Langkawi Leisure

I've been dragging my feet in blogging about our Langkawi trip. For some reason, the MALAS syndrom has hit me bad hehehe... Anyway, I'll try my best to blog about it for my future reference. Sigh! OK here goes... we were in Langkawi last week.

DAY 1

- Reached Langkawi Airport around 9:30am, wait for luggage and hubby negotiated the price of our rented car for the duration.
- First stop, Cable Car at Gunung Mat Chincang. It was a little hazy and cloudy but we still manage to witness the amazing view. Whatever we pay for the entrance fee, it is really worth it.


- After lunch, we went to check in to our hotel. Very nice and spacious room. The room is quite a distance from the reception counter, the hotel bellboy offered to show us the way. Initially I thought he's going to hitch a ride in our car. Then he didn't which confuses me I thought I might as well walk when he showed me his bicycle and ask me to get into the car. Ooooohhhh... now I get it. The bellboy is a Bangladeshi and hubby said, "Ooooo.... nak ikut bangla naik basikal..." Hehehehe.... Lerrr... mana ada. Just a little communication breakdown :) The hotel staff were all very friendly. Whenever we cross path with any staff, they would give us salam and smile.


- After a short rest, we went to the Underwater World which is just a short drive away. I've read people calling it the lesser equals of Aquaria and Singapore but if you're here, it's worth the visit.


- I really need a bigger casual bag. All my casual bag are tiny I don't have enough space for my big purse, camera and few other things. Since there are many shops around the area, I decided to look for one. It's too hot hubby decided to wait in the car with some chocolate we bought near the Duty Free Shop at the Underwater World :) I'd love to have a canvas or BPC bag of a muted color so I can use it whenever I travel. But I found a multicolored one with the right design and compartment location. I simply must have it. It suits my need and has the functionality. But the color.... I have to choose between the multicolored fancy fashion design or multicolored teddy bear design. I choose the former. Hubby's comment... "takperlah... sue yang pakaikan" with a shock face hehehe... Too fancy is it? I immediately change to the new handbag and we headed to the beach for a drink. We ordered 1 laksa and 2 drinks but were given 2 bowls of laksa. We didn't bother arguing so decided to eat it and then head to the hotel to relax by the pool. For some reason, I started sneezing almost non-stop after eating one Andes chocolate and eating the laksa while sneezing was quite a feat. We headed to the pool at our hotel after that.


Santai by the pool
- That night, we went to Kuah to look around town and survey the area but decided to return to Pantai Cenang to look for dinner. We tried Restoran Rasa because I've read some review written about it. The ambience was OK. There's someone singing with his guitar and then going around putting his hats for some donations. I thought he's done but he continued singing. Alamakkk... encik nyanyi sedap encik tapi kalau tak nyanyi lagi sedap :) The food was just OK and I thought it costs a bomb. Aren't seafood supposed to be cheaper here? The wifi at the hotel is having some problem so we drive around looking for free wifi. None found.

DAY 2

- We had our breakfast at the hotel and hubby found a free wifi connection courtesy of a shop opposite the road from our hotel. He's busy doing work while I enjoyed the breakfast leisurely :) We're going island hopping this morning and the van will come to pick us up at 9 a.m. The driver reached the place on time has been calling me for 6 times. I left my handphone in the room to be charged while I was having breakfast.
- It drizzles when we got into our boat with 5 other people. There are a group of students from Sudan studying at various local universities and colleges in KL. Hubby asked me to communicate with them in Arabic and help him communicate with them in Arabic. As if that's gonna happen. My command of Arabic is "qalil jiddan" :) Thank God the rain stopped as we stop for a while to see a bat cave before heading towards Pulau Dayang Bunting. The view was amazing. We were lucky we saw so many eagle of different species during the eagle feeding.




Tasik Dayang Bunting


Eagle feeding




Pantai Beras Basah
- After returning from the island hoping trip, we rinse ourselves by the pool and get into the pool for more swimming. So in one day, we got into the lake at Tasik Dayang Bunting, the sea and the swimming pool :)
- We went to Kota Mahsuri after a short rest and lunch. We also make a short stop at the Gamat shop on the way to Kota Mahsuri. Hubby and I argued about the authenticity of the Mahsuri portrait shown at the gallery. We got the confirmation from the gallery staff later. We also tried the Gamat Soup at one of the shop. Hmmm.... we shared a bowl and I only could take 2-3 spoons before getting hubby to finish it. It tastes OK. I just couldn't bring myself to eat more when I think of the look of Gamat itself. Iiieeee.... We explored the house and hubby asked me to pose at the coconut grater. I sit on it like saddling a bicycle when hubby commented proper ladies in the olden days didn't sit that way hehehe... Opppsss... OK... OK... a more sopan pose :)
- Then we did some t-shirt shopping followed by short trips to Pantai Beras Terbakar, Pantai Tengkorak, the marina at Petronas Quay and the nearby beach before buying a durian and head back to the hotel. We saw an amazing sunset on our way back. The hotel room is like apartment units so nobody saw us with the durian. Errmmm... yummyy...


