fourth stop: langkawi (day 5)

the last stop before disembarking at port klang. the ship docked at porto malai which was 40 mins from kuah town. initially only planned to walk at porto malai. but on the way out, met two couples (one from england, the other from scotland; not together) who were talking about offers made by the taxi drivers outside. so i decided to stop and asked them what offer they got. the drivers wanted to charge them rm45 per hour! cut throat big time!! so i asked if they minded joining our group of four to the underwater world, cable car ride and kuah town. we told them the price was not as quoted by the drivers. so yours truly was unofficially elected the leader of this pax of 8 now and started bargaining with the local driver. as rented cars here were the only transport out, there was no other way except to rely on them. we finally settled for rm25 each. still expensive compared to kuah's price, but what peanuts the foreigners had to pay. they were more than happy to get on the van.
so to the underwater world, followed by mount machincang and finally kuah town for some duty free goods. the foreigners got their beer and rum for a 'party' on the cruise! the english couple even added an extra rm5 for me as a tip when i collected the taxi fare at the end of the trip. so funny. of course i denied. they said if i decided to quit my current job, i would make a good tour guide. thanks mike! it was fun going with them and knowing that i had done a lil part in giving malaysia's kind hospitality to them albeit the short time.

• porto malai
  

• langkawi underwater world. what a letdown. malaysians have to pay rm28. not that worth it as it was not that impressive. luckily the foreigners did not go with us. it would be a shame if compared with what they had seen in US.
  

• the breathtaking ride up mount machincang. worth every dime you pay. a not-to-be-missed when u are on the island. not for the faint hearted. 2 from the group skipped the ride for fear of heights. i think that is the telaha tujuh waterfalls u can see via the cable car ride.
  

• aah..beautiful sunset at langkawi. fishermen returning after a catch. how tranquil. how mesmerising. how beautiful.
  

• crew extravaganza night. yup it was the night where some of the crew members took over the slockquote>tage to entertain the guests. nothing mind blowing. get a seat to pass that 45 mins.