Went bowling with KY & AJ at The Curve this morning. It was very early, we started playing at 10 something in the morning and the whole bowling alley was occupied by only the 3 of us. Had a good session though losing 2 cups of coffee to AJ.
After the session, KY & AJ suggested me to put the bowling ball back to my car first before proceeding to lunch and they would wait for me at the Hakka restaurant that we were supposed to have our lunch.
Off I went, carrying the bolwing ball with me, walking towards the escalator. I supposed the floor had just been mopped. Few meters after I walked away from KY & AJ, I slipped and fell! Damn it! KY saw me fell and came to help me up. It was nothing serious and I stood up and continued to walk. The floor was damn slippery. Out of my expectation, after a few steps, I slipped and fell again! Super shit! No one noticed this round. I just stood up, cursing in my heart, what the hell was going on??!!! I continued to walk, and after few steps, I slipped and fell again!!! This is super duber bloody shit!!! I was in a state of shock and dumbfounded. This time around, it was an 'Oh My God' case. I twisted my left wrist. It was extremely painful till I couldn't even move my hand and stood up. A lady came to me to show her concern, trying to help. I was totally not ok. All I was feeling was the pain! I asked a fovour of the lady to inform KY & AJ who were still around a sticker stall, not far away from where I fell. They came to my rescue, probably in astonishment of 'what???!!! again???' Hahaha...I sat there for quite a while before I could feel my wrist, move my hand a bit and stand up.
KY & AJ escorted me to the car park. I felt so cacat. On the way, I didn't know where AJ got this can of cold Isotonic drink and passed to me to place it on my wrist. It actually helped to reduce the pain a bit. I was still puzzling how could the falling x 3 happen. Probably my shoes were slippery too that contributed to the falling but I've been wearing this pair of shoes quite often in the shopping mall and didn't really feel they are that slippery. What did the people at The Curve use to mop the floor? The floor was bloody slippery but it didn't really look that wet though. What was on the floor? Could it be...eerr..??? More and more questions occupied my mind. I was totally clueless. To avoid any more falling incident, I changed to the pair of sport shoes kept in my car.
We then proceeded to the flea market at The Curve to make some 'pigeon rounds' before proceeded to have our lunch at the Hakka restaurant.
This was totally strange and unbelievable!!! It was totally out of control. Never expeceted this to happen. Never in my life that I fell like this before, 3 times within 6o seconds, from 1 end to another end of an escalator, probably within 10 to 20 meters of distance!!! I am quite an outdoor person, hiking through some challenging paths also never made me fell in such an awful way!
What a 'pook kai' day at The Curve! It's really a day of history for me.
Anyway, thanks KY & AJ for your helps and the can of cold isotonic drink. Also thanks to the lady who was trying to help. AJ, about your Coffee, hutang dulu. Will definitely honour my words to treat your Coffee the next time I see you or I'll try to beat you to offset the coffee. :D
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
Mangoes of Sympathy
September 11, is a date that the world would never forget if you recall how a huge wound was created in the history of America in 2001. September 11, 2006, Isaac, WL's son was born in Sydney. September 11, 2007, Tuesday, Isaac, the little cutie turned 1 and it was also the 1st day of the 8th month of the Chinese calender. CH & I decided to go for vegetarian lunch at Giant Bowl (the bowls are really gigantic there) at SS2, PJ.
While waiting for our food to be served, we saw a hunchback old lady, dressed in a broke way, walking in to the shop with a few bags of mangoes. She approached the customers from table to table, showing a cardboard and trying to sell the mangoes. When she reached our table, she showed the cardboard which was written in Chinese "Golden Dragon Mango (金龙芒), 1kg RM6", trying to pursuade us to buy the mangoes. She couldn't talk, only managed to sound 'iii... iii... aaa... aaa...' She's dumb. From a closer look, She looked like in her 60s or probably younger or older, I couldn't tell for sure. What I could tell for sure was she has a difficult and tough life from her hunchback, inability to speak, the clothes she wore, her wrinkes and the fact that she still needed to make a living in such a manner at her old age. Though we felt pity for her, as we didn't really have the urge to buy the mangoes, we politely turned her down.
She proceeded from table to table again. My eyesight followed her movement. Some customers didn't even look at her or respond to her, pretending that she didn't exist, showing no basic respect to her. The more I followed the more I felt sympathetic and sad for her. I was suggesting that we gave her some money without taking the mangoes. CH reckoned that she might not take it.
Finally, CH waved at her, signalling her to come over to our table. We bought 1 kg of mangoes from her, 4 in a plastic bag, just nice for each of us to take home 2. The mangoes weren't ripe yet. CH was thinking to use them to make mango kerapu whereas I just planned to keep them till they are ripe and whack them, with no expectation on the taste.
After getting cold responses from majority of the customers, she walked out from the shop to get her trolley which was loaded with some fruit paper boxes. She only managed to sell 1 bag of mangoes to us. I wasn't sure if the few bags of mangoes that she carried in to the shop were the last few left of the day or there were still other fruits left in the boxes.
Could her hunchback be caused by wrong posture and long hours of working, the hard way? She must be very poor and having a very difficult life. She is so old already and still has to work. Does she have family? Well, I respect her as she is making a living the proper and ethical way, with dignity. Unlike those who make a living the unlawful ways and those USELESS MUD who just sit there and do nothing except waiting for the TAKBOLEHHAND to cling them on the wall, she is a much much much better and more respectable person.
I just couldn't take my eyes off her with sympathy and some questions and thoughts in mind, till she disappeared from my view.
To conclude September 11, 2007, I bought 2 mangoes of symphathy.
While waiting for our food to be served, we saw a hunchback old lady, dressed in a broke way, walking in to the shop with a few bags of mangoes. She approached the customers from table to table, showing a cardboard and trying to sell the mangoes. When she reached our table, she showed the cardboard which was written in Chinese "Golden Dragon Mango (金龙芒), 1kg RM6", trying to pursuade us to buy the mangoes. She couldn't talk, only managed to sound 'iii... iii... aaa... aaa...' She's dumb. From a closer look, She looked like in her 60s or probably younger or older, I couldn't tell for sure. What I could tell for sure was she has a difficult and tough life from her hunchback, inability to speak, the clothes she wore, her wrinkes and the fact that she still needed to make a living in such a manner at her old age. Though we felt pity for her, as we didn't really have the urge to buy the mangoes, we politely turned her down.
She proceeded from table to table again. My eyesight followed her movement. Some customers didn't even look at her or respond to her, pretending that she didn't exist, showing no basic respect to her. The more I followed the more I felt sympathetic and sad for her. I was suggesting that we gave her some money without taking the mangoes. CH reckoned that she might not take it.
Finally, CH waved at her, signalling her to come over to our table. We bought 1 kg of mangoes from her, 4 in a plastic bag, just nice for each of us to take home 2. The mangoes weren't ripe yet. CH was thinking to use them to make mango kerapu whereas I just planned to keep them till they are ripe and whack them, with no expectation on the taste.
After getting cold responses from majority of the customers, she walked out from the shop to get her trolley which was loaded with some fruit paper boxes. She only managed to sell 1 bag of mangoes to us. I wasn't sure if the few bags of mangoes that she carried in to the shop were the last few left of the day or there were still other fruits left in the boxes.
Could her hunchback be caused by wrong posture and long hours of working, the hard way? She must be very poor and having a very difficult life. She is so old already and still has to work. Does she have family? Well, I respect her as she is making a living the proper and ethical way, with dignity. Unlike those who make a living the unlawful ways and those USELESS MUD who just sit there and do nothing except waiting for the TAKBOLEHHAND to cling them on the wall, she is a much much much better and more respectable person.
I just couldn't take my eyes off her with sympathy and some questions and thoughts in mind, till she disappeared from my view.
To conclude September 11, 2007, I bought 2 mangoes of symphathy.
Monday, August 27, 2007
20 Minutes Of Splendor, 2+ Hours Of Traffic Jam
Picture Source: Courtesy of E. Click here for more pics.
