The Wednesday Before Monday

It's back to work again on another brand new week...

OK, that wasn't enthusiastic at all - but who would be on a Monday morning? ;)

Anyway, I took two days off from work last week, and coupled with the public holiday on Wednesday, my working week was down to two days only and the break has been making me a bit lazy.

However, it wasn't a lazy week with no positives - finding a good book counts as a postive in my books (forgive me on the pun). As usual, my favourite past time is reading and Wednesday afternoon made perfect timing for a cuppa at Starbucks, while enjoying the available books at Borders. I found two new books from Dragonlance, one I have been waiting for - though, a quick browse at both told me that I wasn't in the mood for fantasy that afternoon. Or was it perhaps the story has gotten a bit boring?

Anyway, I found the remaining book to be much more interesting. It carried the title: first, break all the rules. Eye catching indeed, huh? But what does it mean?

I'll tell you all about it once I have finished reading it, will see if I can do a bit of book review - something that I haven't done in a long while. In the meantime, why not pick one up and have a read yourself. Who doesn't like breaking rules? :)

Guess which one did I buy?

In Good Faith Indeed

Updated [17-Sept-08]:
And our falling-asleep-in-meeting PM accepted the resignation with the expected reason that more patience is required to make changes, the government doesn't depend on one person, yada yada yada...

The fact that he has just lost a minister that was supposed to bring about judicial reforms seem to be lost to our sleepy PM. What's more, the Senator was brought in by the PM himself. So if Zaid has failed, it would mean that the PM has also failed? Pak Lah not only failed to provide the necessary support to push through reforms, but he has also fail as the only person with enough power and political clout to force a change in mindset of the people in his cabinet.

While Pak Lah mentioned that judicial reforms will continue even with the absence of Zaid, it seems to me that there is just no will within the government, the cabinet and the political elites to change. Pak Lah does not seem to realize just how big a blow this will be to the hopes of the people of seeing an important and lasting change to the judiciary.

We are back to square one. Pak Lah's promises are mere empty words that have become increasingly meaningless. And worthless.

****************************************
Finally...someone who takes responsibility for the wrong things that are happening in this country. For the first step you have taken, Mr. Zaid Ibrahim, I salute thee.

I have read his book, In Good Faith, and have often wondered ever since then on whether he is truly the person who espoused the ideas that was written in words.

Is he any different from the common Malay politicians that we find so abundantly available in BN (to everyone's detriment and loss)? I may not agree with all his views, but with his actions today, he has earned my respect.

Reading his responses in the Sun gives me that little bit of hope that the word accountability still exist in some of our politicians' dictionary - albeit Zaid Ibrahim is the first I have seen so far.

To quote:

> On the ISA arrest of Sin Chew Daily reporter Tan Hoon Cheng
"I did not expect this. That our government would find journalists a threat to the country? How can a journalist be a security threat? I cannot understand this. But, I am a minister, so I am responsible. In terms of ISA usage, for example, the police said we detain first, then only we investigate. This is a strange principle. I don’t understand this. You cannot detain people just because you want to investigate."

Now, why won't the rest of the current government follow suit? It would be the best gift to Malaysia as it signal a new dawn to its people. But that is just wishful thinking, right?

Flintlocke is Back!

Missed the World of Warcraft webcomic? Wait no longer...after two years that is.
Catch the new series, Flintlocke vs. The Horde here: A Horde of Many Colors

Happy 51st Birthday Malaysia!

I guess there is nothing prouder for a country than to achieve its independence. And saying that, nothing makes its rakyat prouder than to celebrate the great day with their fellow Malaysians and perhaps join in when they call out "Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!"

To think that it's already been a year since the government was talking about the country's achievements for the last 50 years (and of course, taking the credits for everything that comes to mind) and what "they had in mind for Malaysia" for the next 50 years.

