"The Eagle Isle..." Pulau Langkawi by chiabh

The Island of Legends and Myths

The Langkawi archipelago is Malaysia’s largest cluster of islands... Located off the north-west coast of the peninsula, the archipelago is made up of 99 islands at high tide and another five islets at low tide - all occupying a total land area of 528 square kilometres... The nearest islet is 22km from the Perlis coast and the furthest 54km away, close to the Thai border... However, the archipelago belongs to the state of Kedah... The islands are surrounded by different waters - the Andaman Sea on the western side, Straits of Malacca on the eastern sides, and Straits of Chinchin on the northern side... The five islands that appear during low tide are all located in the open Andaman Sea...

Langkawi Island itself is the largest, covering 478.5 square kilometres, and is the only one which is well settled, with a population of 50,000... The other inhabited island is nearby Pulau Tuba...

The Langkawi archipelago is also a sanctuary for some of the world’s most ancient rainforests, teeming with exotic and rare flora and fauna... Recognising this heritage, Unesco has awarded the World Geopark status to Langkawi... The status includes three main Geopark components, namely Mount Mat Chincang Geoforest Park, Kilim Geoforest Park and Pulau Tasik Dayang Bunting...

What's In A Name

Langkawi derived its name from the eagle or "helang", according to local folklore... "Kawi" denotes reddish brown in old Malay language... Hence Langkawi means reddished brown eagle... The name is immortalised in Dataran Lang (or Eagle Square) where a magnificiant statue of the reddish brown eagle poised for flight is erected...

The names of the various places in Pulau Langkawi is the result of the legendary battle between 2 giants Mat Raya and Mat Chinchang... Mat Raya had planned a grand feast to celebrate the engagement of his daughter to Mat Chinchang's son... A raging battle resulted when the young man was caught flirting with another maiden... Pots, crockery and the engagement ring which were hurled during the fight fell on various parts of the island... The spot where the ring was flung turned into Tanjung Chinchin (meaning cape of the ring); the broken cockery became the village of Belanga Pecah (meaning broken cockery); the split gravy became the town of Kuah (meaning gravy); the village where the gravy seeped through became Kisap (meaning to seep in) and the spot where the cauldron of hot water was broken became the Hot Springs at Air Hangat...

Of all the legends, the legend of Mahsuri is always the most captivating... The legend of Mahsuri, a young and beautiful lady was unjustly accused of adultery and later being stabbed to death using her father's spear, known as Tombak Pandak Mayah, as a punishment... As a sign of her innocence, she bled white blood at her execution... In her dying breath, she laid a curse on the island that it would remain barren for 7 generations... Seven generations have since passed and today, Langkawi is a flourishing tourist destination...

Tasik Dayang Bunting (the Lake of The Pregnant Maiden) is not without a legend of its own... It is attributed to the legend of a lovely fairy princess who married an earthly prince... Her first child died shortly after birth... She was so sad and depressed that she buried the child in the crystal waters of the lake... Before she returned to her celestial abode, she blessed the waters so that any childless maiden who bathed in the lake would conceive thereafter...

So these are some of the legends for you... Find out more by visiting Taman Lagenda which will take you back to Langkawi's glorious heydays...

on the langkawi cable car...

The main town in Langkawi is Kuah... The jetty is less than 1km from the town while the airport is about 20km away...

If you ever travel to Pulau Langkawi, these are some of the places of interest that you may consider visiting depending on your interest... These are listed alphabetically and are not in any particular order of preference...

Air Hangat Village
Dataran Lang
Durian Perangin Waterfall
Galeria Perdana
Kampung Buku Malaysia
Kota Mahsuri (formerly known as Makam Mahsuri)
Laman Padi Langkawi
Langkawi Cable Car
Langkawi Crocodile Farm
Langkawi Crystal
Oriental Village
Pulau Payar Marine Park
Taman Lagenda
Tasik Dayang Bunting (or Lake of The Pregnant Maiden)
Telaga Tujuh Waterfalls (or Seven Wells Waterfall)
Temurun Waterfall
Underwater World Langkawi

For nature lovers, there is caving to be done at Bat Cave (Gua Kelawar), Cabe of Legends (Gua Cerita), Cave of the Sand Merchants (Gua Pasir Dagang) and Porpupine Cave (Gua Landak)... Langkawi is also the site of the first geopark in Malaysia and South East Asia... It comprises the Machincang Cambrian Geoforest Park, Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest Park and Kilim Geoforest Park... There are also tours to watch and feed eagles in Pulau Singa Besar...

For those who are interest in a beach holiday, Pantai Kok, Pantai Cenang, Pantai Tengah, Datai and Burau Bay have fabulous beaches and are the places to be... Pantai Cenang is the firm favourite as you can find all levels of accommodation here... Besides the beach, a wide variety of cheap and good food are in abundance...

For shoppers, Pulau Langkawi has been declared duty free since 1987... There are numerous shopping complexes and shops seeling duty free goods including Langkawi Fair Shopping Mall, Langkawi Parade, Jetty Point Complex and Zone Shopping Paradise (to name some of them)... For arts and craft, visit the Craft Cultural Complex...

There are only 3 golf courses in Langkawi viz Langkawi Golf Club, The Golf Club Datai Bay and Gunung Raya Golf Club... However, the Langkawi Golf Club is closed indefinitely for upgrade and no re-opening date is available...

Some of these places of interests are outlined in the Things To Do tips of this Langkawi travelogue...

the jetty - view from dataran lang...

Pulai Langkawi is an island, hence you cannot drive there!!!...

For those from Penang, Langkawi Ferry Service provides two daily service between the two islands... The sea journey will take about 2hr 45mins... One of the services will have a stop at Pulau Payar Marine Park... Visitors from the mainland can take the ferry service from either Kuala Kedah ( 1hr 15mins) or Kuala Perlis (45mins)... Kuala Kedah is about 6hrs by road from KLumpur and Kuala Perlis about 7hrs... Both these towns provide affordable long term parking facilities for those who drive there... There are also long distance coaches to Kuala Kedah and Kuala Perlis from KLumpur...

One can also go by railway, which will cover all 3 modes of transport from KLumpur... The Langkawi Express run by The Malayan Railway (KTM) from Klumpur stops at Arau, the nearest railway station to Kuala Perlis... It is then by road and ferry to Langkawi...

Of course, the easier way to Pulau Langkawi is to fly... Both Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia flies from Kuala Lumpur to the island's Padang Matsirat International Airport... Silk Air flies in from Singapore...

When in Pulau Langkawi, where the public transport system is non-existent, the best option is to rent a car and self drive... It is easy to drive on the island which is rather laid-back and slow moving... Rented cars are cheap and you could get a small car for less than RM100 per day... Car rental offices can be found at the jetty, airport as well as at the hotels... Some hotels promoted "stay n drive" packages as well...