Langkawi iwakgnaL

“My friend fancies you..” – Leave Before the Lights Come On by Arctic Monkeys.

.Map of Langkawi Island.

The island of legends, as they say. My class, TESL 2 along with Puan Faridah (Numerical Literacy) and of course Miss Letch (class tutor) went there for our end of semester class trip on the 22^nd to the 24^th of May 2009. And, as promised, here’s the lowdown on what we did there. And lots of pictures, of course.

Arranging the trip wasn’t easy, I must say. Good thing I wasn’t the one managing the trip. ;P It was my cousin, Azie that arranged it all for us. She did a great job, by the way. Thanks G, eh, Azie!!

Azie hard at work on the floor of the Angsana Room.

Once all the formalities prior to the trip was done and done (working paper, dealing with the lecturers, getting the coaster to take us there, etc.), we just went.

Everyone in the coaster to Kuala Perlis Jetty.

From left: Some guy, Azie and Kak Ann.

Oh, Kak Ann was our travel agent for the trip. She was very helpful and smiled a lot. Nice person she is.

Getting into the ferry.

Getting comfy inside the ferry.

In the bridge of the ferry.

Whilst in the ferry, Azie and me were allowed to get into the bridge (the ferry’s cockpit, if you will) to deal with Kak Ann regarding the payment for the trip. That was a good experience, although, I wasn’t allowed to take the wheel of the ferry. I can’t understand why not. I have a grade B2 driver’s licence, don’t I? (Hoih, tu lessen moto la ngong!) >__<”

We stayed at place called Tanjung Malie Beach Resort. It was quite near Underwaterworld Langkawi. But we didn’t enter Underwaterworld, however magical that would have been, because that wasn’t included in our package, and also our wallets/purses.

We arrived Tanjung Malie at night, settled into our rooms, had dinner at the nearby food premises, listened to Azie running down the next day’s tentative, then went to bed deflated.

The next morning we woke up early in the morning to go Island Hopping. Woohooo!!!

The class before Island Hopping with lecturers.

The breeze was great. The scenery, even better.

We took two boats. 12 on a boat, making a grand total of 24, including the 2 lecturers. First stop, Dayang Bunting Island.

Can you see the pregnant lady? (Her head’s on the right)

This greeted us upon arrival.

As well as these little buggers.

First thing we did there was feed the catfish there, not with bread or fish food, but with our feet.

Not for the ticklish.

We indulged in some swimming fun. This was so not like any PISA swimming pool. Hehe.

The lake was 15-25 feet deep, so it was REALLY deep. Good thing I can swim. But it was rather obvious that I hadn’t been working out for a while, explaining my heavy panting and sore thighs after swimming. Phheeww! The others who didn’t opt for swimming or fish feeding went for paddle boat rides. That seemed like fun, but I wanted to swim among the fishes rather than ride above them.

Aqua fun!

We stayed there for a bit more than an hour. Then we proceeded to eagle feeding. We couldn’t get close enough to the eagles for there to be any good shots, so there aren’t any pictures of that. Then we moved on to Beras Basah Beach.

The class at Beras Basah. (Proof)

TESL 2 beach line..

Some guy thinking he’s all that. (On the sand is written TESL, by the way)

Najihah buried. She was the Dayang Bunting on that day. :)

Them kids were KERRRAAAYYYZEEE!!

After that the boat came and picked us up and took us back. We went back to our rooms after that, after thoroughly enjoying the Island Hopping experience. After resting and performing our Zohor and Asar (Jama’) prayers, we were off to Gunung Mat Cincang to ride the cable cars there. But not before having lunch first. After having lunch, we realized that one of our vans (to travel around, we rented vans) had a flat tire, so we squeezed 13 people into one van, 4 into the lecturer’s car, and 5 in a car borrowed from one of driver’s there. Then, more drama ensued as the van that fitted 13 people broke down in front of the cable car gate. It couldn’t start. Dude, we’re in trouble, I said to myself. Good thing Mr. Bagan immediately called The van rental place and they replaced the tire and fixed up the van befor we got down from the cable cars. Lega aku~

Crazy high yo.. Scared yours truly.. huhu

The peak, the destination, the sanctuary.

That’s pretty high up yo.

Bapok prasan ensem. (Fag thinking he’s all that.)

We also went to the petting zoo in the place. Fed some deer, held some rabbits. Cute things, them. We eventually went back to our rooms, only to grab our wet clothes to go to the beach again! We walked to our lecturer’s chalet (they stayed somewhere else, Langkapuri Inn, if I’m not mistaken) nearby and went for a banana boat ride! Yeehaww!! (well, at least 10 of us).

Beautiful!!

Ride ‘em cowboy!

During the banana boat ride, they toppled us twice. The first time was accidental, but I enjoyed it. It was quite far from the shore, so there was that enticing thrill of the possibility of getting eaten by barracudas that kept me smiling. But it seemed that not everyone shared my feeling of excitement (nor anyone, for that matter). They were worried that something might happen to them. *Sigh*, these land lovers. How they worry too much over something that makes 75% of their own bodies. We finally got back on land, but not before the boat people toppled us again, but this tie, nearer to the shore, making us swim on our own to the beach. I had to help a few non-swimmers to the shore, but it was all good fun.

That night we went for dinner at our driver’s (Pak Cik Din’s) wife’s laksa shack. It was good laksa, and good coconut drinks all round, baby.

Happy bellies on happy faces..

The next day we packed up and checked out of our rooms in the morning. We had another full day ahead of us though. Our ferry back was scheduled to leave at 4pm, so there was a lot of things to be done from 9am. First up, we went to a gamat processing factory. (Gamat= sea cucumber). Their medicinal qualities are irrefutable, and are renowned all over Malaysia. We Malaysians use them for a whole myriad of reasons, from healing cuts to increasing our “power”. Hehe.

Atie, the gamat model for our class. (Not really). ;)

We then went over to a factory in a niche market, that is “dingie making/repairing”. They’re the only ones in Malaysia who do what they do. Huge respect given to the by me for surviving and thriving through all the hardships they have gone through. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken there. I guess everyone was awed by the awesomeness of the boats there until they forgot to take out their cameras. *Sigh*

After spending an hour there, what else was there to do but GO SHOPPING!!! Yeah, the girls went crazy there, with cheap chocolates, cheap bags and cheap cigarettes. (What? Girls buying ciggies?) Why not?

All them green bags is chocolates!

After shopping, our Langkawi trip came to an end. We got onto the ferry heavy-heartedly, leaving good memories behind. (Note to self: must take family there to hop islands and ride bananas some day.)

Goodbye Langkawi! We’re gonna miss you!!

The guy in the hat sure nampak garang gila.. huhu