It's 50 + 1 and a lot has happened. The boat has been rocked and the pot has been stirred (forgive me for the cliched expressions). And yet, the ministers, their deputies, their secretaries and their supporters are still resting on their laurels, applying outdated methods in their everyday activities. Be it from dealing with modern media, mouthing racist comments during speeches, or being in denial over the people's voices - nothing has changed. A year's time was a waste on them.

But I'm hoping that the rest of Malaysia and its people are feeling that they are destined to do more. Wait...I meant, WE are destined to do more. From pushing for political reforms, to helping the country grow economically and realizing the Malaysia Inc. vision, to nurturing our young with values and making them leaders of tomorrow, to breaking away from old practices of racism, sexism and religious superiority, and finally to ensuring the sick, the poor and the elderly are taken cared of in a system that is wholesome and sustainable.

I have heard it many times before from different people - be it local and foreign visitors - saying that Malaysia is a great place to live in. It amazes people that a country with such diversity - in terms of culture, religious practices, beliefs and historical background - could live in harmony with one another. It amazes me too. Despite the underlying tension that surfaces once in a while - especially when some idiots pull out their ceremonial dagger during an important event - things has been pretty alright amongst us common Malaysians, has it not?

If we take politics and power aside - what is truly important to us all? Independence was a hard thing to achieve back then. After we achieved it, what was next? Was it political superiority? Money? Or supremacy over others who are different? What is it that pulls us all together as Malaysians today and not as distinctive races?

I apologize for the rhetoric questions. I used to write a lot about how we could change Malaysia for the better and how we should continue to work hard into getting our next generation there. I have also been to the so-called greener side and have been back. And I'm still saying that we can achieve our dream, which is to have a place where everyone is truly a Malaysian with their rights protected as equal with no discrimination and injustice. Everyone should have a vision of how their country should be. And so this is mine.

I'm So Scared! He is Annoyed!

Referring to this piece of news: Najib: No more fuel rebates if you don't appreciate them
I can only say this...Kalo tak nak bagi, tak usah bagi!!

Seem like he was expecting this to be an easy thing to deal with. Perhaps he thought that the initial scheme was flawless? Or he is thinking that getting annoyed is too much for his highness to bear?

I guess Malaysian national policies are clearly determined by the whims of the powerful.

This is another round of incompetence in implementing a national policy with no thoughts about the consequences nor the expectations that the people has. I guess this is what I would call a half-baked policy. All it takes to change national policies is to get someone higher up annoyed.

The Two Towers?

Malaysian style

Penang International Dragon Boat Festival 2008

The weather the last few days and most of the week was pretty hot in Penang. A good thing too - cause if not, then I would have missed watching the Dragon Boat race, which was held at the Teluk Bahang Dam.

To be exact, this was the 6th Club Crew World Championships & 8th ADBF Asian Dragon Boat Championships - and some 500+ teams competed in the four day championship. I went on the third day, a Saturday, since weekends are the only time I can take time off during the day ;p

Some of my friends and I headed off from Bayan Baru area to the dam around 11am - we started pretty late cause most of us were just too lazy to get up on a Saturday morning. Can't blame us, right?

OK, anyway, by the time we reached, the sun was already blazing hot. But thanks to strong winds, temperature wise it wasn't too bad - getting a little bit darker isn't a problem for guys ;p

As it was already the third day, the competition was in full swing and I didn't want to wait till I walk all the way across the dam to snap pictures. So I simply "zoomed across" and quickly snapped some early pics. Given, that at full stretch, the pics weren't superb, but it was good enough for me see what was going on. The above pics show competitors waiting at the starting line

There was a huge crowd, which was both spectators and competitors. Plenty of colours too and they stood out from far across the dam! We saw a bunch of pink...

Blue...red...orange...making it a colourful crowd indeed!

Here is a shot on the boats paddling furiously on the start.

At the end of the race. Everyone looked tired. Well, these were not the eventual winners, so I guess it explains the not-so-energetic look ;p

More pictures from after a race.

And here is a shot of a guy going closer than anyone of us just to get a good angle of the race :)

While walking around the stalls, Cat had the opportunity to take some pictures with the Iranian ladies! Not sure if they were competitors or was just there to support their fellow countrymen.

