Four Seasons Resort, Langkawi

Four Season Resort, Langkawi

Kemewahan senibina & dekorasi tradisional
Oleh Diyana Rose Kamalludeen
Isnin September 12, 2011

Dekorasi dalam villa dua bilik yang luas dan menarik di Four Seasons Resort, Langkawai.

NUN terpencil di penghujung Tanjung Rhu, Pulau Langkawi, tersergam sebuah destinasi percutian tropika ideal yang mengharmonikan segala keunikan warisan budaya senibina Melayu dalam membawakan pengalaman lima bintang terunggul kepada para pengunjung.

Ketenangan dan kedamaian bayu ombak Laut Andaman sedia terhampar baru mengalu-alukan kedatangan tetamu dari dalam dan luar negara ke Four Seasons Resort Langkawi dengan penuh kemesraan layanan hospitaliti yang cukup sinonim dengan masyarakat Melayu pada suatu ketika dahulu.

Ini merupakan sebahagian keunikan pengalaman lima bintang Four Seasons, yang bukan sekadar penginapan mahal sarat dengan ekstravaganza dekorasi asing.

Sebaliknya, keseluruhan konsep resort berkenaan memperincikan keistimewaan struktur kediaman Melayu lama, ditonjolkan oleh landskap kemakmuran tropikal yang menyelimuti premis resort tersebut.

Sementara senibina tradisional Melayu asli dijadikan asas konsep binaan kesemua struktur di resort itu, para tetamu pastinya menyedari pengaruh etnik Asia, India dan Arab. Ini bertujuan untuk menyingkap kepelbagaian suntikan budaya yang benar-benar mewakili Malaysia pada hari ini.

Ketelitian suntikan hiasan menyerlahkan idea sebenar di sebalik konsep dekorasi Four Seasons, bermula daripada ruang masuk utamanya yang menggabungkan unsur rekabentuk Moor terutama pada arca gergasi menuju ke ruang lobi utama berkonsep terbuka.

Kemewahan ruang tidur di Pavillion Melaleuca.

Inspirasi Moghul turut membingkai struktur kesemua pavilion dan villa penginapan mewah sehingga kepada motif luar biasa yang menyerikan ruang kamar mandi berlantai terazo dan marmar diimport khas membentuk seakan-akan sebuah oasis persendirian.

Diasaskan daripada konsep sebuah perkampungan Melayu tradisional, kamar penginapan Four Seasons dilengkapi sistem perudaraan ala tradisional agar tetamu dapat menikmati hembusan bayu laut sebenar sama ada dari keselesaan katil sambil menonton televisyen mahupun sambil bersantai di anjung peribadi serba luas.

Di samping itu, hiasan dekorasi dalaman juga tidak kurang kekuatan pengaruh kesenian Melayu dengan penggunaan meluas motif dan fabrik tradisi batik sebagai penghias utama walaupun masih diperkukuhkan dengan kemasan ala Arab untuk menonjolkan sisi eksklusif.

Four Seasons merangkumi 91 pavilion atau astaka dan villa penginapan bersaiz mewah. Sebanyak 68 pavilion Melaleuca dua tingkat masing-masing merangkumi empat unit dan 20 Villa Beachfront eksklusif, setiap satunya dengan bilik spa dan kolam persendirian.

Sebahagian kamar mandi Beach Villa di Four Seasons Resort, Langkawi.

Namun paling mengujakan adalah kamar mandi. Lebih layak dipanggil ruang mandian, ia direka khusus untuk memberi ketenangan kepada para tetamu dengan inspirasi hammam (tempat mandian) atau jakuzi ala Turki juga pancuran 'hujan' di luar dalam taman terpencil tanpa gangguan.

Seolah-olah enklaf tersembunyi dalam spa eksklusif, kesemua kamar mandi menampilkan jendela langit (skylight) yang memantulkan pencahayaan suria semula jadi sekali gus memperjelaskan lagi dekorasi unik dan memberikan pengalaman luar biasa kepada para tetamu.

Bayangkan pula tahap kedamaian yang bakal dikecapi apabila melangkah ke The Spa untuk mengembalikan ketenangan dan mengimbangi keperluan diri dengan suasana serta layanan khusus bagi mententeramkan kecelaruan jiwa dari kota.

Tidak seperti mana-mana kemudahan rawatan seumpamanya, The Spa berjaya melangkah kembali ke dunia lampau untuk mewujudkan sebuah perkampungan Asia yang maha tenang, berlatarkan cenuram kapur dramatik dan dikelilingi kolam teratai.

