Twins Reunion in Miri
My firm organised a three-day trip to Miri last week. There, I met my twin, Julie in a club.
Do we look alike?
Not bad huh?!
A trip down Malacca
On the end of last year, Su Lin & me were able to make a trip together down to this historic city of our nation, Malacca. Call it our little vacation and as we had no extra money to spare, we decided to have a one day trip, emm, actually a half-day trip.
we left Seremban at 11.30am on a bus (RM5 something per trip per person) and reached Malacca bus terminal at around 1pm. From there, you can take the town bus to Makhota (RM0.80 per trip per person) where you'll reach the Christ Church.
notice a glass room at the right beside the fridge? that's the room with a machine to turn the rice into rice balls! i wonder whether it can do the same with our waste products, imagine a shit ball!
We had the infamous chicken rice balls for lunch. Nothing special actually, it's just chicken rice made into balls, dunno why it's so hyped up as a must eat in Malacca. Heck, the chicken rice balls are not even as big as my balls, ha! It is also not cheap, ten rice balls cost you RM6, plus the chicken for two is RM7, it totals up to RM13! which is double the price you eat in normal chicken rice stall. Maybe I'm not in the right place, we ate it in Famosa Chicken rice ball sdn. bhd beside Renaissance Hotel. If anybody of you have a better place, pls introduce to me to prove me wrong on malacca chicken rice balls.
Then we headed to Christ church. Later we lepak around Jonker street, it's really special though, they have a lot of Malacca delicacies (chendol, pineapple biscuits, etc) and antique shops here. Well, it's really true about Malacca chendol, it's the best i ever eaten in my life! We had it in this shop called Jonker dessert (88). When you ordered the shaved ice, you'll see the tauke pouring generously the thick gula malacca and creamy santan that you just can't wait to have a bite of it! It's really really nice, a bite of it make you feel like in bloody heaven.
this is the baba chendol (RM1.80). note the thick gula malacca and creamy santan....it's definately a must try when you are in malacca
this is mangoe ice kacang (RM2.70). they use real mangoe slices!! i repeat, real mangoe slices!! wa, i'm so going to go back there again to grab a bowl of this
After trying the chendol malacca, we headed to the Saint Paul hill to visit the ruin of Saint Paul church and the A'famosa (which has a very tongue twisting portoguse name that I forgot). More photos here
That's all, it's a very sweet afternoon and having thought that, this is the first time two of us went to somewhere that none of us are familiar with...so it's our first travel together, wow! We actually wanted to try the satay chellup, but unfortunately it's only open in late evening and the last bus back to Seremban is at 7.30pm so we didn't dare to take the risk, well, maybe next time. I'll sure come back for another bowl of the wonderful chendol!
Now everyone can fly - - - - INTERNATIONALLY!
Great news! We will soon be able to fly internationally with budget airlines under the brand name AIR ASIA X! this mean flying to London with as little as RM9.99 (excluding tax and surcharge)!!! Hopefully this piece of exciting news won't turn out to be a big coax. Maybe ASS can organize a graduation trip to places we never dare to talk about before! For further info, click here
Kota Kinabalu adventure part II - Poring hot spring & Manukan Island
Upon leaving Mount. Kinabalu Park after the descent (from part I) from mount Kinabalu on the third day, we headed to poring hotspring intended for a refreshing hot bath. However, the trip proved to be a major disappointment as the so called hot spring is rubbish, even the one in Kuala Kubu Baru (Ulu Selangor) is way way better.
The hot spring was some 30km from the mount. Kinabalu national park and it is really secluded. The accomodation we stayed sucks to the hell (it looked kinda like a haunted house more than a "hostel" *really don't know what category of accomodation that is, it's so fucking run down) and four of us were their only customer that day! Anyway, can't blame anybody as we signed up for super budget package.
The thing that really turned us off was the hotspring itself. It was under renovation when we got there and they tweaked the pump to allow the construction to proceed but leave us with hot water that need at least hours to fill up! The design of the spring is not like the one you see in Japanese movies, no, not at all, don't even think about it. It's like a water tank with four individual cubic where hot water is lead in by pipes and taps. It just felt so bathroom...no hotspring feel at all. As if that was not enough, the tank was leaking!!! wtf??? with so little water and yet the plug did not fit the drainage system!!! I tell you, my tank water level never get pass my ankle level! So there we were, sitting in a pool, waiting for our hot water to get ready, waiting, waiting...surrounded by construction workers and materials in an ambient of noisy drilling sound from the construction work....what a great bath, don't you think so?
we were so pissed that we didn't explore around the area. It was told that the scenery of that park was gorgeous with a lot of fauna and flora to be found, even Rafflesia flower (the biggest and smelliest flower in the world) can be found there. But i guess we had enough of that for the past 2 days. We slept early that night after dinner as like previous 2 days, this place is so fucking ulu that you'll get mad staying there for > 1 night.
