Perlis & Langkawi November 2013 in Pix ...

Breakfast at the train station in Arau shortly after arriving in Kangar from the airport in Alor Setar, Kedah ... Mine is on the right ... Nasi Dagang with some kuah sardin, veggies and on of my all-time favourites, fried egg ... So what, you only live once ...

Inside Gua Kelam, somewhere near the border of Perlis-Thailand ... I got a little picture crazy here, so took a lot of photos, even those that on hindsight looked pretty ordinary ... The pix of the cave here are the edited version ...

There's some shiny material on the surface of this limestone, but my camera could not capture it perfectly, with or without flash ... What do you expect, it's not a professional camera ...

My friend warned me about the Perlis climate being more similar to southern Thailand than Peninsula Malaysia ... So, by the time we walked out of the cave to the open area, I was sweating profusely so much so that I was practically showering in my own sweat ... The humidity level, especially at places like this, is over the roof, man ...

My friend is pretty camera-shy, so I'm not gonna point out which one is she ...

I somehow like the play of light and shadow in this photo ...

Still at Gua Kelam ... The explanation is for the tree with the gnarled branches just below ...

My Casio Exilim cannot take photos with too much subdued lighting ... Night-time photos are definitely out of the question ... Ah, so the story unfolds *with an air of mystery* ...

Okay, I almost got the perfect National Geographic photo here ... All the deer, and I mean ALL of them, at one point were looking straight at me ... But I had to go and fumble with the zoom button that I missed what is most probably the most defining moment of my career as an amateur photographer ... There goes my chance at taking photos for National Geographic Society, sigh ...

I haven't had cendol for such a long time ... The coconut milk was just the right kind of creamy and sweetness, with the gula melaka, well, I think they use gula melaka for cendol ... Anyway, right after this photo was taken, my butterfingers hands had to go and spill my cendol ... The establishment was kind enough to replace it, with no added charge ... My friend said, only in Perlis ... Anywaay, some of the cendol spilled onto my camera ... Aha, the plot thickens ...

The dragon fruit tree at the garden at my friend's place ... Up to this point, I've never actually seen a dragon fruit tree, in pix or real life ... Really ...

The garden at the back of my friend's place ... They plant a lot of stuff here, and share the fruits of their labour with neighbours ... It's like a community garden actually ...

Dinner @ Kuala Perlis while watching the sun set ... Mine is the laksa at the further end of the table ... It wasn't hot, but the kuah was thick and sour enough ... My friend's sup bihun wasn't too bad either ... It was hot, just the way I like it ... She was craving for ABC, but by the time we finished our meal, most of it already melted ...

The garden on the veranda at my friend's place ... There is a ladder which leads to ...

... more greenery ...

The entrance to Wang Kelian, a border town in Perlis ... They sell all sorts of goods here, the kind that would accumulate into maybe-useful-one-day junk ... Me being the queen of junk thankfully did not fall prey to the trap of the day, which is ...

... a long row of stalls selling colourful wares that make you curious enough to look them up close and end up buying them instead ... The lure of the stalls definitely tested my shopping celibacy, which surprisingly, held up pretty much ...

Now, my friend explained to me that Wang Prachan and Wang Kelian are one and the same town ... Or is it? Anyway, they're located in Satun, which is province in Thailand ... Well, at least that's where I think they are ...

I cannot imagine eating glutinous rice with mango, despite the fact that I LURVE mango .. I asked my friend what the white creamy liquid in the small packet is ... I think it's coconut milk ...

Paddy fields are a rarity to a city person like me, so when I had the chance, I took these pix ... You can't really see the egrets, can you? What did I tell you about me being a hopeless nature photo-blogger ...

We stopped by this roadside restaurant owned by my friend's high school senior ... Now, I forgot the name but will put it up when I find the itinerary my friend arranged (Warung Pokok Sawa in Mata Ayer, Perlis) ... Anyway, the sambal is to die for ... I'm not a sambal person, but really, this sambal did not make me go "Eeew" because belacan, or shrimp paste, has that effect on me ... The sambal this restaurant serves is superb with the barbecued chicken ... My friend is into its barbecued catfish ....

