Sunday 8th April 2012 - Langkawi

I met Jay at the restaurant at 8am , had breakfast (scrambled eggs, some nasty frankfurter type chicken sausages, and beans) and then we got in his car and drove to the boat port.  There were so many people waiting for their boats to go and do this tour. Jay told me to go ahead and he disappeared into the ticket office. He then came back out with stickers for us both.  The boat that we joined had a group of Chinese Malay people that were very friendly and smiley. The boat driver was amazing and kept playing around to get us all wet. The first stop was the pregnant maiden lake. The reason it is called this is because when you look at the island it is on from the side, the mountains are formed to look a silhouette of a pregnant lady laying down. Once of the jetty and walked towards to lake, the first thing you are met by are long tail monkeys. Until today I thought they were cute! However these brave little effers were lining the pier and snatching whatever they thought looked interested from the tourists!!! They seem to like carriers bags and shiny things. I was quite shocked to see that the local stalls were selling catapults to shoot the monkeys with though - not cool! After climbing some stairs we reached this beautiful massive lake. They had cordoned off an area for people to swim in and then the rest of the lake had people riding around in solar panelled pedalo boats. Jay asked if I wanted to go on one, I excitedly said yes but was shocked when he just went up to the counter and paid for the whole thing (rm30) and wouldn't let me pay half.  The boat trip was nice - I wanted to see more monkeys so we heading towards the outside of the lake where it was lined with trees. We didn't see monkeys but we saw a chameleon and a little lizard type thing. The lake was over one hundred years old and was said to increase fertility for ladies (another reason for the name) if they bathed in the lake. Back on the boat we headed towards to Eagle point. Jay had led me to believe we would actually get out of the boat and feed them but actually all we did was sit in the boat while hundreds of eagles circled the boats up above. The boat driver then threw a tub of chicken skin into the sea and we watched as one by one the eagles swooped down and clasped the skin out of the sea and flew away. The eagles were really beautiful though and they had the most magnificent wings - so big and elegant.  The final stop was the beach for snorkelling.  So far I hadn't really been impressed by the beaches on Langkawi - they had nothing on those of Perhentian Islands. So although this beach looked stunning as we pulled up to it, snorkelling was impossible as the water was not clear.  Whilst talking along the beach there were long tail monkeys again lining up behind where all the tourists had laid their belongings. We laid out a mat that Jay had brought along and one of the little effers came running towards us. Jay picked up a stick to try and scare it away but I was so shocked to see the monkey bear his teeth and run towards Jay like it was going to attack him. I then picked up a shoe and ran towards it - it then ran away! I now know what no-one else is excited when they see this particular breed of monkey! Whilst chilling on the mat, Jay pulled out some polystyrene boxes from his bag - how sweet he had made tuna sandwiches for us! We ate them, went swimming for a bit and then had to get the boat back to the mainland. The trip was nice but very quick. Once back at the mainland and in the car Jay asked me where I wanted to go next. The shrug of my shoulders led to him suggesting the Complex Crafts museum. There were areas where you could buy all the locally made crafts like paintings, jewellery, traditional clothing and other bits and pieces. There was also an exhibition of all the different Malay culture's wedding ceremonies and attire - the tree common cultures of Malay are Indian, Chinese and Malay. We stayed at the museum for maybe an hour and then he took me to the hot saltwater jacuzzis and hot spring. Unfortunately the jacuzzis were closed for maintenance but the hot spring was open. The hot spring had one central source that looked like a well which then trickled down into what looked like a crop circle. The water was so warm and nice, and is said to help with muscle pains and arthritis. What an amazing world we live in with all these natural wonders.  After the hot spring Jay took me to a mountaintop cafe to watch the sunset. It was still pretty early so we had time to kill. We perched ourselves into a groove at the top of the mountain and looked out onto views of the west side of Langkawi. The sun was shining so brightly where we were sitting but the rest of the land that we were looking onto had clouds scattered above, so certain areas were dark whilst others had a beautiful bright light cast over them - the contrast was nuts. It was just breathtaking and so tranquil.  The dark clouds eventually started hovering above us so we moved up into the cafe to avoid the rain. It was windy up there as the sun went down but the view was nice. Unfortunately though, the clouds were too much and meant that the sunset wasn't great although the orange colour between the mountains and the clouds was beautiful.  Whilst waiting for the sunset Jay and I somehow got onto the topic of previous randoms jobs. It was hilarious to hear that when Jay was younger he somehow ended up working in the porn industry holding the microphone! This apparently opened up the gateway for him to tell me all about his love for porn and all the different things he watches like everyday! It wasn't what I wanted to be listening to to be honest but I kept laughing hysterically at the fact of the situations I get myself into, I mean how much more bloody random could my day get! This guy was a nice respectable guy with geeky tendencies that had a absolute love for porn and watched it pretty much everyday.  Another of our conversations was his Princess Diana, 9/11 and Iraq, and the three masons' conspiracy theories. I had heard similar 9/11 and Iraq theories recently from my friend Haribo and honestly, they all make a lot of sense. It is quite scary to think about the power of the government - especially the USA, but what can you do?! It was a pretty random afternoon but I liked it.  The next stop was Kuah town to buy more suncream and some liquor. Langkawi is a tax free island so we managed to buy some any brand mango vodka for rm23 (less than £5). We had planned to go and have shisha and a few drinks but because I hadn't drank very much water or eaten since the Tuna sandwich, I felt really tired. We went and ate at a local restaurant (ginger chicken, chinese vegetables, calamari and rice - really good food) and then I just went home to sleep.