A Live Mix

Long ago, I mentioned in a post about what I spend most of my time doing in church... I wish it was praying but it is not la. Hahaha.

Occasionally, I lead a team of volunteers to do live audio visual work. That includes sound, cameras, live multi camera mix and lyrics/powerpoint. Most of the time I do audio stuff - which is either stage i.e. ensuring the band/speakers on stage can hear themselves or FOH which controls what everyone else in the audience hears.

Sometimes I wonder why I'm so intrigued by this particular work. :-p I mean there are many areas which I can serve God every week as well, but maybe I fell in love with it since having the opportunity to learn something so unique (at least i think so) compared to what most of us do at our day jobs. I am one of those who are a bit more (okay, it' waaaayyy more) enthusiastic and excited about doing this then my paying job. :-p

Maybe it is the "live" thing. Getting it right at one go, on the spot and getting adrenaline rush because it's LIVE! Maybe it is simply because I love music. Maybe it is an opportunity to express whatever little creative juices I have.

Maybe it is just the bunch of ppl that I have worked with so long that I've grown overly attached with. Love them so much! We used to serve for 4 sessions of celebration back in DSP, the older building. Currently at Dream Centre, there are only 2 sessions but with many other events around the facility. I think sometimes we see each other more often than we see our family members. We have currently expanded our live work into lighting even more with the purchase of the new Robe moving heads and Avolites mixer. More cool stuff to learn!

Loud Concert 2009

Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to be part of team in supporting DUMC's annual youth event - Loud 2009. On top of the indie bands and other activities, we had a main concert with percussion group – Junkyard Invaders, Cheer team, dance team – Real Ink Crew and of course a live band as part of the evening concert. All very impressive work by the young people. Great job especially by the leaders who put this whole thing together - Leroy, Jon, Ben & Daryll.

Of course as usual, we cannot resist not having a picture the live crew. :) Love serving the Lord with you cool & fun people.

Who is Yasmin Ahmad?

I do not know Yasmin Ahmad personally but I do know she is a director who has done excellent work in film and tv ads. Not sure why she was often accused of producing controversial work but maybe most of the accusers were just "sesat" case. Her works were very moving and thought provoking. How often do we come across someone like her, who voices her mind even as we are surrounded by people who are in constant denial.

Malaysia lost one of her most precious gem yesterday. I heard the news from radio this morning. It was 2 days after she suffered a stroke.

As the news spread, there were many testimonies about her work and her life. Newspaper reprinted interview and tributes to this amazing, inspiring person. Many blogs also have featured a post on her. Here's one with a recent video by a friend. Just google her up for more.

Vaccines

My understanding of vaccines are jabs you take to prevent ourselves from diseases. I remember taking quite a few when I was younger – rubella, BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin) and chickenpox. I remember the first 2 pretty well because it was compulsory in school. Unless we have a letter from our parents that we will take it at our private clinic, we have to take the jab. Honestly, I had no idea what were the jabs for until I read them online. I’m sure I had lots of other vaccination that I can’t really remember but was probably adviced as necessary by our family doctor.

A recent visit to another doctor’s clinic (company panel clinic) opened my eyes to the many different vaccination available. At the clinic, there were numerous posters promoting the various vaccination.

Just last week, my company offered free flu vaccination to all our staff. It was optional but most people took it because it was free. I was skeptical so I opted not to.

Why? Well, there is no guarantee that one fully immune to flu. I wasn’t going abroad and putting myself at risk to the H1N1 anyway. So, it didn’t seem necessary to get the jab. Like any medicine, I feel that we don't need to take them unless we really really need to.

I remembered watching Oprah with Jenny McCarthy as her guest on the show. It was actually the first time I heard of vaccination issues. She believes that her son’s autism was the cause of vaccination and was raising awareness on this. She also mentioned a lot on how she is bringing up her son with special diet and even wrote a book on how her son is recovering from autism.

Today, if we search online, there are numerous information/debate/findings about this. There is no widely accepted/proven case of major negative side effects of vaccination. I haven’t done a thorough research about this but my current stand is not take vaccination unnecessarily. To be rational about it, our parents and their parents lived many years probably without any vaccination and are healthy and well. I’ve read somewhere that our body develops immunity against the disease that we get. That’s why we don’t get stuff like chickenpox twice in our lives. By preventing the disease, we sometimes prevent our body from generating such immunity.

