Langkawi

With i.luminate finally over, I took a long-awaited holiday to Langkawi with my husband & 2 young kids. It was a really fun & enjoyable one! One of the highlights for me was watching 30+ eagles flying nearby & scooping for meat in the waters while we were on a boat. I had never seen so many free-roaming eagles before, and it was fascinating watching them repeatedly grab the meat in the waters with their feet, then bringing it to their beaks while still in flight.

Another highlight was having close encounters with about 10 black-tip reef sharks! We were feeding other fishes with bread while standing in the waist-deep waters on Coral Island (a protected marine park, off Langkawi), when these black-tip reef sharks started swimming near us! Most were about 1m long, while 1 or 2 were about double that size. I knew they were harmless, but it was still quite an experience having sharks swim around you! Later, I realised that they swam close to shore because they knew it was nearing feeding time! Apparently, the dive operators that brought us there would feed them at 1pm whenever they are there! The guide would stand just 2~3m from the shoreline, and hold pieces of fish to feed the sharks. They would try to lure the sharks to as shollow waters as possible so that we could have a splashing, close encounter with these sharks! Can you imaging having a shark just 1 meter away from your feet?! Check out the video...

For my son, the highlight was probably the fishing trip we took when we rented a boat out. Even the local boatman was fasinated by this little 4yr old boy who keeps catching fish! At the end of a 4hr fishing trip, we caught almost a bucket full of fishes! :)

Anya