The Tur†|e's Lair

KK-Miri-Mulu-Miri-KK

2011-09-30T22:07:00.003+08:00

That was rather fun. I've got a bunch of photos from Mulu National Park (even though I missed the slow loris sighting T_T during the night walk) which includes some really saucy pictures =p This is when I realize the shutterbug in me only crawls out when I'm in holiday mode. I seldom, if ever, take out my camera enthusiastically to capture things when I'm on work field trips. Especially when I'm solo. Ah well.

It was fun to be in human contact and talking to people I know (the students and my supervisor) in Mulu. Of course the 'holiday' felt too short, but I guess that's just how it always is. No man is an island, and humans evolved as communities rather than solos anyway. That being said, I enjoy my solo time.

During my stop-by days in KK before going to and returning from Mulu, I adopted a new thing to do - watch movies solo (with student price, RM5/show - the perks of a PhD student). I have watched 3 movies in my two days there: Johnny English, Apollo 18, The Sorcerer & the White Snake. I'd do that again!

Till I transfer them pictures and snap out of holiday mode.

Nights in the Woods

2011-09-22T00:03:00.003+08:00

Then came a brilliant idea, when parts of the weather station equipment delivery was delayed. To take 'soil carbon dioxide (CO2) respiration' readings both in the hottest time (day, about 9 am - 1 pm) and when the sun goes down (coolest). If I was honest, it'd be about 3-5am daily, but I am also human. So.. the itinerary:

7.30 am : Cook, eat, prepare for trip, boil water and store in thermos for bath after trip (because electricity would be cut off at about 12, I can't boil water when I'm back)

8.30/9 am: Set out for 1 h 15 minute hike to site (after signing in at booth)

~10 am : Start CO2 readings, maintain reading site/trail

~1145 am : head back

~1230 pm: Back in Mesilau

IN BETWEEN: Try to rest, read, unwind, dry stuff and prepare for night trip, which consists of about the same itinerary, except that it starts about 6 pm and ends at ~10 pm. Going into the jungle at night alone.. Meh.

Why day time and night time readings? Because when it's hot, the soil may release significantly more CO2 than when it's cool. AND BECAUSE THE JOURNAL ARTICLE SAYS SO. Whew.

Thank God for Jesus, or I'd have freaked out in the jungle from the first time on.

Tomorrow's the beginning of a break - not really, but, yeah. To KK for a night, Miri for a night, then Mulu for 4 nights. Alright world, goodnight. Sheesh, I haven't packed.

Missing home? You bet.

Mesilau, A Different Time Zone

2011-09-05T05:46:00.002+08:00

Really?

Nahhhh

Here I am, 5.47 AM and still awake, typing this post to commemorate the oddities of working alone here in Mesilau, Mt. Kinabalu. Why so early? Because I never slept last night. Why? Because of a malfunctioning generator ('gen-set') that cuts power off from 12-5 PM daily, blanketing the entire Nature Resort with darkness and disability. Rather than working in the dark, I now sleep during those wretched hours so that I may in some way maximize ~~daylight~~ 'power-ful' hours, very much like how countries adjust their clocks for 'daylight saving' during winter. I've traveled much this year; probably flied more frequently than I ever have, albeit often to the same place.

Next, I shall compile a list of my travelogues for 2011 thus far (complete with dates) to examine the frequency and intensity of it all. Okay, back to making extra (to make up for mysteriously missing) litter bags.

Oh, and I hit the bridge of my nose with a metal chair frame. It's swollen. I can still disguise it as a mosquito bite for now... maybe until it turns purple. There will be visitors possibly sharing my lodge today. Man, what timing.

Come on guys, Hari Raya's over. Can someone fix the generator now so I could live back on Malaysian time? Please?

The Eve of Un-Reality

2011-07-19T23:26:00.007+08:00

Here I am, sitting at the Reception area of Mesilau Nature Resort - yet another night of ~~stealing~~ using free wi-fi, having to brave the cold of night both to have internet access and then return to ~~the comforts of~~ home. Tomorrow, I fly for KL, my home. Some people would say it's 'back to the real world', but I don't agree. Most of the things in a city is really way more than what we need especially in the areas of comfort and convenience. The real world is when I'm here in Mesilau, 'surviving' with minimal facilities/amenities and little else. Still alive and healthy, no? It's not that I have lack here, it is that I (or we) have an overwhelming surplus of luxury in cities.

In the last 2 nights I've not been sleeping to finish up some work before I leave the place. Glad I did it, otherwise I'd not be writing this post right now - would probably be working/packing. I slept ~3-5 hours daily in the daytime instead. Ah, thinking about going home to my own bed makes me swoon. No more crappy polyurethane foam mattresses that were never really made to love your back.

I still see my leaves every time I close my eyes.

Here's tribute to the slippers that have accompanied me from Genesis of my research life - From Cameron Highlands (even into Gunung Irau trail!) to Mt. Kinabalu, not to mention Gombak, FRIM, and some other ecosystems in-between.

"Well done, my good and faithful servant"

Here I'd like to show you what incessant working can do in one day. Here are the 'Before' photos, zero.

An overview

The 'look left to the kitchen door' view

The study table.

Why so many mini black plastic bags? For sample storage of course.

For your info, that's my dining table, dressed in newspaper and completed with a wonderful adornment of black-bagged samples. Trust me, it's there below my samples. Where have I been eating? Sometimes that little top left space, others at the top right space in the picture. Sometimes I also stand outside at the veranda with my bowl of dinner. The study table works too.

Samples along the wall..

More samples leading to the entrance..

Samples on one of the said polyurethane mattresses. I used that as a big 'table' to store samples because the cold floor would cause the stuff inside the plastic bags to become wet from condensation, however dry you have prepared them before.

-Pussy cat side track-

This reminds me of yesterday, when I caught a naughty little pussy cat looking extremely guilty on that mattress. It knew it wasn't supposed to be there. It knocked over my baked beans in the kitchen later on -_-

The day before that, the same cat tried to hop in through my kitchen window, which I often leave open slightly for ventilation. There I was fussing in the kitchen when I heard its usual 'meows' outside. Then I heard a 'thud' at the window. I looked and saw that the cat stood on the window frame before jumping off, shying from me. That thud was a failed attempt of breaking in - the cat must've hit the wooden window frame (ouch).

I managed to pat the pussy once while I was having my lunch sitting at the veranda. It ran away after that. Pfft.

-meow-

Upstairs! Welcome to the Drying Room

Awww.. Sweet lovely Jasmine leaning against the wall.. *melt*

Back downstairs to my study table

Ready? TRANSFORM! A day later.

Yeah I know you're gonna say the dining table's still a mess. Didn't wanna put the fruits in the bag so early ya know, they may go bad a lil too quickly. Blame ethylene build up.

Drying Room

*Gasp*

Where'd it all go!? Check out my cool towel, by the way.

Spotted at one corner of the towel, mama bird (chicken?) tweets along happily (with 2 quavers) as her two lil chicks follow her tail feathers.

So really, where'd the mess go?

...

....

.....

......

.......

........

.........

..........

.........

........

.......

......

.....

....

...

Ta-dah!

There ya go, all packed in boxes at the landing beside the staircase. This is my corner, keep out.

