It’s been a month plus since I’ve updated my blog. I guess the lazy habit is kicking in recently or maybe I’ve been spending too much time in facebook, haha. Oh well, getting back to business. Today, I’ll like to talk about the concept of “impermanence” in my own view. Before you point to me and say, “Oh boy, he’s preaching”, I’ll like to say that I was never the kind of person who preaches or is fanatically into religion. It’s just I think this is something which is universally true and worth mentioning, at least to those who want to tinker about it. So let’s get started.
Nothing is forever in this world and that concept holds true to everything whether it is alive or it’s not. You and me even this world will one day end and we should carry this awareness with us in our everyday lives. The problem with most of us is that we tend to forget this fact most of the time we should be remembering it, or we are too ignorant to even care of it’s truth. One way to explain this is our possession. All of our possession is actually just temporary borrowed. We will never possess anything forever. Even the body we are using is borrowed and one day when we die, it’s time to return it. That is why we should not be overly possessive of something we have now because it will not be forever ours. A very true example of this theory is money. People now are getting more and more materialistic thinking and to most of us money is very important. I’m not saying money isn’t important but there are greater things of importance then just money in this world. There are many people who are too possessed in gaining financial wealth that they didn’t realize that they are neglecting many other important aspect of life, and that they can’t really carry all their wealth into their grave.
Realization of the fact of “impermanence” will also make you feel happier. Why is this so? It is because by realizing this, you will know how to let go of things and not hold on to it. A very practical example is your job. Even if you are a CEO/manager of a company today, it does not mean you will be a CEO/manager forever. Realization of the fact that one day your job will end definitely will make it easier for you to let go when the time comes and not hold on to it too dearly and probably making yourself and others miserable. Same goes for everything in life especially to people. We all know for certain that one day our parents, loves ones, friends and even ourselves will die. With this realization, we will better appreciate the moments and time with them now and won’t make ourselves too miserable with grief when they are no longer here because death is part of nature that we all cannot escape from.
I think I’ll stop here before I bore everyone to death with my “preaching”, so I’ll just let you all tinker about this until I write again next time, probability after I’m bored with facebook :P, Ya know, my interest in facebook is “impermanence” too :P
Monday, December 10, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
Tips to fail in an interview
Everytime we get tips on how to pass an interview, how to release our most potential charms to the interviewers. But how about when we just go for an interview to test the market, or just to waste time, or just.. going for fun but we do not want this job? Here I give you some tips :
Tip #1
Park you vehicle at the manager's parking lot. You will get the guard waiting for you when you come back from the interview. If the guard stops you before you get to go in, mumble something in spanish or japanese in fast mode and just walk in, not giving the guard a chance to talk. Smile broadly and say you do not speak english.
Tip #2
Be late for your interview. Give whatever reason like my gold fish has just given birth or you couldn't find your lucky teddy bear which you must bring together wherever you go. Take up your teddy bear and use your teddy to wave to them as you say these. And greet them with "Oi Oi".
Tip #3
Forget your notes, forget your glasses, forget your resumes. Better still, forget to bring money and tell them you have to borrow some from them to go home.
Tip #4
Dress your character. If you are a rock person, don't forget the metal chain around your neck. People always like someone with a character. If you have tatoo on your backside, flaunt it.
Tip #5
Delete important files in the computer if you are given a machine to work with. Screw up whatever machine they let you to work on, may it be just a photocopy machine. Press any buttons you like and giggle as you do it.
Tip #6
Eat if you are hungry. Don't be shy. Take out your nasi lemak and eat while they are asking you questions. If you don't mind sharing, do ask them if they want to have a bite. This is to be polite.
Tip #7
If you get bored in the interview room, start to imagine things. You can imagine the interviewers as aliens, or some cartoon character talking, or better still you can imagine them naked. If they are the gender of the opposite sex and they are gorgeous, you will be drooling. However, if they are not up to your definition of attractiveness, you will have a good time giggling.
I hope you get a good lesson from this and may put it into use. Pass this techniques around. It's always good to share.
Tip #1
Park you vehicle at the manager's parking lot. You will get the guard waiting for you when you come back from the interview. If the guard stops you before you get to go in, mumble something in spanish or japanese in fast mode and just walk in, not giving the guard a chance to talk. Smile broadly and say you do not speak english.
Tip #2
Be late for your interview. Give whatever reason like my gold fish has just given birth or you couldn't find your lucky teddy bear which you must bring together wherever you go. Take up your teddy bear and use your teddy to wave to them as you say these. And greet them with "Oi Oi".
Tip #3
Forget your notes, forget your glasses, forget your resumes. Better still, forget to bring money and tell them you have to borrow some from them to go home.
Tip #4
Dress your character. If you are a rock person, don't forget the metal chain around your neck. People always like someone with a character. If you have tatoo on your backside, flaunt it.
Tip #5
Delete important files in the computer if you are given a machine to work with. Screw up whatever machine they let you to work on, may it be just a photocopy machine. Press any buttons you like and giggle as you do it.
Tip #6
Eat if you are hungry. Don't be shy. Take out your nasi lemak and eat while they are asking you questions. If you don't mind sharing, do ask them if they want to have a bite. This is to be polite.
Tip #7
If you get bored in the interview room, start to imagine things. You can imagine the interviewers as aliens, or some cartoon character talking, or better still you can imagine them naked. If they are the gender of the opposite sex and they are gorgeous, you will be drooling. However, if they are not up to your definition of attractiveness, you will have a good time giggling.
I hope you get a good lesson from this and may put it into use. Pass this techniques around. It's always good to share.
Trip to Mount Kinabalu (Part III)
Rise and shine, today is the big day, the day where we will travel to Mount Doom on Mordor to destroy the one ring and save the world, Oppps, sorry. I mean today we will finally climb up Malaysia’s tallest mountain, Mount Kinabalu. Local time 6:30am. We set out to eat our breakfast at the Mesilau resort. It comprises of toast bread, two eggs, one sausage and some baked beans. For drinks we have coffee, tea and a cup of orange juice. After eating our breakfast, almost all of us went to do our “big business” before gathering up at the meeting point for the climb. We were also provided with our packed lunch from the Mesilau resort. (Inside the pack are satu ketul fried chicken, one egg, two cheese sandwiches and satu biji orange) At the gather point, we were introduced to two of our guides, Jasirin and Duis who provided us some explanation before the climb and also distribute us our tags (climbing permit). From there also, some of us purchase our tongkat sakti to be use for the climb which cost us RM3.50 each. I’m really thankful I purchased one because it really helps a lot during our climb.