Out of an impromptu plan, I joint E to Putrajaya on last Saturday (25 August) for the Malaysia International Fireworks Competition 2007 which is held from 18 August 2007 till 2 September 2007 at Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC). It was Team Italy performing. Checked the event official website (http://www.mifc.com.my/) before deciding to go, for it was a 20 minutes session. If it was a 10 minutes session, I would have passed it for it's not worthed the hassles and jam for just 10 minutes of fireworks display.
Though the event started at 10pm, having heard about the jam, we departed as early as 7 something in the evening from PJ and headed for Putrajaya via LDP. It was a bit jam, but the traffic was still moving and tolerable.
Reached PICC around 8:30pm. There was still 1 & 1/2 hour of time to kill before the event started. We wandered around to identify a good spot for photo shooting. E settled at a spot with his tripod at the side of the lake overlooked by the Seri Gemilang bridge. There were quite a number of photography enthutiasts stationed along the lake side, waiting for the moments of the magnificant fireworks performance. It was quite a large crowd near the lake. Some families even picniced there. As usual, you know who would normally picnic everywhere. As people could nicely watch the fireworks from outside PICC, along the lake side at a close distance, I wonder why would one need to purchase an expensive ticket to go inside PICC and watch from there. Could it be a big difference? I wonder.
Weather was good and not hot. Didn't feel the presence of mosquitoes either. There was a gentle breeze too, comforting the patient waiting of the crowd. We sat by the lake side, talking rubbish and observing the crowd, counting down till my bottom was numb. And yet, it was just not time yet for the performance to begin. Stood up a few times to relax the muscle of my buttocks to reduce the numbness. Yes, I have skinny buttocks (lacking of flesh) which will cause me numbness or slight pain if sitted for too long. Haha... Please don't laugh, it's not what I wish. There was so much time to kill, we should have brought some junk food to chew but we didn't. I dared not drink water too as it would be a challenging task to find a toilet there. I think my bladder behaved extremely well that night, not giving me any trouble of having the urge to pee the whole night while I was there.
Finally, the first few launches of the warm up fireworks ended the long haul waiting of the crowd. When the real performance started, the crowd was exhilarated. There was loud applause from the crowd whenever a magnificent one was displayed. I like watching fireworks. I was busy enjoying the fireworks while E, a photography enthusiast, was busy taking pictures with his Digital SLR camera. The magnificant view of fireworks across the lake was really enchanting. I was carried away to a world of my own, enjoying the splendid moments. An aeroplane flew across the sky illuminated by the fireworks, forming a special view. It reminded me of friends who are apart, currently travelling or living abroad and I miss them. Watching the borderless sky, decorated with the splendid fireworks, I suddenly felt so tiny and the thought of packing my stuff and leave to see the world flashed in my mind again. Yes, seeing the world is something I have always wanted to do. I was staring fixedly at the fireworks, not wanting to miss a single beautiful moment of the performance.
After 20 minutes, the fireworks performance had come to an end. Felt a bit lost, as good moments don't last long, as always.
Hurried E to get out of the place asap. Well, no matter how swift our actions were, we couldn't avoid the destiny of being stuck, at first 1/2 hour at the carpark and then horrible jam on the way back. It tooks us 2 hours & 15 minutes to get back to PJ, if I didn't miscount the time. What a journey.
As an aftermath, I suffered numbness and slight pain on my buttocks for 20 minutes of spendor and 2+ hours of traffic jam, though I wasn't the one driving. Haha... :)
Anyway, nothing is perfect. we can't have it all. Sometimes, things come in a total package. It's a matter of taking it or leaving it. It depends on how we view things, and the angles we view them. We can't change certain things but we can change the way we feel about them.
I choose to remember the splendor of the fireworks and forget about the jam as well as the buttock numbness and slight pain. :)
Please find more splendid shots of the event here, courtesy of E. Thanks E for the trip and the pics.
Wok Seasoning
Bought a new wok from Jusco when I moved to new place in BU as I will be able to cook again after moving out from the house of notes. Went to Tioman island few days right after moving in.
When I was back from Tioman, house mate complained to me about something was wrong with the wok as she had started using it to cook. Couldn't really comprehend what the problem was as I didn't really have the chance to have a grand opening using it with my own touch as I was away.
Finally, I started using the wok to cook my dinner. To my frustration, it kept blackening around the areas above the concave meniscus which were not in touch with cooking oil whenever I set the wok over high heat. The same blackening incident occured too if I didn't put oil after heating the wok for a very short while over high heat, which never happened before in my previous experience. Thus I could only use low heat to cook to prevent blackening, which was very time consuming and frustrating. After cooking, I got to thoroughly scour the blackened areas to remove the films of black coating that formed on the wok surface. It was really testing my patience.
When I was back from Tioman, house mate complained to me about something was wrong with the wok as she had started using it to cook. Couldn't really comprehend what the problem was as I didn't really have the chance to have a grand opening using it with my own touch as I was away.
Finally, I started using the wok to cook my dinner. To my frustration, it kept blackening around the areas above the concave meniscus which were not in touch with cooking oil whenever I set the wok over high heat. The same blackening incident occured too if I didn't put oil after heating the wok for a very short while over high heat, which never happened before in my previous experience. Thus I could only use low heat to cook to prevent blackening, which was very time consuming and frustrating. After cooking, I got to thoroughly scour the blackened areas to remove the films of black coating that formed on the wok surface. It was really testing my patience.
Puzzled, I asked around and even did research on the internet. To my bewilderment, I found out that certain types new woks need a treatment process called 'wok seasoning' (开镬) before they are ready to be used. From my previous years of cooking experience, I have never really used a new wok to cook. All woks used were used woks that were ready to be use. Thus, I never know of such thing as wok treatment or wok seasoning. It's really an interesting and eye-opening new dicovery for me. This is the first time I am buying a wok by myself, how am I supposed to know? Forgive my ignorance on this. Hehe :)
Here are some simple hints & tips about wok seasoning that I found from the Internet:
Only iron and steel woks need to be seasoned. Stainless steel woks do not need this treatment, as they are far less porous than iron or steel woks. However with stainless steel woks, more oil is required to prevent the food from sticking and burning.
It is very important to season your wok. Seasoning removes the manufacturer's protective coating and coats it with a thin layer of oil, enabling foods to glide smoothly over the cooking surface of the wok. A well-seasoned wok is worth its weight in gold. Not only will food not stick to its blackened surface, flavors are greatly enhanced. Below is a general step-by-step instruction for seasoning a carbon steel wok. However, I'd advise you to adhere to manufacturer's instruction if there is one.
Method 1:
1) Thoroughly scrub it inside and out with soap and a steel wool scouring pad to remove the manufacturer's preservative oil, and rust, if any. Rinse thoroughly with hot water.
2) Fill it with water and boil it for several minutes. This is to dissolve stubborn coating that can't be removed by scouring. Empty the wok and scrub the surface with steel wool and soap again.
3) Set the wok over high heat.
4) When a sprinkle of water sizzles in the wok, wipe some peanut or corn oil on the entire cooking surface of the wok by using paper towels with the help of a long wooden chopsticks or tongs.
5) Reduce heat to low. The wok will start to absorb the oil. Wipe with another thin film of oil if the surface begins to dry off. After 15 minutes, remove wok from the stove and let it cool.
6) Repeat step 1 to 5 and the wok is seasoned!
2) Fill it with water and boil it for several minutes. This is to dissolve stubborn coating that can't be removed by scouring. Empty the wok and scrub the surface with steel wool and soap again.
3) Set the wok over high heat.
4) When a sprinkle of water sizzles in the wok, wipe some peanut or corn oil on the entire cooking surface of the wok by using paper towels with the help of a long wooden chopsticks or tongs.
5) Reduce heat to low. The wok will start to absorb the oil. Wipe with another thin film of oil if the surface begins to dry off. After 15 minutes, remove wok from the stove and let it cool.
6) Repeat step 1 to 5 and the wok is seasoned!
It is important to properly clean your wok after each use. Run hot water into it and clean the surface using a bamboo brush or plastic scour. Dry it thoroughly. Avoid soap and scouring as these will remove the hard-earned seasoning.
