Alhamdulillah, dua tiga hari lepas, saya telah dikurniakan kesempatan untuk bertandang ke pulau Langkawi setelah sekian lama tidak bertandang ke sana. Saya dan lagi 3 orang rakan bertolak dari jeti Kuala Kedah. Yunus dan Adeen yang keduanya dari negeri Johor dan Kelantan tiba sehari lebih awal telah menetap di rumah Izzat pada malam sebelumnya. Pagi itu, mereka telah datang ke rumah saya dan kami bertiga bertolak bersama-sama ke Pulau Langkawi.

Berempat. Muaz, Izzat, Yunus, dan Adeen. (dari Kiri)

Lebih kurang jam 11.30 kami tiba di sana dan setelah selesai urusan menyewa kereta, saya memandu menuju ke Pantai Chenang. Kami menetap di Langgura (bunyi macam Langgar, tempat asal saya) Baron Reason, tidak jauh dari Aseania Hotel Langkawi. Setelah puas mengganggu ketenteraman kakak penjaga kaunter tu makan tengah hari, kami pun memilih untuk menetap di bili 116. Harga untuk semalam sangat berpatutan dengan 2 katil queen size, penyaman udara, sebuah tv, bilik mandi dilengkapi tub dan lain-lain lagi. Cuma satu sahaja yang kurangnya iaitu walaupun terletak di tepi pantai, satu deretan chalet lain telah dibina baru-baru ini betul-betul di hadapan pintu kami dan ianya telah mengahalang pemandangan pantai dan angin laut masuk ke bilik. Petang itu, kami cuma melawat beberapa pusat kraftangan yang terdapat di sekitar kawasan tersebut. Antara yang saya masih ingat ialah pusat mencanting batik dan juga sebuah kedai dengan nama something banana. Selain saudara Izzat yang memilih untuk membeli sebentuk cincin, kami bertiga cuma membeli cenderamata untuk diri sendiri sahaja.

Selepas puas melawat pusat kraftangan, kami terus menuju ke Pantai Tanjung Rhu. Cadangan awal untuk mandi laut hanya tinggal cadangan lantaran air surut petang. Sebaliknya, kami cuma menghabiskan masa berbual dengan penduduk tempatan yang datang berpesta mencari siput. Menurut salah seorang dari mereka, kebiasaanya bila air surut, ramai penduduk akan datang untuk mencari siput, menjala ikan dan aktivit-aktiviti lain yang boleh dilakukan di kawasan air surut kerana peluang untuk mencari siput hingga ke tengah laut cuma boleh didapati pada masa ini sahaja. Walau bagaimanapun, saya telah menggunakan kesempatan ini untuk meredah air separas paha untuk ke beting pasir yang terletak kira-kira 15 meter dari pantai. Sebuah pengalaman yang saya kira cukup memuaskan kerana belum pernah saya lakukan sebelum ini. Tambahan pula, bukan selalu dapat melihat beting pasir tiba-tiba muncul di tengah-tengah laut yang selama ini dirasakan cukup dalam. ^^

Dalam pada kegairahan untuk bergembira, suatu tragedi telah berlaku apabila tiba-tiba saya sedari kunci kereta sewa telah hilang. Syukur apabila akhirnya kami dapat menjumpai kunci tersebut yang sebenarnya jatuh di kawasan saya menyalin baju di tepi pantai tersebut sebelum meredah air tadi. Lalai betul saya ni! Lebih kurang jam 6.30 petang, kami menuju ke kawasan Kuah. Sebelum sampai di Kuah, kami telah singgah sebentar di Idaman Suri untuk membeli belah. Ringkas dan cepat. Itulah yang saya dapat rumuskan apabila 4 orang anak muda lelaki membeli belah. haha. Usai solat maghrib, kami habiskan masa menjamu steamboat. hampir dua jam kami berada di kedai makan tersebut sebelum berjaya habiskan 95% daripada makanan yang dipesan. Lebihnya dibungkus. Namun sayang kerana keesokan harinya, semua makanan yang dibungkus telah basi. Bukan rezeki kami barangkali.