Mental Invasion

2011-07-10T00:08:00.003+08:00

Watching 'The Rite' alone at night has caused me to ponder much. Here, finally a conclusion to my thoughts.

Lucifer's Lament

Glorious was he in his days of splendor,
created flawless; God’s most choicest wonder.
Even light he tamed, the substance he bore,
Now, tempter he’s named, forever at war

How far he has fallen,
but how did he fall?
The breadth of all heaven,
due his unholy call.

Through clouds and sky, earth and air,
was he hurled out for his unholy dare,
whatever became the substance he bore?
It shone too brightly, creating a door

An imposing door, ardently locked,
but his light blinded himself, he waivered, perhaps a mild little shock?

Pride became him, with key of sin he unlocked,
The unspeakable darkness, desires, fancies and whims
But what is hidden must be exposed,
Thence what was lost was never again found

Oh fallen angel, woe becomes you,
in falling momentum still you tug his heel,
his name is man, the son of the Holy,
though sinner like you, he was redeemed, made worthy

Cry foul, unfair! What unjust treatment!
the bearer of light, swallow scales of contempt!?
Says He, “Forget this not, you tempted him first,
sin was born you, so terrible, the worst”.

The one who bore light, burns endlessly bright,
no longer with glory, but fury and fright,
Fallen, yet falling, he continues to lurk,
tempting the unwary to unholy berserk

Now he counts his days till judgement,
“What number have come my way, ahhh.. indulgent”.

Are You Leaf or Seed?

2011-07-06T00:04:00.004+08:00

Yesterday was a frustrating day of telling ~~friend from foe~~ leaf from seed, as you can see above. That's a close up of the stuff I needed to separate. Meow. Still, it had its highlights.

Twirly, cute leaf I found among the horrid litter dungeon.

And the Friendly ~~Butterfly~~ Moth (since its wings are not erect at rest, it should be a moth)

Why do I say friendly?

Look, it's actually saying "Hi!". That's being pretty friendly for an insect.

Fear me

Political Reads

2011-07-05T01:00:00.003+08:00

Boring? Nah, not so when it's Malaysia. Always full of shit, so it can be quite fun to read. Just to sum up some of the recent political hoohas that's been going on here in Malaysia. Some of it's quite funny ~~because they're downright stupid~~. Just sharing, through 3 different perspectives.

Responses to Ibrahim Ali's dare of waging 'holy war' towards Malaysian Christians

The Funny: MalaysiaKini

The Historic ~~& Sarcastic~~: Scott Thong's historical account of the issue

The Mature: Lim Kit Siang

I found it funny how one of the authors there quoted Perkasa as PerkOsa.

To find out more about Bersih 2.0 Rally, get a thorough account here on...

WIKIPEDIA!

I was rather surprised to see Wikipedia being updated so well about the entire Bersih 2.0 Rally. Kudos to whoever's keeping it up!

My Mesilau 'House'

2011-07-03T22:13:00.013+08:00

Till now, I've yet to give a formal introduction of the place I've been staying in for every trip I've made here. This is my 18th day here, my longest trip thus far. Meet my Mesilau 'House', Rhododendron lowii (furthest unit left in picture above):

THE VERANDA

This is what I see when I look out my front door (above)

Look left

Look right

Beyond my veranda

WELCOME INSIDE

Nope, not very neat

Meet my many bags of sorted litter samples (includes leaves, pine needles, twigs, branches, fruit etc etc)

Just a sneak peek of how work goes. Sorting leaves by morphospecies (morph = form; species.... = species, basically sorting into different types). The big black bag on the left contains whatever was caught within 2 weeks by a net (2.5 x 2 m) I placed in the forest. I ~~have~~ >60 of such bags to sort. Life ain't a bed of ~~dead leaves~~ roses.

Sketches of different species in my sketch book (really, my drawing is quite bad, but I just gotta do it or I'll forget which species is which)

The Tour Continues to THE KITCHEN

Old school and messy

Notice the little yellow stove? That runs on butane gas cartridges (those the size of canned spray paint)

Supplies!

Now what's this doing in the kitchen, on the egg crate?

That's why. Cutting onions and shallots is an endeavor that's way too sorrowful for me to face without sunnies *sob*

That jar of peanut butter n' jelly's long-over. Got a new jar =D Bananas are a staple here for me, awesome stuff. They're the mini type. Tastes much better than any banana I can get in Peninsular Malaysia, in my opinion. Very important for.. bowels.

Moving on! UPSTAIRS
Or at least, the landing that's halfway upstairs. A place I keep my stuff/samples when I'm not occupying the house (other researchers may use the house when I'm away).

And facing that landing would be...

The Toilet. No water heater here, so I boil water with a kettle and mix it to the right temperature in that red bucket and bathe with that. It was fun in the beginning.

Presenting: 1st Floor (Assuming that it was Ground floor earlier)

A few more steps up from the landing and you'll be greeted by 3 doors ~~down~~

"To the left, to the left": THE DRYING ROOM

Yup, this is where all the samples (and laundry) I've been sorting gets dried, with the help of that mini-heater. Ironic how the heater is used only for leaves and not for the shivering researcher downstairs.

More unsorted litter samples.... ah God help me.

Presenting the door on the Right: MY ROOM

Ya la, what'd you expect?

Best friend lying on my bed

And the Middle door: THE ~~MASTURBATE~~ MASTER BEDROOM

Unused. I prefer the room I'm using. Tse Yuen slept here when he was around. I've shared this room with two girls before *whewit*. Of course, I took the single bed and they took shared the Queen-sized one.

It does have a cabinet.. which I daren't put my clothes in. I'll introduce my housemates later.

THE BALCONY (which is joined both to my room and the master bedroom)

Now, the housemates and occasional friends that come with the litter samples. I found a trail of slime in a hollowed branch. SLIME FILES.

Lightning snail!

Didn't realize my camera lens was all fogged-up. Common problem here since it's always cold and humid.

Meet my Furry Friends

Greeny was just hanging out by the door-hinge when I snuck up on him for this scandalous photo of her rear.

Fogged up ~~because I didn't realize~~ for sense of mystery.

My Bull Moth friend (Not actual name)

Moo
Orange (who died before the photo was taken. Hung out too long in front the heater). R.I.P.
And the shy guy who won't stay still for a picture
The cool corner-loving dude.
And lil miss gorgeous. Whew.

The cool moth. Reminds me of Eagles.
Another dead but cool dude.
"Butterfly kisses.." Bluek, like you'll actually kiss it. No offense, love the song.

Now, if you're below 18, I strongly suggest you avoid scrolling down for some really scandalous pictures I caught of my housemates. NSFW.

Still wanna see em huh?

Through the glass windows I peek,

your naked underneaths, I seek,

as they turn a blind cheek,

my little camera, I tweak (haha)

*click*

How Great Thou Art

2011-06-29T22:52:00.006+08:00

I made an early trip down to KK today to return the Celcom Broadband modem to get my refund (which by the way, will only be returned to me after 4 months, whee -_-) and had a long walk around the city. When I finally got back to Padang Merdeka to get back up to the mountain *sigh*, I noticed that the usual bus/cab area was blocked out and there were loads of police.. Only until I was in my van and talking to the local in front of me who mentioned "Tak tahu jam berapa Najib datang" ("don't know what time Najib comes") did I realize that our ~~not so~~ dear Prime Minister was to visit the place.