Creativity, Passion & Making a difference

As I watched Chopped on Asia Food Channel, it reminded me about how creative food can allow a person to be. This show is about 4 contestant (who are normally executive chefs) challenging each other to prepare a 3 course meal within a given time with secret ingredients that will only be revealed right before they start cooking. Instant creativity required!

Cooking/baking is really a fun and creative thing. It is improvisation that makes a dish unique and memorable. So much can actually be done in cooking as the slightest additional amount of a single ingredient or the adding a teaspoons of ingredient or the smallest differ in method of mixing can greatly change the taste and the final look. I would love to spend more time in this and work my right brain.

Jamie Oliver is probably one of the most famous chef around today. It is really a joy to watch him cook for the people around him (ya, i know he gets paid to cook for all his shows) He always look like he is having soOooo much fun! It's amazing to do so many shows on cooking and write so many recipes. Seems to be a never ending of ideas and possibilities.

Passion take people to great extend. He left school to join catering college at 16. Most Asian parents would probably faint at the thought of it. But just look at what he has achieved today! Because of his campaign to ban unhealthy food in schools, he got the government to spend more on quality food. I thought the idea of training the fifteen disadvantage young people was great because it was definitely life changing for them. What a difference he has made in those young lives.

That's real passion doing what you love...oh and making a living out of it!

GSC at Tropicana Mall

I somehow had the idea that the new GSC cinema at Tropicana Mall would be less popular but possibly more confortable. I was right that it was still possible to get tickets for Transformers but the hall was terrible. Hall 5 was a smaller hall but never would I thought they would make the seats so near to the screen. At 5th row of the 10 rows in the hall, it was straining. Yup, this is nothing like the one in 1Utama. So, forget the movie if is it in this smaller hall. Not worth it unless you got the row against the wall.

The movie is great in many ways but my experience was spoilt by mutiple vertical lines for a long period of time!

Another irritating note was the censorship. It was so bad a short part of a scene actually repeated. Someone needs to go for editing class 101. Wonder who filem negara hires to do this.

Michael Jackson

His music continues to live on.
1958-2009

Vision for life

It is 2 years now that I am specs and contacts free. I'm so thankful for the surgery. It made climbing Mt K easier since my eyes get dry very easily with contacts. I didn't have to worry about them falling out during water rafting - a girl's contacts did came off when her raft overturned. :-p

Went for my annual check today. I thought my vision was not as sharp as it was last year. From the test, there is a very slight power on eye and very slight astigmatism as well. It could go back down since our eyes power can change slightly if our eyes are tired. So glad the conclusion is just tired and dry eyes. Must rest my eyes more.

Really don't want to go back to specs or contacts anytime soon. Neither do I want to go through the procedure again if possible. (As long as I got my eyes checked annual, Optimax will correct any shortsightedness for free).

I found out that up to today, Optimax is still the only Lasik centre in Malaysia with ISO certification. I guess it is important with more and more different outlets offering this service. Hey, it's our eyes! What if the centre is run by people who are not exactly qualified or equipment that are not well maintained?

Bobbi Brown Workshop

I have been following Yvonne's blog in the recent few months. She recently organised a contest for a free workshop at Bobbi Brown. I thought it would be very helpful for me since I don't know much about skin care and make up. I have a great interest in how BB is branded to make people look clean, fresh and modern (basically to still look yourself but better...get it?). Glad that I won a space for it. :)

Syaz, Tammy, Hanna and myself met Yvonne at Pavilion, Bobbi Brown stand alone store earlier today. There, we were all given a booklet to note down steps and the products used. They prepared for each one of us a whole set of brushes. I had the privilege to learn from Simone, the Retail Manager at that outlet. It was a real good learning experience for me since I'm quite clueless plus I get to try hands on (on half my own face) one step at a time - Simone will apply and I'll attempt to replicate.

