Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Hongkong trip 2010


Back from the place where people can be more patient, service quality can be improved (they should really learn from the Taiwanese) and environmental efforts can be more sincere and less contradictory.

I <3 Singapore!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Sabah trip 2010- Day 6

Day 06- 21/05/2010


Our masterpiece was left there till the next morning! :>

Day 6 breakfast was simple and quick with milo and tiger biscuits...

Some photos before leaving...






The 3D2N relaxing stay at the beautiful Survivor Island ended as we board the boat back to Kuala Penyu...



(above) Louis' friend... Very soft-spoken when talking to his wife in Mandarin over the phone. hahaha~

We left Kuala Penyu after a short tea break at a coffeeshop (weather was blooooody hot as usual) and reached KK city after a dont-know-how-long van ride...


(above) Our van crossing the sea~

Check-in at KK Times Square Hotel

Unpacking, slacking & washing up took up some time after checking-in. Then, ah man sok came and brought us out for late lunch!

超~~~好吃的鸡饭! :>



It was then a short walk to Centrepoint to buy some climbing stuff that we still lack- jacket, poncho, energy bar etc etc.


Team applying of mopiko outside guardian and slacking at starbucks were the activities for the afternoon...

It was then a short walk to the waterfront. We missed the sunset again! Nevertheless, nice photos were taken there!




Evening was spent at the Cock and Bull pub again! 4 Heinekens and 1 orange juice (for the alcohol-free david dumb) + yong tau foo for dinner that night...


We went to hunt for our climbing shoes after the drinking session...

After all the shopping, ah man sok came to fetch us again! It was then a ride to ah man sok's 豪宅 to collect some of our climbing stuff that were lodged at his house before we left KK city 4 days ago...

Day 6 ended uneventfully... Kinda short because travelling took up most of the time (from Pulau Tiga back to KK city)... I admit that the travelling drained away most of my energy, and i think i was the first one to turn in for the night (despite drinking starbucks coffee that afternoon). So... i have no idea what happened that night! Oh, as for highlight of the day... the super nice chicken rice, probably? :>

to be continued- Day 7 & 8- the Climb @ Mt Kinabalu will be put together in one entry~ :>

photo credits: ah lian & kiwi

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Friday, June 11, 2010

Sabah trip 2010- Day 5

Day 05- 20/05/2010

第五天了...


Breakfast was french toast and milo prepared by chef chin! :> i love french toast!

Itinerary for the day was going to the volcano mud area and snorkeling!




While walking to our destination, we met a tourist who went to the volcano mud earlier than us. Remembered he used the word "magnificent" to describe...


I actually thought it would be a big and spacious mud pool, warm and bubbling... But it wasn't as big as i imagined it to be... Probably about half the size of a basketball court? (correct me if i'm wrong!) Nevertheless, it was really a great experience swimming in the volcano mud (hmm, not exactly swimming, because we were actually floating!) because some areas were indeed a bit warm, and bubbling!~~ :>


Some background info of Pulau Tiga taken off the web:

Pulau Tiga means "Island of Three" in English as three islands actually make up Pulau Tiga Marine Park. They are Pulau Tiga itself, and two adjacent uninhabited islands of Pulau Kalampunian Damit or better known nowadays as Snake Island and Pulau Kalampunian Besar. Pulau Tiga is one of the more popular islands in Borneo courtesy of the CBS Reality Show "Survivor I", which was conducted and filmed there in 2000.

Pulau Tiga was formed on September 21, 1897 when a large earthquake on the Philippine island of Mindanao triggered a volcanic eruption just north of Borneo. The eruption of mud and rock formed a new island 66 feet (20 meters) wide. Over the next four decades, subsequent eruptions of the volcano and the development and eruptions of two additional adjacent mud volcanoes expanded, coalesced, and formed the island in its current state. The last eruption of the mud volcanoes on the island was in 1941 but warm mud continues to ooze from these geothermal vents on the island.

There is no significant eruptions since then. The only volcanoes the current generation knows about at Pulau Tiga is the loosely-termed "mud volcanoes". Not the eruptive kind but a pool of bubbling mud from deep inside the earth. The mud volcano was made famous by the TV show where one Survivor tribe had a volcano mud bath. For visitors, many think that a soak in the pool of volcanic mud will cleanse and beautify the skin.


So we applied the mud GAO GAO on our face...


After dont-know-how-long, we left the volcano mud area and walked back to the sea to wash the mud off, hoping to see a smoother and more radiant skin~~

Snorkeling was next on the itinerary, but as the snorkeling equipments were only allowed to be rented to registered visitors, we didn't manage to snorkel... POOR DAVID DUMB! Didn't get to snorkel at all in this trip! hahaha~ No wonder he looked so bu shuang!


So it was another round of slacking/photo-taking/放空 at the beach...

The guys went back to the staff hostel for washing up while kiwi and i explored other parts of the beach~~

Swings banyak banyak along the beach!




寄居蟹 banyak banyak along the beach toooo~~ :>


Highlight of the day!

After some HTHT & photo-taking, kiwi and i walked back to the staff hostel... Saw a few monkeys walking across the field in front of the staff hostel and we decided to follow them to take photos...