All geared up, we are now ready for the big challenge. Oh, before that, we did unload some of our luggage for the guide to bring up (being the lazy people we are :P). It cost us RM 8:00 per Kg but the rates are between RM6:00 to RM 7:00 usually. Maybe inflation caught up with porter services also huh? :P. What I have in my bag after that was just my raincoat, medicine, my packed lunch and two bottles of water. Ok let’s climb the mountain. Local time: 9.30am. The first kilometer was a breeze and we cleared it within 45 minutes or so. Then, we took a brief rest at one of the rest stops there; I think it’s called the “Bambu Shelter”. After drinking some water, we continue our journey and it’s descend from here all the way down. This one kilometer or so downhill was the easiest trail for our upward journey. Soon we were thinking of reaching Laban Rata by 3:00pm, little did we know what’s in store for us later :D. After crossing a bridge (Jambatan Gantung Kipuyut), the trail suddenly turned to ascend.
This is where our nightmare starts. The trail going upwards was steps and rocks all the way. It was taxing to our body and somehow or other, the weather is getting colder now. We reached somewhere at kilometer 4 before we decided to take a break and regain our energy with chocolates bars and salted water. After a much needed rest, we continue upward with a slower pace. Somehow like nearer to the eye of Sauron, the harder it gets, the sky started to rain. Thank god we have our raincoat with us. Without wasting time, we put on our disposable raincoat and continue to push upwards until we reach “Lompoyou Shelter” where we took another break. Local Time around 12.45pm.
After taking a short break around 10 minutes, we continue climbing again until we reached “Layang-Layang” intersection. This intersection was the joining of the Timpohon trail and the Mesilau trail (Mesilau trail was the one we took. It was longer then the Timpohon trail by 2.2 kilometers or so but it’s easier to ascend and the scenery is much more beautiful compared to Timpohon trail). Reaching here around 2.30pm, we realized our dream of reaching Laban Rata before 3pm was far from happening.
From Layang-Layang to Laban Rata was only two kilometers but boy, these two kilometers are killers. The air is getting thinner as we ascend and it’s all big rocks to climb from here not to mention the freezing temperature and strong wind blowing at us. It was a torture. We’re making very slow progress from here, almost taking an hour plus to cover a kilometer or so. We practically walk 10 to 15 steps before resting for a minute to catch our breath. If the coldness doesn’t kill you, the wind will. Actually the wind is worst then the cold. I can still bear with the freezing temperature but as the cold wind blows on you, you’ll feel like you’re being frostbite to death. Local time 5:00pm.
“Are we there yet Mr Frodo, I can’t take it anymore”. The rain never stops and my hand has lost almost all it feels because I’m not wearing any gloves. Not to mention, I’m only wearing a T-shirt and a short pants. If not for my raincoat, I’ll be frozen in my tracks especially when the wind blows. “Another half a kilometers to go” as we practically dragged ourselves up the mountain. “Are we there yet?” “No, we’re not”. Another 20 minutes, “Are we there yet?” “No we are still not”. An hour passes, and we finally saw the first sign of Laban Rata rest station. It was like heaven, after our long climb for we finally reached our rest stop.
Moving inside the rest house, the temperature immediately rises back to a bearable degree. Ahhhh, finally I can rest my aching body. We reached Laban Rata at 6:00pm and after dumping all my luggage at the nearest empty table we can find, I went to the counter to settle our check-in for the stay at Gunting Lagadan Hut later tonight. After that’s done with, it’s time to hit the dining area while we waited for the rest of our friends to arrive (three of us reached Laban Rata while 7 more of our friends were separated into small groups). Our dinner there is a buffet style as there is a selection of two meats, two vegetables, some jellies and tea and coffee for drinks. Not exactly a 5 star buffet but more like an all you can eat canteen food. Even when we reached there, some of the dish is almost finished up. After filling my stomach, I drink a few cups of tea while waiting for the arrival of our friends. The first sign of them was at 7:00pm as they walk in to the rest station obviously fatigued. After taking their rest and dinner, it’s almost 8:00pm and the Laban Rata rest stops closes at 8:30pm. We have to depart to our overnight dorm soon. The hike up to Gunting Lagadan Hut was in pure darkness and we have only our torchlight to guide us on our way. It was just a 300 meters hike up but none a less, it’s a taxing one.
Reaching Gunting Lagadan at around 8:45pm, it’s almost time for the place to close down again for the night. All huts and dorm will silent out, as they put it at 9:30pm. What this means is all lights will be out at 9:30 and we are all required to be silent after that time. This is so all the people can get enough rest for the hike early next day at 2:00am. After taking a super fast shower (the heaters for the showers are supposed to auto shutdown at 9:00pm also), we all went to our room to rest for the night, or at least tried to rest. My room consisted of a two double decker bed and all the rooms here are fashioned in the same style. Seven of my friends sleep at another small room with four double decker bed as two of us sleep at a separate room. It’s like sleeping at a bunk dorm. There are comforters at the bed but trust me, with the coldness; you won’t be getting any sleep if you’re not wearing two sweaters, a glove and socks. It is the best if you have a sleeping bag as that will be able to provide you with some comfort from the cold.
Turning and restless for the whole night, I honestly didn’t get any sleep at all. Partly it was due to the cold and partly it was the anxiety for the hike tomorrow. Local time 10:00pm. It was around 12:30am the next day when the first sound of rain begins. It was a heavy one from the sound of it. The rain continues to fall and it never stops. We were suppose to wake at 1:00am for the hike to the submit but as the rains continues, so was our hope destroyed. The rangers has closed up the submit trail due to the bad weather as the water build up from the submit has cause a path of water to run downward the trail like a waterfall. Any climbing attempt now will be a suicide as you would probably be rushed away with the water from the submit. Local time 3:00am. All hope of making our attempt to the submit wasted, we went back to bed but as usual, I only managed a 30 minutes nap until 7:00am.
