we treat you like maharajas...

Its christmas holiday today! Merry Christmas to all my friends who celebrate it, wherever you may be. Just don't forget that the last tsunami (2004) occurred on boxing day and that is tomorrow (wink). So if you are enjoying yourselves at some beachfront somewhere out there, just be mindful ok? hehe.

We already had our short break, my family and I, at rebak marina island resort (go google it heehee) about 15 minutes fastboat ride from Port Langkasuka (5 minutes from Langkawi Airport). A private property owned by DRB-Hicom and currently managed by the Taj Leisure Hotels & Palaces Group, India.

Oklah, my idea of deStress and deTox. Quiet retreat and great breakfast haha while checking out my new toy. Not the usual mainstream you knowlah why people go to Langkawi meh? (wink). Other than LID or LIMA or busloads of shoppingspree types at Kuah...ooops sorry. We had a great time at Rebak. Had wanted to check it out for quite sometime now but I forgot about it. I shall not comment or make any reviews of the place for now, you can read plenty of it on TripAdvisor on the internet (wink).

I was reading the two issues of The Taj Magazine ( The Romance of Food, 2008 Vol 36 No 2, and The Splendour that is The Taj, Spring 2009 vol 37 No 1) in the room, splendidly published, laminated, hardbound, classic and obscenely lavish...and I remembered a joke the late Tan Sri Khir Johari shared on a few occasions we met. He said in those days when he was a minister, he used to fly Air India...and the tagline for Air India at the time was '..we treat you like Maharajahs' Then one day he said to the cabin crew...jokingly of course, "...ya rite i know how you treat your maharajas!" hahaha (wink2x).

Most of the guests were foreigners, some longstaying. There were Brits, Frenchmen, Flemish Belgian couple, Dutch, Americans, Canadians, Middle Eastern and of course many from India. A mixed of retirees or otais like me and no less hoards of honeymooning couples haha. Some have been here before, they like it and came back again. Some, whom I spoke to, were first timers to Malaysia and they love it (hmm standard politically-correct statements huh?..haha) but I want to believe they genuinely like our country and would not hesitate to come back visit us again and again.

My point, we have plenty of great heavenly places right at our doorstep and we let others elsewhere enjoy it. I don't blame them, in fact I welcome them, please please do come with lots of money, come invest here haha...its really very cheap for them. We aspire to be a high-income economy, like the rest of the advanced nations. Whether that means we will be able to nanti visit their places and throw away hard-earned money like a lord (wink2x) or everything will get to be more expensive for all of us, well not all, for the man-in-the-street at least ...remains to be seen. Moral of story? haha go visit the Kilim Geopark Langkawi...the family will enjoy it. And if you 're afraid of the CURSE? haa..the spell's long broken..haha and definitely no white snake lady ok? (wink2x). We did. Enjoy the long weekend folks....