Very cute, hor? :S

After taking a few photos, the monkeys began making some weird sounds... Some 敌意 sensed, but we didn't walk away immediately... Then, after a few seconds, these bloody monkeys began chasing us! WTH?! I only remembered kiwi and i ran super fast back to the staff hostel at that moment... I even dropped both of my slippers along the way but couldn't be bothered to pick them up! KNS. 两个女生被几只猴子追到狂跑... 什么屁. 糗爆了! RAH! >.<

We ran and reached the hostel safely, sat at the steps, 喘气 and... 狂笑! 虽然超狼狈,不过还蛮好笑的... 真的~~~ 活到二十三岁,还真的是第一次被猴子追... Quite memorable, but still... FREAKING MONKEYS. 气死人了! So it's now Maimouphobia (fear of monkeys), to add on to my Lepidopterophobia (fear of butterflies)... :(

After washing up, it was then lunch time- maggie mee by the beach~

放空/napping/feeding sandflies on the bench were the activities for the afternoon... Relaxing~~

We needed to buy some canned food and drinking water, so we went to this 杂货店 beside the hostel whereby customers need to pull the handle outside the shop that links to a bell in the shop owner's house. Upon hearing the bell, the shop owner will ride a bicycle to the shop and open the shop for you! Cooool~

Couldn't remember how we slacked the whole afternoon away, only remembered poor david dumb being harassed by swarm of flies everywhere he went. hahaha~

After dont-know-how-long, I went out to 吹海风, and kiwi found me so it was another MK (meiqi-kewei) HTHT again~

这里没有人也没有时间 不用思考 (lyrics from S.H.E's song- 两个人的荒岛)

Other than the 俊男美女 honeymoon couple, a belgium man and a few caucasians whom we saw yesterday, it seemed that we were the only tourists on the island because i dont remember seeing other tourist on the 2nd day (other than the man who described the volcano mud as magnificent...)

Anyway, something that i liked about this trip was that it was really very "rest and relax"... Very unlike previous trips, in which everyday was just 赶赶赶...

The sun set after dont-know-long (again)... We wanted to walk to the cafe to check out if there's beer, but it was dark and we were afraid that the monkeys would 埋伏 and chase us again (paranoia~), so we walked back to staff hostel, hoping to see dinner prepared for us already (hahaha)......


But dinner wasn't prepared so chef chin ke wei cooked again!


Pardon my poor memory, because i really can't recall what we did after dinner before the surprise of the day... oh, remembered ah lian lost his specs that day and was searching everywhere for it...

Surprise of the day!

The original plan: meiqi to talk to kiwi and keep kiwi occupied while the guys prepare the surprise...

What happened that night:


Yihao wasn't feeling well so he slept early~

Kiwi slept super early that night too. hahaha perfect~~~ so ah lian, david dumb and i did some art outside the staff hostel using the lightsticks that ah lian 千里迢迢 brought from Singapore... Julian, louis dan kawan kawan came to help too! niceeee~~~:>

Everything went on smoothly because the 懒猪 (opssss~) didnt wake up (we were worried that kiwi might come out and look for me so louis' friends sat at the door to "把风"... hahaha~~

The masterpiece! :D


After everything was done, ah lian went to wake kiwi up, blindfolded her and brought her to the field... David dumb the guitarist played the birthday song~~


It was then photo-taking and tiger beer session~~ :>


:D

Our last night at Pulau Tiga ended after the birthday surprise...

to be continued- Day 6- Back to KK city!

photo credits: ah lian & kiwi

"旅行中最大的幸福 就是找回自己"- 喜碧

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Thursday, June 10, 2010

Sabah trip 2010- Day 4

Day 04- 19/05/2010

Day 4 started off with another river cruise tour~ 早晨游河别有一番风味...



Some photos that I like very much:





Monkeys are cute, only when viewed from far (to be explained in the next post! >.<)




Breakfast was specially prepared for us again! :D


The favourite cat, but its eyes are infected. :(


It was then a round of photo-taking before we leave~~







Hello david dumb!~

Finally met up with david dumb after we left Klias! Poor david dumb had a terrorizing stay with bedbugs the night after arriving in KK~~ hahaha 可怜!

Kuala Penyu to Pulau Tiga

We arrived at Kuala Penyu after leaving Klias...

The weather was bloody hot so we took out our wet clothes to dry while having lunch... hahaha. 天气热到衣服很快就晒干了!

Met a 俊男美女 honeymoon couple and had lunch with them~


It was then shopping for groceries for our 3 days at Pulau Tiga~

Performed "I'm Yours" live for the honeymoon couple while waiting for the boat~~


Our guitarist david dumb!~


Julian, ah lian's friend! Nice man! :>

Location: Pulau Tiga

After a jerky 1 hour boat ride (yihao and i 学聪明了. sat at the back of the boat!) , we reached the Survivor Island- Pulau Tiga!




The staff hostel where we stayed, courtesy of julian's brother, louis~~ nice people! :>

Relaxing afternoon by the beach!



Sunset viewing~~ :>




Dinner was prepared by our chef chin ke wei! 家政社的社长煮给我们吃耶!:D

Night activities

Singing at the jetty was the activity for the night~

Sabah's night sky is gorgeous~~~~ 真的~ 躺在海边,听着海浪声,睁开眼,星空万里,超~美~~ 还看到了不少流星呢...

Day 4 ended after the star-gazing...

to be continued- Day 5- volcano mud swimming & birthday surprise!

photo credits: ah lian & kiwi

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