Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Valentines @ Langkawi Day 2

To resume from the last post (really overdue post) on our Langkawi trip.

Day 2: the The REAL first day =P

We had breakfast in our hotel (Langkasuka Resort for those who've forgotten =P). The scenery of the clean beach and the calm sea, coupled with the cool morning breeze, from where we sat at the restaurant was really a great way to start the day =) However, we wish the same could be said about the food.... Unfortunately, the food was not up to the expected standards... They can really improve on that area... Nevertheless, it was a packaged deal ~


Our very first agenda of the day was island hopping =D Basically, visiting a couple of the more popular islands around the main island. The weather that day was rather pleasant, with a bright sun, but with winds keeping us cool. We joined a group of tourists for the activity, and we traveled on a single boat.



The first island we visited is called "Pregnant Maiden" Island. The name comes form the unusual shaped of the island, which resembles a pregnant maiden. The coxswain brought the boat to a halt at close proximity of the island, at a particular angle where we could see the "maiden". After that, he brought us to the island itself to explore. When we arrived, we were surprised to be greeted by.... monkeys!!! There were lots of them everywhere!! And they actually played in the sea =.="" It was quite an interesting sight ~ sea monkeys, hehehe =P



We were given about an hour to explore the island ourselves. There wasn't really anything to do, except to go to the lake situated further inland. As we heard, legend has it, if you basked yourself into the waters of the lake, those who were infertile, can have a chance of getting pregnant! (applies to gals only... guys.... don't worry =p) When we arrived, there were quite a lot of people around. There were paddle boats and canoe you could rent for a half hour to paddle around the lake. As it was pretty crowded, we just sat along the side of the lake, admiring the peacefullness and tranquility of the vicinity ~



The next island we went to is called "Beras Basah", or "Wet Rice" Island. The great thing about this island is the beautiful, white sandy beach. The water was so clear as well !! We had fun playing on the sand, as well as in the clear blue/green waters of the sea.



After that, the last one was eagle feeding activity. the coxswain brought us to a particular area of an island, where there were a huge gathering of eagles, reason: they were being fed =P (surprise surprise~). It was rather cool, looking at the eagles hovering around, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, one will suddenly take a dive to swoop it's victim from the surface of the water. As there were so many, we could see many doin g the same thing =D

An interesting thing happened at the time we were there: as there were other boats around, also there for the eagle feeding, one of the boats came across something rather unusual, an injured dolphin~ we saw a wild dolphin! But unfortunately, something was wrong with it... so one of the boats' coxswain took up the responsibility to carry it and take it for observation. It was something that caught everyone's attention for a bit ~

Once the island hopping activity was over, we went to have lunch somewhere along Pantai Tengah. After that, we went to "Underwater World". It's basically a tourist attraction spot, which houses marine life from around the world (their main attraction is penguins!!). We had a chance to see many species of marine lifes, from the common, to the most exotic, to the just-plain-weird. There was even a 3-D theatre where there's a short animation on marine life. It was entertaining =P



The final destination for the day, we went to Kuah town. It's the main town area for Langkawi. This is where many of the duty-free shops are located. It is a MUST visit for those who intend to buy chocolate, alcohol, and cigarrettes at dirt-cheap prices (duty-free =p).

Before we went shopping though, we went to visit the landmark of Langkawi: "Dataran Lang", or "Eagle Square". This is where the landmark of Langkawi is located, a huge sculpture of an eagle poised for flight. According to local folklore, the name of the island originated from the eagle: "lang", being eagle, or "helang", and "kawi", meaning reddish brown, hence the meaning, reddish brown eagle.


We camwhored a bit around the eagle =P As it was almost sunset, we decided to stay there and witness it, across the wide, open sea. It was a beautiful sigh to behold.. the changing of the colours of the sky, the ships and ferries slowly gliding through the sea, the calm waves of the water... it was just so magical...


Below is the result of our camwhoring =P Kampung Gal's idea of a "winged creature" =.="


When the sun finally had set, we headed towards town to do our shopping. There were several shops we visited to find the best prices and stuff that we wanted to buy. Tiring it was, but worth the trouble =D

After the shopping was done, we headed back, not before having dinner. We went to a restaurant called "Fatty Mum". It's basically a seafood restaurant, but there were other stuff there too. The food was rather enjoyable ~

The next post will be the last of the Langkawi trip trilogy =P Stay tuned for the finale' !! (.... to be continued...)

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