ACADEMIC TRIP TO LANGKAWI

On 23rd to 25th of November 2013, all members and lecturers of RUS104 Integrated Studio had went for an academic trip in Langkawi Island, the duty-free island which is located at the Northern Peninsular. This trip had give me a lot of valuable experience. It had been my seventh trip to the island if I am not mistaken. However, the last trip was dated on 2005.

We reached Langkawi in the afternoon. After having our lunch, some of my friends and I went to Taman Lagenda to sketch a man-made structure. That was our first task to be submitted to the studio masters. There were not many of us went to Taman Lagenda as a lot of our friends went to sketch at the Dataran Lang. I was actually thought and planned to sketch a structure which no other person sketch it. Taman Lagenda was a very calm and peaceful park where everyone went there can relax their mind. Big trees shaded the park and cooled the surrounding.

The sanctuary.

Beside a pond. The location where I sat down to sketch.

My sketch.

Suited to the park's name, it serves us the histories and legends happened in Langkawi. There, I had learnt new knowledge about Langkawi Island. The experience had actually made me feel eager and curious to explore more about Langkawi Island. Those were because of the legendary stories and the sculptures portrayed in the park. Thus, I remember that we should not forget the history of our places and ourselves. The histories are also important to be written or modeled so that the new generations also may learn about the histories and legends. Therefore, the knowledge will not fade by the ever-changing era.

We had our barbeque dinner on the first night at the Cenang Beach. Before that, we had had our group-gathering on the beach with the aid of the nearby chalet's lamp light and we also needed to prepare for a performance. My group (a group of Quantity Survey students) was combined with the Construction Management students group. Unfortunately, because of hungriness and some other I-don't-know reasons, a lot of us did not want to continue to prepare for the compulsory performance which was quite disappointing to some of us. The dinner was quite good but it was very crowded as most of us were scrambling for the food.In my opinion, the situation really must be improved in any next barbeque dinner especially the early food preparation and the organization of counters and guests.

As expected, the combined group could not give any good performance. It was very shameful. Besides, Dr Hafizal said that we had wasted five minutes in our life!! It was seriously a bad experience that we did not prepare and therefore did not perform whereas the other groups had deliver their performances the best they can. If the night come again in the future I will really help my group to prepare and be able to make our performance.

On the second day, we went for island hopping to Dayang Bunting Island, watching eagles feeding and we went to Beras Basah Island. There was a lake in Dayang Bunting Island and I hope to look at the eagles nearer but I think it was impossible to get closer to them. Then, we spent quite a few hours in Beras Basah Island. Halve of us had went swimming, riding banana boat while the other were busy taking photographs, enjoying the scenery, sketching natural structure and others. The best moment is when I snapped a very beautiful scenery before any other tourist come to the spot.

The legendary 'dayang'

My friends and I enjoyed the lake tour.

At Beras Basah Island

Beras Basah Island scenery.

It was a very memorable experience. The most outstanding subject appeared to me from the island hopping activity was the nature. I had really enjoyed the beauty and tranquility given by the nature to us. It reminded me that however the best we create our built environment, it still would not be as best as the natural environment. Therefore, it is very important to take care of our natural environment, to protect, preserve and practice sustainable development.

The next activity was playing games on the seashore. I enjoyed the games very much. We played futsal with 'kain pelikat', we makeup model, 'lari dalam guni', 'tarik upih', walk in line with the feet being tied and some other fun games. My QS friends and I had really enjoyed the games even though we only won one first place. Apart from team spirit, we learnt to tolerate so everyone can take part in the games.

QS futsal team.

On Monday, the final day, we went to LADA for an academic talk, we visited Mat Cincang Mount and then we went shopping for chocolates. The time scheduling was very strict on that day.

The trip to Mat Cincang Mount was very enjoyable. We had traveled on the cable car to reach the peak. There were two terminals and the scenery from the top were very eye-catching.

How did they construct the cable cars, railing and the terminals? Wow, those are very amazing! There were also two sky-bridges but they were closed for maintenance purposes. The engineering and mechanical knowledge of the designers and constructors must be very superb. I wish to become as great as them but, I am not in the same field as them...

To sum up, team building does not really built throughout the trip. I hope our next projects will gather all QS members more and could tighten up our friendship. However, undoubtedly, the trip had given me a lot of valuable experience. Another important value from the trip is time management and cooperation among all members. I am looking forward for our next exciting academic trips!

All trip members.