♥ Tuesday, January 18, 2011 ♥
Langkawi Part 4
18 December 2010
(It's exactly one month before today, as in 18 January 2011!)
After leaving the Oriental Village we hired a van to take us to Westin Resort. After a discussion with the driver, we decided to go 'eagle-feeding', or more accurately, 'watch-eagles-being-fed' as it was on the way to Westin Resort and we had loads of time to kill.
The trip wasn't cheap, RM350 to 'watch-eagles-being-fed', cruise around the islands and mangrove swamps, visit fish farms and caves. Not exactly worth it, but I suppose it was quite an enjoyable experience. The trip was supposed to last for 2 hours, but we only spent ... maybe an hour and 45 minutes, on the boat.
Wooooo, setting off!
It was reaaaally nice to feel the wind whipping our hair about our faces. The weather was still really awesome, slightly sunny but cool.
Had to put on sunglasses, kept worrying that my contact lenses would get blown away by the wind, or that some foreign object would fly right into my eyes, haha.
It was very ... green! Pleasant sight for the eyes, haha.
There was a wide expanse of smooth, calm water all around us (until of course, our boat caused rippling waves on the surface of the water), and lots and lots of trees.
Anyway, the waters looked so peaceful, nice, soothing and just so ... generally harmless, that I kept having the feeling of wanting to jump straight in for a swim. Even though I don't know how to swim. Haha. Have no clue what lurks beneath the deceivingly tranquil water.
Soon after we stopped and the boat driver turned off the engines, and dropped pieces of meat onto the surface of the water.
Then we waited for the eagles to come while the driver explained that he couldn't possibly feed the eagles by putting the meat onto his palm because the eagles would snatch at the meat first with their sharp claws before devouring the meat and his palm would be hurt in the process.
I think all of us were expecting him to feed the eagles right from his hands, hahaha.
And lots and lots of eagles came!
Couldn't take any decent photos of the eagles. I think my cousin did though! Not sure.
It was an amazing sight, all those eagles swooping down on the meat, their wings all ... straight and still, not flapping at all. Okay, I don't know how to describe it.
There was this one .... uh, "king" of eagles (as I'd like to think of it), it was white and gray, simply magnificent, and larger than the other orange-brown-copper-white eagles. Haha.
Here it is, isn't it pretty? It's like the Hedwig of owls! XD
After the feeding fest, we resumed our ... cruise around the area.
...
We passed through this ... damn it, what's it called? A narrow ... uh, strip, of water between two ... WHAT? CLIFFS?! Crap. I should know, after reading The Lord of The Rings (for the second time, no less)! Hahaha.
Okay, irrelevant. But Tolkien elaborated so much on the 'sights' like rivers gullies ravines forests vales mountains etc! I should have learned something, but guess I didn't. Haha.
I was saying, after passing through the PLACE, I immediately thought of Argonath, the Pillars of the Kings, from LOTR! Big difference, but still. HAHA.
Behold! A CAVE!! It's called Crocodile Cave. We were so excited when we saw the cave, and my cousins even took out torch lights and everything.
Turned out, it wasn't quite what we expected, because, upon entering the cave, we saw ....
DAYLIGHT! =.=
Definitely felt a sense of anticlimax. Hahaha. I didn't know what my cousins were expecting, but I definitely wasn't expecting anything like that. Such a small cave. Booo.
I suppose I was thinking of a grand old cave like ... like ... the cave Voldemort hid his Horcrux! LOL I read too many books.
Anyway on the rocky ceiling of the caves dwelt a lot of tiny black bats, not exactly a pretty sight. But it WAS a sight. If you get what I mean. Like the sightseeing sight. Something people would want to see in caves, I guess? *shrugs*
Went past all these private yachts with their own names. Saw a person with long and slightly curly grey hair and beard on one of those yachts, and immediately I thought of Robinson Crusoe, though I do not know why. Hahaha. Even waved at him when we passed the yacht for the second time! XD
Every place looked the same
Cruised around the mangrove swamps, look at all those roots! BIOLOGY!
We spotted lots of crabs, even some purple ones, on the muddy banks.
Went into another cave after that, forgot what it's called.
BATS!!!! Eeew.
There was this intriguing-looking ladder in one of the two caves, leading up to ... where, nobody knows because we didn't climb up the ladder. First, it was creepy and cold, not to mention wet. And second, we weren't properly attired. Haha. Third, we'd probably hit our heads and hurt ourselves in the dark, even though we had torches.
Last stop was the fish farm, and there was really nothing much to see except this huge and very cute sting ray called Mimi. My uncle fed the ray with a tiny fish, and had the chance to feel the ray ... err, nibbling? sucking? on his fingers. Eeeek. I just touched the ray though, it was slimy and slippery, and reminded me of my mom's delicious sting ray curry, hmmm.
HAHAHAHA. Cannot imagine how many dishes of curry could be served with that one ray! Evil thoughts, LOL. Mean!! Not sure whether that particular type of ray is edible or not though.
Helloooo!
Okay, after that we went to Westin!!
When I first saw the lobby I wasn't impressed. I mean, the deco was elegant, classy and stuff, but ... I don't know, maybe I found something lacking. Haha. Not sure what though. And the Christmas tree was ... well, not really Christmas-y, pretty though it was.
See what I mean? Hahaha.
The candles were a nice touch though!
But after I saw the VIEW through the windows of the lobby, I changed my mind. I was struck by the beauty and serenity of it all. You could see for miles, and see all the islands in the distance, and see ships and tiny vessels sailing on the sea, and the ... "dining venue" on the sea, according to the Westin Langkawi website.
The grounds is very large as well, but not bigger than Berjaya I guess.
Westin is very different from Berjaya! Like one is more modern and the other more traditional. And Westin is posher. And more well-tended to, perhaps.
Complimentary drinks. Red one contained alcohol whereas the blue one didn't.
Windy!
Eh, don't know why I was clutching my drink like that. Hahaha.
My thigh looks sort of skinny in the photo, yay. =.=
With my cousin. We didn't want to take any photos (because we were sick of wearing the same outfit), but couldn't resist because the view was so beautiful. Hah.
And also, because we were tired. Look at my face!
My filthy toenails! XD
Went to Jetty Point for dinner after bathing and changing. Left my aunt in the hotel because she was feeling nauseous and not at all well. Had dinner at Kenny Rogers, of all places. Because my cousin had never eaten there before. So.
Okay. End of the post. Gotta go put the Christmas tree into keeping. A bit late, yes, I know. Hahaha.
♥ craving chocolate kisses ..
8:09 PM
8:09 PM