Trip To Langkawi

It's been more than a week since we came back from our trip to Langkawi. Time for some updates:

DAY 1 - Up And Away

Fun began as soon as we touched down on Langkawi. Our first visit was to their well-known cable car over on the North-Western side of the island. After we checked into our hotel (City Bayview Hotel, Langkawi) in Kuah Town, we had a walk around the surroundings before we settled for lunch at a humble kopitiam. Once done, we went back to our hotel and hailed a cab to the cable car.

The cable car ride was brilliant. We arrived at Oriental Village, got our tickets and wasted no time in getting onto the cable car. The sun was bright and hot, complimentary with the views, complimentarily. Bad thing was we were separated because one cabin could only seat 6 adults, and since 2 couples went in before us, we had to sit facing each other. Dear was frightened but couldn't do anything but bit her lips throughout the whole ride!

As we went higher, the temperature dropped and breezes felt cooler against our faces. While it certainly helped to cool us down a little from the hot weather, the high altitudes challenged our lung capacities as we started to gasp for air while climbing those stairs from the bridge we walked down to.

Temperature began to scale again as we descended via the cable car. While going down this time, I took a video of our whole journey. I forgot to mention that when the cable car departed from one check-point, it went super fast and each time my heart skipped a beat! Think of a roller-coaster ride high up there, you'll get what I mean. Haha.

Reaching the main station, I was doubly glad that I took quite some great photos and that the cable car did not stop midway at all. I had a bad experience in Genting when our basketball team in Secondary School went for an exchange + holiday trip to Malaysia. Anyway, the ride was more than enjoyable =D.

After a short rest and a visit to an enclosed animals-feeding area, we headed up to the Seven Wells Waterfall. The flights of steps were intimidating, and obviously, our legs gave way. We stopped at the foot of the waterfall and rested there for some time. That's where we enjoyed the company of local kids, visiting tourists like us from other countries and the sound of quick falling waters.

Swimming was my intention, given my love for water. It was rather disappointing that I did not bring a spare change of clothes with me, so the most I could do was to immerse my lower parts of my body (my feet I mean) and let the water wash my weariness away. Instead of doing so, I further burdened my feet by walking across the stream to the rock standing in the middle just to get dear to snap a few pictures of me. The river bed was rocky enough, big and small. While the tiny rocks were good for some foot reflexology, the larger ones were so smooth that one mis-step and that's it. It happened and well, I've got my intention fulfilled.

Not disheartened though, we went back to the hotel for showers before we headed out again. We visited the nearby Pasar Malam which only operates on Saturdays and Wednesdays in Kuah, hoping to find some cheap dinner fare and also do what the locals do. Without disappointment, we did find cheap deals, and we reciprocated with my huge appetite. Spending less than S$5, I had a Ramly Burger, a small square piece of murtabak, some yellow pan-fried flour thing-y, barbequed chicken skewers with their very own marinate and 1 grilled maize. Dear did not have as much as myself and she's full just after the Ramly!

While my satisfaction came from the food I ate, dear began her shopping spree on our very first night. In total, she bought 2 t-shirts (1 for RM10!), a ragged bag which was very nice and unique, a pair of shoes for her mum and some random stuff. And there she was posing with her newly-boughts =D.

DAY 2 - Sunset, far and away. Chasing it, the sky turns grey.

Day 2 came as fast as it went away. Greeted by the sun early in the morning (not really actually ..), we had a quick breakfast before Bas Persiaran picked us up to the jetty. There, we took the ferry to an island 1 hour away, Payar Island. Our main purpose there was to snorkel, but dear did not snorkel much, which I'll explain later.

At the jetty, everything was swift, from picking up guests and giving instructions to finally boarding the ferry. The floating platform off the coast of Payar Island was not far away, which we briefly set foot on before taking a 'speedboat' to disembark on the island itself.

Promising, the beach and waters. From what we saw when we disembarked, the water was clear enough for us to see the hard corals beneath, and not far from sight, a beautiful beach. A quick briefing was given on the schedule of the day, and off we went in search for suitable life jackets and snorkelling equipment.

Not before long we found ourselves in the water! Because the flippers were so uncomfortable and unhelpful, we took them off and went into the water again. Dear was apparently not too confident in sea water, and frankly speaking, the taste of sea water was never pleasant. The water ... well ... it wasn't as clear as it looked from above. I guess it's partly because of the sand, but anyway, I managed to take a few pictures with our Kodak Instant Camera then and also after lunch when dear stopped snorkelling.

Another activity on the beach was feeding time. It's not common feeding, but feeding of tiger sharks and also this huge Grouper that lurked below (see facebook for pictures). Not to worry though, the sharks were too small to bite on humans, and larger ones had no ways to enter the shallow waters. I had my first ever close encounter with sharks when I went into the water again after lunch without my life jacket. I was busy snapping pictures when suddenly, at the corner of my eye, a tiger shark swam pass. My gaze followed it for as long as 3s before I realized I was starting to feel afraid! That's when I quickly swam back only to find myself swimming in the wrong direction! Made a U-turn quick and back on the beach, recounting it to dear. HAHA.

Before we left, we quickly took a few more pictures together, and that was when the sun came out again. Oh, I didn't mention that clouds were covering the sun for most parts of our stay on the island, so it was a great time to take some pictures before we left.