There were a lot of emphasis on pre-makeup/skincare - getting it right allows the make up to last longer. Other than the basic 101 make up methods and choosing the best colour tones for ourselves (I didn't take down that much note since I was the demo :-p, but do check out more details on Yvonne's post), I got a few extra tips from Simone that is interestingly new to me.

1. Always apply eye cream 1st. If you apply other creams around your face and then apply eye cream, the left overs on your fingers will go on your eye and this can cause oil seeds around the eye.


2. If you have combination of oily and dry skin, always apply moisturiser on your dry skin area first.


3. Only apply foundation and powder around the area on your face that you want to cover. Not your whole face. (this is interesting, I always thought we should apply our whole face in case it looks like patches everywhere. BB concept is that the foundation/powder are suppose to blend in like our actual skin...Ohhhh)


4. If you have very dry lips, try applying lip balm before going to bed.

I didn't left empty handed. *sigh* I told myself I won't be buying anything! I bought the latest Sheer Colour Cheek Tint (because it is uniquely convenient) and Long Wear Cream Shadow (because it lasts long - there justified). Both so tiny and both cost so much :-p They also came with a tiny-ier free gift.

A big thank you to Yvonne for organising this for all of us. Really appreciate it. The counter photo was shot by Yvonne and here's a group photo from Syaz. I will get a camera...one day.

The Life You’ve Always Wanted

This is one of my reading assignment that I drag on for a little too long. Below is my personal summary of this book by John Ortberg.

SPIRITUAL
Our spiritual life is not measured by the regularity of our journal entries. God can use it to lead us into life but with that but our spiritual life is measured by our growing love for God and people. Spiritual discipline is any activity that can help me gain power to live life as Jesus taught and modelled it. Ortberg gave the example of a lady who sees “quiet time” as spiritual devotion but does not count time spend caring for her children as a spiritual act.

One of the basic laws of life is rhythm – night/day, winter/summer, wake/sleep, time of consolation/time of desolation. Both season are inevitable and can bring unique growth. Holiday = holy day.

Knowledge does not equal to spiritual transformation. A person whose knowledge of the bible can be 10 times greater than an average unchurched person but is that person 10 times more loving, patient and more joyful? When we read the bible, the goal is not for us to get through the Scripture but to get the Scripture through us. Sometimes that means sticking to one psalm or even one word long enough to learn what we need to learn.

HURRY
We should ruthlessly eliminate hurry from my life. Life is cluttered when we are weighed down by things that we have failed to say no to. Perhaps Abraham Lincoln achieved the depth of thought he did because he grew up with so little to read. William Herndon, his biographer claimed that Lincoln read less and thought more than any man in his sphere in America. Today, we have largely traded wisdom for information, depth for breath. We want to "microwave" maturity.

PRAYER
Prayer is learned behaviour. Nobody is born an expert at it. No one ever masters prayer. “Lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us.” -C.S. Lewis. Our minds may wander during prayer but it may be the very thing our heart most needs to speak to God about. Some things may not seem spiritual but no point praying about things that are noble but not really in our hearts. Nothing kills prayers faster than pretending to be noble.

SERVANTHOOD
One of the hardest things in the world is to stop being the prodigal son without turning into the elder brother. It is easier to hear about serving than to actually serve: Ortberg gave the example of a person who gave excuse not to do something by going for a rally to teach and inspire to that very thing.

Stupid Malaysians

Reading that many object to making English a must pass subject for SPM is really sad. Read it here.

I do not understand what the general Malaysian (who are responding) are thinking. Are we so stupid? English is the very single most important subject to secure a job! Why isn't it necessary to pass it?

And the more terrible fact is, the current English syllabus is already way too simple. An easy way to compare is the 1119 marks and the normal SPM marks based on the same paper. For someone who scored an A1, their 1119 marks can vary from A1 to C5 (possibly even lower). But that's not the main issue here.

Let Malaysian continue to fail the simple English. Goodbye Malaysia. Very soon, the population will no longer understand what English is.

Sharing from an average guy

Yesterday, I had an opportunity to hear from Pastor Chris Hodges from Church of the Highlands. He was in town for the 13th MCCC.

