The cable car ride

Made it up. And made it down. It was quite the experience. Unfortunately the weather was cloudy and breezy when we got there. Even the platform was wobbling. With its spaced plank, you can look through in between and at times, that can be scary.

I went out with a group after the lectures when I was in Langkawi. I had the choice of either going to the town to shop or to the cable car ride in the north part of the island. I couldn't decide on what to do until late on. It all depended on the weather. It was bright and sunny at the hotel but looking at the horizon it was very clear that it could turn at any moment. Time to make the choice. Cable car it was.

After a 30 minutes bus journey, we reached the place. It was still sunny. Queued for another good half hour before getting onto the cable cars. Luckily we were in a groupi of six, the right size for the ride. We had a couple of photographer in the gondola, so they can't help but to stand at snap pictures. To be perfectly honest, the ride was steeper than I thought. There were a couple of stops. The first, being about three quarters of the way up - not much to see there. It took a good 5 minutes to teach this stage. Just a simple platform. We had to queue up again for the other stop. This second part was not as scary.

The magic was all on the second stop. A hike downhill took me to another platform, but this one arch between a couple of summits, making a great panorama. This was the scene I described in the top paragraph. The parabolic platform stretched for a good 100 meters. I was sure the view would have been amazing if the weather was right. Unfortunately as you can see from the photos, I was surrounded by clouds instead. Great fun if that was what you were looking for.

The journey down was actually nauseating if you compare to the ride up. The hiking from the platform to the station on the top stop was actually quite punishing. I would nit recommend it to elderly visitors or anyone not wearing the right footwear. There were more than a hundred steps to negotiate and the stairs were carved into onto the rockface. The handrails helped of course, but I can imagine it being slippery in the rain.

Would I recommend the ride to everybody? Definitely not for the elderly and those not fit. The cable car ride was scary for young kids I'm sure, and there were not enough warning beforehand to tell the patrons what to expect. Everything seemed to have been taken for granted. The safety aspect and the instructions on what to do during emergency. I expected charts and leaflet, or even video shows about what to expect being shown whole we were queuing. But, if you are a keen photographer like me, I would most definitely go again, but I will pray for the right day to do so.