We found out that the rain had just halted as the wet ground was just beginning to dry up. We went to book our tickets for Island Hopping the following day and hotel was our next destination, just for a quick shower because both dear and I did not shower at all! Not that we didn't want, but the island was not equiped with fresh water shower, but salt water. What we did was only wash ourselves with a bit of water from the bottle they gave us, and also from my big bottle. So ... we had our showers and back to the jetty we went.

Given not much time to walk around Jetty Point previously, the small shopping mall there, we went back there for a short walk, with Eagle Square our main destination, just distance away from Jetty Point. The sunset was ... brilliant. The Eagle Statue was majestic, standing tall, facing the sunset. In my opinion, our best pictures were taken there against the sunset. Some time was spent there and we met some other tourists, like and the Egyptian couple. It surprised me that they spoke rather good english (no offense =D)! We helped them take a few pictures, and they helped us too =D. I think that's one of those few moments you get when you travel that makes you smile.

Headed next to Langkawi Fair, a shopping mall nearby. Had our dinner at this Thai Restaurant that sells cheap restaurant food. Walked around a bit trying to find something to buy but I didn't in the end. I even contemplated on buying supper at Mac which was like so much cheaper than those in Sg, but I was too full from the dinner. That ended our day feeling quite tired after a day of snorkelling and walking =D.

Day 3 - Eagles in search, daily hunt for food - tedious yet necessary, spread your wings, fly, carefree.

Woke up early on the third day again. All thanks to my habit of sleeping early, we didn't feel that tired after those activities the previous day. So the day started with the island hopping trip. This island hopping tour brought us to 3 different islands for sight-seeing mainly.

We arrived early, and were told to wait for the person-in-charge to arrive. We were determined to drive away thoughts of being cheated, when the person finally arrived and directed us to the boat. What a relief!

The boatman navigated through the open sea, highlighting some of the better sights around. There were many inhabited islands around Langkawi, some totally inaccessible to human-beings. The first stop was the island that contains a lake called Pregnant Maiden Lake. Some folklore here - it was said that a lady tried all means to get pregnant but to no avail. It was when she came across the lake thirsty, drank a mouthful of the lake water and ooomph! She got pregnant soon after. True or not we don't know, but I did not see anyone bending over and having a taste of the water! Not me if given the chance though, people are enjoying their swim and foot-reflexology with the catfishes there!

Oh, I missed out this. We were on our way to this island when the boatman stopped moving and showed us what the hills shaped themselves into. Here it is.

Now look closely ... and tell me what do you think it is on my tagboard! =D.

Next, we went on to do eagle feeding. We did not actually feed the eagles. The boatman simply threw food into the water as we watched the eagles swooping past. The eagles were huge! Of course not as gigantic as the statue of it we saw the previous day, but when 1 flew above you, the shadow it casted was actually enough to cover your face. Am I exagerating? Haha. Great creatures, I must say.

Moving on, we went to another island where people could do more swimming and water activities by the beach. We did not swim because we did not bring our swim suits along, so we strolled and took pictures. It was around lunch time when we headed back to Langkawi and the tour ended just there.

Lunched at Kenny Roger's Roasters and we headed to Padi Matsirat, one of the many rice fields in Langkawi. This one was open to visitors, with a small museum displaying the advance in technologies used in growing grains, and also samples of different grains. We walked around more, which was really quite boring. Haha! Then we left the place, wanting to walk to a port which turned out to be a hotel ... Quite disappointed. It was already evening by that time, so we couldn't make more plans for the day.

Well, at least we still had time for some shopping! So we hailed a cab down to one of the shopping malls. Actually, we wanted to catch Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, and to our fortune, the show had just started so we got the tickets, had a quick toilet break and rushed into the cinema! Haha. No movie review here, don't worry. The show was so-so, but the company was unmatched =D.

Dinner was takeaway from MarryBrown. I wonder if I got the spelling right, but anyway, it was not the best fast food I had, just wanted to try. Haha. Packed our bags and kissed each other good night after that =D.

Day 4 - Quality time spent rules over reluctance ... =D

Day 4 was the day we came home. Breakfast as usual, and we checked in at the airport after. We did some last minute shopping for souveniors and local products, which both dear and I felt we were somewhat conned in buying some of them. Flight was delayed for almost an hour, which meant more time together for the both us, despite it being at the airport doing practically nothing at all =D.

I tried it once and now I am sure that I need to need anti-motion-sickness pill before I board the plane next time. I was nauseating throughout the second half of our journey home, but dear was there to look after me, so it was all well!

One thing to note - both our dads were actually chatting while waiting for us to touch down! HAHA! I learnt from dear later on that my dad was highlighting his recent career advancement (probably as a part-time property agent) to her dad. I hope her dad didn't feel all too bored. I hope! =D.

That sums up our trip to Langkawi. In all, it was a very enjoyable trip. I can't ask for more when dear was there with me =D. I've tried also to upload as many pictures as I can, and I did them selectively. To view them all, just visit my facebook page ( www.facebook.com/ahpek ).

Time waits for no one and I am glad to have made this trip with you just before you begin your campus life in NUS, and before my enlistment. Sure there'll be more to come, and you'll be part of it. Good bye Langkawi, and hello World, from the both of us =D.