Pagi hari kedua di Langkawi kami habiskan dengan bermandi manda di pantai hingga jam 11 pagi. Kami turut menyewa dua buah kayak dan kami gunakan untuk berkayak hingga ke pulau berdekatan. Pulau yang kami darati begitu cantik dan unik. Bayangkan pantai yang hampir 70% dilitupi kulit-kulit siput. bukan seperti pantai-pantai biasa. Ada sedikit terumbu karang kecil di persisiran pantai tersebut dan airnya juga sangat jernih. Dalam kesusahan berkayak, pengalaman hampir 30 minit di pulau tersebut begitu mengubati kesakitan. Selesai berkayak, caanganya kami ingin mencuba banana boat, namun disebabkan bayaran yang agak mahal, kami hanya teruskan dengan acara mandi manda di laut sahaja. Dalam sedang kami menikmati keseronokan, seorang pelancong telah terjatuh dari pokok setelah payung sukan luncur udaranya tersangkut ketika mendarat. Syukur dia hanya mengalami kecederaan ringan barangkali. Tiada bloody scene. Mungkin patah atau retak saya kira. Setelah berbual dengan beberapa orang pengunjung dan penduduk di situ, kami dapati memang rekod kedai sewa sukan luncur udara itu kurang baik. Hampir setiap hari menurut mereka, ada sahaja kecelakaan yang berlaku. Samada serius ataupun tidak sahaja.

Kereta Kabel Langkawi

Petang itu setelah selesai solat jumaat, kami ke Kereta Kabel Langkawi dan Pantai Pasir terkorak hinggalah ke kawasan Teluk Datai sebelum pulang semula ke kawasan pantai chenang. Namun kami begitu bertuah kerana dapat menikmati sunset di Pantai Tengah. Subhanallah. Cantik sungguh...Malamnya pula kami cuma keluar untuk menikmati makan malam di kawasan sekitar Pantai Chenang. Restoran di belakang Sandy Beach Resort telah menjadi pilihan. Makanannya juga boleh tahan. Harganya pula saya kira berpatutan untuk para pelancong asing, tetapi tidak kepada penduduk tempatan :D

Pantai Pasir Tengkorak

Matahari terbenam di Pantai Pasir Tengah

Berjalan pulang di tepi pantai pada malam gelap ditemani bintang-bintang di langit begitu menakjubkan. Jarang berpeluang begini. Tambahan pula, saya telah terserempak dengan sepupu saya yang kebetulan datang bersama rakan-rakannya untuk turut menikmati kawasan malam di pantai barangkali. Terasa kecil dunia ini apabila berjumpa begitu tanpa dirancang. ^^


Hari terakhir di pulau langkawi ternyata tidak merugikan. Pakej Island hopping yang cuma 35 ringgit ternyata berbaloi. Menaiki bot laju ke Pulau Dayang Bunting, Pulau Beras Basah dan juga memberi makan kepada burung helang memang meyeronokkan. Tambahan pula, abang pembawa bot telah menunjukkan kebolehan luar biasa dalam memandu bot laju tersebut. Maneuver yang dilakukkannya begitu mengujakan dan mengecutkan perut. Apapun saya sangat menikmati pemanduannya. Pertama kali saya sampai di Pulau dayang bunting, tentunya saya tak lepaskan peluang untuk mandi di tasik yang terdapat di pulau tersebut. Sayangnya, cuma saya seorang yang mandi. Jadi saya berasa kurang selesa kerana sedar akan kelemahan diri ini yang tidak berapa pandai berenang. walaupun saya memilih untuk menyewa pelampung keselamatan untuk mandi, saya cuma bermain di gigi pelantar sahaja. Pengalaman di pulau beras basah lebih menarik saya kira. Hampir satu jam kami mandi di persisiran laut yang begitu mengujakan warnanya. Jernih dan terpelihara. Selesai semua aktiviti island hopping, kami bergegas pulang ke chalet untuk berkemas-kemas.

Di Pulau Beras Basah

Pemergian kami ke Jeti Kuah ditemani hujan lebat yang datangnya sejak pagi tadi. Bertuah kami apabila melakukan aktiviti Island hopping, hujannya berselang seli dengan cuaca cerah, tidak seperti perjalanan pulang ke Jeti Kuah. Jam 3.30 petang, kami mengucapkan selamat tinggal kepada Pulau Langkawi yang telah meninggalkan seribu satu kenangan dalam diari hidup ini. Mungkin suatu hari nanti, saya akan kembali lagi menikmati percutian di pulau lagenda ini.

