MESMERIZING LANGKAWI

The Breeze yang cantik

I was lucky to be given another stay at Westin, Langkawi this year, earlier this month. I don’t know if any of you have stayed there before but I simply think that place has got all what a good resort takes. We brought Maman and Aliah along since both have never been to the breathtaking island.

When we were busy attending the medical seminar, Maman took the opportunity to go for a photography outing alone on foot , first on the hotel grounds, later to the town of Kuah till he was drenched in his own sweat that when he returned to the hotel room, his shoes emitted a foul odor that we had almost asked him to park them outside! Anyway it was simply worthwhile! Just look at his photos. Aliah? Well, she preferred to stay indoors. What a shame eh?



The most memorable bit of this trip was our round of Kilim Geoforest Park. When we first started off in the boat we had this naive impression that it was going to be a peaceful balmy ride. The first leg was an area where they feed the eagles with chicken parts, I think. The eagles would make graceful swoop to snatch the food with their legs and immediately bring it to their mouth. These eagles are doing this everyday for the visitors that they seemed to be acting out a show.

Lang-lang yang sungguh keletah menunjuk aksi-aksi terbang yang mengasyikkan

After that it was a very slow ride through the swampy area that I almost asked the boat-man to speed it up. I even imitated my nephew Imran’s voice saying, “Daddy, please make the boat go faster!” But the boat-man seemed not to hear or perhaps saving the last laugh for himself! It was such a slow ride, that Aliah asked permission if she could lie down and sleep!!

Next , there were several interesting stops. We entered a cave as the river tunneled through the Gua Buaya. We chanced no crocs nor spiders there, unfortunately (or fortunately!) Later we passed several moored yachts. We stopped at a jetty that housed many types of deep sea fish and we were given explanations by English speaking local boys! Imagine the look on Aliah’s face when she heard them rattle away in English with deep malay accent to the foreigners! Tabik habis!

Lastly we entered Gua Kelawar and saw what else but bats hanging upside down in deep siesta. We had to pay 1 rm each or something so that the person in charge can shine a torch and show us the way. She however abandoned us halfway excusing herself saying that she needed to go back already! We almost lost our way on the way back!

Finally, we headed back to where we started. This time the boat-man took the sea route bypassing the nooks and crannies of the swamp. When he told us to put on the life-jackets, I sensed some apprehension from everyone. As we reached the river mouth towards the sea, the view was simply exhilarating! However, that was when he decided to speed up the boat and each time it crashed a wave, we went several feet up! The only thing that I could hold on to was the boat’s metal frame that held the roof. And guess what? As we were crashing up and down, I felt that the frame was getting loose and shaky! It was so frightening that I bent forward towards Maman. My wild thoughts went, “what if…?”

See what I mean??


In sheer terror!

A moored yacht

When we finally arrived at the jetty, I was fully drenched with the splashed sea-water. Boy, was I glad to have my feet back on solid dry ground!