Hate to update my blog when I am doing my midnight shifts...
During the week of midnight shifts, usually i will spend almost the whole of my day sleeping. haha. =X
And when I wake up, i will dilly dally around then off to work.
During the dilly dally sessions, i usually surf forums and post my replies, that will already take up the bulk of my time.
After which I usually rush to bath, eat and work!
So where got time to blog ?
Moreoever I wanna finish the post on my Kinabalu trip... try to do it within this week..
Blog more when I am back.
Now time to go work!~
jaa~
August 2005 Archives
Back from the adventure of my lifetime - Mt. Kinabalu!
Some background information for the guys out there who know nuts about this mountain.
Standing at 4095.2 meter (13,435 ft) above sea level, Mt. Kina is the tallest mountain in Sea East Asia. Kinabalu is in Sabah, East Malaysia.
Now let me share with you this experience of my lifetime (it won?t be the last!).
Day 1 of Mt. Kinabalu Expenditure.
Spent my morning in Singapore packing for my trip! Was quite a rush, as it was my first time doing prep for travel.
Went to change the much needed ringgits. Rates were not too bad, I got RM$2.22 for every SGD$1 that i exchanged!
Then took a cab to Kranji to meet up with my friend, Max.
Reached there at about 3.30pm ?
Took the Causeway Link bus to Kotaraya Bus Interchange (cost $1.30) and transit to Senai Airport Express to go to Lapangan Terbang Senai (cost RM$4).
Then took plane to Kota Kinabalu (KK) lo.
I got body check at Senai Airport.... don?t know why.... does I look like a terrorist? =/
Anyway the flight to KK took about 2+ hours, by the time I reached KK, it was already around 8-9 pm.
Did nothing much, but met up with another 7 group member who I met from Clubsnap.org, an online photography forum, at Berjaya Palace Hotel.
Basically that's my first day.
Day 2 of Mt. Kinabalu Expenditure.
Breakfast at 6am. Left the hotel for Mt Kinabalu at 6.30am.
The bus trip was around 2 hrs.
We reached Kinabalu Park Headquarters at about 8+.
The HQ stands at about 1563.8m above sea level (ASL). It was cold up there. Temperature was around what you guys can experience at Cameron Highlands or Genting Highlands.
Definitely aircon wasn?t needed at that height. ;)
There were 2 routes that you can take, to go up, Bukit Ular Trail and Mesilau Trail.
We took the shorter Bukit Ular Trail
Timpohon Gate marks the start of the adventure.
The first obstacle we met was something like this.
Of course, on seeing this, I was quite relieved, maybe this ain?t gonna be so hard after all, hehe~
500 meters into the journey, we reached Kandis Shelter.
The first km was still pretty alright, with an equal number of up and downhills, it was still manageable.
At 1.5km, we reached Ubah Shelter.
But from this shelter onwards, most of the terrains we encountered are nothing less than this?
Lowi Shelter awaits 700 meters away.
Well, although we haven?t walked too far into the journey yet, the terrain really took its toll on us nevertheless. I took a picture and it really describe the kind of emotion we were having.
But we are still determine to reach the rest house at Laban Rata.
So we continued with our journey.
We reached Mempening shelter in a while.
So far, all the shelters been quite near to each other. And of course that sets first time climbers like us, thinking, that every 1 km we walk, we can have a point to rest and sit down. Catch our breath, before we carry on.
But oh so wrong we were, the next shelter was like 1.5km away, and did I mention before that ever since the first shelter, we been going up, up and away ? I don?t really remember any downhills man? it was that depressing the terrains were on us.
But we took pride as we were already near our first destination, to be exact, we were 2 shelters away.
Walking past the Nepethes Villosa area
which stands 9000 ft to 10300 ft, we were even more determined to advance and overcome! Just a while more, and we will be resting!
The Villosa Shelter was the most ?siong?.
As the distance between it and the last one was ?miles? apart for our tired legs.
[NO PHOTO FROM HERE ONWARDS, AS THEY WERE IN SLIDES, HAVENT DEVELOP YET! SORRY!]
Near the 5.5 km mark lies Paka Shelter. Couldn?t care less cause Laban Rata Rest House lies a few hundred meters ahead.
So without doubt, we definitely proceed to Laban Rata FAST!
But it still took us about 9 hrs to reach there. YES! 9 damn hours to advance around 6 km of rough terrain.
Not to mention the temperature grew colder , and the air thinner as we ascend up.
Laban Rata rest house is around 3272.7m ASL. The thermometer read 9 deg Celsius when I reached there. So you can guess how cold I was.
Dinner was buffet style. After eating and getting warm, I went to my room.
I feel asleep within seconds due to a very bad headache that I was experiencing.
The headache was too much! I got 2 aspirin from my friend and after consuming, went back to bed? cant get to sleep? toss around for sometime? felt nauseous? went to vomit? return to bed.. Still headache? basically that was the night..
I was contemplating whether to continue my journey, to go up to the summit. With that kind of condition that I am in? I seriously wanted to give up. So I decided, I would try to sleep, and if by 2.30am, if I am feeling better , I will go up! If not? that shall be the end of my adventure.