Beautiful paddy fields on the way to Kota Mahsuri


- After ravishing the durian, prayer and rest, we went for a massage at one of the massage place near our hotel. There's a male masseuse for hubby. The room was only separated by bamboo curtains, kain batik and soft flowy white curtains. Towards the end of the massage session I heard hubby snoring softly ROTFL. I can't stop grinning :D
- For dinner, we tried Restoran Haji Ramli. Not too bad and not very great either. I prefer the food we had when we were at Redang. We bought some more Gamat products at a shop opposite the restaurant.

DAY 3

- Beach time. After breakfast, we headed to the beach for some beach activities. I wanted to try parasailing and while waiting, the guy convinced us to go on a jetski ride first as he's still waiting for his people to come with the boat and the parasailing chute. Since he gave us good price being his first customer for the day, we agreed and had great fun. during the parasailing. the view from above was really, really amazing. I wish I have my camera with me but I need both hands on the way up and down and I don't have neck strap for my camera so no pics from above. Besides, we wanted to take photo from below.


Fooling around at the beach :) I was wearing my Muslimah swimsuit.


Getting ready for parasailing. Up, up and away....


Hubby's turn
- We played in the sea after that and then continue at the swimming pool before returning to our room to clean up and pack. We checked out slightly before 3 and went to have our lunch before going to Kuah. We had to hunt for a petrol station. Seems like RM35 worth of petrol is not enough. We put in another RM10 before we can continue driving around with a peaceful mind.
- We stopped at the Jetty Point, nothing much there. Then to the Eagle monument. A must have photo if you're in Langkawi. After that to Langkawi's largest shopping mall or so claimed by the brochure. Really?? If you're short for time, I suggest a trip to the Kuah town would be sufficient for all your shopping needs. We went to Kuah town to buy some chocolates. I don't fancy buying any dishes here. I'm a practical person. Nilai 3 or our nearby store can serve our dishes needs. There's no need to carry heavy stuff in the flight.


The Langkawi icon
- We headed to Pantai Cenang again for dinner and sunset before heading to the airport.


Sunset in Cenang
When we reached the airport and tried to check-in we were told out ticket is for the morning flight. Alamakkk... how could I make such a mistake. Hubby has asked me to check the flight schedule many times and I did. It just didn't occur to me such mistake could happen. Hubby has a meeting the next day so staying another day is not an option. Going back by ferry was also not an option. It's past 8pm already. So we asked if there's any seat on the next flight. Lucky for us, the 8:15 flight is delayed and it's not full so we can still catch it but it costs us over RM500. Sigh! Anyway, I'm not going to let that spoil our holiday. We really had a great time and yayyy... I managed to fit in our Langkawi trip story in one entry :)

Umrah Trip: The Ka'abah

Here are some photos of the Ka'abah.


The Ka'abah at Night.













Pancuran Emas


Near Makam Ibrahim


The Ka'abah Kiswah Up Close.

Umrah Trip: The Construction and Demolition

The Masjidil Haram is undergoing major construction work. From our hotel, we can access the mosque through Marwah gate where the area is undergoing heavy construction.




On the way to the mosque.


From the mosque to hotel.


Now you see...


Now you almost don't...


Now it's gone...


In front of our hotel... waiting it's time.


The view as we're getting out from Masjidil Haram Marwah Gate.


Crossing the road to get to our hotel.


Soon there will be tall buildings surrounding Masjidil Haram.

The Birds

How I wish I have better camera so I can capture the birds flying free up in the sky. Or some that walks on land. Even that is proven to be a task. After a few unsuccessful attempts, I gave up and decided to watch and enjoy the view right before my eyes.

Otter and Rubbish

I got these photos and video while walking along the river during one of hubby's outstation trip. He went for a meeting. I walked for a while before continuing with my training preparation.

This view caught my attention. It was a real surprise. I wasn't expecting it at all. It was funny watching the otters walked weirdly on the old jetty. Like tip-toeing. It must have been hot on the platform.







