Xin Nian Kuai Le

Bakkwa mania is here! Xin nian kuai le everybody!I know it may sound a little weird that I'm into the whole Chinese New Year thingy but it's true, I'm into the whole CNY thingy. Growing up in a chinese town with chinese friends since childhood has caused me to appreciate this festival deeply.

What do I appreciate the most about Chinese New Year?

BAKKWA (ROU GAN)

This is the chinese pork jerky... yum yum! Sinfully delicious, I always look forward to this CNY delight every year and I make it a point to ONLY eat this during the CNY season. Honestly, it's a sinful pleasure to indulge in bakkwa with the oil dipping and all but hey... it's once a year!

This is one of the famous Bee Cheng Hiang stores in Singapore selling Bakkwa. Bee Cheng Hiang is one of the favourite brands and the queue at this particular store is always long!

HONG BAO

I love hong bao (red packets)... who doesn't right? Of course with money inside! Lots of money inside... hahaha. The worst is you open it to find 40 cents or something. Don't laugh... somebody experienced this before. Just pray that it doesn't happen to you.

REUNIONS

That's the other thing I like about Chinese New Year, you get to meet up with old buddies!

So here's to all... Happy Chinese New Year... Xin Nian Kuai Le... Gong xi ni...! (*Dev performing the lion dance as he fades off the stage...!)

Barack Obama

Barack Obama is going to be inaugurated today! It's history in the making as the first African-American President of the most powerful country in the world is sworn in to office!

I, for one am genuinely excited to see how things are going to unfold. I think everybody's excited even the artistes. On Oprah Winfrey, Will.I.Am., Faith Hill, Seal, Mary J. Blige and Bono performed America's Song. Awesome stuff (live on Oprah. Click on the playlist to see the MV)... take a look!

Langkawi Part 3

These are some videos I took during the mangrove trip as well as the Fish farm at Langkawi. One's about swimming monkeys, the other one's about a fish that jumps out to bite the finger food and the other one is the sting ray with a human face.

Langkawi Part 2

Here's part 2 of my adventures. Take it like a scrapbook adventure blog... Hahaha!


Lunch at the Magrove - Barn Thai Restaurant. These are the friends I made during my mangrove trip.


Dead tired treking!

We were at the Floating Fish Farm. I'm not a big fan of sea creatures so it's a rather new experience on my part.

Horse shoe crab... Dan was saying that it looks like a scene from Aliens vs Predator.

Cave exploration

We actually went through this cave opening to get to our destination. Great skills on the boatman's part!

A shot of a butterfly in the forest I was treking in. Spot the butterfly. Sorry, camera lenses isn't powerful enough! New lenses... anyone?

One of the villas at The Datai. It's around RM 1800 per night for a villa surrounded by the rainforest. Feels like a kampung to me... hahaha.

Datai Bay is quite private, serene and relaxing. You get the feeling jsut by seeing this pic.

On a buggy ride at The Datai, an amazing boutique resort situated at Datai Bay, claimed to be the best beach at Langkawi. I like Tanjung Rhu as well. Torn between the two!

Long time since I saw this scene... hahaha. I was driving and then... I had to wait... wait... wait some more!

In order to reach Telaga Tujuh (Seven Wells), you need climb up. From the bottom, it looks as if the staircase is never ending. However, there are benches along the way for you to rest. While I was going up, some really old people were coming down. Even though they were slower and rested a lot at the benches, I salute them for their love for thrills and adventure.

This is the view at Telaga Tujuh. If I'm not mistaken, this is Telaga #4. For some particular reason, I had a very high expectation of the whole thing and it kind of fell short of my expectation.

Here I am... tired, hot and frowning at Telaga Tujuh.

This is the view from Gunung Mat Cincang. You can see the Petronas Quay from here. The road to drive out of this place is actually along the coastal line so you can imagine the journey out of this place.

Landscape from the mountain!

Nature's spotlight... hahaha!

