Here’s a simple guide of the Top 10 things or places that you should visit while you are at Langkawi.

1. Cenang Beach

The first place you must visit on your trip to Langkawi. Relax and unwind yourself at this clear, clean and pristine beach. After all, Cenang is one of the famous beaches in Langkawi with just 25km from Kuah town.

2. Telaga Tujuh Waterfalls (Seven Wells)

Enjoy freshwater streams cascades about 90 metres from this majestic waterfall with a series of seven magnificent wells. The uphill trek to the top is less than a mile, the trip is quite strenuous, and you’d be well advised to take water with you. Also, be careful – the rocks are slippery. It is just 45km from Kuah town.

3. Gua Cerita Cave (Cave of Stories)
As the name suggests, the cave is entrenched in mystery and folklore. Inside the caves, you’ll find inscriptions written in Jawi that reportedly date from 1754 AD. To reach the cave, you’ll need to catch the boat ride from Tanjung Rhu.

4. Pulau Payar Marine Park- Langkawi Coral

Enjoy diving, snorkeling, and swimming among a bevy of tropical fish and explore the internationally known coral reefs. Visitors from around the world can also observe the marine life up-close by joining the underwater observatory program.

5. Ibrahim Hussein Art Museum
Malaysian artist Dato Ibrahim Hussein’s goal was to create this pristine natural gallery. The gallery sits in a clearing that overlooks the azure waters of Pasir Tengkorak.

6. Pulau Dayang Bunting

Go swimming, rent a water bikes or bask in this largest lake in the area. Pulau Dayang Bunting is made famous for the legend of the fairy that was captured here and tricked into marriage by a human prince. The fairy gave birth to a child but the baby died and she threw the corpse into the lake.

7. Summer Palace Langkawi
The place is full of historical features and thus the movie “Anna and the King” was filmed here to recapture the period of ancient Siam. A visit here promises to be an unforgettable one.

8. The Bistro
Stay alive at night with live entertainment and a terrific dance floor at The Bistro.
Located in the Kampung Tok Senik Resort, this bar serves only drinks and lively tunes. The decor is wood, the crowd is friendly, and the bar offers a splendid view of the resort’s pool.

9. Langkawi Geopark

Experience nature and wildlife at this preserved park and understand the geological heritage. Not only that, you can also ride on “Lasah”, the Asian elephant into the foothill of the Gunung Machincang Mountain range.

10. Charlie’s Place Restaurant and Bar
The open-air concept restaurant and bar has an upscale ambiance. The décor involve an oval bar tables lined to overlook the water which creates a romantic feel because of its magnificent view at sunset.

Want to fly to Langkawi now?

Check out our website of course at www.fireflyz.com.my to book your tickets now!

As you know, to get to Penang, you need to get on the ferry first!

These are how the cars parked in the ferry

The view on the ferry from Butterworth to Penang

Buddhas

The everly famous, Kek Lok Si Temple

View down from Kek Lok Si

Try some vegetarian food here at the temple

‘Ah Mah’ begging at the temple

Souvenirs anyone?

Khoo Kongsi- the largest clan comples in Malaysia and awe-inspiring for its architectural attributes and bas-relief sculptures. The movie Anna and the King actually took its scene here

CheongFatt Tze Mansion- It has 38 rooms, 5 courtyards, 7 staircases and 220 windows. This charming home was awarded by UNESCO for the restoration work done to preserve its heritage

Time to eat! A different way of eating rojak, like celup-celup. Only RM0.40 per sticks!

This is the very famous ‘Loh Mee’ in Butterworth and that’s the special vinegar which we can’t get it easily in Malaysia

The other everly famous, St. Anne’ church

Inside St.Anne

Old buildings

An old man cycling a trishaw, such hardworking life for these old people. Imagine us complaining when we have a car?

That’s more or less about Penang. Hurry up and experience Penang by yourself!

Thank you

My colleagues have been flying Firefly almost exclusively for the past 2 years. So often I have heard of passengers complaining about the flight delays, but I consider myself lucky because I didn’t experience any delay on any of my flights I previously travelled. That luck evaded me during my most recent date with the airline’s flight FY 2148 from JB to Subang and to tell you frankly, that was the 1st time i took the Firefly aircraft.

