Descending Angels

Last week, I took a chance with my friends, and let myself to be whisked away for a short weekend getaway in a tropical island off the coast of northern part of Malaysian peninsula – Langkawi a.k.a the “other” jewel island of the north.

Unlike the rest of my travelling buddies (and as shocking as this might sound) I’ve had never been to Langkawi before. This was my first. Yeay. Of course, I was super excited.

Sham, AJ and Eijam had planned for this little trip for months I think and me and Miron only decided to join the group in the very last minute – ah you know, because we care about our friends and we don’t have the heart to see them going with just 3 people. Ahaks!

And to prove I was as committed as everyone else in this trip, I let Eijam bought all of us the bus tickets on Friday at 11.00pm. O Yeah, you heard it right. We took the bus, babeh! All 10 hours of them!

After toiling and risking possible blood clots in our inner things, we finally arrived at Kuala Perlis Jetty, 8.30 in the next morning. Not a minute to waste, we dashed to the jetty counter and managed to get ourselves the first ferry out to Langkawi at 9.30am. Talk about perfect timing.

Langkawi only took around 45 minutes by ferry and that means we still had plenty of time before we can check in at our luxurious stay at Sri Kijang Resort, in Pantai Chenang. So where did we end up before then? Ha! We went for shopping at all these duty free shops along the stretch of Chenang beach road. Nature sightseeing can wait, we want bargain!

We then went to check in, freshen up and along the way making up plans for the rest of the afternoon – which unfortunately limited to, eventually hanging out at the Loft Café at Perdana Quay (which I was told owned by Tun Dr. Mahathir). It was raining so heavily we stuck at the café for hours. Anyway the pastries were super delicious. Way to go, Tun!

The next day things were looking up for us – weather wise. So we jumped at the opportunity to try out the famous Langkawi Cable Car. Definitely not for the faint hearted, the whole cable stretches up to 700 meters from the sea level. A-mazing. It was soo far high, I swear I could see all the way to Thailand and probably even Japan. Erm, or so I think. Anyway, it was worth all the trouble (hiking up the torturous terrain) and the price ticket. Simply breathtaking.

Oh I forgot to mention, we also stopped by at the Tanjung Rhu on the way to the cable. The beach was sandy white and clean. And the view… wow. Just wow. I took a lot of photos while being there that I believe I just brought the meaning of the word ‘camwhoring’ to a whole new level.

Actually, we were also supposed to do the island hopping in the next day, our last day on the island, alas, something happened and didn’t work out the way we planned so we grabbed the map and just point endlessly on it until it stops somewhere and voila, look what we had found here.

This is Temurun Waterfalls. We never expected it to be this beautiful. I mean just like I said, we ‘discovered’ it by chance but OMG, look at this picture. It’s like a postcard from paradise. Luckily not many people were around that day, so we had to whole place to ourselves. And pretended we were the descending angels. *cough*

Eijam, AJ and Sham wanted to stay for another day, so I let them be, while me and miron took the evening flight home that day. Our flight to KLIA was on 5.35pm. It was a comfortable way home, but my heart and amazing memories with my dear friends stayed there and it was very, dare I say it, unsettling.

Save a Life And Be a Winner

Have you ever seen a movie in which the main actor was soaking wet with his own sweat trying to doodle a clue to the FBI - 10 seconds before the bad guys blow off the place? If the hero was me, the FBI would have been better learned to mengucap, cause the place WILL (and I tell you in utter confidence) be blown off in 10 seconds. Forget the innocent lives; I can’t draw a line to even save my own life.

I would be happily blamed this “artsy deficiency” to both of my parents. Ask them about Picasso or Latiff Mohidin, and they’ll probably tell you it’s the name of one of their detergents or minyak gamat brands. I was ready to hold up my hands and accuse them for harbouring bad DNA on our siblings, but then my little brother came along. And boy is he like the best painter/graphic designer/animator I know. I mean, he is so creative and full of ideas, he makes my self portrait drawing looks like J.Lo’s butt print.

Last Friday, I was driving my brother to MDEC Hari Raya Open House in Cyberview Lodge Cyberjaya. It was also the day where the winners of Digital Interactive Comic Competition, organized by MDEC will be announced. You see, my brother had submitted his entry 2 months back, and I think he only got a call last two weeks saying he had been shortlisted as one of the finalists. It was not really a shocker, because, you know, like I said, he got a way with the brushes and those tiny magic pens, but to be among the best in the country, whoa, that really blew my mind.

Alas, he didn’t win. I really wanted him to win though. But it’s ok, I am still proud him. And that makes him already a winner to me.

I know I said I couldn’t draw a line the save my own life, but I think, with my brother around, he can take care of that for me.