Sabah Photos!

Now for pictures of the Trip...These are from my camera because the others are still...MIA-ed. Haha!

The most interesting toilet concept I've seen in the urbanised landscape! O_o


Our flight taxi-ing to a stop!


Up the plane!

And the flight was really great. Dunkin' Donuts helped a lot! Not to mention that TQ and I had a piece of donut and a Famous Amos cupcake just prior to the flight, and I had a great packet of Nasi Lemak from the Kota Raya Bus Interchange!

But food never stops going into the Black Holes of ours...so...we continue the food journey in KK...


Our dinner! Bak Kut Teh!

And we settled ourselves to a great dorm in Trekkers' Lodge, and proceeded to Mt Kinabalu the next day.


Our rest stop. Nice view of the mountains!


The cat was hungry looking at us eat our food...Cute face! :D


The rural area of KK


View from the resort area.


Dunno what flower, but it sure looks nice!


The trail which we are about to conquer for the next 2 days.


Start point, Timpohon Gate!

At Timpohon Gate, we can sense the thinning of the air, and enjoy the wonderful surroundings. As we prepared for the trek, the following person with a gigantic 'bag' just arrived down from the mountain...



Can u believe this woman lugs up the stuff in her 'bag' there?! We're just with our small bags, and hers was like 2 times my 80L bag! OMG. Oh yea, she's not the most powerful. We've seen a guy carry 2x gasoline tanks (for cooking) up the mountain whilst we're on our way down. 65kg! OMG. They are super powerful lar!


Carson's Falls. About the only waterfall in the area. Haha.


Coming up! Celina, Sebestien, Jiun Yang


The flight of never-ending steps...

Our checkpoints!



This is one amazing father!

Apart from the above-mentioned amazing dad who brought up his son, with another in tow, there was this group of 6 Japanese old folks who slowly but surely made their way up the mountain with their heavy trekking boots and trekking sticks. On the way up, I also saw couples going up the steps together, reminding me of something missing. Haha. But the goal is about to be reached...soon...


OMG! More steps!


Mempeng Hut. More huts to go! o_O"


Taking a breather.


Me at the next CP! Cold and windy! (I'm in singlet with just the tee-shirt covering my hands hor.)


A wind vane. Shows how strong the wind is now, ehs?


The wonderful road up.


Beautiful beautiful skies!


Me and Mt K behind me.


Magnificent, ain't it? Reaching soon!


I like this plant ;)


The skies were simply...amazing.


Rest Points. Man, we need more of these!


They're amazing. Kids being porters, carrying loads their size?!


Mt K is home to this animal. Cute ehs?


Gives me the tea plantation-type of look!


Scenic picture


The white clouds and Mt Kinabalu itself.


Sun going down...soon.


Guys kicking sepak takraw in front of this magnificent and amazing 2 storeyed building on top of the mountain!


Laban Rata! We've reached!

Yup. Laban Rata is our camp for the night, at above 3,000m A.S.L, it was a great place to take pictures of the surrounding areas. Not to mention having a place amongst the clouds. The place was sparse with containers as dorms for trekkers, as well as the main canteen where food is dished out buffet style! Lamps are also placed to help trekkers move about from their lodges to the canteen in the dark.






The amazing clouds...


Now u know how they built Laban Rata!


Distance markers


At the rest-house.


Our wonderful dinner! (Food's good when u're starving, heehee)


Me & the wonderful sunset...Simply lovin' it!

So we had our early dinner, and went to sleep at about 8.30pm, in preparation for the final push the next day, at 2am! My contact lenses were okay, but the solution was super cold! Managed to place them in the next morning after a long time, with cold eyes, cold hands and cold feet. A hint of rain and bad weather loomed in front of us, with flashes of lightning.

And so we pushed on...upwards...


The sunrise!


Me, the cameraman. (The person taking this had shaky hands o_O)


At the summit!


Another view of the sunrise...


Wonderful clouds!


Another alternate view


Up there is fun!


The way up.


Me.


I've conquered!


The great walk down...


Our resting place for last night.


Me & Celina with our walking sticks!


Breakfast!


Wonderful field of flowers. For you...


TQ and the end of our Mt K trek!

Went back down to Trekkers' Lodge, settled and walked around to find our dinner. It was an amazing place, the town. Malaysians and foreigners. Night markets and big shopping centres. So we walked to a Centre Point Shopping Mall and chanced upon the food court there...


