Our third adventure in Langkawi was one of the Canopy variety. It was wicked-awesome. Enjoy the video!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Langkawi - Canopy Adventure (3 of 3)
Our third adventure in Langkawi was one of the Canopy variety. It was wicked-awesome. Enjoy the video!
Langkawi - Mangrove Tour (2 of 3)
This was our second adventure - a mangrove tour (that was so much more than the name suggests). We fed eagles, monkeys, and stingrays, went into caves (our boat barely fit into the hole in the rocks that came out the other side), and went into a bat cave (where the bats are *maybe* 10-15 feet above you). We also went to a secluded island beach for a private swim, but these are enough photos for now...
Langkawi - Cable Car and Seven Wells (1 of 3)
Here are our first of a bunch of photos from Langkawi. This was our first of many adventures (thanks to the scoots!) - specifically to the famous cable car and the Seven wells. It's hard for photos to do the cable car justice, but suffice it to say that it's freakin' high up (you get to 710m above sea level (some of that on foot). We're not afraid of heights, but that bridge was a little freaky.The seven wells is cool, but doesn't deserve quite the same photo play. I've hopefully properly captured the mood with a snap of Vee jumping into one of the said wells.
Scootering madness!
Well Matt and I have been making good use of the scooter. We have buzzed around almost the entire island - it has been so much fun!!!
Our second trip on the scoots was to a northern beach here in Langkowi where we rented a boat and a driver for an amazing mangrove tour! We fed eagles, monkeys, stingrays and went through a bat cave. They were creepy little suckers but luckily they did not attack us as we walked past them like they do in the movies. I had visions of them getting tangled in my hair and me screaming like an idiot. But all went well!
The eagles were amazing, our driver dumped pieces of chicken onto the water and suddenly all these eagles came out of the mangroves, swooped down and picked the pieces up with their claws - beautiful!
We then went further in where the driver gave me some bread and I fed it to all sorts of little monkeys! One even jumped in the boat and had to jump in the water and swim back!
Yesterday we did a long drive around another part of the island and today we went on a jungle trekking tour, where we were rigged into harnesses and such! We repelled off rocks, zip lined from tree to tree and did a whole lot of climbing too! Lots of exercise, sweat, tired arms and jelly like legs. We had a great group of people with us and had an absolute blast.
However we are now back from lunch and plan to just relax and unwind for a bit. Here it is best to go to the beach in the late afternoon as the heat is just too intense (I can't believe I am saying this!) But those crazy Europeans are out there at the crack of dawn till end of day in the sun. I have never seen as many sunburns as I have here! They are mad! Luckily with all the beaches in our foreseeable future, I do not feel the need to plaster myself to a beach towel for hours at a time! But I won't lie - if I only had a week or two I would more then likely be out there!
This has been such a different speed then India and we have burned off all the chub we put on after the oil and carb laden food we had consumed. I swear you just sweat it off here!!!! The food is also much lighter, but for the most part you don't really eat a whole lot because again, this heat saps away your hunger. We have however dabbled in a lot of yogurt drinks and icecream bars! Yum!
Well I think I am off to take a shower, read my book and dabble in a lunch time vodka/soda. Missing you all like madness,
Vee
xxoo
Our second trip on the scoots was to a northern beach here in Langkowi where we rented a boat and a driver for an amazing mangrove tour! We fed eagles, monkeys, stingrays and went through a bat cave. They were creepy little suckers but luckily they did not attack us as we walked past them like they do in the movies. I had visions of them getting tangled in my hair and me screaming like an idiot. But all went well!
The eagles were amazing, our driver dumped pieces of chicken onto the water and suddenly all these eagles came out of the mangroves, swooped down and picked the pieces up with their claws - beautiful!
We then went further in where the driver gave me some bread and I fed it to all sorts of little monkeys! One even jumped in the boat and had to jump in the water and swim back!
Yesterday we did a long drive around another part of the island and today we went on a jungle trekking tour, where we were rigged into harnesses and such! We repelled off rocks, zip lined from tree to tree and did a whole lot of climbing too! Lots of exercise, sweat, tired arms and jelly like legs. We had a great group of people with us and had an absolute blast.
However we are now back from lunch and plan to just relax and unwind for a bit. Here it is best to go to the beach in the late afternoon as the heat is just too intense (I can't believe I am saying this!) But those crazy Europeans are out there at the crack of dawn till end of day in the sun. I have never seen as many sunburns as I have here! They are mad! Luckily with all the beaches in our foreseeable future, I do not feel the need to plaster myself to a beach towel for hours at a time! But I won't lie - if I only had a week or two I would more then likely be out there!
