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Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Langkawi and Kedah revisited

Last week i went for my brother's graduation in langkawi with my whole family. We stopped at kedah first as my grandma had never seen the place. Travelling via the LCCT was hell as it was just after the hari raya hols, and many people were still going back to their respective homes. We had to wait for half an hour for the luggage, the conveyor belt was short and people were just pushing each other to get their luggage. Then, while waiting for the taxi some rude middle aged man decides that he can cut other people in the queue just to be first. Why can't the taxi operators let people line up for their turn just like in KLIA?? Nobody dares to cut the line there. Worst of all, that idiot has a smirk on his face as he went off first. Just makes me feel like scraping his face against the tar road so his skin will abrase and peel off. I swear, only at LCCT can you see malaysians at their very best- being kiasu. Like yesterday, when we were ordering food at asian fusion, some guy decides to cut in front of the person standing at the paying counter. I mean, if you are so worried that you will miss the flight, don't eat then!! Go to McD's and order takeaway, or eat some sandwich at the departure lounge. Asian fusion also has the highest number of flies within the LCCT. I am hoping the flies are around because of the kelapa sawit plantations. Some of flies were also present in my aircraft yesterday, literally flying with us to its new home, kuching. God, i hope LCCT can be refurbished for the better. Just because we are flying cheap, doesn't mean that we should expect bad services at the LCCT too.

In Alor setar we visited a number of places. The first was Dr M's house, which was maintained in its original state. I find him a very intelligent man. On the walls of his house were articles that he had written when he was young under his psudonym Che' Det. The topics ranged from Malay culture to politics. It also chronicled his life story until today. I think no matter what one thinks of him, i will still say he was one of the best things that UMNO, and our country could have (despite any mistakes he might have done). We visited the padi museum, gunung keriang (for its crystals) and also pekan rabu, where they sell traditional malay food. The city is very laid back, and its people are generally nice. I just hate having to wear jeans all the time because i like wearing shorts when i go out. Since Kedah is PAS-led, i had no choice but to wear jeans. In kuching, i can go apek-style anytime i want to. yesterday morning on the way to the airport, i managed to see the sunrise. it was very beautiful, especially as the image was mirrorred by the paddy fields. It was the sort of sunrise that made me feel like everything was ok in my world, and it was a fresh start to life.

In Langkawi, we didnt' do much . we went up the cable cars to some gunung. it wasn't high, about 700 m above sea level. The cable lines ARE as steep as they proclaim, and during the ride in the car i keep thinking about what would happen if the line suddenly snapped and i fall to the forest....Unfortunately the hanging bridge was closed for repairs. The view of langkawi and its islands were beautiful, we could even see thailand's islands to the north. we took pics of the sunset at Tanjung Rhu (which were very beautiful) and had lots of seafood during our 4 day stay there. Langkawi was unbearably hot as the monsoon season was over. My parents did a lot of crockery shopping. I went crazy over durian chocolates and Jules Decortes biscuits. My grandma, not surprisingly, bought a ton of minyak gamat. Last saturday, all of us came to see my brother get his wings. There were only 24 of them, and all were male. The juniors came to fill in the attendance, and i only saw 2 female pilot trainees among them. As in every sort of graduations, you have the excellent, the average and the bad. One student who graduated couldn't even read a map, and i'm not kidding you. Makes you want to pray for a capable pilot the next time you're in an aircraft. But hey, he's the only one. the rest are average students. Now these new pilots should start to train for their conversion to larger aircraft in november in kl.