vendredi, février 10, 2012

My Langkawi


Je me suis réveillé aux baisers et la vue sur la mer.
Je savais que ça allait être une journée spéciale.

. woke up to kisses and the view of the sea. I knew it was going to be a special day.


Où est le petit poisson?

Rudy, Girish and Sam together with his wife, Kristie were to join TJ's luncheon on a yacht. But I am not really fond of the sea so I decided to take a walk in Pekan Kuah by myself. And explore. This lovely little divider caught my eye. Little fishes were swimming lazily under the kiambang of my childhood.

I smiled to the sun.

Then I spied a little restaurant with a bookshelf full of German and English books. Intrigued, I entered and discovered an unexpected delight - and a treasure of stories.

This is Azizah, she helps the owner Dee run Domino and is a professional dancer.

While I had a lovely breakfast of pancake and maple syrup, Azizah sat with me and told me the story of Mountain Raya, Mountain Mat Cincang and Gunung Mat Sawar.

And the story of how Telaga Air Hangat, Pekan Kuah and Belanga Pecah got their names.

This is Paul, Dee and me, new found friends of mine in Langkawi.

Dee has worked at Domino for 20 years. When the owner, a German expat, Wolf, passed away,
he left Dee a small inheritance and Dee took over the restaurant. He updated the place and for the last one and a half years, Domino has become a renewed novelty in Langkawi.

Try out this lovely lovely eatery, the lamb chop was excellent and the hospitality was charming, warm and genuine.

And if you happen to drop by Domino, have a look at a
new book on the shelf called
Srikandi by ninotaziz


11 commentaires:

Wan Sharif a dit…

How nice to have someone to sit with you while you are having a lovely breakfast and to recount( i have trouble here with my English.. I remember French word raconter ;)) all those stories to you.. So blessed. I am sure you make a mental note of them.. She seems to know you very well though ;) or is it just you?... Everybody seems to be able to bond with you ;)).
Will be waiting for more Langkawi's adventures and your exploit :)

ninotaziz a dit…

Dear Ayoh Wang,
It was a lovely well spent afternoon. The stories were priceless. I just drew the story out of these beautiful people and their lives.

We had a birthday party to attend in the evening at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club which lasted until 3am in the morning.

I am afraid I try to avoid such parties nowadays but this was Rudy's dear friend so instead of writing and blogging, there I was I - like a twenty something again. As soon as I got back to the hotel, I rubbed minyak gamut all over my joints - alhamdulillah, tak sakit badan hari ni.

Cat-from-Sydney a dit…

Aunty Ninot,
We had a lovely time too yesterday....you know where. I hope you asked your new found friends to read your blog too. purrr....meow!

ninotaziz a dit…

How I wished our weekends did not coincide, Cat. I would have loved to join all of you.

Going off for lunch and then driving back to KL.

Bila agaknya Sir Remgold balik from Japan. Woah! Sure mahal holiday dia !

remgold a dit…

Wow langkawi holiday.
About the only holiday place i feel safe enough to rent a car and ride around myself. An isle the size of singapore but none of the rubbish traffic, malls, people and traffic fines!
Trees people this isle of magic and the wind sings the songs. Kerbau lepak in the lopak, and humans play in the waterfalls. And humans throw rubbish everywhere too, such is the pity.

Ninot, this is another place for u to write poetry, a movie, a book about.
If u have the chance, go watch the new Three Musketeers. A totally reimagined story. Same ingredients but different spices were added. Not necessarily better, but it tells u that u can take a historical classic tale and add dashes of oomph to attract audiences.

ninotaziz a dit…

Dear Sir Remgold
Loved Langkawi. Yes, there are few places that really set me afire to write. Langkawi, Rantau Panjang - Rudi's kampung, Chenor, Pahang my kampung. I bet Terengganu too when I get there, Insyaallah.

Writing folklore has become a mission. I crave the time for proper research. I wish I could go to Palembang, Bandung, and the british museum like Kak Teh. I would like to go back to study Malay Literature formally. My Sifu Professor Ding advises me to do this urgently. Tapi susah nak tinggal salaried life. Anak anak dah nak pergi kolej dan sebagai.

I will definitely watch the Three Musketeers. Hopefully in French too. So many legends - TROY, Lady White Snake, Queens of Langkasuka, which was actually Ratu Patani, Merlin, and Braveheart have been made into blockbusters. We have so many legends and slowly they are dying...

Stafford Ray a dit…

My next door neighbour for many years was a lady we knew as Sally B. She was from Langkawi originally and came to Dooralong in about 1985 to manage an orchardbut still went to Sydney occasionally where whe did casual work for Singapore Airlines for whom she had worked as a flight attnendant as a young woman.
She brought her mum to live with her in Austalia, but the lovely old lady had no English and missed her Malaysian friends so she eventually went home again.
Her husband died and she married again, moved away and the farm was sold so that was the end of my contact. But I do remember the photos of Langkawi so loved and showed to anyone of her Australian friends who sat still long enough!

Stafford Ray a dit…

PS. You are rigth, i was cheered up by visiting you again.

Sir Pök Déng a dit…

I've never been in Langkawi before.

Anyway ma'am, I need some lethal dose of Malay folklores to feed my malayfolklorephilia brain. Where can I take your Serikandi's hand?

ninotaziz a dit…

Can you send me your email add / address to ninotaziz@gmail.com?

I can send you a copy or alternatively we can meet and I can check whether you boleh jadi calun menantu.

My daughters speak French comme ci comme ca.

As you say...Kah ! Kah! Kah!

Al-Manar a dit…

This is not the first posting I read about Langkawi. So much so I feel as if I have been there. I may not find the real Langkawi as well as she has been described in which case I had better stay put where I am.

I do not want to visit Kapas, Redang and Perhentian because my memory of these islands is no longer what one sees there today. In the 1970's we slept on mengkuang mats spread over the soft sand beneath the moon above. There was no shops, rooms to rent, not even the luxury of proper toilet!

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