Manukan Island

The boat pulled next to the jetty at Sutera Resort on Manukan Island and we were greeted by the usual welcome committee. But there was a difference, instead of necklaces of flowers or welcome cocktails, they came bearing pieces of stale bread. And it was the most fun gift I’ve been given at a resort! They were for the hundreds of colorful reef fish gathered below us and I incited a feeding frenzy by throwing the bread into the water.

So many fishy-s

The welcome cocktail was waiting for us at our bungalow. They really think of everything. The cool drink gave a nice reprieve to the heat. I grabbed a quick bite because I was anxious to get diving and wanted time to square away all the gear. But I was told to just go to the jetty, all the gear would be on the boat and I could suit up in transit to the dive sites. Everything was already taken care of, I was assured.

Real al-fresco dining

It’s Marilyn! Lauren’s cat from Brooklyn!

Talk about an open kitchen

Satay

Cat: Bite me

Me: You like me now doncha?

A guide getting ready to go into the blue (or turquoise?)

Me: So any sharks? Guide: Nope the coast is clear.

Navigating with a Mark I eyeball

Watching the setting sun while I off gas (= bleeding off nitrogen, not farting.)

The main dining area

Is that for us?

I rolled off the the side of dive boat for the third time today and splashed into the water. I deflated my vest and started to slowly sink, it felt as though the sea was swallowing me. I used to not like night dives as I fear that a shark would sneak up on me and bite me in the ass. Well there was a glimpse of a shark patrolling the reef wall that slopes into the abyss, but he was shy and soon disappeared.

Night Dive

The darkness restricted my vision to the cone of light coming out from my flashlight, the only sound I could hear was my breathing and the rhythmic slow cadence of air purging from my regulator. The sensory deprivation made the dive so peaceful. The only other diver was my guide so it wasn’t a technicolor circus of flashlights and chem sticks. I snuck up upon a slumbering giant turtle and hovered an inch above it. I had to control my breathing, I was so close that if I exhaled too much I would land on the turtle. I was debating to “ride” the turtle by grabbing the sides of its massive shell and letting it pull me along as it woke up and swam. But ecological etiquette finally won out in the end and I decided not to molest it. The denizens of the reef were in a state of transition. The day swimmers were getting ready to bed and the night inhabitants were just shaking off the last vestiges of sleep before going out to look for food.

It was a magical moment.

I came back from the dive hungry and was pleasantly surprised that the resort staff had erected a private dining pavilion for us, complete with our own chef to barbecue for us. Read about that meal here.

The food

Tablescape

The ‘rents

Yay more Langsat!

We came back to the bungalow and to our surprise, a basket of fruit was on the table. I don’t know if the staff at Sutera Manukan Island are indicative of Malaysian people in general, but they really impressed me with their hospitality and attention to the little touches that make a stay so memorable. They were genuinely warm and it was such a contradiction to the tension their government has with Singapore

But I didn’t dwell on that. I slept as soon as my head hit the pillow, exhausted from a full day of diving.

I love how they use charcoal as warmers

Making Roti Prata

Charcoal, like bacon, makes everything taste better

In the morning we had a leisurely breakfast. It was peaceful, there weren’t too many guests who stayed on the island overnight. Most of them are day-trippers. The food was average, but I loved how they used charcoal for everything, especially toasting bread, which picked up the flavor nuances. Even though I place a heavy emphasis on food, I didn’t really care in this case. I had a great time because of the dives and the hospitable resort staff. I rarely go to Malaysia, but after this I think I have to come back.

Paradise

I don’t want to leave

Port View Seafood Village

I don’t really care about service. Food is the focus. I will tolerate slow service, put up with inexperienced or worse, incompetent servers if the food is good. I will endure rude or gruff waiters a la Peter Luger’s or like those in your local diner or favorite busy hawker. However looking back at my meal at Thomas Keller’s Per Se I realized that the service was so expert, subtle, warm and comforting that it elevated a superb meal to one that was sublime.

Two meals during my Brunei stay made me reevaluate my preconceived notions of the service-food relationship. They happened within days of each other as my parents and I embarked on a road trip across Borneo from Brunei to Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia.

The first meal was at Port View Seafood Village in Kota Kinabalu. We picked it because it was the closest to our hotel. All we were willing to do was walk no further than across the road after a whole day of traveling.

And in terms of food, I have to admit it was excellent. Every morsel of food was full of fresh flavor and expertly cooked. Sweet scallops were quickly stir-fried to showcase their pristine condition. There was a tender crunch to the huge prawns bursting with flavor. Plump oysters had a veneer of gratin-ed cheese, while the oysters itself was still delectably moist and slippery soft. Soft-shelled crabs were fried crisp yet lusciously juicy inside.

Pristine Scallops

Closeup

Prawns

It’s as big as my hand

Oysters

Fried soft shell crab

The problem was that while the prices of the seafood was very clearly spelled out, the amount you get when you order isn’t. The way the restaurant handled the situation when addressed also wasn’t very kosher. They weren’t cheating but they weren’t ethical. It definitely ruined the mood for dinner, as my mom was pretty upset for being taken for a ride, in fact I don’t think I’ve seen her so upset since I was a kid (and I don’t know anyone as calm as her.)

The “Restaurant” at Sutera Resort Manukan Island

Three days later we returned to Kota Kinabalu from Mount Kinabalu. A short boat ride later, we docked at the Sutera Resort jetty on Manukan Island. The clear turquoise water of the South China Sea was too tempting to resist and an hour after stepping on the island I had checked-in, drank my welcome cocktail, gotten a quick bite and was out on a boat again, coasting through Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park to the dive sites. Wanting to cram as many dives in, I added a night dive.

The night dive unfortunately delayed dinner. 

Going for my night dive

I was ravenously hungry, which happens every time after I dive, as I walked on the stone path to meet my parents for dinner. And I was pleasantly surprised to see them sitting in a private tent that the resort had set up for us on the beach, illuminated by hurricane lamps with a view of the sea and the soundtrack of lapping waves playing on repeat. We even had our own chef to barbeque our meal. Unfortunately the staff wasn’t told of my night dive and had prepared the food so that it would be ready for us when we came. But we came an hour and a half later than expected, causing the cooked food to sit on a charcoal warmer for the duration of time.

Setting up

I still wolfed down the squid, fish and prawns. After looking at fish the whole day I was really craving seafood. The meal as a whole was actually immensely enjoyable. We felt so pampered by the resort staff. I had actually seen them setting up the tent while waiting for the residual nitrogen to bleed off from my body after the day dives, and I was wondering what that was for and it seemed to be a lot of effort. There was an intricate “tablescape” that was an exotic and beautiful garnish to the backdrop of the “restaurant.” Yes the food was overcooked (at least for the first platter, when we got seconds cooked to order it was delicious,) but the level of attention and effort we got from the resort staff more than made up for it. The genuine warm hospitality, which is so rare, made the meal so memorable.

Check that tablescape out Sandra Lee!

I don’t go to a restaurant for the service or ambience, but I think I’d return in a heartbeat to Sutera Manukan Island. Would I go back to Port View View Seafood Village? I’m tempted to state an outright no. But the food was really good that it trumped the shady service.

BBQ Seafood, Satay and Lamb.

I realize that I haven’t come to a definitive rubric on service. My two examples seem to contradict each other. If anything, my two meals have made me more aware of the role service plays.

The number of Brunei cars seen throughout Kota Kinabalu this holiday season was, to put  it mildly, anything but a surprise. I commented in the previous post that shopping wasn’t necessarily a motivation for the KK getaway as we already had a shopping marathon in Singapore not too long ago. This was my second visit having driven there the first time and I swore never to drive again—if I wanted to, I could hop on to my car and ping-pong between Seria and BSB six times and the numbing effect would have been quite similar!

I met up with Jonathan of Breeze Magazine at Starbucks (yes, everything happens there for some reason) and got acquainted with photographer Gerry. After checking out the night scene there, having checked out Cocoon, Rumba, Bluenote and eventually settled at the Terrace right outside of Shenanigans at the Hyatt. It was at the Terrace where we discovered Frangelico, 20% hazelnut liqueur. I love the illuminated  rocky wall where I posed the bottle against and took this shot with Gerry’s 40D. Don’t you love how all the liqueur always have some legendary story that goes like this …

According to the legend, Frangelico lived three centuries ago in the hilly area bound by the right bank of the river Po … he lived as a hermit and through his love of nature and knowledge of its secrets created unique recipes for liqueurs.

↑ Hmm, I live in Seria (to many, that has similarities to being solitary), I have love of nature and have some knowledge of its allure but not its secrets, yet … producing alcohol only gonna land me in prison—not sure if you’d consider that legendary! Safer to stick to my love for coffee.

↓ At 1 BORNEO, the crowd gathered at the Centre Atrium where hundreds of shoppers looked on from every floor. As I’ve remarked elsewhere, shopping in Malaysia isn’t cheap perhaps the variety and availability more than anything but prices just aren’t captivatingly attractive. When it comes to designer clothing, Singapore is a better shopping destination though from personal exprience, prices in Hong Kong during a sale make Singapore sale look like a rip-off !

Strategic to 1 BORNEO are a number of hotels where apparently many more Bruneians stayed evident by the number of Brunei cars that are parked inside the hotel picket line. Pictured below is one of many budget accommodations operated by the same folks who run the highly successful budget airlines, Air Asia, of the same signature colour scheme.

↓ BUTTON TALK by Levis?  It never ceases to amaze me how many different combination of words from the English vocabulary marketing folks are able to pull off from season to season.

I have always preferred to roam for the convenience of maintaining a single point of contact in spite of higher tariffs. However, an incident that occurred at the worse possible time changed my mind. I was running a rather tight schedule holidaying with my family and organizing meetings with business contacts while in KK. One of such meetings was with Louis Pang whom we had agreed to meet but because I was moving around KK so much I had to keep Louis updated just in case I had to reschedule. An hour before we were due to meet (see text message below), my Brunei lined was barred and I lost connectivity in the entire time Louis tried to reach me to confirm the meet at Starbucks. I had no choice but to get a DiGi line after my meeting with Louis.

I reached Starbucks at 4 pm, ordered a blueberry cheesecake and a name of an ice blended drink whose name escapes me now.  I managed to sign on to to Starbucks Wifi and got Jonathan to help me call Louis to let him know that coffee was definitely on and that I had arrived. So Louis and I finally met for the first time after over a year of IM-ing. Cutting a long story short, we talked about the Brunei Workshop, we exchanged stories and we talked some more and before we went our separate ways, I asked a Starbucks patron for this picture who was waiting in line for his drink. Which one is Louis Pang? (hint: not the one next to the lamp).

I hadn’t really left Starbucks as I was also supposed to have coffee with Steven Goh but he wasn’t available until much later so we called it off. I visited TIMES book store next door and took this picture as I left, took a shot through the window before I made my way to dinner at a nearby FISH & CO outlet for delicious fish and chips in a pan. “One Bite and You’re Hooked” is their slogan—worth a try if you’ve never had it before.

BIG APPLE DONUTS. The first time I came across the name was when my wife brought back these delicious donuts after her successful Mount Kinabalu climb. There is no shortage of food and shopping at Warisan Square or anywhere in KK for that matter.

Later that evening, I joined my in-laws and we were brought to a pub for a night of drinking and entertainment. I later learnt that a brawl broke out shortly after we left. My first drink was coke but later switched to Heineken even though I cannot stand the taste of beer or alcohol for that matter.

It was close to midnight when we left the pub and back home, I would not think about grabbing food but I made an exception and we all had more than one helping of their delicious porridge. Just take a look at how packed the place is at midnight. Was I wrong when I said KK’s economy was thriving?

Jesselton Point Jetty—the gateway to the islands and the open seas!

↑ Leaving Jesselton Point Jetty. The journey to picturesque and fun filled Manukan Island ↓

This holiday season, and you’ll just have to trust me when I say there were beautiful people everywhere you looked. I think they’re more affectionately referred to as hotties and I’m not referring to the soaring temperatures on the beach.

↓ Many thanks Mel for lending me your side profile and those shades.
Hope you enjoyed Manukan Island as much as we did.

↓ My brother-in-law and his wife were the first of a group of three to go on the para gliding experience. I was offered a chance but gladly turned it down because the one key experience I’m taking home with me is the opportunity to shoot para-gliding where the strong winds, rough waters and restrictive space were a factor and not forgetting the EOS 20D and early generation EF 28-135mm lens were other factors. My next trip abroad, only L lenses!

↓ The only two things holding the people against the elements are a strong hinge and rope that resembles those used by mountaineers.

↓ My sister-in-law and her niece were the last group to get swept off their feet and excitement quickly replaced initial fear of the unknown

Waves of visitors just kept coming to the island. Amazing traffic at this time of the year that rivals that of Sentosa Island in Singapore and the sort of traffic we need at the Ulu Ulu Resort in Temburong.

A little girl from Kuala Lumpur was stung by jellyfish while playing in the shallow waters. She was in so much pain her screams rippled through the air. I happened to be back at our table when this occurred and I wanted these pictures to remind travellers not to take clear and innocent looking waters for granted. I learnt from the locals that two years ago, a young Korean girl died from jelly fish stings around the stomach. One of the guides said it’s safer and the sting less painful if swimmers had full body suit on instead of a bikini. Just earlier, my wife and kids were playing in the same area but it was my sister in law who went snorkeling and got stung on her arm.

When these pictures first appeared, I was promptly asked if anyone urinated on the affected area to ease the sting. I was taken aback at first thinking how on earth would it be practical to have someone pee on the burns in a public area not to mention totally rude and adding insults to an injured victim. Today, vinegar is used instead and it was suggested that when vinegar is applied together with cold charcoal ash, the burn marks are said to disappear quicker.

↓ Had this couple been the only people in the picture, it would have been almost a scan off a brochure.

I read a report about health risks that increases exponentially with the use of Sishas (also called bongs) compared to regular tobacco smoking. Interesting and colourful ways to shorten one’s life like a death orgy!

I just had to take a photo of this—a 5 Litre Heineken DRAUGHT Keg that I came across at a relations residence. There was not one but a number of these large cannisters that they would make great door stoppers or overly huge paper weight. One  keg alone violates Brunei customs of a maximum of 6 cans of beer! Hahahah and there’s no way anyone can hide this anywhere. I have to say I had not seen anything like it previously.

Some of you must be wondering about the significance of this picture—Lilli Lingerie. Bruneians know Lilli as she owns “Brunei’s first and only Quality Lingerie Boutique.” I was at City Mall and was scanning for free public WiFi to check my emails on the E71 and up came the “Lilli Lingerie” access point. Like her quality soft-wear, the Lilli Lingerie access point isn’t for the public eye Luckily for you deserving ladies in KK, Lilli is there to give you her undivided attention.

↓ Two teaser pictures from Gayana Eco Resort which I am going to feature exclusively in my next post.

↓ On the way to the airport, we stopped by Burger King for take outs and lion dance marked the grand opening of TEXAS  Restaurant and Bar. I visited it twice this trip not realizing that it’s a new establishment.

Hmm… It’s kind of embarrassing. Actually it is about Adam, a Filipino guy that I met at Manukan Island last month. I know Smaelz and Callister must be excited about it. But guys, this isn’t a happy news to both of you and it isn’t a bad news either. So, are you ready? Take a deep breath guys…

One…

Two…

Three…

…

Adam is married. I am not sure since when or when was it.

My friend Puteri once told me that she doesn’t think that I’ll end up with a guy like Adam and she always reminds me that I deserve to be someone different. Yeah, she knows my style very well and knows the qualities or things that I expect from a guy and from what had happened, I think she was just right. Thanked God I turned him down at the first place.

Oh c’mon it is just a short hooked up holiday fling. =P Chill. =)

P.s: Next time if a guy trying to flirt with me, the first thing I’ll ask him “Are you married?”… Haha! =D

P.s.s: And married-men please be honest with yourself..! You don’t have to be gatal, you have your wife what…

P.s.s.s: The same thing had happened to my mum before he met my dad. She didn’t know her so called Mr. Boyfriend is married, and he has 2 kids! And… He’s Filipino too. =P

It was the worst trip ever my travelling history.

We didn’t enjoy during our stay in Sabah lor. The journey took around 2 1/2 hours.. then, there are not that many interesting places to go. Erm.. there will be no trip to east coast liao. Nope… definitely!

Ahaha.. most of our time spent in the hotel, purely relaxing. Sisters were able to sleep but unlike me.. I had to spend most of my time watching tv because worried unable to resume sleep at night.. aihz..

Well.. at least we were able to go Manukan Island and Sapi Island which are located in 2 of the islands in Pulau Tunku Abdul Rahman lol.. hehe… Nothing special about these beaches.. especially Manukan Island!! Gosh.. it resembles of Port Dickson… and Sapi island at least, the beach look like greenish color.

