Thursday, October 13, 2005
Sabah Trip 24th September - 8th October
Day 1
Today we went to Senai airport and took the flight MH2620L, 2hr 20min flight to Kota Kinabalu and had a simple meal onboard the plane, service was relatively good and we landed without incident at Sabah airport The airport itself is very simple, with only two retrieval belts and a direct exit out, then we took a coach to City Park Inn to put our bags.
Then it was a shopping trip to Plaza Lucky to buy our groceries and food for the trip to Kampung Kiau, everyone was well coordinated and we successfully purchased all groceries before heading back to the inn.
Shopping was fun, we bought over 3 trolleys and 400RM worth of food! We went for a really long dinner at a rather nice restaurant and each of us enjoyed ourselves, taking some photos although the food wasn't that fantastic, Yi Shi and Sara livened up the mood with their songs and interaction. The ambience of the place was very romantic, with the candle lighting up the evening and the gentle sea breeze and swishing of the waves accompanied our dinner late into the night.
Day 2 – 25/9/05 Manukan Island Snorkeling
Today we're going to Madukan islands for snorkeling! Lets start with the day's events and happenings, I fried some scrambled eggs in the morning, then we had our breakfast at a old-school style coffee shop that seems to be plentiful and took a short walk down the giant Pasir, it's the Kota Kinabalu Sunday market, just like a night market, but only on Sundays and in the daytime. To say it was big would be an understatement. The market place could rival the size of Chinatown and it just had the likes of it too, makeshift shops selling all sorts of items, food, groceries, electronic to hardware, souvenirs and even pets.
Then we headed over to Manukan islands for snorkeling, the water was relatively clear and extremely shallow. It's a small island, somewhat like Sentosa but far more remote and primitive, with almost no modern buildings or tourist resorts present, maybe a few chalets but that's about it. Snorkeling was a welcome relief from daily routine, but it could have been better. The coral reef wasn’t exactly fantastic or appealing as depicted in documentaries, it was pretty lifeless, but there were plenty of brilliant fishes, some coral, sea cucumbers and starfish. After that we went trekking
along a short 1.5km hilly running trail.
We saw monitor lizards and when we reached the end, we went by the treacherous rocky seaside with sea spray hitting the rocks from all sides, and we took a lot of cool pictures. After that we had a open-air dirty-water shower, and we went to Pulau Gaya, where Ariff did his previous YEP project.
The place there was really poor and to the residents, the sea was their life. Houses stood on stilts above the sea, and sewage directly dumped in, fishing and swimming was the natural pastime. The place was sparsely populated with nucleated houses along the coastline and furniture was modest. But the children were happy just jumping into the sea at every opportunity. It was a real eye-opener, we visited the chief’s house, but unfortunately couldn't stay for long and we headed back for dinner and back to the hotel for debrief and reflection.
Day 3 – 26/9/05 Off to Kampung Kiau
Today I helped out with the logistics purchasing, breakfast was a simple roti prata, then we packed and left at 10am for Kampung Kiau. It was a morning rush with Qinyi, Samantha, Yong Ming and I buying the last bit of provisions, while everyone loaded up on the bus.
The bus ride lasted a little over 2 hours, and it was a mesmerizing ride up the mountain at the hands of a skilled busdriver who drove like Takumi in initial D minus all the drifting. He negotiated the mountain driveway like a pro. When we went up the mountain, we transferred into smaller vans. It was a fun and pleasant half and hour ride and we took a lot of pictures of the scenery. Then it was settling down at our new "home" for the next week or so.
There are 3 areas in Kampung Kiau, and we're in the last area, 1500m above sea level. The temperature is about 20 degrees C and it rained a torrent today. When we moved up the mountain, there were children climbing up and down after school ended! They do it everyday! Walking by foot. A really different side of life over here, but the mountains and low-lying clouds are really beautiful.
Then half of the group went out to buy food and I helped out with everyone to settle down, moved our luggage and the group leaders assembled to decide on the ground rules. (Yi Shi, Jian Xiong and I were the group leaders) but Jian Xiong and logistics head Lloyd were out buying provisions. I led on the presentation of the layout, ground rules, hierarchy etc and my group was very efficient, Qinyi, Jia Jun, Wilson, Samantha and Yew Ming and Sara started cooking as soon as we were settled.
At night we had a really sumptuous dinner cooked by Jia Junn, Qinyi, Samantha, Yew Ming and Wilson. Eggs, chicken, vegetables and rice. It was a great to eat such food in a camp! And the food exceeded all expectations.
