Tijen & Neal's Wedding - Day 3

Today's blog is going to be very short on words, as I have less than 30 minutes to get the images posted and back down to the beach for Tijen and Neal's post-registration-pre-wedding-shoot! I know ... it's a hard life ... however, less words means more pictures, so here we go.

On what was to be an excruciatingly hot day, spirits were high at breakfast. Tijen was the only notable absence, as she was at the Amderman hotel having her hair done - and very lovely it was too! For someone who has spent months planning the perfect few days, she was amazingly calm this morning.



It was all going well until ... "Hello, yes, can you send someone to the room and retrieve the rings, and can they please drive at 100mph to meet us at the registry?"

The answer, apparently, was "Yes!!"































And there you have it, a wonderful, wonderful day despite a ring hiccup (we didn't need the rings afterall either!!!)

Tomorrow, the pre-wedding shoot and some fun on the beach!

Tijen & Neal's Wedding - Day 2

After a good night’s sleep, we got to experience our first wonderful Datai breakfast this morning. Sat at one of the many open air tables, and listening to the calls of the rainforest, we sampled the delights of fresh fruits, yoghurts and pastries, as well as a nice selection of fruit juices and coffee. The cooked breakfast was also too good to miss, and many of us now felt charged and ready to meet a new day.

A few of us, driven by Tijen's secret mission to find perfume, went on a cable car ride to the top of the highest point of the island. Half way up, Tijen made a new friend:

Whilst the view was spectacular....

... not everybody enjoyed the ride - Les was certainly not impressed:

Once we made it back down to Terra Ferma, the girls darted into the duty free shop whilst I met a few more of the locals:

The afternoon was spent snoozing and lazing idly down on the beach again, with much talk of the upcoming wedding registration tomorrow. Neal, ever eager to pose for the lens, decided to practice his "not looking at the camera" pose:

But soon, given 5 minutes to himself, his thoughts turned to tomorrow's ceremony ... deep in thought :

The evening meal was a hoot, with Matthew as the centre of attention - just how he likes it. Here he is supported by the lovely Teresa and Alison, who incidentally, were NOT the first to bed this evening:

The beaches here are stunning - everywhere we drive we see more water and beautiful scenery. Just before dinner, I took some time out to try and capture the mood of the evening sun. Tonight was certainly not as good as it gets, and fingers crossed that we get the best on Saturday night ... but here's tonight's sunset:



Finally, my arty picture of the day:

Tomorrow, we'll be shooting the day of the official wedding registration. Find out if anyone cries, and who remembers (or forgets??) the rings ...

Tijen & Neal's Wedding - Day 1

After an exhausting 12 hour flight, followed very closely by a second one hour flight, we have arrived safe and sound.

Once the aircraft doors opened on the Langkawi Airport tarmac, we were hit with a wave of intense heat and humidity - the short walk to the terminal was an indication of what was to come, and the terminal air conditioning was rather welcome. We were met by several drivers from The Datai, who had luggage labels prepared for us. Each bag was tagged and whisked away to be loaded onto the waiting vehicles. We all jumped in too, and 25 minutes later we arrived at the hotel to a warm welcome from Tijen and Neal.

Without a doubt The Datai has to be one of the most amazing hotels I have ever seen. The staff are well presented, very polite and exceptionally attentive - every guest is made to feel like royalty, which serves to ease you nicely into a comfortable and relaxing stay.

After 20 minutes relaxing in the bar, with ice cold drinks and cold face towels to cool us down, we made our way to our rooms - which are simply exquisite:

This is the view from our bedroom window:

We all had a shower at that point and then several of the party shot straight down to the beach, whilst the rest of us hit the sack for a few hours. After some well earned rest, Regan and I went to meet a few of the locals:

We took a stroll down to the beach and then along a jungle path where two enormous wild boar ran out in front of us and darted off into the bush - i was far too stunned to even think about taking a photograph of those two, choosing instead to just stand there, mouth agape, in total wonderment!

After another shower we all met up in the bar for our first evening meal together - the sudden thunderstorm meant that we were unable to eat under the stars, although the covered area where we sat was just perfect in any case.

At one point, Tijen was concerned she had spinach in her teeth, but Albert did his best to reassure her with a positive gurgle:

One by one, the party gave in to the exhaustion and the group petered out - Alison and Teresa, the obvious lightweights in the party :o) headed up first, whilst Tijen continued to practise for future motherhood:

So, at the end of the first day full of sun, heat and wonderful new friends we all finally went our own separate ways and got a much needed full night's sleep.

More tomorrow when some of us take a cable car up to 710m above sea level ... and some of us wish we hadn't ...