He shared how God has used him, someone who is average of the below average (he was kind of exaggerating the whole below average kind of person he is) He never scored a "B" as a student because he usually scored lower. He also shared his first experience preaching and how he was corrected and learned. It was difficult but God used him to start what is today the fastest growing church in US.

Jesus' disciples didn't have the most glorifying jobs and they are probably young and inexperience as well. Yet, they were give the opportunity to learn by following Him.

Pastor Chris mentioned how he multiply himself but training others and guiding them in the things that he do. He always have someone with him to watch and learn. Eventually, he will allow them to try. He believes that when a leader demonstrates, his followers can learn best. People see, people do.

God can use anyone. Just allow Him to and be teachable. :)

Be thankful!

Recently I have been maybe a little concern over my savings. There are quite a few things that Iwould love to get for myself. And all that requires $. As I look at my bank statement, the column that indicates amount going in is a consistent amount (which I know I should be thankful for) but the amount that is withdrawn is occasionally more la. As I list the reason for my withdrawal, I know that sometimes some things are not avoidable. Maybe I'm frustrated at myself for not doing anything about it.

I think it has been a little too long since I last went for a mission trip. I have been going every year until last year. But God reminded me yesterday that there are endless things to worry about. Not that I should not be planning my future but getting frustrated is pointless. He reminded me of those people I have met in my past trips. They much more needs than I do. Yet, they live their lives trusting God to provide each meal for them. I think they live a happier and simpler life than most of us in the city.

Today, I want to be thankful that I am alive, healthy and have a paying job. There is only so much I can do today. God can take care of everything else for now.

Dog-napped!

I knew that the local authorities here are very cruel to dogs and have always advised my family to never allow Casper out of the house. Any animal straying outside private property can be taken by the authorities. But sometimes being a normal dog, Casper occasionally makes a dash out when we open the gates!

Casper was missing since 29th April 2009. Yes, Casper runs out of the house but he normally returns within the same day. It is very distressing to come home and not see him. I printed and distributed flyers around my house hoping that someone might have saw him or might have taken him in.

I received an sms from one of my neighbour yesterday advising me to check at PAWS. In the sms, this person mentioned that we should quickly go check as a relative's dog was put to sleep by the time they went to search there.

My mum and brother went to PAWS in Subang today. After looking into the many cages, they gave up. When my mum passed one of our flyers to the counter, they just sticked it to their board. I guess there is just too many dogs that are brought in everyday. The person on the counter did asked if we have checked every section. There was a special section that is labeled MPPJ and NO ENTRY. After arguing with the person guarding that section, my mum was allowed in. The moment she shouted Casper, he came jumping. He was full of fear and was constantly shaking until he reached home. Really breaks our heart to see him like that.

Every dog taken from the pound is charged RM80. That was nothing to get Casper back. It was such a relieved. But can you imagine, someone might have "bought" him before we arrived? Yes, I admit that it is always the owner's fault for allowing their pets out of the compound. But, there must be a better way.

He is home now, with proper food and care minus the smell. I guess he is also sleeping for the 1st time in peace after 4 nights in the pound. I could feel that he is thinner than usual. He probably never ate much sinced. Knowing Casper, he is not as aggresive as most dogs. He can't challenge the other dogs to the food.

I can't imagine the method used to catch him. Maybe I'm just upset by the whole ordeal but can't seem to understand why the stray dogs around my area never get caught. They move around in a group - sometimes 6 together. But they have been around for years. Maybe it is more fun to bully naive, gullible, domestic pets that are easier to catch. Can't help but wonder if pet's are their primary target. There are many licensed dogs at the MPPJ section of PAWS. Hopefully their owner claims them soon.

UPDATE: Casper was coughing badly after returning from PAWS. The vet told us that his lungs were swollen. Suspect he was hurt during the capture. After an injection and antibiotics for a week, he is back to normal.

Ending the holiday

We began our day a little later than usual. Hew Yen and Yuh Fun were too fit to feel any pain but Hew Chui, Fui Ping and myself were still feeling it. We checked out from Marina Court and left our luggage at Pacific Sutera Harbour. A 30mins speedboat ride brought us to Sapi Island - one of the islands of Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. It is the island where all the water activities take place. A few of us took this opportunity to try the discover dive thingy. It’s pretty cool actually. Well, the dive master, Christian had to drag me around but it was good exposure. Now I can seriously consider getting a real license. We got back to the hotel for a nice swim after that. We had a beautiful sunset that day. A consolation since there wasn't a real sunrise at Mt. K.