Overall.. nothing special about the beaches in Sabah.. although I was told by some of my friends that Sabah beaches are amazing. to be honest.. I don’t find myself fascinated about that place! SUCKS!

Day 1

Woke up at 3 am. Finishing my packing by 3.40am. Waiting for the taxi to arrive.

4 am, taxi arrived and took us 35mins to arrive @ LCCT.

Check in and took our early breakfast @ McD.

Boarding @ 6 am and set to fly @ 7am.

Arrived @ KK @ 9.35am. Everything settled by 10.10am and set to leave the airport.

By 11am, we’ve arrived @ Promenade hotel (booked through PYO travel), checked in but unable to get our room, just yet! So, took a taxi (costs @ RM8) to go to little Italy. So cheesy and not that special about the pizza and the cheesy seafood fried rice. Maybe the side of the pizza taste abit crunchy..

All set to go to the Jetty to checkout prices for island hopping. TO our surprise, it only costs @ RM27/person + RM 6/person for tax and RM3/person for the island entry. This costs is for 2 island. It is up to the individual to go which island. We’ve choosen Manukan ISland and Sapi Island. (FYI, go to local agency charging RM180 and above for the tour in these two island!! So expensive! Of course inclusive of lunch but… it costs more than 300% incease!!!).. luckily we weren’t that stupid to book with them.. if not.. gosh! wasted ..

Went back to our hotel and got our key @ 12.30 pm.

Spent our time in the hotel until 3pm.. Panda and I went down to swim and got back into our room in less than 1/2 because the swimming pool is just too deep and sunny!

By 5.10 pm, we were ready to go for the BBQ hotpot @ 1 Borneo Mall but the bus came @ 5.45pm. Very punctual service. To our surprised, the journey took us 45mins to arrive! So far from the city and very terrible jam. The road system there sucks! They have too many round abouts. Gosh… we were so hungry. Even without jam, the journey still takes around 30mins. Aihz…

Went back to our hotel by 10.15pm and we were all set to ZzZz…

Day 2

Woke up @ 6.15am and look @ the sky, the sky is so bright. As if it is 7-8am in Kuala Lumpur! I wonder what time the sabahan work.. because by 5-6pm, the sky starting to turn dark!

Anyway.. finished our breakfast by 7.45am, we’ve waited for our taxi and arrived @ 8.15am. Bought our tickets and time is allocated to take photos.

1st Island took us @ least 20mins. It was so windy and cooling until we arrived @ Manukan Island. It was big/ huge but looks no difference than our PD beach lor. Aihz.. spent around 1 1/2 touring the island and even had some chat with mother to bitch about the island. Haha…

Left Manukan island @ 10.30am and next destination is Sapi Island. I think the journey is less than 10mins away. I was quite amaze with the beach color because it was so greenish! But the island is definitely very small. Within 1/2 hour, we’ve finished our tour and starting to wait for our boat @ the small jetty.

Arrived @ the Jesselton Jetty by 12.30pm. Went into grocerries store and bought our drinks and foods to eat in the hotel.. then, we didn’t come out from our room lor..

Day 3 - even worst

Woke up @ 7.45m. Had our breakfast @ 9.10am. finished  then..  we were ready to go to Craft centre- philippino market lor. Spent 1/2 hour to shop for key chains, pearls and some dried foods for mother, sis and aunty. then, we waited for our taxi for 10 mins.

We arrived @ our hotel by 10.25am. Stayed until 1 pm.

Arrived @ the airport @ 1.25pm. Waited for our turn to ask the counter whether we can change our flight time from 6.30 pm to 2.05pm. Our request have been declined and so, we’ve waited for our flight for almost 6 hours before the plane all set to take off back to Kuala Lumpur! I even managed to finish my sister’s story book. Haha…

The plane landed @ 8.30pm and arrived @ home @ 10.30pm. Sister and parents were waiting for us lor.. hehe. so miss my dearest family members.. especially my parents :-p

Lorsque j’étais à Kota Kinabalu (KK) dans l’état de Sabah à Bornéo, j’en ai profité pour aller sur les petites îles tout près. Une quinzaine de minutes en bateau et j’étais à l’île de mamutik.

Mamutik Island

En route, mon guide m’a montré une grosse maison. «Plusieurs personnes disent qu’elle appartient à Jackie Chan, mais personne n’est certain à 100%».  Alors voilà la possible-maison-de-Jackie-Chan à KK.

