Langkawi, Malaysia - Day II

Woke up to a glorious morning. Chatted while dressing and figured we’d do the island-hopping thing that the bellhop had told us about the night before. And some other tour for the other half of the day.

Breakfasted at the hotel restaurant. They have FANTASTIC coffee.. definitely much better than on the plane. Yucks. The breakfast spread itself was nothing too inspiring, but the great coffee have made me happy enough.

Thought we’d explore the inviting beach right before our eyes. Discovered a playground! Played around at the swings. Simply enjoyed the fantastic view. Was so calm since most people are either not awake yet or still b’fasting I guess.

After a while, decided not to while away more time idly and proceeded to the lobby. Asked the guys at the frontdesk and they sad we couldn’t book a tour with them as the bellhop had said, we had o book it with the tour company. So went there, the guy was grumbling and grousing about the bellhop, but short of the story is we managed to get a place for ourselves on the next island-hopping group which was going off thens.

A van brought us to ? Bay. Waiting for our boat, saw the nice rumah panggung on the hills. Almost as fantastic as our chalet by the beach. But thinks they would have a much better view of the ocean. A couple of the Aussie gals who rode in the van with us got “picked-up” by a couple of Aussie guys. Kinda cute seeing how easy it all seems. :) Apparently we’d be boat-mates, together with another Malay couple probably in their 30s.

I absolutely love the view during the boat-ride!! All the coastal formations and stacks and stumps. Physical Geography’s much more fun when you dun have to study it! Hehe. Snapped away on me T1. I think K was a bit scared of my apparent offhandness about it. Hehe.

The boat slowed down in front of Pulau Dayang Bunting, and the boat-guy showed how from far the island looked like a pregnant lady. Related the folk-tale about the princess and the genie. Sorry, I can’t recall how the story went! But there’s a lake on the island, where couples or the wifey is supposed to swim in to heighten fertility. Hmmm. We had to climb up and then trek down to get to the lake.

So many monkeys monkeying around! Decided to try the paddle-thingies. Navigation is by a stick. I can’t connect left centre right to top, down, downer. LOL. So K took over the controlling. The lake looked so big but we can go pretty far on the thing. Lucky we didn’t try the banana-boat coz it seemed a sure-fire way to get thoroughly wet! We found that cycling so earnestly have no effect except for ripples in the water. LOL. We seemed to travel more when we cycled less enthusiastically.

Next stop was Eagle’s Island. There were so so many eagles! One of the Aussie guys wondered allowed what type of eagles they were, and I helped to translate to the boat guy. He was stumped. LOL. Said it was the “typical eagle” We all shared a private grin. LOL. Wished I hadn’t been too lazy to bring my Pentax SLR. Would have loved to focus in on at least one eagle.

Third and final stop – Pulau Bras Basah. We’ve long figured the boat-guy’s only good for… er… boating…? Don’t see any beras(rice) around. Basah (wet) or otherwise. LOL.

There was a dock! Like Dawson’s Creek’s dock…? Ok, only I would get excited. LOL. At one part, the water was so clear and the fishes so colourful! Suddenly thought of how everyone related as toddlers, me & AP had scooped out Daddy’s beloved goldfish and held them in our hands until they dieded. LOL. Lucky for the fishes AP wasn’t around. LOL. Plus that we’ve grown way way up. LOL.

Rested at one of the huts. Got chatted up. SIGH. The guys suggested we try parasailing. Didn’t expect K to agree! How could I not?? But by the time we signed up, quite a few had joined on the bandwagon. Waiting around, the guys chatted up somemore. They thought K and I were sisters. Did not correct them. Told them we were holidaying with family who were too tired to do island-hopping. That didn’t deter them to ask us out for dinner. OMG. Managed to talk ourselves out.

K went up first. Screaming as she went. LOL. Took a video of her takeoff and subsequent landing. Then decided to gamble and bring my T1 up with me. The view was amazing! Masyallah! So this was what they call a bird’s eye view. Hesitantly took pulled my T1 out of my vest and took some video. I wished again I had my Pentax… but I sure wouldn’t have brought it up with me, thens. LOL. It ended way too soon.

Made our way back to our room and showered down. Felt so sticky with seawater. Then the bed looked so inviting. Decided not to go out in the afternoon after all. Ordered room service. Lazed around, watched MTV and decided to go out to town after Maghrib.

We toob a cab to town. “Cab” anywhere around here was still a van. Felt wasted to have just the two of us in it but that was the only transportation. We are not that near near town after all. The roads were rather winding, but traffic pretty smooth. When we stopped at a junction had the curious sight of many 20pairs of eyes looking back at us from the van in front. Imagine at least 20 people sardined in the same van we were in, with five persons at the back of the passenger van. As in where you usually put things…??? FIVE persons. Kinda creepy. Wondered if they were illegal immigrants. Wondered if suddenly some police cars would come wailing down the road and swooping down on them!

We got dropped off near some night market. Went into one of the shophouses and got clothes for ourselves instead of souvenirs for others! LOL! But got a rather baggy babydoll top that Sis might find useful sometime soon. Hehe.

Town was rather boring. Lotsa shops to eat at but didn’t feel like it. Most shops had about the same stuff. Does shops in all Asian countries get their “souvenirs” from the same supplier? It seemed like that to me! I’ve ran out of things to get that I have not gotten from elsewhere!

Walked around. Went to the night bazaar at what was the main part of town. So many people. So so hot. Wanted to get some water which was safely sealed up in some bottle or can but couldn’t find any. Was so parched I broke my usual holiday rule and drank some drink from some roadside stall and hoped for the best. Lotsa stalls selling satay and grilled chicken and stuff, but K’s having a sore throat and shouldn’t touch grilled/fried/oily food. Wouldn’t be fun eating it by myself

Made our way back to the hotel around 11. K ordered room service again. Was feeling rather tired and sleepy. I think I dozed off in the midst of chatting with her………