Borneo...

yes after 4 yrs im back at Sabah to climb Mt Kinabalu again....
was having dinner a friend the other day.. apparently he climbed the mt b4... when we mentioned "爬到要死".. he said "ya lor!! 真的会爬死人的!!"

so why am i back there again? mainly coz yb haven't been there yet and i dun think we'll actually haf a high chance of going there again bah... this time round juz happened that my colleague and a few of her friends will be going and the rented vehicle can take in 2 more ppl.... so... why not?? juz go lor!!











our van!!


we were there in Sabah for 6 days.. 30th Dec to 4th Jan.. 1st 3 days were spent acclimatising and getting our food supplies and exploring the area for food and juz driving ard... it was nice juz cruising ard and looking enjoying the nice sceneries.... we even counted doen to 2007 with a bottle of red wine!! complimentary fr Donna...












acclimatising!~


we began our ascend on the 2nd of Jan, round abt 8am.... we took the Mesilau trail which is abt 5 km longer than the other one... though longer, but more scenic and with more variations in the climb... we'll be taking the shorter one down... so i'l explain later in a while....














some pics taken along the Mesilau Trail... very scenic!














































this is a very bold squirrel lor... it juz came out searching for food when we were walking pass... cant blame it also la... coz the trail is so over-utilised by human.. they got used to human's intervention le... and the shelter there was so badly littered... but probably also coz of animals ravaging thru the garbage bins la... it din actually come and feed on the bread and biscuit crumps we offered on hand, but snatched and go... i held on tight to take a good picture... hehe...

we managed to catch lunch juz b4 the junction that joins Timpohon trail... cooked instant mee!! i think we're the only ones cooking in this trek... everyone else survives on chocolate and energy bars... from here it's another 3 hours to Laban Rata...

(pic of Laban Rata coming up soon!)

Rested a while (from 7pm till 1am) at Laban rata b4 continuing our trek up to the summit... took a shower... the water damn cold can!! we were already freezing le still gathered all courage we had and fast fwd thru out cold shower!! "Air Panas" had already "habis" by the time we start moving into the showers... cant slp very well leh.... 1stly, it's weird timing to slp... 7pm.... 2ndly, the heater makes the room damn hot to slp in lor.... i need to climb out of bed to switch it off and opened the door to let some cold air in... 3rdly, my body is badly acclimatising.. my heart beats damn fast for every small movement i made... like.. tossing in bed... so having a bit of headache also...

we woke up (got up) at 1am to start our preparation... packing... cooking... etc etc... set off at abt 2am... we were actually one of the 1st few to be on the trail towards summit.. but as usual... we took it at a more relaxing pace... so allowing others to overtake us... this time round it seems like im not as motivated to climb as compared to the last time i came... i feel tired..mentally... felt like juz taking extended rest every time we stopped a while to take a breather... old le?

by the time we reached the summit, it was kinda overcrowded there.. not as good as the last time i was here.. and it was very very cloudy... din really catch the sunrise... but we did see some glimpse of the morning sunshine.... nice.... hehe... actually we were like abt 2m short from the summit... but it's very crowded up there!! and our folks were on the way down le...

at the peak

bored @ work

did i haf another entry with the same title? cannot remember le... but it seems like it...

anyway........................

the office is virtually empty!! everyone's either on leave celebrating xmas/new yr at home (overseas UK mainly..) or taking leave slacking ard at home or on course....

the current head count is only 6!! 3 of which are the team leaders... sigh....

and my small boss is away.... left some stuffs for me to do but currently im at the bottleneck... upstream is non-contactable... so i also cannot do much....

slacking slacking....

sunny morning!

took this over an overhead bridge this morning on my way to work.... wonder if i caused any traffic slowdown....
finally a bright sunny morning after abt at least 40 hrs of rain... warms my body up...