Waking up in a very very cold morning and with a disappointed look at our face, we packed and prepare our descend to Timpohon Gate. The irony is that it’s still raining heavily at this time. Our descend was another adventure by itself but I’ll leave that tale for another time. To be continued……or maybe not :D.
All geared up, we are now ready for the big challenge. Oh, before that, we did unload some of our luggage for the guide to bring up (being the lazy people we are :P). It cost us RM 8:00 per Kg but the rates are between RM6:00 to RM 7:00 usually. Maybe inflation caught up with porter services also huh? :P. What I have in my bag after that was just my raincoat, medicine, my packed lunch and two bottles of water. Ok let’s climb the mountain. Local time: 9.30am. The first kilometer was a breeze and we cleared it within 45 minutes or so. Then, we took a brief rest at one of the rest stops there; I think it’s called the “Bambu Shelter”. After drinking some water, we continue our journey and it’s descend from here all the way down. This one kilometer or so downhill was the easiest trail for our upward journey. Soon we were thinking of reaching Laban Rata by 3:00pm, little did we know what’s in store for us later :D. After crossing a bridge (Jambatan Gantung Kipuyut), the trail suddenly turned to ascend.
This is where our nightmare starts. The trail going upwards was steps and rocks all the way. It was taxing to our body and somehow or other, the weather is getting colder now. We reached somewhere at kilometer 4 before we decided to take a break and regain our energy with chocolates bars and salted water. After a much needed rest, we continue upward with a slower pace. Somehow like nearer to the eye of Sauron, the harder it gets, the sky started to rain. Thank god we have our raincoat with us. Without wasting time, we put on our disposable raincoat and continue to push upwards until we reach “Lompoyou Shelter” where we took another break. Local Time around 12.45pm.
After taking a short break around 10 minutes, we continue climbing again until we reached “Layang-Layang” intersection. This intersection was the joining of the Timpohon trail and the Mesilau trail (Mesilau trail was the one we took. It was longer then the Timpohon trail by 2.2 kilometers or so but it’s easier to ascend and the scenery is much more beautiful compared to Timpohon trail). Reaching here around 2.30pm, we realized our dream of reaching Laban Rata before 3pm was far from happening.
From Layang-Layang to Laban Rata was only two kilometers but boy, these two kilometers are killers. The air is getting thinner as we ascend and it’s all big rocks to climb from here not to mention the freezing temperature and strong wind blowing at us. It was a torture. We’re making very slow progress from here, almost taking an hour plus to cover a kilometer or so. We practically walk 10 to 15 steps before resting for a minute to catch our breath. If the coldness doesn’t kill you, the wind will. Actually the wind is worst then the cold. I can still bear with the freezing temperature but as the cold wind blows on you, you’ll feel like you’re being frostbite to death. Local time 5:00pm.
“Are we there yet Mr Frodo, I can’t take it anymore”. The rain never stops and my hand has lost almost all it feels because I’m not wearing any gloves. Not to mention, I’m only wearing a T-shirt and a short pants. If not for my raincoat, I’ll be frozen in my tracks especially when the wind blows. “Another half a kilometers to go” as we practically dragged ourselves up the mountain. “Are we there yet?” “No, we’re not”. Another 20 minutes, “Are we there yet?” “No we are still not”. An hour passes, and we finally saw the first sign of Laban Rata rest station. It was like heaven, after our long climb for we finally reached our rest stop.
Moving inside the rest house, the temperature immediately rises back to a bearable degree. Ahhhh, finally I can rest my aching body. We reached Laban Rata at 6:00pm and after dumping all my luggage at the nearest empty table we can find, I went to the counter to settle our check-in for the stay at Gunting Lagadan Hut later tonight. After that’s done with, it’s time to hit the dining area while we waited for the rest of our friends to arrive (three of us reached Laban Rata while 7 more of our friends were separated into small groups). Our dinner there is a buffet style as there is a selection of two meats, two vegetables, some jellies and tea and coffee for drinks. Not exactly a 5 star buffet but more like an all you can eat canteen food. Even when we reached there, some of the dish is almost finished up. After filling my stomach, I drink a few cups of tea while waiting for the arrival of our friends. The first sign of them was at 7:00pm as they walk in to the rest station obviously fatigued. After taking their rest and dinner, it’s almost 8:00pm and the Laban Rata rest stops closes at 8:30pm. We have to depart to our overnight dorm soon. The hike up to Gunting Lagadan Hut was in pure darkness and we have only our torchlight to guide us on our way. It was just a 300 meters hike up but none a less, it’s a taxing one.
Reaching Gunting Lagadan at around 8:45pm, it’s almost time for the place to close down again for the night. All huts and dorm will silent out, as they put it at 9:30pm. What this means is all lights will be out at 9:30 and we are all required to be silent after that time. This is so all the people can get enough rest for the hike early next day at 2:00am. After taking a super fast shower (the heaters for the showers are supposed to auto shutdown at 9:00pm also), we all went to our room to rest for the night, or at least tried to rest. My room consisted of a two double decker bed and all the rooms here are fashioned in the same style. Seven of my friends sleep at another small room with four double decker bed as two of us sleep at a separate room. It’s like sleeping at a bunk dorm. There are comforters at the bed but trust me, with the coldness; you won’t be getting any sleep if you’re not wearing two sweaters, a glove and socks. It is the best if you have a sleeping bag as that will be able to provide you with some comfort from the cold.
Turning and restless for the whole night, I honestly didn’t get any sleep at all. Partly it was due to the cold and partly it was the anxiety for the hike tomorrow. Local time 10:00pm. It was around 12:30am the next day when the first sound of rain begins. It was a heavy one from the sound of it. The rain continues to fall and it never stops. We were suppose to wake at 1:00am for the hike to the submit but as the rains continues, so was our hope destroyed. The rangers has closed up the submit trail due to the bad weather as the water build up from the submit has cause a path of water to run downward the trail like a waterfall. Any climbing attempt now will be a suicide as you would probably be rushed away with the water from the submit. Local time 3:00am. All hope of making our attempt to the submit wasted, we went back to bed but as usual, I only managed a 30 minutes nap until 7:00am.