"Whot?"

My first impression of Mr. Najib was not a pleasant one, during his pre-Prime Minister days (chewah talk like I know him). It relates to one Abdul Razak Baginda, who was a talk show host for one of those videos I watched for my Biotech subjects in class once. I remembered the face and name because the name "Baginda" sounded rather catchy.

Abdul Razak Baginda: Yeap, that's me

This all pieced together when I came across this case:

"In an earlier case, a company the opposition claimed was linked to Razak Baginda, an adviser to Mr Najib, was paid juicy fees for services provided over a contract for the purchase of French submarines. A Mongolian woman, said to have worked as a translator in the negotiations, was shot dead and her corpse destroyed with explosives in 2006. Mr Razak was put on trial over her killing, along with two policemen. The case has dragged on for months and seen various odd goings-on, including changes of judge, prosecutors and defence lawyers at the start of the trial. A private detective signed a statutory declaration implicating Mr Najib, retracted it the next day, saying it had been made under duress. Calls by the victim’s family for Mr Najib to testify were rejected. On October 31st the judge ruled that the prosecution had failed to make a prima facie case against Mr Razak."

(November 6th 2008, The Economist)

This was the "Mongolian woman"

Pretty huh? I decided to use a different picture than the usual plane frontal-passport-style photo that just looks depressing. I'm sure she'd appreciate it, since she was quite a fashionable young lady.

"As Najib has repeatedly declared his innocence of any involvement in the Altantuya C4 murder case, he must act decisively to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to lay all the swirling allegations about his involvement in the murder case which are haunting and hounding him, his administration and the nation’s good name, to rest once and for all – whether about the accessibility of C4 explosives, the disappearance of Altantuya immigration records, the exchange of SMS messages or the disappearance of private investigator Bala Subramaniam after making public a very damaging statutory declaration about Najib."

(Malaysia Today, 9th April 2009)

The late Shaariibuugiin Altantuyaa, who was murdered and blown up with a C4 and until now, never avenged. But, vengeance is the Lord's, and I believe someday what is hidden will be made known. I'm listening to a version of "How Great Thou Art" by Carrie Underwood, and it's splendid. It assures me that God is in control.

As the man who made known to me Najib's coming spoke those words, I sense an undertone of condemnation, very much contrary to the respect due toward a Prime Minister. I don't blame him.

New Toy

2011-06-28T21:48:00.004+08:00

As it is immensely cold here (as long as you don't move), I often resort to working out to keep warm when my jacket no longer does the trick.

Meet my new Punching ~~bag~~ bed.

Every time the place gets too cold/work too stressful, punchapunchpunch.

Movies to inspire punching workouts: Undisputed 1-3

For warmth,

Furry Turtle

Day 10

2011-06-25T23:59:00.007+08:00

"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

Day 5

2011-06-20T14:24:00.005+08:00

Day 3 was a chillaxed day as I returned to Mesilau (my 'house' is here) with sore legs after the hike up to ~3000 m a.s.l. of Mt. Kinabalu. Tse Yuen is proving to be a very useful housemate as he tends to all the groceries/food/cooking - good stuff, the house is well-stocked for another week at least. He cooks, I eat - no complains (I get away with this because I'm a bad cook and he's a guy whose food you CANNOT mess with).

Night time came and it was Monopoly card game time - I lost, and lost, and lost. Had a few shots of whiskey to warm ourselves up and we dozed off (not before brushing my teeth).

Day 4, I woke up about 12 pm because of how tired I was, how cold it was and how sore my legs were - just didn't want to move. My body's retaliating against this rampant abuse of legs. Wait till I get as fit as the locals. So then it was lunchtime..

What is it...? Yam?

There is never a more apt time to have LUNCHeon meat than LUNCH time. Why did the meat look so gross?

Because of a lousily opened can...

..opened using a rudimentary, rusty tool..

Stupid fancy-looking plastic can-openers, I'll never trust them ever. That's the second one that's failed to open a single can and broke on their virgin... can-opening ceremony. Lousy The result - pretty good despite the slightly under-cooked pasta. Fusili + luncheon meat + Maggi bolognaise seasoning + vege. Yum.

That aside, I bought a bunch of wrong-sized plastic bags, re-dried bunches of old leaf litter samples that needed it and sorted 5 bags of leaves into their different leaf species so I'd know what leaves are dominant in the litter in that particular site. Not an easy task. I slept at 2 am or so. Tse Yuen began his bbq fantasy today and tried looking for a grill for that.

Day 5 is ongoing. It's been pretty productive thus far with us going to the Kinabalu Park Herbarium (which is by the way, a plant-geek's wet dream) to identify some of those litter species I sorted last night. Bingo! Identified two of the main species that I'm interested in. More sorting after this for another site before I finalize things. Hooha. Tse Yuen's bbq fantasy continues. He also bought a bottle of 'Mountain Chivas' - some local branded alcohol to try. What an alcoholic.. Some interesting things we saw on the way out to Kinabalu Park:

Hmmm?

It's a house-on-wheels!Silver-butt spider with my notebook as background

I've decided to go down to KK for a day before he leaves with him to get supplies/have some fun. Whee.

Day 2 - Reporting from Layang-layang Quarters

2011-06-17T17:48:00.004+08:00

The day started fine, but I lost a member of the supposed 3 man squad (to thesis work). Mr. Lim decided to opt out, wilco leaves my herbarium staff assistant, Handry. Not very eventful hike on itself but I totally forgot how flying it is to hike up Mesilau trail with a heavy (~13-15 kg) bag. 5.5h to reach our quarters midway of the summit route. I now sit in front Handry and another Dusun man (it's the majority race here in the mountain, often mentioned off hand as the country-Kadazan folk because they are really similar in culture, appearance. They also share a common language, but with certain words pronounced differently). They question me about possible research of traditional herbs used for medicinal purposes here and I let out what I know (which isn't much). Time to relax. The adventure resumes tomorrow. Some pictures in the mean time.

Layang-Layang Quarters from the outside. Nope, not grand. From the inside, you could really hear the zinc walls vibrating and humming when the wind blows crazily at night. Whew, cold memories.

Little pleasures in cold places.

Rare picture of author in the bottom bunk of a double-decker bed.

The man Handry from the herbarium - extremely helpful and friendly.

The 'Bas Berhenti-henti' (Eng: Stopping bus/Stop-stop bus) that supposedly takes people around Kinabalu Park - I never rode it.
Looking back on the things I've done

Turtle in Kota Kinabalu

2011-06-16T12:54:00.003+08:00

And I'll be here for about three weeks. Gotta go!

Day 1
Interesting stuff that happened: Tse Yuen's backpack strap snapping ether moment we got off our cab to board our morning flight.
Us having mcds breakfast and having to run to our plane to avoid missing it.
Us (mostly me) spendin >400 bucks on groceries

Don't mean to gun you down...

2011-06-03T01:26:00.003+08:00

but if you say "hi" without leaving your name in the cbox to the right, I really won't know who you are. If you use a nickname or say it to me in person (if I could see your face/hear your voice/~~your rhythm and intensity of breathing~~), I have a chance of guessing. Otherwise, it's just as good as SPAM =p Beep beep!

