Showing posts with label Cable Car. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cable Car. Show all posts

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Langkawi Malaysia Cable Car Sky Cab Sky Bridge Experience

I travel to Langkawi, Malaysia. This was my experience taking the world's steepest cable car, and then walking on the Sky Bridge! First, I share the videos. Pictures to follow later.

 Langkawi Sky Cab Steepest Climb in the World

Langkawi Cable Car Middle to Top Station

Langkawi Cable Car Inclinator to Sky Bridge

Langkawi Walking on Sky Bridge (Curved Bridge) - Swiss Design Award 2005 winner

Descending from Top Station to Base Station

Journey to Langkawi Sky Cab
And now, for more sight-seeing. Today, we head to the Cable Car, Panorama Langkawi. From our hotel, it would take about 40 minutes (depending on traffic). Here is a signpost to the place, still 21km away. I recall this signpost was near Hotel Bayview, well at least not soon after we left.
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The roads were in a good condition and generally clear, at least when we were travelling. The driver did say that Langkawi could get very busy, but it didn't felt too busy when we were there.
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We arrive at the Oriental Village, which leads to the cable car. Image and video hosting by TinyPic

These were the ticket prices Image and video hosting by TinyPic

That looks really steep. Apparently, this is the steepest cable car in the world, so claimed the Malaysians. If somebody knows of another cable car set-up that is even steeper, please let me know. Image and video hosting by TinyPic

At the middle station, we got off the cable car to check out the views. If you were in a hurry to get to the top, you could decide to stay in the cable car instead of getting off. This was taken at the middle station. Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Great view of Langkawi from here. Even better from the top station. Image and video hosting by TinyPic

The top station, where the cable cars make a roundabout and head back down again. I wonder how many trips a cable car makes in a day. Image and video hosting by TinyPic

I can see the middle station (far left) and top station, where I am now, on the right. See the cables. Image and video hosting by TinyPic

The open walkways at the top looked rather new. Good day to be up here. Beautiful views all around. Image and video hosting by TinyPic

At the top. This sign indicates that this is the birthplace of Malaysia. Image and video hosting by TinyPic

From the top station, we could see the Sky Bridge, a curved bridge. We would be heading there shortly. Image and video hosting by TinyPic

The geology was fascinating. Many peaks and sheer drops. Image and video hosting by TinyPic

They started this locks thingy on the bridge. Very nice. Not many locks at this stage but I think the numbers will grow over time. Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Ocean Park, Hong Kong - Part 1 - Travel to Ocean Park, Cable Car Ride, Whirly Bird, Bumper Car

Our day out to Ocean Park, Hong Kong.  Ocean Park is a famous amusement park cum conservation park in Hong Kong.  Opened in 1977, the site is built on two sides of a mountain.

This is a 4 part blog post.  Here are links to Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 (See the pandas).

We decided to take the MTR and Citybus to Ocean Park.  This seemed to be the most common way. From Eaton Hotel, we walked to Jordan MTR and took the Tsuen Wan line to Admiralty, just two stops.  At Admiralty MTR, there were clear signposts (Exit B).  The fare was $10.6 per adult and half price for kids under 12.  Check out the following video for the journey.

Video - Citybus 629 from Admiralty MTR to Ocean Park Entrance



The bus journey was very smooth, 25 minutes.  Once we entered Ocean Park, which didn't look too crowded, the plan was to take the cable car to the Summit.  So, we decided to look for the cable car station, which was not difficult to find.  The queues for the cable car were not long, which was great. The cable car system wasn't very new (built in 1977, I think), and there was some noticeable vibrations.  Thank God everything was safe.  Check out the next video for our cable car ride up to the summit.


When we reached the Summit, we did not know where to go.  There were many signs to different segments of the park. We had a park map, however, the descriptions on the map weren't great.  So we decided to work our way downwards, i.e. go to the top most part of the park first.  This brought us to this set of escalators which said Thrill Mountain.  So we went up.
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We took a couple of rides (the not so scary ones).  The most exciting ride we took was Whirly Bird. The Whirly Bird ride looked like this.  Looks safe?  Yeah, let's try.  The kids could take it too.  Minimum height was 122cm.
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It turns out that the ride was very whirly indeed.  My kids sat together and I sat with my wife.  The ride brought us rather high up, with wonderful views.  But I got a bit giddy after that.  Thankfully, I had my breakfast some hours ago.  Here is a video of our Whirly Bird experience.


After finding our feet, we managed a couple more 'safe' rides.  One of them was the bumper car, which was very safe indeed.  There was a line but the wait wasn't too long.  Not more than 10 minutes.  We were fortunate today that the park didn't seem very crowded.  The crowds at Ocean Park are supposedly legendary.
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Here is a video of the bumper car ride. They squeezed many bumper cars in a small space and they tried to make it 'One Way Only'.  Also, the electricity for the bumper cars came from the floor and not overhead cables.  This meant that when the ride started, the entire floor would have strong electric currents flowing through.  STAY IN YOUR CAR until the ride is over.


Next, we took this blue roller coaster, that was directly opposite the entrance to the South Pole Spectacular.  This ride was suitable for kids.  Worth taking, even if you do not like roller coasters too much.
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After this ride, we would head over to the South Pole Spectacular.  Go on to Part 2 of this review.