NO WORDS NECESSARY ... ;- D))

Sometimes the simplicity of a smile, a gesture, a touch, a thought, a prayer or just being there .... means the world for someone. For anyone. For me. For you. For us. And animals speak without saying a word ....

Connections are made with the heart ....

The quote says it all .... :-)))

The Most Wonderful Places To Be .... ;-))

So true isn't it? You don't have to be with someone physically yet you connect with that person where you are so far but that someone is so near. How comforting to know that someone is thinking of you. Someone is praying for your well-being and happiness. And how honoured it is to be in someone's heart then, now and forever.

Salam Ramadhan 1434H

Selamat datang ya Ramadhan - bulan yang disediakan untuk hambaNya. Semoga Ramadhan 1434H lebih bermakna daripada tahun lepas. Izinkan kami menjalaninya dengan sebaik yang kami mampu dengan kekuatan daripada Mu. Lagu nasyid ini amat bermakna. Raihan adalah kumpulan nasyid favourite ku dan Man Bai adalah seorang penyanyi yang mempunyai suara yang sedap. Ingat lagi lagu "Masih Aku Terasa" ketika beliau bersama kumpulan Gersang....  ;-))  ????

Ku mengharapkan Ramadhan

Kali ini penuh makna

Agar dapat kulalui

Dengan sempurna

Selangkah demi selangkah

Setahun sudah pun berlalu

Masa yang pantas berlalu

Hingga tak terasa ku berada

Di bulan Ramadhan semula .....

Selamat menjalankan ibadah puasa dengan sebaik yang kita mampu dengan kekuatan, kesabaran
dan ketabahan yang dianugerahkanNya.

Nasi Daging / Bukhari

I found this packet of spices at the supermarket. Since the guys liked to eat flavoured rice, I decided to try this with a little modification on my part due to listening how others cooked their version.

I added thinly sliced garlic, big onions, fresh, ripe tomato, one serai, ginger juice and the four spices (bunga lawang, bunga cengkih, buah pelaga and kulit kayu manis). I used beef that had already pre-cooked to tender. Planta margarine for oil instead of minyak sapi as it is not advisable for cholesterol. I liked to cook this as you eat this dry without gravy like dalca or curry or kurma. Thus, I added the air asam and salad of tomato+cucumber+lettuce with a squeeze of lemon. It was a success because the guys ate till the last morsel of the rice!!! :-DD))

Nasi bukhari/daging. the tender meat, salad and air asam as the side dish. Simple yet satisfying.

Sometimes it's better to be alone .. ;-{

Isn't it true? When you are alone, nobody can hurt you except yourself. When you are with somebody or someone, you are bound to be hurt either through thoughtlessness, gestures, silence, arrogance, inconsiderateness, ... the list goes on. Need I say more ???? Aloneness is not loneliness. Sometimes it is just security and protection ...  ;-)

So we left Akmal and a world of his own ...

Some other creatures that caught our attention were the flamingoes. How straight and still they could be.

A pheasant

Try standing still for more than a few minutes ..

A shy bird..

A cockatoo ..

The sleeping seal - must be so tired of seeing so many humans .. ;-)

A stingray

Sharks ... and more sharks..

One of the weird jelly fish species

Another jelly fish species - it changes colour with the lights

We did not realise that almost one and a half hour had gone by. We better made our move as I wanted to buy some chocolates before we waited for our 4:00pm ferry. Thus, Akmal went with us to our car. We saw a roadside hawker selling coconut drink. We stopped to have a drink and chatted with the very friendly local mak cik seller and a pak cik taxi driver. So, we left Akmal in a world of his own again. A world where he understood these creatures, at home with the environment and eager to start his internship and learn new things. I leave Akmal in the hands of Allah.

Penguins and Otters ..

The next day we checked out and went for brunch near the Langkawi Underwater World. When we went there for Akmal to register, we followed him to the back of the building where the office and quarters were located. The very friendly and nice PR asked if we had any plans for today. When we said none, he offered us a free tour of the Underwater World. Tickets are priced at RM28 per Malaysian adult. Foreigners had to pay RM38. Children cost RM10 less. Of course we jumped at the offer. Thus, he let us in and Akmal being a newbie, showed us around. Actually, we were quite familiar with this place as it was a favourite place for us whenever we visited Langkawi. There were few creatures now due to the poisoning of fishes last two years ago. I wanted to see the penguins. They were cute and I had this imagination that suddenly music from the movie "Happy Feet" blared and the penguins got up to dance !!!  :-D))  What was most entertaining were the otters. There were four of them and they had a free reign of the special place. They jumped out of the water, ran up and down the man made hills and trunks, stopped to smell the people who were screaming with surprise and trying to get away from the curious otters. They were not afraid of people at all!  ;-0   When I called Akmal last night, one of his jobs was to hand feed the otters. Akmal enjoyed animals. Here are some of the photos taken of them .. Flash could not be used as it would affect the animals retina ... Yet there were some tourists who just ignored the notice.