If food sticks or burns, soak the wok well before attempting to clean them with the method mentioned above. Use abrasive material such as steel wool only as the last resort because you will need to re-season the wok if it was scoured this way.
Boiling water in a well-seasoned wok can easily ruin its hard-earned shiny, black patina. Try to avoid this as much as possible.
Method 2:
Another more thorough method of seasoning a wok is to brush polyunsaturted cooking oil on the cooking surface of the wok and then place the wok into an oven at 150'C for 4 hours. The oil in the wok will become pooled while heating in the oven, so about everyhour or so, take your brush and brush the oil up around the sides of the wok and continue heating. Obviously, woks that have plastic or wooden handles should not be put in the oven.
Not entirely sure what type of material that my wok is made of. But from the physical appearance, it looks like a carbon-steel wok. As no prior seasoning was done before the wok was used and suspecting the blackening was due to the heating of the manufacturer's protective coating which had not been removed, I decided to try my luck to do the wok seasoning, hoping that it could be rescued.
Find the second method very complicated. Put in the oven??? How??? What kind of big oven that can accomodate a wok inside??? To make thing simple, I chose method one and tried to salvage my wok. I followed the steps and did it patiently especially the scouring part.
I spent the whole night doing wok seasoning treatment. when I eventually completed the procedures, I was so excited to test if the wok was working fine after the treatment. Guess what? To my dismay, the wok rescue operation failed! The blackening still occured. Aikss! Wasted my time and efforts! It was already 12am! Rounds and rounds of scouring using the dish wash liquid with my bare hands were vain, leaving only dryness, wrinkle and skin peel on my hands. Sigh... I DECIDED to give up and get another new wok.
On the next day, CH brought me to a specialty shop which sells all sorts of cooking untensils and kitchen stuff at PJ Old Town. I ended up buying a new alloy wok which needs no seasoning treatment, hassle free. The new wok cost me RM70. Oppss, forgot to ask that uncle who sold me the wok on the metal combination of the alloy wok. Don't bother much, as long as I don't need to take the trouble to season it, I am perfectly fine with it.
On the next day, CH brought me to a specialty shop which sells all sorts of cooking untensils and kitchen stuff at PJ Old Town. I ended up buying a new alloy wok which needs no seasoning treatment, hassle free. The new wok cost me RM70. Oppss, forgot to ask that uncle who sold me the wok on the metal combination of the alloy wok. Don't bother much, as long as I don't need to take the trouble to season it, I am perfectly fine with it.
So far, my alloy wok is working fine. Guess what happens to the first wok? It has lost its 'first wok' status and has been put aside or is only used for steaming purpose if the new 'first wok' is to be used concurrently.
What a lesson to learn about wok!
Friday, August 17, 2007
House of Notes
Yes, I have been MIA from here for a month since the last post.
What have I been up to?
I was busy packing, packing, packing, and packing for moving, almost every single weekend. Right after moving in to new place in Bandar Utama, I evacuated myself from the city to Tioman for a 4-day escapade to breathe some fresh air.
Talking about packing and moving, it's never a fun thing to do. I've been in KL for about 10 years, thus you can imagine how much stuff I have accumulated over the years. I had actually thrown tonnes of stuff from the last round of moving. Some were still nicely boxed, not even unpacked before the recent round of moving. So it was really a time consuming task for me to go through all my stuff to identify those no longer needed to throw away or to give away. Most of my weekends were filled with massive housekeeping and throwing. It was seriously drop dead tiring till my body was aching all over.
Prior to moving, I was staying in an interesting house of notes with an unique lady notes. This house house of notes is a double-storey linked house at Taman SEA, PJ. I was renting a room there. In this house of notes, stays a lady notes (the landlady, a 40+ years old single lady) whose hobby is to stick notes all over the house of notes. This is how literally the house of notes and the lady notes got their names from me. Haha...
So, what are these notes all about? Basically, lady notes has a lot of house rules and reminders for her tenants to follow and she loves to stick the house rules all over the house in small notes. Wanna know what are written in these interesting notes? Well, where do I begin with since the notes are all over the house of notes? OK, let me share with you some of them that I can recall, though not entirely the same word by word. I actually wanted to take picture of or jot down all the notes, but too bad I didn't manage to as it was quite rush and I didn't have the time to do so.
OK, let's begin. The moment you step into this house of notes, your journey of notes begins immediately.
At the back of the front door -Pliz do not wear shoes in the house, as I need to spend time mopping the floor (meant for Ms. Messy, the air-stewardess tenant who liked to wear shoes in the living room whenever she wanted to leave for the airport. Lady Notes didn't like that. Miss Messy moved out after rounds & rounds of rule breaking and mess-up)
On the row of switches on the wall, next to the front door, some main switches for light and fan are labelled, which is of good intention.
On the main electrical swith box near the front door - If it trips, push this switch up
If you walk further down, there will be the bathroom and the kitchen. This is an area where you'll find most of the notes.
On the row of switches outside the bathroom - Please off all lights before you retire
Inside the bathroom:
On the heater - Dealer's advice, when not in use, power must be off. (Something like that, I can't remember the exact sentense, as there are too many notes all over the house. haha...)
Around the heater (her own advise) - Leave it, no need to off when not in use (refering to the cap that controls the temperature). Don't turn the knob (controlling the water volume) too tight, use a light touch.
Above the toilet bowl - Please keep toilet bowl clean. Splash more water before and after use. Got residue/'sai' in the toilet bowl. (hiyoh, as if we don't understand residue in English, providing translation somemore. This one is also meant for Ms. Messy as he stayed in the room downstairs)
Somewhere on the bathroom wall - Please pick up own hair
At the heater swith far outside the bathroom - Remember to off switch after use (after new tenant moved in, this note was refurbished with bigger font, significantly magnified as compared to the old note)
At the kitchen:
On the fridge door:
- Please limit your items to 2. I may need to use other space
-The house is meant for female tenants, please entertain boyfriend outside
- Please do not bring friends to stay overnight
- Please throw own rubbish and sanitary pads. Rubbish collection is on every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
- and some other rules that I can't remember
On the side of the fridge - There's a fanstatic poem (with rhymes, don't play play), 1 full page of an A4 size paper, about the house rules which I can't remember the contents.
On the table where I placed my rice cooker and slow cooker - Please limit to 2 pots to keep clean and tidy (you mean 2 & only 2? control freak??!!!)
Near the sink:
- Please keep the sink clean
- Please don't leave food package overnight, must throw must throw (ya, must throw x 2, no typing error) every night, or else it will draw cochroaches and lizards.- Please don't place cooking pot under this area, it will heat up the formica
- Please use the chopping board for cutting, or else knife will get chipped
There are 2 other major rules, surprizingly unwritten in notes:
- Cannot use the gas stove (not even to cook instant noodle)
- Cannot use the washing machine
Now, let's get upstairs.
On the switch at the begining of the staircase - Please leave lights on during Raya week (stuck before last Raya week)
There are 3 rooms upstairs, 1 master room which is occupied by lady notes, and 2 medium rooms for renting. I was occupying 1 room and the other room (used to be occupied by a gal who then moved back to her hometown) was vacant before I moved out.
On the wall near the door of lady note's room:
- please close the door gently (obviously for tenants to see, it doesn't make sense if this note is meant for herself)
- Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm, I need to use the phone line (Sometimes, when I was on MC or on leave, I used the phone line to dial up to go online, to work from home for urgent matter. So this is definitely meant for me as the other tenant upstair wouldn't go online)
Let's get into my room.
It's a furnished room with wardrobe and cabinets. At a corner near the wardrobe, there's a 3-tier round table rack.
On the 2nd and 3rd tier of the rack: Please do not put heavy things on the round table (the notes were there before I moved in)
Now, let's proceed to the atached shared bathroom.
In the shared bathroom:
At the back of each door - Please unlock the door after use
On the wall at both sides of the mirror:
- Shared bathroom (who doesn't know it is?)
- Throw own sanitary pad
- Please clean the basin and toilet bowl. Splash more water into the toilet bowl before and after use.
