KOTA KINABALU, SABAH

10^th July 2010

Oh my, I so cannot believe I am in Sabah now! The place is gorgeous. Just as the plane was about to land, I saw the picturesque, quaint and scenic sea, just below me. It was amazingly stunning and I am lost of words now. I am looking forward to the island tours tomorrow! *jumps in glee*

Anyway, we reached Kota Kinabalu at almost 1130am and was greeted by our guide at the arrival hall. We were then told to place our luggage at our condominium, Marina Court before heading for lunch.

Lunch was mouthwatering. They served snails, can you believe it?! My eyes almost popped out when I saw it served on the table. I had a try of the snails, quite disgusted at the attempt to whirl out the flesh but it tasted pretty good. There were too much food for the ten of us though, we ended up having a lot of leftover seafood on the table. What a waste.

The condominium room in Marina was decent enough, we had a living room and kitchen of our own. Nice and cozy! I shared a room with Verona, my roommate back in KDO and we were given the master bedroom, comfy.

Evening was spent at the waterfront with a few of the ICM people, just plain camwhoring and did a bit of shopping for the mount climb and got myself a pretty blue shorts from F.O.S. sale! XD

Dinner was in Promenade Hotel, we were given a welcoming speech by Prof K and were then briefed on the Sabah’s program arrangement by our guide.

11^th July 2010

After breakfast this morning, we departed to Sutera Harbour Resort’s Jetty. A pretty jetty with private yatches and ships everywhere, spectacular! The boat ride was speedy and awesome, the clear seas and the blue sky, it was almost like heaven.

The first island we went was Manukan Island. After getting changed, we were off for snorkeling session. The first attempt to snorkel was hard and annoying, the water keep going into my nostril and it was darn salty. Yucks. It took quite awhile for me to get used to the snorkel apparatus and then off I go, snorkel into the sea with the life jacket keeping me afloat. =) There were lots of fishes around BUT…. Just some ordinary grey fishes. I spent almost 1 hour in the sea and suddenly there were a pinching ache on the forearm. I went back to shore and there were no scars but just needle pain twinge. It did not deter me from continuing my enjoyable search for fishes in the sea.

After an almost 3 hours of snorkel, we were off to Sapi island for our barbeque lunch. After lunch, off we go again for more sea and fishes. =) I love sapi island, there were tons of fishes around, all sorts of them and the corals were gorgeous. Just an annoying thing about the fishes, THEY BITE! Ouch.

12^th July 2010

Instead of going to the state museum, we headed to Lok Kawi Wildlife Centre to catch a glimpse of the orang utan! It was a nice tour around the wildlife centre and the orang utan is such a poser despite having only to see it from afar.

After lunch in Sri Melaka, we took an almost 3 hours journey to the Tip of Borneo aka Tanjung Simpang Mengayau. The scenic pictographic scenery connecting both the south china sea and sulu sea was breathtaking. We spent quite some time camwhoring around the rocks and cliffs with strong sand storm slapped right on our face, resulting in sand chewing session. Disgusting. Then the clouds turned dark, strong breeze with drizzle came next as we head back to our bus. The poor STH group only reached as we are about to leave and they did not get the chance to view the panoramic beauty.

Then we headed to the Bavangazo Runggus Longhouse for our stay for the night. We were first served dinner with some of their traditional food. Some were pretty delectable but some were just not to my liking. It was a decent meal though.

We were then entertained with their dance and music as well as culture. Interesting and impressive.

After the performances, we freshen up ourselves and had own activity in the longhouse. We had long chats and laughs until early in the morning, and I only slept at 2am. It was a nice customary experience to sit on the bamboo floorings and to sleep in a long house. The feel of togetherness is bizarre.

13^th July 2010

Oh no, oh no…. we are only one day away from the Mount Kinabalu climb. I am getting nervous now. Yatim just warned us about how dangerous and scary the climb would be and now I am not sure if I am prepared physically, emotionally and mentally. I am so DEAD.

We checked into our room in The Cottage hotel today. They separated the locals and international students, saddening. On a brighter note, we get to meet our STH mates whom we have not been having good long meeting up since the program started.

The evening was spent at Kundasang War Memorial which was a tribute to the Ranau-Kundasang Death Marches in 1945. Gorgeous garden on a cool weather with some sober ambience.

