Conquered Mount Kinabalu!!!

Mount Kinabalu - 4095m

The summit known as Low's Peak I can proudly say I have conquered.

My journey began at the Mesilau Nature Resort. This Mesilau Trail starts higher than the other trail, Timpohon but is 2KM longer. The reason is because Mesilau trail goes down then comes back up and intersects the Timpohon trail with approx. 2 more KM to Laban Rata. The Mesilau trail in total is around 8.7KM from Laban Rata, while the Timpohon trail is 6.7KM away. Mesilau is the scenic route so I took my time enjoying the hike and the accompanying breathtaking views. I made it to Laban Rata in a decent 6.5hours.

LABAN RATA

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It's freaking cold. Temperature is on average 8 degrees! I stayed at Gunting Lagadan which is another 5mins hike upwards from Laban Rata. The worst part about Gunting Lagadan is, when I was there, there was no electric!!! So at around 7pm-ish everyone was walking around with headlights on. And damnnnn bathing is hard. The water is freezing cold, no heater. So you have to boil your own bath water. After you get the boiling water there is another problem, NO PAIL! Only one freaking small one in the toilet. So I filled it up, bathe halfway, badan all sabun then the water finish. Shitz! Have to stand there freezing reload the pail.

TO THE SUMMIT

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At 230am I started my dark, cold journey to the summit. At first catching my breath was difficult. The unkindly cold winds and the high altitude makes breathing really laboured. But it was amazing to see clearly, in all its glory, the starry night skies. Being above the clouds and away from city lights, staring up into the universe was mesmerizing. Endless stars dotted the black skies, a sight few from the cities will ever see. Hiking on the plain granite rocks almost constantly steeply angled, I look forward to rest stops as I get the chance to lay down and stare at the picture perfect skies. As the tinge of day starts to creep up on the horizon, the winds grew fierce and lashed at my face like icy whips. I can feel my face getting number with each gust of wind. Finally after 3hours that felt like eternity, Low's Peak was in sight! I raced the sun to the peak, and at 550am i stood at the top of the world. the sun majestically rising to greet me. I have done it! Mount Kinabalu - conquered!

This sight shall forever be seared in my mind, looking at the clouds below rolling across the neighboring peaks, the sun bathing all I see in an orange glow, I am like a God looking down upon my kingdom! I am overwhelmed by the sense of achievement, that I am fit enough to reach the peak without any problems. This is truly one of the most treasured moments of my life.

Zorbing - Look Ma, I'm a Hamster!

Zorbing @ Titiwangsa along the road right behind the Istana Budaya. Wow! What a experience! There was 2 types of downhill rides, dry one where they just roll you down and another wet one where they add a bit of water inside the ball. I went there on the day it was my bday and they added a few extra perks for me :P My roll down the hill took alot longer to stop and my wet ride was filled with freaking cold water! It wasnt so dizzy actually, it was a lot of fun. Especially that wet one....dang the water splashing around leaving you with barely enough time to breathe, Gushes of cold water slapping you awake. DANGGGG. What a day!
Dry ride - RM15
Wet ride - RM20
Official site : http://firstinmalaysia.com/

SkyTrex @ Bukit Cahaya!

Woohoooooooo adventure in the high trees! SkyTrex in Taman Pertanian Bukit Cahaya (or Taman Botani adi now). 

Super syok...after that we even had BBQ there.

Got loads of stuff to do around Bukit Cahaya can go cycling, swimming, four season something and many more I didnt get to try. No time la. But overall it was a wonderful outing.

(So lazy to post la in blog. Simply rite short short one enuff adi. This one I did last mth now baru post :P )

Philippines - Food Oh Glorious Food!

One of the greatest indulgences when going to another country is none other than the explosion of taste that foreign cuisine brings. When wonderful new flavors fill your mouth, there is just simply no denying , food is man's greatest luxury. For so many cultures and countries in this world, there are even more variations of flavors and cuisines. 

Philippines (PH) truly offers alot of amazing food. And here are some that I have tried :

Garlic Rice - Ever present in PH eateries.

Ihaw-ihaw or mix grill platter

What a feast! The bangus or milk fish was very nice and unique. Dont think i've ever seen it before here in Malaysia.