- 1st week - xxx (refers to tenant 1 on duty)
- 2nd week - yyy (refers to tenant 2 on duty)
- 3rd week - xxx
- 4th week - yyy
Somewhere on the wall - Pick up own hair
Let me do a quick count on the no of notes. Gosh, there are more than 30 of them! A lot, right? I might have missed out some though.
So basically this house of notes owned by the lady notes expects you to go to work, eat outside, just come back to take your shower and sleep, and visitors are not encouraged. So it's place where there will be only you & your room.
Anyway, lady notes is actually not a bad or difficult person, she is very friendly instead. She used to come to my rescue when I was in need of help once and I used to go to pasar malam with her once in a while. She also never bugged me when I forgot to pay my rental on time. I personally don't have any problem with her. Just find her 'hobby' of sticking notes all over the house a bit overdosed. The main reasons for me to move out is because cooking is not allowed and not much freedom but a lot of boredom staying there.
My new place is a brand new apartment unit. Now, I have a nice and spacious room with new curtain and comforter set, a spacious living room, house mates that I can interact with, wireless broadband internet access (an upgrade from the dial-up stone age to the wireless age, hehe), and a kitchen that I can cook! Feel reborn. Yeah, I can cook again!
Hate the hassle of packing and moving, but please don't ask me why I don't buy a place of my own instead of renting. Who doesn't wish to have his/her own place to stay?
Friday, July 13, 2007
5 Things
I have been ‘tagged’ by KY. My mind was rather foggy initially, wondering what this tag thingy is all about. After some observations, I’ve finally figured it out. Asked KY a silly question to seek confirmation on it. :) KY, forgive me for my ignorance on this, as I am still a new kid on the blog. Hehe…
5 things found in your bag
I have definitely more than 5 things in my bag. While guys can always do without a bag, they may wonder why women always carry handbag wherever they go . First of all, men’s apparels come with POCKETS that allow them to conveniently keep their stuff such as wallets, mobile phones, and keys. Can you imagine how would it look like if women’s clothing is to come with lots of pockets and each pocket is filled with the woman stuff ? Christmas tree or Mr. Beggar Soo (苏乞丐), perhaps?
Here are 5 main items found in my bag apart from some other stuff:
1. Definitely my purse - The moment you go out, it means spending money.
2. Mobile phone – I can’t live without my mobile phone. Feel insecure if I go out without bringing it along.
3. Keys - my car keys and house keys, in a single big bunch.
4. Lip care – a Nivea essential care lip balm, and a Red Earth lip stick. I use the lip balm more often.
5. Wooden Comb – to avoid the sparkling sound (of the discharge of electrostatic) that I'll get from combing my hair with a plastic comb. Ya, I am physically easily charged with electrostatic, which is something annoying, and not that I wish to have. Once upon a time, I was easily shocked by electrostatic when I touched the door knob, car door, cubicle edge (plastic material) in the office or even at the counter of the petrol station, and most fantastically, by human or potato touch! One extreme experience was I even got shocked when I touched a potato at the supermarket! I hate it, because it's painful and I am always the one feeling the pain if the shock is by human touch. The shock occurance has reduced over time. Anyway, of late, I became the victim again of such shock, by human touch. As usual, I was the one who felt the pain, while the other person felt nothing at all.
5 favorite things in your room
I have lots of stuff in my room, accumulated over 10 years of staying in KL. Some are even in boxes, nicely put under my bed, yet to be unpacked from the last round of shifting. Talking about things in my room, I will need to do a round of mass housekeeping, downsizing, and throwing or giving away for things that I don't need anymore. Ya, I'll be moving soon. Moving is never a fun thing to do. Well, there are reasons why people don't stay where they are.
1. Long mirror - which I stand in front of it daily, applying my skin care or the extremely light make-up (I am not a make-up fan, only apply it when I have appointment at work, skin deserves to breathe some fresh air), ensuring that I look OK each time before going out, and the combing my hair before hitting the sack.
2. Sony CD player - which plays me nice songs.
3. CDs - ya, majority are from the pasar malam with only 2 are original. :)
4. DELLnosaur - my 15.4 inches, 2.81kg gigantic dell notebook which allows me to do my work and go online.
5. Fresh Cell Mask - This is my favourite facial mask. It's a gel base mask containing salmon roe DNA that has a refreshing and regenerating effect with intensive hydrating effect. It's a mask that I can even use as moisturizer.
5 things you have always wanted to do
1. Pack my backpack and fly far far away to see the world.
2. Learn piano - an unfulfilled childhood dream.
3. Photography - to capture the world from different angles. Pathetically, I don't even have a camera. Hahaha...
4. Buy 2 houses - 1 in Ipoh & 1 in KL/PJ. Need money money money!
5. Sleep earlier - Panda eyes are getting darker, and it's not good. Trying to sleep by 1am or 12:30am or even better by 12am especially during weekdays. But once I start sleeping late, I tend to stay late subsequently and form the habit unconsiously.
Again, I have more than 5 for this. I also want to start a blog in Chinese soon. Have not been seriously writing in Chinese for so long... I guess my last piece of proper chinese writing was probably an essay assignment/test durng form 5.
There is another thing that I am seriously considering doing and might be doing it very soon. You'll see. Will need some post-implementation moral support as I will go through an 'ugly' period for at least 2 years. Anyway, life goes on. As I age, I find that I am more inclined to taking more bold steps and decisions without much hesitation. If I have 80 years of age to live, I have already gone through 38.75% of it. Time is getting more precious, and I learn to realize more things about my life and to appreciate more. Not looking back, I wanna leave the rest of my life to the fullest with no regret.
And many many more...
5 things you’re currently into
1. Getting over a recruitment project. Suffering a little bit of withdrawer symptom after involving in it for about 2 months, a bit too long. Praying hard that all our hardwork and efforts will be fruitful.
2. Blogging - it's a whole new world out there in the blogging world with lots of fun, learnings and discoveries. Might not be as productive as those active bloggers, will try to write more whenever I have the time.
3. Collecting and discovering nice music. Have been buying CDs (from pasar malam of course) with nice songs or to discover if other songs in the CD are nice. Have been trying to find out the title and the singer of some nice songs that I come across. Thanks to E who helped me to download the mp3s of 'Dante's Prayer by Loreena McKennitt and 'The Rose' by Bette Midler. Am listening to these 2 nice songs when my mind needs some calming and soothing.
4. Ugly Betty - really love the show. It's shown on 8TV at 9:30pm every Tuesday. Check it out.
5. Getting ready to move. Got to throw a lot of stuff, start packing and looking for helper.
5 people you want to tag
I don't have many active blogger friends that I can think of tagging. Think I'll have to pass this.
Phew! I have finally completed this piece of tag.
5 things found in your bag
I have definitely more than 5 things in my bag. While guys can always do without a bag, they may wonder why women always carry handbag wherever they go . First of all, men’s apparels come with POCKETS that allow them to conveniently keep their stuff such as wallets, mobile phones, and keys. Can you imagine how would it look like if women’s clothing is to come with lots of pockets and each pocket is filled with the woman stuff ? Christmas tree or Mr. Beggar Soo (苏乞丐), perhaps?
Here are 5 main items found in my bag apart from some other stuff:
1. Definitely my purse - The moment you go out, it means spending money.
2. Mobile phone – I can’t live without my mobile phone. Feel insecure if I go out without bringing it along.
3. Keys - my car keys and house keys, in a single big bunch.
4. Lip care – a Nivea essential care lip balm, and a Red Earth lip stick. I use the lip balm more often.
5. Wooden Comb – to avoid the sparkling sound (of the discharge of electrostatic) that I'll get from combing my hair with a plastic comb. Ya, I am physically easily charged with electrostatic, which is something annoying, and not that I wish to have. Once upon a time, I was easily shocked by electrostatic when I touched the door knob, car door, cubicle edge (plastic material) in the office or even at the counter of the petrol station, and most fantastically, by human or potato touch! One extreme experience was I even got shocked when I touched a potato at the supermarket! I hate it, because it's painful and I am always the one feeling the pain if the shock is by human touch. The shock occurance has reduced over time. Anyway, of late, I became the victim again of such shock, by human touch. As usual, I was the one who felt the pain, while the other person felt nothing at all.