I am now spending most of the time packing all the stuffs for the climb tomorrow, hopefully there will be some good sleep before the vigorous activity and I hope I could make it to LABAN RATA, at least!

14^th July 2010

640 am : I woke up reluctantly this morning, had very little sleep last night, probably due to nervousness. I cannot believe that the day is finally here. It is going to be a long long day today. The climb will start at 9 am and I hope I could make it there just before dinner ends which is at 8pm. Checked all my stuffs again and yes, all the required item are in the backpack, including some really good snacks, Nabalu’s banana! HAHA!

345 pm : helllllloooooo thereeeee from LABAN RATA! Oh yeahhhhhhhh, I made it to Laban Rata after an almost 6 hours plus walk from the Mesilau Gate. The first 2km was horrendous, it was so steep and exhausting that I sweared so hard deep inside. At the third kilometer, I fell from one of the steps and hit hard on my bum, it was painful. I hope the pain will wear off soon. Every kilometer I took became a harder and harder challenge, after almost 5km walk, I almost gave up as there were no longer anyone walking along with me. There were times I had to keep myself motivated, telling myself I can do it despite the heavy bag and lazy feet. I am glad I kept on with the journey. It was hard and challenging but not impossible. And another important note was that, it was a panoramic breathtaking and scenic journey. There were so many different types of vegetation as you walk up higher.Along the way I bumped into a few guides and every time, I asked them an obligatory question: berapa lama lagi? And from 3jam lagi to 2 jam lagi until….. when I heard 15 minit lagi, I was almost overjoyed.

As I was approaching laban rata, I could hear some scream of joy from above, that was when I knew, I am almost there. =) ALMOST but not there yet because….. our accommodations, Pendant Hut is 3 more flights of steep stairway ahead, I almost fainted when I saw the steps. But I could see some of the ICM guys cheering from the windowpane of the hut as I was walking up. The moment I went into the hut, I immediately grabbed a cup of hot tea, it was freezing cold at laban rata.

The heater broke down and thus I ended up just clean up myself with a towel with that cold icy water while waiting for the rest of the friends to check in. Dinner was at laban rata resthouse, met up with most of them and had a great time catching up on one another’s experience during the climb.

730 pm : A few people came up to me, including a few guides I met along the way, asking if I would attempt the summit tomorrow morning. As much as I want to conquer the peak, I don’t think I have the ability to do it. And now, I have so many doubts in mind, and I am far from convinced that I did well for the climb this morning because as far as I am aware, I dragged myself up this morning, and at such weak physical state, I wonder I have the ability to maintain such mental strength. Sigh, I will probably go to bed now and only decide that tomorrow morning. NIGHT!

15^th July 2010

1 30 am : I was awaken by the alarm and saw many eager faces. Somehow, seeing their enthusiasm, I told myself, I am going to do this, even though I may not get to the summit but at the every least, I tried and there’ll NOT be any regrets. I get myself dressed up and at all of us had our breakfast in the hut while waiting for our guide to brief and pick us up. There were a few people who decided not to attempt the summit. We left the hut at 2 30 am and the journey begins.

There were steps after steps, and it gets steeper and steeper that you will have to rely mostly on the ropes attached. We reached the sayat sayat checkpoint at 355 am. =) 1.2 more km to go…yay! However, the wind became stronger and breathing became harder. Every step I took became a challenge, at one point, me and Sandra were just sitting at one of the rocks until Patrick, the mountain guide came to us and dragged us up, all the way until summit! At 530 am, I have conquered the summit of MOUNT KINABALU! I had to thank Patrick personally for his motivation throughout the way, I was very cranky along the way and was yapping nonsense the whole time to distract myself from the muscle fatigue. Being up at the peak of South East Asia tallest mountain is a crazy emotional feeling! It was bizarre, just like a dream. The view was mesmerizing, there is no other way I could describe the scenic atmosphere and scenery. Let the photographs say it all. And, I also managed to see the sun rise, and all the other peaks around us. Wooooohoooo!

730 am: Yep, I am back at the pendant hut, recalling all the wild experience up there while packing my belongings to prepare for departure back to the lowland at 9am via Timpohon trail. Muscle starting to sore and so is my knee, I hope the 4 hour journey down by foot will be a smooth journey.