rain....(2)

windy!! this was juz moments b4 the downpour... b4 i entered the lift.. (hmm, i looked "plugged-in")
















taken during the brief break in rain last nite... very clear view hor? quite a nice sight...and air was very fresh....


woke up a couple of times last nite... it was a damn good nite to slp in caN??!!! it juz rained non-stop... for god knows how many hours.... eh lemme count... it's coming to 14 hours straight le!! that's counting from the heavy downpour the moment i got into the lift la... yah it's still raining outside as im typing in the office now.... heheh....

decided to come in casual this morning... sandals, berms... and a cotton tee in case it gets too cold in the office... actually coz it's raining so heavily la... din wanna get everything wet wet... oh and i carried a giantic umbrella....

















the best thing after a rain....? rainbow lor..... hehehz...

rain.....(1)

been raining for days le hor....? but it's nv been bothering me at all... not even in the weekends... i was on standby... hehe... so juz stayed in only lor!!

till juz now... it was already drizzling when i knocked off from work... made my way to the gym... juz a stone throw away from Biopolis.. so it's not much of a problem also..

i always like the feeling of going to the gym for a short work-out, and then ending the session of with a shower... no more stickiness and the walk down the slope to the MRT station is always very breezy... but today it's slightly different... the moment i stepped out of the gym smelling nice and clean... i was greeted with a heavy downpour!! dammit... nv bring umbrella... asked from the Concierge also dun haf any for loan... so i waited in the lobby for a while......

the rain got smaller... was walking down the slope and contemplating whether i shld return to the office to get my umbrella.... then i decided to juz walk in the rain... not very heavy anyway...

was in the mrt looking out of the glass window into the rain, listening to music playing in my mp3 player... feeling quite peaceful... mayb also coz i was walking in the drizzle earlier...it is so refresh juz be close to the rain.. (but not get drenched la...)

wanted to take pic when it was still raining outside the train de... but the train was quite occupied... all seats taken up, so i also no space and paisay to bring out camera to snap... since when do we haf to take pic so discreetly in public le huh....

ooh!! it's snowing!!

typhoon Durian

Tue blue.. says:
typhoon durian affecting sabah and vietnam coastal areas..
Tue blue.. says:
funny name to give typhoon hor..
Tue blue.. says:
imagine next typhoon is typhoon apple.. typhoon rambutan..
Juzride says:
ahaha....
Juzride says:
typhoon rambutan

+++

when u buy things, u see "+"
when u eat in a restaurant, u pay for "++"
when u wanna book a venue for conference in a hotel, there's "+++"

u know wad are all the "pluses"?

1. CESS, 1%
2. Service charges, 10%
3. GST, 5%


it was juz announced that GST will go up to 7%....

did a rough calculation... for an expenditure of $30,000 ($750 x 40), we need to pay an extra $5.6k of "+++"...!!!

sigh...


instead of "the more we spend, the more tax we pay", is there sth which "the more we do, the more levy we get"..?

oh, more baby more bonus??
hmm.... it's a fraud!! bonus not enough to nurture a baby till the baby can earn leh.....

shit... is there any way out???

Vietnam day 5! - Singapore

oh we also bought 2 backpacks! 1 each.... round abt 15USD for one... not bad hor? North Face de...















haf i showed u the traffic in HCM???
















do i look like a backpacker to u? actually only there for less than 5 days... god knows wad we brought..















to show ppl we backpacked in vietnam...haha.. act act leh... actually most of the time we were carrying small daypacks...




















hey not nice to take pic of ppl when their mouth is full k
















haha...





































































very dense hor? the city area... dunno wad city is this actually... not HCM...
















above singapore ground! reclaimed land..















touched down!!