I woke up after an hour plus. I felt good. Much lesser pain~ Not nauseous anymore~ So I can go up after all..
That shall be the start of day 3.
Write till day 2 first.
In the meantime I will think about how to write about the next few days and also go and develop my slides. ;)
not to mention upload the photos that i took and share with you guys.
these few days my blog shall be occupied with stuffs from the trip.
But I will update on the days happening too if i felt like it. keke~
Hair For Hope 2005
Give a little hope and show your support to the brave children of Children?s Cancer Foundation (CCF). Join our cause to support children with cancer by shaving your head at this year?s Hair for Hope event on Saturday, 20 August 2005 12pm to 6pm.
- Wisma Atrium Level 1
- Date: 20 August 2005
Anyone wanna go together and contribute to charity ? If got pple go with me, i also go! hehe
Anyway blog entry and pics on my kinabalu trip coming up later!~
Dear boys and girls!!!
All my friends!!!!
I am off to Kota Kinabalu! See you all back in 5 days time!~
Cant wait to take the mountain and shoot some photographs!
Been a long time since I last went out of Singapore, furthermore I am going with friends instead of family, so its consider quite a "first" time!
Good luck to me~
See ya guys~~~
Sam~
Last entry was on the 23rd of July *counts with fingers* so its been like 12 days since I last updated ?
Well well. I was lethargy, busy, tired and more more more. haha
Just some quick updates, nothing philosophical. Its getting late and I am sorta like rushing off to bed. Tired tired and cant wait to lie on my small single bed to slp.. (must get a queen size soon! that's one of the secret to a good night of rest!)
Lets start from 3/8/05 which is Wednesday!
3/8/05 (Wednesday)
Work morning shift today, after that proceeded to played against another unit in an Inter-unit soccer tournament.
We beat the opponent 5-0!!!
I was kinda surprised to be in the first 11 as this was my first year in the team.. I played left back!
I played well i feel, no danger at all from my side. Did well with my tackles and shielding out of the balls etc. But as usual, i can never play a fluent passing game. haha. I used to be able to do that when i play mid. Now push back my legs feel kinda weird.
Anyway I been thinking.
I first started learning about football from this voluntering group call B.O.Y. - Befrienders of Youth. They had this team going on, and anyone was welcome to train and play with them.
My friend pulled me down 1 fine day and viola , I started learning more about the game.
I started to play in front, then mid then def. haha. slowly slowly pushed back.
But it was there I learn how to dribble, pass, shoot! not the pro kind, but the theory behind each and every move and kick. All thanks to Hanks , an American who coach us during his free time. Still can remember him always saying to me (regardless of how many mistakes i made..) "Sam! Good hassle there! Come on!" I will never forget all these memories. And did I mention that although he was my soccer coach, he was such an NBA fan ? haha.
Ya, it was also at B.O.Y. that I truely learn about the word "defence". How a sound defence can be the basis of a team. Good defense = half the job done. I used to hate defending, cause usually its the strikers that take all the headlines, but not the defender. Well , it changed when I started playing defender myself. I learnt to be a tougher nut to crack, to be braver, go for each and every challenge without fear, no matter how big size that fellow is. I learnt when to commit myself and when to just follow and see. I learnt a lot.
Hanks, if you ever see this "Thank you!~"
1/8/05 and 2/8/05 (Monday and Tuesday)
Spent most part of the 2 days dolling up my bike.
Went Ah Boy and Auntie Shop to get my stuffs.
Tough work man! Created quite a lot of problems for myself. haha. meaning, as i am still a greenhorn when it comes to spray jobs , i made quite a lot of mistakes. haha.
But the end result was encouraging to say the least! Anyway its not the completed job yet! More to come!!! hehe
31/7/05 (Sunday)
Guard duty in camp... from 8am to next day 8am.... tired... wat else is there to say about it ?
29/7/05 (Friday)
Had company dinner at The Olive at Labrador Park. Romantic place!!! 10/10 for ambience! But the food that they ordered was far from matching the class of that restaurant....
I always make it a point to write down the things i wanna do, the place i wanna bring her to, if i ever had a girlfriend next time...
but i been thinking... seriously.... i am the kind of guy that will not make it into being a boyfriend... I am the good friend kind of guy... not the boyfriend kind... well... some pple just got this kinda life and i am one of them. ha.
Like I ever said before, the kinds i like dun like me, the kinds i dun fancy fancy me. haha. I am just so far away... wat to do.. social classes do stand...
Nothing liao other then all those that i mentioned.
Well lately been into badminton! haha. now looking to get a racket! cheap and good! (as usual) I never get the best stuff for the job unless I am very sure that I am serious in it! If not why get the best if you aint gonna be using it frequently?
Thats all, share with you guys 2 quotes that i came across, one from a website, its in a user's signature, the other, from a song, i dunno the title, heard it when i went to buy ice cream from 7-11. :)
Here you go~
-"who being loved is poor?" - oscar wilde
-"I rather go through the bad times with you, than the good times with others..." - from some song that i don't know the title.