I am planning to write about Mt. Kinabalu, the first trip up the peak. Because I've got the full set of photos!

To God, be the glory

2011-03-17T23:47:00.003+08:00

One of my favourite choir performances.. I love the last part, which is extremely apt for today.

Two great things were achieved today, by God's mercy.

1. My research permit has finally been granted, which means I can finally work in the field and not be caged where I don't want to be.

"I'm outta here"

2. My good ~~Samaritan~~ Sarawakian friend has found me a company that can offer me equipment at almost 2/3 of the price I was so close to paying - the purchasing was stalled at the admin. I acknowledge God's hand here, Hallelujah!

"Seek first His Kingdom, and all these shall be added unto you"

Amin

Good Mourning

2011-03-06T10:52:00.006+08:00

I feel stupid, but I know it won't last for long,

I've been guessin, but I could've been guessin wrong.

Put the pieces together..

.. and it all falls apart

As for me, I will continue praising the Name of the Lord

Kinabalu Field Trip (11-12 Feb)

2011-02-19T14:23:00.008+08:00

Participants: Student (me) and Supervisor (her)
Route: Mesilau -9 hrs up- Laban Rata (sleep) -5 hrs down- Timpohon Gate

Here's to a Pictures are worth a thousand Words
Tired lady drinks Spritzer at scenic spot to quench thirst (Spritzer ad?)...

as student observes some hardcore lichen growing on the forest floor..
and then there was a waterfall with suspiciously clear, but brownish (tannic) waters..
and there was a heavy backpack. And this the student had to carry...
as he strolled pass pretty ferns..
bright yellow rhododendron flowers..
and colourful moss.
Then the teacher made her pilgrimage up the mountain of gnarly, elfin trees..
to meet with the blazing, epic sun..
that just made every scene more... epic.
Despite the sun, it was cold..
and there were cute (and quick) sunbirds (that were hard to photograph) in the mist, 3200 meters above sea level.
Ring-ring, said my field phone... "Who's there?"
"It's the red rhododendron flowers in the mist"
and there she lurked, behind the vines..
as we observed the minuscule-leaved Leptospermum recurvum.
Work was done,
and knots tied.
Squirrel spotted,
and squirrel ate.

- These squirrels (and shrews - if they have sharper snouts) have been conditioned to come out at the shelters along the hiking trail when they hear the ruffling sound of humans opening their packed food. Have a decent camera and you'll be able to catch a few of them on field.

And then there was the bus that broke-down less than 15 minutes from the airport in KL..
but much to our relief, a saviour was sent, and we were sent to a place of peace and good happiness.

I shall divulge more details when I have time =p

Because I know if I don't post now...

2011-01-25T18:32:00.005+08:00

.. I probably will not find the determination/motivation to put anything up for another 10 years. I haven't gathered thoughts nor content etc to post, but here I am, with several extra minutes to waste before adjourning to prayer service.

If I haven't already shouted for joy, let me do it now

"ROAAAAAAAAAAR!"

Funny how it evokes an image of me shouting for Joy, someone I know in church. Why do I shout for joy? Because after a long spell of barrenness, I have finally begun my post grad, the PhD has begun! (Mumbling voice goes "Permanent head damage")

Right on, I started on the 3rd of January 2011. "I've been incredibly busy, so I haven't been posting regular updates and writing up those posts I promised....."

BULLSHIT!

Fact is, I have lost the drive for writing and posting regularly, simply because I have to get out of my comfort zone. I have had the time, but it was spent worrying about my project or doing other similarly, if not more unproductive things. I wanna reignite my lil hobby of writing, and keep it running.

Time to break the cycle and work on that time management, O' ye of little faith!

"O come all ye fat-ful,
joyful and triumph-fun,
O come ye, O come ye to Bat-le-ham"

Promise to be back soon.

'Tis time...

2010-11-29T18:38:00.003+08:00

Hello,

before I start writing posts about twin mountains with pictures again, I'll say that I've finally received my leffer of otter.

Till the scholarship is confirmed, I shall hold onto this letter... not physically since it's sent by e-mail. Hallelu-JAH

Thank Yous

2010-10-12T17:04:00.003+08:00

To the many who poured unto me (some more personal, some less) birthday wishes and treats, thank you very much (be it a Facebook message, wish to my face or long-distanced call). I am happy. Thanks!

Now, after that DreamVillage week (Dream Village is the new premise of my church, Acts Church, and we've just had our clean up, set up, and then a memorable Groundbreaking service on 10-10-10), it's time to catch up on marking papers - which I must say, is a major turn off which I have to face. Hooha! I volunteered to be on choir and to help the clean up for that Grounbreaking Service. I had fun =p Being in the choir has given me an excuse (and no excuses not to ) to shop for long-sleeved shirts and ties of different colours and sorts, and I must say, I kinda like shopping for ties. It's easier than shopping for shirts anyway (given my thick neck, torso [~~BELLY~~] and large short arms). I am so behind time with my blog.

"I apologize, Furryturtle"

Furryturtle wails "It's too late to apologize.. it's too laaaaate"

What have I been up to?

2010-09-18T05:26:00.003+08:00

In the last 9 or so months, I have been pregnant. Pregnant not with another human, but with ideas and a proposal for my future PhD project. Praise God, I have only moments ago, given birth (the baby is being examined by the Dr. right now.. Dr. Cathy). Procrastinate no more, you fool of 5' 2".

In the last 40 days, I have eaten no meat (or none knowingly anyway) because I participated in a 40 day prayer and fast program initiated by NECF (National Evangelical Church Fellowship) with participants all over Malaysia. Participation was entirely voluntary and choice of fasting too, was of my own choice. We were supplied with a prayer booklet for prayer items for each of the 40 days, with these items revolving mostly around the nation and her people's wellbeing. I've grown closer to God just spending this time praying nightly. I broke fast this afternoon by (intentionally) tasting my first bit of meat in 40 days, in the form of hot and spicy KFC. Thigh.

Throughout the semester periods of the entire year thus far, I have been mostly bogged down by marking reports. It's ridiculous sometimes. It was one of the causes for my lack of inspiration to continue my PhD proposal writing. But I guess knowing there's a deadline on the 22nd September did help my lazy procrastinating ass finish it up quickly. I had 9 months, and I did 60-70% of the proposal in the last 48 hours. Someone hit me. Students and their reliance on due dates. I must grow out of this. Pfft.

Joined a Christian movement organized by my church (Acts Church) called Campus Revolution (in Monash itself) and been religiously (hehe) meeting every Monday morning in campus for weekly prayers.. at ironically ungodly time: 0730 in campus. Considering the time taken for my morning shower and drive to campus, that would equate to me waking up at about 0630, but it's worth it. Hooha! Jesus! Also, we're currently hand-making bookmarks to be given out to students during the study week so that we can encourage temporary library residents from inclining towards suicidal behaviour. Heh =p That aside, I've met some really fun buddies (juniors, actually) to hang out with through this Campus Revo movement.

Speaking of church, I've joined the church choir and will be on probation for 3 months before I get confirmed. I just served my first session last Sunday on stage and it was fun. I didn't know I needed to wear a tie for the occasion and had to rob a friend's tie for that Sunday. Thank yous Jason Han =p I'm on this Sunday as well, and the colour code for clothes this Sunday is.... Black and Pink.