130 pm: I have finally reached Timpohon gate and I just killed my knee. The last 3km I was walking solely relying on the walking stick. My left knee just died on me and luckily there was JD who helped me to carry my bag. It was one of the most horrendous walk so far, I hope the knees will be well soon but for now, I had to walk on a sore knee. Grrrr, hate it.

We had buffet in Balsam Restaurant for lunch, yummy and rejuvenating! Then we headed to our hotel at Mount Kinabalu Heritage Hotel and got ourselves a chalet. It was a long walk and a few steep stairs climbing from the hotel block, torturing.

Oh and we were presented with our certificate from kinabalu park for achieving the summit during dinner! All with smiley faces. =)

16^th July 2010

We checked out of hotel and went to poring hotspring for a relaxing dip into the hot spring. Then we head to catch a glimpse of the Rafflesia which was a disappointing view as the flower was not as huge as expected and it costed us RM 15 just for a glance from far!

After that we were brought to the Kinabalu Park Gallery for a visit before heading back to Marina Court.

Since Nathan and Primila’s birthday is tomorrow, we had a surprise party for them both at KBox which is located just nearby Marina Court. Flour and eggs, they were soon clad in white as we sang happy birthday to the celebrated ones.

After the celebration, we had some drinks with our STH friends who will be leaving tomorrow.

17^th July 2010

We went to Sabah Museum this morning which gave me a better understanding on the Sandakan-Ranau Death Marchers in 1945. This was related to the war memorial we visited in Kundasang not long ago. It was a great experience to know about the history and the vibrant culture of sabah.

The evening was spent with some of the ICM-ers in the karaoke centre, singing our lungs out. =)

Then at night, we managed to convince our tour guide to fetch us out for some city tour in KK.

18^th July 2010

This morning, we were brought to the Sunday market at Gaya Street. It was an amazing place with various ordinary and bizarre items being sold at reasonable price. It is really odd to have pets and budding trees of durians and other tropical fruits being sold in the market. But it was a fun-filled shopping for souvenirs with cheap and affordable handicrafts. Another fantastic shopping spree and a burn in the pocket!

Our flight is scheduled at 530pm. As I was packing my luggage, there were many thoughts running wild. The 9 days spent in Sabah has been the most eventful time I had in this whole program. The experiences were priceless, the people that I met along the journey were wonderful, and now everything had just been like a dream. It is tough to bid farewell to the land below the sea, but someday I will be back again and explore other places around the state for there are still many places to be discovered. Toodles Sabah, and here I come again, KUALA LUMPUR!

cheers. ♥

Kuala Tahan National Park

6^th July 2010

It was a long ride from Bangi to Kuala Tahan, the winding road as we head towards the national park was nauseating, but that did not damper the anticipation of embracing the beauty of the tropical rainforest as well as completing the fieldwork on the Orang Bateq. Prior to the trip, I have done several internet researches on the indigenous tribe, and have seen some of their photographs during prof K’s lecture thus it would be amazing to be able to get to know them better. Well, I hope they are not as shy as what prof has described of them. =)

We arrived at Rainforest resort at 3pm, had our lunch and then off we go on a boat ride for a swim at a fish sanctuary of the nearby river. The ride on the boat was rough, no thanks to the boatmen who was manipulating our fear of the ride. I lost count of the number of times we have screamed on the boat, others must have thought we were some nutcase but seriously, the ride was as exhilarating as roller coaster in Genting.

Fish sanctuary was just mediocre, with some really gigantic, creepy fishes swimming around. However, the water was like a cool breeze. Chilly and cold.

The night was spent at the national park for a night jungle walk. I am eager to experience a night stroll in the jungle but…. I am scared of leeches. I had to wear a tight inside my track bottom and a high ankle socks in order to avoid leech invasion, but there were no leeches afterall, so much for being paranoid over the blood sucking creature. HAHA! There weren’t much animals to be observed though, except for spiders. I saw a family of wild boar around the resorts in the national park, it was so bizarre.

And I must mention, I managed to see…. SKIES OF STARS! It was one of the most gorgeous scene ever seen at night. =)

7^th July 2010

Today we were told that we will be going for a canopy walk in the national park. After breakfast, all of us headed to the jetty and hopped on the boat to the national park. We were then brought into the forest reserve by our guide whom along the way explained to us on the biodiversity of the forest as well as traditional medicine in relation to the indigenous communities. Later on, we were told by our guide that we will be walking up Bukit Teresik of an almost 1.6km journey before walking down to canopy walk. It was indeed a great preparation for our mount kinabalu climb. Torturous climb due to steep steps, going up was hard enough and going down was even harder due to the force placed on the knee.