5 favorite things in your room
I have lots of stuff in my room, accumulated over 10 years of staying in KL. Some are even in boxes, nicely put under my bed, yet to be unpacked from the last round of shifting. Talking about things in my room, I will need to do a round of mass housekeeping, downsizing, and throwing or giving away for things that I don't need anymore. Ya, I'll be moving soon. Moving is never a fun thing to do. Well, there are reasons why people don't stay where they are.
1. Long mirror - which I stand in front of it daily, applying my skin care or the extremely light make-up (I am not a make-up fan, only apply it when I have appointment at work, skin deserves to breathe some fresh air), ensuring that I look OK each time before going out, and the combing my hair before hitting the sack.
2. Sony CD player - which plays me nice songs.
3. CDs - ya, majority are from the pasar malam with only 2 are original. :)
4. DELLnosaur - my 15.4 inches, 2.81kg gigantic dell notebook which allows me to do my work and go online.
5. Fresh Cell Mask - This is my favourite facial mask. It's a gel base mask containing salmon roe DNA that has a refreshing and regenerating effect with intensive hydrating effect. It's a mask that I can even use as moisturizer.
5 things you have always wanted to do
1. Pack my backpack and fly far far away to see the world.
2. Learn piano - an unfulfilled childhood dream.
3. Photography - to capture the world from different angles. Pathetically, I don't even have a camera. Hahaha...
4. Buy 2 houses - 1 in Ipoh & 1 in KL/PJ. Need money money money!
5. Sleep earlier - Panda eyes are getting darker, and it's not good. Trying to sleep by 1am or 12:30am or even better by 12am especially during weekdays. But once I start sleeping late, I tend to stay late subsequently and form the habit unconsiously.
Again, I have more than 5 for this. I also want to start a blog in Chinese soon. Have not been seriously writing in Chinese for so long... I guess my last piece of proper chinese writing was probably an essay assignment/test durng form 5.
There is another thing that I am seriously considering doing and might be doing it very soon. You'll see. Will need some post-implementation moral support as I will go through an 'ugly' period for at least 2 years. Anyway, life goes on. As I age, I find that I am more inclined to taking more bold steps and decisions without much hesitation. If I have 80 years of age to live, I have already gone through 38.75% of it. Time is getting more precious, and I learn to realize more things about my life and to appreciate more. Not looking back, I wanna leave the rest of my life to the fullest with no regret.
And many many more...
5 things you’re currently into
1. Getting over a recruitment project. Suffering a little bit of withdrawer symptom after involving in it for about 2 months, a bit too long. Praying hard that all our hardwork and efforts will be fruitful.
2. Blogging - it's a whole new world out there in the blogging world with lots of fun, learnings and discoveries. Might not be as productive as those active bloggers, will try to write more whenever I have the time.
3. Collecting and discovering nice music. Have been buying CDs (from pasar malam of course) with nice songs or to discover if other songs in the CD are nice. Have been trying to find out the title and the singer of some nice songs that I come across. Thanks to E who helped me to download the mp3s of 'Dante's Prayer by Loreena McKennitt and 'The Rose' by Bette Midler. Am listening to these 2 nice songs when my mind needs some calming and soothing.
4. Ugly Betty - really love the show. It's shown on 8TV at 9:30pm every Tuesday. Check it out.
5. Getting ready to move. Got to throw a lot of stuff, start packing and looking for helper.
5 people you want to tag
I don't have many active blogger friends that I can think of tagging. Think I'll have to pass this.
Phew! I have finally completed this piece of tag.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Land Below The Wind - Part 2
Yes, finally, here comes my KK trip part 2, after 1 & 1/2 months. Though it's not freshly brewed, I have tried hard to retain the memories before they fade out. :)
13 May (Sunday) - Mesilau, here we began
Couldn't really sleep well (as always) the night before. I was having the worry of oversleeping and whether I could dispose some accumulated old stocks in my digestion system first thing in the morning before getting ready to climb. Having constipation during traveling is really a pain in the ass! The feeling of 'stuck' and not being able to 'dispose' is really mind bothering...
Forced myself out of the bed as early as 5am in order to have sufficient time to have 'enough' food and hot drink to stimulate my intestine movement to achieve a very important goal - to defecate! I had biscuit, cake, & bread one after another and a cup of hot cereal. After a while I finally felt the urge to poo. Yes, the moment of truth had come! I rushed into the toilet for this important mission. Err...it was explosive like the eruption of the volcano, and it's a lot... but please don't ask me how it smelt, ok? Hahaha... What a relief!
Ying Goh picked us up at 6:30am. We were targeted to reach the starting point at the Mesilau Nature Resort and started climbing at 8:00am. On the way to our destination, we stopped by at a dairy farm. The scenery was captivatingly beautiful. With Mount KK as the background, coupled with the fresh air, the big green farm, the clear blue sky, and the herds of cows wandering leisurely on a Sunday morning, it formed a very invigorating scene, giving us some New Zealand feel. We were told by Ying Goh that 1 of the dairy product TV ads were actually shot here. Everyone was happily posing for their best shots. Before reaching the starting point, we stopped at the National Park headquarter near the Timpohon gate to place our big backpacks, bringing only 1 small backpack with us for the climb. We reached the departing point at the Mesilau on time, and most of us bought a walking stick worth RM3 each, which YY called it as the best investment of the year! Haha...
We started climbing at 8am. YY who had decided not to go for the climb had to find her own programme while waiting for us to complete the climbing task.
There are actually 2 routes that one can take to climb the Mount KK, 1 being the Timpohon Gate, and the other is Mesilau. Both Timpohon track and Melilau track will join at Layang-Layang Staff Quater after 4KM and 6KM respectively. From Layang-Layang, there is another 2 KM of journey to reach the Laban Rata Guest House, where people stay 1 night for the first day of climb.
The 6KM Mesilau trail before Layang-Layang comprises a mix of ascending and descending tracks, which makes it more interesting. The walking stick had been in great support for me as it reduced the intensive use of the knee. As we ascended, it was getting colder and colder till my fingers were slightly numbed and painful, and I couldn't really feel them properly. 100 plus had been our useful drink for energy restoration. It was so revitalizing for every single sip of it, feeling the immediate replenishment of energy. We paced constantly and made a few pit stops when necessary for short breaks to have some bites of food and drink for energy. For each stop, we couldn't afford to stop for long as it would be very cold. At certain points, wind was blowing quite strongly. Thus we just kept going and going, enjoying the nice scenery along the trail.
The trail is really luxurious comparatively. There is a rest point for every 1 km, with water point and clean toilet with flushing system. The toilets are cleaner than most of the public toilets in KL. The water refilling speed after flushing is super fast!
When it was just a few hundred meters away from Laban Rata, it started to rain. Isshh...We quickly put on our raincoats. Too bad, most of our shoes got wet. After about 6 hours, Thong, GW, Pocket, BK & sister, Xena & I completed the 8KM climb to reach Laban Rata around 2pm.
It was cold at Laban Rata. We quickly went to take bath before the heater went off in the evening. An hour plus later, pig head and LC arrived, with LC looking a little pale. We had our expensive lunch at the cafe, at least RM15 for a plate of noodle or rice. Well, come to think of it, looking at how the porters transport the gas, food, and other supplies up the mountain with their physical strength, the prices are well justified with a valid reason. After lunch, we quickly went to bed to get some good rest in our dormitory with 4 double-deckers, squeezing the 9 of us.
Again, we had our expensive dinner at the 1 & only cafe. GW ordered 1 Tomyam soup & 1 plate of fried rice. After tasting the Tomyam soup, I decided to order Tomyam Meehoon. Who knew it didn't taste like Tomyam at all, more like Bandung. Aiks! No Umh at all! RM15 leh! Pig head ordered another bowl of Tomyam. Guess what? His tasted in between mine and GW's. Wah, how come there was no QC at all?!! It's really a tale of 3 Tomyam.