Waking up in a very very cold morning and with a disappointed look at our face, we packed and prepare our descend to Timpohon Gate. The irony is that it’s still raining heavily at this time. Our descend was another adventure by itself but I’ll leave that tale for another time. To be continued……or maybe not :D.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Shop for Kampung Adidas
Before we went to Kinabalu Park, we stopped at a small town, Tamparuli to have our lunch as all of us were starving. After our lunch, I asked our tour guide, Jason where can we get the so called "Kampung Adidas" as I heard the shoes is going to help in hiking. Luckily, the shop is just next to the coffee shop that we had lunch.
This is the old tyle grocer which we hardly see today.
We were lucky as the shop has stock enough for all of us. At first, some of us still refrain from buying it. But come on...it's only cost you RM4.50 per pair. You can't even buy a pair of slipper nowadays. So, everyone buy it at last. (Although all of us didn't wear during hiking as we felt it's not comfortable after tried on it. :p)
Weird thing happened when we paid for the shoes. The shopkeeper put the shoes in a Carrefour plastic bag. At first I thought maybe the shopkeeper is lack of plastic bag, but everyone of us also get the carrefour plastic bag... I started to wonder is the shop sponsored by Carrefour?
Carrefour plastic bag given by shopkeeper.
Finally we got our "Kampung Adidas".. haha :D
Kampung Adidas at RM4.50
And now it's inside the store room.
Do you know why it is called "Kampung Adidas"? This is why
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Trip to Mount Kinabalu (Part II)
As the day dawns, as the sun rises from the east and the smell of morning dew blew into my room, I realize…….. I’m late. Its 6:30am and I’m suppose to wake up to prepare for my trip. Yes, this is the day for our trip to conquer the tallest mountain in Malaysia, or at least we thought to conquer then :P. So, skipping to explain all the mundane daily task I do like brushing, bathing etc etc, I’ll fast forward to the time when we reach the airport. Local time 7.45am (Not that we are going overseas also :P ). I and two of my friends were the first to reach the airport as we need to “tumpang” my other friend who starts work at 8.00am, so as to say, no choice lah. Reaching the airport, we start to scan our luggage for check-in and then the waits begins…… still waiting…… stomach getting hungry…… It was then two of us decided to get some “tasty” fried nuggets and chickens from the shop beside the airport to fulfill our hungry stomach. After eating the next most expensive fried chicken after KFC (One piece of chicken cost us a whooping RM4.00), we continue to wait with a fuller stomach and a lighter pocket. Around 8:40am the rest of our friends arrive at the airport and we starts to check in. As our flight boards at 9.45am, we roughly have an hour before we board. More sitting and idling away our time at the Penang International Airport while some of us fill our stomach with a choice of overly priced breads :D. Then the time arrive where we board our Air Asia flight AK something something (forgot the number already :P) bound to Kota Kinabalu. As expected from a budget flight, the whole trip was like sitting in an express bus minus the jerking (Ok, sometimes turbulence does cause some jerking :D). The flight last roughly around two hours and 40 minutes before we each Kota Kinabalu International Airport.
Touchdown at Kota Kinabalu (shall be referred as KK from now onwards because I’m lazy to type :P ) around 12:50pm and we are greeted by our tour guide. 10 of us hop into a van and a taxi (somehow I get the taxi plus all our luggage sitting beside someone I shall refer to as Big “Fan Chiong” -.- ). From there, our “Tau Eu” (ermm, soya sauce??) bring us to a place for “makan” somewhere at Tamparuli (A small town). Our lunch? Supposedly the famous mee of Sabah with “char siu” and eggs slices. My verdict? We are totally cheated out of our money like the usual tourist. Too bad I don’t have the name of the shop with me now or I would advice you all never to touch that place. We fork out Rm3.50 for a plate of mee that’s only worth Rm2.00 the most and considering for usual Sabah portion, it’s very small. So after our unsatisfied lunch, we went for a short stop around the same area to get our Adidas Kampung for RM4.50 a pair (which later became white elephant after one night of usage). With our buying urge satisfied, we continue in our journey to KK national park for hiking registration. Oh, by the way, the rains starts now :D. All the way to KK national park, the road is winding and turning (Erm, just take Ferringgi or Teluk Bahang ‘s route X 3 and you’ll get the idea.) and by the time we reach there (include the superb “too fast too furious” driving skill of the van driver), some of us isn’t feeling that well already. Registration at the park took us around 20 minutes and we are off again on our way to Mesilau Nature Resort Lodges for our first night stay.
Arrived at Mesilau Nature Resort around 6:00pm and our first trail has begun. To get to our lodge, we have to walk up a steep path and with our luggage as burden; I’m already half dead before we even begin our climb. After reaching the lodge, we each takes turn to bath and prepare for the steamboat dinner which is supposed to begin at 7:00pm. I’m starting to feel cold by now (It’s like Bukit Tinggi) and luckily our rooms are heated (but unluckily, tomorrow’s room is not =.=). After resting and taking turns to freshen ourselves, we set out to eat our first dinner in Sabah. The dinner itself can be considered the best meal we have for our trip. There are a variety of fish balls, chicken meat, meatballs and prawns for us to cook. Oh I shouldn’t forget to mention one big basket of seemingly endless vegetables also. (Vegetables in Sabah sure are cheep ^_^). After stuffing ourselves full, we retire to our lodge and there, we continue to eat >.<.
This time though, we tried out one of the fruits that are only available in Sabah and Sarawak. It’s called “tarap” and it looks something like a jackfruit. It’s meat is also like a jackfruit but each of it is smaller and juicier. The taste, well it’s very hard to explain without trying it but I would say it taste sweet and sour at the same time plus a bit milky. With a very full stomach, we all went back into our room and start to sleep for tomorrow is our big day. Local time 11.30pm. I’ll talk about the actual climb in my next post. To be continued….
