After working as a geriatrics researcher for 2.5 years, I left for another place so I could gain the relevant clinical experience towards my goal of becoming a clinical psychologist.
This langkawi trip was initiated so I could take a good break before starting work at the next place. In the end, it was pretty eventful, sometimes shocking and stressful, but overall pretty chill and I had fun going back to nature.
We rented a car on this trip, so after collecting the car (I haven’t driven in two years but was still somewhat confident in my driving skills hoho), we went to cenang mall to buy a sim card. The prices for a sim card were the cheapest if bought online from klook, and second cheapest at the airport. We should have bought it at the airport but thought it’ll be cheaper out in the city. (It wasn’t!)
After getting the sim card and returning to our car, the car stalled and kept reversing no matter which gear it was in. We were at a total loss of what to do and wanted to go find the security for help, but luckily this malaysian guy came and helped us to get the car going before we created an accident and bumped into the car behind us.
We then went to have fish and chips at Scarborough fish and chips. The staff said they were the best in town but in my mind I was thinking “maybe that’s because they’re the only ones selling fish and chips here…” lol. It was not bad though, the batter wasn’t too thick and the chips tasted really good. The portion was huge, probably two people can share. I found the fish I chose pretty dry though.
After checking into our airbnb and taking a nap, we went to durian perangin waterfall. It was quite a quiet and scenic place to walk around (actually all of langkawi was pretty quiet despite it being known as a travel destination). I didn’t dare to go down the slippery rocks to the waterfalls below because I’m terrified of heights! Actually during this trip I probably missed out on some sights due to my fear of heights. But the anxiety and panic I feel cannot be easily overcome by a good view so I am contented to just stay away from high and cliff-like places. My travel buddies would probably be disappointed in me though for not daring to do so, but the fear I feel is seriously bad that a normal person couldn’t comprehend.
After the durian waterfalls, we drove up to gunung raya to catch the sunset. There was no toilet around so, uhhh, we actually relieved ourselves in nature (and attracted some wild dogs). I was actually pretty scared of being seen by people or chased by the dogs but whew glad none of that happened. It got pretty cold as it was high up in the mountains so it’ll be wise to bring a jacket or cardigan next time!
At night, we drove to the Wednesday night market and ate a lot of street food. Oh yes, when parking (I’m not used to parking head first), I bumped the car into the curb and apparently caused a dent which went away when I reversed the car back. But there were still scratches there (of course). This nice passerby who saw my friend’s shocked faces at the accident came over with a torchlight to help us view the damage and told us approximately how much it should cost (50 ringgit, which wasn’t a lot) so we felt more relieved.
So on our first day we already met with two unfortunate incidents with our car and consequently met two nice people. ~but this was not the worst to come~
With Ivana🌹 