Guess what, while we were chit chatting after finishing our dinners, the group of Malaysian guys working in Singapore arrived. They went for the same rafting trip, trying to act superior, simultaneously instilled in some hostility in most of us against them. Anyway, according to BK, there's 1 of them who was friendly and having better attitude. I forgot what time it was, I guess around 8pm. My goodness, that means, the ‘elite’ group took around 11-12 hours assuming they started around 9am??? BK deliberately went and said hi to them and showed off a bit, the same time trying to gather some 8 news about them. We were really amazed by BK's bravery and curiosity. We couldn't stop laughing. Haha...
We found out that there' was shoe and clothe drying services available. Thank goodness, without hesitating much, we decided to go for it at a price of RM10 per pair after negotiation. Or else, we would be in our uncomfortable wet shoe the next day. Some opted to dry their clothes too at RM4 per piece.
After that, we went to bed super early as we needed to start climbing again at 2:30am to conquer the peak the next morning. For me, it meant insufficient sleep again.
14 May (Monday) - Conquered the summit & a night to remember
With a sleepy head, I woke up around 1:45am. After getting ready, we went down to the 1 & only cafe for our expensive breakfast. Most of us chose the buffet breakfast. I usually can't eat much in the morning, especially at this kind of odd hour. Well, I tried to eat more as I would need lots of energy for the journey to conquer the summit. Anyway, I didn't dare to eat too much as my 'daily affair' was not settled yet at this kind of unusual hour.
We gathered at 2:30am for a short briefing. The temperature was 9.4'C, and it was dark and freaking cold. Everyone was nicely wrapped from top to toe, and looked like a member of the special task force (飞虎队). We started climbing around 2:45am with our torch lights and small backpacks.
It was all uphill tasks, which covered a 2.5KM journey from Laban Rata to the summit of Low's Peak. I was half awake & half sleepy. As I ascended, the more I felt the gravity. Energy was consumed faster than the food could be transformed to glucose. I started to gasp a little as the air was getting thinner as the altitude increased. While stopping and waiting for people in front to proceed, I looked up at the sky which was filled millions of shinning stars. It was stunningly beautiful. I wished I could pause a little longer to admire the beautiful starry sky, but I couldn't. We just got to keep going as it was cold. Mucus just couldn't stop exuding from my nose as if I was having running nose.
At certain points, the chilling wind was howling frantically like nobody's business, as if it was giving us a warm welcome. Again, my fingers were freezing and painful. We made some short stops to have some chocolate bar & 100 plus and moved our butts to keep going right after we were done.
The air got thinner and thinner as we approached the summit. Slowly and steadily we marched forward, fighting the chilling wind and the coldness simultaneously. I was gasping with mucus exuding non-stop from my nose. I kept asking the guide " jauh lagi kah? ... sampai ah?" a few times, couldn't wait to reach the peak to have a rest.
Finally, Thong, GW, Pocket, Xena and conquered the summit, Low's Peak at 5:30am! It’s 4095m above sea level. The sun was just setting. The sunset was breathtaking, not only because it was beautiful but it really took us a lot of breath to reach the summit, and view the same sun that sets at the east every single morning. Haha... :) There were already quite a crowd of people there at the peak, occupying the nice spots to enjoy the magnificent view of the summit.
Xena & I were sitting fixedly and emotionlessly, enduring the cold while the rest were busy snapping shots. According to the guide, it was about 3'C at the peak. BK & BH reached a little later, as BH was suffering from altitude sickness and BK needed to take good care of her. Pig head & LC appeared and joint us at the peak at last. The rest were so busy taking photos that Xena & I had decided to descend a little bit from the peak and hided under a big rock pathetically while waiting for them to finish their photo taking sessions.
Guess what, when the rest finally settled with the photo taking, the guys challenged each other to take off their clothes at the peak and they did! It was freaking cold up there! They had really gone crazy! Anyway, they were not totally naked though, with pants still on. :)
After all the craziness, we proceeded to descend. While descending, I had already felt my knee aching.
We got back to Laban Rata, had some food and drink, rested a while and started to descend again. This time around, we took the Timpohon track, which was a 6km journey from Laban Rata. For me, Timpohon was a relatively boring trail. It was completely downhill, and was filled with so many staircases! The staircases were killing my knees!
After about slightly more than 4 hours, the 5 of us reached the Timpohon gate, while BK & BH, Pig Head & LC joint us later. We then headed for the National Park Head Quarter to claim our big backpacks that we deposited there earlier on and proceeded to Nepenthes Villa where we would be staying for the night. YY was already there waiting for us.
We occupied 2 units, 5 of us each. The design of the unit resembles a townhouse, 2 rooms on the top, and there's a big and cosy living room, a balcony, a kitchen and a fire place downstairs. Oh no, staircase! I was already walking like penguin, having enough of staircase from the climb! It was a nice and cosy place but the water was not so efficient. If it is used, the other person has to wait for 15 minutes before it functions again. It was cold, and we didn’t want to die freezing bathing with the cold water.
After cleaning ourselves, we went out to a town 20km away for our dinner. Everyone was tired except YY as she had ample of relaxation while we were climbing. Haha... After dinner, we headed back to the Nepenthes Villa to prepare for a big event.
Yes, it was Pig Head proposing to LC! AT the living room of guys’ unit, we had got a proposal banner which wrote “Li Charng, you are the princess of my life. Will you marry me?" hanged on the fire place and a don’t-how-many-carat diamond ring surrounded by burning candles which formed a heart shape, awaiting LC. Never know that Pig Head could be this romantic. When everything was ready, we called Pig Head to bring LC over.
As a result of lacking of rehearsal and coordination, some unstipulated circumstances occurred!
We turned off the light. Pocket being the 'flash man' who would flash the torch light at the banner when signal was given, got into position at 1 corner while GW, the camera man, hided at another corner. The rest of us hid at the corner by the staircase and some in the kitchen.
Suddenly, someone shouted "Fire! Fire! ” It was the tray holding the candles that was on fire and the fire almost reached the ring box in the middle! Spontaneously, I blew hard at the candles to put out this small fire. Everyone was laughing at this unexpected fire at the crucial moment. No more romantic heart shape candle light. How ah? The show had to go on. BK was trying to lock the door to buy some time due to this unstipulated incident. The moment BK reached the knob, Pig Head and LC had already arrived.
BK: I am going to sleep liao.
LC: Why are you sleeping so early?
BK: I am suddenly not feeling well. U guys go ahead to help yourself.
LC: Why sleep so early? Don't bluff lah.
Pig Head: Come, I have something for you. (Leading LC to the staircase to go down to the living room)
LC: Why so dark one? Why off the light? Why are there some heads? Why are there people hiding there? Aren't them human? Want to scare me is it? Crazy... (Puzzling hard with many why)
Pig Head: Look at that. (Leading her to go down the staircase, pointing at the banner)
LC: See what? I can't see.
Pig Head: There, look at there.
LC: I can't see. I didn't wear my spectacles!
Duongiao! We were already 'silently' broken into laughter but holding it hard, Ahahaha... Pig head slowly lead LC to the sofa, which was a better position to view the banner. Pig Head signalled pocket to flash the banner and pocket did.
Pig Head: You see.
LC: I can't see! I didn’t wear my spectacles.
Pig Head: Will your marry me? (Kneeing down, with the diamond ring on his hand)
There was a moment of total silent. LC was so surprised, covering her face out of shyness.
We all popped up, laughing non-stop. How ah? LC didn’t say yes or no. We decided to evacuate ourselves out of the unit, leaving the 2 of them with the final negotiation.
We were wandering outside and it was so damn cold in the night. Someone wanted to pee and LC locked the gals' unit and took the key with her! Alamak! Why was the negotiation so long? We were wondering how would the answer be and guessing all kinds of possibilities, with lots of 'what if'. Finally we decided to go into the guys' unit again, of course silently to station ourselves in the room upstairs rather than dying frozen outside. Someone tried to open the door gently, with the lightest touch. Thank God Pig Head shouted, "Successful liao!" Yeah, what a relief! We celebrated the occasion with some junk food and drink.
What a night to remember! I believe that both Pig Head and LC would have the sweetest dream that night. I slept the best that night, out of exhaustion...
15 May (Tuesday) – Time to go home
Having sufficient of sleep, I woke up refreshed. Went out to the balcony enjoy the fresh air and warm sun light of the beautiful morning.
