Mt. Kinabalu Hike/New Cover

6/5/13 - Blackout Day.. (Okay I gave the term myself). Why is it today a black day? I'm sure you can find the details over the internet in regards to Malaysia's GE13 which was held yesterday. Either any party who has won, I hope they will fulfill their promise to the people. And It's saddening to see that the EC wasn't as clean as it should be *disappointment*.

Alright, i'll try not to talk about politics. Let's just stick to my daily life journal ya. :)

So.. I've been wanting to blog about this.. I've finally made it to Mount Kinabalu!!! *YAY* So happy that I did it~~!!! The view on top was awesomely breath-taking!  Malaysia has such beautiful places, and many more that I've still yet to explore. ^.^

There were 2 different trails to hike up to Mt. KK, the simple and shorter route - Timpohon trial (6KM), and the relatively difficult and slightly longer route - Mesilau Trail (8KM). I'm proud that me and a group of great people, which makes up a total of 18 beginner hikers, bravely challenged Mesilau trail to hike up from the gate to Laban Rata and taking Timpohon trail to hike down.

After experiencing both trails, I highly recommend hikers that have not go through Mesilau, please DO TRY OUT MESILAU TRAIL!!! It's just sooooo beautiful and tranquil that you'll fall in love with it.

The terrain wasn't that bad to hike up to Mt. KK for both trails, by comparison to the Mt. Nuang hike that I went (Mt. Nuang is the highest point in Selangor State), the trails were properly maintained, whereas Mt. Nuang, the route was muddy and slippery when it rains. Sections of it are hard to climb and no ropes or wooden handles can be found at these sections at Mt. Nuang.

For Mt. KK, environmental factors play a huge part that makes it tough to climb - high altitude (climbers are advised to take altitude sickness pills; get a proper consultation from pharmacist or doctor), cold and thinned air (makes it hard to breathe), streams of water can be found during rainfall (it was raining 90% of the time while we hike!) etc.

Okay, let's see.. so here are the photos!

The view from Kinabalu Park HQ

Mesilau Gate (about an hour drive from Kinabalu Park HQ)

And the hiking begins!

Impressed with the fitness level that the guides and porters have. Each of them carried at least 30kg of baggage weight!

Pitcher plants (Nepenthes sp.) are easily spotted along the trail

Weird-looking moss spotted everywhere

Three tiny pitcher plants

It was drizzling on and off during our hike

Come across several rivers and waterfalls. This is 1 of it.

Not forgetting to take more macro shots. :p

Walking on Kipuyut hanging-bridge

Carol trying to "catch" the mist

Another stream that we have crossed

Berries (don't know what is this plant though)

First clear view of Mt. Kinabalu's peak

We're above the clouds!

Over-looking KK city

2nd Day - The hike from Laban Rata to the Low's Peak (2.7KM)

We started hiking at 2am. It was too dark then, and I only managed to take few photos when it gets brighter.

 

Rested here for a while to see the sunrise (kinda cloudy to actually see the sun)

KM8.0

The moon is still visible

The famous point at KM8.0 - Looks familiar??

And.. Yes, if you haven't guessed it correctly already.. It's the picture printed behind the old RM1 note :)

My panda look (had only 10 hrs of sleep for the past 3 days.. looked like a zombie here. =.=")

Continue hiking upwards

Last 100m to Low's Peak - very steep and dangerous here.

Sun rising

Pee-ka-boo!

 

I called this the Gorilla's head - at KM8.6

 

I was so close to the peak (100m away), it was 7.15am when I reached the KM8.6. And the guides demanded us to start hiking down due to time constrain (check out time is 10am at Laban Rata hostel. According to the guides, extra charges for the room per hour is RM100). But anyway, I was happy I've been able to made it to 8.6KM for a beginner. And no regrets for picking the Mesilau trail as well.

 

 

It's truly a great experience, and all of us left Mt. KK with heavy hearted. I felt as if I left my soul behind, the beauty of Mt. KK, certainly can't be expressed by words. You'll need to hike up to find  out, and witness how majestic and captivating it is. I'll definitely go there again~ :)

 

 

Okay, to end my post, I shall share a new cover that I've just did earlier today, "Love the way you lie (part 2)" by Rihanna ft. Eminem.