Today's my first sentry shift. I saw 3 shooting stars in the clear blue sky and omg the sky was so beautiful with all the star constellations visible because of our high altitude! Plus we also saw fireflies for the first time, but they're so dim, the stars are just priceless and it’s so beautiful and a pity my camera can't take photos of such a view. Starry starry night...
Day 4 – 27/9/05 Tuesday
We still haven't started construction today but I spent the morning preparing breakfast, sardines and milo. Most of us has already adapted very well to the cold and we all learnt something from the cold last night, which I estimated the temperature to be about 18 deg C and last night we discovered that there was reception from celcom outside the room and the looks on the faces of those who managed to send out a message or call their families.
I took the morning PT, =) prepared the milo and mostly spent the rest of the day cooking beehoon. I really learnt a lot of new recipes from Jia Junn. I spent the morning chopping vegetables and frying beehoon for lunch. The rest spent their time laying stones at the toilet to prevent it from getting so muddy. Then it rained really heavily after lunch and there was nothing we could do and the guys really thought of a few crazy stuff, which was to bathe in the rain! So the guys and I bathed in the frigid rain, it was cold. COLD. Then we hung up our clothes in the rain to wash as well! "Auto" wash for several hours.
Then it was chatting time and we were playing games, at night after dinner, we had a life journey presentation.
Day 5 – 28/9/05 Wednesday
Yesterday we took a short walk up the mountain to visit a school and a church, both similar condition as our kindergarden, modest wooden buildings. I am very proud of my group for being so efficient. The sun here sets really early and rises as early as well, at about 5.30pm it starts to get dark and at 6am it's almost bright. The interesting thing is that you don't need an alarm clock and you automatically wake up at 6am! Breakfast then PT by me again, Ariff, Jian Xiong and Mr Low contributed with some yoga.
Then we cooked lunch, my group and I and the guys worked their labour but nothing has been done for the clinic yet. Then after lunch, we had a short nap before the guys worked on improving the pathway and we cooked, basically Wilson, Sara, Qinyi, Samantha, Yi shi and I stayed back while the others went down to the waterfall to hit the water and find fruits.
Then when the others came back, we had a great dinner and Ariff, Mr Low and Wilson were talking a little bit about their religion and Frances told his life story. I learnt a little bit more about cooking today. I slept soundfully at night.
Day 6 29/9/05 Thursday
Gracefully the sun was up today, it rains everyday here at Kg Kiau. I was feeling much better since yesterday. I took PT again and half the group went to the city to stock up on provisions. Breakfast was a really nice meal cooked by group 2. Then the pace of life here is just too slow! I got really irritated by the carpenter's lacklusture and couldn't-care-less-attitude. We've been here for 4 days and yet nothing has been done! At this rate, we’re never going to achieve the objective we came here for.
But later, Ariff managed to persuade the carpenter to work and we got about sawing wood for the windows, it wasn't much, at least it was a start and we finished about 5 wooden window frames while it was raining. So Wilson, Qinyi, Yet Wei, Lloyd, Ariff and Jian Xiong helped out in the construction. There'll be a lot more to do tomorrow! While waiting for dinner, it was another freezing shower. It was c-o-l-d. But dinner was alright. Later Ariff talked about his firefighting NS duties. Then everyone wanted to sleep earlier and so lifestory was postponed.
Day 7 30/9/05 Friday
Today is already Friday! Time flies and we're going white water rafting tomorrow. Yesterday night's temperature was the coldest of all, I think it was about 15 deg C or colder, especially with the clouds floating right by. Then after breakfast we resumed our work, there were lots of wood that had to be sawed, and hammered to build the window frames. Work was done in a production manner and very efficiently. We completed leveling the wall, building all the windows and started with planking the wall. 2 out of 6 walls are now complete and we stopped work due to the heavy rain.
Today's work progress was good, but later we heard that the chief's attitude was also a couldn't-care-less about the project and they had to threaten him before anything was done and now they’re working overtime. The weather over here is weird. It's been raining heavily everyday at this high altitude, yet the humidity is low, the air is dry and there's no dew in the morning. The clouds are just so beautiful as they drift lazily past. We saw ice on Mt Kinabalu!
The flora and fauna here is abundant, fruits like champadak, rambutan, durian, banana, Langsat and pomelo are aplenty. Cooking has been great and the variety of insects is really incredible. There are so many species that I've never seen before, before dinner, my bme group played cards and laughed till our hearts content.
Day 8 1/10/05 Friday
Today we are going white water rafting! We left for Kiulu river to do white water rafting, there are 2 rivers to white-water raft in Sabah, one is the Padas level 3-4 river @ RM180, but they were on "budget" and we ended up going to the more boring Kiulu river, a level 2 river.