Klonghae Floating Market in Hat Yai ... I wish we had taken these pix at night ... I think the market would look more alive with all the vendors and the food they sell bathed in kerosene light ... But as it is, the market has this huge stadium-like lighting fixture which you cannot see in this photo, so what's the point anyway ... When we arrived, the market was just about to start, so while waiting for people to set up their business, we dawdled along the stalls of another market nearby  ... This market sells t-shirts and stuff like that ... I managed to find a stall that sells these bolero pants hemmed with elastic bands (don't ask why I need such pants) ... The pants were pretty actually, with its patchwork pattern ... Now when you come places like this, of course you have to haggle, right ... I'm a pretty lousy haggler, dunno why ... When the sales girl mentioned that the pants cost 380 baht, I considered the amount of money I had with me and thought that I might not be able to buy more stuff if I spent that much on the pants, so I simply said to the girl that it was expensive ... She lowered it to 350 baht, if I'm not mistaken, and here was where I said, "I can get a much lower price in KL" and tried to walk away, which is true actually, if you know where to look for certain items at really low prices ... The girl pulled my arm and asked what price I wanted .. If she had pulled hard, I would have just walked away ... I mulled over it for a while, and gave 280 baht as a price, to which the girl looked reluctant to accept but relented in the end ... Actually, I wanted to go as low as 230 baht, as that is about the same price I paid for a bolero pant I bought at a store in Sungai Wang Plaza ... When I think about it, the cost of producing those pants may have just been 150 baht, considering the fact that Thailand is a leading Asian textile and garment manufacturer, but it's just a five-buck difference ... Those people want to live also, right ...

You see the clay tumblers? Well, I bought a lime juice drink in one shaped like a certain beverage giant's glass mug and it was only for 25 baht ... That is about RM 2.50, which is an impossible price for a drink in its own unique tumbler anywhere in Malaysia, I think ...

This auntie sells one of my friend's favourite dessert ...

... which is this fruit salad in sweet tofu ... It's pretty good, like one of those desserts they serve at one of those high-end hotels ... Also 25 baht per cup ... Cannot get that price in KL ...

This is also a local Thai delicacy, the name of which I have forgotten ... The orange stuffing is savoury and the yellow sweet ... I like the savoury one ...

The jetty after arriving in Langkawi ... On the ferry to Langkawi, I had the luck of getting a seat right smack in front of the onboard entertainment, which is a flat screen showing whatever movie of the day ... How in the world did they know I'm a movie junkie, heheh ... It so happened that for that trip they showed a movie starring Donnie Yen ... Hmm, he's not bad looking actually, heheh :P ...

What is it with me with bathrooms? Anyway, the one in my motel room was pretty basic, but complete ... Working toilet and sink, hot shower, and above all, CLEAN ...

The room itself wasn't too bad either ...

The first thing I chanced upon on my scooter sojourn was the Gamat hypermarket, which was one of the places my friend marked out as a must-visit venue ... I should have taken a photo of myself hugging the giant bottle, heheheh ...

The duty-free shopping mall right next to Underwater World Langkawi ... Bought some imported chocolates ... Now, not to brag, but I'm somewhat of a chocolate bargain expert, so I compared prices of course ... I think if you buy straight from Australia, it would be a lot cheaper ... When I was in Brisbane, the prices for Cadburys and such was about half of what you pay in KL I think, even after conversion ... But yeah, that was last year, so I can't recall for sure ... Here in Langkawi duty-free zone, it's just about RM 2 off, not much of a difference ... But the prices for certain chocolates, like Milka and Kinder Bueno, were pretty reasonably low .... Even the prices for high-end perfumes were not that much different than those available in KL ... Not to brag, but I'm also somewhat of a high-end perfume expert, heheheh ... A 30ml bottle of Versace Versense in Langkawi is about RM 190 ... Pretty good actually, but you see, I did not look carefully at the bottle whether it was eau de parfum or eau de toilette .. However, this was at the duty-free mall near the jetty, so I wouldn't know whether there's a difference in prices at malls further inland... So what, I wasn't there to buy perfumes ... My shopping celibacy is working! .... Anyway, they don't throw in major freebies like bags and stuff like with the perfumes in Langkawi ... The most you'll get are free samples ... In KL, such packages would cost in excess of RM 300, but because people like me like to get free bags with names of high-end designers on them, we don't think they're that pricey ...

Pantai Cenang ... Here was where I managed to pull aside this Mat Salleh hunk to take a few pix of myself ... but he was with someone, so there goes my chance ... The funny thing was, he took three photos of me with my camera ... Secretly, I think he was into me, but because he's attached, he couldn't do anything about it ... Yelah tu BJ, berangan bagai nak rak ... Leonardo DiCaprio konon, cehh! ... 

When I was at the Gold Coast, I missed my chance to soak my feet in the waves ... Personally, the waves at the Gold Coast are far better ... They're higher and more pristine, so much so you can see the sea breeze from a mile away ...

