Silk Air Langkawi to Singapore on Airbus A320, Langkawi International Airport

Very soon, it was time to head back to Singapore. A short but fun trip to Langkawi. I flew here on Air Asia but I am flying home on Silk Air, which is Singapore Airlines regional subsidiary. I don't fly Silk Air very often, so this would be interesting. SilkAir operates a short-haul fleet, currently a mix of Airbus A319, A320 and Boeing 737.

However, I think they have ordered the upcoming Boeing 737-MAX and will phase out their Airbus fleet over time. Before the fight, here is a video of the Langkawi international airport. We had some time at the airport, but it was a small airport. There was time for a meal (some dinner) before the flight.


The departures from Langkawi airport this evening.

A Malaysian flag hanging from the roof of the terminal. Malaysia Boleh!

Check in counters.

Starbucks at the Langkawi International airport. Quite well patronized.

This was my Kampung style Fried Rice from a restaurant on the 2nd floor of the airport terminal.

A view of the terminal from the 2nd floor.

After security. This airport did not have any aero-bridges. We would need to walk on the tarmac to the plane, just like when we arrived.

Let me proceed to the flight itself. It was on a Silk Air Airbus A320. A short flight, just 1hr 15 minutes. Here is the video flight review. In the review, I show you the snack as well as the inflight enterntainment studio system that requires you to use your own device to stream the movies. I used my iphone to try some movies, just to see whether it worked, and it did. SilkAir planes are not fitted with any IFE screens so if you want to watch any movies, you would have to use your own device. Anyway, the selection wasn't great.


At my seat in Economy.

Cabin crew at the back galley. Only the front door of the aircraft was opened. The crew would have flown in from Singapore earlier, since Silk Air does not have a change of crew in Langkawi.

On board an Airbus A320 aircraft.

Obligatory legroom photo.

The flight back to Singapore was short and uneventful, which wasn't a bad thing. Immigration control at Changi was quite empty, which was a relief. I wanted to get home quickly.

As I did not have any check-in luggage, after immigration, I got out to the public area quickly and headed to the taxi stand. The line was not too long and it moved quite fast. Within 5 minutes, I was in a taxi on the way home. Thank God for safe travels. Thanks for reading!

AirAsia Flight Singapore to Langkawi Meals while Landing!

We fly AirAsia from Singapore to Langkawi, Malaysia. AirAsia is a very large budget carrier, owned by Tony Fernandez of Malaysia. It has been a stunning success, however, it was hit by a crash last year when AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed, presumably due to bad weather and some pilot error.

The flight time was quite short, only 1hr 20minutes, approx. Now the fun started. We had pre-booked our meals, however, it looked like a large number of pax also pre-booked their meals and turned out that the service was very slow. There appeared to be a large group of pax on the plane, travelling together. Many of them also pre-booked meals.

The pilot had announced the start of descent, yet we hadn't gotten our food! Then, the cabin crew (4 of them) started to dish out the pre-booked food more and more rapidly, even as the plane was descending. It turned out that we ended up eating our meals right through descent and landing! Is this normal? Well, I got the entire experience on video, and you can watch it to believe it.

Some stills. I spotted this very long bridge from the air. Later on, I learnt that this was either the Penang bridge or the Penang Second Bridge (the latter bridge is longer). Not sure which one this is.

By the time I got my meal, we were already very close to landing.

This is how the Bukhara Chicken Briyani looked like. The taste wasn't bad.

Upon landing, the plane quickly taxi-ed to the terminal and I saw this Malaysian Airlines jet that had just pushed back.

This was a small airport, no aerobridge.

Another view of the plane, in the bright sun.

Earlier in the morning, this was the first part of the video of the Air Asia flight, taxi-ing out of Changi International. The plane was slightly late in arrival, but the disembarkation of passengers and our embarkation was relatively quick. We had to taxi for a very long while before take-off. During the taxi, I saw the upcoming Terminal 4, which is about 70% completed. I think Terminal 4 will open in 2017. Once we took off, I could see a large piece of land being cleared. This should be the site of the future Terminal 5. Here is the video.