It was a 2 hr journey, and the water was pretty mild, 2 out of 6 level. The whole trip was rather mild, just a raft on water, but what was fun was the swim, the body rafting and the "war" that we had. Two of our boats attached each other. Pulling each other off their boats into the water, splashing each other and attacking like pirates. That was so fun, then later we had a really great buffet lunch before going back for a two hour trip back to the kindergarden. The view back was as fabulous as ever.
There was a really beautiful rainbow, and an unforgettable red sunset on our way back.
Day 9 2/10/05 Saturday
Today I woke up at 5am, prepared and did some PT and we took a hike up the mountain, the weather here is quite drastic, and changes are quite extreme. It can suddenly rain when it's bright and sunny and from cold rain into a blistering sunshine in minutes, most of us have already gotten used to the cold weather already.
So we climbed to the top of Kampung Kiau, but the clouds have covered the top of Mt Kinabalu. It wasn't a total waste, the hiking trip up was an interesting encounter for most, there were lots of vegetation, a true jungle hike up the mountain, seeing all sorts of fruits, rambutan, pineapple, rubber, langsat, durian, champadak and we walked into the clouds!
A lot of photos were taken and we returned back down the mountain brushing through the dense foliage. In the afternoon we rested before we went to play volleyball with the locals, it was quite fun and I played my part whilst some others went to the church for the cultural performance by the locals.
Day 10 3/10/05 Sunday
We woke up and I was supposed to take PT, but the other group was short-handed and as a group leader I had to go down to Kundasan to do some shopping for more food. The group leaders and I were on the same van to Kundasan.
All the major leaders were split up all over the place and there was no one to lead at the campsite. But I’m glad no mishap happened and construction is going rapidly and smoothly. At the start, the van broke down and it was a full half an hour before the gearbox was fixed with the help of friendly passer-bys. In Singapore, such a thing will never happened, everyone is cautious of each other and you'll never know when you will get conned. The other thing is also the slow relaxed pace of life over here, everyone takes it easy and no one bothers to look their gates, which consists of nothing but some bamboo sticks. Sometimes a slower pace of life that is simpler is also good, a low-stress life actually allows the locals to be happy and live to ripe old ages but in a developed country like Singapore, everything is so hectic and we're all plagued by medical maladies. The more we have, the more we want and the more unhappy we are the more complex our lives are.
Then our shopping trip was a great relaxed breakfast and chatting and we took some photos before going back on the 1 hr plus trip. Then I helped out installing the window pane louvers and all the workers today (there were more than 20!) were working out at full swing.
Day 11 4/10/05 Monday
Nothing much happened today, we had lots of fun taking photos with the clouds and did some construction work laying stones for the pathway. Not all of us could work at the same time and the guys came up with the term "eye-power!" to depict contribution by looking. Work was really great even though backbreaking. Zheng Quan livened up the mood with his singing and the clinic looks much closer to completion. Then at night we had a round of self-reflection and everyone was thanking everyone else. But today is the last day working on the clinic, the clinic looked much closer to completion now with the window louvers and walls installed. And we have all contributed our part in the construction of the clinic. We will be leaving for Mt Kinabalu tomorrow and today will be the last time we'll be at Kampung Kiau and I hope we leave it a better place and our memories preserved forever.
We took a lot of group photos as the sun set.
Day 12 5th October 2005
Today we are all packed up and ready to go to Kundasa to have lunch and that's where most of us bought a pair of insulated gloves. Then it was a 40min ride to Mesilau resort, omg it was really beautiful! That's beyond what words can describe. We're high up in the mountains, I would say about 2000m ASL, temperature is even colder than that at Kg Kiau, and the resorts are like paradise langkawi resorts, like a dream home where you just want to stay forever!
Initially, we were all already awed by the scenery and sight beyond and were already very happy with our dormitories en masse. Then the bad news, there was no water so we were upgraded to a better resort!!! WOW! The resort we were upgraded to was so much nicer! It was almost like a 5-star resort hotel with all accommodations, TV, heater (not air-con here), 2 story house, full bathroom, kitchen and stove and wooden furniture and dining table with 3 King-sized bedrooms complete with closets and dressing tables.
There were 3 resorts, 1 girls, 2 ours, and 3 the rest of the guys, and our resort was designated the central "command centre" where the logistics were kept.
Then we went for a short nature walk, we visited the small Mesilau river for some photos and later went out for dinner ala carte at the Mesilau visitor centre. The ambience was nice, the food was nice, but the only gripe was that the food took so long to come.
