Matrix Ping Pong

Thank you Elwin for the recommendation of this impressive video =P

Whirlwind Summary

Here goes my last post on Langkawi attractions. Besides the beach, what other stuff can you see in Langkawi? I'll just briefly describe these other places that i visited. They are all scattered around the island, so getting from one place to another sometimes took quite some time, not to mention i got lost several times ( well, u know Malaysian road signs *wink*)






Galleria Perdana : This museum is really out of the way of other attractions. Spent about an hour looking for it. This place displays things related to Dato' Seri Dr Mahathir Mohd, and also the souvenirs he had gotten from various parties during his term as Prime Minister. Haha...look, an f1 car! Not sure if it's a life-size one, but it sure seemed smaller to me. Looking at the car from so close, i had this bizarre urge to climb in... :D

Dataran Lang ( Eagle Square) : Situated in Kuah Town, this humongous eagle is actually the welcoming 'mascot' at the jetty for incoming boats from Malaysia and Thailand.

Air Terjun Telaga Tujuh (Seven Wells Waterfall) : This waterfall traces its roots back to a Malay myth, which i can no longer remember haha...I was there really early, on a Sunday morning at around 8 am. Took a nice morning hike through the rainforest to the waterfall and i was the only visitor there.... cool~ Started the day early 'cos alot was on the schedule for the day... hehe...

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Oriental Village : This little village contains various gift shops and restaurants, complete with a different Asian design at every corner. The Oriental Village is actually the cable car hub for visitors ascending Gunung Mat Cincang, so it is filled with tourists like me! When i reached there at its opening hour at 9.30 am, it was drizzling. The cable car was not started due to the weather, so i walked around posing for photos.

Gunung Mat Cincang : When the weather finally permitted me to ride the cable car, i went atop Gunung Mat Cincang at 700 m above sea level. The first cable car stops at 652 m though and the 2nd observatory is at 700 m. Wow, the view was breathtaking... the clear blue sea and little neighbouring islands. As it was pretty hot, plus my tired calfs, i did not attempt to cross the hanging bridge, content to just have a photo of it...haha~

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Underwater World : It was really dark in there, so no good photos to show for all. The entrance fee is EXORBITANT, but lucky i have my Malaysian MyKad, and its RM10 off.... why do they rip off foreigners? haha.... just to see some little fishies, is it worth paying so much?

Muzium Laman Padi (Rice Field Museum) : This museum is directly opposite Pelangi Beach Resort. Inside, it is filled with tools and pictures of how rice planting has evolved over the years. There is also a rice field in its grounds complete with the kerbau (buffalo). Oh yea, did i mention there were hordes of Kerbaus in Langkawi? haha....they should've named the Island Kerbaukawi.

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Langkawi Falls : This man-made waterfall is situated on the north-west of the island. I wanted to approach it for a nearer look , but this monkey kept on baring it's teeth at me when i go anywhere near it. You see the little rascal? he's the little brown furry thing sitting on the pavement just slightly left from me. No wonder i was frowning!

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Makam Mahsuri (Mahsuri's Tomb) : Mahsuri is a name synonymous to Langkawi. Its tale is told and retold repeatedly to school children in Malaysia. So, it was a must for me to visit her tomb and her museum. When i was there, they had just upgraded her grave. No wonder i was puzzled to see the tomb looking slightly different from the brochure and Crispy's pic when she was there 3 years ago.

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Petronas Quay : Nothing much to see here, i was just killing time before driving to the airport... hehe.... anyway, love its marina feel with many yachts docked there. Somewhere further , one can see the Petronas Lighthouse from the quay.

Malaysian Resort Gap

During my 5-day 4-night trip to Langkawi, i spent 2 nights each in different resorts. First 2 nights were spent in a 3-star resort while the last 2 days were spent in a 5-star resort. There were very obvious differences even though it was just 2 star differences.

The first resort i stayed in was Federal Villa, a sister resort of Holiday Villa. We tried to book Holiday Villa but it was fully occupied for the weekend. Thus we had to put up with it's poorer sister, =P

This is the bedroom. The room was spacious but sparsely furnished, and the furniture were really old. We had to play treasure-hunting to locate the kettles and stuff. The bathroom was also very basic, reminiscent of a home toilet... haha...

Hotel room - OK lah, considering i did not spend much time in the resort in the first two days.

Swimming pool - What pool? I ain't see no pool in this resort

Window view - My room window opened up face a gazebo, hmmm....fancy... but the hotel's real close to the beach, a plus point

Staff - Not too bad, very helpful.

Food - The breakfast's quite standard. Weak coffee though.

Ambience - Bad. The building's all bricks and cements, so there's no holiday feel.

On my third day, we moved over to another resort just a stone's throw away from Federal Villa, Meritus Pelangi Beach Resort. Look, our hotel room's pretty quaint huh?


Hmm, the interior design looked pretty soothing and comfy. The best part was yet to come though. See next photo :


Ahhh...the lanai door in our room opens up straight to the beachfront.

Hotel Room - Nicely designed. I love the dressing room-cum-closet-cum-bathroom separated from the room. Gave me ample time to spend in the bathroom.