After the long climb, we headed to the canopy walk. It wasn’t exciting to me because I have gone on canopy walks for a couple of times. It was just a stroll in the park for me. But there were pretty tropical rainforest to be observed from the walk.

We went brought back to our hotel after the walk and prepared for our next destination : orang Bateq resettlement village. I kept my notes and camera close to me, so that I could get the most natural shot of the people and to jot down every possible symbols or events being observed. We reached the village via an almost 20 minutes boat ride, on our way walking up, we were greeted by a bunch of Bateq kids. They were everywhere, in the small hut, behind the trees, up at the top of a tree and etc. They make lots of noise and all I could understand was… ROTI. I suppose they saw the bread we bought for them. We handed out the bread to the kids and they were shy at first but once they saw a friend took the bread, they came up, took and ran in the blink of an eye.

When we walk into the village, to our horror, we saw a huge group of tourists all over the place. It suddenly dawned to me that I have actually walked into another tourist attraction area. It is such a pity that the people were not given any freedom in their life and were treated more like the animals in zoo. Everyone rushed around them to snap images of them with them helplessly looking on.

It made me quite furious to see how these people are not treated how they should be. They should be given rights to choose the life that they want and no one should keep them aside, away from the mainstream society, away from their ancestral lifestyle, and leaving them in the state of confusion. Seeing them so helpless, especially the shy ladies clad in batik attire, I can’t help but to feel sorry for them. Some people have manipulated their greed desire to have a better life and put them in such a condition. Some may claim that this is a better move to boost tourism and to avoid further destruction of the forest by their nomadic lifestyle, but have they realize that these people, just like us, have their rights to live their lives?

8^th July 2010

Before we head back to Bangi, we were brought to Lata Berkoh for a good, relaxing and fun swim with the group. Lots of laughter and screams when water was splashed to one another in the river. Even though I can’t swim, I still jumped into the river and indulge in the flow of the water. Amazing.

At almost 1pm, the bus departed us and yes, back in our comfy room in KDO! =)

cheers. ♥

Carey Island (4th July 2010)

Today is our first fieldtrip to Carey island, a place that I have never heard of in my life, and I couldn’t believe myself when I googled for it’s location and found it to be somewhere in Banting, Selangor. Luckily there was Google, otherwise, I would have gone there expecting beaches like in Redang. HAHA!

So we woke up for breakfast like any other ordinary days, but filled with more anticipation. In my mind, I was curious about the Meh Mai tribe that we will be meeting. I guess I was more worried as to how I am going to communicate with the people around-language barrier, I would say.

The journey was long and wet, the skies turned dark as drops of rain starting to fall. I stared from the window pane, praying for a better weather, but no, it just got worse. We reached Carey Island at about 12pm on a heavy rain.

After going on a tour around the island, we were taken to the Mah Meri’s village at sg bumbun. From afar, I’ve noticed a few ladies clad in their traditional attire, eager to attend to the visitors they about to meet. The rain did not deter us from getting down the bus and have a first-hand experience of their unique culture.

We were greeted with an origami headgear as a welcoming gift. I was excited when I saw the origami, the effort alone was enough to feel their sincerity. The drizzle didn matter at all as we go on with their traditional dance and at one point, all of us joined in the dance, it felt awesome, the unity and the joy, something I have not experienced for quite some time.

A demonstration of their wedding ritual were next as Max and Alicia were the ‘celebrated’ couple.

The most appealing ritual was the last ritual where coins were thrown off the sarong cloth as a pail of water was poured over the couple. The Mah Meri kids were in joy as they rushed forward to collect the coins. It amazes me how that few cents of coins which I would have never been bothered to collect even when I come across it on the ground could bring so much joy and happiness to the kids. The innocence and naiveness were pure, it really got me thinking, of the priorities in life? Earning as much money as possible was a lifetime goal but as I am writing this down, I had mixed emotions and inner conflict. The things I hold on to, the dreams and aspirations of mine, does it really matter now? I don’t know.

The only word I can summarize of the Mah Meri – simplicity.

cheers. ♥