We went to Manukan Island the next day. We need to get a ~20 min boat ride from Sutera Habour to the island itself. Along the ride you can see rubbish like plastic bags, empty bottles floating over the sea...well, it just make you hate those fucking tourist who destroy all these natural assets...
We went for snorkeling for the morning. For lunch, we had a fucking expensive buffet here and the food was only s0-so. The buffet cost about RM45 per person with a variety of food - satey, lamb chop, BBQ chicken wings, crabs, fried rice, etc. Look nice but taste blunt, that's what I would say.
barbarians feasting on meat, meat, meat!!!
After lunch, we went for banana boat ride! whew, that's really a great feeling to get toast into the sea! Then we went for further snorkelling before we decided to head back to Kota Kinabalu at about 3.30pm. Unluckily, the sky was turning dark and it started to drizzle. We boarded the the boat in such condition but as soon as the boat departed, the weather turned worse and there was a storm. Wa, me so big boy first time sit board in a storm, feel so nice, like in hollywood movie :) but the rain drops hitting your face on a high speed boat that is open air was not a pleasant feeling, it was so painful! Alas, halfway on our journey, our boatman felt worry and turned back to the island. Hence, we were forced to wait at the jetty for nearly half an hour for the storm to settle down. We finally reached Kota Kinabalu this time and this end our trip to Manukan Island.
*More high resolution pictures (1024*768) here
My Pahang trip
I have the intention to visit Mei Shuet's (my room mate) home town since last two years. But, i always chicken at the very last minute.
I managed to get myself three days off from my research and visited Pahang in last semester break. Mei Shuet's home town is Temerloh. A small town where you can reach after two-hour driving from Kuantan.
Our trip to Pahang appeared to be tiring as the bus broke down at Titiwangsa. (#$%&##@)
Her father Mr. Chiew is a primary school teacher, who I think could be a very good tour guide if he retired from his recent career. My three days in Pahang weren't as bored as I think. Her father brought us to many places.
I managed to get on
Penguin and Michelle at the park.
We visited to her mum's working placen before going to Kuala Krau, a place that i never heard, not even in my geography text book.
Penguin in Kuala Krau:
The next day, her father drove us to Kuantan to visit a best friend of him. The pretty girl on the very left is his best friend's daughter.
Here come to the interesting part. I noticed a Pang's clinic and KK's shops in Kuantan.
KK's tyre at the roadside
KK's...it's a printing shop if i'm not mistaken...
And when I went to wash room...
KK's tap!! (What's so interesting of KK anyway?)
Mei Shuet took me to her grandmother's home on the third day. There tasted the most delicious home - made chicken rice! Yummy!!
When we were on the way back to Penang, we nearly took the wrong bus ata rest station as the similar bus numbers were confusing us!
Although Temerloh is a small town, but there are a lot of delicious food too. I was having every meals with Mei Shuet's famil and I think it is unmannered if I take picture of the food in front of her parents. Thus, there's no photo of food available here. Mei Shuet told me that "Ikan Batin" is famous in Temerloh. I don't ask to try it out as the smell of fish will turn my stomach, especiallly the fish caught from river. If I was forced to taste it, I will eat it with extreme hot chilli so as to cover the unpleasant taste. After all, I won't be able to tell what Ikan Batin taste like. Ha...
Kota Kinabalu adventure part I - mount. Kinabalu
We reached KK on 13th Nov 2006. After noon, we were picked up by our tour guild, Mr. ‘Caesar’ from Suniland travel to spend our whole afternoon in center point (the largest shopping mall in KK) to have our lunch and also to stock whatever we need for the up-coming climb. Besides that, we also took the chance to tour around the area such as the le Meridian Hotel, the Philippine market and took some pictures at the seaside.
In front of Le Maridien Hotel KK
Around 4pm in the evening, we departed from KK to Mount. Kinabalu National park which is around 2 hours ride from the city. We already felt cold and windy even after 1 hour journey and the scenery was superb. At around 7pm, we reached Bayu Lodge (our super cheap hostel which is just outside the entrance to the national park) and had our dinner. The lodge is very small with roughly around 10 rooms. There were 3 bunk beds in our room. I think we were the only guests that night as most of climbers prefer to live in the resort located in the national park itself. Well, how cheap is the place? It has absolutely no facilities except a mattress, a pillow and a thin sheet of blanket. The bathroom is not heated so the icy water could make you jump into the air when you’re in for a bath. There was no aircond or fan or what-so-ever as the place is naturally cold. We slept early that nigh at around 9pm as there was really, I repeat, really nothing else to do.
