Langkawi - Part 3

Oh, the weather.. 

I've had a good night's sleep. 
And in the morning, we heard raindrops on the roof.
It kept going and going and going, I didn't realise that we had overslept.
Our plan was to ride up to the Northwestern side of the island.
But it kept raining. So, we took it rather easy..

When it rains, it pours.. 

The red dot tells you where we were.. 

It wasn't until 10:30am when we finally rolled out from Teratak Damai.
Our route, a simple ride across the paddy fields to Pantai Cenang, which is roughly about 3km away.
Where we stayed, we were very close to the Langkawi Interational Airport.
And Pantai Cenang is a real happening place.
While cycling along the rice fields, we noticed that the local community in the area had integrated tourism into their daily lives.
Accommodation facilities here are aplenty and it ranges from RM80 - RM800 a night.
Cenang has some international-standard hotels and resorts and that's not the kind of place we chose to stay.
I must commend Marina, Michelle's ex-schoolmate who owns Teratak Damai.
It's a cosy little homestay that caters to couples and families.
And since she conducted her business out of passion, one can really appreciate the effort being put in to make the kampung experience a memorable one.
It took us about 20-minutes to get to Cenang and we could see the massive development taking place.
In a nutshell, this touristy beach area is no different from Bali in Indonesia and Ko Samui off Thailand.

The paddy fields in kampung Kedawang

Teratak Damai: The place to be for adventurous couples

Riding along the paddy fields..

Mad motorists..

Langkawi is quite a large island in comparison to Penang and Pangkor.
There are cars, buses and even lorries all over the road and the one thing that I must caution first-timers are the mad drivers.
They speed and disregard two wheelers.
In the past, there has been accidents involving foreign tourists who rented motorcycles to round the island.

Cenang, revisited

So, we rolled into Pantai Cenang and the landscape here has changed so much, much of the original homestays and resorts I have been to in the past were barely recognizable.
Michelle and I rolled towards Pantai Tengah and snapped some photos there.
Cenang as it seems, is getting very commercialised.
There are high-rise buildings in the area and lots of hotels are coming up.
Even having a meal here is getting more and more expensive.
Heeding the call to modernize Langkawi, flocks of investors from the Klang Valley had brought a piece of :"Kuala Lumpur" with them to Cenang.
These are the kinds of sight and scene I would completely avoid.

A motel made from shipping containers

Another motel in Cenang

At a secluded area in Pantai Tengah

Rolling out of Cenang

The glitz and glamour

If you can't forgo the city life, Cenang is the place to be.
It has everything.
You can find pharmacies, artisan coffee outlets, fancy restaurants and posh clubs in this area.
Those who don' make it in KL, you would probably find them in Langkawi, living on a second chance.
Way it is, Cenang is no different from coastal towns like Kuantan with beaches in Cherating.
It's only advantage is having all the comfort of city living on an island.
We cycled to a beach front in Pantai Tengah, took some photos there and decided that it was best to roll out..