The weekend trekking decision ended up with taking a 45 minutes flight from KL, traveling up north of the Peninsular of Malaysia to the Island of Pulau Langkawi, off the state of Kedah. The visit was in conjunction with another official trip there, but yours truly and two other hardcore naturetracker did manage to sneak in some time to tour the island.

The grand statue of an eagle welcome everyone that visits the island.

The majestic 'Lang" or Helang (Eagle) is where the name Langkawi originated from.

Although Langkawi Island is marketed as a free-duty port destination and with legendary history, all these did not quite appeal to us. We decided to rent a car, and we drove up to the north of the Island in search for more scenic and crowd free location to be charmed by the natural beauty of the island.

The stillness of early morning sunrise at the rice field near Padang Matsirat.

The water-bufalo cooling themselves in the muddy puddles of the rice field.

The rice field partially harvested at the Laman Padi Museum site	A farmer leading his buffalo for padi field preparatory works.

Raking the field off the rotten weeds, and leveling the soil. In the background is the scarecrow to scare-off birds and pests.

A young tamed male buffalo doing his morning chores.

The ladies pulling young padi shoots from the nursery, prior to the final replanting into the rice-field.

Part of the field being leveled, ready for the next replanting season.

The padi cultivating activities is reminiscent of our young Kampong boy days were we spent great times playing and fishing in the rice-fields. Many hours of learning about life and nature occurs while having fun in the puddles of the padi fields.

We then drove to the southern coastal areas, were fisherman's boats set anchorage along the shallow beaches, offering tourist rented boat for island hopping trips to the Pulau Beras Basah, Pulau Singa Besar and to the famous Pulau Dayang Bunting and the experience the opportunity to swim with the fishes.

Partly hidden behind the grasses are the fisherman boats

Overlooking the many small islands surrounding Langkawi	Some sailing yacht anchoring near the Porta Malai harbor.

The calm sea near the Porta Malai harbor. In the blue background is the Pulau Singa Besar

We returned by lunchtime to our hotel near the Langkawi International Airport, and later drove off to the main town of Kuah. Other than for shopping for duty-free products, there is nothing really exciting for us to see there except for the well known spread wing 'Lang' statue.

Pretty soon we all agreed to disappear instead into the country road leading to the north of the Langkawi Island. The beaches up there is much more scenic and less crowded, and this is very much to our kind of taste. The slow country drive along the natural green forest is very soothing to the soul.

The untouched and quiet Jalan Air Hangat country road, crossing from the Kuah town to the northern part of the Langkawi Island.

Tourist sunbathing along the beaches in front of the Tanjung Rhu Resort

Family picnic under the shades overlooking the beach.

The very laid back atmosphere of the beaches near Tanjung Rhu is in opposite contrast to the cluttered streets of the Chenang Beach down south of the island.

This is a heaven for nature tourist, where many eco-tour activities are available such as the Mangrove boat tour, visit to the Bat caves, crocodile cave, snorkeling with sea fish, tracking the Legend cave, watch the eagle feeding, participating in fish feeding and many other interesting ecopark activities as well.

The clean, undisturbed beach leading to Tanjung Rhu	Souvenir of all kinds to choose from.

The laid back atmosphere of the souvenir shops and restaurants underneath the pine trees at Tanjung Rhu

For a mere RM5.00 you get instant foot massage by the seafront

On a hot afternoon, nothing can beat the cooling effect of the fresh coconut drinks	Entrance to the Tanjung Rhu Nature boat tour, along the mangrove estuaries

The local fishing boats converted to mangrove-tour operators during off fishing time.

The majestic Brahminy Kite Eagle (Haliastur indus) swooping down on the estuaries surface for feeding of meat given by tourists.

The Long tail Macaque feeding on clams and crabs along the mangrove river bank

Fresh water lilies filling and covering the pond surface.

Two frogs perching on top of the water lilies

The Northern Torrent Frog (Meristogenys orphnocnemis) species lives in primary or secondary forest having clear, rocky streams with moderate to strong current.

Very soon, in no time after visiting the Pantai Pasir Hitam (Black sand beach), a brief stopover at the legendary Datai Hotel and the Andaman Hotel, it is already time to head back to the airport in order not to miss our 8pm flight back to KL. We just wished that the stay could be much longer, because there is still much more to see and explore at Pulau Langkawi.