I was worried watching one of the otter trying to eat rubbish. I don't know how to make it let go of that red plastic bag. But I saw both of them swam away later so that means it finally abandoned the plastic bag. Right?

Taman Negara Rocks

It seems like rock balancing is a favorite past time for people at Taman Negara :)








Before...


After...


Hubby trying his luck at balancing rock. I said if he can balance the rock, he's going to get a full body massage session that night. Since the rock lies horizontally, the masseuse will lie horizontal too :) Only if he can get it to stand in vertical position will the masseuse stand. I lie down most of the time that night hehehe... ;)


Hubby being sweet :)

Kuala Lumpur - Kuala Tahan - Taman Negara

Day 1

I wasn't sure if I had fully recover from diarrhea on the day we're departing to Kuala Tahan, but we're going anyway. I wasn't vomiting after the visit to the clinic but the thought of food still did not excite me even after a few days. No food channel on TV please, no cook show of any kind please. No hot food, no curry or dhal for my roti canai that I had for breakfast either. Hubby just laughed when one of the waiter at our favorite Mamak restaurant brought my roti canai sprinkled with sugar. He said this one must be a trainee and this must be the first time he got a request for roti canai and sugar. After breakfast, we headed towards Kuala Tahan aided by Garmin from hubby's new hand phone. I've downloaded some static map on my hand phone too just in case. Departure time, about 15 minutes before 10 a.m.


The view at Kuala Tahan by the river.
The road was clear and wasn't too winding but I kinda felt dizzy so I tried to remain static as much as possible. No sharp head turning to avoid any throwing up incidents. We reached Kuala Tahan around 12:45 and the place was packed with cars and bus loads of tourist. I hope most of them will check out the afternoon we checked in. Thank God I've made reservations earlier. The room was very basic but clean and convenient. There's a friendly Chinese guy hanging around near our chalet. He's very informative. We chit-chatted a bit, ask questions about the place and ended up booking a rapid shooting trip with him. It's still early so we went to have our lunch. The masak lemak cili padi was extremely spicy and I had the first taste of the place's specialty i.e. Gulai Asam Rong. Only a few place in Pahang cook this dish.

As for the place, Kuala Tahan has a special charm very different from most places I've been too. We have no idea of what to expect. Even some pictures we saw from websites and brochures didn't prepare us for the real thing. But I got excited anyway when I saw something recognizable from pictures I've seen. Photography can be misleading. It may capture only part of the real thing. Don't get me wrong. I'm not disappointed at all with the big picture. It's very charming indeed.


The intersection of Sg. Tembeling and Sg. Tahan.
Any dizziness I felt was immediately forgotten once we were on the boat for our rapid shooting trip and the wind swept my face. The boat took us upstream the Tembeling River, zig-zagging to avoid rocky areas. The skill of the boatmen doing tricky maneuver were amazing. Despite the fear of getting drenched and spoiling my camera, I still took the risk of taking photos and videos of the trip. We were on the boat for about 45 minutes before the boat make a u-turn.


The boat made a stop near Nusa Holiday Village for a short picnic trip. There's a small stream going into Tembeling River called Sg. Abai. 'Abai' means neglect or ignored in Malay but this river surely is not ignored or neglected in any way. There's also a rocky area that will be submerged during rainy season. It was quite a view. Thank God I kept my camera on the way back because we really got drenched. I think the boatmen purposely do that to give us some thrill.




After dinner, we went across the river for a video show session by the Perhilitan Taman Negara. Before that we took some time going around the exhibition area looking at some photos. They have quite a lot of interesting information especially about the exploration of Gunung Tahan. The video was nice and a must see if you want to know what to expect and what's the place to see around Taman Negara area. However, we thought they could improve the video a little bit with some welcoming and closing message since there's no one doing it. Show some Malaysian hospitality there with some message about preservation and appreciation.


A very nice photo at the exhibition area.


Night view from our chalet.
Day 2


Morning view.






Yesterday there were so many people so the next morning, our first agenda is to get to the canopy walk before throngs of people crowd the place. It was a pleasant walk and the weather's nice.








On the canopy walk we heard cries, "tak nakkk... tak nak naik... uwaaa...". That's from a young boy behind us. His sister seemed OK with the whole idea of walking across the forest few hundred feet above the ground. After going through several platforms, he's getting braver. When we reached the end, we overheard the siblings talking to each other, "best lah kan" said the boy to his sister :) There's a little girl behind us walking so fast like walking on the playground pressuring us to walk faster. Hubby's behind me. He got pressured by the little girl and in turn pressured me to walk faster. Sigh! I told hubby to ask the girl to wait. I want to enjoy the view from up here.


