melaka

Arrived in Melaka at night (21 Oct '06) from Johor Bahru. Luckily I've booked a room at Seri Costa Hotel from their website, so I don't have to wander aimlessly at night. It costs RM195 for the first night (weekend charge) and RM 145 for the second.



It's a decent hotel, located on Jl. PM 8 in the Plaza Mahkota complex, not far from where the tourist action is in Melaka, i.e. the town square. Woke up early enough to take a picture of the town square (aka the Dutch Square) before it gets crowded.

This is the icon of Melaka city, the red Christ Church building..
and a colorfully decorated trishaw


From the town square i did a not-so-much-of-a-hike-but-boy-i-need-to-catch-my-breath walk to Bukit St Paul, the site of the original Portuguese fort of A 'Famosa, where the ruins of St Paul's Church and the Porta de Santiago are located.

this is all that remains of the fortress..
and St Paul's church (taken from the steps leading to it while chasing my breath!)


but man... it sure is beautiful.. the red/pink bricks really done the job!


Melaka townsquare at noon. This is how crowded it gets, especially during holiday season. When I went there it was during Idul Fitri holiday, so everyone has a one-week 'cuti', which I guess explains all this crowd..

Johor Bahru

This is the first city I visited on my trip to Malaysia during Lebaran 2006. I travelled by ferry from Batam to Johor Bahru before making my way to Melaka. Okay, so I didn't actually "visit", but hey I did took some pictures from the jetty when I arrived.

This is Johor Bahru ferry terminal. I took it just as I stepped out of the ferry into the terminal building. The sky was so full of haze, which explains the orange-brown colors in the picture.

Arriving at Johor Bahru at about 5pm, I made my way straight to the bus station. I think it's called Lampang. Here's a tip: walk out of the jetty which is located in the duty free shopping complex and hail a cab from the street, otherwise you'll need to haggle the price. One taxi driver at the complex asked for RM 25 to go to the bus station when it's only RM 8 if you use the metered taxi.

More stupid/funny accident with taxi driver when I passed Johor Bahru for the second time. This time it's outside the train station at dawn trying to make my way to the ferry terminal. This taxi was waiting outside the station and after we agreed on the price as we were driving, this taxi driver spotted a couple who was looking for a cab. Well, they happened to be going the same way as I did, the ferry terminal. The taxi driver offered them a ride in his cab and asked if I'd mind. I asked: share the taxi fare? And he said NO...

Haha... that's a joke, right? You don't expect me to share a cab with people that I don't even know and not share the fare, right? He really expected me to just say yes, pay the same amount of money, and have the couple also paying the same amount of money? And be cramped in one cab with all our luggages? man.. go fuck yourself lah...

Langkawi

another day, another sunset


This is taken at Pantai Kok, Langkawi. I stayed at Tanjung Sanctuary. The setting is beautiful and very secluded. You can have your own private beach all for yourself! Bener-bener resort di alam yang masih natural banget... And the sunset... oh well, just look at the pictures lah!


a golden sunset...


child play

Of course there are more things to do at Langkawi before sunset. Snorkelling at Pulau Payar Marine Conservation is one of it. This is the jetty at Pulau Payar.


Actually what I should've done was go snorkelling here on my way to Langkawi from Penang. This way I could have one more day to explore the island of Langkawi.

Another thing to do is the island-hopping tour, where you can visit Pulau Dayang Bunting with its freshwater lake, eagle feeding at this other island that I can't remember its name, and just lazing on the beach at Pulau Bras Basah.

These are the boats to take us to the islands


okay...
no one told me about stairs (and there are lots of it) being involved in this trip!
fuck! I knew I should've gone to the gym!
I am so not prepared for any stairs...

but hey, I guess it was worth it! the scenery was beautiful...

you could actually swim in this lake. but i prefer not lah.. not with lots of people just sitting around and watching! so I resorted to just sit on the board thingy and have my feet chewed by catfish instead!!!!


and this is Pantai Bras Basah: