Paddle or Die - 8th July Blog

This trip was suppose to take place last month, in June. However due to our hectic schedules, it was postponed to today.

Altho the initial list had 10 of us signing up for the trip, eventually only 4 of us made it -- Abg Taslim, Abg Syahin, Ikhwan and myself. It was an awesome trip. Due to us being the only group in the morning flight, we had some sort of a personalised program. There was no rush and we could take our time and enjoy ourselves. And enjoy ourselves we did!

The picture above shows the sequence of events before we capsized at the Rajah Corner rapids. It was the worst of all as we had 3 of us thrown out of the boat. It was fun!

My KK Escape

  I had a great time.. it was a much deserved break for me.. and I'm darn glad I made the trip (to think that I nearly gave it a miss due to some other issues). Everyone's so laid back in KK and since I was on a mission to relax, the fact that everyone's laid back worked for me well.

Met up with Salha on Wednesday night itself. Had dinner with Abul. We sat and chatted through the night.

Thursday was movie day for me! Hehe.. I mean what the heck? I'm on holiday.. i can do whatever I want. Watched Spiderman 3 in the afternoon and then Pirates of the Caribbean 3 that night. Watching a movie (or two) in KK is a different experience than in KL. The tickets are not only cheaper.. and you don't really have to book your shows in advance (except maybe POTC3 as it was opening night).

Friday was diving day. Initial plan was to do 2 dives but we decided to throw in another one since we were already there. Our first dive (at Suluk Manukan) were not that good - mine was horrendous. I couldn't see a thing! I had some trouble with my mask. Sal on the other hand was away from the diving scene for too long I guess.. she got sea-sick!

After recuperating at Mamutik.. we headed out to Rocky Point for our 2nd dive. This was a better dive for us. I didn't have that much problems with my mask and Sal felt much better after the 1 hour interval.

My 3rd dive was the best. I spotted a lionfish and a boxfish all on my own! I'm so proud. I also learnt, what I thought was a dead place (the sandy portions of the sea) is actually full of marine life! All camouflaging from my eyes. Upon closer inspection I could actually see it. I have decided to use this as part of my life lessons -- life is full of hidden treasures.. esp in places you think it's barren. Take your time and take a look, you'll be rewarded.

Had dinner with Fadzil, Norman & Nabila. Did some catching up (from Uni days). Had fun laughing and reminiscing. Oh yeah.. bought a top while waiting for dinner.. can't wait to wear it. I think it's sweet.

Saturday was lepak day. Initial plan was to get one of the guys to drive us up to tip of Borneo (in Kudat).  But the guys were not keen on a 3 hour drive and another 3 hour drive back just for a picnic. Slept in till 11am instead. Had lunch with Sal's friends (Faz, Lena, Sofia & Neil). Hanged out at Starbucks while waiting for Sofia & Lena get their massage. Bought a pair of shoes. Headed back to the hotel, rested a bit and dinnered at the North Indian Restaurant (sebelah Cock & Bull). It was later then to Cocoon until 1am or so.

Sunday.. another lazy day. Checked out at 1pm. Lunched at Peppermint (yummy) and later adjourned to San Francisco Coffee. Bought a book at Times and it was then off to the airport.

Flight was delayed by nearly an hour. Reached KL at 10:10pm. My brother picked me up and headed home. I had a nice time. Can't believe that 5 days flew by just like that..

Thanks Sal for making my trip a great one. The fact that we planned as we went along was even better! hehehe..

p.s. I didn't take much pictures.. not much of a picture person.

Kinabalu -- the experience

It is said that a picture speaks a thousand words.. trying to be different, I've included a few pictures in my "slide show".. hehehe. of course there would be more pictures, but these are the ones that I've managed to save in my thumb drive. The others all in office.

In a nutshell, it was a wonderful experience. Although it was my 2nd time to hike up Kinabalu, the experience was totally different from my first. The first time, I had to "take care" of my mom. Yes, role reversal begins early. Last time my mom would take care of me, but these days it's the other way round. Anyways.. this time, I didn't have anyone else to take care of but myself (and didn't have to rely on others too that much).

The hike up, began quite well. As the official pace-setter (nominated by Surej), I managed to bring our group to distances in good time. As with all pace-setters, you're not expected to win the race.. I did the same. Haha. dunno whether it was co-incidence or I just didn't have enough steam to finish. Needless to say, in our little group I ended up arriving last. Haha. but it's ok.

Same thing happened on the way up to the peak from Laban Rata. At this moment, all I could think of "why am i here again? what's my main objective on reaching the peak this time?" It's a killer stretch for me. However I had the guider's support throughout (thanks to the mix-up in names). He was by my side throughout until Sayat-sayat (then he left me cause he made sure that my name and number matched). After that, everyone else left me. I had to make new friends pulak.. thank goodness I'm adaptable to all groups.. haha.. angkat bakul sendiri.

Anyways reached the peak before sunrise. Saw the sunrise. Everyone said it was beautiful, wonderful, fantastic, amazing.. but truthfully, i didn't think it was that great then. Only in KL after seeing the pictures taken by the others, I have to agree.. it was all as said. Such a shame I didn't feel it then. But then again, it was cold and cold and I had to pinjam gloves and the ski-cap from Faz and Surej respectively (thanks guys!).. I couldn't think of anything else.

The walk down to Gunting Lagadan was surprisingly fast (got accused of running some more).

As we spent an extra night at Gunting Lagadan, we had many hours to kill before the next day's hike down to Timpohon. The first few hours were spent recuperating by having our much needed sleep. Then I woke up due to hunger and the cold. Walked to the kitchen with my tupperware and instant soup & noodles. Was joined by Azrul, then Surej, then Faz and a few others. We all started to bring out our ration of food and shared with everyone. Shana delighted us by cooking maggi pooled from our rations.

As it was sunny outside, I took the opportunity to dry out my towel, hiking clothes and myself on the rock just outside our dorm. It was splendid (sunny but cold). Was joined in by the others. Decided to play charades before going to dinner. The guys beat us girls by one or two points (but we kasi chance.. haha). After dinner, we went back to our dorms and packed for tomorrow's departure.

The hike down the next day was surprisingly ok (don't know if the others would agree with me). Despite my 9kg load.. i felt surprisingly energized! I dunno why. To ensure we would not get bored during the hike down, we decided to motivate ourselves by thinking of the hot shower available at Kinabalu Park. To further motivate ourselves, Azrul, Shana, Izlan and myself decided to be part of Amazing Race. That was funny.. hahaha.. it would end with the hot shower, and reaching the Kinabalu Park office.

The other agenda of the trip was white water rafting in Padas River. The journey began with a 2 hour delay of the train. Apparently the engine was spoilt and had to be replaced. Upon arrival, we changed to our swimming attire, had the safety & technical briefing and we were on our way. Unfortunately the team members on my raft were skilled enough that we didn't capsize (much to some of our disappointment :p). and to think we were all raring to capsize!

After that it was BBQ lunch and back to KK.

Thanks guys for everything.. I had great fun! Can't wait for Bali.

*Note: Pictures that initially appeared in this blog were lost during the migration to blogspot.