I saw the guy parasailing and a need for adventure just bubbled inside of me ...

The pakcik at this stall fuelled that need further .. He talked about how much the four-minute parasailing would cost ... I thought it was pretty steep .... But when else do you get an opportunity like this ... I thought about it while munching on the chicken pie my friend's dad made the night before ...

Not too sure whether this is a jelly fish ... Whatever it is, it's dead, poor thing ...

This, by far, is THE BEST FOUR MINUTES OF MY LIFE ... I was scared, but I braved myself to look down at the sea while we were up here ... Funny thing was, I was more concerned that the flimsy strap of my camera wouldn't hold and that it would break any time soon, dropping my precious camera into the sea ...

The shutter wouldn't open properly in the beginning, because of all the sand that covered me from top to bottom when I fell into it, damn ... I felt the camera's lifespan shortened by the minute ... Aha, the story is beginning to unravel ...

What is a lot better is that if I had captured this by video, then you'll be able to sense the ascent and descent, which would give you an idea of how far up you can go with this sort of parasailing ... Then of course you'd be able to hear me screaming and shouting a lot of crap ... I pity the guy who flew with me in tandem ...

Hey, it's the beach where I walked along a while ago ...

This is the first The Loaf bakery in Pantai Cenang which Tun Mahathir opened ... Among the baked goods I bought was this brownie which still remained good despite the fact that I only ate it, like, three days afterwards, without keeping it in any container ... It wasn't fresh, of course, but to me it was still good ...

Aah, and so here is the story ... I've had this Casio for five years, I think, well, I bought it in 2009 ... Before this one, I had a Konica Minolta, also for five years since I bought that one in 2004/5, I can't really remember ... Well, that one is already in scrapyard heaven, and this one was about to go into that direction, what with it having been exposed to sweet liquid and sand and all that ... Guess with what I took this photo ...

Yup, with my brand new Nikon Coolpix :D ... Actually, I have been planning to get a new camera for some time now, since I'm already having issues with the Casio (one of the buttons on the menu is not working) ... But, I did feel that if I bought a new camera, it would be a complete waste of money because the Casio is still working, despite its issues ... Deep down, I just really wanted a new one ... So, on the day prior to my Langkawi trip, I discovered that my Casio's battery was running low ... I was thinking, "I wanna take MORE pix!" ... I should have brought the charger with me but didn't ... This did not happen when I was on my Brisbane trip where the battery lasted throughout the whole trip, so that was why I didn't bring the charger ... I dunno, maybe my Casio is saying to me, "C'mon, just retire me, man ... I can't take anymore of your incessant photo-taking" ... On the first day in Langkawi, I still managed to take all this pix with the Casio, right, but my mind was in two, to get or not to get a new camera ... I reached Pekan Kuah after dark that day 'coz, you know what, in my excitement of going to find the beach during the day, I totally did not pay attention where my motel is located in Kuah, so I had to call up the motel and find directions and all that ... So, after reaching the area of my motel, I found that there is a nice, neat camera shop tucked away somewhere along the row of shops behind my motel ... I was surprised to find it open, because it was after eight ... Hello, BJ, you're not in the UK and Australia alright, shops here open until 9.30pm at least ... Well, this is not KL, okay, so that's why I thought the shops here might close earlier ... Are you nuts?!@ Why would they close early when there are tourists walking about with money to spend?!! ... Okay, stop ... Anyway, I wanted to look for an Internet cafe, but thought why not just go into that camera shop ... I knew I should have left the credit card back home ... Now that I'm back in KL, I've been going around, specifically Sungai Wang Plaza 'coz this is where you can get bargain prices, and compared the price of my new camera with that offered in Sungai Wang ... Actually, you can try Low Yat Plaza, where I got my Toshiba netbook at a promotional price, and it came with a lot of freebies... The price of the same Nikon model at Sungai Wang and that of the shop I bought mine in Kuah is relatively the same actually, but at the Langkawi shop I got my 8GB SD memory card for RM 20 smackeroos ... You cannot get that price in KL, so I actually bought my new camera at a lower price because of that ... Pretty happy with my new baby :), but I'm not gonna retire the Casio, it still works, so whenever I go on a trip, I'll bring both as back-up, so that there won't be issues like, "Oh, f**k, my battery's running low and I didn't bring the charger" ... (the Nikon uses alkaline batteries) ...