Many have told me about the decline in Firefly service. They said they are not like they used to be at the first time when they launched their service mid 2007. I hate to believe that they are correct. I sincerely hope they are wrong.

The 1st hurdle came by as I received 6 text messages informing me that my flight have been delayed by 2 hours. Well, i felt that it was ‘okay’ for me as this was my 1st experience of getting flight delays and I eventually arrived at Sultan Ismail International airport for my check in at the re-timed session.

As everything went on smooth, there was another setback as the flight have been delayed by another 30 minutes which by this time all the passengers who were all waiting to board the aircraft at the boarding bay stranded without any prior notice or announcement over the Airport PA system that announced about the delay.

Well, what I could witness was, there were many passengers who were unhappy and many of them approached the information counter for further explanations and what they get was a no vail answer. While I was walking around the boarding bay, there was a guy by the name of Raymond who approached me and we started to chat about the flight delay and eventually ended up being a new friend on board.

Through his conversation at that time, he told me this was the second time in a row that he faced this flight delay without prior notice and he was getting fed up with such services. His 1st flight was bound to Kuala Terengganu via Subang.

As the conversation was getting lengthy, we talked about many topics which I believe could be an improvement for Firefly.

1. Firefly should take advantage of the access to Subang International Airport which would be an easier an convenient route to many of the passengers staying in Selangor and KL district as I believe all the other aircrafts are flying to KLIA or LCCT which is quite far from the main sub-urban areas. (Except Berjaya Air i guess). So I believe the flight delays, cancellations and poor service is not recommendable.

2. If there is any flight delays exceeding 2 or 3 hours, passengers would be entitled to cash vouchers which they can use to purchase the next Firefly ticket. In this way, I believe the passengers would be given another chance to judge the credibility and improvements that out to be virtues by Firefly. (Passengers don’t lose hope on the Firefly services)

3. Announcement over the Airport PA system if there are any flight delays and appointing a crew or representatives over at the boarding bay. (This to improve the communication service.)

Budget airlines may be good in terms of value for the tourists but for business people it is different. If a company is a prestigious one and is prospering why should it make its productive and hardworking executives travel cattle class or budget airlines? If I am working as an executive for a big and renowned company and it makes me fly budget or economy, I will switch allegiance. My reason for switching to another establishment is why work for a stingy company?

So you see people will still fly business and first class especially now when the recession is almost over and companies are reporting brisk businesses and turning in profits.
In this light,airlines like Firefly need to improve their services and compete with the best as i believe many of the Firefly staffs have the experience working with a world class airlines such as MAS. So, I hope that it would bring up some bright ideas to establish Firefly as the best community airline as mentioned!

Last but not least, I would like to say some great moments travelling up the new ATR72-500 and their cabin crew services. This is really great experience as the plane look awesome and great.

I believe firefly can make wonders with this aircraft as this is an unique model here as many of the other airlines are using Airbus and Boeing up their sleeves. So, let Firefly go in with a bang to get the large community to fly frequently with them. Well, the cabin crew services was a great one and didn’t had any hiccups along the way as their broad smiles and delicate service was a natural cool down for many of the passengers.

Well, this was what I could think about at this moment and if there is any improvements or comments, would post it up soon.

Regards,
Your concerned community
Prakash

]]> http://blog.fireflyz.com.my/2009/09/prakashs-first-firefly-trip/feed/ 1 http://blog.fireflyz.com.my/2009/09/jewel-of-the-east-coast/ http://blog.fireflyz.com.my/2009/09/jewel-of-the-east-coast/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:04:33 +0000 Natalya http://blog.fireflyz.com.my/?p=734 We have our first winner for the month of August for “Share your experience with us”. Hafiz has been kind enough to share with us his story on his visit to Kuala Terengganu recently. Let’s see what Hafiz experienced over at the east.

It was still early in the morning when my friend, Anuar and I arrived at Sultan Mahmud, Kuala Terengganu Airport by Firefly, FY2100 flight. Woww..I am surprised to see the brand new Terengganu Airport, a combination of modern and traditional architecture. I looked at my watch and it was already 8:30am. We decided to go to Kuala Terengganu City for breakfast. We headed to Pasar Payang by taxi that cost RM35 for about 30 minutes journey. After having Nasi Dagang, a local famous dish, we had no idea where to start our trip.