Lastly, it's the middle of the World Changers Academy (WCA) right now, a leadership conference organized by my church. I attended the first session and I must say, the speakers really do have some good stuff to impart. Reverend Khoo Hin Heong and Datuk Edward Ong. No time for me to sleep before the day starts, but I know it's gonna be good.

Really, it looks like I just counted my blessings =p

Hallelujah

Airport Adventures

2010-08-31T21:22:00.002+08:00

Last Saturday, I was supposed to go watch That Awesome Gig (yes, that's what it's called) by a bunch of local bands who mostly have members from my church (Acts Church). I was all riled up over it and thought I could go watch it on time when suddenly, I received a call from a certain someone saying Sung Ah's (Justin's gf from Korea) flight was canceled. So as we stepped into the venue of the gig, jac, sook yin and myself decided to go rescue her from subang airport since she's stranded and her boyfriend's bout to board a plane.

After all,we did drop her there. Hehe.

So we finally picked her up after she managed to call me with an officer's phone at the airport (and after sook yin and jac got lost for awhile in the airport searching for her). While we all had phones, jac's had no battery, sook yin's too was running out (and I didn't have her number) and sung ah's somehow can't be accessed. That leaves my lil trusty phone.

Things took an exciting turn there. Sung Ah being new and foreign here understandably wanted to leave to her destination as soon as possible,so she found out there's another flight she could catch from lcct and we drove her there,just on time to get the ticket before finding out that flight too,is delayed -.- so we dined together in oldtown, a place she's been to twice in her two day stay in Malaysia. This was after her credit card transaction for the ticket failed and after jac paid cash for her hefty ticket too (of course she paid jac back after that).

All in all,she caught her flight and gave me a scare when I got a call from her late at night. First questions I asked were "did something happen again,are you still in malaysia?" I sked. Haha.

Well, at least I got to know her better rather than just awkwardly meeting her once and then briefly sending her off to the airport. Whew,we finished that night later than we should've if we watched the gig,but that's okay =D

I typed this with my phone. Hooha!

When the music fades....

2010-08-24T01:18:00.003+08:00

like a salmon returning to his home,
uncanny but so surely,
stealthily, he returns in the cover of night,
to the very place he knows as home.

kindly unspoken but loudly known,
insatiable, infamous, intensive, intentional,
lightly inoculating this simmering cauldron,
like an alchemist brewing and bringing hell,
so goes the tale; the one who fell

Procrastination

2010-08-17T11:33:00.003+08:00

Comfort is the most powerful procrastinant known to affect man. I have experiencing high levels of comfort and hence been in chronically procrastinating.

Cure: Conscience

Prescriptive Question: "Are you living a life worthy of Christ's death?"

Ah man, pressure pressure...work hard Jo Kien

*On another note, I met with Acts Church's (the church I attend) Campus Revo Team last night in campus. Cool, finally a place to channel out my love for my God. hahah

Something new..

2010-08-13T02:18:00.002+08:00

I have a laptop and a wireless connection,but I'd rather not use them now because I have a new.. ?

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini

Just saying hi :-)

Someone has been getting a lil too busy to..

2010-08-11T14:46:00.005+08:00

write.

Lemme make a list of things to write about..

1. Slash concert (Aweshum)

2. I passed my church's Choir auditions! yeay! (hehe)

3. Cameron Highlands with Chan, Mich, Jac, Joanna

4. My car (Tmo) is back

5. My electric guitar (Emma) just got her bridge readjusted to accommodate fat-bottomed strings

6. ... Oh, I have a man-crush on Myles Kennedy, the vocalist for Slash's concert. A W E S O M E

Yeap, that's the list. We'll see if I come to elaborate more on that list =p

and he's baptized!

2010-08-01T19:58:00.003+08:00

".. in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be baptized"

*bloop....whoosh*

Wheee~

I'll post up a picture of my Baptism Certificate when I've taken a picture of it. Yeahoo, God is good =p

Choir, lalala

2010-07-28T00:10:00.002+08:00

Looming ahead in the week: field trips, a Homes (cell group) outing (perhaps?), ~~A PHD PROPOSAL AIYO SHY LA~~, a choir audition.

Wow, it's midweek and there's still so much coming. Looks like it's gonna be "Jesus Loves Me" for the audition on Thursday, may the chords hold strong and not falter when they're called for. haha.

Good night world!

My Faithful Tmo...

2010-07-17T16:04:00.004+08:00

"One, twenty one guys..."

Tmo, my faithful Wira who has loyally served me (and many other fortunate backsides) for more than 4 years have finally come to meet a major accident. The gourmet dish included a tasty grey Wira sandwich made with lorry and Kembara flavoured bread, topped off with a runaway van. Diagram ahead.

Note the big black curb. Cars were trying to turn out to the left from the NPE bridge which I was on (Grey box with 'Tmo' markings). Tailing a big white van (marked red in diagram because he's guilty in my eyes) at about 60 km/h, the van picked up even more speed, did not break, and then swerved off quickly when a lorry (aqua) and another car ahead jammed their brakes. That left my poor Tmo to dive head on into the lorry (which suffered little if any damage) followed by a butt jab by Karyn's champagne Kembara behind me. Red arrows denote collisions.

"Open mouth, gaping butt"

Such is the fate my faithful servant, Tmo..

We shifted our cars to the bus stop further ahead after calming down a traumatized Karyn, who also twisted her neck and wrist (Sorry!). I missed the number of the van, no biggie, he would've been free of guilt anyway. After that, it was the seemingly long wait for Karyn's family to come get her while I accompanied her - my car battery was leaking, so I was getting a bit nervous. During this time also also came the opportunist EON workshop people who tried to convince me to tow my car "free of charge, even printed in black and white for you! We'll only keep your car until you decide to pay up the exorbitant repair quotations that we'll no doubt give you when your car's stuck in our workshop, so that you'll have no choice but to pay to get your car back!". That fella was quite insistent ~~and annoying~~ but I brushed him off politely. Too bad I totally forgot about the booklet with my insurance panel workshop numbers in my car, dumbass Jo Kien.

Word of Advice: If you crash and can't move, call your insurance panel workshop to tow your car. No random friendly stranger towing service help, they'll strip your wallet naked, and if that ain't enough to pay, they'll probably strip you next. When in doubt, call dad. hahaha

When they finally came and I drove back home, it was a scary affair that no doubt Jesus helped me make through, haha. Going up bridges worked my car and my radiator fan wasn't working, I could see my car engine's temperature meter going a little too high for comfort - like a bar away from the 'danger' zone. I started praying and calling out to God and He came through for me when the aircon just suddenly turned cold when I finished my prayer - the radiator fan was working again! Then I saw the engine temperature meter beginning to show some cooling. Praise God!

That wasn't the end. When my battery leaked even further, my engine heated up again to the brink of danger. That's when I began to off my engine everytime I go downhill and just steer my car at Neutral gear. When the car's almost out of rolling power (hehe), I'll turn on my engine again. It went on like that (thank LDP for the flyovers) till I reached KJ station and my engine was dangerously hot. Praise songs help. Anyway, I stopped at the bus stop and waited for my engine to cool down for about half an hour before driving again, rolling back to the bus stop across Atria, near my house, where I was ambushed by the owner of the workshop (City Hundred, Sg. Kayu Ara; and City Alignment, Damansara Jaya) who sold me a pair of 'brand new' tyres before, offering me towing services akin to the EON fella before.

