Friday, January 18, 2008

Kinta Valley - disused mining pond

..taken around 1pm on a cloudy day.. today ...water lillies in the foreground.. a pair of anglers on the opposite bank

..located along the Pengkalen to Batu Gajah Road....

cheers

kk

Friday, January 11, 2008

Easy drive to Langkawi.(3)...lets get there....

..so onwards to Kuala Kedah and the ferry to Langkawi...but again i had to get some scenes of the wide open padi fields of Kedah....coconut trees swaying to the wind with the flat green fields in the background...so different from the hills of the Kinta valley














the ferry terminal at Kuala Kedah...wish the authorities could spruce it up alot...functional no doubt but always looks shabby...

CLOSED (tutup) public toilet....yikes!!!##??

......at langkawi .... cleared what i wanted to do and went beer hopping...was taken to this place called Kuala Teriang....the time was past 6pm and the scene was peaceful and touristy....




..wahid ( holding the net) and his mate going out to catch sotong...they wouldn't be back till 6am next morning....these 2 have a regular job in the day ...in the evening they go out...they are used to sleeping in the boat at night...good life lah!!


..Langkawi Beach HHH house...local house with white fences....hahahaha

..eatery on the beach..this place is run by Michelle and Lutz....

..thats Michelle taking the order..while Lutz (at the window) awaits the customers orders....

..Lutz in operation ...

..the inside of Mangoes...basic, neat and functional..

..whats available....

cute place this...some more scenes of mangoes.....



quaint scenes..but Kuala Teriang wasn't like this a few years back....

..this was what it looked like....

..until it was washed out by the "infamous" tsunami

..meet uncle willie...a survivor of the tsunami..his place was hit by the tsunami...on that day he heard his neighbours wife screaming....on enquiring she pointed

..in the direction...towards the sea facing east...what he saw was a black water....anyway he wanted to check..he went into his place to take his cigarettes and handphone...he just picked it up when the sea water was up to his waist....that was all he could take before he scrambled up the hill at the back....

after the tsunami alot of the folks never came back to live here....but uncle willie liked it here so with Hamid, 63 (below) one time boat builder and ex-army hand repaired his adobe

..uncle willies place..which is next to Mangoes...by the way Hamid also did up the HHH club house....and it is really a nice cozy place...

uncle willie enjoying his beer on his porch overlooking the beach....

..the next hop was over to Stefans place...also at Kuala Teriang.. a 3 stones throw from Mangoes...the place looks like the houses in a new village...actually Kuala Teriang was at one time a chinese fishing village..it still looks like that...no changes to the facade...



thats the name of Stefans place..Giana's.....Stefan lives at the back while the upstairs is a B&B

..typical new village setting....

with some basic upgrades...pool table...a foreign touch....

cozy setting......

home grown decor... the profile of Stefan....

..local knowledge...

...my last hop was for Indian makan..at capati corner...not sure of the area.. it was pretty close to Kuah....


the Langkawi Beach hashers had their 379th run today and was makaning here tonight....most of the hashers are expat....locals are grossly outnumbered....



the owner of capati corner..(right) Kumar aka 'kakigila' having a steaming hot bowl of mutton soup...

mutton soup , mutton curry , nasi briyani, nice christmas plates...

..HHH t-shirt....their 'Mother of all Hash runs" will be this held later this year from May8 till the 10th...on-on!

Lyn-d settling the damages with 'kakigila'.....

...well that was the day...i'll sign off with these wacky HHH t-shirts


cheers!

kk

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Easy drive to Langkawi(2) ...Perak River rest area.....Ecotourism at work....

This is the rest area along the Perak River...heading north...PLUS has been upgrading their rest areas and their results are very pleasant indeed...they still keep their toilets very clean ..the food is not bad and now their rest areas seem to blend in with the local surroundings ...impressive ....

..the food court area.....

..the stalls outside that usually sell fruits......


...PLUS is also into the fruit business????

..BUT what really impressed me was they now sell local handicraft.....and that made a difference and is an improvement ...previously i saw this only at Malacca........most of the handicaraft here is from around the Kuala Kangsar area....


...definitely the pottery is of Kuala Kangsar design......

...garden 'parangs'.....

..EVEN more impressive....was this stall with bamboo poles wrapped around its columns...why?? because its run by the local Orang Temiar...orang asli....

..a minor change but its stands out.....

..their producsts are all from their reserve....tongkat ali.....honey....

home grown products....raja kayu , rotan serambu.....

...akar gedung......an excellent idea to promote orang asli products and an oppotunity for them to make a living from their local handicraft....

..and then there is the Perak River....i took a walk to take some photos....looked muddy today...and silted..but it was a nice peaceful atmosphere when you are on the bridge...(when the lorries don't rumble by..)

nice scenes...


..the locals have a motorcycle road ...and at the end of the bridge there is a path that leads to the adjoining plantation..

..to get to the other side of the road.....walk under the bridge...

...ok thats it...next stop Kuala Kedah & Langkawi....

cheers

kk