Round and Round the island ... :-)

After prayers and feeling much refreshed, we decided to drive around the island and just saw what changes had taken place. We went to Pantai Tengah and Pantai Cenang. They were crowded with people. I just needed to get out from the crowd. I was feeling claustrophobic. It seemed you see people everywhere! We went to Oriental Village. A large sprawling area with double storey buildings of old Chinese architecture. It seemed like walking down Jonker Street in Malacca or any Chinese town in Malaysia I guess. It was also the gateway to the Langkawi cable car. Since the sky cabs were under renovation or upgraded, it was closed to the public. Hence the lesser crowd at this area.I liked this place. We entered almost all the shops to look at the souvenirs, handicrafts and curios. There were bridges that crossed over lakes and of course, the fishes in it. We just strolled around the area and took photographs.

At the entrance

The many variety of fishes in the lakes 

View from the bridge - a nice layout of buildings

One of the bridges...

The view of the cable car from the Oriental Village

One of the buildings found here ...

One son off ..

Langkawi. An island of legends and old wives' tales. I used to like Langkawi for its simplicity, undeveloped, slow paced life. We used to take the young boys then to Langkawi twice or three times a year back in the "90s. This was because Noor's brother was there so we had an apartment to stay. Yet, we usually went to stay at the chalets or resorts by the beach as we came here for the sea. I loved Langkawi for its Book Village (it's closed now) and the Galleria Perdana (Tun Mahathir's collection of gifts when he was the Prime Minister). Since I am not a shopaholic, I only buy chocolates for friends. It has a comfortable memory for me.

I last went to Langkawi 3 years ago for MUET briefing. What a journey !!!! Filled with drama, fears and prayers ... :-DD))) It was raining and the winds were strong thus, the sea was rough with strong waves. The ferry was small and claustrophobic. We, most of us made the journey at the same time, on that ferry were already worried of being sea-sick. Halfway across the Straits of Malacca in the rough weather, the engine of the ferry spluttered and went quiet. It was right dead in the middle of nowhere !! There were loud gasps, fears and most of us just prayed hard that somehow the engine would come to life. After almost 20 minutes, it spluttered again and again and roared to life. We heaved a huge sigh of relief and prayed that we would arrive at Langkawi in one piece. We finally reached the jetty dizzy, nauseous and just glad that we had our feet planted on solid ground. The briefing that night was in a daze and most of us were cursing the people who organised to conduct the briefing here in the first place. Whose bright idea was this????? ;-{{   Sufficed to say that it was the first and last time we had any briefing there. :-D))  

Akmal would be doing his 3 months internship at Langkawi Underwater World. It was a good excuse to go to Langkawi again especially for the other 2 boys too since they had not been there since they were kids. We did not discuss of going there at all. I thought I would take leave and just sent him off at Kuala Kedah jetty. Noor did not say anything and neither did we discuss about going. So, it was a surprise to all of us when he suddenly announced that we would all be going to Langkawi. We all complied. :-)  Thus, on Saturday morning we left Alor Setar for Langkawi. Noor had earlier arranged for car rental and booked a place to stay near the Langkawi Underwater World.

What we did not expect was the unusual large crowd of people going to Langkawi. We decided to depart from Kuala Perlis as it would be a shorter journey of 45 minutes instead of the 90 minutes from Kuala Kedah jetty. When we reached Kuah, Langkawi city centre, I asked the friendly car rental guy about the huge crowd. He also said it was an unsusal amount of local visitors. Maybe because they were having family day or just organising trips before the fasting month. We saw groups of people with Johor Corporation T-shirts, a large group of ladies, university buses parked near the Kuala Perlis jetty meant university students and others. It was crowded with people that I wished we had gone at another quieter time for some peace.

The unusual large crowd at Kuala Perlis jetty

Our double decked ferry - My Msster. It was full which meant about 645 passengers excluding the crew members.

The passengers disembarking the ferry at Kuah jetty

Queueing to buy return ferry tickets for Sunday

 So, we took our rental car for the 2 days stay. We took whatever was available since they also had run out of decent cars. Anything is good enough as long as we had the freedom of our own transport. We headed to Pantai Cenang to our motel. It was blazing and scorching hot and I was feeling the heat. Once we checked in at about noon, I was already fast asleep. :-))  We had booked 2 rooms and all of us decided on a nap ....

Akmal, in the ferry, looking pensive and eager to embark on a new adventure ...