Pangkor Laut Is Bliss

it’s been a hellish time for me, what with college applications and all. Martian has been really stressed out at work too, so we decided to go for a quick weekend retreat where No Work Is Allowed. what’s allowed : a lot of sun, sand, baileys, a good book, and lotsa lovin’! :D

#1 the beach at pangkor laut

he came back to KL and we drove up to Pangkor Laut to spend a lovely 3 days on the beach and in bed and by the pool just unwinding and basking in total relaxation. i must admit that on the first day i was so antsy about spending the next few days not doing anything about my college applications at all (i actually brought my laptop just in case *ashamed* but i managed to refrain from touching it!!), but after a while of allowing that lovely smell of sunblock to settle in, i was really grateful for the rest and relaxation. and most of all, i was glad to have my boyfriend with me after a horridly long 2 weeks of not seeing him :)

#2 by the pool

#3 finally!! some non-SAT related reading

#4 crawling over to his deck chair <3

Pangkor Laut is gorgeous, people, totally gorgeous. YTL really knows how to run a holiday resort. i've been to both their other resorts in Tanjong Jara and Cameron Highlands, but they are nowhere as lovely as Pangkor Laut. the emerald sea, white sand and comfy beach chairs requisite of a beach getaway are all accounted for. the poolside has a great view of the sea, the horizon and the sea villas. service is top notch; everyone from the GM to the gardeners are always smiling and eager to please. you even have a personal guest relations staff attending to you the whole time! ours was a sweet young lady called Casey who totally layaned my love for diet coke and sent some up to our room :P

#5 the resort at dusk

we stayed in one of the Hill Villas that has a fantastic view of the island and the sea. i loved it to bits :) we even had one of those open bathtubs where we could have long bubble baths in the company of starry skies and cricket sounds, heehee. on our 2nd night, the housekeeping staff saw that we’d ran a bubble bath the night before, and they actually ran us another bath, scattered rose petals all over the water and lit candles for us. sigh <3

both Martian and i have heard such good things about the Pangkor Laut spa, and even though i'm not much of a spa person (i know, i know, what's wrong with me, right?), he managed to convince me to go with him. and i'm soooooooo glad i did, because it was a spa experience unlike any other! it was very frilly with a lot of interesting steps to go through - first a Chinese footrub, then a Malay-style bath in a cold 'river' with a 'waterfall', then a Japanese bath where you sit and scrub yourself on those little wooden stools and use those quaint wooden buckets, then a .. okay lah i'm giving away too many spoilers, aren't i! dowan to say oredi, must maintain the surprise factor!

#6 the Malay-style river bath

after the bath house experience, you pick from many diff types of massages and baths and wraps and treatments and goodness knows what else. crazy wan lah, so many options! i didnt know what to pick so Martian picked me the Balinese massage and the milk bath, which we shared. where much Cleopatra/Marc Anthony debauchery went down. ;)

sigh it was such a wonderful holiday. i wish it could have gone on forever. now it’s back to the daily grind, back to Adobe Acrobat documents and application essays, back to Skype, back to hazy skies and aggravating news in the newspaper, and no more nighttime cuddles :( sniff.

more photos :

#7 the sea villas, located just off the beach and slightly into the sea. very tranquil :)

#8 c’est moi who at the time of phototaking was still rather nervous about not doing any work :P

#9 me and the Martian :)

#10 the beach from my deck chair cos i was too lazy to get up

#11 sans wheelbarrow

#12 i think i should be more worried about where i bring my camera! i put it on this banister on the sea villas to do a selftimer shot, really a windgust away from my camera falling into the sea, and Martian had to go like DONT DO THAT before i realized how dangerous it really was. *shy

#13 very cute old couple reading by the beach

#14 hot father swinging his very cute son around

#15 no, not our room, but the library of the resort! they have all these nice sofas and four poster beds in the library for you to read and surf the internet (free wireless!!!!!)

#16 smooches :D

#17 random peacock that keeps popping up around the resort

#18 making use of the camera’s kickass zoom. the peacock’s name, btw, is Richard

#19 me on one of those really intelligently-made beach chairs. i want one!

#20 Martian jogging

#21 woman tanning to a crisp and loving it!

#22 sigh lovely pangkor laut beach, i still pine for you

all photos were taken by the Panasonic Lumix DMZ-FZ18, which has the most fantasmo optical zoom EVAR. still need to tinker with it a bit before i can fully make proper use of its functions, but even with what little fiddling i’ve done with it so far, the photos still come out great! much thanks to Panasonic for the awesome camera, and Wenqi and Tim of Nuffnang for arranging this :D

Martian is going to HK for work next week. i sooooo want to go because i’ve been missing HK like crazy ever since he moved from there to Singapore. and i was going to go with him, but then i decided no lah i should do the responsible thing and stay home to finish up all this college app stuff. but then i keep thinking about all the things that we used to do in Hong Kong, and i’m just so reluctant to let this trip go :( we’ve always wanted to go back to HK together, and this would be a great chance to do so. sigh. advice, please! 4 days of HK frolicking or 4 days of college app-ing?

Comments November 21st, 2007