Thursday, April 06, 2006

Langkawi Island

Langkawi Malayasia, Dew Drops, Ravichander Rao

On a recent trip to Malaysia, I went to the Langkawi Islands. Though I didn't know anything about the place, still preferred going there on my off-day rather than sitting inside the room. Well, every place gets interesting when friends are around, hence there was nothing for me to regret.


(view from 652m point)

We took a 3 hours cruise ride from Penang through the Melaka strait to our destination. The day was perfect for our picnic - water was tranquil and sky was azure. As we started moving farther away from Penang, we noticed the changes in the colors of the ocean from blue to blue-black and changes in wave patterns from ripples to quite, probably a characteristic of changing depths or may be effect of mixing currents, and once in a while a few small boats. As we reached closer towards Langkawi, another spectacle awaited us. Many small and big islands situated on an emerald color ocean appeared perhaps nothing lesser than a paradise to the city dwellers like me. Whole journey was myriad and a wonderful experience.

At Langkawi, some people prefer island hopping, ie. go from one island to the other island (hopping) on boat rides, some prefer snorkling and diving, some prefer sun-bathing and some just spend time away from routine to bust-off the stress. We unfortunately belonged to the last lot.


(hanging bridge)

Since we didn't have much time to spend, we went around the beaches and took the cable-car ride. Beaches were very picturesque - emarld colored water dabbed with black color because of the reflections from the clouds. The cable-car ride was equally amazing. Unique thing about this is cable-car ride is that, it takes you from ground to one mountain top and from there to another and back to the ground, rather than to a mountain top and then back. At one of the mountain tops, about 625m above the sea level, there is one hanging bridge - an engineering marvel. It gives a feeling of being in space, provides nice views of horizon, and lot of thrill. Distant view from the mountain tops are equally amazing, humbling and empowering, when one feels the distance, height, and surroundings.


(sunset from cruise)

The late sunset is the most appropriate sunset for such an ideal day. On our way back, we enjoyed the cool breeze and colorful sky painted by the sun. For sure, it was one of the best trips I have made, but not sure, if I would be visiting it again or not. Because there are probably many more Langkawi that I haven't seen.


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