And they did win one of the events :D Not sure which one though cause I didn't really follow - was there to just snap and snap and snap pictures ;p

From Down Under :)

From Canada!

Not sure if they were local ;p

And lastly, here is a shot of a team getting warmed up for the next event. We were heading off then - stomach getting hungry and the sun was getting too hot for comfort.

While we were there only for a short while, it was a great experience for me, considering that was the first time I went to any boat race ;p

Penang Bon Odori Festival 2008 - Part 2

It was a nice experience at the Bon Odori festival and the fact that it didn't rain like the previous years allowed everyone there to enjoy the performances without much problem.

The following is two videos I captured of some dances - the second one, I was trying out the HD feature on the H50.

Most of these were taken at zoom, so the quality is not as good as it should have been...or rather is was kind o expected

This group performed twice - the second time after the audience requested an encore :)

And then lastly, these are some pictures taken during the second round of the Bon dance. By then, some of those in the crowd was already happily joining in by dancing around the stage :D


After that, it was going to be a repeat of the earlier half's performances and so we decided that we should head back. And also because I was getting hungry and wanted to grab a bite - we ended up at Kayu Nasi Kandar in Bayan Baru ;p

Anyway, I'm hoping to take be able to take more and better pictures with the new toy I just acquired. It's been a while since I have been able to blog two entries in a row - heavier workload and all.

Penang Bon Odori Festival 2008 - Part 1

After working for more than two years in Penang, this would be my first time going to a Bon Odori festival ;p

Well, for the last two years it was raining and I really didn't want to crowd with so many people while getting all wet. Fortunate for me, the weather today was great - the afternoon was not too hot and there was plenty of wind, which made the whole climate pleasant :)

In Malaysia, Bon Odori is held anually, mainly in Selangor and Penang. It held at a smaller scale and those held in Japan and is more to introduce Japanese culture to Malaysia rather than focusing on the Buddhism aspect of the festival.

My friends and I arrived at Esplanade at around 6pm+ and people was starting to gather quickly.

There was a speech going on at that time...kind of peaked my interest since the speaker was doing it in English.

Well, silly me - I thought - when I found out who it was. Of course they would have invited the Chief Minister to officiate the festival ;p

Lots of people, mostly buying food. Others probably just wondering about looking for interesting things to see. There weren't that much of a variety in terms of Japanese food - but I guess it would suffice if you wanted just to snack while waiting for the Bon dance to begin.

Did I mention that there were lots of people?

If you don't like Japanese, no problemo. Just go for one of the local varieties. I even saw some Taiwanese specials - which made me wonder what they were doing there at a Japanese festival ;p

After getting some tako yaki, ramen, yakisoba and some drinks, we headed off to watch the performances going on in full swing at the field. The following are some pictures of the drum and dance performances. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking from here on ;)

This group was concluding their drum performance

Full of enthusiasm!

Next was a group of Japanese ladies performing some dances - don't ask me what dance cause I didn;t manage to catch it when the MC (emcee) announced it ;p - though it was a slow dance.


They later came out to offer a bow to the audience, who was very appreciative of their performance. I believe this lady is the head of the group that performed.

Right...I think this has been quite a long entry already. I was trying out some HD pictures and videos with my new camera, so will upload those tomorrow. And seeing that it's almost 2am now, it's probably a good idea that I hit the sack now and continue later.

An Old Town in New Bayan

A night shot in the day

Sitting there with a glass of iced white coffee at the brand new outlet in Bayan Baru. And right opposite where I work too. How convenient :)

A New Toy!

Yup...I bought myself an early present on Saturday. Cost me a bomb...though I'm not gonna say how much ;p

Well, the old one was one of the first few models - from this company - and I got it while I was still working in London. Cost me bomb then too...but I guess it was well worth the money since it's lasted for more than 4 years of hard use. And it's still functioning fine - albeit I'm starting to see a few bugs creeping up now and then.