 



Ho Ho Ho~!

Hey guys, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas is my favourite season of the year. Although i'm not a Christian (who says only Christians celebrates Christmas?!!), but just simply love the hanging sparkling lights, xmas trees and decos in the city that gives this dreamy / fairy tale-like feeling~~~ ^^

What more with the year end sales around all major shopping malls, makes people even more excited in getting presents for gift-exchange sessions. I've gotten a traveller set (sharing with my dear lab mates) from Crabtree & Evelyn as a gift for my awesome supervisor whom I would really like to thank her in her guidance. And also as a congratulatory gift for her promotion to Sr. Lecturer in  Monash University (well, not sure if she'd like for me to post her name here.. so i guess not at the meantime. :) )

Xmas Decorations @ Mid Valley Shopping Mall

And thanks to my friend, who invited me to watch this wonderful musical movie - Les Miserables, it sparkles up my xmas even more. If you haven't watch it yet, please do go and grab a ticket! I love Anne Hathaway's acting, there's so much emotion in it, and while she cried and sing at the same time, there's just no words to it. But in terms of vocals, if I were to choose 1 that I love the most, that will be Amanda Seyfried's vocal tone. Well, my friend has wrote down his comment about the movie. If you're interested, you could click to the following link to his blog --> yeehoong

Les Miserables (2012)

Alright, that's all for now. Happy Holidays peeps!!!

Intuition & Big Ideas

So I've come across this article from CBS money watch, and thought it might be useful for some of you out there~ It suggests that intuition is the main factor that leads to ideas. Well, i've to agree to that. Often, we're so tied down to norms and believes, and those are what everyone has thought so or implying that how one should behave or respond.

New ideas, are those that nobody has come out with. So follow your heart and put some creativity in it. It doesn't matter you'll end up being a laughing topic, at least you have tried right? I always tell this to myself, "it's not about being correct, it's all about having the courage to face failure.". Every mistake made is an important lesson learnt. =) so people, dare to lose. ^^

Following link is the article that i was talking about. Enjoy reading!
Where do big ideas come from?

Re-charged! Lets go!

Alright~ feeling so so soooo much better after almost a week's 'rest' attending a pretty relaxing conference in Penang last week. It's the first ever conference i've joined since i've started my masters research at jan this year. It's really an enjoyable time staying at bayview beach resort, as there's a route linked directly from the hotel to the beach (well, you can pretty much guessed that from the name itself). What add on is that get to see lunar eclipse from the beach this time around~ ^^

And making new friends+ gathering with old uni mates + plenty of rest and sleeping time etc.. all have added to the enjoyment and relax factor to keep myself in a relaxed mode. Totally enjoyed this trip down to penang!

okie~ keep this post short as I'm out to the rough and tough week again tomorrow~ adios~ (^^ゞ

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Death & Life

First of all, my condolences to all victims of the 8.9 quake and 4 meter high tsunami that hits Japan yesterday. Videos and images of the impact is terrifying. Let's all take a minute and pray for the safety for those in Japan. ....

pray

Alright~ i've never been in a situation whereby death is just upon my eyes, (touch wood~ trust me, i wouldn't want that to ever happen.. >.<;;) BUT.. just imagining, if i were put at that situation.. what will i do.. will i be afraid of death? At that short miliseconds, if you're going to be engulfed by 4 meter high of water.. hmm~~~ i really wonder what will i do? As you know that there's no escape.

Probably i'll be thinking will I survive? =="

ANd if 2012 is really the end of the world.. hmm.. I guess i won't be doing anything really extraordinary. Most likely will spend more time with the people i love.. Family.. friends.. do what i do best at work. Yeap, live my life to the fullest~ Well, I've always have this thinking that everything happens for a reason, and at anytime, anything may happen.. Including accidents due to human error, diseases or natural disasters.. One way or the other, can easily end ones life.

