We have booked a tour today which we think is private, but don’t really know – Viator is awful that way, the description will say private, but then it ends up being with others.  Plus, the description on this was a little confusing – we don’t know what is included and what isn’t.  Ah well, it’s an adventure! 

Arriving at the port, it is a haul from the ship to the parking area – there is a long walkway from the pier, then maybe ½ a mile walk down a long cement promenade that runs alongside a resort hotel.  We have no idea how most of these people will make it!  We’ve been chatting with our driver, Faizi, through WhatsApp, so at least we know we have someone picking us up!  But the pickup is also confusing, as he tells us we can wait in the hotel lobby – which we’ve not seen (because we are on the water side of the resort, not the entrance side – and then he asks us to come through the gate, but there isn’t any indication of where the “gate” is located.  Ack!  Finally we meet up in the parking lot in front of the hotel lobby – we at least found that!  After the initial confusion, the rest of the day works like a charm.

Faizi is a very sweet and almost shy guide, giving us information about the island and tourism and how the beach area is growing so much lately as we drive along Cenang Beach.  Isn’t it everywhere!  Heading to our first stop, the beach at Tanjung Rhu, we have to skirt the International Airport – literally drive 3 sides of it – to get to the other side of the island.  Since it is so early, we arrive to a virtually empty beach – which Faizi says is the best place on the island to watch the sunset.  Not for us – but it still makes a great stop for photos and to stretch our legs. 

Faizi takes us over to a little stand by the parking lot where we can buy tickets to the Mangrove Geopark.  It is here that we finally learn that no entrance fees are included with this day tour (once again, the description was totally confusing here). But, hey, in for a penny, in for a pound – so we go for the shorter (by 30 minutes) Mangrove tour where we will see the bat caves, the crocodile cave (no crocodile the sales lady promises, the cave only looks like one!), Eagle feeding and the fish farm. We pass on the fish feeding.  Everything else is fine.  Transaction done – we are then handed over to some other driver in another van who will take us to the Mangrove pier.  Hmmmm….memories of Saigon and the tour where we were passed around to 3 different vans comes to mind.  At least we have Faizi’s number, so we know we can get in touch with him if necessary.

Off we go for a 10 minute drive to the Mangroves.  The tour starting point is a madhouse!  Tons and tons of people milling around a huge covered dock – our van driver tells us he will come back for us when we are done – and that’s that. Okaaaaay.  We push our way through the morass, showing our Mangrove tour 23 sticker – the only thing that identifies us as paid – and some random guy sees it and says, Ok.  Um.  When in Rome – or at least in Langkawi!  Blithely following said random guy, we gingerly make our way through the throngs and then down onto the teeny, narrow floating pier, at one point having to crawl over a boat prow to continue on our way.  Sketchy at best!  Arriving at the designated speed boat, random driver helps us aboard, and off we go.  Just the 2 of us!  Oh, totally perfect!  It was pricey – but you know what?  Priceless to be just the 2 of us as we watch the other boats fill up with tons of people. 

Turns out to be the best non-sketchy tour ever!  We are out on the water for 3 hours – starting off slowly to get out of the Mangrove river which is really shallow and at low, low tide, then we are speeding along the river again, really ripping past all the mangroves and shorelines, making our way toward to open water alongside gorgeous treelined cliffs that drop off into the water.  Then flying out into the open water heading toward craggy islands and just beautiful scenery everywhere we look.

There are amazing rocks and cliffs with arches where the sea has eroded the rock, craggy little islands dotting the coast, even an island the looks like a shoe.  And a mountain formation that is supposed to be a head, but I still don’t see it!  As we fly along the coastline, our boat driver points out the coast opposite us which is Thailand!  We are that close – and it shows on our phones, which keep changing providers and time.  We’re that close!

Turning back inland, we stop in a bay designating the Kilim Karst Geoforest – which contains the oldest limestone in Malaysia called the Setul Formation, and is a UNESCO Global park, with 3 separate conservation areas.

Then move on, heading more slowly into the Mangroves, winding our way past the main GeoPark building with tons and tons of boats docked outside to the Bat Cave.  Pulling up to the dock, random boat driver says I’ll pick you up here – remember what I look like!  Okie dokie!  No dummy us, we’re taking a picture so we’ll remember (like he’ll forget what we look like!).  Then it is up the stairs to the ticket booth – of course there is a fee (it is only .50 cents US each but still!) and into the creepy bat cave entrance, ducking under some really low rock formations. Ok, so not that creepy as we are on a boardwalk following tons of people – who luckily have paid for the use of a flashlight!  Oops – sort of missed that fee.  Nonetheless, we can see the bats from their light – there are thousands of them hanging about!  The cave itself has been formed from wave erosion over the last 5,000 years (there is a layer of ancient oyster shells in the cave that dates back that far).  Now, one of the most accessible – and visited (yep, we can vouch for that) – cave on the island. 

Apparently there are 3 different types of bats in here – couldn’t prove it by us!  They all look the same – dark and still, although a few of them are stretching their wings.   

At the end of one of the caves, there are some great Stalagmites and Stalactites – and on the boardwalk a little viewing deck over the mangroves with a monkey, perfectly placed in front of the Beware of Monkeys sign!  (Note the bottom part of the sign that says “You have been warned!”  and “Not responsible for injury or death”.)