So, what's this new toy I'm talking about? Couldn't afford a DSLR (well, more like I didn't want to maintain sets of lenses and I'm not really into photography) so I got myself a toy called the H50.

It's of the prosumer range and comes with a 15x superzoom, at 9.1M pixel. I have thought of buying those slim and small type of point-and-shoot cameras - so that I can carry it conveniently around. But some of the good ones cost nearly as much as the H50 and don't have as many features.

I'm liking the H50 so far - it's lighter than it looks, comes with a tilting LCD screen, takes good pics, and it includes features like the Smile shutter and Night shot modes.

Anyway, not going to say too much about the specs - I just wanted to write something about this new toy ;p Hopefully I would be blogging more stuff accompanied by good pics in the future :)

You can read good reviews on the net and check out the pros and cons of this new camera in the Cyber-shot family. I was comparing it with the Nikon P80...but I'm kind of bias to Sony since I have a few gadgets that are of Sony's make already.

The New...

Retiring the older one...(look at the scars this one has had...)

So...Wassup?

I guess I have been delinquent again in updating my blog ;p Well...this is not work right? So delinquent is probably too strong a word hehe...

Anyway, things has been getting busier at work and looks set to be more challenging now that my manager, who is an expat, flies back to the US for good this Sunday. While I have only started working with him closely since last November, I must say that the experience has been great and much, much better than all the managers I have worked for in the past.

Perhaps I have been a bit dependent on him to watch my back...but that's what a good manager is suppose to do, isn't it? Well, this is not to say that other managers (and there are a few that I actually work for) don't give me the necessary backing, but they require more "managing upwards" that I would have thought required.

Lesson learn: I believe that one should always manage upwards if you want to get things done, quick, and also if you want your career development to go the right way. The problem in Malaysia is, even if you try to manage upwards, things might still not get done, or not done the way you want it...but at least you tried lah...

One of the main reasons employees quote for leaving a company is because of problems with their direct supervisor or the person they reports to. From my point of view...money and achievements comes into play too...but a bad relationship with your immediate superior could well be the needle that breaks the camel's back.

OK...not really my intention to talk about management and what not.

Tonight will be another night for the Oranje to show if they really have the class and determination to win the Euro Cup like they did 10 years ago. Will Van Basten or Hidink - both Dutch mind you - be the better coach/manager tonight? We shall see...as I'm a football fool enough to get up at 2.45am to catch it live. It better be a good game lol ;p

Oh...and I have just installed Firefox 3! I guess I have always been a fan of Firefox over IE. And the new version is slicker and faster than before. So far, the add-ons are still not that many, but I have seen some good ones, like PicLens. I'm sure developers are already creating better add-on and plugins for Firefox users and I'm sure looking forward to it. Frankly...IE7 sucks...slow...cumbersome and every time is loads something it always pops up on my screen even though I hadit minimized.

So if you have not download or upgrade the latest Firefox 3, what are you waiting for?? Go check it out here: Firefox 3 :D

OK...those we were not what I wanted to talk about too ;p Actually I have no idea what I wanbt to write...I'm just crapping (though not literally mind you) around till my anime downloads - Bleach (epi 175), Naruto Shippuuden (epi 63) and D.Gray Man (epi 88) - are complete. Bad thing is... it's freaking slow with Streamyx! Though it's really not a surprise anymore, which I'm sure M'sian users feels the same.

Oh...drats...I think I should get a few hours of sleep first before the game...lest I become a zombie tomorrow and miss gym again.

Orange Power!

I just finished watching Netherlands play France in the so-called "Group of Death" match up. And if I wasn't a fan of the Dutch team before this, I can clearly say that I am now. Really, anyone who is a fan of football would have enjoyed the masterclass display of the team of Orange.

Undoubtedly, it was another brilliant display by the Dutch of skill and talent. 4-1 to the Netherlands and all were wonderful goals, especially the last one by Wesley Sneijder on the 90th minute. Liverpool FC should buy this player lol!