KH's food...


My Honey Chicken rice...


TQ's Lemon Chicken rice...


Someone's Sweet & Sour Chicken Rice


Vegetables!


The dinner gang


Celina wondering whether to eat it...


Eh...soup anyone?


Night Market


Here, we also have a Sentosa o_O"


A burger joint


Trekkers' Lodge!

And the day ended with a nice hot shower, and sleep. Our white-water rafting was pushed to the day after, so we had to go over to Manukan Island the next day for beach activities. Gonna be a fun day again!

Had a great talk after returning back to ground level. Calling home was...nice. Well this is a long trip, and to talk to people you miss at home certainly helps.

But of course, the wallet will suffer. But how can you compare the fact that you miss someone out there to monetary terms? Right?

The next day was a short walk to the pier and to Manukan!


Standard Chartered Bank


Half-built building? Or half torn down?


A travelling circus!


Okay, polis pls dun come after me hor...


The waterfront.


Crab City? WhaT?


Scuba diving!


What's the train carriage doing here?!


Moving down the pier...


The ride was so choppy, KH just went up and down!


Manukan Island!


Nemo Adventure?! The adventure in a space suit. *lol*


Jiunyang: Nice water.
TQ: o_O


The stunned stunner, KH


The wonderful beach. Great for relaxation! (Might wanna come here again...)


Permit without boat number? o.O


Jet Ski-ing!


The set-up for our Para-gliding ride!


It's up!


Up up...


...And Away!


TQ: HELP!!!
JY: AHHHH!!!!
Me: *takes picture*


The icon of Sabah??


The sunset near the waterfront


Andreas (with us for 3 trips? Yea!)


Another view of the sunset along the waterfront


This guy holding 2 planks wading in the water...


Woah. Big black tank...what are they gonna do...?


And that guy returns with the big black tank o_O"


TQ peng-zing


The ||| strikes!


Rainbow in Sabah

So after the wonderful bay viewing, we proceeded back to the Lodge where we rested, after which we went about looking for dinner. Feeling slightly rich, 9 of us trooped to the nearby Italian Pasta & Pizza restaurant just down the street for some Western fare. The ambience was great, and the pizzas were nice, but could do with more fillings. (Well, we hope so!)


TQ sleeping with menus as a 'roof'


The 12" pizza!


Cheese-ified. LY should like this. *lol*


Have u seen these in SG?

The day ended with us going back to watch the England match, and resting for the night. White-water rafting at Padas River beckons the next day!


Me driving the train to bring us up!


We've reached! The end of the rafting experience though.


KH waiting for the train


View of Padas River


Dogs lazing around under the hot sun


KH, TQ


The train which brought us in. 4D/TOTO anyone?


The train station.

After rafting, buffet lunch was served, and tee shirts & photos were up for sale! Getting back was a long journey, and we were greeted by the rain. But that did not deter us from walking over to the seafood hawker center and having a really different way of eating seafood! Not to mention, the fish seemed fresh and they were really finger lickin' good!


TQ showing how to eat the squid

And the rain just grew heavier. Needing to leave the area, we quickly seeked for shelter, which we managed to get from the nearby shopping center. And we walked around and found...



A K-Box. And that's so literal. It was tucked away on the upper floors, near the arcade. The K-session can be shared with 2 people and it was basically full of duet singing. Too bad, never got to try it out. Haha!

Back at the Trekkers' Lodge, stayed up to watch the Argentina match at 3am, but it was a half-sleepy match as I drifted into sleep a few times. Nevertheless, I managed to catch all 3 goals, and went back to a deep slumber soon after.

Sunday market was interesting! Well, had only 10 mins to walk around, and it was near to where we stayed, so I gave it a shot. Here're some of the pictures of the wonderful vibrant area:




This Peppermint sells Viet food!


Children playing by the mini-waterfall


Some nature park stall


Efficiency in making cotton candies. Wow. RM1!


Looks like fertiliser to me.


Herbs and stuff. For soup ;)


Store selling plants

And after that, we're off to the airport, where we were stunned by the news that we had to wait for 3 hours because our flight was delayed. Stunned, we took out our cards and did the Rovers tradition on ALL trips - Play cards. Time flew us by, and soon we bade goodbye to the wonderful land of KK.

Current Music: Liu Geng Hong - Cai Hong Tian Tang

S*O*B*S finished! Whats next...?