I managed to meet up one more time with Janet and Eric. We ate at this little restaurant in Beverly Hills. Qing Zhou Xiao Chai. They serve Taiwanese porridge. Quite nice actually. Tasted like home cooked. We ended the day with VedaBlu ice-creams.

On our last day, we went for a walk around the shopping complex. No one bought much of the souvenirs. It was before going to the airport that I spent a bomb on fishes. I had specific instruction from family to get them. :-p

After all that excitement and fun, the flight back was pretty sad. I was already missing my it, my 1st holiday. Can't imagine getting back to work. Well, it is my passport to my next adventure. Can't wait for my next holiday!

Padas River, White Water Rafting

Some people would think that it is crazy to do anything the day after you descended from Mt. K. Bum, legs and thighs are expected to ache unless you are pretty fit. But I found out that Steve's group was also planning to go water rafting the day after they descend. Plus we met another group of people along the climb who were going to do the same. So, I guess we are not that crazy after all.

I was told that Padas River is one of the best places for river rafting with rapids Grade III-IV. We were given the option earlier for Kiulu (Grade I-II). It is less rough but hey, we came this far for the best!

We woke up and got ready to take the 8.30am bus to Beauford. This time I’m applied a thick layer of sun block AND I brought it along to reapply during the break. The skin on my nose was turning black and peeling.

The company that was engaged by Nelson was Riverbug. We were provided with a simple breakfast of sandwich, fried chicken, banana, bottled water and chocolate waffle on board the bus. The bus journey was slow. Maybe it was the long up hills. The bus stopped along a road with a rail track crossing it. Our guide, Canon told us we have arrived and to leave our things in the bus.

The bus luggage compartment was filled with life jackets. We all took one each and walk along the track until we see little wooden platforms with wheels.

I finally understood what Esther was trying to tell me about the “trolley”. We were seated on the trolley and one of the “drivers” will push us with a stick. Almost like rafting on land. It took us almost 50mins on the trolley to finally arrive where the rafting will begin. Fui Ping mentioned that this should complete most people’s 3rd world experience. I thought it was quite interesting as well, considering we are missing the famous train ride. The trolley is an alternative to the train ever since the service was stopped due to the constant land slides.

Our guide mentioned that the only train using the track now is the one used for the rail track workers. So I wondered what happens if the train do come? It will be like cartoon! Well, it did! Suddenly we could see all the were "drivers" trying to stop their trolleys. They told us to get up and stand aside. :-p After the train passed, they very coolly replace the trolleys and told us to get back on them.

When we reached the briefing area, we were served watermelons and given bottled water again. I guess they were afraid we get dehydrated. Canon briefed us on the commands and rules. He then divided us into different rafts.

Canon and Tony were our river guides. In the photo below, Canon was showing us how to whack the person next to us with the paddle. The 5 of us together with another 3 person were sharing a larger raft. I told Canon we should flip our raft. He had a smirk on his face so I guess he would. I thought that the experience would only be complete if we all fall into the water. I was anticipating it. But it never happened. We did witness one other raft flipping and we had to "rescue" some of them. I guess the people on our raft were crazy enough. One of the girls even sat at the edge of our raft, dangling her feet into the river and through a few rapids…Canon was encouraging her. :-pAfter about an hour, we stopped for lunch. There was a short preview of the video so far. We continued on our journey when suddenly Canon asked if any of us liked swimming. I guess he noticed that we wanted more. One of my friend noticed that actually they tried flippinf the raft but I guess there were too many of us - too heavy. He jumped off the raft. I looked at my friends and without much thought, we jumped as well. We left Tony to mend the raft on his own. Hehe.

