Our Malaysian Airways business class flight from KL to Langkawi was impressive. It only took 50 minutes but, during that time, a hot meal of chicken satay was served (United Airlines should take note). It was good and much better than the cold focaccia that was also served. There was no entertainment or headphones, however, and the plane was late in leaving. Our luggage arrived promptly and the Four Seasons representative was waiting for us outside of baggage claim. Also waiting for us was Samanda, the Four Seasons guest experience manager. The trip from the airport took about 1/2 hour and Samanda gave us useful information along the way.
Waiting at the front drive of the hotel, were many of the hotel's managers. We walked through reception and were seated for the formalities in the Malay-Moorish-designed reception area. We were invited to the Manager's Cocktail Reception that evening. After a short tour of the hotel's property, we were taken to our 2400 square foot Deluxe Family Beach Villa on the sand. It was truly gargantuan. The ceilings were about 21 foot high (6.5 m) and the walls were windows--about 13 foot high (4 m). Instead of artwork there were fabulous, curated tropical scenes at every turn. As Dimitri walked through, he kept saying, at every turn: "this is a wow". We were thankful that Nelson Hilton, Regional Director of Marketing had arranged for us to be upgraded and upgraded again to this villa. Our per day charge was US$ 571 for a villa with a rack rate during our stay of US $2256. Our Elite benefits also included daily breakfast and a resort credit of US $100.
We had a nice time at the Manager's reception and talked to some other guests. Staff members came to talk to us and gave us much-needed information. We were brought stools so that we didn't have to stand for the reception. The hors d'oeurves were good and the setting was lovely at the hotel's bar. On our second Friday night there was no manager's reception so we didn't get to meet other guests. We weren't able to easily meet and talk to people at this FS.
We were disappointed that the resort did not have a heated Jacuzzi. Our villa did have an outdoor tub with bubbles but at 27° C, 80° F, we did not use it. In the master bathroom, there was a large soaking tub that we could fill with hot water to 40°C, 104° F and everyday we soaked in it.
Outside we had a large deck in front of the sand, near the cold outdoor tub, with lovely ceiling fans. On the beach in front of our villa there were chaise lounges and an umbrella for us.
The bedroom and living room ran the entire length of the villa and was all window walls, with the soaring windows walls looking out to our deck and our beach. The ceiling height was indeed dramatic. Towards the back of the villa was the second (small) bedroom and bathroom. There was a coffee and mini bar area followed by a study with a sofa, a TV and a very long table that served as the desk for both of us. We put two comfortable chairs and a table in front of the TV for our after dinner entertainment. Looking out from our desk, we had a pool and tropical foliage view and behind us we also had a pool and a beautiful view.
After the study was the master bathroom and our soaking tub. The 13 foot (4 m) ceiling and window wall were lovely. The window wall had a door out to the outdoor shower which Audre happily used (when it wasn't raining). Then came the vanity with 2 sinks and a long hallway, that was almost the whole length of the villa with the (too small) closet, the too large shower room and the toilet room with bidet but no Toto toilet.
We loved having a second bathroom and all of the space that the villa provided. But all was not perfect. The air conditioning blew down onto the bed and, when it was on, we were freezing. Although engineering installed a baffle to direct the air upwards, that did not solve the problem for some reason. So engineering installed a much larger baffle and that was better. The air conditioning system was very old. If we set the temperature for 25°C (77°F), the temperature in the room would go to 20°C (68°F) or would stay at 25°C (77°F). It was unpredictable and annoying, as well as uncomfortable. Engineering tried to solve the problem but with only limited success.
There was no instant hot water at the master bathroom sinks (a problem we also have in our apartment at the Vail Four Seasons). Another imperfection was the wi-fi on our mobile devices: we had to sign in each time we returned to the villa.
The resort was built in the early aughts when it was owned by Malaysia Airlines and had been renovated but the resort (and our villa) were showing their age. We blamed the design defects on Malaysia Airlines, not the FS. There were plenty of lovely design features too.
When we arrived there was fruit bowl with mangos and a plate of sweets in our villa. That was very nice. We had several lunches at our villa with the fruit that was provided and that was replaced daily. There were also murukku, a savory that was crunchy and like a noodle as well as crunchy sweets which Dimitri liked. We were amazed that the kitchen could create crunchy savories and sweets--that stayed crunchy in the 80% humidity of our villa.
Our first dinner at the Ikan Ikan restaurant was good but we didn't (couldn't) eat much because we were still full from the Thanksgiving blowout buffet that we had eaten in KL the night before. Our first breakfast at Serai was puzzling--coffee, juice and fruit seemed to take forever to arrive. Our experiences at breakfast didn't improve and actually got worse before they got better. We whined and complained to Sandesh Dhume, the Assistant F&B manager. Vikrant, the manager of both the FS restaurants, tried to help. One day, we were delighted when our orders, as well as fruit and juice came promptly. Vikrant became our breakfast companion and he made sure that all was smooth with our breakfast service. We appreciated and enjoyed that.
