Day 10

"Allllll by my-selfff,

don't wanna be,

Allllll by my-selfff.. anymore"

Hello. I write from the reception area of Mesilau Nature Resort, Mt. Kinabalu (~2000 m a.s.l.). Now that Tse Yuen has left for KL ( T_T ), I'm living alone in my Mesilau house, which I shall hereby refer to as, my 'house'. I've developed a habit of spontaneous night time house-cleaning, like an sudden, impulsive urge to just get the broom from outside the chalet to clean spiderwebs that irk me or dead insects around the kitchen that just need to be disposed of. I thank God for deciding to leave this place to spend a day in KK with Tse Yuen - took things off my head a bit so I could reorganize my thoughts/brain. Something nasty happened in KK - I shan't write about it.. YET.

Some random pictures I've taken (haven't been in shutter bug mode for a while now) I've taken here over the last few days. This is partially due to the good phone camera in my Xperia x10 mini, which I've been using to take pictures (yes, these to follow too). But of course, the main reason there hasn't been pictures is because I'm just plain lazy I've been busy with my leaves (project). Here:

So cute =p

Partially disemboweled moth caterpillar, I suspect. Looks really nasty. Easily up to 7-8 cm long. Saw this guy being attacked by ants as I walked about in Mesilau looking for the ranger. I've also found a similar one.. in my 'house', right outside the toilet =_=
A lil local cheap alcohol that I advise you not to take on an empty stomach, lest you fall prey to it like one man (no, not me). RM 10 per bottle - still got it here, as much as the photo shows. Any takers? Come visit me! By the way, 'one man' was the one who drank the whole almost all of what's gone, hence his unflattering end.This! I am greatly excited about! Yes the box looks small because there's no scale, but the big box is easily ~70-80 cm long, and weighs about 18kg. It was hell to carry the big boy up to my 'house', since it requires walking a lotta stairs.

See what I mean? That's the stair-ey part, very uneven/long steps. I stay all the way up at the top left chalet of the picture. This does not include the rest of the path I/Tse Yuen needed to carry the box.

Glad it came anyway, couriered from campus and delivered by a Kangaroo that hopped all the way from West Malaysia. Took it a good 5-6 days though. Well done *pats super-buffed kangaroo*

A treat in Kundasang, the town nearest to where I'm staying =) Teh Tarik Madras/Masala (I forgot which), tasted good. Hot drinks are so, so precious here, where it's just too cold for my Malaysian body. My 'house' is probably about 14 degrees Celcius downstairs (because of the ding-dong cold stone/cement floor), but it takes you a few minutes of sitting down before you feel the chill gettin to your bones - because the air is still. No need for fans/aircon here - still too cold.

If you play Monopoly cards, you'd understand. What a weird hand to begin with.

My dinner earlier (which I cooked myself). Chef Turtle is limited in many ways. My stove is powered by butane gas cartridges (yes, those as huge as your average spray paint cans) that run out pretty quickly. My oil requires defrosting before use (below).

Dish 1(left): Finely (well, not really) sliced carrots and broccoli stir-fried in margarine (because we couldn't find butter), some garlic and onions.

Main Problem -> The frying pan was too small and I cut too much, so things keep falling out and the vege does not get that well saturated with oily margarine.

Dish 2 (right): Carrot cubes fried with onions, leftover corned beef and egg and a little garlic. And soy sauce. This turned out pretty well. The carrot cubes cover the overly-starchy corned beef (cheap brand maybe) texture and makes it palatable. No problems here for me.

Dish 3 (bottom): Reheated, leftover rice that was way too hard. Not nice.

Taken in my 'house' kitchen as well, but this was during Mindy's time, when it was known as Mindy's 'house'. I was visiting and this was her oil. Same story, too cold. We used to have a proper stove back then - it's been taken back by the authorities (probably to provide for the new ranger in town).

TEASER

Picture by: Tajang

Location: Near the summit of Mt. Kinabalu

Date: November 2010

Mood: Constipated