Touchdown at Kota Kinabalu (shall be referred as KK from now onwards because I’m lazy to type :P ) around 12:50pm and we are greeted by our tour guide. 10 of us hop into a van and a taxi (somehow I get the taxi plus all our luggage sitting beside someone I shall refer to as Big “Fan Chiong” -.- ). From there, our “Tau Eu” (ermm, soya sauce??) bring us to a place for “makan” somewhere at Tamparuli (A small town). Our lunch? Supposedly the famous mee of Sabah with “char siu” and eggs slices. My verdict? We are totally cheated out of our money like the usual tourist. Too bad I don’t have the name of the shop with me now or I would advice you all never to touch that place. We fork out Rm3.50 for a plate of mee that’s only worth Rm2.00 the most and considering for usual Sabah portion, it’s very small. So after our unsatisfied lunch, we went for a short stop around the same area to get our Adidas Kampung for RM4.50 a pair (which later became white elephant after one night of usage). With our buying urge satisfied, we continue in our journey to KK national park for hiking registration. Oh, by the way, the rains starts now :D. All the way to KK national park, the road is winding and turning (Erm, just take Ferringgi or Teluk Bahang ‘s route X 3 and you’ll get the idea.) and by the time we reach there (include the superb “too fast too furious” driving skill of the van driver), some of us isn’t feeling that well already. Registration at the park took us around 20 minutes and we are off again on our way to Mesilau Nature Resort Lodges for our first night stay.
Arrived at Mesilau Nature Resort around 6:00pm and our first trail has begun. To get to our lodge, we have to walk up a steep path and with our luggage as burden; I’m already half dead before we even begin our climb. After reaching the lodge, we each takes turn to bath and prepare for the steamboat dinner which is supposed to begin at 7:00pm. I’m starting to feel cold by now (It’s like Bukit Tinggi) and luckily our rooms are heated (but unluckily, tomorrow’s room is not =.=). After resting and taking turns to freshen ourselves, we set out to eat our first dinner in Sabah. The dinner itself can be considered the best meal we have for our trip. There are a variety of fish balls, chicken meat, meatballs and prawns for us to cook. Oh I shouldn’t forget to mention one big basket of seemingly endless vegetables also. (Vegetables in Sabah sure are cheep ^_^). After stuffing ourselves full, we retire to our lodge and there, we continue to eat >.<.
This time though, we tried out one of the fruits that are only available in Sabah and Sarawak. It’s called “tarap” and it looks something like a jackfruit. It’s meat is also like a jackfruit but each of it is smaller and juicier. The taste, well it’s very hard to explain without trying it but I would say it taste sweet and sour at the same time plus a bit milky. With a very full stomach, we all went back into our room and start to sleep for tomorrow is our big day. Local time 11.30pm. I’ll talk about the actual climb in my next post. To be continued….
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Mount Kinabalu Trail Map
Mount Kinabalu Trail Map
Take nothing but photographs,
Leave nothing but footprints.
As above photo shown (I guess it’s a bit blurry.. Will replace it with a better one if I can get =P), there are two trails to reach summit of Mount Kinabalu.a) Timpohan Gate (6km to Laban Rata)
Timpohon Gate – Kandis Shelter – Ubah Shelter – Lowii Shelter – Mempening Shelter – Layang-Layang Hut – Villosa Shelter – Paka Shelter – Laban Rata – Sayat-Sayat Hut – Low’s Peak (Summit of Mount Kinabalu)
b) Mesilau Gate (8.5km to Laban Rata)
Mesilau Gate – Bambu – Nepenthes Shelter – Tikaloo Shelter – Lompoyou Shelter – Magnolia Shelter – Layang-Layang Hut – Villosa Shelter – Paka Shelter – Laban Rata – Sayat-Sayat Hut – Low’s Peak (Summit of Mount Kinabalu)
Climbers can choose either Timpohan Gate or Mesilau Gate (15 kilometers away past Kinabalu Park HQ) as climber starting point based on climber preference. In order to reach summit of Mount Kinabalu, climbers will pass through Laban Rata rest house. Most climbers will take a rest at Laban Rata rest house before continue their journey to the top of Mount Kinabalu. (Except you’re super fit =D)
Most of Mount Kinabalu climbers will have their rest at 9pm and wake up at 1.30am. About 2am, climbers will start their second phase of the climb which is to reach summit of Mount Kinabalu, Low's Peak.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Trip to Mount Kinabalu (Part I)
Many say humans are the craziest creatures in the world. That may not be too far from the fact. We like to challenge ourselves just for fun, doing insane things at insane times. Most of these things, I cannot comprehend until I myself was involve in one of it. Out of the blue, Hokkien people say “chiak bao siao eng” we decided to challenge Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in our country and ranked 3rd in South East Asia smacked right at the monsoon season. See the connection? Insane things: Climbing up a high mountain, Insane time: It’s the monsoon for crying out loud. So, armed with totally no information except that Mount Kinabalu is a mountain in Sabah, we set out to plan for our trip.
First thing first was booking the trip. Although I’m not practically involved in this, I know that we need to book way in advance, some sort like five to six months ahead. Booking on your own without going through a tour agent will be much harder, as all the place will be “sapu-ed” up by the tour agents. This, we learn was another fact. We ended up booking through a tour agent (which by experience later, I will say it’s not too bad. If you want the contacts, feel free to contact one of the members here) which cost us around Rm 600 per person. We did this booking sometime in April if I’m not mistaken. I’m not going to explain in details what the package includes as I will leave it to my friend who actually did the booking to tell you more.
After booking the trip, so was our fate sealed. No more turning back, now comes the real preparation. We need to train for the trip. Well, considering we are all lazy bums without much exercise, this is quite an insane thing to do by itself, but no matter, we will “Just-do-it”. Sooooo, we started out our “inten-sive” training by trying out Bukit Jambu Hill. The first time after so many months of negligence is taking its toll. It took me around 45 minutes just to reach the peak and I’m like a fish out of water when I finally reach there. This is where it dawns to me that we are doomed if we are to go challenge mount Kinabalu in this condition. So, to step up the effort, we decided that we will train at least once every week at Bukit Jambu Hill which we hold true for a few weeks at least. Then the lazy genes in us set in and somehow or other in the end, the people who followed this schedule became less and less until sometimes I’m the only one going to the hike. To put things in simpler terms, our ideal training schedule is turned into a “once in a blue moon thing.” We ended up training a lot less then we expected before the trip.
Fast forward to August and its time to buy and prepare the stuff needed for our trip. After reading various forums and various articles and listened to various different advice from friends of friends who had went there before, our purchasing list can reach one end of the road from the other end of the same road. So, what are we suppose to buy and prepare? Actually this depends very much on your personal choice and you’ll only know what you need once you go experience the climb for yourself. To cut the crap short, I’ll list down a few items that’s a must bring for the climb. (As least according to my own personal experience.)