Kamar mandi inspirasi halaman Turki.

Selesai bersantai dan memanjakan diri seharian, para tetamu tidak perlu susah payah mencari makanan.

Sebaliknya, hidangan Melayu asli atau gabungan menu gourmet Asia disediakan dalam persekitaran paling sempurna di restoran Ikan Ikan, Serai dan Kelapa Grill.

Untuk maklumat lanjut mengenai Four Seasons Resort Langkawi, layari www.fourseasons.com. -- mStar

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Ulu Muda, Kedah

How about hiking adventure in Ulu Muda, Kedah?

Wild escapade in Ulu Muda
By Tan Cheng Li
Saturday August 20, 2011

The hidden realm of Ulu Muda astounds a group of nature-lovers.

WE must go. The place is really wild. People have seen tigers there!" exclaimed Lai Choy one evening in May, when we were on a birding trip at Taman Negara Merapoh and were mulling over where to go next.

The mere mention of the word "tiger" had us sold on the idea. So one sunny morning in July, the six of us – Lai Choy, Tuck Kong, LK, Mei, Captain and myself – found ourselves loading our backpacks into three narrow sampan on the shore of Muda Lake near Baling, Kedah.

Our destination was Ulu Muda forest, and leading us into the wilderness tucked away in the north-eastern corner of the state was eco-guide Hymeir Kamarudin. Some six hours earlier, we had set off from Kuala Lumpur for the drive which took us along the North-South Expressway to Gurun, then Sik, Gulai and finally, the lake.

Sight to behold: Wearing of water on limestone has created
impressive formations in Gua Labua, in Ulu Muda forest.
-- Photos by Chou KS

The last leg of the journey was a scenic one as we passed idyllic kampung with plenty of durian and rambutan stalls. Just as our boats set off, a group of sea otters showed up on the lake shore – a promising sign of better things to come, we all declared.

Traversing the lake, we passed forlorn-looking tree trunks that emerge from the depths, the only hint that a forest once sprawled beneath the water body which was formed when Muda River was dammed in 1969 for the irrigation of paddy fields.

The impoundment of the dam, coupled with past logging, have altered the natural landscape here. Nowhere is this more evident than along Muda River as there is none of the huge trees that hang over the river – the type of riverine scenery typical of untouched areas such as seen in Taman Negara, Pahang.

Nevertheless, wild dwellers are still there. Rounding a bend of the river, we startled a herd of wild boars and their striped juveniles. They promptly disappeared into thick foliage. Monitor lizards lumbered on muddy banks while birds darted past us, moving too fast for us to identify them. Trampled riverbanks marked spots where elephants had crossed the stream.

A relaxing moment beside Muda River.

At times, the river turned shallow and boatman Emi had to slowly manoeuvre the boat, so it was almost two hours before we reached Earth Lodge in Kuala Labua. Completed only in April, the state government-built chalets have back balconies that open into the forest. Towering trees, fortunately not felled during the construction, shade the area and provide wild habitat.

From the steps of our chalets, we saw birds (monarch, woodpecker and drongo) and the black bearded gliding lizard flit from tree to tree. Hanging out by the riverside in the evening, we spotted the first of what would be many, many sightings of Ulu Muda's renowned flocks of plain-pouched hornbills. There were some 15 of them, feeding on juicy-looking round fruits (probably figs) on a tree on the opposite bank.

The hornbills were to become the staple of our trip. They showed up every morning and evening, in flocks of threes to 20s. Most times, we saw them fly overhead in V-formation. Ulu Muda is one of only two known sites (the other is Belum-Temenggor forest) where the species gather in huge numbers.

Several forest reserves collectively make up the 160,000ha Ulu Muda forest which stretches into the Malaysian-Thai border.

Forest giants amaze a trekker in Ulu Muda forest.

The ecological wealth of Ulu Muda has long been known. It was proposed as a wildlife reserve and national park as early as the 1960s and 70s. These failed to materialise, and instead, parts of the forest were logged.

In 2002, Kedah wanted to helicopter-log the area but shelved the plan following public outcry.

In 2009, the state government revealed plans for a 27,196ha Ulu Muda state park but this has yet to happen.

Caving delights

The next morning, we awoke to a symphony of forest calls, the loudest of which came from the gibbons. Ulu Muda harbours the agile and white-handed gibbons but these shy primates remain elusive and are not commonly sighted. That morning, we headed into the jungle towards Labua Caves, suitably garbed in leech socks. The blood-suckers literally smothered the trail!