The journey up to Kinabalu National Park
We woke up early the next morning and were heading for breakfast at 7am. After having breakfast, we entered the national park and waited for our mountain guild to bring us for the climb! However, we were forced to wait for 2 ½ hours because our ah mo climb-mates only arrived from the city at 10.30am!!! fuck em!! I felt so tulan to see other groups leaving one by one towards timpohon gate while we had to wait for those stupid ah mos!!! I think we were one of the last to get to Timpohon gate!
We met a friend while walking to Kinabalu National Park
We shall conquer that mountain!!!
Timpohon gate is officially the starting point of our climb. It is around 20 minutes drive from the national park’s entrance. Oh, before I forgot, we bought a climbing stick from our guild as well, it’s a must and you’ll definitely find it extremely life saving for most part of your climb. It cost about RM3 per stick. If you don’t feel like carrying your bag, you can hire a porter to do so too. It typically cost around RM6-8 per kg. Due to the peer pressure from the other machaohais, I didn’t give away to the porters as I don’t want to be label a sissy although I had a damn bad diarrhea that time.
Timpohon gate
Okay, after so many hours waiting for those ah mos, finally it’s action time. We started the climb around 11.30am. The route was labeled 6km from timpohon gate to Laban Rata (the place where we will spend our night), that’s a cibai lie! It felt like at least triple the length; this must be the longest 6km in my whole life!! There were multiple rest stations along the route where you can refresh yourself with their free-flow untreated water (it's quite nice actually, one sip and you'll are hook to the refreshing, icy mountain water) and replenish your energy with some tidbits you brought along. After the second rest station, I had succumbed and Kang Kai (as KK refered to Kota Kinabalu in this post) and Siu Min went ahead of us. On the other way, Felix was way behind me with the guild. Hence, I was in a way, alone during most time of the climb.
The road up
I spent about 5 hours to reached Laban Rata at about 4pm. I know, I took a shameful lot of time but I always have diarrhea as the reason to blame :) (it's true, I had the worst diarrhea in my life 2 days prior the climb, I repeat, WORST!!) As added info, Kang Kai & Siu Min took 4 hours, felix took 5 1/2 hours. We spent the evening taking lots of pictures as the view here was magnificent. At this height, we were above the clouds and the mount peak seemed so close that as if the second part of the climb looks quite easy (this is a mistake that I painfully regret on the second day). The temperature here is cold and you'll definately need at least a sweater if you want to venture out to the open. The food here is also ridicuously expensive, one 100 plus and a bar of chocolate can easily cost you to about RM10. We paid RM30 to have a buffet dinner and I guessed it was pretty worth it as a plate of fried mee will already cost you RM15. Most of the climbers spent their evening like us (camwhoring) and leisuring around the restaurant area drinking beer. After the dinner, there wasn't anything much to do except to sleep. We were unlucky as the electric supply was interrupted during our stay. There was no luxury of a radiator or a heated bath! The water was so freaking cold that it's chilled into your bone marrow!!! When the shower hit my naked body, water vapour appeared and I looked like some master from a chinese Kung Fu film concentrating his 'qi' before using his ultimate skill. We slept at about 7pm that evening, I think that's the earlist time I tried to sleep in my whole life.
Laban Rata
We woke up at 1.30am in the morning the following day. After getting ready with our full gear on, we left Laban Rata at about 2.30am. It was dark, fucking dark. There wasn't anything to see (as it was soooo dark) and we just kept going up, up and up. At one time, we even had to use rope to propel ourselves along. Bear in mind that the route is a lot tougher than the first part of the climb and the rest stations is more further apart. After 2 hours, I felt so exhausted and yet, the peak was still no where in sight. The thin air also made me so hypoxic that i felt nauseated. However, this time I was able to follow the two cibais as I was so afraid that I would be along like the first part of the climb. Finally, at around 5.45am, we managed to reached Low's peak (the highest peak of mount Kinabalu) just in time to see the sunrise!
Sun rise at the peak
We are on top of the world!
Yes! We finally made it to the highest peak of south east asia!! The view was so great that's it worth every sweat to reach here! The wind was very strong and chilling here that even I took off my gloves for a while to take picture, it felt as if that your hand will start to necrotize if you don't put back your glove soon. The worst thing was that you have no where to hide from the wind on the peak! We headed down at around 6.15am and the journey down back to Raban Lata was another 2 1/2 hours. We had a little rest in our room before we departed from Raban Lata to descend back to Timpohon gate.
The descent took us about 4 hours (5 hours for Felix). Siu Min and I suffered from knee strain and we walked like a crab when we went down steps. Although the descent didn't strain your cardiovascular system at all but the strain to your lower limb is enough to slow you down a lot. We reached Timpohon gate at 1pm and got our certificate in Kinabalu National Park before we headed for Poring Hot springs. This will be continued in part II, stay tuned.
