Langkawi (4)

When I returned from holiday, some ppl asked me whether I went snorkelling? Nope. Swimming? Nope. Sun-tanning? Ha, absolutely not. How come you didn't turn very dark? Er, cos I was kiasu and vain and applied a lot of SPF 50 sunblock? Ha everything cited above was just to illustrate ppl's expectations of an enjoyable 'beach holiday'.... But then this time round despite having not engaged in any of the 'typical beach activities' I still enjoyed my beach holiday... Doing v simple things like sitting at the beach, taking random photos, dipping your feet in the gentle waves by the beach & feeling the wind blow in your face while on a pretty rocky speedboat.

The "black beach" ycc recommended- The sand was pretty black (apparently due to mineral oxides) but there was still a sprinkling of normal sand. And when the waves came and receded pretty sand trails (like those above) were created. But aside from the black sand, this beach was rather dilapidated and somewhat disappointing...
Beras Basah Island -- The last destination on our Island Hopping tour. The beach was not too bad lah and waters pretty clear. But the weather was scorching.... Eventually we gave up walking abt and sat in the shade watching various human activities going on in the sea... including a circle of Chinese courting couples (presumably) creating quite a commotion in the sea... Actually we thought them really comical, with all the ladies piggybacking on the guys. Then weather so super hot... pity those guys... I also concluded after observing things going on in the sea (not just at this beach and certainly not intentionally) that it is a rather popular location for intimacy.
In comparison to the youths in the sea, thought this was a much wiser strategy! Chatting in the shade by the sea...

I really liked the shadows made by the leaves from this huge sap-dripping tree (so we thought)...

Just to end off my Langkawi posts with a picture of my good old chio (AND comfy) sandals :) I will keep dreaming about my next holiday from now till... dunno when. So 不争气 hor ;) I hope to be blogging about the autumn leaves in Japan next time.

Thrice more I broke my 7.30pm resolution this week. Very sad and tiring. And just now after a meeting at MND the 5 of us commiserated with one another (over fried fish meat soup at Maxwell Food Centre) on the sad state of affairs and impending no-life weeks ahead. And I listened to tales of sweetly patient husbands waiting hours for wives to knock off, of disappointed children who turn in without seeing their mummies. Let me get a windfall overnight...

Hai, the future seems bleak.

Langkawi (3) - Cable Car

The Langkawi Cable Car experience was somewhat scary ('cos you cruise right into the mountains and your continued existence depended 100% on the cable car system not failing you) but it was one of the highlights of my trip. You get really good view for 25 ringgit (15 if you're local), without having to really work for it (no sweat). Ok, maybe a bit of cold sweat :P Plus the chance to marvel at the enormity and beauty of the mountains around you. I thought this attraction was pretty underrated. Hehe, I've never heard of this before lah :P

We started out from the base station (the orangey buildings) and reached the middle station (that functioned as a lookout spot) about 5 min later. I was pretty overwhelmed by the view below me! We thought that was it, but no, there was another scary stretch bringing you across to the other tower cum suspended pedestrian bridge....

A cable car starting out from the middle station to the opposite peak... The station at the other tower reminded me of Hayao Miyazaki's Castle In the Sky. A more toned down, modern version :)

Taken from the 2nd tower while looking down at the middle station. I've never seen so many trees at any one time for a long, long while.

But of course, we had to return with some evidence of our 'conquest' :P

The suspended pedestrian bridge as seen from the tower. The engineers that built this are geniuses. You can literally walk through the fleeting clouds...

We slowly made our way down to the bridge... Picture taken from one end of the bridge.

You can look to your left....

Or look to your right... But you wun want to look down. I peeked a bit and my knees felt a little weak... Hee, but Ms Wong still complimented me for being somewhat brave haha.

Awesome view of surrounding mountain ranges awaiting at the end of the bridge. And you feel so insignificant in comparison. It's such a good spot to put things in perspective.

Though I just got back from a holiday (will resume my unfinished Langkawi posts in the next entry), I cannot wait to go on my next one... Gone case right. But forsee that the next one will be rather difficult to come by, despite having more than 20 days of leave for the rest of the year (Actually compared to most colleagues, that is already very little). What a sad state of affairs to have so much vacation leave and no luxury/ liberty to use them!! And dear J, I really really want to go to Japan late this year... Hai. But seems like I have prior 'engagements' that are likely to foil my travel plans. Nonetheless, I have made a resolution to go on more short getaways... And to try to get out of office by 7.30 pm everyday. Unfortunately on the first day of my resolution I overstayed by an hour. Aargh. I shall start again tmr.

I finally splurged on a new DSLR over the weekend... And I am now the proud owner of a powderful Canon 40D.... (while trying to ignore the fact that I also grew quite a bit poorer overnight) I dunno how to use it... YET. But hopefully by the end of the year I would be able to blog about having mastered some cool functions!