As expected we went through a few rapids and drank some murky water. As we neared tougher rapids we were told to swim and get back on the rafts. I was still expecting more when I saw the 2 speedboats reading to bring us back. It was slightly disappointed. I told Canon on the way back that I was really hoping to have our raft overturned. The speedboat journey was almost another 45mins back to where our bus was waiting. The bus ride was a lot faster returning. We left at 6.45pm and arrived around 8.15pm.

Conquering Mount Kinabalu II

The Great Ascend
It was because of this final ascend, I didn’t wear my jacket and gloves the day before, fearing that they might get wet and not dry in time. We got back our shoes, cleaner than before and absolutely dry!

Many grab a quick bite and started on their climb. Initially, there was a human jam at the beginning. With thin air, some people (like me) had to stop more often. We couldn’t really see where exactly we were walking, so I tried to follow the person in front closely. Din suddenly appeared on my side when I was resting. Told me he had walked a friend back. Well, that meant I was the last one. He had to wait for me.

There were a few parts that we had to pull ourselves up by the rope. Many part of the mountain has little waterfalls even without rain, so parts of the rope will always be wet. Waterproof glove are good here. But after the check point, I noticed that many were climbing without the rope - especially the guides. Having Din with me really helped. I told him to just walk slightly ahead of me and I will follow his steps. It was easier. I guess our biggest challenge was breathing. Our legs were ok, but it was getting really difficult to breathe. Plus we were getting quite dehydrated. Somehow we were silly enough not to bring any food and water. I was also a fool not to take Jee Ing’s advice to bring sun block along. I wanted to be free from holding anything except my camera.

The other guides were also very helpful. Even when Din wasn’t around, they were checking if I was ok, and asked where my friends and guide were.

The last few meters took us really really long. The other guides who were around pretty naughty. They kept telling us to hurry before it rains. They were also teasing us by offering to carry us for that last few meters. By the time we reached the peak, most people were already on their way down or many have decided to call it quits. Hew Chui and I were glad that there were very few people waiting for their turn to take a photo with the Low’s Peak signage. :)

I wasn’t taking that much photograph. Had to remind myself to keep breathing! The view was great. No sunrise but it was a great feeling of being above everything. It was a great feeling knowing that we have achieved our goal. The other side of the mountain is really steep. But looking down the path we need to go through again kind of dampen our spirit a little. We also encounter the ugly Malaysian right up on the peak. Paper wrappers of chocolates and candy were thrown around the peak. I noticed that the porters and guides were the ones picking up the trash along the trail.

The descend to Laban Rata
It felt so good at the peak; I could just sleep there and not move. I was telling the guide that they should offer sky gliding from the peak. A real fast way to get down! The air didn’t get any thicker. So we were still breathing pretty hard. But we really have to thank God for a fantastic weather. No rain, no strong wind. I was thirsty and asked Din if I could drink from the puddle of waters on the mountain. He told me "ada cacing" (there are worms) and only if I really had to. As we follow Din’s steps we realized our toes were hurting. It was a slow journey down. We met a couple of other people who didn’t dare go down. The part where we pull ourselves up with the rope looks pretty scary in day light, but like abseiling, as long as you hold on to the rope, all is cool. I had really good gloves as well. They dried up after I slide down the rope.

When I reached the checkpoint where the silly highest phone booth and toilet are, I found a pipe with flowing mountain water. I drank from it and I’m still alive to type this post. So, I guess it is safe to drink.

I finally reached at 10.15am. They stopped cooking food by then. Good thing I brought my instant noodle. We were advised to make our final descend before 12pm. Just in case we took too long and it gets dark. I managed to have a quick meal and we descend by 11.30am. I thought I saw the kitchen prepare some fried noodles for the some people who descended after us. Not sure if they had to pay.

The final descend
It was definitely much easier without the rain. We decided to take the Timpohon trail down. It is shorter but steeper. It wasn’t easy on our knees. But hey, we needed to get down whatever it takes. We reached the Timpohon check point at around 5pm. I noticed Din’s face was pretty red, so I asked the rest what happened to him. No one seems to know. But I found out later… when I looked into the mirror. My forehead and nose was as red as his! We got sun burned! I think it was probably during our descend from the peak to Laban Rata. The rest didn’t get it as bad as Din, Hew Chui and myself. So silly. We didn’t put on sunblock. I figured if I applied at 2am, it wouldn’t have lasted till the morning anyway.