After a few minutes, a brilliant idea came out of my mind. I thought why don’t we just ask the Tourism Information Centre nearby and seek for advice? We did and got information that we need to know and started our trip with fantastic plans in mind. To experience the true of Terengganu, we agreed act like a local. That means we are not going to rent a car but to use public transport instead. It is going to be fun!

After lunch, we paid a visit to Bukit Puteri to see the historical remains at the site. Bukit Puteri was a fortress to defend Terengganu from enemy attacks. Some of the war artifacts that still exist are large bells, cannon, gunpowder hole and the lighthouse. It was such a magnificent view of the city fromthe top of this hill and we enjoyed every moment of it.

Then, we went for a walk to Istana Maziah and had our photo taken at the yellow gate before going to Dataran Syahbandar for a quick break. It was a sunny day, so we stopped at the stall selling Air Batu Campur (ABC) to quench our thirst..Hmm..what a nice drink! Before checking in at Merang Suria Resort, we boarded a Bot Penambang to cross the Terengganu river to Kampung Seberang Takir. We heard that the village was famous for its keropok lekor. With a cost of RM2 return ticket, we didn’t mind to take the boat and join the locals just to experience this traditional transportation.

The sampan

Got up next morning, got ready and raring to go, we headed off again. Our first stop was the  roadside stall selling locals famous, sata and otak-otak. We ate a lot about 20 sticks and we really enjoyed a taste of Terengganu traditional delicacies.

Sata

Then, we continued walking on a little further and stopped at the stall selling keropok lekor. I am glad to see how the locals gathered and processed the keropok lekor  with my own eyes. I personally bought 15 of it and put it in my travelling bag. Arrgghhh..it was so heavy. Some more, we were using public transport. It was really challenging for us to carry the heavy bag to the nearest bus stand. Next, we checked in at Primula Beach Resort, in the main of the city.
In the evening, we head to Islamic Civilization Park and were amazed by the beauty of the Crystal Mosque. We reached there at dusk, the mosque was shining golden in colour. What a great panorama!

The crystal mosque

After wandering for about an hour, we returned to hotel and got ready for our night outing. We saw bazaars set up near the Batu Burok beach. We walked to the beach until we saw seawater spoilt over the road and blocked the access for vehicles. We managed to cross the road and went to the Batu Burok carnival. I bought some souvenirs and dinner which we ate at the hotel room. We took our photos at the hotels’ lobby before going to sleep as we were exhausted.

Batu Burok

Our departure time was unfortunately getting ever closer. Therefore, we started our lovely morning for last minutes shopping at Pasar Payang. I am looking for batik and my friend was looking for brassware products. Later on, we headed back to hotel and checked out. The best part was we rode on a local trishaw from the market to the hotel that cost just RM10. I am so excited as it was my first  experience. At the hotel, we packed our belongings and headed to Kuala Terengganu bus terminal. We left our bag there and continued wondering the city for few more hours. Not to forget, we boarded on the boat to Seberang Takir again and had our tea time at the local stall.
At 6:30pm, we took a cab to the airport to catch our flight at 9:30pm. We walked around the airport, had a light dinner and flew back to Kuala Lumpur with a sweet memory in mind. Terengganu has so much to offer and because we cannot experience all those this time, we plan to go again next time with a different itinerary and different way of travelling. Terengganu, wait for us yaa…

by Mohd Hafiz Bin Mohd Salleh

We began our journey right after the celebration held at the airport. The group departs from the airport by bus to Lumut Jetty and we managed to catch the last ferry at 8:30pm to Pangkor Island. General Manager of Pangkor Beach Island Resort, Mr. Jimmy Yeoh was kind enough to escort us to the resort. The sea breeze ride was about 25-30 minutes. Then, we hopped on to a pink van which drives us straight to the resort.

When I reached Pangkor Island Beach Resort, one word says it all, RELAX. I really felt like I am in paradise. We had dinner at Hornbill Restaurant and proceeded to our room individually. We had our room facing the ocean (Ocean Wings). That night the sound of the waves accompanied me to sleep. It was a wonderful experience.

Pangkor Beach

Pangkor Island Beach Resort is certainly a place for you to lay back and do nothing. At the resort, you can relax by the pool or by the beach.