When we reached the ground, we decided to trek to Terisek Hill. The signboard said only 1.5km. That shouldn't be a problem. Right? Wrong! It's going uphill and hubby has to stop many times to wait for me. We're like the tortoise and the hare. Hubby's the hare, I'm the tortoise. Well... I do stop more often to take photographs :) And I'm wearing my rubber Asadi sandal instead of sport shoes. Excuses... excuses...


Hubby.


The sun peeping through the leaves.


Amazing tall trees.


Interesting looking Lianas.


The first view on Terisek Hill.




We walked a few hundred meters from the first stop to see this second view.
On the way up to Terisek Hill, we saw a sign that shows the direction of Lubok Simpon. There's some information about Lubok Simpon at the exhibition we saw the night before but I wasn't really paying attention. It's not mentioned in any of the website about Taman Negara I've visited. But since we're there already, we might as well just trek to the place and surprise ourselves. It was downhill most of the time which worries me if we have to trek back uphill afterwards.

Don't get fooled by all those sign that shows 1.2km or 1.5km. It can actually be quite a distance in the jungle since you have to maneuver the roots, trees and going up and down the hills. It took us about 1 hour and hubby said how nice if there's a boat that we can take to ride back to our chalet when we reached the place. I told hubby how much I prayed he's right because there's no way I'll have the energy to walk back up the way we came. Hubby discovered a leech on him. I told him maybe because he stopped to rest and wait for me so I'm not stopping for whatever reason. Still a leech managed to just get stuck on my feet before I flick it away. Hubby's too far away to do it for me and I was too tired to screech.




Is the trek worth it? It does. There's a boat there and two groups of people having a picnic and fun splashing in the water. Lubok Simpon is actually a spot at Sg. Tahan and according to the boatman, we're quite near to Kuala Tahan. That's really good news for us.




This is the color of Sg. Tahan because of the existence of shale stones at the river bed.


Can you see the little fishes?
The water at Lubok Simpon is so cool and refreshing. Hubby took a dip. I just dipped my feet. We left the place about 12:30 to head back to our chalet. As we started walking, we saw a group of family carrying picnic baskets with small children making their way to the picnic spot. That means we're very near to civilization. Thank God! We reached one of the floating restaurants at Kuala Tahan about 1 p.m. for lunch. We must have burnt hundreds of calories walking and trekking from 8:30 that morning.

After lunch, we rest for a while before going to Lata Berkoh. Yesterday during rapid shooting we went upstream the Tembeling river. To Lata Berkoh, we will go upstream the Tahan river. We will also pass by Lubok Simpon. The rusty color of the Tahan river is very interesting with green trees on each side of the river. We stopped at a spot on Tahan river which has become a sanctuary for Kelah/Mahseer fish for fish feeding. There were lots of them.








I have a boat under my name :) Look at the name on the jacket and cushion.


All the boat going to Lata Berkoh will stop here. We have to trek for about 700m to reach the waterfall. After all the trekking we did this morning, what's another 700m right :)


The current is so strong, only strong swimmers should swim in this area.


Hubby swam for a while there, then we went to a tamer place so I can play in the water. There were parts where the river is so wide and shallow, its incomparable to rivers we normally went to. Hubby said he could stay there for days and enjoy the scenery and serenity. I would too. On our ride back, I feel like I can't get enough of the beautiful and refreshing greeneries.






Hubby saw a big iguana he initially thought a crocodile on the river bank. I missed that. Then, not far from Lubok Simpon, all of us can't miss the big snake crossing the river. It's probably about my arms length if not more, zig-zagging across the river. Very, very near to Lubok Simpon and there were quite a number of people picnicking there. I managed to take a photo but in the water, it looks like a streak of light.

Anyway, we reached our chalet some time before 6, took a bath, change and pack in record time because the owner is waiting for us. Someone wants to check in. I'd love to visit Taman Negara at Kuala Tahan again. Taman Negara is one of the place I've always wanted to visit and to have a dream come true with amazing sceneries and experiencing nature almost untouched, sharing it all with hubby, the moment were priceless. Very early the next morning when I heard the sound of car or motorbike engine from our bedroom, I told hubby that's the sound of Kuala Tahan's engine boat :) Sigh! Back to the hustle and bustle of the city.