Our Annual Pilgrimage

Thursday 9 July 2009

Today is THE DAY that we make our annual pilgrimage to the island of Borneo for the 3-day Rainforest World Music Festival. Woke up early enough and Byron was on time. Mr Liex, our regular cabi, picked Deep & Khang up at their pad and from there, headed off to LCCT.

Khang buat kecoh since morning as first first, kena stop cause he was carrying lighter fluid in his bag. Had to unpack everything to take it out and almost couldn’t check in cause the grumpy girl at the counter wanted to go off already. Later on, he left his bag at the 2nd X-ray check point and totally forgot about it. Panic later on cause all his stuff and the brownies were in there. Kena sound by the immigration officer for wearing a communist cap too haha.

Eddy pula, missed our 9.45am flight completely. He, Hawa & Sara had to book the next one which was at 11.45am. Turned out the plane had some technical difficulties and the flight was delayed till 4.45pm. Poor things.

It was stright to Telang Usang Hotel from the airport where we had our usual sarawak laksa & tuak. Khang got wasted by 2pm. Maggot!

Sarawak Laksa & Tuak lunch at Telang Usan Hotel, Kuching

Khang kantoi-ed early

Camp Permai, our usual pad, was being a bitch as they’ve been ridiculously raising the price every year. It’s a 250% increase this year from the last! Boycott!!! Decided to stay at the Melanau Tall House in the Village itself this year which was SUCH an awesome thing. Our pad’s clean, cheap, cooling and snack in the middle of everything. Heck, I could go back to my room to mandi in the middle of the concert if I wanted too!

Our pad at the Melanau Tall House, Sarawak Cultural Village

Met Leo and the Iban boys on the first night and they invited us to the Iban longhouse after midnight for some langkau (distilled tuak that resembles jet fuel), moonshine whiskey at Tsingtao (This Shit Is Not Good To Any One) Beer. Khang held his liquor well this time but he looked like he had a great time rolling around on the floor.

Moonshine whiskey & Tsingtao Beer

Scenes at the Iban pad

Farah's Farewell Dinner

Tuesday 7 July 2009

Farah was gonna fly back to Singapore the next day after taking a month and a half break so she decided to cook for a bunch of us. Bout more than 10 of us turned up to try her delicious home cooked meal.

Waitin for dinner

Just part of the menu - mostly malay dishes yum yum

Had itchy feet after makan so headed to TTDI for reflex but the place had only 2 massues. Had to go back to our regular place in SS2. Thw guy I had this time wasn't that good. Bit of a dissapointment.

Was playing with my new toy. This a panaromic view of the place.

The tired cook getting herself pampered in the end.

New toy

Tuesday 7 July 2009

Traded my busted Olympus for a new one cause they told me it cost RM600 to fix the old one. The new waterproof Olympus u-Tough-6000 cost RM800 so might as well pay RM200 extra for the new one.

This my new blue toy.. but waterproof till 3m only

Flying High

Sunday 5 July 2009

Today is the day I face my fear of heights by traversing high above the trees secured only by a piece of rope. Ok exaggerating a bit. We're pretty secured by a harness & 2 carabinas hooked onto a metal cable.

I'm talking about the SkyTrex Challenge, located in Bukit Cahaya Alam, Shah Alam, where you can enjoy jungle trekking above the trees. Participants have to go through a series of rope obstacles along the forest canopy. Walk, crawl, glide, swing - we were basically monkeys for the day.

Because of my fear of heights, I decided not to get too ambitious and settled for the Big Trill instead, a circuit of 23 obstacles with the highest point at 17m. The extremists could go for the Extreme Challenge, a circuit of 21 challenges with the highest point at 22m.

My circuit mates were colleague Alycia & her bf Dennis. Louisa & Steward were also up for the Big Trill but since they were late, we went ahead first. Revathi, Yasmin & Toh were already at the Extreme Challenge.

Me, Alycia & Dennis posing before the climb by the kiddies 'Little Adventure' circuit

The instructors gave a briefing on some trial obstacles just a few feet off the ground. After the trial run, we headed to the start of the Big Thrill, which was a ladder that went all the way up to the top of the trees.

So far so good...

The beginning parts were hard, especially the first part of climbing the ladder. You keep wishing it would end but it doesn't seem to end. The thought of quitting half way came to mind but the thought of failing myself spurred me on.

That's the ladder that goes up to a height of slightly below 17m above ground. There's another ladder after this that brings you up even higher.

It involved quite a lot of strength. It was hard work! The trick was not to look down and keep on moving forward. Flying fox was fun though but it's really scary getting off the platform. Once you're in the air, it's easy-peasy, except for the landing bit. You gotta make sure you land on the platform else you gotta pull your self back in again.

The hardest for me was the suspended round plastic tubes. The tubes are so unstable and there's really nothing much you can do to steady yourself. The obstacle where you had to swing from one wood to another was also difficult for me as you need a bit of upper body strength to do that.

Looks easy at the Little Adventure circuit just a few feet above ground but it's a totally different scenario all together 17m up in the air

We were under the impression that the circuit is much tougher as the instructors said we will need bout an hour plus to complete it. We finished in 50 minutes. And that's with the taking our time with photos and stuff. Maybe we were lucky cause we were in front of the group. Didn't have to wait for nobody.

Alycia & I taking a break after completing the first station

All in all, a good workout. Will I go again? Hmm maybe not cause it's just not my thing. I HAD to do it at least once to have that bragging right and I'm glad I managed to complete the circuit without exiting through the various 'Pintu Ayam's along the trail. :)

Rewarded ourselves with the best Ipoh Hor Fun in the Klang Valley after that. Good job!

Raul's 15 Days & 15 Nights

Saturday 4 July 2009

For my fellow Vang Vien traveller Raul Lee, his normal birthday celebrations include pure alco/party mayhem for 15 days and 15 nights straight. My poor tired body can only take one night out of the whole celebrations so joined Raul at Wabi Sabi, TTDI Plaza, on his 2nd night. Took Farah along with me as an escape plan (cause wanted to leave early. Will be doing Skytrex the next morn).

Went in at 10pm and the club was empty for a Saturday night. Had a very interesting Peach flavoured beer as Wabi Sabi is known for their flavoured beers. They have mango, orange, blueberry and other fruit flavours too. Farah tried the normal lime cordial thingy.

Farah and I

Raul's friends started coming in one by one and by the time it got to half past midnight, there were enough people to make an exit without feeling guilty.

Birthday boy Raul swigged it from the bottle towards the end

Left the party early with Farah and headed to Sunway Damansara for some late night tose and Indomee.

Week Old

Saturday 4 July 2009

Supposed to meet the boys for todi brunch but decided to go see my babies instead. Brought my sis & bro over to Ivan's parents' place to say hello to their future kid.

Here's the proud mummy Brandy. She's still very much attentive to her kids.

And here they are at exactly 1 week old

They'll be opening their eyes in a few more days. Till then.

Same old same old

Friday 3 July 09

Nothing eventful has been happening these past few days as it was work work and work for me. Oh, went to the doctor on Tuesday 30 June to get 2 weeks supply of Glucosamine Sulphate (doc says it's made from chicken cartilage) which helps to repair the fluids in my joints. I kinda fucked up my knees due to all those hiking activities.

Other than that, nothing much been going on. Wife's back from Cambodia. Will update more when I go see my grandsons this weekend.