Langkawi - Part 4

Burau Bay and beyond...

Going to one tip of the island...

The best view in the house...

From Pantai Cenang, we took the Jalan Kuala Muda to Padang Matsirat.
There, the road was flat.
We slowly rode towards the outer perimeter of the Langkawi International Airport.
During the LIMA show (Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace), you can get a good view of the commercial and military aircrafts doing demonstration flights.
In my foray as a reporter, I've done two LIMA shows: the 97 and 99 exhibitions.
I did mostly Maritime as the Glamour team from the New Straits Times where I was formerly employed did the Aerospace segment.
So, being based in Tanjung Malai, I was on my own.
For a week, the team's aviation "experts" would do their thing while I gave daily updates at the Maritime segment.
I spoke to some folks here about LIMA and they clearly hated it.
Most of the trade visitors, some said, never spend their tourism money on the island.
We cycled to the end of the runway and found a nice spot to capture flights touching down.

"Yipppppeeeeee!!!!"

At the edge of Cenang

Our 24" folding bike

At the edge of the runway

 We spotted at least three aircrafts about 15-minutes apart.
If there's 200 passengers, you get 600 people arriving in 45-minutes.
And Langkawi can accommodate all that.
We worked our way towards the edge of the runway and just as I was taking a corner, I spotted a tortoise crossing the road.
Some car nearly smashed it and we wasted no time in getting it out of harm's way.
I placed the tortoise on a grassy area across the runway so no car would hurt it.
We were relieved to see it slowly crawling away.

Riding beside the airport's runway

Saved this little guy from an impending doom..

Kuala Teriang - Pantai Kok, this is where the fun begins..

The Western side of the island can get very hilly.
We are talking about gradients between 10 - 15% and if you are unfit, nothing will prepare you for the climb.
From Kuala Teriang, the slopes began to show its gradual incline.
We had an 18-speed bike and I maintained my climb on the larger chainring - cranking in about 50rpm on the average.
With a speed of 5km/h on the slopes, we began the ascend towards Burau Bau.
Beyond the hills, there's the Perdana Quay, a posh yacht club.
During the Langkawi Heritage and Scientific Expedition in 2002, I helped out an ichthyologist from University Malaysia Terengganu to gather samples from the rivers and streams around the island. 
I was then a feature writer with the New Straits Times and during my week-long stay in Langkawi, I spent a great deal of time at the Burau Bay Resort.
Having traveled around this stretch on the island, I had some recollection on how to get around.
After a series of climbs, we rolled down towards Pantai Kok and cycled towards the Telaga Tujuh nature park.
From a distance we could see cable cars ascending to the peak of Gunung Mat Chincang.
You can see this from Padang Matsirat as it's also one of the highest points in the island.

The slow and gradual climb

Perdana Quay

One of the inhabitants along the road

At the crossroad.. 

Looping back towards the centre of the island.. 

We cycled towards a dead end near Telaga Tujuh.
There, I fixed Michelle's saddle while she went to get some bottled water to refill our drinking bottles.
So far, so good.
We haven't experienced any mechanical failure or puncture.
Telaga tujuh is an interesting place to be if you love hiking.
There are seven waterfalls in the area and it's also a tourist destination.
We took a rest there and later headed back towards Pantai Kok to ride on Jalan Teluk Yu.
There's a distance to cover towards Teluk Ewah and Ulu Melaka where our loop joins back to Jalan Padang Matsirat...