Nota:
1. Maaf jika entry di atas macam karangan kanak-kanak. lama sungguh tidak menulis dengan gaya bahasa melayu SPM.
2.Entry ditulis dalam bahasa melayu sempena menyambut baik keputusan kerajaan mengembalikan pengajaran sains dan matematik dalam bahasa melayu. ^^

2nd day

The next day, we went out at 9 something after some breakfast. The first pit stop for today was Eiffel tower. I was shocked to see that so many people are queuing when we arrived at around 10am. We even had some difficulty to find the ending of the line in the first place. In the end we did found it with some complement i should say. we were at the back of two gorgeous blond and blue-eyes Finnish girls...Pinea and Kaisla (both were named from some sort of plant) ^O^ 1.5 hours of queuing for the tickets seems so short today. lol. Unfortunately, our target to reach the top was somehow blocked by the fact that they closed the top of the tower. It was later when we were enjoying the city from the 2nd floor that they open it again. Here, we were no longer together with those two sisters, they went up first i think. After some half an hour ques, we finally manage to get the ticket and went to the top. To our surprised, They were there waiting for us, just to say goodbye as they said it. after some email exchange that KA did, we finally took different path. As for us we continued enjoying the moment and only about 2pm, that we decided to move to the next destination. Sacre Cour.

At the top

We went to get some food first before went to sacre cour. There, we met 2 guys from Malaysia who is on their one week trip to Europe. The shop that we had our lunch was somewhere near Anvers Metro station, very close to sacre Cour. We stopped by at the souvenir shop first before continue to walk to the top. So many people were there that day because it is a good Friday. most went there to pray i think whilst many also just to enjoy the attraction. On the way to the top, we were stopped by some people that tried to sold their very own thread-like souvenir. i immediately noticed their intention and refused straight away. KA and Faiz however stopped to entertain them and unfortunately it almost cost Faiz 5 euro but he only gave them a fifth of it. lol. KA on the other hand acted bravely by refused to give anything at all. So, to anyone who want to visit anywhere, please be careful of these dirty tactics. its better not to stop at all no matter whoever ask you anything.

Sacre Cour

Next, we went to perform the prayer at the mosque again. Faris and Adli's first visit was not so lucky as the garden was closed for tourist. i think it was because of Friday. Then, we went to Musee de Lurve while KA earlier went a different way just to meet his friend somewhere. We decided to meet at Musee de Lurve and as we were again queuing to enter the museum, KA was already inside. It turns out that it is not free at all. It is only free for student from EU. though we had to pay 6 euro to enter, it was not disappointing at all. Since out target was Mona Lisa portrait, we managed to witness it and lots of other pictures and sculptures too. Many were based on the Christian religion, it is no doubt that they are still beautifully painted and carved. as a consequence, 3 hours there was so short. personally, i think you need the whole day to enjoy the whole museum. if you go there for the sake of being there and not enjoying whatever inside, i would say it is a waste of time. even we who had spent 3 hours there had only manage to finish almost one section only. what we did was sort of scanning the whole stuff there except mona lisa. So, imagine the time that you need just to finish everything displayed there. :D

Later that night, we decided to walk to the arch de triomph, but since it was too far, we decided to go on the last day instead. We then changed our direction to get some food from. It was somewhere near KFC that we went on the first day too but instead of eating KFC, we went to the kebab house nearby. Then after that, we went back to hostel straight away as it is almost 12 midnight. everyone had a very good sleep that night including Faris who still sleep on the floor i think.

3rd day

Disneyland

Today we only has one place to go which is Disneyland. I went there expecting to enjoy the rides over there like roller coaster and such while others maybe has their own stuff in mind. it took about 1.5 hours to get there from where we stayed and to my surprised, it cost each of us 25 euro just to get there. we only knew this later when we arrived at the Disneyland train station that we could not pass the security. when asked, we were forced to buy this ticket that enable us to go up to zone no 5 in their rail system. on top of that, when asked about the ticket, there were no special price on the weekend thus we had to pay 62 euro more for both park. We only spent about 2 hours in the studio as most of it was meant for children (only little rides) and decided to move to another park. However to our surprised, the same thing goes on at the other park and worst, we had to wait just to get the fast pass as so many people are there. So, i decided that we should stay up till it close so that we can ride all the rides available there and fortunately, that was what we did. Luckily i did enjoy a few rides like the rockstar roller coaster in the studio park and a few other coaster at the Disneyland park like the space something and also the pirate something roller coaster.

Enjoying the moment

As a conclusion, i think what Disneyland is all about are brands, kids and family theme park and for those who want to reminisce their good old days with mickey mouse, donald duck etc. For those who expect to get a thrill rides like Faris said, better find other theme park. In fact, the Moviepark in Germany that i went last summer was much better as they has everything that Disneyland has (except that big castle) plus many other that Disneyland do not have like the solero shot and better roller coasters. Their 3D cinema also much better than the Kodak theater that is available in Disneyland Paris. The best is the price which is much much cheaper! *just my 2 cents, sorry to those who went there and enjoy your moment at Disneyland* That day, we arrived very late at night and have a good journey to fantasialand. lol. What a small world.