Breakfast at the Nasi Kandar restaurant near my motel ... Ordered roti telur bawang with a hot cup of HORLICKS ... On the morning of my trip to Langkawi, I had teh tarik for breakfast... I am now swearing off teh tarik indefinitely, despite the fact that I LURVE teh tarik ... I thought that because I was having the drink at nine in the morning, I won't have any problems sleeping that night ... Guess I was wrong ...  I was not able to sleep well that night, even after taking a sleeping pill ... I took the night bus back to KL on the 12th, reaching the morning of the 13th,  ... I did not sleep well on the bus as well ... Even though I had about a day to recuperate from the trip, my lack of sleep caught up with me eventually and on Friday, I just did not manage to do much work ... Kinda surprised that I managed to reach my production target on Thursday though ... Oh boy, catching up with work this weekend ..

The motel where I stayed ... The facilities are basic, but okay ... There's Wi-Fi, but stupid me, I decided to leave my netbook behind at my friend's place ... I'd have to say though that the service left much to be desired ... Not to say bad things about the place, but I wished they had left a much more experienced night clerk at the front desk instead of a total newbie ... When I returned from Pantai Cenang, I couldn't figure out where the motel's location is, and the guys at this one restaurant who I asked for directions were not much of a help ... The restaurant is located nearby a mosque, so I thought that was a good enough landmark ... As it turned out, the night clerk had absolutely no idea where I was located ... When I finally managed to find the motel, I went to the front desk to ask some other questions ... The girl looked pretty hopeless ... The next morning I went down and asked some more questions ... No, nothing there ... Before I could stop myself, I said, "Guess you don't know anything, do you?" ... Too late, it's already out there ... Hoping to take the sting out of my unkind remark, I asked her to take a photo of me with my rented scooter, at least she could feel useful that way ... Well, she's not from around there nor is she from Malaysia, so I shouldn't have expected much, therefore my mistake ...

It was drizzling when I reached the Kuah ferry terminal ... Looked high and low for a place to park my scooter ... I saw a lot of bikes in the middle of the carpark, but didn't know how they managed to get there ... When I found one entrance to the parking area, there was a sign that said that motorcycles are not allowed entry ... "What the f------?" ... What sort of rule is this? There are a lot of people who ride motorcycles on the island, and yet they are not allowed to park at what is most probably the nerve centre of the island ... I didn't want to grumble my way around 'coz the drizzle became heavier, so in the end I found this other entrance where there were parking attendants ... I told one of the parking attendants about the sign, and he simply said that that is how things are and the motorbikes parked inside were not supposed to be there but the riders parked them there anyway ... The attendant was kind enough to allow me to park my scooter next to the attendants' at the entrance shed ... I took this photo because I wanted to say something about one of the stupidest parking rule in the world ... In hindsight, I should have taken a photo of the stupid sign instead, in case people may not believe this to be the case ...

The eagle in the rain ...

At Starbucks waiting for the rain to let up ... You can see some people waiting for it to stop as well outside ... Btw, the hazelnut chocolate drink is quite delicious ... I've had Starbucks hot chocs before and the taste wasn't to my liking ... Now I know why, no hazelnut ...

The eagle in the sun ... Much better :) ...

Some traditional musical instrument displays inside Kota Mahsuri ...

Makam Mahsuri in the distance ...

Telaga Mahsuri

I bought some imitation Harrods bags while I was in Padang Besar on the Thai side ... Bought one purple bag for myself which cost 80 baht, and three smaller black ones for 60 baht each ... Now, these bags are definitely clear-cut knock-offs, not only because of the very cheap price, but Harrods is spelt Herrobs with an inverted 'd' ... Somehow and ironically as such, the spelling gives the Thai knock-offs a sense of originality, I think ... Here at Makam Mahsuri, they were selling Harrods bags with the correct spelling at about RM 22, I think ... They are pretty much neither here nor there, too cheap to actually be the legitimate deal, yet too expensive to be knock-offs, in my opinion ... The Thais still got it right when it comes to imitation goods, so go there, don't buy at Sungai Wang Plaza, or Petaling Street or anywhere in KL ...

After I got my scooter, I asked how to get to my motel, and they pointed me to this direction ... Now, of course I should have realised that this looked way too expensive to have RM 80 per night rooms, but that just didn't occur in my thick head at the time ... As it turned out, my motel was not too far off from this hotel, and the area where they are both located is called Bandar Baru Baron ... Maybe a baron lived here once upon a time ... It could be a local word meaning something else, actually ... 

The ferry terminal and marina (is it a marina?) seen from somewhere between the area of my motel and the building where I rented the scooter ...

The Internet cafe near Plaza Langkawi ... A far cry from those found in KL ...