It was a leisure morning. We had ample time to have out breakfast, relaxing, chit chatting at the living room before packing our stuff.
We checked out by noon and had our lunch at a restaurant nearby. The food there was not bad. We then stopped by at the souvenir shop again, where YY missed the chance to shop due to her unfit condition. YY regained the shopping queen title whereas Xena’s performance wasn’t bad either.
We then headed to KK town. Before KK town, we went to have coconut pudding and whack the lokan bakar again. There were fresh crabs there too! Too bad, if it wasn’t because of time constraint due to we had a flight to catch, we would have nicely taken our sweet time to try the ketam bakar. With the craving for the crab staying on our minds, we suggested to have Seremban ketam bakar for BK’s & Xena’s up-coming birthdays. FYI, we ended up having butter cheese crab and salted egg crab at Dataran Prima, PJ.
After satisfying our stomach, we headed straight to KK Airport. While nearing airport, YY wanted to pee so badly. There was a slight jam and Ying Goh was racing with time to send us to the airport, thus he couldn’t afford to stop or we might risk being late. He asked YY to hang on for a short while, and some guys took the opportunity to tease and make YY laughed at this critical moment. Well, YY, holding hard, still managed to stay cool and respond steadily. Hahaha…
The very moment that we reached airport, YY shot to the toilet, RUNNING! Guys in the car commented “Wah, knowing YY this long, I couldn’t recall seeing her run before. This is the first time I see her run!” Laughter filled the whole atmosphere in the car. Come to think of it, having known YY for 16 years, I have never seen her run before too.
Little Tiger came to deliver the dried meat. We had the last group photo at the KK airport together with Little Tiger.
Sayonaro KK. It was time to go back. We boarded Air Asia’s AK5113 at 1820 and reached KL at 2050.
It's always nice to have a getaway from busy life...
13 May (Sunday) - Mesilau, here we began
Couldn't really sleep well (as always) the night before. I was having the worry of oversleeping and whether I could dispose some accumulated old stocks in my digestion system first thing in the morning before getting ready to climb. Having constipation during traveling is really a pain in the ass! The feeling of 'stuck' and not being able to 'dispose' is really mind bothering...
Forced myself out of the bed as early as 5am in order to have sufficient time to have 'enough' food and hot drink to stimulate my intestine movement to achieve a very important goal - to defecate! I had biscuit, cake, & bread one after another and a cup of hot cereal. After a while I finally felt the urge to poo. Yes, the moment of truth had come! I rushed into the toilet for this important mission. Err...it was explosive like the eruption of the volcano, and it's a lot... but please don't ask me how it smelt, ok? Hahaha... What a relief!
Ying Goh picked us up at 6:30am. We were targeted to reach the starting point at the Mesilau Nature Resort and started climbing at 8:00am. On the way to our destination, we stopped by at a dairy farm. The scenery was captivatingly beautiful. With Mount KK as the background, coupled with the fresh air, the big green farm, the clear blue sky, and the herds of cows wandering leisurely on a Sunday morning, it formed a very invigorating scene, giving us some New Zealand feel. We were told by Ying Goh that 1 of the dairy product TV ads were actually shot here. Everyone was happily posing for their best shots. Before reaching the starting point, we stopped at the National Park headquarter near the Timpohon gate to place our big backpacks, bringing only 1 small backpack with us for the climb. We reached the departing point at the Mesilau on time, and most of us bought a walking stick worth RM3 each, which YY called it as the best investment of the year! Haha...
We started climbing at 8am. YY who had decided not to go for the climb had to find her own programme while waiting for us to complete the climbing task.
There are actually 2 routes that one can take to climb the Mount KK, 1 being the Timpohon Gate, and the other is Mesilau. Both Timpohon track and Melilau track will join at Layang-Layang Staff Quater after 4KM and 6KM respectively. From Layang-Layang, there is another 2 KM of journey to reach the Laban Rata Guest House, where people stay 1 night for the first day of climb.
The 6KM Mesilau trail before Layang-Layang comprises a mix of ascending and descending tracks, which makes it more interesting. The walking stick had been in great support for me as it reduced the intensive use of the knee. As we ascended, it was getting colder and colder till my fingers were slightly numbed and painful, and I couldn't really feel them properly. 100 plus had been our useful drink for energy restoration. It was so revitalizing for every single sip of it, feeling the immediate replenishment of energy. We paced constantly and made a few pit stops when necessary for short breaks to have some bites of food and drink for energy. For each stop, we couldn't afford to stop for long as it would be very cold. At certain points, wind was blowing quite strongly. Thus we just kept going and going, enjoying the nice scenery along the trail.
The trail is really luxurious comparatively. There is a rest point for every 1 km, with water point and clean toilet with flushing system. The toilets are cleaner than most of the public toilets in KL. The water refilling speed after flushing is super fast!
When it was just a few hundred meters away from Laban Rata, it started to rain. Isshh...We quickly put on our raincoats. Too bad, most of our shoes got wet. After about 6 hours, Thong, GW, Pocket, BK & sister, Xena & I completed the 8KM climb to reach Laban Rata around 2pm.
It was cold at Laban Rata. We quickly went to take bath before the heater went off in the evening. An hour plus later, pig head and LC arrived, with LC looking a little pale. We had our expensive lunch at the cafe, at least RM15 for a plate of noodle or rice. Well, come to think of it, looking at how the porters transport the gas, food, and other supplies up the mountain with their physical strength, the prices are well justified with a valid reason. After lunch, we quickly went to bed to get some good rest in our dormitory with 4 double-deckers, squeezing the 9 of us.
Again, we had our expensive dinner at the 1 & only cafe. GW ordered 1 Tomyam soup & 1 plate of fried rice. After tasting the Tomyam soup, I decided to order Tomyam Meehoon. Who knew it didn't taste like Tomyam at all, more like Bandung. Aiks! No Umh at all! RM15 leh! Pig head ordered another bowl of Tomyam. Guess what? His tasted in between mine and GW's. Wah, how come there was no QC at all?!! It's really a tale of 3 Tomyam.
Guess what, while we were chit chatting after finishing our dinners, the group of Malaysian guys working in Singapore arrived. They went for the same rafting trip, trying to act superior, simultaneously instilled in some hostility in most of us against them. Anyway, according to BK, there's 1 of them who was friendly and having better attitude. I forgot what time it was, I guess around 8pm. My goodness, that means, the ‘elite’ group took around 11-12 hours assuming they started around 9am??? BK deliberately went and said hi to them and showed off a bit, the same time trying to gather some 8 news about them. We were really amazed by BK's bravery and curiosity. We couldn't stop laughing. Haha...
We found out that there' was shoe and clothe drying services available. Thank goodness, without hesitating much, we decided to go for it at a price of RM10 per pair after negotiation. Or else, we would be in our uncomfortable wet shoe the next day. Some opted to dry their clothes too at RM4 per piece.
After that, we went to bed super early as we needed to start climbing again at 2:30am to conquer the peak the next morning. For me, it meant insufficient sleep again.
14 May (Monday) - Conquered the summit & a night to remember
With a sleepy head, I woke up around 1:45am. After getting ready, we went down to the 1 & only cafe for our expensive breakfast. Most of us chose the buffet breakfast. I usually can't eat much in the morning, especially at this kind of odd hour. Well, I tried to eat more as I would need lots of energy for the journey to conquer the summit. Anyway, I didn't dare to eat too much as my 'daily affair' was not settled yet at this kind of unusual hour.
We gathered at 2:30am for a short briefing. The temperature was 9.4'C, and it was dark and freaking cold. Everyone was nicely wrapped from top to toe, and looked like a member of the special task force (飞虎队). We started climbing around 2:45am with our torch lights and small backpacks.
It was all uphill tasks, which covered a 2.5KM journey from Laban Rata to the summit of Low's Peak. I was half awake & half sleepy. As I ascended, the more I felt the gravity. Energy was consumed faster than the food could be transformed to glucose. I started to gasp a little as the air was getting thinner as the altitude increased. While stopping and waiting for people in front to proceed, I looked up at the sky which was filled millions of shinning stars. It was stunningly beautiful. I wished I could pause a little longer to admire the beautiful starry sky, but I couldn't. We just got to keep going as it was cold. Mucus just couldn't stop exuding from my nose as if I was having running nose.