Whe you take the cable up to the highest peak, you get to walk along this bridge which gives you a great view. Not for the weak at heart... hahaha. Just kidding. It's really very safe.

Monkey attack! Apart from the gramatical error, you really should pay attention to this sign. They steal everything. I was on an open sea kayak trip from one island to another and on one of the stops, I left my water bottle in the kayak. To my horror of horrors, I came back to find the water bottle empty. The monkey uncapped the bottle, drank the water and capped the bottle back again. Intelligent but mischiveous creatures!

Pulau Dayang Bunting's small jetty.

Water reflecting off Tasik Dayang Bunting.

As you can see, I didn't take this picture by myself. I happened to be in this cable car together with a gay couple. I struck a conversation with them and we were chatting awhile. I guess people are still people and they don't want to be treated like they are something 'odd' or in this sense, 'queer'. I've got to admit, they are very very conscious about the way they look in front of people as well as the camera. Interesting moment; alone in a cable car with a gay couple with nowhere to go! Hahaha.

This is my ride in Pulau Langkawi. Not too bad, quite sporty!

The money shot of the White-bellied Sea-eagle. It's a little blur because the birds move really fast and my camera lenses aren't as powerful! A glimpse of National Geographic in action!

This is the Brahminy Kite or the Red-backed Sea-eagle. This is the official bird of Langkawi. Langkawi actually consists of the words 'Lang' which comes from Helang meaning eagle and 'Kawi' meaning red = Red Eagle!

The birds going in for the catch!

Langkawi

*Hi Guys. This post was meant to be up on Wednesday but there were lots of errors in uploading the post. It must have been the connection. This is the uncut and unedited version that was not meant to be... hahaha!

I'm at Langkawi now... I've been keeping myelf busy with lots of outdoor adventure activities. Island hopping, Eagle feeding, fresh water swimming, cable car ride, hiking etc... just to name a few! Tomorrow I'll be hiking to the Telaga Tujuh Waterfalls, parasailing and kayaking in the open sea. Friday will be the 5 hour mangrove kayaking and cave exploration before I fly back to KLIA.

There's a lot to write but I'm quite tired (physically) and I want to rest but to be fair I'll just post a few of the pics I've taken so far!

This is Chenang Beach where I'm staying. I took this shot yesterday evening while strolling on the beach.

The sun is setting even further... Look at the top left corner of the pic and you'll see a black dot. That's somebody parasailing!


Some kids playing by the beach... panoramic with a human touch.

Today's Island hoppinbg adventure - the jetty I left off from at Pantai Tengah

Man, I love Langkawi... beautiful!

Pulau Dayang Bunting... Pregnant Maiden's Island. Check it out... her face, breasts and her pregnant belly. Cool huh?

This is Tasik Dayang Bunting. It's a freshwater lake that is so close to the sea you'd think it's part of the sea. This lake is separated by a miracle barrier that causes it to be a freshwater lake but yet so slose to the sea you'd think it's part of it.

One of the hundreds of resident monkeys on this island.

This is not me sunbathing... hahaha! I just jumped into the lake for a swim. Left my SLR with one of the tourist who wasn't swimming. too tempted already. It's way cooler than swimming in the sea.

View from the cable car up Gunung Mat Cincang.

This is the lower station of the two on the way up to Gunung Mat Cincang.

The fable goes that Mat Cincang used to be a being that transformed himself into a mountain. Hmmnn...

There is a boardwalk at the higher station that allows you to walk "through" the mountain to have a real panaoramic view... simply amazing!

Petronas Quay where the boats and some yatches are parked.

So there you have it, adventures for today. Tomorrow's going to be more fun! *Yawn... Good night!

*Yup... Thursday for so fun, I was really too tired to even start blogging. So I guess I've to tell the story, not in the midlle of the action but away from it from now onwards...

Stay tuned for pics, sights and sounds of Langkawi coming soon...