Oriental experience
By Bidisha Bagchi, TNN |
Highlights
Overlooking the beautiful Burau bay in Langkawi, the Oriental Village is one of the region���s newest and most unique shopping, cultural and culinary destinations. Specially designed to provide a new concept in duty free shopping, the Oriental Village also houses fine themed restaurants reflecting Asia���s culinary delights.
We reached the Oriental Village complex one morning, a drive of about 40 minutes from the kuah Town. Set up in an ethnic style with buildings made of red bricks, the initial impression is like visiting an old charming place.
But inside the village complex the scene was a little different; with over hundreds of brands and thousands of products, the village offered shopping buffs a bewildering range of international designer labels as well as local products.
Bold displays of cultural, fashion and fascinating handicraft demonstrations by skilled craftsmen was a unique thing to watch. There is a beautiful inn in here that completes the village concept while the cultural shows enhance the oriental theme on which the village is based.
Also located inside the Oriental Village, was the cable car that took us on a 3.4 km journey up to the mountains over the verdant, lush green rainforest. The entire view from the cable car station to the top of the mountain was awesome. We were lucky enough to get a clear day because if the day is windy the cable car service is usually suspended till the time the weather is normalized.
The cable car rose from about sea level to an altitude of over 700 metres. There are two viewing stations and it is possible to get off and rejoin the cable car at the first level. There is a fantastic arial bridge on the first level, at a height of 500 m above sea level and the structure of the bridge just looks too beautiful from the cable car itself. We could not get off at the first level because it was under renovation. The final level has a fantastic view of the entire mountain range of Mat Cincang.
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The islands of Thailand are also visible at a far away distance and the voluminous jade green Andaman Sea looked spectacular. From the top level a walking trek downhill to the second level has been carved through the vegetation and we followed the path through the forest to reach the arial bridge.
It was here that we heard that the film Don (new) had been shot here and SRK was here. God! I desperately needed a break, even though I am totally out of touch with Bollywood, I still detested the idea of sharing such a beautiful ambience with SRK!!!! The walk on the bridge was actually fantastic with the cool wind and mind blowing views around.
Spending some time here, once again we started on with our walking trek from the bridge, this time uphill, to the second level where once again I was reminded that I was sharing the scenic beauties with Mr Khan.
The other attraction here was the Telaga Tujuh waterfalls. Even though this waterfall was not within the boundaries of the village it was just a few steps away and we decided to visit it. Located in the North West corner of the Pulau Langkawi, the Telaga Tujuh meaning ���seven wells��� was indeed a geographical marvel.
The waterfall is so named because its cascading waters are broken by a series of seven natural pools. The lush green forest that surrounds the waterfall adds a mystical touch to the natural splendour. The climb from the lower falls became increasingly scenic, steep and sometimes scary the higher we went up. The path below gradually disappeared behind the dense rainforests and we could only hear the muffled growl that emanated from somewhere ahead of us, deep in the mountainous forest.
Luckily the last two three days were sunny and the rocks weren���t slippery. Legend has it that fairies used to come down to frolic and bathe in these ponds thus giving it healing powers. We didn���t get to see the fairies, but they certainly cast their spell on us because we returned for another day, hoping to at least get sprinkled by some pixi-dust....who knows, they might just exist.
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