At certain points, the chilling wind was howling frantically like nobody's business, as if it was giving us a warm welcome. Again, my fingers were freezing and painful. We made some short stops to have some chocolate bar & 100 plus and moved our butts to keep going right after we were done.
The air got thinner and thinner as we approached the summit. Slowly and steadily we marched forward, fighting the chilling wind and the coldness simultaneously. I was gasping with mucus exuding non-stop from my nose. I kept asking the guide " jauh lagi kah? ... sampai ah?" a few times, couldn't wait to reach the peak to have a rest.
Finally, Thong, GW, Pocket, Xena and conquered the summit, Low's Peak at 5:30am! It’s 4095m above sea level. The sun was just setting. The sunset was breathtaking, not only because it was beautiful but it really took us a lot of breath to reach the summit, and view the same sun that sets at the east every single morning. Haha... :) There were already quite a crowd of people there at the peak, occupying the nice spots to enjoy the magnificent view of the summit.
Xena & I were sitting fixedly and emotionlessly, enduring the cold while the rest were busy snapping shots. According to the guide, it was about 3'C at the peak. BK & BH reached a little later, as BH was suffering from altitude sickness and BK needed to take good care of her. Pig head & LC appeared and joint us at the peak at last. The rest were so busy taking photos that Xena & I had decided to descend a little bit from the peak and hided under a big rock pathetically while waiting for them to finish their photo taking sessions.
Guess what, when the rest finally settled with the photo taking, the guys challenged each other to take off their clothes at the peak and they did! It was freaking cold up there! They had really gone crazy! Anyway, they were not totally naked though, with pants still on. :)
After all the craziness, we proceeded to descend. While descending, I had already felt my knee aching.
We got back to Laban Rata, had some food and drink, rested a while and started to descend again. This time around, we took the Timpohon track, which was a 6km journey from Laban Rata. For me, Timpohon was a relatively boring trail. It was completely downhill, and was filled with so many staircases! The staircases were killing my knees!
After about slightly more than 4 hours, the 5 of us reached the Timpohon gate, while BK & BH, Pig Head & LC joint us later. We then headed for the National Park Head Quarter to claim our big backpacks that we deposited there earlier on and proceeded to Nepenthes Villa where we would be staying for the night. YY was already there waiting for us.
We occupied 2 units, 5 of us each. The design of the unit resembles a townhouse, 2 rooms on the top, and there's a big and cosy living room, a balcony, a kitchen and a fire place downstairs. Oh no, staircase! I was already walking like penguin, having enough of staircase from the climb! It was a nice and cosy place but the water was not so efficient. If it is used, the other person has to wait for 15 minutes before it functions again. It was cold, and we didn’t want to die freezing bathing with the cold water.
After cleaning ourselves, we went out to a town 20km away for our dinner. Everyone was tired except YY as she had ample of relaxation while we were climbing. Haha... After dinner, we headed back to the Nepenthes Villa to prepare for a big event.
Yes, it was Pig Head proposing to LC! AT the living room of guys’ unit, we had got a proposal banner which wrote “Li Charng, you are the princess of my life. Will you marry me?" hanged on the fire place and a don’t-how-many-carat diamond ring surrounded by burning candles which formed a heart shape, awaiting LC. Never know that Pig Head could be this romantic. When everything was ready, we called Pig Head to bring LC over.
As a result of lacking of rehearsal and coordination, some unstipulated circumstances occurred!
We turned off the light. Pocket being the 'flash man' who would flash the torch light at the banner when signal was given, got into position at 1 corner while GW, the camera man, hided at another corner. The rest of us hid at the corner by the staircase and some in the kitchen.
Suddenly, someone shouted "Fire! Fire! ” It was the tray holding the candles that was on fire and the fire almost reached the ring box in the middle! Spontaneously, I blew hard at the candles to put out this small fire. Everyone was laughing at this unexpected fire at the crucial moment. No more romantic heart shape candle light. How ah? The show had to go on. BK was trying to lock the door to buy some time due to this unstipulated incident. The moment BK reached the knob, Pig Head and LC had already arrived.
BK: I am going to sleep liao.
LC: Why are you sleeping so early?
BK: I am suddenly not feeling well. U guys go ahead to help yourself.
LC: Why sleep so early? Don't bluff lah.
Pig Head: Come, I have something for you. (Leading LC to the staircase to go down to the living room)
LC: Why so dark one? Why off the light? Why are there some heads? Why are there people hiding there? Aren't them human? Want to scare me is it? Crazy... (Puzzling hard with many why)
Pig Head: Look at that. (Leading her to go down the staircase, pointing at the banner)
LC: See what? I can't see.
Pig Head: There, look at there.
LC: I can't see. I didn't wear my spectacles!
Duongiao! We were already 'silently' broken into laughter but holding it hard, Ahahaha... Pig head slowly lead LC to the sofa, which was a better position to view the banner. Pig Head signalled pocket to flash the banner and pocket did.
Pig Head: You see.
LC: I can't see! I didn’t wear my spectacles.
Pig Head: Will your marry me? (Kneeing down, with the diamond ring on his hand)
There was a moment of total silent. LC was so surprised, covering her face out of shyness.
We all popped up, laughing non-stop. How ah? LC didn’t say yes or no. We decided to evacuate ourselves out of the unit, leaving the 2 of them with the final negotiation.
We were wandering outside and it was so damn cold in the night. Someone wanted to pee and LC locked the gals' unit and took the key with her! Alamak! Why was the negotiation so long? We were wondering how would the answer be and guessing all kinds of possibilities, with lots of 'what if'. Finally we decided to go into the guys' unit again, of course silently to station ourselves in the room upstairs rather than dying frozen outside. Someone tried to open the door gently, with the lightest touch. Thank God Pig Head shouted, "Successful liao!" Yeah, what a relief! We celebrated the occasion with some junk food and drink.
What a night to remember! I believe that both Pig Head and LC would have the sweetest dream that night. I slept the best that night, out of exhaustion...
15 May (Tuesday) – Time to go home
Having sufficient of sleep, I woke up refreshed. Went out to the balcony enjoy the fresh air and warm sun light of the beautiful morning.
It was a leisure morning. We had ample time to have out breakfast, relaxing, chit chatting at the living room before packing our stuff.
We checked out by noon and had our lunch at a restaurant nearby. The food there was not bad. We then stopped by at the souvenir shop again, where YY missed the chance to shop due to her unfit condition. YY regained the shopping queen title whereas Xena’s performance wasn’t bad either.
We then headed to KK town. Before KK town, we went to have coconut pudding and whack the lokan bakar again. There were fresh crabs there too! Too bad, if it wasn’t because of time constraint due to we had a flight to catch, we would have nicely taken our sweet time to try the ketam bakar. With the craving for the crab staying on our minds, we suggested to have Seremban ketam bakar for BK’s & Xena’s up-coming birthdays. FYI, we ended up having butter cheese crab and salted egg crab at Dataran Prima, PJ.
After satisfying our stomach, we headed straight to KK Airport. While nearing airport, YY wanted to pee so badly. There was a slight jam and Ying Goh was racing with time to send us to the airport, thus he couldn’t afford to stop or we might risk being late. He asked YY to hang on for a short while, and some guys took the opportunity to tease and make YY laughed at this critical moment. Well, YY, holding hard, still managed to stay cool and respond steadily. Hahaha…
The very moment that we reached airport, YY shot to the toilet, RUNNING! Guys in the car commented “Wah, knowing YY this long, I couldn’t recall seeing her run before. This is the first time I see her run!” Laughter filled the whole atmosphere in the car. Come to think of it, having known YY for 16 years, I have never seen her run before too.
Little Tiger came to deliver the dried meat. We had the last group photo at the KK airport together with Little Tiger.
Sayonaro KK. It was time to go back. We boarded Air Asia’s AK5113 at 1820 and reached KL at 2050.
It's always nice to have a getaway from busy life...
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