Est-ce une des maisons de Jackie Chan?

Et puis, à l’île mon activité favorite a été,  évidemment, de faire du snorkeling (et de prendre des centaines de photos)! J’adore prendre des photos sous l’eau!!!

En voici quelques-unes prises à l’île de Manukan.

Mes photos de poissons à Mamutik ne sont pas géniales parce que le courant faisait trop bouger le sable. En plus, le soleil était trop fort et je ne voyais absolument rien dans ma lentille. J’ai donc préféré mes photos prises un peu plus tard en journée, lorsque je me suis rendue à l’île de Manukan…

Early April we found out we had the opportunity to take a somewhat impromptu trip for about ten days. There is a lot to do and see in South East Asia, but the prospect of climbing Mt. Kinabalu sold us on a trip to the region of Sabah. So we planned on using our free “company” flight from Tokyo to Singapore, and then using purchased tickets to from there on to Brunei for an overnight layover and then to our final destination, Kota Kinabalu. We also booked two nights at a nice resort in KK at the Magellan Sutera.

When we showed up to the counter the morning of our flight we were informed the flight was canceled indefinitely. This was the second trip that our “free” flights suddenly were not free anymore. This meant we had to by tickets from Tokyo to KK for the following morning. Luckily for a grand a person, we both had round trip tickets on Malaysia Air for the following day. Royal Brunei of course would not refund us our tickets, but they were nice enough to refund the airport taxes.

The next day was an entire day of riding trains and then flying. Besides our stop over in Kuala Lumpur, the flight was easily the best flight I have experienced as it is the only flight were you had your own TV monitor and choice of entertainment. We finally arrived at KK around 12am. Of course no visit to a foreign country is complete without the obligatory F1 racing taxi driver. Despite the resort only being a few miles away, this ride did not disappoint!

The Magellan Sutera Resort entrance itself was jaw dropping. My picture does not capture the sheer size of the lobby. We were both surprised at not only the amazing view of the South China Sea from our balcony, but the room itself was easily the nicest room we have ever stayed in!

When we woke up in the morning we were also treated to on the the best breakfast buffets I have ever had. And the picture below was taken from the table we ate at!

The Magellan property is also connected to another resort called the Pacific Sutera. We decided to enjoy the pools for the day over on that side as we practically had it to ourselves. Below is a night picture of the harbor between the resorts.

Despite the warnings I read online about the power of the sun in this latitude and being pasty white during that time of the year, I spent way too much time in the sun that day and burnt myself to a crisp. Luckily my fair skin is so use to it that I recover quickly. But it was enough to warrant spending an additional night at the Magellan for a total of 3 nights. This provided plenty of time to take more photographs of the resort.

My only gripe about the place was that the food in their restaurants was super expensive. We ordered take out one night and despite the high cost, I was not happy with the meal. Luckily the resort offers frequent shuttled into the center of town so you can easily manage eating in KK which has tons of excellent options for SUPER cheap.

Since the Magellan was a bit beyond our budget we eventually reserved a room at the Best Western Kinabalu Daya Hotel in KK. It was a fairly good price, included an edible breakfast, and was close to bus station.

We ended up paying for a little tour near Mt. Kinabalu to see some botanical gardens, some crowded hot springs, and a tree top canopy walk. The world largest blooming flower, the Rafflesia Arnoldi also starting to bloom which Amber was able to get a picture of.

We also stopped by a local market that had a huge variety of fruits and vegetables I never knew existed. We purchased a couple of fruits, but none of them had much taste unfortunately.

It was a decent excursion, but we were really excited to climb Mt. Kinabalu. To climb this mountain you need to reserve one of the three huts high up on the mountain. Since this climb is very popular, we were very lucky to get a room in the non heated hut called the Gunting Lagadan. The Laban Rata Hut is the most popular one because it is heated, which is nice because it was damn cold up there!

We really did not do much planning beyond reserving the hut which came with one of the park admission fees. Early in the morning we checked out of the Daya Hotel and headed over to the bus stop. We were hounded by the taxi driver scam artists (not all were scam artists, but you could easily tell who was going to Shanghai you). We were set on riding the short bus up so we purchased a ticket. Unfortunately the bus was having problems, so they put us in a taxi anyways.

