Extremely Interesting Mangroves Trips

We did the Mangrove tours on our third day in Langkawi. As usual we wake up in the early morning and went for breakfast.

surveying the Langkawi map where to go after the trip
of course searching for the pub for our night activity ;P

excited for an escape to another world

just love my toy, LX3

I took roti jala, fried beehoon and porridge for breakfast

In this tour we did 4 hour boat trip that starts at Tanjung Rhu and enjoyed every minute of it as so much to learn and not boring at all. For your information, the Kilim Nature Park features a beautiful mix of well-protected green mangrove forests, isolated white beaches and blue lagoons.

from here we gather together with other tourists before depart

package price list for the tours
(in fact you can bargain for cheaper price)

at jetty before depart to Kilim Nature Park

ready for boat ride by speedboat with other tourists

my hair before straightening.. such a mess

slowly cruise down the Kilim river

Our young and energetic tour guide (forgot his name jor) was very informative. Unbelievable knowledge about Langkawi natural habitat. Honestly we learned a lot from him, not just about what we seeing but also about natural conversation efforts in Langkawi. He also spoke good English.

our young and knowledgeable tour guide

Pass through the mangrove swamp and first thing we saw are "Mud Skipper. In Malay we called it Ikan Belacak or Ikan Tembakul. Suddenly it remind me the story about "Si Tenggang"

cute and just look like mini dragon

Mangrove Canon Ball
(wanna know more, watch the video that I posted)

arghh but cannot eat ok!

Here is the exciting part. Monkeys can swim. Our tour guide try to prove to us that monkey can swim. I never thought Monkey can swim and dive so well. It's so easy, just luring them with biscuit. First, chuck the biscuit in the water and the monkey will swim for a distance to get the biscuits.

1, 2 and 3 are swimming towards us to get the biscuit

nyum..nyum...

Our boat slowly going through a swamp. Later on, our captain keep his boat near to the bank and we saw this tiny creature, "Fiddler Crab" also known as "Calling Crab"

Top pic: Female Fiddler Crab Bottom pic: Male Fiddler Crab
(males have an oversize claw)

And exclusive video how the male Fiddler Crab pull a lid over their burrow and retreat into the safety of their little hole home. Click at the video ya ;)

Next magical moment. The Eagle Feeding time. Our tour guide will throw some chicken skin and the eagle begin screeching and snooping down across the river to grab up the food.

fly away majestically

Brahming Kites or white bellied sea eagles

And we went deeper into Mangrove Forest

us in Geography class now ;P

we even saw a snake on the tree
and different type of mangrove trees

Red Mangroves prop themselves above the water level with stilt roots while Black Mangroves with pneumatophores specialized root like structure which stick up out of the soil like straws for breathing.

top pic: Red Mangroves
bottom pic: Black Mangroves

Salt crystal formed on grey mangrove leaf
(did u see the white color one)

taste salty

salt filter
besides leaf, mangrove tree can filter off the salt water too
(look like cigarettes butt)

According to our tour guide, Mangrove swamp are Langkawi's natural defence system that act as natural shields against strong waves. Because of this Mangrove forest, Langkawi was saved from the scary Tsunami, 6 years ago.

tour guide explaining how mangrove trees have evolved
a special mechanism to help their offspring survive

Mangrove's story Part 1

Gua Buaya (Crocodile Cave)

unique Langkawi Cave

Limestone formation

shortly after passing through, we heading to Gua Kelawar (Bat Cave)

from jetty we still need to walk along a wooden
platform that leading directly to the cave

sharing his knowledge with us about "poisonous tree"

entrance to the Bat Cave

gigantic stalactites and stalagmites

a colony of bats hooked to the ceiling of the cave

Cave Bat only can accessible by boat

Then we heading to a sandy beach in the far northeast corner of the main island of Langkawi for our own leisure time or swimming. Too bad we didn't bring our swim wear so we just walked around.

clean and isolated

Lunch included in this trip and we are going to have our lunch on this floating restaurant.

floating restaurant

spring roll

tomyam soup

mixed vegetables

squids

chicken in soy sauce

fried fishes

varieties of fruits

After lunch,we went around to see marine fishes. And the most exciting part, I was allowed to hold them including Puffer Fish ;)

horned fish

The puffer fish.
The guy just grabbed the fish out and started agitating it to make it bloat up.

do you dare to hold puffer fish?
The Puffer fish look like smile for the camera

pity little Puffer fish ;(
take time to sink back into the water and keep circling around the tank

This is the most unforgettable activity in Langkawi. After that, we were transferred back to Kuah town and went to Starbucks for a short drink.

iced latte as usual, my favorite

marble cheese cake but I prefer Secret Recipe one

We chit chat a lot of girl stuffs including my coming soon trip to Australia. In our conversation, Lynn was begging me to get her Australia cheesecake

Lynn: Please get me a cheese cake for me during your trip to Australian

(begging with teary eyes)

me: Siao ar you. Choi lei dou soh

after failed to convince me, she "tenyeh" my face kaw kaw

after that, we ignoring each other...

less than 2 mins, both of us burst out laughing. so childish

She also challenged me to post up my big tummy if I blog about our Langkawi trip.

blerkk.. here you are.
You thought I don't dare?

Then we drove to Pantai Cenang for the sunset and dinner as well.

We went for German cuisine at Beach Garden Resort.
German owned resort ;)

always fully booked
don't forget to call 04-9551363 for reservation

showing us the correct way to pour the beer

passed!!

Dark wheat beer in original flip flop cap bottle

"Paulaner" authentic German imported German Beer
(RM11.00)

both of them took the picture with
the owner in German waitress costume

Our dinner ;)

cheers!!

At night we are going to Chime at the Sheraton Langkawi Beach Resort for clubbing ;)

Atmosphere is good and the band who sing there are really good

Birthday man for that night ;)

Great performance from this band

our cocktails

and treat from birthday man

not enough with cocktails we ordered red wine

Cheers again!!

vocalist for the band

Thanks girls for such a fun night