The ambient temperature was at 16 degrees! The lower air pressure at this altitude makes all the food packets bloated up and with so much water vapour in the air, its harder to breathe. You heart beats faster because of body heat loss.
Day 13 6th October 2005
Today we woke up, and started our climb through Mesilau gate at 8am. The whole trip was quite tiring, even after our lunch break, as we crossed the 4km make, we were beginning to wear down, but the view was very beautiful and we took 6 1/2 hours to reach laban rata, well within the 8hr time limit.
As we neared the 6km mark (200m) from Laban Rata, the weather detiorated severely, it became freezing cold and the rain made it worse, the thermometer read 6-9 degrees, and the strong wind and rain added to the chill factor.
Then at Laban rata even though it had the accommodations of a 1-star YMCA hostel, it was heaven to us, wet, cold, shivering, hungry and we had one of the best meals we had, no matter how simple, it was still a buffet dinner and the ambience was just like an American canteen where people of all races gathered together eating here at Laban Rata 3300m ASL.
But alas, we weren't staying at Laban Rata, we were going to another even cheaper hostel, but I'll take anything considering the fearsome weather out there. Even after dinner at Laban Rata, we were waiting out for the storm outside to calm down, the wind and rain was almost like a hurricane! The moment it died down slightly, it was a mad scramble for all of us to get ready to face the fearsome force of mother nature again, braving the pelting rain and raging winds, we made our way in semi-darkness for the last 200m up to Gunang Legadan. It was pathetic and we all swarmed into the hostel as if we were escaping bullets outside.
Inside wasn't much better, temperature was about 5 degrees, the floor felt like ice to the bare foot and every breathe we took had condensation. We slept in 4-bunk dorm rooms, I shared the room with Wilson, Kelvin and Yong Ming, after packing, we slept at 7pm, it will be a long day tomorrow.
Day 14 7th October 2005
Today we woke up at 1am, fully-dressed and armed and left at 2.30 am, I wore 5 layers, fully geared, with my food rations and torchlight in my pouches, my rain-cover covering my bag and a lightstick behind. It was an initial 3 hr climb in pitch black darkness, lead only by our ever dimming headlamps and it was a struggle for the last few hundred meters to the summit.
The weather worsened nearing the peak, it was foggy, visibility was down to several meters, my glasses fogged, my fingers were frozen, my heart thumping hard against my ribcage and my breathing ragged, every step was a struggle. When we reached the peak, it was a mixture of emotions, it wasn’t very large, the peak was only the size of 2 table-tennis tables and the sky was still dark, it was about -5 deg at the peak, and there was ice on our balaclavas!
I found that this climb up Mount Kinabalu is actually more tiring than Ophir. Why? Maybe Mt Kinabalu is 4 times higher than Ophir at 4095m and Ophir only 1414m. Actually the climb up mount Kinabalu isn't that physically strenuous, but the weather seriously hampered progress. Ophir is slightly more steeper, whereas Kinabalu is a gradual climb, but the thin air, water vapour, frigid temperatures made everything much tougher. If the weather was good and sunny at 15 degrees, I think mount Kinabalu wouldn’t be a problem at all, in fact it would probably be far more enjoyable, but we made it difficult for ourselves by climbing in pitch black darkness hoping to reach the peak to see the sun rise before dawn.
Unfortunately, bad weather, the fog and clouds blocked everything completely. We made our tenuous trip back to Gundang Legadan to pack and have our breakfast at Laban Rata, temperature at about 10 deg C Then it was a gradual 3 hr climb all the way back down and this time we went towards Timphomon gate.
The trip down was met with another sudden climatic change again to hot weather was again sudden. We met many porters going up along the way and many mid-life tourists! But it’ll be much easier for them now that the sun was up.
When we (finally) reached Timphomon gat, it was 1pm, we've been climbing up and down the mountain for the past 20 hours. I wonder why people do dumb things like climb up a mountain and then climb back all the way down. There has been no objective. But! It's the mental and physical accomplishment and the picturesque and awesome breath-taking scenery that no camera can fully capture that makes it all worthwhile. You actually feel younger on the mountain. That’s life, escaping the hectic and all the hustle-and bustle of our modern urban lifestyle.
We then took a jeep-taxi back to the headquarters and followed by another 2 hr trip back to KK with Samantha sleeping on my shoulder. Then back at KK, after putting our bags, we quickly went shopping! To buy our souvenirs and some food. Then back at the hotel, we had a 2am supper across the road.
Day 15 8th October 2005
Today we woke at 8am, and flew back to Senai airport, flight MH2619Y. Bringing a closure to the end of our YEP Sabah 2005 trip.
2:59 AM
