Jet Setting Jungle Adventures

Jeanette Coughlan 26 June 2016
Langkawi, also known as the Jewel of Kedah, had been on my bucket-list forever, so I was really excited when I received an invitation to visit this Malaysian island along with a stay in Kuala Lumpur.

I travelled with Malaysia Airlines in Business Class from London to Kuala Lumpur – flying time was 13 hours so having a spacious cabin and comfortable flatbed was a welcome treat. Great inflight entertainment and delicious food made it an easy journey and from Kuala Lumpur, a short one-hour flight took us on to Langkawi.

An archipelago of 99 islands, Langkawi is a tropical paradise located just off the coast of Malaysia in the Andaman Sea. It is surrounded by white beaches, rainforests, waterfalls and jungles with a wide variety of wildlife. The ideal time to visit the island is during dry season between December and March, however it really is suitable to visit all year round.

I stayed at The Datai, nestled in the heart of an ancient rainforest (10 million years old is pretty qualifying!) above a stunning bay. It is a captivating luxurious resort that blends effortlessly with its natural surroundings and provides a true hideaway. Each room, suite and villa enjoys the embrace of the lush rainforest, this is a place where you can reconnect with nature, rekindle your spirit and reignite your soul in a serene natural haven! The jungle surrounding the resort is full of wildlife - we spotted dusky leaf monkeys, geckos, wild pigs, flocks of hornbills and flying lemurs during our stay.

A ten minute walk through the lush private grounds (or a ride on one of the hotel’s many buggies!) brings you down to the spectacular beach of Datai Bay. The long beach is wide with beautiful talc-soft white sand, it is shared with the Andaman hotel, but feels very exclusive and private as access is only via the hotel.

The resort has two heated pools, a stunning adult-only pool which is higher up in the jungle near the main hotel area and a smaller pool down by the beachfront which caters for families. The spa, an enchanting rainforest sanctuary with open air villas set along a stream, was truly amazing. My treatment was a Tungku Batu massage, an indigenous herbal hot stone therapy using a blend of relaxing herbal oils with leaves, barks and roots found in the rainforest adding to the unique experience as I drifted off in bliss to the hypnotic sounds of wildlife.

The accommodation consists of deluxe rooms, rainforest villas and beach villas. I had the pleasure of staying in a rainforest villa - a large detached rustic villa set in the heart of the rainforest. Waking up to the symphony of jungle birds and cicadas was far better than any alarm!

I ate in all four restaurants within the resort and at Gulai House, the authentic Malay/Indian restaurant, we enjoyed a cooking class which was brilliant fun. Breakfast each morning was a lavish buffet and a la carte experience with the offer of champagne, no less. A highlight of our stay was the nature walk, led by the Datai’s resident naturalist, Irshad Mobarak, who held our interest for hours as we explored the rainforest, spotting colugo, hornbills, dusky leaf monkeys and discussing strangler fig trees. While in his company it would be hard not to be infected with his enthusiasm for nature - at times he outshone the animals as the undeniable star of the rainforest!

There are lots of day-trips to take while on Langkawi island and I would definitely recommend the mangrove tour. Langkawi is home to three beautiful UNESCO Geoforest Parks. The Kilim Geoforest Park is one of the best, covering 100 sq km and wildlife is in abundance here. As we glided through the labyrinth of swampy trees we saw tons of monkeys from our boat. Another highlight of the trip was visiting the infamous 390-million-year old bat cave to see walls lined with hundreds of bats and rock structures.

If you are afraid of heights, then a visit on the SkyCab and SkyBridge is either going to cure you permanently or terrify you senseless - both in a good way! This cable car is the steepest in the world and also has the longest free span for a mono-cable car. We started in the Oriental Village at Teluk Burau and headed straight to the peak of Gunung Machinchang. The total length is 2.2km and it took 15 minutes. At the cable car’s top station we accessed the Langkawi SkyBridge, the world’s longest curved pedestrian cable bridge at 125 metre long. Located 660 metres above sea level, we were rewarded with magnificent views of lush tropical forest, turquoise waters and many of Langkawi’s numerous islands.

Moving on to mainland Malaysia it was time to sample the sights and magic of Kuala Lumpur. After our short flight we were transported from one jungle to the next, this one being of the concrete kind! However, Malaysia continued to surprise and we were gently eased into the city hustle and bustle when we arrived at our boutique hotel, Villa Samadhi.

The hotel takes its well-deserved name from the Sanskrit word for 'state of mind'. Located in the Malaysian capital's leafy embassy district, this Malay-style villa is pure luxury with lantern lit paths, a lagoon style pool and ultra-trendy rooms with plunge pools. It's a “rustic-luxe retreat” and without doubt it felt more like a private villa on an island than a city-center boutique hotel. ‘Rustic’ refers to the use of mainly natural materials such as the bamboo, dried grass and salvaged timber that make up the facade, while charcoal floors and Asian antique furniture finish the style to perfection. I loved the little personal touches, like come sunset, the Bumbung Bar opens for an hour-long service of complimentary cocktails and canapés.

As much as I could have happily stayed within the confines of our little oasis, it was time to check out what the city had on offer. We ate a delicious lunch in Little India at the authentic Banana Leaf restaurant, where as you may have guessed, your plate is a banana leaf! At the night markets in Chinatown we sampled street food - it would be easy to get addicted to street food in KL, it is delicious and very cheap. There is no better or safer place to try local foods, so go there and eat, I promise you'll love it! We spent time browsing the boisterous markets, with everything on offer from fish, meat and vegetables, to markets stuffed into alleyways and stalls selling goods of all sorts - a simple authentic experience taking in Kuala Lumpur’s street life.Shoppers will love this city, the streets are oozing with stores and all the brands are to be found here. We went to Bukit Bintang and found the shopping to be great value. Kuala Lumpur has so much to offer and overall I loved Malaysia, it was everything I expected it to be and more. If you want the warmth and exotic feel of a Bali or Thailand holiday, without the hordes of tourists, Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur will not disappoint!