At night

Last day in Paris

We started our journey today to a few places that i had planned last night. 4 of them supposedly. Alhamdulillah, the 3 of us (minus Faris and Adli whom train departed earlier) manage to cover all the places as planned. We bought the daily metro ticket again which was fortunately cheap on the weekend (3.20 euro) and start our journey. First stop was the Arch de triomphe. after snapping some beautiful pics :P Adli waved goodbye to us as he wanted to find his Hard Rock Cafe before going back to Gelsenkirchen. KA told him some direction based on his french friend guidance. the four of us then continue to Notre-dame.

Adli before bid us goodbye

Before that, we stopped somewhere near the Eiffel tower to get the shot from different side of the tower. There, we bough lots of key chains from this one uncle who spoke quite a good Malay. He stayed in KL previously. Worked there. He is from India if i did not get him wrong. With all the bags that we carried together, we had to be careful. Same thing applied to all travelers. Its better to keep it in the locker at the train station. but since the french is VERY friendly, they only had a few train station that has this service. Thus we decided to bring our backpack together.

At the other side of Eiffel Tower

Later, we went to famous Notre-Dame. We went out at Cite's metro station and found the palace of justice first. Then we went to our destination. At first, i wanted to que just so that i can get into the cathedral, but then decided not to as we do not have much time. Faris also not really interested to get in. He had enough of church in Europe he said ^^. Whatever la Pech...as for me, i don't really mind as long as i had my good time there with my friends. ^O~ After a few pics (a lot actually!) we took our bags and move on, marching to the next stop. our last stop at Paris.

After asking for some direction to metro station, we headed to our last stop. La-defence. The famous big building is here. Grand Arche. Faris however had to withdraw himself on our way to the last stop as he afraid he might miss his train to Amsterdam. So, inside the train, we departed. He stopped somewhere and took the train back to the station near Notre-Dame which is not far from the Gare de Nord. Have a safe journey mate. Till we meet again this summer. InsyaAllah. So, the 3 of us continue to our final stop. We had a great time there but it would be better if it is cheap to get to the top of Grand Arche. 8 euro! what a waste. hm..instead, we decided to find some lunch and we found this one noodle shop and had our Singapore noodle. Not that tasty as it had so many turmeric inside. lol. anyhow, about 3pm, we then headed straight to the station where we had to take our bus back to the Airport. It was a little too early i think but since everyone seems so tired (including me), we had a great sleep in the bus. I hope that i didn't snored in the bus. lol.

The humongous Grand Arche

After some fastidious security check at the airport which include twice passport checked by two different officers, stripped down (exaggerated) and unfriendly french officer, we board the flight at 7.20pm and arrived in Dublin somewhere around 7.40pm...

That's all. thanks for bear with my long essay. Pardon for any grammatical problem that had confused you. I'm still learning to write correctly. ^^

Wassalam.

P/s: now time to study as the exam is just in a month. :D
Please make doa for us. May you get the benefit from reading this long tiring essay ^o^.

Hi lads,

We arrived early around 8.40am local time which is about 9.40am in Dublin. Since Ryanair use the Paris Bouevais airport to land, there are buses available to bring passengers to the middle of Paris. The journey alone take about 1.5 hours. As we got off the bus, first thing that we did was finding the metro to get to the hostel. We did found the station but somehow didn't know which ticket to buy as the counter was still closed. Some stranded Englishman and his family keep mumbling and complaining about the service here. how come when it was almost 11am, no one was at the counter? Weird isn't it? finally, i decided to buy from the machine as i remember Abdul Malik and some friend told me to buy the multiple ticket at once. it cost me 11.40 euro for 10 tickets. I then shared it with Faiz and KA. Though we are not sure how to the ticket works, we just gamble by using it to get to the Marie de clichy metro station. Thanks god, i was so relief that as we got out of the metro station there, i saw a halal kebab hut. ^O^. FOOD!!! we had not eaten anything (almost literally) since last night. so i bought the kebab and went to the tourist information center which was still closed!