By the time we took the ride and get back to Marina Court it was after 8pm. Thank God for Nelson, he bought us dinner. We couldn’t possibly walk more to find food.

Conquering Mount Kinabalu I

Mount Kinabalu is part of Kinabalu Park located in Kundasang. After having our breakfast at 7.30am, we proceed to the Mesilau gate for registration and to meet our guide, Din. Hew Yen said that by right I should carry my own stuff to fully experience the climb. I knew that if we engaged a porter, he will probably run up with my stuff. That meant that I had to risk not having my winter jacket and long pants if I really need them half way through the climb. So in the end, I ended up carrying most of my things. I weight it. 5.5kg. Only gave the a few less important things like extra tshirt and beanie to the porter. I packed everything I have in plastic bags. Not very environmental friendly but it was the only way to ensure my stuff don't get wet when (not if) it rains.

Because we only needed one porter, our guide doubled up as a porter. I was too lazy to repack so I tested my own strength. It was actually ok. But I guess it did slow me down in someway.

And the climb begins...
We began the ascend at around 8.30am. As mentioned by various people, this trail is less steep, very scenic but almost a whole 2 km further. We passed waterfalls, walked along the side of the mountains and there were up and down hills along the way.

I tried to take photos of the km markers along the way but I missed a few. The rain started quite early in our journey but we had a lot of trees to shelter us.

At one of the rest area, we had a squirrel running around. I thought it was running away when it suddenly circled my leg. For a minute, I thought it was going to attack me! Haha. Din offered Mentos and it grab it from him.

Along the way, we met many other climbers and we offer each other encouragements and snacks! I realized it is also very important to pace ourselves – know our own speed whether it is fast or slow, I saw people who tried to climb too fast and got cramps quite early of the climb. I was about to get cramps as well when I slowed down too much. I had to keep moving. As the trail changed to more steps consistently, I felt like I was walking up mini waterfalls.

I was told by Aaron that I should never sit or stop for more than 5 mins. It seemed to rain heavier and heavier. When I reached the trail where Timpohon and Mesilau combines, a porter commented we were considered fast. But I was so deceived by this sign. There was still a loOOoong way to go.

The very lonely path
My most unforgettable part was when I passed this path where there were no trees and the path was like a huge stone. I felt like I could slip anytime. Somehow, that very part of the trail has no railing and neither was there rope. There was absolutely nothing to hold on to. The wind was blowing furiously and it was raining heavily and my poncho was flying! All I had was the walking stick. I felt like I was going to slip and roll down if I took another step. I stood at that one spot for a very long time…it seems forever as I prayed for God to stop the rain or at least reduced it to drizzle. It didn’t. It was almost like God ignored me or telling me that I should get out of it myself. *sob sob*

It was weird as the people who were in front of me disappeared. I knew my guide and Fui Ping was still behind but they didn’t show up. Where’s everyone?!!! As I stood there, it was also getting colder and colder. I finally told myself I needed to move or die. The wind was getting stronger. I will most probably get blown away (despite my weight) and no one would ever find my dead body anyway. I continued. Just to find another rest stop just in front where a group of people were seeking shelter. -_-

Reaching Laban Rata
I rested at that shelter for a while. But the rain didn’t stop. Standing there didn’t help, I was feeling colder and colder so I force myself to continue the climb…the "waterfalls". By then my socks and shoes were getting wet, my hands were wet and cold. Surprisingly, the poncho did keep my body warm. I have totally stopped taking photos. The camera did get a little wet earlier and I didn’t want to risk bringing a faulty camera to the peak. I thought the markers were getting confusing as I remembered passing 5km marker on the Mesilau trail. The markers after the 2 trails combined are for Timpohon trail. Some fella actually offered to help me take a picture at one of the markers but I couldn’t bring myself to remove the poncho in the rain to reach into my bag for the camera. I was going to give up, why would I want to take another photo?!! The guy offered to take with his camera phone. I couldn’t recognize him and most people on the way...everyone were in their poncho, so everyone looked alike :-p

The higher we were, the more rocks and stones there were. I was practically crawling. I hold the walking stick on one hand and my other hand grab to hold on to anything I could get a grip on.