1.) A backpack (This one is pretty obvious. Without a backpack, you’ll have to hand carry your stuff up the mountain and if you make it, let me know :D My advice here will be to find a backpack with straps on your chest and waist and make sure to test the burden on your shoulder before you buy. A good backpack should distribute the weight behind your waist more than your shoulder. As for the size of the backpack, for me, a 45 liters backpack should be enough for the trip but if you’re looking for long term use, you can buy a bigger one).
2.) A pair of shoes (Forget what all the people says about what shoes to buy. As long as you can be comfortable in the shoes and you can find a good grip with it, you can wear it for the climb. This is one lesson we learned by experience. Many people and forum says wearing the so called rubber “Adidas Kampung” was the best shoe to go up. So, like loyal followers, all of us went to buy the “Adidas Kampung” when we reach Kota Kinabalu which cost us Rm4.50. We test wear it for the night before the climb and then all of us send our “Adidas Kampung” back to our kampung permanently.)
3.) Raincoat. (You can either bring a disposable type or a reusable type. The pros and cons? With disposable ones, your carry weight will be lighter but strong wind can easily tear it into pieces so you’ll probably need two to three of these. With the reusable ones, it will be more resistance to the wind but then it will be heavier to carry.)
4.) Gloves (Unless you are insane like me and some of my friend, please bring a pair of waterproof gloves when you’re going. The temperature there can reach 6-7 degrees Celsius and you won’t want to expose your hand to the chilling wind and numbing coldness when you’re climbing up the mountain.)
5.) Hat/Mask (A ski mask will be perfect. You just need something that can protect your face from the cold but please don’t go and get a gas mask, :P )
6.) Medicine (This is just for emergency use but you’ll need it just to be safe. All you need is a few plasters, some antiseptic lotion/cream, 1 strips of panadol, some pills for vomiting and nausea and some pills for diarrhea and stomachache.)
7.) Food for energy (You’ll need a lot of energy for the climb and that’s why you will need to prepare some food to bring along. Best is to get some power/energy bars or some raisins and nuts bar.)
8.) A warm jacket (This item is needed when you reach Laban Rata for your overnight stay as the temperature there can reach as low as six to seven degrees and you’ll start to freeze if you just have your t-shirt with you. I would recommend that you bring a sleeping bag with you if you’re staying at the lodge without heaters.)
Well, that’s almost all the items we need and all our preparations are done. So we’re all set for our big adventure right? That’s what we think also but preparing and experiencing the thing is really different. I will talk about the experience there in my next posting. To Be Continued……
First thing first was booking the trip. Although I’m not practically involved in this, I know that we need to book way in advance, some sort like five to six months ahead. Booking on your own without going through a tour agent will be much harder, as all the place will be “sapu-ed” up by the tour agents. This, we learn was another fact. We ended up booking through a tour agent (which by experience later, I will say it’s not too bad. If you want the contacts, feel free to contact one of the members here) which cost us around Rm 600 per person. We did this booking sometime in April if I’m not mistaken. I’m not going to explain in details what the package includes as I will leave it to my friend who actually did the booking to tell you more.
After booking the trip, so was our fate sealed. No more turning back, now comes the real preparation. We need to train for the trip. Well, considering we are all lazy bums without much exercise, this is quite an insane thing to do by itself, but no matter, we will “Just-do-it”. Sooooo, we started out our “inten-sive” training by trying out Bukit Jambu Hill. The first time after so many months of negligence is taking its toll. It took me around 45 minutes just to reach the peak and I’m like a fish out of water when I finally reach there. This is where it dawns to me that we are doomed if we are to go challenge mount Kinabalu in this condition. So, to step up the effort, we decided that we will train at least once every week at Bukit Jambu Hill which we hold true for a few weeks at least. Then the lazy genes in us set in and somehow or other in the end, the people who followed this schedule became less and less until sometimes I’m the only one going to the hike. To put things in simpler terms, our ideal training schedule is turned into a “once in a blue moon thing.” We ended up training a lot less then we expected before the trip.
Fast forward to August and its time to buy and prepare the stuff needed for our trip. After reading various forums and various articles and listened to various different advice from friends of friends who had went there before, our purchasing list can reach one end of the road from the other end of the same road. So, what are we suppose to buy and prepare? Actually this depends very much on your personal choice and you’ll only know what you need once you go experience the climb for yourself. To cut the crap short, I’ll list down a few items that’s a must bring for the climb. (As least according to my own personal experience.)
1.) A backpack (This one is pretty obvious. Without a backpack, you’ll have to hand carry your stuff up the mountain and if you make it, let me know :D My advice here will be to find a backpack with straps on your chest and waist and make sure to test the burden on your shoulder before you buy. A good backpack should distribute the weight behind your waist more than your shoulder. As for the size of the backpack, for me, a 45 liters backpack should be enough for the trip but if you’re looking for long term use, you can buy a bigger one).
2.) A pair of shoes (Forget what all the people says about what shoes to buy. As long as you can be comfortable in the shoes and you can find a good grip with it, you can wear it for the climb. This is one lesson we learned by experience. Many people and forum says wearing the so called rubber “Adidas Kampung” was the best shoe to go up. So, like loyal followers, all of us went to buy the “Adidas Kampung” when we reach Kota Kinabalu which cost us Rm4.50. We test wear it for the night before the climb and then all of us send our “Adidas Kampung” back to our kampung permanently.)
3.) Raincoat. (You can either bring a disposable type or a reusable type. The pros and cons? With disposable ones, your carry weight will be lighter but strong wind can easily tear it into pieces so you’ll probably need two to three of these. With the reusable ones, it will be more resistance to the wind but then it will be heavier to carry.)
4.) Gloves (Unless you are insane like me and some of my friend, please bring a pair of waterproof gloves when you’re going. The temperature there can reach 6-7 degrees Celsius and you won’t want to expose your hand to the chilling wind and numbing coldness when you’re climbing up the mountain.)
5.) Hat/Mask (A ski mask will be perfect. You just need something that can protect your face from the cold but please don’t go and get a gas mask, :P )
6.) Medicine (This is just for emergency use but you’ll need it just to be safe. All you need is a few plasters, some antiseptic lotion/cream, 1 strips of panadol, some pills for vomiting and nausea and some pills for diarrhea and stomachache.)
