LOCATION:
This concept village is located at Teluk Burau (or Burau Bay) and is sandwiched between two well-known resorts, namely Berjaya Beach Resort & Spa and Mutiara Burau Bay Resort. It is located some 20 minutes from Langkawi International Airport (LGK) or 45 minutes from Kuah town.
DESCRIPTION:
The intention of the Oriental Village is noble, which is to display a wide variety of Asian cultural heritage all in one place. Nonetheless, one cannot help but feel a little too "Disneyland" about this concept village that straddles on the foothills of Gunung Mat Chincang. Not that there is anything wrong, really, as far as the architectural notion is concerned.
Perhaps more than half of the patrons are heading straight to the base station of Langkawi Cable Car which is located inside the village complex. For those not wanting to spend RM15 for the cable car ride up to the stunning peaks of Gunung Mat Chincang, the Oriental Village hosts some decent architectural delights of the East. In general, there are traditional Malay, Malaccan-Chinese, Thai and Japanese buildings to look up to. The complex is built surrounding a feature lotus pond landscaped by man-made waterfalls with Japanese- and Chinese-style bridges. There is one hotel inside the complex, namely Geopark Hotel, formerly known as Oriental Inn.
The village hosts a number of fashionable eating outlets that serve major Asian cuisines from the region. For localised culinary delights, Seri Melayu Restaurant should able to satisfy your need. Other than that, Oriental Village also offers Krathong Restaurant which serves authentic Thai cuisines, Mizumi Japanese Restaurant which is an outlet for Berjaya Beach Resort & Spa, Dolce Vita & Café which serves excellent pastries and fabulous latté, and a run-of-the-mill food court that serves affordable fares.
The Oriental Village claims to have snake charmer, jugglers, silat displays (Malay martial art), traditional music ensemble, and kite flying demonstrations throughout the street walk. I only saw a guy with a medium-size albino python coiling on his neck while offering him to be photographed with any of the wandering tourists.
Pulau Langkawi is truly banking on its duty-free island status and the Oriental Village does not wish to miss jumping into similar bandwagon. There are quite a number of duty-free outlets here, selling souvenirs of various kinds (seashell key chains, shirts, exquisite batik clothes, etc), as well as imported chocolate products, alcohol beverages and cigarettes. Right at the main entrance is a rather large outlet called ZON Duty Free which has a great selection of duty-free items to bring home.
MY VERDICT:
A tad superficial but the intention to showcase great Asian architecture should be viewed positively. Somewhat deserted except on weekends. Probably not so much of everyone's itinerary list when in Pulau Langkawi.
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MALAYSIAHOTELREVIEW