Once we reached the park, they turned us upside down and shook all the money out of our pockets to pay for the climbing fees (luckily the exchange rate was in our favor.) We were told we needed a guide as well, but luckily there was still one available, as it was about the last hour of the day when hikers start heading up the mountain. We later found out you do not need a guide and even though ours was nice, it is impossible to get lost on this trail. We also rented out a storage shelf for all of our items we didn’t need. This lightened the load considerably.

I have climbed some steep trails in my time, but this one is pretty much straight up. Even the steps built into the mountain seem to be designed for people with 6ft long legs. But the worst part is the mental destruction that is inflicted when a local guide/porter goes walking past you with two backpacks and bare feet or massive propane canisters on their back with burlap straps!

Of course just like my climb up Mt. Fuji, I got altitude sickness while Amber was running up the trail. At the end of the day when we got to the hut at 9,000ft my head was ready to explode! I could barely eat anything at all that night and I thought Amber was going to have to complete the climb without me. Luckily when I woke up I was feeling a bit better.

At 3am it was on with the climb!

It wasn’t too long before we were above the tree line and the scenery became absolutely stunning.

13,435 ft is the height of the mountain. As we got higher and higher my head again started to pulse and pound with every step. I was taking baby steps and Amber was having no problems at all, hurting my pride in the process! I am pretty sure she poisoned me though..

Finally the sun rising from the top-

I was losing brain cells at a phenomenal rate so we decided to turn around after about 20 minutes of taking pictures and enjoying the view. The rest of the day going back downhill was about as fun as having my knees hit with an aluminum baseball bat one hundred times. Both of us knew we would be walking funny from our sore muscles for at least two to three days.

We split a cab fare with another couple and headed back to the Daya Hotel in KK. We spent the rest of the day limping to nearby restaurants and watching TV at the hotel, and boy was it wonderful! The remaining two days we decided to visit Islands at the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park. The ferry boats departed a short distance from our hotel. The first day we went to Sapi Island.

It was somewhat crowded due to its’ small size, but the water was crystal clear and the island was full of Monitor lizards.

The last day we headed to Manukan Island which was not much further away than Sapi, although this island was much larger so their was more room to spread out.

Overall we both loved the trip and we are still a little bummed as we will probably never get a chance to go back despite feeling like we missed a lot of other opportunities that are so close by. Diving at Sipidan Island and seeing the Orangutans would really have been nice. Our next trip to SE Asia we will set aside an entire month so we hopefully don’t feel like we missed as much.

Holiday. (;

I’m pretty psyched for the upcoming holidayy. why? I’m going to Manukan island, Sabah.

Pulau Manukan, Sabah

marine life, Pulau Manukan

Even though i have an exciting holiday coming, I’m not as excited at how quick it is we’re coming to October. Can’t really believe it’s June already. I’m also not that excited about my Birthday as well because well.. this year my birthday reflects the fact that It’s more than halfway until my ‘O’ levels. My siblings won’t be home too at the time and I’ve got my
June exams going on so I’ll just celebrate some other time i guess. My birthdays don’t really bring down the house FYI. Maybe just spend it eating potato chips while watching an episode of veronica mars? thats quite fun. Sureeeee, spending your birthday during your O levels, on a weekday, with everyone not at your side & single might make you all pity cry yourselves dry to sleep but i find things like a smile from a close friend or a beautiful view or even a deep heart to heart conversation to be enough to make my day. I can be low maintenance when i want to.

The most annoying thing about my so called ‘day’ is that during me birthday eve at 11.59 pm, my credit will be ohh at ard $5-20 but then a minute later when those text messsages starts to flood,

ZAM ZAM ALAKAZAM!!

Hilang tiaaa my credit semuaa. Ironically, it seems that DST loves me enough to charge my annual fee exactly on my birthday. How nicee. j:

oh well. My credit expired already a few days ago so that won’t be much of a problem this year. I don’t really see
why us people see in the term sweet sixteen though. Unlike in the states and some western countries, 16 is not the legal driving age and unlike some most western countries, sex doesn’t get legalized at 16. Overall.. this is just one of those things us Asians adopted without even knowing the origin of this whole sweet sixteen trend. so is 16 really sweet? um….. notsomuch. You wanna know what’s really sweet? Kristen Bell’s eyes. (;

-vuxpyra//