7.) Food for energy (You’ll need a lot of energy for the climb and that’s why you will need to prepare some food to bring along. Best is to get some power/energy bars or some raisins and nuts bar.)
8.) A warm jacket (This item is needed when you reach Laban Rata for your overnight stay as the temperature there can reach as low as six to seven degrees and you’ll start to freeze if you just have your t-shirt with you. I would recommend that you bring a sleeping bag with you if you’re staying at the lodge without heaters.)
Well, that’s almost all the items we need and all our preparations are done. So we’re all set for our big adventure right? That’s what we think also but preparing and experiencing the thing is really different. I will talk about the experience there in my next posting. To Be Continued……
Thursday, September 6, 2007
I drive like you do
When it comes to driving, Penang is paradise, that’s provided if you drive like Mad Max. Yes, quoting “partially” Chow Yun Fatt from Pirates of the Caribbean, “Welcome to Penang” Driving here is really a test of your skills, many thanks to the driving attitude of the people here. From the moment you step into the road, automatically it turns into a war-zone where you need to avoid cars like avoiding bullets, navigate to you destination like navigating thru a minefield where the mines are as big as lorries, trucks, bus, cars which is “strategically” parked almost anywhere they like. There’s truly something wrong with the picture here. Not only that, driving here can made even a person as nice as an angel turn into a devil instantly as you cannot “tahan” but to swear and yell and shout each time someone misconduct on the road or you thought they misconduct.
For a long time I’ve been wondering why most of us locals has such bad driving attitude on the road but up till now, the reasons seems so many that’s its even hard to pin point a main one. Lets look at some of the major misconduct frequently conducted by our “rally” drivers here. One of the more common phenomenons is queue cutting. Most drivers here have no patience and usually the bigger and more expensive the car they are driving, the worse is their driving attitude. How many times has you swear and curse when someone overcut from the side of you during a turning at the traffic lights? How many times has you say “Char Ben-sii Dai Sai Meh!”? If cursing and swearing gives us bad karma, then driving is a sin and since almost all of us need to drive, no wonder it’s so hard to reach enlightenment :D.
Another thing I observed, not only in Penang is that most of our local drivers like to park or stop their cars “as near as possible” to their destination with disregard to whether they are obstructing traffic or not. They will just simply stop and park, then walk away or sometimes orders Hokkien Char while inside their car. I always wonder why can’t they just park a few meters further and walk a few steps instead of having to block everyone’s path and make people swear and curse again. Maybe like my previous entry, this kind of people lack courtesy or maybe like in Digi’s advert “Aiya, I dun care la, I’m Dai Kor mah!” We all know what happen to him in episode two right? :D
The last habit I wanted to mention, and one of the most dangerous to do is not giving indicator signal at the correct moment. I’m not quite sure whether we are just plain lazy or suffering from carpal turnal syndrome but many of us don’t put the effort of turning on the indicator lights when we want to turn or switch lanes. This is one of the major accidents causing reason and even more so when most of us drive like we are acting in Too Fast Too Furious. Is it really that hard to turn on the indicator light? Maybe we can’t blame ourselves, we are already using one hand to hold the hand-phone, another hand korek hidung, our right leg on the accelerator, left leg on the dashboard, where got hands/legs to turn the indicator huh?
Actually, if we want to blame something on the major causes of our driving attitude, its called selfishness. Everyone wants to be fast, everyone wants to be the first and everyone always thinks they are right and the other driver is wrong. For example, when the front car is going slower a bit, we call them road hogging and maybe starts swearing and honking. If we see the a car behind keep blinking and honking us to go faster, we’ll say “Aiya wanna go so fast for what? Cannot wait to go heaven ah?”. Its human nature to be selfish and its not easy to change but “IF” we can all learn to be a bit tolerant and demonstrate some empathetic skills while we are driving, the road will be a much more safer place to be :D
For a long time I’ve been wondering why most of us locals has such bad driving attitude on the road but up till now, the reasons seems so many that’s its even hard to pin point a main one. Lets look at some of the major misconduct frequently conducted by our “rally” drivers here. One of the more common phenomenons is queue cutting. Most drivers here have no patience and usually the bigger and more expensive the car they are driving, the worse is their driving attitude. How many times has you swear and curse when someone overcut from the side of you during a turning at the traffic lights? How many times has you say “Char Ben-sii Dai Sai Meh!”? If cursing and swearing gives us bad karma, then driving is a sin and since almost all of us need to drive, no wonder it’s so hard to reach enlightenment :D.
Another thing I observed, not only in Penang is that most of our local drivers like to park or stop their cars “as near as possible” to their destination with disregard to whether they are obstructing traffic or not. They will just simply stop and park, then walk away or sometimes orders Hokkien Char while inside their car. I always wonder why can’t they just park a few meters further and walk a few steps instead of having to block everyone’s path and make people swear and curse again. Maybe like my previous entry, this kind of people lack courtesy or maybe like in Digi’s advert “Aiya, I dun care la, I’m Dai Kor mah!” We all know what happen to him in episode two right? :D
The last habit I wanted to mention, and one of the most dangerous to do is not giving indicator signal at the correct moment. I’m not quite sure whether we are just plain lazy or suffering from carpal turnal syndrome but many of us don’t put the effort of turning on the indicator lights when we want to turn or switch lanes. This is one of the major accidents causing reason and even more so when most of us drive like we are acting in Too Fast Too Furious. Is it really that hard to turn on the indicator light? Maybe we can’t blame ourselves, we are already using one hand to hold the hand-phone, another hand korek hidung, our right leg on the accelerator, left leg on the dashboard, where got hands/legs to turn the indicator huh?