Like, hell no? Think I'll walk into your slaughter house again? This guy's shops are actually under the insurance panel workshop group, and are also the nearest and most convenient ones as well, but like my grandpa said "Kena lottery also don't send to them!". Hahah. So we employed the services of a certain Soon Fatt Heng workshop in Jalan Kilang instead; won't know if they're good yet, but the workshop's huge and it looks decent.

Anyway, long story cut short, no one got hurt and I'm just so glad. Thank you Jesus! Praise the Lord! Now, when my mom called me that afternoon I got home, she was having lunch with a friend of hers who does some chinese alternative medicine stuff; which includes some hardcore (no, not the porno kind) massage services and he offered to 'take a look at my chest'. So when momma returned with him and told me, I thought he wanted to look at my 'cheh' ('cheh' in Cantonese means car, but the 's' in the end got me wondering a bit). Anyway, he asked me if I was tugged back by my seatbelt during the crash, and I said "very slightly, didn't hurt" and that was where I committed my life to a path of pain.

"Your favourite bloggers topless and uncensored! Pay only RM10 a year to have full access to the uncensored pictures!"

I was 'massaged' with a flat stone object that was used to scrape my chest downwards (my ribs still hurt) and right side of my shoulder, basically the entire area where the seatbelt would impact you when it holds you back. I felt like my lungs were gonna be scraped out. And when he was scraping my shoulder area, I had to tell him "man dit, man dit, jeok foh la" (slower, slower, I'm gonna catch fire) because he was doin it so hard and fast. He used his knuckles to knuckle my chest and really, I had to close my eyes and think how Jesus suffered to be willing to go through that pain. Ouch.

Really, the accident didn't hurt me. The treatment did. hahaha, but guess it's good in the long run; apparently those seatbelt tugs can leave you with long term injuries that will bug you when you grow older. Oh well. I'm a shy guy, no uncensored photos for you.

Bloom or Gloom Looms

2010-07-05T13:25:00.002+08:00

Come on boy, finish this proposal before the uni semester starts and you be overloaded. At least 16 days till your doom, JK. Gloom and Doom, or Boom and Bloom! Ngaoooom!

"Crazy, crazy, crazy for you, baby"

I (always) have a bunch of Crazy friends...

2010-07-02T02:43:00.002+08:00

Me: Okay, karaoke finally on this Thursday, 2-5 pm!

*5 pm comes*

Tony: Itchy la, let's go snooker.

We: OK

*7.30 pm, after a few (2.....) uneventful games*

We agreed that its "Makan time man, we ain't going anywhere in this jam"

About 9 pm, suddenly we realized...

Tony: Eh.. wanna go jamming ah?
Me: But.. hey wait, we have you (bassist + vocals), Sim Onn (drummer!) and myself and Jac! BOLEH!

10pm: A little while later of studio hunting, I was going back home to bring my pedal case (whewit) and Emma ma girl. And I even fetched Justin ma boy. hahah, tagged along and ended up as camera man; Justin now holds embarrassing videos of unpracticed, unrehearsed brutal spontaneous jamming videos of us. Oh man.

12am: Post Jamming Drink.

1.30am: Balique.

Teramat random spontan day

*yawn*

Good night Jesus (and world)

Tango...

2010-06-28T18:09:00.003+08:00

is kinda cool. I realize of the little tango songs I've heard, I haven't really disliked any of them. I'll describe tango as an emotionally intense genre that has a 'shock' beat. Also, Yo-Yo Ma, a cellist (cello player), is quite cool. You go, fellow hua ren. I bought his RM25 (RM50 for 2 collection) "The Essential Yo-Yo Ma" cd. I likey

Unfit..

2010-06-28T16:49:00.003+08:00

1 day of ~~badminton~~ buttminton, or more like, 2 hours is all it took to destroy me. haha. Currently aching from my (right) arm down to my toes, I really never expected the toes to ache too. Most affected areas involve a part that comes in pairs, big pairs. Nevermind. Ouch, gotta get fit and be less lazy.

Just to push it a little further down...

2010-06-25T14:54:00.002+08:00

I just feel a lil uncomfortable opening my blog in a public place with Carrie looking so ~~boobylicious~~ dangerously alluring down there. As such, this is a filler post to push her a lil lower down. hahaha.

Bible says...

"My son, do not forget my teaching,

but keep my commands in your heart"

I feel like a little schoolboy

2010-06-23T15:31:00.003+08:00

who's got a loser schoolboy crush on some hot chick (who sings)...

Damn, girl...

Slash

2010-06-23T14:57:00.002+08:00

akan datang ke Malaysia pada 5 Ogos ini. Kawan-kawan, mari kita menonton konsert ini bersama-sama! Jin, Tony, Dorin, Michelle (if you're back), Chan, YH?, JS and more, mari-mari.

I'll confess I'm not a big fan of Slash, but I'll also admit he's good and this may just be a chance of me becoming a fan. hahah. Link below for ~~testicle~~ article.

http://entertainment.malaysia.msn.com/News/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4156029

Colours..

2010-06-22T00:58:00.001+08:00

Done! Guys & colours.. tsk tsk.. okay fine, it's just me and colours.

Thanks, Dorin, for helping me dress my blog in fine colours (and saving me that headache)

Only an Australian can pull this off...

2010-06-21T16:40:00.002+08:00

Facebook status steal...

My supervisor's name Thanks for all the birthday wishes everybody. I had a lovely time celebrating at Monash Open Day.... I am sure all the balloons there were meant for me....·

Change?

2010-06-21T09:20:00.005+08:00

Messing with Blogger's new template designing tool, I really think this new design's rather ugly (my fault for colours); I'm bad with colours, as my lab friends and supervisor could tell. Anyway, do suggest some colour changes I should make. I do like the wider reading pane though, it's the main reason I even tried this. haha. Officially on trial period.

Oh my God, there's no denying it, I'm hopeless with colours

not that I'm colour blind or something, I just suck at coordinating different colours to make them nice

(especially when it involves green)

Hmmmm, some unexpected but very welcome help with colours there. I don't know if I've made the best of it, but it's a real shame that I can't seem to change post title colours with the tool (may have to dig into the html, booo).

Thanks =)

Good ol' Days

2010-06-21T08:47:00.003+08:00

Some pictures from my year 3 Lab Management unit. I don't remember if I posted these pictures before, but just for kicks..

All these pictures were taken during a project (not necessarily For the project) to assess certain labs in uni. That's Tony assessing the floor comfort for you.

le Bounce the gangster and myself pretending to be hard at work while Amin, dropping all pretense, gives one heck of an onscreen roaring yawn. You go dude.

Erm... assessing... table sturdiness

le Bounce, the Flash

Tony (&) le Bounce assessing lab benches for their cool factor. There's so much less (silly & dirty) jokes without le Bounce around.