The next cave is just a short little section that circles you back to the main dock – no bats or anything interesting really – and then we are back to the dock where our boat driver dutifully pulled up to take us onto to our next adventure – the crocodile cave.

Turning down one of the rivers, we glide past two of the floating restaurants out here – as well as a couple of shipwrecks sticking up out of the river bed.  Then to the crocodile – that does look like a crocodile, you can see it’s jawline and teeth pretty easily.  But the highlight here is watching the monkeys on the shore by the cave and the few climbing up on the rocks!

The waterways around the cave are packed with boats – and our driver tells us there isn’t anything inside, so we won’t go there – we don’t mind – there’s a traffic jam in there already with 2 or 3 boats trying to maneuver their way in and out.  Reverse course!  And off we go. Roaring out into the fast parts of the river and then to the Fish farm/floating restaurant where another guide feeds the fish and shows us all the different varieties there we can chose for our lunch. He also shows us this cool looking eel that he says he has to be careful handling because it will bite his fingers off!  Eek.

It’s too early to eat here, unfortunately, talk about fresh seafood!  But we’re sure we can find something with Faizi later on – so we hop back on the boat and fly off into the river and open waters, reversing our course while we watch the gorgeous karsts and limestone forests flash by.  Unfortunately we are missing out on the Eagle feeding as the river is too low to navigate, but otherwise?  This was a fantastic tour on a most gorgeous day out along the coast!

Safely back at the main dock, our random boat driver walks us up to the waiting area, telling us our driver will come to get us as we bid him goodbye.  And then we wait for our ride.  And wait. And wait.  Hmmm….this might not be going according to plan.  After about 20 minutes, we text Faizi to tell him we are waiting – he goes and talks to somebody and says the driver is coming.  Ten more minutes, and I’m asking the tour guy about our ride – there 5 different tour companies up here, so it takes me a while before I’m directed to the correct one – he says the driver is coming.  Finally he appears – with another group he is delivering.  Ah, ok, got it – that’s what was taking so long.  Finally we are released from the mayhem, in the car, and quickly back to Faizi where we go off in search of lunch.

We ask him about food at the right time, as we are driving along the oceanfront and of course we want seafood.  He takes us to the Scarborough, a great place right on the beach where we relax in the shade with beer and wine and indulge in fabulous fried barramundi and calamari rings. Perfect. Just what we wanted.

Sated and back in the car, we begin to discuss the rest of the tour with Faizi.  Including on our itinerary are craft and batik shopping, 2 waterfalls and Gunung Raya, the highest peak on the island, which btw is reached by a series of cable cars.  Well, you know us – shopping is not our thing and without even seeing this cable car – we’re not up for that. Especially because we have limited time – and what happens if it breaks down (too many reports of that happening in places for us to feel confident).  We end up ditching the shopping and the Peak – and then asking Faizi which is the best waterfall – he chooses Telaga Tujuh – and that’s where we head.

Arriving at the park – and paying our entrance fee – Faizi actually comes with us this time.  Guess to be our photographer, don’t know, but he walks us all the way up the 2 long flights of stairs, passing adorable monkeys playing along side the walkway. 

Once at the waterfall, Faizi plays photographer, then leaves us to our own devices, telling us he’ll be at the car.  We meander around a bit, snapping photos here and there – it’s pretty up here, but in comparison to the other falls we have visited on this trip – it doesn’t really compare.  People are swimming here as well – and while we are in our bathing attire, we’re not going in – even though we have towels and a change of clothes in the car.  It is just nice to hang out up here and watch the water and feel the cool breeze coming off the falls.

Then it is back down the stairs to the parking lot where you can clearly see the cable car and viewing platforms up on the peak.  Definitely the correct decision nixing that.  The cable car looks scary from here – and well, just no.  We feel very vindicated as we hop in the car and head back to the other side of the island.  Faizi though is feeling guilty because there isn’t anything else to do since we’ve chopped his touring list in half.  We ask him if he can think of anything else that might be interesting and he suggests the aquarium.  Well, what the heck?  We like aquariums in general and we don’t necessarily want to go back to the ship just yet – off to Underwater World Langkawi we go. 

Except for the plethora of kids here (yeah, yeah, yeah, we know – what would you expect?) and the rude Chinese grandmother who just pushes me out of the way so her grandchild can get in front of me to watch the seal feeding – it was really a nice aquarium with tons of great fish, the aforementioned seal feeding and penguin feeding where we had front row viewing without the pushing Chinese woman, as well. 

There were scary but beautiful lion fish, these weird little upside down sea jelly things, beautiful Banner, Copperband and Pakistani and  Butterflyfish and little Nemo clownfish. 

Very pretty and nice and worth the visit.  Meeting up with Faizi once more, we make our final trek around the airport and back to the pier and our long, long walk to the ship.  A very nice day all in all. Back at the ship, we cool off – what was a nice day has suddenly become really hot and humid, and that walk down the promenade and the dock is brutal – even Ketan says it was hot out there and he’s Indian, he knows hot!  We actual go to the show tonight – basically because we have an extra hour to kill with the time change tonight.  It’s the Hollywood Cabaret show with the singers, and just excellent.  No complaints about production shows or cast on this ship, that’s for sure.  Then back to the cabin for balcony nightcaps and off to bed preparing for our early morning ship’s tour and overnight in Phuket!