Starcruise Gemini | Travelogue 2K17

4^th of June: Start of the cruising

Packed with our suitcases we were ready to checkout and leave for our next experience, a 3 nights 4 days floating tour, cruising via luxurious Star cruise Gemini through the islands of Malaysia.

Looking forward to a titanic like experience we all checked in our luggage at the boarding station, our fellow pax joined us there itself. It was quite a hustle to organise a group of 20, nonetheless the 2 hour process ended smoothly and we all were set with our room cards to enter the gigantic floating mass.

First and the fore most commencement was the safety drill at the deck, the crew imitated all the safety procedure along with the equipments, following which we headed to the buffet dining hall Bella vista. An elaborate 4 course meal was displayed with mouth-watering delicacies, we all hogged to hearts content and then proceeded to our cabins. Squished in one of the cabins we planned our itinerary for the coming 3 days consulting their information brochures.

• 1.      International shows in the stardust lounge
• 2.      Karaoke at the lounge
• 3.      Bollywood DJ night
• 4.      Live band show at the Topsider bar at the deck
• 5.      Relaxing Jacuzzi bath at the deck
• 6.      Day tour at the 2 island stops- Langkawi and Penang  
• 7.      And of-course the Gala dinner 50^th anniversary celebration eve.

5^th of June : Penang: Listed UNESCO world cultural heritage site.

Penang, the second largest island of Malaysia  is  home for nearly 2 million. One of the most well established, urbanised and economically stable island, Penang is an admired tourist spot.

Our stop at Penang was for a very short while. Basically we just had 5 hours to explore the cultural sites and the natural scenery. We didn’t book the regular Cruise tours for the city instead we planned our own tour as per our convenience. As soon as we boarded off we hired a full day taxi. We started our tour by taking a halt at their most happening streets, full of wrought iron caricatures, stacked up souvenir shops and cafes. The beach street, Penang street.

The second halt was at my favourite – Komtar tower

The 68 floor high skyscraper which gives a 360 degree panoramic city view

The major highlight of the tower was the rainbow skywalk- It is a bridge made up of glass which is cantilevered from the building at the 68^th floor. I must say the feeling of walking actually in the sky is beyond expression.

Lastly we took a site-seeing tour in our cab, where our friendly cabdriver involved us thoroughly in the historical and cultural background of the place. We managed to cross all the major tourist stations like Queen Victoria memorial, Penang Khoo Kongsi, Paragon mall and many others.

6^th of June : Langkawi- House of Mangroves aka The Jewel of Kedah

One of the very small islands of Malaysia housing not more than 60-70 thousand people.

We were very time bound today as the mangrove forest was 1.5 hours from our deck. Just as our previous trip, we hired a mini bus as soon as we were off-board. As we drove through the roads of Langkawi we could easily make out that it was a very simple land. Agriculture, tourism and poultry constituted their economy. When we reached the main mangrove forest we took a 2 hours tour. ** An added advantage, it accepted US dollars which was a major relieve as we could not manage ringgits.  

The tour was mainly on a speed boat by which we covered the bat cave, Floating fish farm and the eagle watching spots.

 Bat cave- As we got off from our boat, we crossed a wooden footbridge which guided us to a very dark cave. With the help of a  few flash lights we made our way through and were amazed to see bunches of bats hanging from the 10 metre high ceiling. The irregular stalactite hanging from the ceiling and the stalagmites rising from the floor formed a single column.

Floating fish farm-  A wooden platform, containing water tanks which are a home for the different variety of fish amidst the limestone cliffs.. A local guide at the floating board takes you through the different water tanks. The archer fish – shooting fish is the highlight, the fish aims and shoots a string of water to get the food.

Eagle Watching-  A leisure boat ride among the limestone ridges, the mangroves and the lush green scenes takes you to a wide flat still water where the guide throws some food at a reasonable distance from the boat to attract the eagles.