Now that the Dutch has eliminated both World Cup finalists (Italy AND France), they can take it easy on their next game against Romania. Perhaps I should place some bets on Romania that they to make it through to the playoffs ;p

Stupidity That Surpasses The Greatest

And we Malaysians complimented his stupidity with our very own kiasuness.

That comment probably just stepped on quite a lot of toes. Yours too - particularly if you were one of those who rushed to the petrol station just to filled up the tank, while causing a massive jam on every road leading to a petrol station there is in the country. Even those stations that usually don't have much business were jam packed with cars, SUVs, lorries, motorcycles...you name it. And then leaving those who really needed the petrol stuck on the road, after whatever was remaining in their tank ran out while waiting for their turn.

Whose fault was it? Well, of course I couldn't blame it on the people since the government should really have foreseen this...and who would not have expected the reaction?? Malaysians in general are kiasu, even rivaling their southern neighbours on some fronts. (though some of us hate to admit it, but there are also those who wear it like a badge of honour - which I seriously wonder why). OK...let's not step on even more toes.

But in all seriousness, the fault lies with Uncle Lah, who in his supreme wisdom decided to raise the petrol ceiling by 78 sen - all in one go. He couldn't raised it over a few months. No, no, no, the past few months was too near to the elections...so it had to be done after the elections. And as a "reward" for all those naughty voters who voted accordingly, he wanted to dish out the "goodies", all in one shot.

I mean...come on lah...he could have made the raise incrementally, right? In my humble opinion, the petrol price should have been raised since last year - a bit at a time. Everyone hates price increases, especially when our pay remains the same - but if it needed to be done, it should have been done in a way that would have lessen the pain.

Unfortunately for us, with his unsurpassed wisdom, we will now see everything else go up in prices too - exceedingly high too. Not like it has not been going up and up and up for the last few months. But it's going to hit sky high now. With the price of chicken on the rise, looks like I'll need switch to pork - not like it's cheaper - with my porridge (remember someone's Deputy asked us to change our lifestyles?). Probably have to switch to bringing my own lunch now too.

Uncle Lah of course have to lead the pack by raising the price for electricity - by 18%. Whoopy! Now I need to eat my porridge by candle light. How romantic.

While in our minds we knew that we have stupid ministers...they have now removed any reasonable doubt - at least from my mind (I thought there was a cure...but...looks like that was my optimistic self speaking). Either that or the coffers has really shrunk over his tenure and he had no choice in this matter.

Whatever the reason was, the execution was once again a "first for Malaysia" and it was something no one could have guessed. Bravo Uncle Lah, bravo for the dumboness that puts us all into shame.

So What Happened To Immediately?

The Star reported this:

A camp spokesman said the trainees ho complained of nausea and stomach pains, started vomiting between 12.15am to 1.30am.

The trainees were referred to the medical team at the camp and rushed to the hospital at 7am when their conditions worsened. It is learnt that the source of the food poisoning had been traced to the lunch ate on Wednesday.

So it's all NATO again lah...No Action Talk Only. What happened between 1:30am and 7:00am ? More than 5 hours difference before they were sent to the hospital. This is contrary to what our Deputy Prime Minister assured us just a day before.

Furthermore, trainees had said (in the report) that the meat they were served was stale...rice uncooked? What sort of training camp are they running anyway?

So who is going to take responsibility for this problem? Who will compensate the trainees who suffered the food poisoning? Mr. Deputy PM, are you going to live up to your assurances? Or as usual, your speech yesterday was only a publicity stunt?

Uncle Lah Continues To Talk Shite

Uncle Lah, Uncle Lah...don't be a hypocrite lah...

There are bigots in your party that has been mouthing racist comments and you said nothing about it. Self-censorship konon. Ask who kissed his keris in front of camera - just to show his racial supreme-ness?? Who always asked us to balik China and balik India? Who keeps reminding us of May 13?

Bak kata pepatah, Gajah di depan mata tak kelihatan, semut di seberang kelihatan.