Swimming pool - There were 2 nice pools. We swam at the Horizon pool and had a drink at the pool-bar. We also rented their bikes to explore the grounds and realised there was another pool (Cascade Pool), which was more deserted and also 2 water-lily ponds.

Window view - See photo of lanai door...kekekeek

Staff - Friendly. The resort's really big and they were all either on bicycles or buggy. They chirpily greet all guests as they pass by.

Food - OK la. Only tried the breakfast, normal lah.

Ambience - Nice. This is the kind of resort that enables you to stay in the resort the whole day, instead of venturing out for entertainment.

Island Hopping Escapade

Welcome, welcome. Come join me in my island hopping quest in Langkawi. On my 2nd day in Langkawi, i signed up for an island-hopping trip via my hotel. Here's a picture walkthrough of my journey :

A van picked us up at our hotel, followed by some other guests in Frangipani. In all, there were 10 of us. 5 Malaysians, 2 from the Middle East and 3 Europeans. We were driven to Awana Porto Malai, where the jetty is situated. The resort looked like a really nice place cos of the Mediterranean theme and all the alfresco dining.

Look! On our way to the first island, the boatman pointed out this oddly-shaped island. This island was our first destination. The name of the island is Pulau Dayang Bunting (Pregnant Maiden Island). The name was derived from its shape, note that it looks like a pregnant lady lying on her back. The name of this island also came from a famous Malay folklore which claims that many ladies became fertile after soaking in a lake amidst the forest in this island.








Oh, i've finally reached Pulau Dayang Bunting. Now i'm just going to hike through a short path in the forest and i'll be able to see the lake. After the boat ride, i looked kinda drenched huh? I was sitting on the front of the boat and all the sea water was splashing onto me.... haha...talk about a good way to cool off.

Alrighty, here's the lake. There were already many swimmers there by the time i hiked there. The water was green and clear. I was there at about 10.30 am, the sun was shining brightly but it was really cool there. Must be all the trees and the lake giving the weather a bit of a balance. As i was nervous of getting into the water, i rented a solar boat for half an hour. U know, the ones you normally see people paddling with their feet. Only this one is operated by car battery, so i can save my energy from paddling.

After an hour in Dayang Bunting, we continued the journey on choppy waters to another island. We stopped there briefly and our boatman threw some chicken skin into the water, inviting eagles for a meal. Part of our tour included eagle-feeding... haha, but it was not easy to get a close-up shot of them though. It was then that i discovered the name Langkawi basically came from the words Helang (eagle) Kawi (stone). Now that explains why I stumbled across many eagles (both real and reel ones)in Pulau Langkawi.

At the same place where we were feeding eagles, we were also able to feast our eyes on the large mangrove forest there. We were lucky it was high-tide during our visit, so we were able to see the nice blue sea surrounding the mangrove trees. A monitor lizard approached our boat and the boatman gingerly fed him a chicken head, drawing delighted gasps from the 3 Europeans from our boat... hahaz...How i wished Puffy was here, she would've loved to challenge it to a fight.

Our last stop was at Pulau Beras Basah (Wet Rice Island). I must admit that the beach was the blue-est i've ever seen. Truthfully, the beaches at mainland Pulau Langkawi were not much to shout about. Some from Kuantan can rival them, but after taking a boat out to this secluded island, i finally saw a beach that actually looked like those they advertised on travel brochures =P. I guess human contamination makes a big difference to a beach's cleanliness!

Till my next blog on my other escapades in Pulau Langkawi, bye!

King of All Fruits

Puffyrazzi hasn't had a decent durian in years! Finally, mid last month, i was able to sample some first-class durians. I was lucky to be in Malaysia during the fruit season, and the streets were full of durian vendors. I couldn't remember how much they cost, but in Malaysian currency, they did not come very cheap, but i guess quality comes with a hefty price tag.

Bought the two large ones and the small one was 'free'. Buy 2 get 1 free...haha...sounds like a pirated DVD sale


The old-fashioned way is to open it on your own, not to buy it in styrofoam boxes from a supermarket

Wow, look at those succulent pieces of goodies

*Drooling*

A true blue Malaysian dog also enjoys the favourite fruit of Malaysians.

An Engagement and a Birthday

Muahahahaha~ 2 celebrations in one day. We celebrated Sue Anne's birthday at a Thai Restaurant, after catching Die Hard 4.0. Choosing a movie to watch in a big group was definitely a challenge. Some have watched Harry Potter, a handful has seen Transformers, one refused to watch The Simpsons. It was so appalling but thank god we didn't have to resort to watching Jay Chou's 'Secret' haha~All this thanks to Jeremy who sacrificed himself by sitting through Die Hard 4.0 for the 2nd time. The movie was great so i think it was worth it!

Oh ya, speaking of the celebrations, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to SUE ANNE. She had also earlier told us about her engagement, and informed us about the rough proceedings and how we're going to be a part of it. We all could hardly contain our laughters when Shin Yen asked who her fiance is, i guess she's just making sure... haha...OMG, that was the moment of the day!

This photo's classic. No Sue Anne's face but can see her engagement ring clearly. Congrats Sue Anne and Chih Wei!


Happy birthday Sue Anne! Hope you love your birthday present....

All happy after having a nice meal

Hmm...nice restaurant interior, and it's overlooking the sea.