Just finished all the official Rovers trips for this semester, with the last being Sabah. A wonderful, wonderful trip indeed. Cold, wet, hungry, tired and fun. Land, air and sea. Simply irresistable! (Yup maybe I'll go back there again some time...ahha. Plus scuba diving!)

First up was the trek up Mt Kinabalu on Day 2, after arrival at KK. More easily said then done. With an altitude of over 4,000m above sea level, it requires great skill to acclimatise to the different altitude we're all used to. Not to mention the need to constantly combat the harshness of cold winds blowing into us.

For some of us, we were just decked in singlets and shorts in shoes (which usually we do not even wear for our treks), and compared to the many people trekking up to Laban Rata, we were seriously considered to be under-dressed. Yet, it was more comfortable to most of us, as the heat generated from walking up the many flights of stairs sure helped combat the cold.

Of course, the usual stuff happened along the way, and the group just split up, but we managed to get up there in one piece nonetheless. Though sadly, I missed the part on taking great pictures amongst the clouds. Darned.

But anyway, getting good food into the system via the buffet style sure helps, and it makes one wonder how they managed to lift all the heavy cooking stuff (like gasoline and food) up all the way. Not to forget, the heavy I-beams of the Laban Rata guesthouse-cum-canteen. It sure is a great feat to build a resort 3,000m above sea level!

Day 3 was the final push up to the summit in the wee hours of the morning. Cold winds just battered our faces and bodies. But we withstood the force of the winds and managed to reach the summit just in time for the summit. Even Annabel and Ram, who had walked slowly due to strains, managed to reach in time. It was a pity that Sebestien and Kheng Hui could not make the trip up, both sidelined by slight illnesses.

The trip down the mountain was relatively easy, aside from KH being lamed not once but twice on his left ankle. Took us probably 1.5hrs lesser to get to the base. That was good because we managed to reach the resort below and meet up with our guide to bring us back to Trekkers' Lodge and have our brunch too! Dinner was settled at Centerpoint Shopping Mall, where we had our zi cha and some dishes in the food court, Malaysian styled.

Day 4 was relaxing because the white-water rafting was pushed to Day 5, and we went off to the nearby island of Manukan to snorkel, walk around, para-glide and jetski. More fun on the beach! Interesting points worthy of note are the mua-chee of people, my toe kenna stubbed by KH, being poked (by someone), as well as the cheaper rate for para-gliding and jet-skiing! The view up in the air was great! Too bad, memories shall stay, with no pictures to attest to the wonderful scenery.

Late lunch at Wisma Merdeka, and we had our long-awaited food. Good choice of food around the food court, and managed to get ourselves settled down. Walked along the bay to get some pictures of the wonderful scenery and sunset. Dinner was settled at a nearby Italian restaurant (where we felt slightly richer), where we had 12" pizzas and some even had RM14 ice-cream! But it was worth it. Food was nice, ambience was great (though we're under-dressed IMO), and the company was great.

Soccer fever just hit the area with the opening ceremony in Germany, as well as the host nation's opening game, which they won easily at 4-2. Geez.

Day 5 was white-water rafting, and we took a 4-hr trip to the start of the rafting experience, was was SHIOK! Simply too good to be true! First time having such interesting thing, and there was always the element of danger and dropping into the water amongst the rapids. Wow. Buffet lunch was served and we also got our tee-shirts and certificates of achievement.

Day 6, well, the end of it all, the time where we realised that the surreal experience in KK is about to end with a 3-hr wait for the flight-that-came-late, and hitting home to the high-rise flats and dense urban jungle. It's then that we get hit by the fact that the holidays is all but over now.

But still, I was in a hyperactive mode till the flight..where I managed (for the first time) to sleep so well on the quick 2 hr journey.

Great trip! Photos up soon!

Current Mood: Awake

Current Music: Cai Hong Tian Tang

Post-ALTC

Free-lanced (first time!) with Rocky Outdoors to conduct the 2006 version of the Adventure Leadership Training Camp (ALTC) for the Bedok North Sec Sch Sec3 students. And I've just compeleted 25km+ of sea expedition (ECP to Sisters' Island and back) as well as 35km+ of walking distance (ECP to Chinese Garden, Chinese Garden to Buona Vista MRT).

Mentally challenging.
Physically straining.

But it was much better with words and calls of encouragment from friends (who were happily having fun out there...).

