Langkawi family holiday (Part 2)

The hotel bed comfortably slept all 4 of us and the little girls had a nice long sleep, probably because they were tired out from all the activity the night before! So they woke up in good spirits and were looking forward to the full day excursion ahead. We managed to get some nice shots of them in the morning still in their pyjamas.

One thing about the room, it did not have a bathtub, so in making do with what we had, Hubby's mum had the idea to bathe Heidi in the sink. It was quite a reasonable size, so Heidi fit into it quite nicely. She thought it was great fun and even knew how to hold on to the faucet to steady herself.

Since we had our own transport, there was no rush in going anywhere and we had a good breakfast followed by a leisurely walk around the hotel grounds to take pictures. We got some nice photos of the 3 of us minus Hannah as she was too busy playing!

Our first stop of the day was Langkawi Crocodile Farm and on the way, we stopped by a petrol station to fill up. In Langkawi we noticed that there are only Petronas stations, so it was no surprise that this particular station was called "Petronas Quay". There were a lot of yachts docked there, which made for another nice photo opportunity.

We finally got to the Crocodile Farm and there we got to see plenty of crocs. We had planned our visit so that we were also in time to see the crocodile show and also the feeding time.

We also managed to catch our excited Hannah and get our first family photo together, and Hannah also had some nice photos taken with her cousin.

After the Crocodile Farm, we headed to Oriental Village and Langkawi Cable Car. However, upon looking at the cable car, we changed our minds about riding it as it just looked way too high up and scary! Definitely not with the little ones. So instead the kids had fun with the paddle boat and we also had lunch there.

Hubby's sister also bought some small souvenirs for us and for those back home.

Next stop was Underwater World. It was a welcome change from the outdoors heat as the place was air-conditioned. Whoever said the weather forecast in Langkawi was rain was totally wrong. In fact, it was super hot!

There was all types of fish there, and even some African penguins!

And then, in the evening, we went to Kuah to have a look at Eagle Square. It was a good choice to go in the evening as the view of the giant eagle against the sunset was simply lovely.

Again, it was time for photos with the eagle in the backdrop and we took another family photo, as well as a photo of all 12 of us, taken by a nice passer-by.

We also managed to get some nice pictures of the 5 kids (minus Heidi).

After dinner, it was back to the hotel and time for bed! The next morning, the kids were up early again to have another round of swimming before checking out. We then went back to Pantai Cenang to have lunch beforeheading to the airport and dropping off the rental van.

Here we are at Cenang Mall:

All in all, it was a good trip, but perhaps a little too short. Hannah enjoyed herself tremendously, especially since she had the company of her cousins, and Heidi was generally a very good baby, eating when she was hungry, sleeping when she was sleepy and making no fuss at being taken from one place to another.

Looking forward to our next holiday!

Langkawi family holiday (Part 1)

We had planned for this trip way back in July together with Hubby's parents and two of his sisters. It was over the Hari Raya Haji long weekend which was good for us so that we didn't have to take leave. Of course Hannah was pretty excited to be going with her cousins and also at the prospect of swimming! For little Heidi, it was her first time on a plane. Our flight was at 1.15 pm so we arrived at Penang airport around 12 noon to check in.

Heidi was a good baby on the plane and did not make a fuss at all. It was good that it was a short trip so once we had settled into our seats, we gave her a bottle of milk and once she had finished, it was almost time to land!

Upon arrival, we rented a van which could fit 12 of us comfortably for RM350 for the 3 days. All in all, it was quite reasonable as the van used diesel which was much cheaper than petrol. It also gave us the flexibility of going and coming at our own time.

We had booked the trip via AirAsiaGo and we chose this hotel called Langkawi Lagoon Resort which was supposed to be 4 star. It was also conveniently located near the airport which was good for us travelling in a big group. However, a few weeks prior to the trip, I checked out some reviews on the hotel and found that it was not really good, so we were definitely quite apprehensive approaching the hotel. Upon arrival, we thought that our worst fears were confirmed as the facade of the hotel looked in need of a serious makeover and the lobby was quite small. But upon walking to the entrance to the pool and beach, the view of the sea and the hotel's private beach was really nice.

The hotel also had accommodation with chalets perched on the water called Sea Villas. Our package did not include those rooms however, we just had the normal deluxe hillview rooms.

We were hoping that our rooms would be clean and comfortable, considering the bad reviews we had read about the hotel. We had booked 4 rooms, and the hotel was nice enough to give us all the rooms on the same floor with 2 pairs of rooms next to each other. For once, the actual room was nicer than the photos shown on the internet so we were pleasantly surprised. The room was large, with a chaise lounge that could sleep an extra person. There was also a kitchenette which was useful for us travelling with little ones and the bathroom was marble tiled up to ceiling height. 3 rooms were ready when we arrived, only Hubby's parents' room was not, so they waited in our room while their room was being prepared.

You can read my review of the hotel on TripAdvisor here

After putting down our luggage, we headed out to look for a quick bite, and guess where we ended up? McDonald's! It was the easiest and quickest option considering that the children were very hungry. There was one located at Pantai Cenang just next door to Langkawi Underwater World.

Heidi also had her late lunch there - milk!

After that, we headed back to the hotel for some rest and for the kids to go swimming. Heidi really liked the big bed in our room, I suppose because there was plenty of space for her to roll around! She couldn't stop smiling :)

And of course, what Hannah really enjoyed was the swimming! Below are some photos of her enjoying the pool with her cousins.

Heidi was looking at the pool and all the while lunging towards it, and we could see that she really wanted to go in too! But since she just recovered from cough and flu, swimming was a no-no for her, so she just had to be content with dipping her legs in the pool. She enjoyed that pretty much too, kicking her legs about.

After a fun time of swimming, we headed out again to Pantai Cenang to have dinner. We found a seafood restaurant and ordered some dishes with rice. We did not order any fish at first, but my father-in-law requested them to steam a fish. We were told at first that the price was RM10 per 100g which is very pricey, but it would not be an issue if it was fresh. When the fish came, it was quite a disappointment as it was overcooked and tough. We complained to the restaurant so they gave us a small discount of the original price of RM100.

Heidi was fast asleep throughout dinner as it was past her bed time, and Hannah was also almost ready for bed as she did not have her afternoon nap.

Part 2 of our trip will be in the next post.