Actually, if we want to blame something on the major causes of our driving attitude, its called selfishness. Everyone wants to be fast, everyone wants to be the first and everyone always thinks they are right and the other driver is wrong. For example, when the front car is going slower a bit, we call them road hogging and maybe starts swearing and honking. If we see the a car behind keep blinking and honking us to go faster, we’ll say “Aiya wanna go so fast for what? Cannot wait to go heaven ah?”. Its human nature to be selfish and its not easy to change but “IF” we can all learn to be a bit tolerant and demonstrate some empathetic skills while we are driving, the road will be a much more safer place to be :D
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Hello, Mr gentlemen
It’s a sad thing, being one of the male population in our country myself to have to say that common courtesy is seriously lacking in our society especially towards the fairer sex. Being a guy here, I have made many observations in many situations before and sadly to say, most of the time I can see a clear lacking of common tactfulness and courtesy shown by men here. Now we know why so many of our local girls are so enamored by foreigners especially the westerners. Could it be because they are better looking? Could be. Could it be because they are generally better build then us? Could be also, or could it be because they know how to show a bit of courtesy and act gentlemen more than the average men here? Definitely. Not to say I’m bias because I’m a guy but I truly believe if we want to compare good looks and good body build, we locals won’t lose so badly to the foreigners but when it comes to charm and being a gentlemen, we lose hands down. Fortunately, there are still locals who are curtiest and know how to act gentlemen but unfortunately, they are so rare and if not they are your typical Casanova Valentino.
Simple courtesy shown to girls actually counts for a lot and I’m sure will earn you many points in the good book of the girl you like. Yes, this is another thing I truly believe, girls do keep points on the men they like or at least have interest in so it will be in your best interest as a guy to keep this in mind instead of the scores and points of your premier league football. Common courtesy isn’t very hard to show, what you need is just to make an effort to do it. Simple actions like opening the car door for the girl, holding the lift door and allowing the girls to enter/exit first, and bringing the seat for the girl in a dining place are all simple gestures of common courtesy that a men should show but locally, you wont see it being practiced very often. Even if you see it, it will be because the girl is his girlfriend. This is another negative point because courtesy should not be bias. If you want to practice it, do it with all your girl friends instead only on the girl you like. This in fact gives you more points. For example, if your girlfriend sees you treating her nice but other girls like junk, what impression are you showing? I leave it for you to tinker on this yourself but unfortunately this kind of situations is very common here also.
Ok, time for some idle talk. To show courtesy, we must also throw away the 3K’s, Kiasu, Kiasee and Kiabor (Ok this last one I’m not too sure :D ). Simple logic here. If you’re Kiasu and always want to be the first in everything, will you hold the lift door and let the girls enter/exit first? Most of the time, you will push your way out and let the lift door “kepit” the poor girls following behind. Same goes if you’re a Kiasee person. When its raining, will you hold your umbrella to the girl while you brave the rain? Most likely you will give the umbrella to the girl and brave the rain yourself because you want to show that you are macho. Ahhh, when talking about this, I also want to point out why guys don’t like to carry umbrellas. Many of us worry that if we are caught dead holding an umbrella, especially when it’s not raining, duhh, it makes us look feminine. This is stupid thinking I say. Actually it’s very good to hold an umbrella. Why? Simple, when it’s raining, obviously you will have something on top of your head and when its not, you can hold that umbrella for your girl friends as sunshade. (Remember courtesy gains you points?).
Ok so fellow guys, before many of you come to me and “cekik” me to death, I hope you can show some courtesy and instead just give me a pat on my back. :P
Simple courtesy shown to girls actually counts for a lot and I’m sure will earn you many points in the good book of the girl you like. Yes, this is another thing I truly believe, girls do keep points on the men they like or at least have interest in so it will be in your best interest as a guy to keep this in mind instead of the scores and points of your premier league football. Common courtesy isn’t very hard to show, what you need is just to make an effort to do it. Simple actions like opening the car door for the girl, holding the lift door and allowing the girls to enter/exit first, and bringing the seat for the girl in a dining place are all simple gestures of common courtesy that a men should show but locally, you wont see it being practiced very often. Even if you see it, it will be because the girl is his girlfriend. This is another negative point because courtesy should not be bias. If you want to practice it, do it with all your girl friends instead only on the girl you like. This in fact gives you more points. For example, if your girlfriend sees you treating her nice but other girls like junk, what impression are you showing? I leave it for you to tinker on this yourself but unfortunately this kind of situations is very common here also.
Ok, time for some idle talk. To show courtesy, we must also throw away the 3K’s, Kiasu, Kiasee and Kiabor (Ok this last one I’m not too sure :D ). Simple logic here. If you’re Kiasu and always want to be the first in everything, will you hold the lift door and let the girls enter/exit first? Most of the time, you will push your way out and let the lift door “kepit” the poor girls following behind. Same goes if you’re a Kiasee person. When its raining, will you hold your umbrella to the girl while you brave the rain? Most likely you will give the umbrella to the girl and brave the rain yourself because you want to show that you are macho. Ahhh, when talking about this, I also want to point out why guys don’t like to carry umbrellas. Many of us worry that if we are caught dead holding an umbrella, especially when it’s not raining, duhh, it makes us look feminine. This is stupid thinking I say. Actually it’s very good to hold an umbrella. Why? Simple, when it’s raining, obviously you will have something on top of your head and when its not, you can hold that umbrella for your girl friends as sunshade. (Remember courtesy gains you points?).
Ok so fellow guys, before many of you come to me and “cekik” me to death, I hope you can show some courtesy and instead just give me a pat on my back. :P
Introduction
Ideal thoughts are only a hypothetical statement. What may seem ideal at once might not become so in another time or day. Take for example King Midas’s story. He first thought that it would be perfect if anything he touches turns into gold but as times goes by, he found out it is not to be so. If your food and drinks turns into gold, will you be able to eat/drink them? If you loved ones turns into gold by your touch, will you be able to hug them, talk with them anymore? The answer is obvious.
As such, it is the title of my second blog. Pillows are things that provide comfort to us and diamonds are one of the most precious materials in the earth. Wouldn’t it be “ideal” if we make a pillow out of diamonds? Hypothetically it would, but then can you gain comfort by sleeping on diamonds, which is as hard as a rock? Another obvious answer. That’s why in this blog, what I express is only as ideal as one thought them to be and only at that specific moment. In other sense, it can be consider just idle chatter :)
As such, it is the title of my second blog. Pillows are things that provide comfort to us and diamonds are one of the most precious materials in the earth. Wouldn’t it be “ideal” if we make a pillow out of diamonds? Hypothetically it would, but then can you gain comfort by sleeping on diamonds, which is as hard as a rock? Another obvious answer. That’s why in this blog, what I express is only as ideal as one thought them to be and only at that specific moment. In other sense, it can be consider just idle chatter :)
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