Ensuring that things are organised with this (rather) rowdy bunch of school kids who have almost no sense of urgency and time proved difficult. In fact, little changed from the start till the end of the camp!

Now, gonna get some rest. Shall talk more about the ALTC stuff soon. After my Sabah trip later today afternoon. Packing later.

Tired boy, I indeed am. Thanks for the encouragement...it really helped ;)

Current Mood:

No luck with electronics...

My desktop graphics card fried.
My old Walkman died.
My MP3 player cannot charge 'cos the charging adapter KOed on me.

OMG. What is happening to me and my electronic gadgets?

Sigh.

Now that they do not sell iPod Minis, maybe I shld get something else which is small...but I'm just feeling pissed because my electronic gadgets failed within days of each other! Argh!

Now is the PC Show, but no time to go there to shop. Time to rest, do up my stuff and finish up the back-dated work.

Glad that people are getting gifts they want for their birthday, and are happy with their birthday celebrations. Which is good, 'cos that shows their importance with the friends they are with. For me, I think I'd be overseas, somehow...'cos there's no need to celebrate my 22nd despite missing my 21st. Somehow, I've not experienced the warmth of birthdays...or rather, it's more like birthdays are devoid of meaning for me...

It's best not to think so much of things. At least that's what I told someone. And those who are having eyebags and all out there, rest well!

Current Mood: Pensive

Current Music: Guang Liang - Xiang Zuo Zou Xiang You Zou

First post of June...

And I realised...

I do not understand myself that much.
I do not understand others that much.

Maybe all I need is time...

Current Music: Su Hui Lun - Ai Le Jiu Dong Le

outdoors therapy indeed

Back to reporting on Berkelah trip. A wonderful trip with nice stars, but a little dampened by the pouring rain and flood (well for the participants I guess). It seems like every Berkelah trip will definitely have a "stunt" appearing...ours was the long 1.5hrs wait for the bus on the return journey and the rain on 2nd night.

Going up with TQ and LY was simply wonderful. 3 trips together. And you already know each other more or less. This is the most number of trips within such a short period of time I've been with any person.

Joining us were our 3 hyperactive gers: Geok, Tze, Yings. Wrapping up the core of the team were HH and LG.

Trekking up and down Berke wasn't tough. The waters were nice and cool, and playing at the first waterfall, I nearly got dragged down by the plunge pool current. It was then that I realised I was tired. Well, physically I guess.

Took a cautious attitude when at the 3rd waterfall. But swimming in the bigger pool was much better and seemed safer. Indeed, it was. We had the luxury of suntanning and taking many many pictures with the gigantic waterfall!

Bathing at the campsite was great! Found a mini-jacuzzi for myself and managed to soak myself inside there. Went back in attempt to cook dinner, but realised that we did not bring a burner! Committee come out with pattern again. Literally.

Managed to whip up decent amounts of food (noodles) before hiding in our tents, and played bridge 'cos LG decided to sleep. When LG awoke, HH took the chance to sleep at the higher ground, and I went to cook outside the tent under the rain cover. Managed to whip out the Terriyaki Chicken together with a mess-tin worth of noodles. Simply delicious!

Next up was the chicken poppers I had brought. All at one go, and it barely fitted onto the frying pan. But managed to cook all to a crisp golden brown colour, and proceeded to cook the vegetables and then the finale - Tang Yuan!

The last dish was eaten up super fast. Wow.

After dinner, celebrated TQ and LY bday at the rock nearby, with an apple-scented candle and 3 pieces of Famous Amos brownies. (Surprisingly they werent crushed! Wow!)

Then it was sitting, chatting and drinking. Yeap. Brought up beer and alcohol. And we laid down after that to look at the stars. Missed the shooting star, but I thought I saw another. Oh wells. Made a wish anyway.

The nite was cold, but nice. Windy, but tahan-able. Wonderful with the company indeed.

A feeling of loss and apprehension swept through me the next day when we broke camp. The idea of going home, was simply brought back to reality. Guess it's just outdoors. On being outdoors, u'd enjoy a really idyllic lifestyle. One which just allows you to relax and rest your body and soul.

Had lunch at A&Ws (they should have it back in SG!), and the market nearby was pretty interesting! Not to mention the flower shops. Yings wanted a lily, so I got her one, and it was pretty big too! Haha.

And the rest, is history.

Current Music: BoA - Lights of Seoul