There are also various activities which can be done there such as deep sea fishing, snorkeling, jet ski, water ski, banana boat ride, jungle walk and more. If you are too lazy to get up, you can also get pampered at the Aryani Spa where you can unwind and soothe those aching muscles. Besides, there’s also a mini golf course for all you daddys out there.

The next morning, we awoke at 7am to catch the opportunity to see the hornbills at the resort. These hornbills are wild as they live in the woods around the resort. Animals such as monkeys and peacocks are often seen roaming freely as they inhabit in the nature surrounding the resort.

The wild and smaller Hornbills (as compared to those in Sarawak) are seen near the resort’s pool area

Group photo before we leave the resort

The following day, we went to Cameron Highlands. We departed in the evening from Lumut Jetty and reached Strawberry Park Resort later that night. The highlight of Strawberry Park Resort is the Neo Tudor design of the resort, which is blended perfectly with its breathtaking surrounding. We had steamboat dinner and hot cocoa drink to warm ourselves up!

In the morning, we went for a tour at the resort after our breakfast. There, beautiful flowers and even a strawberry farm, managed by the resort, can be found. The strawberries were then picked by the workers and made into delicious strawberry’ dessert for Jim Thompson Terrace restaurant.

Group with Marie Bark, PR Manager of Strawberry Park Resort. Thanks Marie!

We also visited the fruits and vegetables’ market where we tried the famous fried sweet potato balls, the cherry tomato, the sweet milk corn and the strawberry honey stick. The group also had a chance visit the Bharat Tea plantation. The plantation was vast and the group gets the random idea of how tea was plant and picked.

At Cameron Bharat Tea Plantation

Right after the tour, we made our way back down with the bus back to Ipoh and checked in at Impiana Casuarina Hotel. The hotel is a premier hotel centrally located in Ipoh. The 4-star rating hotel, located at the city centre allows easy access for both business and leisure travelers.

After a sumptous buffet lunch at the Garden Terrace, we visited the Gopeng Rainforest Resort.  Gopeng is a small town located about 18Km south of Ipoh and 16Km north of Kampar in Perak.

The owner, Mr. David Foon treated us to a ‘kampung durian’ feast. The Singaporean was very happy as this is a rare opportunity for them to eat ‘kampung durian’ whilst to visit the resort that is surrounded by nature.

'Kampung Durians'

Gopeng Rainforest Resort also offers various activities which can satisfy the adventure and nature’s lovers such as white water rafting, jungle trekking, Rafflesia trail, etc.  The resort also caters to many teams building activity for corporate team, college students and school children which can widen their scope of knowledge about nature and other moral values such as teamwork.

Before we leave, we also took the chance and visited the waterfall where the white water rafting activity is actually done. The waterfall was magnificent and once again, this was a rare opportunity for the Singaporean to have a view of the beautiful creation of God.

Gopeng waterfall

Of course, we didn’t miss our chance on taking some nice photographs here.

Jonathan, jumping for joy!

Beautiful!

Orang Asli house

The next day, the group had a taste of the famous thing in Ipoh- Ipoh white coffee, of ocurse! We had our typically ‘Ipoh-ians’ breakfast of white coffee, ‘kaya’ toasts, ‘hor fun’, dim sum, egg tart and char kuey teow.

Then, we went for a 45-minutes tour at Gua Tempurung, the limestone hills in the Kinta Valley. The group was amazed by the formation of limestone which has begun over 400 million years ago. However, I would recommend for a longer tour as it is impossible to appreciate and see the cave in just 45 minutes, perhaps we can come here again next time?

For lunch, we were treated by Mr. Yap of Parlo Tours at the award-winning Indulgence Restaurant. Julie Song, the owner and chef at Indulgence welcome us personally. The restaurant also functioned as a  boutique hotel.  Currently, it has 7 rooms (Ildi, Kinnaree, Giulianna, May-Suet, Tzarrah, Beverly, and Qatrynka) ranging from different themes which Julie has been inspired on her visit to other countries.

One of the room

We were certainly indulged by the vast amount of Fusion food served and hospitality by Julie.

Thanks Mr.Yap and Julie!

After lunch, the group then head to the Sultan Azlan Shah airport and was welcomed by Nia, the tame python from the Lost World of Tambun.

With Nia!

This trip has certainly been an enjoyable and wonderful experience for the group before they head back and faced the reality- work!