WHERE FAIRIES BATHE IN GLORY

WHERE FAIRIES BATHE IN GLORY

“Malaysia! Here I come!” I said, mesmerized by my discovery while researching for a tourism project on my first job. My friends chuckled, for the idea seemed as unrealistic as someone wanting to walk on the moon one day. But I became obsessed with the thought of exploring this heavenly place on earth. With strong visualization, some savings of my own and a loan from Bank of Dad; I found myself perplexed by the most magnificent sight, the Seven Wells Waterfall of Langkawi Island of Malaysia – the vision of which had made my heart skip a beat almost a year ago!

Standing in disbelief, spellbound, at the bottom of the lush green velvet mountains, I saw some stairs ascending out of sight and eagerly started the uphill expedition towards Telaga Tujuh, as the place was locally known. How can a nation be blessed with such grandeur; unfathomable oceans, wonderful rivers and streams, lofty mountains, awe-inspiring waterfalls, untouched beaches and bewildering forests; I thought to myself.

My imagination took me away, for I turned around to see I had gained much height. My heart rate was much elevated, not just from the tough climb, but also from the anxious excitement that gripped me. Fresh water stream plunges from seven pools – a geological marvel indeed! But do pictures do it justice? I wondered.

These thoughts pepped me up and a few bends later, there it was! – falling with all its might and glory. Breathtaking, spectacular, heart-stirring, miraculous, stupefying; there isn’t a perfect word in the English dictionary to describe what I had just witnessed with my very own eyes. I could feel my heart beating in my throat, trying to jump out of my body to see for itself what it had been dreaming of for months.

Some natives were bathing in the waterfall; others were diving in like frogs. I looked around; saw some more startled tourists around me. My mind took snapshots of every possible corner, trying to engrave every image in memory. The air seemed so cool and moist, pleasant to the skin. I took deep breaths, if only I had the capacity to hoard such purity. I could hear the splashing sound of water crashing against the rocks, and what a soothing chorus it was!

I leaned over the huge rocks and stepped into the crystal clear water. I felt the chill went up my spine as the cold water touched my warmed up body. I could see every rock, every bubble, and every pebble on the waterbed. I clenched my hands together, filled them up and started spattering water all around me like a bird does in a puddle of water on a hot summer day. People, standing on the dangerous slippery rocks, looked like tiny specs as they drenched under the nature’s magnanimous shower. And I beamed like a child who had just seen a rainbow for the first time. No wonder, legend says, fairies bathed at the majestic Seven Wells!