This was at the row of stalls near Plaza Langkawi ... I would have bought this t-shirt if it weren't for two reasons ...One, the shirt was a bit too big and the quality not too good ... Two, the Stormtrooper likeness resembled more like that alien in that movie which for the life of me I could not recall ...But I like the idea of the t-shirt, the mash-up of two Americana cultural icons, thereby reinforcing cultural imperialism amongst idiotic Asians and exposing this particular blogger hack for what she is with her obviously limited and flawed knowledge of things ...

This is at the ferry terminal in Kuah ... I asked the establishment whether I could use the Internet there ... Guess what, construction was still in progress .. Then, why the hell do you put up the sign in the first place?! ...

I just love the idea of a mosque ...

... that uses renewable energy as a source of power ... However, I wasn't able to find out additional information concerning how much percentage of renewable power source the mosque is using, or any other information whatsoever since I reached the mosque really late and my friend was already on the way to take me to this seafood restaurant nearby ... The only online information concerning Masjid Al Hussain is more to do with its architectural aspects, whereas information regarding its use of renewable energy is much more pertinent in the world that we live in today, I think ...

Hai Thien Restaurant in Kuala Perlis ... Delicious, fresh seafood with really low prices ... For the four dishes, rice and our drinks, they were just under RM 50, but of course I only had warm water ... I blinked at the receipt a few times so much so my friend gave it to me and said, "Nah, put it in your journal as kenangan" ... Tried to take the pix without using the flash, but they came out less sharp than those that used the flash ... Have yet to master my new baby, heheh :) ...

You know you're already back in KL when you asked how to get to the LRT station and the person manning the public toilet says, "Jalan kat tepi ju jer" ... Anyways, the bus dropped us off at Pudu Sentral instead of KL Sentral ... Now, before I bought the ticket, I specifically asked whether the bus would stop at KL Sentral, to which the ticket lady said yes ... So, yeah, feeling miffed, but the bus driver said that if he stopped at KL Sentral, I would still need to walk a long way off to the LRT station ... My mind, muddled with extreme lack of sleep, just accepted that and walked to find the LRT station at Pudu ... I'm not used to this Ampang-Sri Petaling line, last time I took this line was to go to my friend's place in Cheras, which was a long time ago ... So, guess what, I took the wrong train, heading the opposite direction of Masjid Jamek ... At the same time, there was this Mamat Kedah who didn't know how to get to Kelana Jaya, much less how to buy the token, so I helped him out by telling him that we have to stop at Masjid Jamek and walk out of the station to go to the Kelana Jaya-Gombak line ... Ohkay, wait for it ... So, when we took the train heading to Sri Petaling I think, I realized by the second stop that we were on the wrong train, so I said to that guy, we have to get off here and take the train going the opposite way ... Not too sure whether he got my message or not, given the fact that I did not see him after we got off the train, but I wished he had stuck around to help me with my bags ... You see, the lift at the stop we got off was not f**king working! So, I had to take the f**king stairs! ... By the time I got on the right train, with me dragging all the bags and tired from lack of sleep, I just couldn't give a rat's ass whether the Kedah guy got on the right train or not, which was just as well because I totally had forgotten that the tunnel linking the two lines at Masjid Jamek is already in service (Of course it's been in service for some time now, but you do see how rare I take the Ampang-Sri Petaling line so much so that this important fact completely slipped from my obviously befuddled brain) ... As I was walking along the tunnel, I realized the token I bought was only up to Masjid Jamek and no further ... If the Kedah guy managed to get on the right train all the way to Kelana Jaya, he would definitely have a problem at the turnstile, not knowing why it's not letting him through ... I can just imagine the turnstile blaring out its warning and everybody looking at him ... Haah! Padan muka ngkau, siapa suruh jalan cepat sangat! If you had helped me with my bags, I would have told you not to exit the turnstile at Kelana Jaya and instead asked for assistance at the ticket counter ... See, being a good Samaritan does pay, and so does karma ... I tried to help the guy, and yet he couldn't return the favour ... Nevertheless, I believe this isn't so much of what goes around comes around, but God's way of showing that both of us were in error ... If I wasn't so proud, I would have asked the guy to help me with my bags, and thus, he would have stayed with me and learned that helping others has its benefits, while I would have learned that I should be a little bit more modest with my own capabilities, and therefore, honest with my own shortcomings ...

All in all, best trip ever! A little bit sunburnt, but I LOVE this trip, especially the Langkawi leg... Too bad I didn't take the cable car ride ... Aaah, another time, but definitely renting the scooter again, woohoo! ....