This has been such a different speed then India and we have burned off all the chub we put on after the oil and carb laden food we had consumed. I swear you just sweat it off here!!!! The food is also much lighter, but for the most part you don't really eat a whole lot because again, this heat saps away your hunger. We have however dabbled in a lot of yogurt drinks and icecream bars! Yum!
Well I think I am off to take a shower, read my book and dabble in a lunch time vodka/soda. Missing you all like madness,
Vee
xxoo
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The Taj
So we took maybe 70 photos of the Taj in total (more if you include those immediately deleted). I won`t bore you with descriptions, except that one is for the mothers - the "Princess Di" photo. I will say that the guide book suggests pushing yourself into photo spots (you can see how many people are there), which after nearly 4 weeks in India came surprising naturally...
Some Agra/Fatehpur Sikri Sights
So, despite the most run-down city we visited in India, Agra has some of the best sites. Fatehpur Sikri (about 40km outside Agra) should be included in that list - it was the Mugals` capital for 13 years, and houses some really neat buildings (for example, the ladies palace behind Vee). It also now houses some of the pushiest touts/wallahs, except when you escape to the old city (where the tower photo was taken).
In Agra itself is one of the cooler forts India. It has a very long history, but Akbar built a lot of the red sandstone buildings, while his grandson Shah Jahan (of Taj fame) built - you guessed it - all the white marble buildings on top.
There is also Sikandra, which houses Akbar`s tomb. Really neat building, of which you only get a glimpse in the panorama. Vee`s favourite birds in India were hard to capture on film, and th
Lovely Langkawi
We thought India was hot! This weather is insanity as we are right on the equator! We are literally sweaty 24/7 but my South African blood is LOVING it! Matt's European blood - not so much!
Today we had an absolutely marvelous day. We picked up a scooter which we have rented for 4 days at the cost of about 8 bucks a day! It was a bit of a messy affair at first as Matt has never ridden a scooter. I had one in Taipei for a year and a half so was quite familiar. Matt thought it would be easy so he hopped on raring to go. I suggested he take a test run first and the poor guy made it across the street where he promptly crashed into a parked car (no damage thankfully). I must admit my heart sank, but he picked himself up, dusted himself off and declared me the driver from here on in!
Well drive we did! We went around part of the island to one of the steepest and longest freespanning cable car rides in the world! Here you take a scary yet stunning ride up to the top of a mountain. The scenery was essentially rock, jungle, more mountains and varying shades of aqua blue water and beaches. STUNNING! We were in heaven - it was simply magnificent! We then walked across this long bridge that was VERY scary! So high up!
We then descended on the cable car and took the scoots up to a nearby waterfall! It was quite the hike where we were literally sweating bucket loads (gross I know!). But when we got there it was sensational! We took a dip and prepared ourselves for the steepest hike yet - The Seven Wells. This is even higher up where there are these 7 fresh water pools on their way down to the waterfall. It was brilliant and we took another much deserved swim. We will definitely post some pics soon!
So we are now back and are enjoying some gin 'n tonics and mango vodka/sodas. We are sunkissed and our legs are jelly from all the hiking and walking. But there is nothing better then flying down a road, the wind whipping through your hair, and your husband riding on the BACK of the scooter! Ha ha!!!! (seriously it's so cute!)
Missing you all and lots of love,
V
xxoo
Today we had an absolutely marvelous day. We picked up a scooter which we have rented for 4 days at the cost of about 8 bucks a day! It was a bit of a messy affair at first as Matt has never ridden a scooter. I had one in Taipei for a year and a half so was quite familiar. Matt thought it would be easy so he hopped on raring to go. I suggested he take a test run first and the poor guy made it across the street where he promptly crashed into a parked car (no damage thankfully). I must admit my heart sank, but he picked himself up, dusted himself off and declared me the driver from here on in!
Well drive we did! We went around part of the island to one of the steepest and longest freespanning cable car rides in the world! Here you take a scary yet stunning ride up to the top of a mountain. The scenery was essentially rock, jungle, more mountains and varying shades of aqua blue water and beaches. STUNNING! We were in heaven - it was simply magnificent! We then walked across this long bridge that was VERY scary! So high up!
We then descended on the cable car and took the scoots up to a nearby waterfall! It was quite the hike where we were literally sweating bucket loads (gross I know!). But when we got there it was sensational! We took a dip and prepared ourselves for the steepest hike yet - The Seven Wells. This is even higher up where there are these 7 fresh water pools on their way down to the waterfall. It was brilliant and we took another much deserved swim. We will definitely post some pics soon!
So we are now back and are enjoying some gin 'n tonics and mango vodka/sodas. We are sunkissed and our legs are jelly from all the hiking and walking. But there is nothing better then flying down a road, the wind whipping through your hair, and your husband riding on the BACK of the scooter! Ha ha!!!! (seriously it's so cute!)
Missing you all and lots of love,
V
xxoo
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