Vietnam Day 4 - Back to HCM

the sky is reali very blue hor? so much nicer than in SG... esp now so hazy... it was abt 7am local time... bus's leaving at 8!! one hour for marketing and b/f!















ok last look at the morning marketeers b4 we set off...















the greens...





















oh we tried another alley that morning! it's quite a cosy alley hor? everyone juz sits in 2 rows backfacing and enjoying the hot hot soup in the cool cool morning.... *slurpzz*
















yb got the window seat and was smapping away like no need money one... ok lah... digital photos really no need money one la.... this is a good one.... i meant the pic....




















it's a freaking 6-7 hr journey... tentative timing.... in actualy fact we reach at abt 6pm in the evening... it's 10 hrs!! see the tiredness in my eyes....???















class dismissed!! i think 98% of the students there cycles to sch.... their sch muz be damn big and has efficient park attendent... so many bicycles!! i din manage to capture a view that the whole stretch of road was a streak of white (uniform)...




















i caught a cold in Dalat... Jialatzz.. i wonder how i'll survive if i go to a winter country...




















stop-over! toilet and snack break....
















now u know why it took a freaking 10 hrs le? bus inefficient... was moving very slowly so the driver stopped many times to do fixing...
















we went back to the same hotel we stayed on our 1st day.. but the room was occupied le!! only left with 2 more expensive ones... we're quite unwilling to pay the extra la.. so we ahead to look for others lor...initially planned to go to a sister hotel they recommended, cheaper... as soon as we stepped out we were pouched!! we went to take a look at thie apparently newly build hotel... the location not very good.. very isolated, and u need to go thru dark alleys to get to the hotel... and room no curtains, thou they claimed that the glass is "special"... we decided to give that sister hotel a try... so we went ahead... and passed by the 1st hotel... this time round, they told us tat coz' we've stayed with them b4, they'll give us special discount!! same price as the 1st day's!! haha.... aiyah i think they're juz afraid their customers beoing pouched lah.....

oh!! the pic!! yah.... "mai hum, mai hum mai hum mai hum~~"
only SGD$1..!! but we think we're carrot-chopped le... coz they sounded like the price was anyhow quoted...
















back to the trusty Original Bodhi Tree for dinner.... messy hair... oh yah... it was drizzling...
















30 cents coffee maker!! acutally it's juz a filter la...















our dinner... mock chicken!! haha... moulded de...
















oh this is one very active dalmatian!! i cant take a proper pic of him... he keep moving abt!!




















and yes... he stood on his hind (called rearing) and gave me 2 kicks with his front paws... like i said... it was raining...


















on our way back to the hotel after much vargaininga nd shopping... i got myself an adidas and a puma! SGD$6 each! i thik they're genuine goods... leaked out from local factories.... i like this pic leh....
















i've lost count how many soya bean drink we had this trip le... only 20 cents...

yb managed to bargain this from D15,000 to D8,000!! i thikn the only way to bargain is when u wanna buy things which u dun realli want very very much....

Vietnam day 3! - Dalat Part 1

we took a 6 hour ride from HCMC to Dalat... from 9pm... we arrived at 4+am!! initially we tot we might be able to find hotel in the last min coz usually hotels r opened round the clock... god we're damn wrong... the street is lifeless!! almost... saw a couple of independent joggers in the streets... at freaking 4 am in the morning! oh by the way..... it very cold.... cant even take a proper photo coz of the misty droplets suspended in the air...




















see the difference?? this was taken along the same street... we were damn lucky lor... so happened that this security guard opened the gate to allow someone to come out of the compound and straight away we approached him!! so paisay we gotta wake the owner up to get a room.... hehe... he nv charge us a single cent for that morning... thou we showered, napped.... shiok....!!~
















xuanhong lake... i tot it'll be more beautiful actually... not very clear water... but still it's a very nice view!!




















the morning market!! bustling with activities!!

fishes.... veges... hardware...

language was realli a worrying barrier... esp the 1st day when we arrived... then we realised that if we dun try hard to point point here point point there... we'll haf to eat hotel food for 5 days!!
















Chee cheong fun... vietnam style... mint and bean sprouts....

glass noodle (pho) again!