And talk about "ethical journalism" - heh...even The Star put them in inverted commas - you mean only those media (newspapers, tv, etc.) who are sympathetic to your party and those who sings your praises all the time, every time, are ethical lah...correct? Correct, correct, correct, correct...

All those of us who criticize the government are labeled with crude remarks like "monkeys" and "goblok". Our words are baseless while those written by the so-called mainstream media are the gospel of truth.

Balik lah Uncle Lah. Up till now, still want to talk cock. Malaysian ministers, really No.1 at this kind of things. The people who are threatening our national security and public order are those in your government that has been living off the public coffers and abuse their power with impunity. Go clean your own house before you dare talk about being "ethical" about anything.

After 4 Years and 16 Cases

Only after 16 death cases does our brilliant government thought of sending sick trainees straight to the hospital.

I would have thought that after the second case it would have triggered a red alert to have falling sick trainees to be sent to the nearest hospital, IMMEDIATELY. After all, if the trainee is checked to be OK (or if sick, then recovers), he or she can always continue with the NS training later on.

Took long enough for the bulb to light up.

Change Lifestyle...Eat Porridge???

Aggressive measures my foot.

It's the economy, stupid! And it's all those short-sighted policies that has caused our economy to lag behind and become ever more dependent on FDIs. And this in turn has caused the average income of the lower and middle income groups to rise too slowly to cope with the ever increasing cost of living.

Like I have mentioned in the comments section of my previous entry, the Ringgit doesn't have the buying power. Ask the average Joe in Malaysia, how long does a RM50 note last? How much can RM1 buy today - as compared to 10 years ago? Keeping that in mind, how much has our average base income increased in the last 10 years?

With the highly skewed inflation rates released by the government every year, it is hardly a surprise why the our yearly increments (if we have any) - for lower and middle income groups - is so low. Note that Malaysia's inflation rate (consumer price) for 2007 is 3.8%.

Simple example without going into too much details. As I usually do, I buy my lunch from a nearby economy rice stall. And these days I pay around RM3.50 for a plate of rice and dishes, where I was only paying RM3.00 a few months back for the same stuff. Sometimes for dinner, I go for a plate of nasi goreng at the local Nasi Kandar restaurant and the price has now gone up from Rm3.50 to RM4.00. Let's do the Maths - in both cases the rise in prices has gone up more than 10%. While they are fervently trying t control the prices, it is not working.

I agree that not all the prices has gone up by that amount - my point is that the rising inflation today is not on special items or things that we buy for luxury. These are food items and if our Uncle Lah wants me to change my lifestyle - I wonder what I should eat next. Porridge? Can't even fall on bread these days, as it too has gone up in price.

Also, perhaps Uncle Lah can provide me with an adequate public transport system so that I need not drive and pay tolls?

On one hand, they are asking us to spend in order to keep the local economy up. And on the other hand, Uncle Lah wants us to save. Cannot lah like that...most of my spending is already on basic stuff...does he even realise what is happening on the common folk's level?

My qualm is really not about rising prices or rising inflation because the the world economy is really not doing too well these days and I do understand the economics of it, albeit from a layman's view. But these problems or the pain we need to go through when things go bad would be much less IF our country's economy was more robust and that its people has better buying power with their earnings.

And instead of getting the economy back on track, our Uncle Lah falls on to controlling prices, setting "food granaries", "asking us to change our lifestyles", spending more on mega projects,...

What a load of crap. All these does nothing to right the fundamentals of Malaysia's economy nor does it strengthen our capabilities to compete globally. All these are short term measures that would only forestall the worse to come. Perhaps Uncle Lah thinks that by then, he would have retired and become a Tun.

That Minimum Wage Thing

So today, our Resource Minister told the us that if the minimum wage policy is implemented in Malaysia, foreign workers must also be included - due to international labour law and all that. And I agree, though since when has Malaysia given much thought about international laws except when it's convenient?

And this minimum wage thingy...it's still a really BIG if when it comes to how the BN government operates. Probably it will become reality in another 10 years time or maybe after we celebrate the next 50 years of independence.