We deduced that the leeches were drawn to the smell of cow hide – how else would you explain why, 10 minutes into the trek, Tuck Kong, who wore leather boat shoes instead of trekking boots, already had some 10 wrigglies crowding around his ankles?

Hidden treasure: Lush greenery surrounds the
chalets of Earth Lodge in Ulu Muda forest.

The trail initially followed an old logging road. Ulu Muda was logged between the 1960s and 80s but the Communist insurgency prevented loggers from advancing deeper into the forest. The years of isolation have allowed logged areas to regenerate, and the small trees ignored by chainsaws have since matured into soaring giants. We could not resist stopping for photographs each time we came across a huge buttress. So it was well over two hours later before we reached the caves.

Hymeir, a speleologist who has explored caves for over 20 years, had earlier told us that Gua Labua was among the best he had ever seen, and he did not lie. Where the cliff wall had caved in, there were skylights that brought the sun into hidden chambers, creating dramatic cave scenes. We gawked and gaped at impressive cave formations shaped over millions of years.

Back on the trail later, we heard the calls of the crested argus pheasant ring through the forest, and soon enough, we reached its "dancing ground" right in the middle of the path. To attract the female, the male would clear a spot of all debris to create a "stage" for it to perform by way of displaying its gorgeous plumage. A few dropped feathers hint at the show we had just missed.

Calls of the banded pitta joined the cacophony of forest sounds as we made out way back to our chalets. To nurse our tired limbs, we soaked ourselves in the "jungle jacuzzi" of Sungai Labua which flows just beside the lodge, letting the gurgling ice-cold water massage our aches away.

Night stake-out

That night, three of us opted to spend the night in the hide beside the salt lick. Sira Air Hangat is a rare combination of a hot spring and a salt lick. As hot water bubbles up from the ground, it fills the air with steam. We bravely waded into the stream – the water was scalding hot!

Dusk and dawn are the best times to see animals at salt licks. Unfortunately, it was already dark when we reached the hide; the animals would have gotten their dose of much-needed soil minerals and left. With little chance of seeing animals, Captain and I decided to sleep.

Lai Choy decided to keep vigil – well, kind of. He woke up every half hour or so to scan the salt lick with his torch. But he spotted nothing. At dawn, we scrutinised the area from our high perch but still saw nothing. When we made our way pass the salt lick to reach our boat, we saw the tracks of frequent visitors – tapirs, deer, pigs and elephants. Some prints looked fresh. Guess we were heavy sleepers.

Next up was a shot at "tubing". The riverine vegetation grew more dense, and the river a lot clearer, the further upriver we went. We had entered pristine territory which had eluded loggers. We got down to push the boat several times when it became grounded in shallow waters. Hymeir said the river used to be deeper, with pebbled beds. Now, it had a sandy bottom which he suspected was caused by upstream land-clearing.

The tubing was good fun. Wedged inside over-sized inner tubes of tyres, we slowly floated downriver. The two rapids we passed created some excitement. Otters, monitor lizards, hornbills, pigeons, a falconet, hill mynahs and doves kept us company during the slow cruise.

Arriving at the lodge, a familiar, welcoming scent greeted us – durian! LK, the undisputed durian queen amongst us, had that morning shrewdly given RM50 to the boatman who was sending three other visitors back to the jetty, asking him to buy some durian. And so it was durian for dessert for the next three meals.

On our last evening at Ulu Muda, we parked ourselves on boats moored by the riverbank – "You must build a viewing platform here," we told Hymeir – to wait for hornbills.

The birds did not disappoint us. Across the river, dusky leaf monkeys jumped about in bamboo clumps, and beside us, butterflies and dragonflies danced among the reeds. One red-and-black broadbill showed up in the canopy above. As dusk crept in, the now-familiar jungle orchestra filled the air. It was a tranquil forest moment which I secretly wished would go on forever.

So, never mind that there was no tiger to be sighted (seriously, does anyone know of anyone who has seen, or even heard, a tiger in the forest?). Just being in the pristine wilderness left us with smiles as we drove away from Muda Lake the next morning. We told ourselves that we would be back – same time next year, of course, to coincide with the durian season.

For more on Ulu Muda, go to earthlodgemalaysia.webs.com or e-mail hymeir@gmail.com. -- The Star Lifestyle

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