A Fork in the Wood

2010-06-18T09:55:00.004+08:00

So comes another fork in the wood,

and they decided to each explore their chosen paths,

each carrying opposite ends of a thread

that would lead them back to each other, back to the fork

So off they went,

marvels and wonders greets one,

the discovery of a calling,

a wide-eyed journey of excitement

off went the other, with his back bent,

mundane forests said their routine hellos,

an arduous road, no short of falling,

the same ol' walk of abandonment

down came the blanket of night,

and both travelers remembered their plight,

exiting opposite ends of their respective paths in the wood,

they suddenly felt the tug of a thread, awakening is rude

much to share, so much to tell,

much to do, so much too cover,

another decision, a ringing line felt,

follow the string, or snip the ring, thought each other

"go by faith, and not by sight",

so trudged one from the other side,

back to the unrecognizable fork in the wood,

the place where they both once stood

what awaits our traveler,

who faithfully held and followed the thread?

a mirror image closing in to the fork?

a forest too dark to penetrate?

a single ended thread, forlorn from the fork?

Once again, we walk from the fork,

walk the walk and talk the talk

Another Audio Addiction...

2010-06-18T01:56:00.002+08:00

From the very unlikely source of....

Rihanna!

"Why ai ai ai yahh?"

Hatin' on the Club

Dextral... Sinistral?

2010-06-16T09:26:00.003+08:00

Hi, this was me when I was 17 and cute

*smile*

Then, my face was split into two, and each side regenerated to produce identical halves, so that there were two of me.

Meet the Right side of me. So cute right? Mr. Dextral.

Now meet my left side, Mr. Sinistral.

>_<

Man, even I think it looks ugly/evil. It's really no wonder that ancient people of so many cultures always condemn left-handedness, sometimes seen as evil. I can relate. Sinister.

Together, these two guys, make me

*smile*

RE:UNION 2010 Finale

2010-06-13T00:39:00.004+08:00

Tonight, I shed my first ever genuine tear for Jesus Christ.

Today, I was blessed with a friend, Sheng from my secondary school, who comes before me in Acts Church as a changed man in Jesus' name. While he claimed he wishes to see more signs and miracles, he knew not that in my mind, seeing him as he is today compared to his past, he already is the living miracle. All glory to God!

Praise the Lord.

ps. It was the right eye, may the left one learn to love you better, Lord.

"God you are so, so good..

2010-06-11T00:54:00.003+08:00

..there is just none, like You,

You make me sing, out loud for joy,

Lord I'm so grateful"

Song by Rev. Kenneth Chin, Senior Pastor of Acts Church, written within an hour, one morning as he took his morning stroll in the park, crying and praying out to the Lord about the new building that the church are in the process of acquiring, but are faced with a huge sum to pay off. Background is, the pastor's not musically adept/gifted or anything. He accredits all of it to the Holy Spirit (he barely sings and knows 3 chords on guitar) putting it on his mind. Hehe, how awesome that a bloke like him who laughs at his own musical (non)sense could write such a wonderful song.

It's such a beautiful song that hits all the right spots and makes me wanna float about in pretty meadows like a butterfly on cloud nine. I bought the CD, whee!

Conference (RE:UNION) is awesome thus far =p

RE:UNION

2010-06-10T05:03:00.004+08:00

RE:UNION begins today (Conference by Acts Church, the church I attend). Gonna start tonight and finish on Saturday night, whew whew. Ready for the word of God? =p Lalalalala~

And that's about it for marking this semester, praise God

~_~

Night sessions are free, check it out =p

In Defence of Malaysia

2010-06-08T17:12:00.003+08:00

Indirect, but true. Many people (mostly Malaysians, people like our parents and ourselves) take jibes at our country's pro-Muslim policies; about how "freedom of religion" really does not involve those who are Muslim or born Muslim. Very often, these are the same people who will come up and criticize you, be it your parents or friends, when you decide to practice your right of freedom of religion. i.e. when I accepted Christ. Your family and extended family who talks about such issues, especially during get togethers just to gossip about the country would be the ones who suddenly lose sight of the policy of "freedom of religion". Not that I hate any of them for any of that.

Malaysia, you ain't that bad,

don't let the hypocrites put you down.

Satan, you naughty boy

*I am feeling random & melancholic*

em pleh suseJ

2010-06-08T16:17:00.002+08:00

I've been intensively marking papers since morning.. and I feel like throwing up on them. hahaha =p

Thank You, Lord, for Your miracles. May You bless me with Your Holy Spirit and help me finish these papers.... In Jesus name, Amen....

Ok ah, promise ah? Please laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Old and Gay Grey

2010-06-03T16:17:00.003+08:00

These are times when I know and can't help but feel rather gay. Here I am sitting in OldTown and then this old Taiwanese song plays, and I remember it from the 90s, more than 10 years ago, when my mom used to listen to this song a lot. And all of a sudden I look up more about this song online (Youtube, translations, etc) and am currently in a love-hate relationship with it. Hooked. Haha. Hate to use the word, but if there was one word that'd describe the mood of the song (& lyrics), it'd be "EMO". Good ~~gay~~ song though.

Jeff Chang - Bu yao dui ta shuo (Obviously, I don't write Chinese)

Times when you wonder "what did this guy do to have such a high voice?"

Mulu 3 - Creepy Crawlies

2010-05-27T13:33:00.015+08:00

So here comes the Creepy Crawlies of Mulu. After trimming down the shots to the ~~best~~ presentable few I found, there isn't so many after all (guess it says something about my photography skills, ouch). Haha. Decided to name them Creepy Crawlies since not all of them fit into the 'bugs' or 'insects' category. Bugs really only include a specific family of insects, while insects... only include 6-legged stuff, so Creepy Crawlies would cover all (spiders, milipedes etc). So here we go, beginning with a bug-graveyard shot at the research centre, some researcher's work.

A Bug's Nightmare

Guess who? When you mess up your settings and the flash is set to full blast... The poor praying mantis suffers. It looks rather cute though, haha. Sorry dude.

We actually spent a good deal of time letting this guy crawl all over our hands

And these beautiful exhibitionists, ever present in groups if you were to walk through the boardwalks through the jungle in the morning-noon. They tend to congregate in sunny spots. Raja Brooke butterflies, real gliding beauties when they're flying. Wing span measures about 15 cm sometimes, yup, they're pretty big. That's why Brooke named them after himself (ya know, how males/kings tend to associate big things to 'themselves').

And always, Cheryl and I would notice this particular outcast butterfly who'll be hanging out nearby the congregation, looking rather emotional alone. Like a case of the ugly duckling, only, I kinda like how its body is spotted.

And here ya go, first of the furry caterpillars. They're deadlier than you think. Let the video do the talking. Where big active ant loses to lazy furry caterpillar.

Don't mess with the caterpillar.

Almost got fooled thinking these guys were part of the plant.

Leaf insect in the dark, nightwalk. This one was at least 15 cm long, big guy.

Zoomed shot of this flatworm, slimy, hammerheaded and somewhat handsome. Too bad it was too far and dark to get a better picture.

Pseudoscorpions, which were rather big. They're known to be ~4mm in length. These guys were at least 8-10 cm each. Interesting bunch of creepy crawlies. Not actual scorpions, nor do they fit as insects/spiders. They're in their own Order, known as Pseudoscorpionida.