Anyway, back to what our minister said:

If the minimum wage is fixed at RM1,500, he said, employers must also be prepared to pay their factory workers and housemaids the fixed amount.

"Now with maids' salary being about RM600, women who earn RM2,000 still find it okay to go to work, but if minimum wage is fixed at RM1,500 these women would rather stay at home," he said.

I don't know about you Mr. Resource Minister, but if I had a maid and I needed to increase her pay by RM900, I would assume that my pay be going up by similar amounts - or at least a sane person would demand an increase from their employers. Or did I misunderstood how the minimum wage is suppose to work.

Will the minimum wage policy be implemented only for people earning below a certain income bracket? And if that bracket has a threshold that doesn't go beyond "RM2000", then even I would think it's a stupid idea - or more accurately, we have a stupid government (which is not really a new discovery) and an even dumber Resource Minister.

But that's just my thoughts. I do believe that when politicians open their mouths to give "analogies", they should at least run it through their brain and if they have already done so, then perhaps they should run it through someone with a better one.

The Land Below The Wind: Leaving - Day 7

Finally...reached the last entry. We were tired and ready to head home. It was a Friday and I believed that I needed to head to work after a quick shower...and true it was I needed to be there to sort out some stuff...deadlines and all.

The flight was early, around 7-ish in the morning. Well...early for late birds like me - I'm sure at this juncture Kitty would quip that it should be "late pigs rather...". OK, OK...I find it hard to get up in the morning...and oft oversleep.

But like I said, going home after a week-long and tiring trip was much in my mind too - reaching Penang earlier has its benefits ;p

A shot of AirAsia's Airbus A320 (correct me if I got the model wrong ;p) while waiting for boarding.

Kitty and I "lounging" - had to repack some of our stuff cause it went over the allowed weight limit. Must be the wet clothes...yeah...ewww! ;p

A group shot by Pang - that's why he's missing doh! ;p I looked like I was about to fall asleep where I was sitting heh ;p

We arrived ahead on time at the Penang airport - again it was a surprise, since my experience with budget airlines - and Airasia - hasn't really been great when it came to being punctual...much less arriving ahead of time!

And there we have it...a long and tiring 7-day trip to Kota Kinabalu and up the famous Mount KK. And I know some of my friends would disagree with me, but it was a fantastic experience and well-worth the effort, the trainings and eye bags just to be able to stand at Low's Peak and take it all in. Simply brilliant!

Oh...and not forgetting...for making up Low's Peak, we got some certificates to prove it ;p

If you have not tried it, do make it one of your trips to Mount KK this year. It's getting more expensive to go up these days since they raise the prices - so go do it before it hits something like RM1K just to experience what I had. OK, maybe not 1K, but I paid something like Rm700, so it's not too far off, right? ;p

The Land Below The Wind: Mount Kinabalu - Day 6

My...this is taking longer than I wanted. There is so many things I wanted to blog about...but I guess I should really stick to finishing the series first since I'm so close to coming to the end of the trip.

Day 6 was the longest for the whole trip, since we had to wake up at 2am in the morning to get ourselves ready to the main hike up the last 2KM of the mount. I didn't really slept much that night due to the coldness and also partly the pressure - I had headaches the moment I tried to sleep. But I guess the adrenaline helped keep me charged for the final effort to fulfill this journey.

We did mange to have some Milo and instant noodles - though the noodles felt bland and really didn't fit too well at 2am in the morning. We waited rather impatiently for the guide to arrive at 2:30am with the other residents of Gunting Lagadan. Some of the more experience hikers told us to take our time as we ascended the first few hundred metres - the advice was that we should go up slowly so that we have time to get use to the change in altitude - if not we might not feel use to the sudden change in pressure, which could lead to headaches...dizziness...even vomiting. Not things I would like to experience even before we reach half-way up ;p

We didn't take many pictures - if any - on the way up because it was still very dark. Again, I'll let the pictures do the talking cause if I was to describe my thoughts and experience while on the way up, I'll probably take several entries to complete ;p Oh...and Pang had to opt out of the attempt because he didn't manage to buy a new shoes to replace his worn out boots. Pity really, cause I think he would have had any problems ascending the last 2KMs.

