Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Malaysia Trip: Beaches

The type of holiday that I always crave is one where there are beaches to lounge on.  We tried to visit as many beaches as we could.  

Our first beach was especially for snorkeling:  Palau Payar.  This was a tour that we joined that was 180 ringgit/ person, including lunch, snorkeling gear, and transport to and from our hotel.  This was a 6 hour day starting with riding out to Palau Payar by ferry (which was about an hour) with a big group of people.  There were about 4 other tour groups that were out at this snorkeling spot as well.




Palau Payar was beautiful and probably really popular because of the numerous fish that swam in its waters.

The second beach we visited was on our Mangrove Tour.  This place was beautiful.  I'm not that brave to swim in the ocean on my own.  Most times, I'll probably be wearing my life vest or swimming at the local pool.  But, the water at this beach was so calm it was almost still.  I wish Hong Kong beaches had water this calm...and clean.




The final days of our trip, we decided to explore the beaches on the west side of the island.  We caught a taxi out to Burau Bay.  This beach was beautiful, with water so calm that it was almost still as well.  But, there was something really eerie about the water.  

We walked the length of the beach, which was partially owned by a resort.  The people at the resort were lounging at the outdoor pool, but no one ventured out into the Bay's water.  We walked a bit further and found a bunch of cow droppings and thought that maybe it was the cow poo that deterred people from swimming out there.  When we got to the lighthouse at the other end of the Bay, we asked around and some of the locals said there were jelly fish in the water.  So it was good we didn't take a chance at diving in!





So, Burau Bay was a beautiful place to just sun bathe and picnic.

As for swimming, a great place we found was Pentai Cenang, which is on the west side of the island too.  This was truly a WHITE SAND BEACH moment.  The sand was so soft and the water was also beautifully clear.  There was also a safe swimming zone that kept swimmers out of the way of the speed boats.  This beach is really close to a lot of tourist attractions, which stretch all along the west side of Langkawi.  It's also close to a lot of restaurants, so there's no need for us to really pack a picnic.




Not a beach for lounging:
We spent an entire day at Pentai Cenang and walked down Jalan Pantai Cenang to a beach that seemed dedicated entirely to water sports.  I thought I would show you a few photos because it's also a beautiful spot to watch the sun set!


This was about 5pm and you can see the sun coming down


The morning we left, we headed out to Tanjung Rhu Beach on the north side of the island.  This was one of my favorite beaches because it was low tide.  And because it was low tide, I could walk out a few 100 meters out and the water was still down at my waste.  This beach was, like most beaches we visited, really quite secluded.





It has been two weeks since we left Langkawi and looking at these photos makes me miss the holiday so much.  Thankfully, it's still unbearably hot in Hong Kong and I can still head out to the beach...which I have been doing.  So, look forward to some more beach posts, if you want to find a great spot to swim or sunbathe in Hong Kong.