It was a huge relieved when I saw a container. But it wasn’t Laban Rata. I kept walking and I saw another structure. I wasn’t sure. A boy in front of me said we have arrived but I was so skeptical I asked if he was sure because it looks higher. It was…it was Laban Rata Hut. (Note: I didn't even see this sign till I was descending the next day)

The little heaven of Mt. K. I looked into the doors and saw my friends who have arrived earlier. Hew Yen came running with the towel and it felt like sooooo good. I was shaking like crazy. The warmth of the room was so nice. I couldn’t even feel the hot cup of water in my hands. And the smell of food was too good to be true. Then I remembered I didn’t have a real lunch, just energy bars, raisins and snickers.
The best thing to know then was that were staying in Laban Rata, above the restaurant itself. One of the guide “Ah Tung” also offered to dry our shoes. He charged us RM20 per shoe but it was worth it. We can’t possibly climb in soaking wet shoes.

I know many have said that it was too cold to shower but I was already too cold to begin with. A nice hot (not exactly hot but warm) shower really helped since I was covered in quite a bit of mud from the waterfall climb. They had shared showers and toilets. Since I arrived pretty late around 5.30pm, there weren’t any queue. They stopped serving food at 7.30pm so I had a quick dinner. Somehow everything tasted really good.

We had heater in our 6 bunk bed room. But it didn’t work. It was ok since there were actually 7 of us. A couple decided they wanted to squeeze on one of the bed.

A few of us weren't that well. Some didn’t feel like eating, some felt like throwing up and I felt a sudden fever. Panadol helped. I didn’t really sleep that few hours but it was all quiet by 8pm.

The rain hadn’t stop. I was getting quite disappointed as I knew that guides will not allow us up in rain. Praise God it finally stopped around 10.30pm.

My real KK trip

15th - 21st April 2009
Finally, my very 1st holiday! After almost 10 months of planning (or after purchasing my “free” flight from AirAsia), I am finally going for a real holiday trip to KK. This is my 4th trip to KK but the 1st time I’m going to do what most tourist do. Climb Mt. Kinabalu and White Water Rafting in the Padas River.

After arriving in KK town, we had a late lunch and walked around in Centrepoint. My friends did some shopping at the Nike and Adidas outlets. They seem to have 50% for certain items.

I managed to meet up with Janet and Eric for dinner. We took a drive quite far from town. I think it was at least 40mins from KK town to Gayang Seafood Restaurant. We ate so much seafood on the 1st day of my trip. Wow, the shrimps were huge! We stayed at Marina Court Condominium, located very strategically near the malls.





On the 2nd day, our van took us to Kinabalu National Park. It is almost 2 hours away from KK Town. There, we visited the Kinabalu Park exhibition. We also went for a 30mins walk on the Poring Treetop Canopy Walkway. We were told this should be a little warm up to our long walk up Mt K.

After that we get to soak our legs in the hot spring water. The water was really hot but nice and relaxing. We then check into the Kinabalu Pine Resort. The view from the resort was really magnificent. We got a good view of our “target” for the next day.

On Easter

One of the speaker for this Easter weekend, Rev David Pawson certainly gave many of us a new perspective to the bible.

He believes that it is very important to read the bible by books. Not just by verses or chapters because it simply can’t be understood in the right context without reading the whole story.

I was also pretty enlighten about the period between the Good Friday and resurrection Sunday. Critics argued that between Friday to Sunday, it is just no 3 days and 3 nights as stated in the bible. However, our calendar today is based on the Roman calendar. According to Jewish calendar, a day starts at 6pm. So the timing here is confused because of the different calendar. Hmm, looks like I should read more.

Yet another interesting note. Not every word in the bible is the word of God. A good example is Ecclesiastes. God will surely not say this.

while I was still searching
but not finding—
I found one upright man among a thousand,
but not one upright woman among them all.

Written by Solomon. A man with 700 wives and 300 concubines. :-p
Every word in the bible is placed there for a purpose. What we can learn from this is a man with so many wives can't possibly know how to respect a woman.

Interesting huh?