A snapshot of Gunting Lagadan - well part of it anyway - while waiting for out guide to show up.

I'm not sure if this was taken before we went up...looks a bit bright. But it was nice shot by YL of the scenery overlooking the area from Gunting Lagadan.

Not much trail to walk around - mostly rocky and a bit slippery, particularly at night where you can hardly see what's in front of you as you move about.

The journey up was...long...felt like I was never going to reach the peak. I took this picture as we were nearing the peak...I think it was about 500m to go. I really should have trained more...hehe out of breath every 10minutes or so (less probably ;p). Kitty and I went ahead of the others and kononnya tried to reach the peak for sunrise...haha...we tried and nearly made it ;p We missed the sun rise unfortunately as the sun hid behind heavy clouds and mist.

Hikers, all waiting to catch a glimpse of the sun rise, some waiting for more light before taking more pictures of the beautiful scenery - and beautiful it was!!

Low's Peak!!! We reached about 6.10am and after waiting for another 15mins, FL caught up to us. FL told Kitty and I that the others couldn't make it and headed back to Gunting Lagadan. Again a pity, but we were not about to miss the chance of a lifetime - must take some pictures as evidence of the climb!! :D

Hehe...more posing ;p

Haha...I haven't wore such thick clothing since I came back from the UK. Fortunately I kept those jackets ;p

We started our descend around 7am with the other hikers. We took our time and just enjoyed the scenery - truly breathtaking!

Haha...the trip down was far easier than going up. And far easier too, now that we could see where we were actually going. I was practically crawling up at some place for fear that I fall off some ledge ;p But most of the way was really rocky surface, albeit at an incline.

Haha...really feel like I was on the top of the world ;p

A final camwhoring picture before we moved off at a faster pace so that we can make it in time for breakfast ;p

YL posing against the Laban Rata accomodation. We stayed further up at Gunting Lagadan. Unfortunate for YL and his gf - and Pang as well for not making it up to the top. Let's hope they give it a shot again soon. It'll be worth it! :)

We had breakfast at Laban Rata before hiking down all the way to Timphon Gate - this time we went down straight via the Timpohon trail cause it was shorter, hence faster to lunch! ;p

Anyway, the trail was all muddy cause it started to rain heavily on the way down. Hehe...Kitty and I kind of ran down half the way - we just wanted to finish the trail. The Timpohon trail was more boring, with not much of a view, but loads of mud and slush. With around 2.2KM left to go, we legged it to reach the gate - with rain pouring heavily on our backs.

Haha...and were we shivering when we finally go to the gate. Quickly settled down and bought ourselves a nice cup of coffee while waiting for the others to reach ;p By the time the others arrived, most of us were starving and couldn't wait to get our hands on the buffet lunch - at 4pm ;p More like high-tea!

We made our way to a hotel - couldn't remember the name - nearby, had a good (and most importantly, warm!) meal, rested a bit and head off to Kota Kinabalu where we planned to stay the night before flying back to Penang.

Haha...I slept all 3 hours of the journey back to KK. I was feeling good, but while not exhausted - it was sure tiring. I was glad that I'm going home the next day ;p

Not pictures here, but we stayed at an inn near the airport - which was a pretty cozy little place. That night Pang got us to play a little game - a guessing game to be more precise. Basically he started a story off and we had to finish it by asking questions. Confused? Haha...well, I'll explain it another time...but suffice to say it was meant to spook us with the story and in some ways succeeded ;p

Anyway, with the rain and all, most of my clothes were wet and I had to sleep in my jeans and the remaining T-shirt I had...good thing we were heading home the next day ;p

I'll blog about the last day of the trip next- hopefully it wouldn't take me another week to do so hehe: The Land Below The Wind: Leaving - Day 7