Nob French! it was 12 something midday for god sake! open please! luckily there were this one man came and gave us the maps. one was Paris map and the other was Clichy map. we went straight to hostel after that man gave us the instruction to walk straight down that lane. we arrived there with a great hope that we can rest for a while before going out to enjoy the city. unfortunately, we were told that there was a curfew hours from 11am until 3pm. they said it was necessary for cleaning purposes but in the website, they mention nothing about this. what a lame excuse, do mention it in your website if you wanna get a good review. i wonder why people who went there gave them a good review? is it because of the good breakfast or the once-in-a-while hot chick at the counter? lol

Then after we kept our stuff inside the luggage room and fill in our stomach with the freshly made kebab, we headed straight to the city. As promised, i tried to avoid those must visit places first because Faris and Adli is only going to arrive at night. after taking some time to decide, we headed to Jardin de Luxembourg. we took some time to find it and it was not a regret at all. The garden was so awesome! Beautifully awesome. we did not cover the whole lot of it. In the garden itself, they have like 10 tennis court, some area for small zoo i think and lots of other stuff. It was huge. we just went straight to the main attraction there, the beautiful area in front of Luxembourg Palace. The weather was beautiful, you can see people all over the garden enjoying the sun. KA mention that it was about 20 degree something that day. no wonder i sweat like it was summer! It was even warmer that the trip that i took last summer. So after taking some picture, we dicided to go to Pantheon which is just nearby.

Garden Of Luxembourg

The flower

We are very lucky that we got to enter the place free of charge. it suppose to be 6 euro. Not just that, we also manage to follow the guided trip to its top and having the first sight of the city from above. It is simply amazing. The view was breataking. Next, we went to Jardin des Plantes. we wnet there simply to enjoy the muzeum really but unfortunately, many were closed or under renovation. it also suppose to be filled with thounsands type of beautiful flower because this garden is going to be the host for some world flower festival or something, but we are a bit too early. The best part was that being there somehow brought us very close to the Grand Mosque of Paris without even realising it in the first place.

Parthenon

Garden of Plants

It was when i tried to find the next pit stop, i ended up realizing the mosque was at one of the corner of the garden. so without wasting another moment after hours walking, we went to the mosque. somehow, we ended up in the Turk's Hamam and from there we had to find the actual entry which a bit hidden i should say. You have to wonder around before you can find it (or just us maybe). most of the tourist (non-muslim) i think just knew the place because of that restaurant that we ended up in the first place. The mosque is quite big. however the musolla (praying area) was simply small. at least not for the whole time. i think when they have the friday prayer, they gonna use the whole mosque area because it is very small. we performed the asr and midday (zohor) prayer there. i also met Tepet (malaysian student from belfast) and some indonesian people. We wondered around the mosque compound and took pictures. the mosque is beautiful but maybe not taken care very well. some area already closed and the garden inside also in the same condition. apart from that, we really enjoy it.

Grand mosque of Paris


^-^

From there we walked to the riverbank and continue walking along the riverbank where we witnessed lots of love in the air as KA said. :P. We ended up somewhere near the famous Notre-Dame. i decided not to enter it yet so that we could go there again with Faris and Adli. So, later that evening, we continue walking in search of KFC. Faiz was so persistent that he wanted KFC for the meal. Then i text Hilmi and ask him for a direction. Thanks to him finally we arrived there in one piece though it took about more than an hour to get there. Unfortunately, the taste of KFC that Faiz is looking for was not available. In fact, our very own Dublin Chicken Hut is much better! However, we did enjoy the whole chicken bucket because we were too hunghy! Its finger licking plainly eadible. lol. Since it was too far to walk back, we decided to use the remaining metro ticket to get to Eiffel Tower.

Faiz and K A

Sunset at Eiffel Tower

The time we arrived was about sunset (around 8.30pm). it's my first time there but honestly, i don't feel that excitement. not sure why. The feeling of watching other people's photos there seems better but when i myself is there, i don't get that feeling of excitement. Maybe because i was too tired after long hours of walking. The tower itself was not that high but still it is amazing. the effect of sunset made it more beautiful. Later, they turned on the lamp that gloriously lighting the tower. They even turned on the lampu kelip-kelip. this one was simply amazing. Its not the tower but the effect that it had on that steel frames. Almost everyone shouted happily or really enjoy the moment. it made the tower look better than just a simple steel frame that is sky high. i took a video of that moment, maybe i'll upload it later.

Then we went straight back to hostel. it was almost 11pm when we arrived there. Faris and his friend were still nowhere to be found. so i waited for their arrival while enjoying some EUFA Cup match between Paris St. German and Dynamo Kiev. Faris and Adli arrived at about 12 something and after they sorted some misbooked date (Faris was too sleepy when he booked the date maybe. lol), we went to the room. Faris decided not to sleep in his room instead he joined the 4 of us. He ended up on the floor only with some thick wool layers of blanket as mattress. Luckily it was warm that night that no one use the blanket and we even had to open the window! What a day.

Phew...long essay eh? lol. The first day ma...detail a bit ye, sorry coz its very long. huhu. so, with that, i stop here first, more excitement of the 2nd day will come next. i try to make it shot okay. There are stories and more things to learn about this city of love. Till we meet again... Bye...