Langkawi, Malaysia

Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - Langkawi
Langkawi has a UNESCO World Geopark status. Not exactly sure what that means but the place is gorgeous.


After my success the previous day in teaming up with other travelers to see the area I decided to try this again. It’s actually quite a stretch for me to approach total strangers and ask to spend the day with them, but desperate times call for desperate measures. As it turns out the move changed the course of my time on the cruise. These people were so fun to be around that I ended up spending much of the rest of the cruise with them and I hope to be in touch for years to come.

At the port there was a list of costs to hire taxis for the day and I noticed some people talking about how many each vehicle could hold and what the cost would be. I asked if they had room for one more and they kindly included me in their calculations. The day was really terrific. The main site I wanted to see was the cable cars and fortunately this was also on the list of most of the other travelers. We refused the taxi drivers suggestion that we stop at a batik factor to ensure we got to the cable cars before a feared onslaught by the rest of the cruise guests.

The cable car ride up to the halfway point.

Me at the halfway stop lookout point.

The view from the halfway point up to the lookout platform. (This is the site I'd read about before traveling here!)

The amazing lookout walkway. This is -the- site I wanted to see in Langkawi and I was so happy to have been able to visit.

Next up were the bat caves. We had a flashlight with us and once we saw how many bats were hanging from the cave ceiling a couple of us insisted on no flash photography, so unfortunately there are no pictures to share. Uh... not that I'm afraid of bats or anything like that - there is just that whole bats caught in the hair thing I'd like to avoid.

Then we went by boat to an area on the river where they feed the eagles. Really cool to see these beautiful birds.

Next we went to a floating fishing area on the river where we all got to hold this guy - a horseshoe crab. Also saw a type of fish that spits to capture it's food. To show how this works they put a bit of bread on a rail and the fish would spit to knock it into the water. Pretty amazing! Seriously - check it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pXLXp-SMk8

No really - go now to look at this YouTube clip.