One of the plant managers told me this.. "At my age, i must be glad that i can wake up in the morning and still able to go to work." I think, everyone should have this feeling about life. Must be glad that you're able to breath in the air, see the sun shines, everyday.. It's a sign of blessings for one to be able to wake up in the morning, and do simple little task like brushing your teeth, combing your hair, take a walk down to market place.. etc.

So.. what do you think about death & life? Share the voices in your head~! =)

Courage to face life

Courage.. Yes, it seems easy to understand what it is, but often in real life, many people fail to take out their courage, to face difficulties/challenges. Well, life is like a roller coaster, there are ups and downs. When you're climbing high, you'll feel as if the entire world is under controlled, you feel safe, and have more confident in whatever tasks that you do. But when you suddenly plunge from the peak to the bottom, the real challenges finally arise. That's the time, the moment, where you feel that you're at your weakest point.

I could say that most people, at that point of time, mentally and emotionally are unstable. Consumed by your own fear of losing everything that you have/ feeling ashamed/ felt that every passerby sees you as a joker etc etc. All these negative thoughts/feelings will tends to take over ones mind, and eventually leads a person to feel as if it's the end of his/her world.

Well, my thought on this kind of situation is, a person, whether he/she is truely strong mentally and emotionally, is judged by the period taken for the recovery process. How fast he/she could get over the sad/self-blaming period, and bounce back into fighting to change their life. People whom stands up on their on feet in a shortest period of time, and willing to accept critics and challenges from bottom up all over again, are those that having and truly understands what is the meaning of COURAGE.

This word lets me think over and over again, which I thought I might as well blog and share my voice to the world. So what do you readers think?

Ahh~ I could say that, my previous relationship allows me to experience the downside of it, during the breakup. Yes, I don't deny that I've always thought this relationship will last forever, although it didn't went as I wished it would, but I never regretted it for happening.. The feeling of being the person, who wants a breakup, and the feeling to be the person that wanted the relationship to continue, is very different indeed. Weeks has passed and the clock still ticking away, it's funny to still be able to see things with his shadows. However, I'm slowly releasing my tightly closed fist, that has always been clinging onto this relationship.....

I hope for the best for both of us, and to the rest of the world. No matter what hardship that you're going through, family and friends, will always be the best refuge. Be positive, and get back up fighting~!!

Weird + Troublesome life

It's weird to not hear your voice. It's weird to not see you again. It's weird that everything happen so sudden. It's weird to not see you commenting happily in fb. It's weird that I don't sms you anymore. It's weird that I don't know what are you up to lately. hmmm... Everything just felt like a dream.. weird...

Maybe because it's unexpected? I don't know.. Well.. This is a huge change in my life! Anyway, hopefully he's doing well on the other side.



Here in Sabah, everything is alright. Work is still busy as usual. I'm just thinking of how to sign up to a master programme while working. That'll be interesting to see how my work could be applied to the field! But i'm also scared that if I sign up, can I cope with both sides? It'll be so freaking stress! Haiihhhzzz~~ so troublesome to think of all these. Troublesome is another thing, but this way, I'll hit 2 birds with a stone! Get paid + master cert!



Naruto manga character: Shikamaru Nara - intelligent, easy-going character & likes to remark "how troublesome"

think think think.. decide decide decide.. Any suggestions???

Welcome to my life

Heard this song on the radio when i'm driving back home today. The lyrics well described how i feel about my life lately.. I felt tired. BUT, I haven't lost hope yet. Sometimes, in this busy life, people do need a break. Especially from things that you routinely do, or from things that you can't get off your mind. I don't know whether any of you had this feeling before, that no matter how hard you tried not to think about it, your brain just won't listen to your own command to take a break from thinking, even for just a single moment.

So, to break that repetitive act, break the routine! And hopefully, your heart, mind, and soul, will be released from that repetitive act. Eventually save yourself for a moment... and finally you get to relax... to feel the peace of mind once again.. and able to think cleaaarly and properly once more~~

Well for all out there who're facing many problems in life... who feels life sucks BIG TIME... who feels unsecure... who feels depressed.... who feels indecisive...... try to take a break NOW!