Eat, Drink & Be Relaxed: A Long Weekend in Langkawi

There are many things that are great about living in Malaysia, but one of the BEST things are the amount of public holidays that we get to enjoy. Back home, we had around nine federal holidays that everyone usually had off (of course, there are always exceptions in health care, hospitality and retail), but here in Malaysia, there are twenty-three. That’s right, twenty-three! Those are holidays on top of your vacation days from your company, for you to enjoy, and we’ve learned quickly that we do ENJOY them. With another long weekend ahead, we decided to head off to the Malaysian island paradise of Langkawi.

We arrived in Langkawi on a Thursday night, and stayed until Monday. That gave us a total of four nights to spend on the beautiful island. We decided to spend two nights at a luxury resort and two nights in a cottage we found on Air B&B. I am so glad we did it that way because it gave us the opportunity to see different parts of the island, and have different experiences. We rented a car, and what an experience that was! It was our first time driving on the opposite side of the car, and the opposite side of the road. We had a tiny, old, little car called a Proton, and it made all sorts of interesting noises as we drove it. The tires were so small, Luke and I both cracked up laughing when we saw them! Oh, and we kept getting in the wrong sides of the car. LOL!

Once we got the car, we headed out to the stunning Andaman Resort. The Andaman is a 5-star resort that we were able to book with some points that we had collected over the past year- score! The front entrance and lobby area was beautiful, with wooden beams on the massive ceiling, multiple water features and beautiful orchids. It felt like we had literally walked into paradise.

The pool was HUGE, had multiple layout chairs and cabanas, and people who would bring you fruity drinks and snacks. I wish I could tell you about crazy adventures we had while staying at the resort, but honestly we just ate, drank and RELAXED. Something we really have not done since we moved our lives across the world.

We rotated between the pool and the awesome beach, had multiple of those fruity drinks, took naps listening to the waves, soaked up the sun and just enjoyed each other’s company. We spotted beautiful Great Hornbills, monkeys and the majestic Eagles that Langkawi is known for all around the resort and on the beach. The Eagles are absolutely gorgeous and hypnotic to watch glide by. We really needed those two and a half days of doing nothing.

Our room was really great. We had a treetop suite with a nice, big Western king bed (yes, there is a difference between an Asian king bed and the ones back home), soaking tub in the bathroom and a balcony with a sign that read “Please lock your balcony door to avoid monkeys in your room who are looking for food.” LOL!

One really neat thing about our resort was the Coral Nursery that was on site. Back in 2004, when the infamous tsunami devastated parts of SE Asia, Langkawi was hit hard and most of the coral reef that surrounded the island was destroyed. The Andaman is trying to restore many different types of coral in a pool-like structure they have on their property (see pics below), and even collected a $6 fee from us to go towards the program. Hopefully one day, the beautiful coral will flourish in this area again.

We really just stayed at the resort for the most part, and ate all of our meals there. The food was good. We had breakfast in bed one morning, mimosas by the pool, sandwiches on the beach…

But the best meal we had was at their seafood restaurant that was right on the beach. We got to pick out our fresh fish, tell them how we wanted it prepared, and pick the sauce and sides. It was so delicious and our toes were in the sand as we watched the sun set. It doesn’t get any better than that!

As our time at the resort came to an end, we found ourselves asking if we should just stay there for the rest of the trip and cancel the Air B&B. We were just SO relaxed, we didn’t want it to end! LOL! But, I am really happy we didn’t end up doing that. After checking out of the hotel, and on the way to our Air B&B, we decided to go to the Langkawi Cable Car and Sky Bridge. Now, this is a VERY touristy thing to do, but it was on my little Langkawi bucket list, so I felt we had to do it. There were a ton of people there, after all it was a holiday weekend, but we ended up paying around $10 extra per ticket to cut the line, and it was so worth it. We didn’t have to wait at all, and when we got to the top, the views were absolutely amazing. You could really get a sense of how big the island is, and see for miles.

We also paid extra to take a walk on the Langkawi Sky Bridge. It was a really cool experience, but this is not for the faint of heart. It is a suspended cable bridge, so it shakes a little and moves while you walk. It was definitely a little freaky, and made us a little uneasy, but overall it was worth doing, and again, the views were spectacular!

After seeing the beautiful views of the island, we made our way to our Air B&B. It was called the Eagle Eye Cottage, and was located walking distance to one of the most famous beaches on Langkawi, called Tanjung Rhu. The cottage was adorable and had everything we needed (including A/C!). We enjoyed reading out on the porch, walking the beach and we watched a killer sunset. I haven’t seen one quite like it in some time, and I was in awe!

Our last night was spent no different than the others, on the beach. We were the only two on the beach and walked around looking at sea shells, and even found sand dollars. We started collecting them last year, so that was cool for us! We goofed on the beach, jumping and doing handstands, and talked for a long time about how lucky we are to have each other and these experiences. Even though it wasn’t a trip full of great/grand adventures, it WAS full of great memories.

I hope you enjoy reading about our memories, and they encourage you to go out and make your own, even if that is just relaxing. Remember, “Stay positive and love your life”.

Happy Travels,

Courtney