Drawing Up Plans

For a couple of urbanites who only have the experience of renovating one home between them, the prospect of building a whole resort is, to say the very least, a daunting one.   Neither of us knew any architects (or at least not personally) who were within reach. 

But like everything else to do with this project, we cast our nets hopefully.  And as the universe would have it, several architects emerged.

The first, Azrina, was someone we had met by chance and is coincidentally the daughter of a family friend.  We were lucky to have met her then.  She was patient in her explanations, and tolerant of our Architecture 101 questions.  She helped us get our first glimpse of what was in store.  Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of her.

Then, we met David through who else but Aida.  We loved David at first sight.  He's now a friend and will be attempting to conquer Mount Kinabalu with us in June.  But that's another story altogether.

Meantime, I decided to take a stab at letting the winds of fortune do some work for me and left a few postings on Facebook.  Wherever there was a Langkawi group, I posted a note indicating my interest to set up business on the island.  Soon, someone contacted me.  And a few months plus a couple meetings later, he is now our architect and project manager.

Meet Ijam - although this isn't a very good photograph of him (He's the one in the center).  Architect, sailor, informer extraordinaire, Daddy of Nena, our favourite Langkawi resident under 10, and all-round trove of interesting information about the island.  By a stroke of luck or maybe fate, Ijam, who resided in Perlis when we first got to know him, has moved to Langkawi and is setting up his architecture practice on the island.  He was a natural choice for us, as it means having someone there on site once construction begins.

We are now commencing our monthly project meetings with him.  The first took place on January 2, 2009 at his home in Langkawi.  The second was at our home over a whole Sunday in February.  Our discussions stretched long into the night, even pulling in my sister, Karen into the fray.  We visioned and dreamed, and talked about our individual ideas for what Pari-Pari will be.

And I must say, I love what I've already heard.