The Loaf, Langkawi, European style Bakery and Bistro owned by Dr Mahathir ex PM of Malaysia

The Loaf Bakery and Bistro, Langkawi. This is a premier bakery first opened in 2006, at the Perdana Quay in Telaga Harbour Park. Subsequently they have opened in several places in Malaysia.

The Loaf produces bakery products like bread, pastries, cookies using traditional Japanese methods. They also have a comprehensive ala carte menu, where you can have breakfast, lunch or dinner.

The Loaf is owned by Tun Dr Mahathir, the most famous ex-Prime Minister of Malaysia. This video shows you our experience at the Loaf Langkawi, Perdana Quay. We had heard about this place and decided to come here for lunch. The bistro is located quite near the SkyCab Cable Car.


Here are some pictures. Inside the Bistro.

The first breakfast item caught my attention. Why? It says Tun's Breakfast! Can I conclude that this is Tun's favourite breakfast? For RM 26, you get a choice of lamb, beef or chicken curry with toasted bread, soft-boiled egg, orange juice, coffee OR tea. Sounds hearty!

Front page of the menu. Prices were still reasonable by Singaporean standards. But of course these prices would be expensive by local standards.

Back page of the menu, including drinks. Cappuccino for 10RM.

Hot coffee. Neat cup. Came with a nice cookie too.

Some of the breads on sale. These breads were supposed to be very good.

This was the Loaf signature club sandwich. Very hearty!

Do watch the video to see what food we ate, including signature sandwiches, soup, laksa, grilled fish on rice and grilled chicken on rice. Thanks for reading!

Hotel Bayview, Langkawi, Malaysia - Room and Breakfast

I say at Hotel Bayview for a few nights on a trip to the beautiful island of Langkawi, Malaysia. This hotel is located in Kuah, the commercial centre of Langkawi.
 

The view from my hotel room. On the left side is Kuah, the commercial center of Langkawi. Nearer the beach, there seems to be some new construction, not sure what they are building.

Some pictures from the hotel buffet breakfast. This is Roti Canai


I think these were the condiments for the chicken porridge.

These were condiments for the Nasi Lemak.

Nasi Lemak rice - delicious!

My serving of Nasi Lemak. Yummy! Sambal chilli is very important.

Thanks for reading!

Langkawi, Kuah, Won Ton Mee, Coffeeshop, Domino Western Food Store

Some pictures of some food I had when staying at Hotel Bayview, Langkawi. Hotel Bayview is located in Kuah, which is the downtown commercial area of Langkawi. Not a big area, but at least there were some shops to buy food and groceries.

 This was a coffeeshop located about a 3 minute walk away from the Hotel Bayview. Here is a video.

A picture of the won ton mee I had, for 5 Ringgit.  The coffee was a bit sweet though.


From my hotel room, I could see these shophouses which had eateries and shops. So I explore the nearby vicinity of the hotel and come across this eating place called Domino's restaurant, not to be confused with the Dominos pizza chain.

The prices looked reasonable and I was just looking for a quick bite. So I ended up with this pasta and some iced coffee. It was a very hot day!


Here is a video of the place. Other than myself, only 2 other patrons. No worries, the waiter spoke good English.


And I walked around Kuah town center some more and entered an alcohol shop as well as a shop selling chocolates and other 'duty free' stuff.


This was a local eating house (coffee shop) along the same road, again rather near the hotel.

Thanks for reading!

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.


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.


We arrive at the Oriental Village, which leads to the cable car.

These were the ticket prices

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.

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.

Great view of Langkawi from here. Even better from the top station.

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.

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

The open walkways at the top looked rather new. Good day to be up here. Beautiful views all around.

At the top. This sign indicates that this is the birthplace of Malaysia.

From the top station, we could see the Sky Bridge, a curved bridge. We would be heading there shortly.

The geology was fascinating. Many peaks and sheer drops.

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.