Hey 2008!!!

Hello 2008! Writing new year resolution has been a norm to start a new year, but nah, this isnt my style. I'm more to the impulsive type, don't like being tied down by plans or perhaps it is something I should change in this year. Geez.

This is my 3rd winter escape from Edinburgh back in Malaysia, which also mean I never been to any hogmanay celebration in the Burgh yet, famously known as the world biggest new year celebration. Rumuors says this year will be the last hogmanay due to the Burgh's notorious weather which causes cancellation of the previous two years' events. No insurance company wants to take the risk anymore and therefore no more Hogmanay in the future! Hope it is not true. *_* It will be a shame to live in Edinburgh for 5 years and never been to any Hogmanay right?

Back to stay in Malaysia, on an exciting note, I'm glad that I came back! =) it has not been a wasted trip although it did cost a bomb and now i'm left with almost bankrupcy state. Wuhuhuhu.

This year-end hols has been great so far! Despite the fact that Muar is a boring town with nothing much to do except eating and cafe-ing (I'm inarguably fatter again), I do love spending time here with family and you! There were times you make me angry and feel abandoned, try to push my limit doing things I dislike, ignore me and my 1001 questions. There were also moments where you make me laugh, tolerate my unreasonable demands, hold me in your arms wiping my tears away, tell me not to repeat silly mistakes which end up harming no one but myself etc etc.

Langkawi used to be the Hey family's annual event. When me and my sis were still in secondary school, dad used to bring our whole family there at every year end. Therefore this time, I wasn't particularly excited as I firmly believe nothing else in Langkawi can surprise me anymore. Hehez, who knows!

Mangrove tour! Kilim is one out of the 52 Geoparks in the world. A must must see in Langkawi!

The landscape is very much similiar to stone parks in China's Yunnan/GuiLin where karst stones form in many sizes and shapes, the only difference is that these stones don't rise from grounds but from the water! Quite a cool view!

Pulau Kasut. Thailand is a mere 45 mins boat ride away from this point.

Langkawi is an archipelago rather than a single island. The number of Langkawi island has always been an interesting fact to learn. It is widely known as a cluster of 99 tropical islands. However at low tide, there are 104 islands in total under official record. Some islands tend to disappear at high tide.

Bat cave. Unlike other creatures, bat has no knee-like structure. Due to that fact, they cannot stand but only cling themselves onto walls.

Angmoh tourist: 'these bats are so cool....won't they fall off the wall?' Local Tourguide: 'hmm.... i would say keep your mouth closed.' other angmohs: hahahhahahaha. we all: -_-

According to locals, there are 2 types of eagles on the island, the local Langkawi eagle which is brownish in color and the sea eagle with white fur at the abdomen.

Langkawi is named after the word 'helang'. After the island got cursed by Mahsuri, it was left with 7 generations of poverty. Since eagle species was not involve in the false accusation of the princess, its tribe was not affected by the curse. Over deacdes, these creatures continue to expand in numbers and were dominating the island untill Langkawi was introduced to the world by Tun Mahathir.

At this point, cam no batt, so no more pics =( This fish farm pic was stolen from net. But, this is exactly what we saw la. One thing we find it strange, each time the boatman passed by 'residential' areas (houses that float n spread randomly on the sea), he slowed the speed down and drove through quietly. How considerate =)

Stingray here ganas also. Our guide hold a little fish's head and put it in water. The next moment, his hand came up with this 15kg stingray. He said it bites.

That black thing in hand isn't shit, it's sand, black sand!

Mahsuri's father-in-law was a general who was smart enough to come up with a brilliant idea to stop the Siamese troops from invading the island. He ordered his soldiers to bury all rice supplies in the island underneath this beach and then, burnt them off in hope that when the Siamese troops arrived, the shortage of food supply will forced them to leave the island quickly. In the end, the General's idea was proven a success. The Siamese army didn't fight long and speedily retreated. But very soon after that, the island ran out of food supply and many villagers including the General himself were starved to death! Bodoh!

Rice burning left the pristine white sand black.

Dinner time was my favouriteee! 3 consecutive nights of seafoods, haha. My super crave for sotongs, prawns, fish, lala since Sept were ALL cured! Thai style, Indon style, Kongpoh style, *slurp slurp*, it's heavEn I'm in! =) I wanted to take pictures wan, but too bad it was always when eveyrthing was cleared only I remember my second mission. Hehehez. Good food wor, UK don't have one, how to resist??? ^_^

Bi Yan Hu. A type of calligraphy art in China. I know it's quite random to post this together with Langkawi, but so happen they had this exhibition. So we decided to give it a shot. See the tiny mouth of the bottle? A tiny pen is put in through the mouth and everything we see were painted from inside! Cool huh? The master have to draw everything invertedly so that it appears normal from the outer view. As the bottle's mouth is narrow, it takes time for the paint to dry off before next color can be painted. This one took 3 months to complete and guess how much it cost? If not mistaken, 800 ringgit!!

Group pics. No beach view, left cam behind again. =( So, we left Langkawi with no beach pics. We went to this Cenang beach, accordingly the best beach in Langkawi! Ok la, quite pretty, the atmosphere was an ace! Sunny beach, coco trees, banana boat, jet ski, colorful bikinis, beautiful figures, super chun guys... haha! *Winks*. I turn darker too.

Although it was fun and exciting, I'm still glad that we didn't stay there any longer. Duty-free is a killer idea! It's like driving people to poison themselves slowly and gradually. I guess I won't be happy to see you doing so.

Living with someone 5 days without a break is a challenge! Having no one else but only each other to rely on, there were times for great arguments, conflicts and boredom not to mention tiredness at the end of the days and start finding everything annoying including the loved one.

See, stupid bus broke down! Stranded in Ipoh bus stop for 6 hours. =_=
Langkawi to Muar, Expected travel time: 9 hours. Actual travel time: 18 hours. Can reach London already la!

Sometimes it is good to not think and assume opinions for others, most things if we don't ask we will never know especially what others are thinking. Most of the time, we just gotta sit down and talk, Communication. =)

So, where is our next destination? Backpacking. Where? Vietnam? Sabah? Redang? There is a June to look forward to eh? ^_^


Happy New Year!

p/s: I think this is my very first time to blog properly about my trip. As I blog very seldom recently, there are times when I want to look back and reminisce, I can hardly find anything here. I thought this year I want to keep some record of my daily routine. Does that count as a new yr resolution? =)