Bulalo - juicy steak!

Sisig - another extremely delicious dish. Made from little pieces of organs and unwanted parts like cheeks or ears.Throw in some crispy pieces of fried pork lard. And you have this wonderful sizzling crispy delight. 

I really love how they creatively use fried pork lard in their dishes. Here is another one:

Palabok Fiesta - from Jollibee

Jollibee is the most ubiquitous fast food chain in PH. Its a local chain which also includes ChowKing, GreenWich and Red Ribbon. Easily spotted anywhere in Manila.

This palabok fiesta is this noodles that are sort of like 'tang hoon' with a sauce that i think is prawn based littered with fine fried pork lard. You can taste the pork lard obviously in every inch of the sauce. Completely wonderful.

Balut - the infamous duck fetus!

Geli! Duck fetus that is almost fully formed is cooked while in the egg. Looks really disgusting. Too bad no clear photos here (need to get my own camera so dont have to rely on noobs :P ). It has this sauce when you first crack it open, that tastes pretty good. The rest of it tastes pretty much like a meatier egg.

Dinuguan - food of the vampires! blood stew!

The texture is abit grainy. Taste-wise its nice. And you eat it with small sweet glutinous rice balls. Abit too thick to drink like soup.

Mechado - beef stew

Arguably the best food i had. Strong nice flavor, tomato-ish. With melt in your mouth beef pieces. Excellente!

Seafood - insanely nice!

The seafood market/restaurant concept here is pretty cool. First you go along the stretch of seafood market. Buy the seafood you want. Then walk over to the adjacent restaurants and ask them to cook the seafood for you.

The most incredible thing i saw was this!!!

Giant crab claws! And they sell only the claws!!!! Wah lau..syokkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!

CNY Mission : Meet Heng Tais In Penang

29 Jan

My return to Penang started with a trip to Teluk Tempoyak. Beautiful place for some fresh malay ikan bakar. It's a small food court by the sea that has this simple pier that stretches out into the sea.

And of course also got chance to do some posing.

30 Jan

The next morning I took a long 3 hour hike up to Penang Hill from moongate. Wah damn tiring.But when I finally reached the top, it was worth it. Just enjoying the view, relaxing reading a book while enjoying the cool highland breeze.

Halfway rest stop

Overall it was a nice day. Of course no day is complete without some wonderful food. Koay chiap and some tomyam oh chien.

31 Jan

Today is zhi mui day. Spend whole day with zhi muis go see houses. See Oo Oo house, see show house, see Oo Oo fren house, see tan tan house and see tan tan sister house. Then finally yam cha wif tailou, heah heah n tan tan.

Finally at the end of the day get to meet all heng tais. CNY mission complete!

F-Secure Teambuilding 2008 @ Avillion, PD

This post is 1 month too late.

Lazy la mau post. This is the 1st teambuilding i've ever had, because my prev company sux!

Thats the room

Outside view

Lobby

Hawaiian Theme Night

Oh My!! Thats my boss in coconut bra!

Everyone!

Hoho...syoknya teambuilding. But they say this one not so syok oh, last year wan more syok. For me better alot then my lame ass prev company! Woohoo!!

Kanching Falls @ 05 July 2008

Kanching Falls KL
Kanching is located just after Templer's Park.
It boasts 6 or 7 levels of waterfalls.
To get there just head towards Templer's, don't take the U-turn to Templer's. Go straight on until the next U-turn at a traffic light. The turn to Kanching falls will be on your left.

Level 4 Falls

Posing at level 4 falls

After a short hike,we stopped to swim at level 4. We could have gone on but there was some joker in our group we have to wait for.



I explored abit and found the 5th level falls just abit further from the 4th. This is a majestic fall. It was huge, just long and sprawling. It was at a i guess 35 degree angle all the way up.
The sad thing was got some blardy Indian jokers there bathing in oil. Yuck..geli.

chilling at the 5th Fall

Fuuh...smoking is cool.

Man i love waterfalls, it's just so relaxing. Its just so sad to see there are many uneducated ppl in Malaysia that continue to litter and spoil this wonderful gift of nature. So far all the falls i've been to theres always shit at the bottom. Garbage of the thrash of society. Sigh...