for the super hot weather in Langkawi. We preferred the “chicken breast + egg + cheese” crepe as the combination was great and reminded us of our random crepe lunch near Pompidon during our travel in Paris (link). The banana in the “banana + Homemade Chocolate” was a bit sour though – I guess it was not ripe enough.

Set Menu

Drink Menu

Ala Carte Salty Crepes

Ala Carte Sweet Crepes

Pink Lemonade - Refreshing!

Chicken Breast + Cheese + Egg Crepe = NOM NOM!

Banana & Homemade Chocolate Crepe

They also sells Desserts!

Let's play with Instamagazine...

After lunch, we walked to Cenang mall to enjoy some much-needed air condition. The mall was really small with few shops such as Starbucks, KFC, the Loaf ( I heard is opened by Dr Mahathir??), Guardian and two duty free shops selling chocolate, tobacco and ALCOHOL! The Boozes were really DIRT CHEAP!!! We quickly bought pear and apple ciders and the 1^st thing we asked the cashier was: do you have a bottle opener? LOL!!! Gosh! She must’ve thought us desperate! The answer was YES! They have bottle opener! Guess we were not the only desperate alcoholic there!

Cenang Mall - stole this from other website

After getting the booze and some chocolate, we walked over to Cenang Beach to enjoy the view. The lil one was adamant to jump into the sea so hubby had to accompany her there. So I got to enjoy myself by sitting on the beach with my umbrella, drinking pear and apple cider whilst trying to take the classic holiday leg selfie picture and failed miserably! *facepalm*

Oh Gosh! How to take a successful holiday leg selfie?!

This Fails too!!!

I think this looks better? btw, these ciders were not as sweet as Summerby's.

Drama unfolded at the beach when a bikini girl screamed loudly during her swim. 

Apparently she was bitten by something. Her bf carried her back to the beach where she laid there immobilized. A few lifeguards ran over (just like in movie but of course not as handsome!) and brought her to the lifeguard office. After a few moments, a jeep came fast and furious and brought the bikini girl and the bf to hospital (assumingly). I guess she was bitten by a jelly fish? Anyway, after the drama we packed up and the lil one clean up at the public restroom there (RM1/entry).

Cenang Beach

We slowly walked back to Aseania direction when Coco Valley and The Zon were apparently in our way. These 2 outlets were famous for duty free chocolates and boozes!!! We ended up with tons of boozes and it was not even over RM50 and we had to randomly take another beer to top up to RM50 for credit card swipe. Oh gosh!!! I wish I live in Langkawi!!! Btw, the Zon has no air condition and I almost suffocated in there! *sweat*

Coco Valley from other website.. we didn't even take picture of it

The Zon right beside Coco Valley - the Air Con was not working that day!

Our Alcohol of the day!!! Buy 2 free 1 lemon/lime cocktail for RM9.80 each, Taiwanese Beer RM4.50 each and Rose Wine for RM23!!! SO WORTH IT!!!!

We finally arrived in Aseania and it was around 5.30pm++. We quickly went to their pool area – they have a slow river pool, wave pool, kiddie’s pool and the Malaysia’s longest pool. Our favourite was the wave pool where you could just lie down at the edge of the pool with the wave washing over you repeatedly.

Lazing around at Wave Pool

Swim Fishies!

We stayed there till around 8pm before washed up, drank the Taiwanese grape beer (tasted like fruit juice!) and went for a late dinner. Not sure whether it was the timing, Langkawi seemed to be really quiet and less people around. Tripadvisor gave us some suggestions on restaurant near to Aseania and we ended up going to “Sun Café”. 

Sun Cafe

Their menu consisted of western, Italian and local fares and we ended up ordering a cheese burger and a pizza supreme. Both were yummy and they played lovely oldies. The only downside was it was an open restaurant thus the mosquitoes were flying around. Perhaps the owner can put some lemongrass or something to prevent the mosquito?

Fish in the Vase

Orange Juice with Beautiful Real Flower on table

Pizza Supreme

Cheese Burger with Thick & Juicy Beef Patty!

Another College

We planned to have a booze party after the lil one fell sleep but ended up falling asleep as well! *gasp* Great! Now we have to finish up 3 bottles of lime/lemon cocktail liquor, a Taiwanese Lychee Beer and 750ml+187 ml of rose wine on second day itself! *facepalm*

Pool at Night

Summary of the Day?

Day 2: Alcohol for Breakfast and Last Minute Shopping

Since we were behind our schedule on drinking the booze, my breakfast consisted of leftover biscuit with around 500ml of rose wine with 11% alcohol content. The rose wine was not overly strong and actually tasted like soda. The Groupon stated our rate was for ROOM ONLY and breakfast was not included. My friends forgot about this and went for the hotel breakfast and luckily they were not charged.

Breakfast!

After the ‘breakfast’, we went down to the wave pool again for some last minute relaxing – meaning me dozing in and out of consciousness at the edge of the wave pool. 500ml of 11% alcohol did that to you! We lazed around the pool until 11.30am before rushing off to our room for last minute cleanup and checkout! How I wish to have more time lazing there… *sigh*

Checking Out!

Last Minute applying sun block!

After checkout, we went to La Chocolatine for some brunch. We ordered hot chocolate, orange juice, salmon quiche, scrambled egg and some chocolate cake. The hot chocolate was extremely thick whilst the orange juice was fresh. I loved the scrambled egg on buttered toast but the salmon quiche was too dry. The chocolate cake was super sweet for me but the lil one loved it.

La Chocolatine

The Set

Ala Carte Menu

Lots of Pastries!

Choco Cake

Salmon Quiche - too dry!

Really really THICK Hot Chocolate

Scrambled egg with Baguette - Love this!

We walked to Pantai Tengah to have a look before walking to Cenang mall again for some last minute chocolate hunting. Apparently the chocolates and candies here were cheaper than those in Coco Valley and the Zon. The weather was scotching and I think I almost had a heat stroke. *sweat* We finally walked back to Aseania around 3pm to collect our bags and called for taxi to airport.

Amazingly, out of the alcohol, we managed to finish all except around another 500ml of rose wine – all in half day! What a feat! We finished the last of our Taiwanese Lychee Beer when in Cenang Mall. Now this definitely begs the question - is it illegal to drink alcohol in public in Langkawi??? We pour the leftover rose wine into a red color Tupperware bottle and hoped the custom would not notice it.

Goodbye Langkawi!

It was my 1^st time in Langkawi airport and apparently the airport was named one of the best small airports. Btw, miracle did happen – since this was a domestic flight, liquid was allowed on flight thus we brought our leftover rose wine openly into the flight! LOL!!! The flight was incredibly fast – it only took less than 30mins between take off & landing from Langkawi to Penang. This is definitely the best way to travel Penang <-> Langkawi!!! Skip the bloody Ferry!!!

Engine is too Loud!

Lil one 1st Plane Ride!

Safely landed in Penang!