We went kayaking and the FS beach team arranged for us to have a comfortable kayak with backs for us to lean on. We went on the FS complimentary cycling tour to the end of our road, Tanjung Rhu, and had a coconut juice with our delightful guide, Shafie. Another day we went on a cycling tour of the nearby villages with another guide, Syahmie (RM 330, US$71). The small roads were very good but Audre's Gomax folding bike was very difficult to use (and the FS didn't have an XS bike for her). On these tours we were the only guests to sign up so we had the guides all to ourselves.
Another day we went on the Four Seasons' UNESCO Kilim Karst Geoforest Park tour of the mangroves with Awis and our boat driver, Rizal (RM 600, US$128). That was a great tour--with lots of information about the mangroves, the walking fish, fiddler crabs, white-belly sea eagles, brown kites and the long tail macaques, as well as the mangrove tree vipers. Again, we were the only guests on the group tour. It was a real treat!
Speaking of long trail macaques, Audre was terrorized by a large one that came to our villa's deck and hopped on the table where Audre was sitting. He stole a mango off of a plate on our table. He was not concerned that Audre was screaming at him and shooing him away.
We sat on the beach at the children's pool and also at the adult pool. That was nice until it poured rain one day. We sat on our beach in front of our villa and went into the 88° F, 31° C Andaman Sea. Dimitri liked it!
Another day we went back to the UNESCO Kilim Karst Geoforest Park for a tour of the mangroves in kayaks with Awis (RM 650, US $141). It was wonderful and, again, we were the only guests on the tour. Awis took photos of us in the kayak and also a short video. We love all of the personalized attention (oh yes, I already said that!)
Aidi and Awis from the FS Geopark Discovery Center were chatty and gave us valuable information when they came to our table at breakfast. We also enjoyed Samanda's visits to our table at breakfast. One afternoon we went to the FS Geopark Discovery Center and had a long chat with Aidi, who had been with the FS Langkawi since it opened in 2006.
Another staff member, Ajit the Director of Housekeeping, was very helpful to us. He and Rita would stop by our villa to check on the work that our Housekeeping staff was doing. Albany and Samy from Engineering also stopped by the villa to get updates from us. We were given lots of attention and we love that. Oh yes, I keep repeating myself.
We learned that a major renovation of the villas was planned for 2024. Boy, did we think that was necessary. We feared that the renovation would only be cosmetic. We thought that the following should be addressed: the electricity--improving the lighting (as well as updating the electrical outlets to make them universal and installing a real master switch), improving the air conditioning system (our problems with it could not be unique), changing the vanities in the bathrooms, improving the lighting there (and changing the sinks too so that they are not barrels), putting heat in the outdoor tub, and enlarging the closet as well as making sure that the wi-fi reaches the toilet room in the master bathroom. For the toilets: we think that they should both be Toto toilets. Of course, the resort needs new bikes (adding an XS for people like Audre). We also thought that the pathways in the resort should be paved and all of the awful pebbles should be removed.
We visited the fitness/gym. All of the equipment was 20 years old and the place was not inviting with its loud rock music. We thought that place should be renovated too. The spa was not a place to hang out at (it was not at all like the spa at the Four Seasons Seychelles on Mahé.
The FS Langkawi resort was flat with large, lovely gardens. Audre was jazzed that she could identify the very, very tall traveler palms, the African tulip trees, as well as the fishtail palms and the banyan trees. We walked the grounds one day with Aidi and he identified many more of the trees for us.
We rented a little car, made in Malaysia, called a Perodua Axia 1.0 for US$22 a day. It was great for us and both Audre and Dimitri drove the daily 25 minutes each way for dinner. The roads were good and the traffic generally was not heavy. Our meals were good. We had 3 very good meals--one Thai restaurant called Wan Thai, one Chinese seafood restaurant called Yong Leong and the Thai food restaurant at a hotel called Datai.
While the island did not look rich, it did not look poor either. It was clean and it looked organized and well-run. Because it is a tropical rain forest, everything is green and very lush.
The weather and the number of sunny days increased during our stay (as the monsoon season changed) and our mood improved. The temperature hovered around 90°F, 33°C and was very humid during our stay. The sun itself was scorchingly hot, when it was out. Both of us got burnt when we didn't apply enough sun screen. We were happy to have some clouds floating by. We enjoyed our walk on the 1.5 kilometer long beach, ending at the Tanjung Rhu beach restaurants where we had LaLa clams for lunch for RM 7, US $1.50.
Sitting on our deck and looking out to the Andaman Sea was beautiful. The landmass in the distance was Thailand. That put smiles on our faces.
Still, if you perceive that we were not thrilled with the FS Langkawi, or with Langkawi, you would be correct.
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