Order Blattodea.... also commonly known as cockroaches. haha
Moth
Naughty, naughty..

"Night time, sharpens,heightens each sensation"

(Phantom of the Opera)

Mating stick insects.

"Night time.."

*hit by flying slipper*

Whew.. Mating milipedes, hooha!

Spider! I forgot what it was, but I think this was some 'Headhunter/Hunter spider' or something, which was a lot rarer than the usual wolf spider we see all over the place. About 3+ inches long from leg to leg.
Leaf insect.
A whole bunch of baby milipedes by tufts of moss. I'm particularly proud of this picture because it looked a lot like a picture I saw in a Mulu book depicting these creatures too *puffs chest*

(got lucky)
Cicada
Look closer, a whole army of baby spiders. Man, what a party.

Mama Spider.

Check out the egg sack it's carrying beneath its chin. Awesome stuff.
Shiny lil beetle.
Most of the pictures were taken at the plank walk, either day or night, as you can see from lighting conditions (flash usually employed for night shots). This one... was taken at our toilet. Blue.. butterfly? I can't really tell.
The orange-coloured cousin of the earlier hammer-headed flatworm. These guys were pretty common.
Naga Terbang

Dragonfly.

An ugly, fly-larvae look-alike (maybe) hanging on a stalk of green. Think twice before grabbing anything here.
Wolf spider on a cave wall. Moonmilk cave, if my memory doesn't fail me.
Ol' Ant finally prepared to get rid of its wings to settle down.
Red leaf insect (see why it's called leaf insect?) walking.. Limping actually, it's missing two of its left legs.
Look closely. This is actually a dead hammer-head worm, dried and half eaten in that groove in the plank walk. Inside the groove, I see gleaming lil creepy crawlies I cannot discern; either ants or baby scorpions.

One mini 6-legger I cannot identify. Fluffy, white, six-legged, seemingly furry... I don't know, but it's cute (~0.5 cm long)
Now back to mean-faced furry caterpillars.
And the same kind of fat-assed ant from before, but with its wings still attached and hiding beneath a leaf.
Ladybug?
You almost fooled me... almost.

Long, long stick insect. I had to peek real hard to make out which end was its face. There ya go (easily 30 cm long). I almost stepped on it.
What's this? I don't know, but it was walking.
Hello, orange worm.

The Almost Grabbed-erpillar Case

So I was trying to continue snapping pictures of the orange worm above as it crawled to the outside railing of the boardwalk and thought I'd just lean my arm over it on the other side so I can snap back towards myself to catch the worm. Nearly a big mistake. I had a gut feeling telling me to check what's on the other side before I leaned my arm over and wah lah....

Furry Caterpillar, Green. I nearly squashed you with my elbow. Thank the Lord for His mercy. hehe. Sidetrack, Cheryl once grabbed this mean, really spiky and furry looking brown caterpillar in Cameron Highlands. It stung her hand, which swelled up for a couple of days. And she was down with fever for at least a day.
Lesson of the post?
Grab no furry caterpillars.

Notice that maroon-white background above the wooden platform that the worm's crawling on? Well, that's my shirt. I was in cam-whore position with this worm.

-end-

Fur..
..ry, mean-faced caterpillar. Their faces reminds me of 'Sobi Masks' from Warcraft.
Another one of those unidentified fluffy whites, this time with a tinge of electric blue.

In Tse Yuen's words "It's the most cooperative dragonfly species around"
I must agree, this dragonfly would pose for you about as long as you want it to.
Another nasty looking caterpillar that looks like it could cause some real damage.
Nasty grab-me-nots.

Big fat juicy snail hanging on a stalk of plant. 3" diameter at least, so tempting to squeeze it. Ah man I'm such a sicko.
More fluffies.
Look above. Tse Yuen spotting his favourite nasty furry caterpillars (he's mortally terrified by fury caterpillars). Do try looking up once in awhile, they may very well be right above you, dangling on a branch, just waiting for their chance ~~to pounce on you~~
Remember this?

The teaser from before..

..and so comes an end to the Creepy Crawlies of Mulu.. With eight legs we began, with eight legs we finish.

Next up, Mulu Caves.

Frog Sperm Intermission

2010-05-26T15:34:00.001+08:00

This made me laugh as I searched online for useful mountain information (it was in a mountaineer's blog). As promised long ago, I shall finish up my Mulu series posts.

Imprinting Impressions

2010-05-20T10:49:00.002+08:00

Here I am, alone in Old Town (becoming a norm), pondering as I go along with my day to day routine... about how people would usually remember and judge your bad/naughty side despite there being another side of you that's the complete opposite. First impressions are important, yup, but that doesn't mean after leaving a good first impression, letting out your naughtier/bad side won't cause that good first impression to be written over by the latter.

I wonder why I'm even writing about this. Maybe I just want to get it off my chest.. or head.

Sometimes, no matter how much of a good impression you make from the start, once a flaw crops up, it'd be pinned down on the eternal wall of condemnation. And sometimes, no matter how hard/serious you work for long periods of time, letting your hair down (figurative; my hair would only reach my brow even if I 'let it down') equally freely a couple of times would cause people to never take you seriously again, just because you've shown yourself capable of having fun/partying/being a court jester, so to speak.

It's in our sinful human nature to judge. And though I myself try my level best not to, I know I still fall prey to this nasty, automatic little gnawing habit at the very corner of my mind sometimes; almost unknowingly, in a mental whisper that gives a feeling akin to yourself unconsciously eavesdropping, until your conscious mind begins to digest the mutterings of that little part in your head. And then I consciously tell myself to stop, sometimes out aloud if I'm alone. haha

I really don't like it when people generalize my behaviour, thinking they've known me well enough to do so. Perhaps some do know me enough, but more often than not, the ones who do this are those won don't. Still waters run deep, but sometimes, turbulent ones do, too.

I think these thought sprouted from myself noticing how I'm always more reserved and held back when dealing with my church people; leaving my more formal, less-intimate and sometimes I feel, pretentious self to face them. Both sides, the serious hard person; and the lazy, master jester are me. I feel like by only being perceived as one or the other by different people, my free-mouthed outspokenness is stifled, and people will either paint a wrong, deceitful picture of me or even perceive me as an extremely shrouded figure. Real close friends are those who knows these two people in me, and can see and tell which one is in control at different times. I cherish these people; the ones that I would go out of my way to keep in touch with. Not all of these are animate beings though, there are friends like Jasmine and Emma (my guitars) or more generally, music, that I feel are always there for me. I can play the same instrument with aggression and anger, or gently caress it with sensuality; it wouldn't complain, and the instrument's voicing would usually be an apt description of what I'm feeling at the moment. Someone to celebrate, weep and feel mellow with you, pretty neat. Alright, you may think I'm psycho, and you may just be right, but I'm not ashamed of it.

Or maybe I'm just bipolar (actually, this may just be true, hahaha).

I don't mind being judged by people I don't care about, frankly. See me as a flirtatious whore and that's just fine. As the most serious person alive, that's alright. But for people close to me, that I care about, whom I would have to deal with continuously for a long time to come, it just sucks that I have to care, just because if I don't, I may make things difficult for myself and highly likely, someday explode at them like an overstuffed German pork sausage.

So, after writing this up, life still goes on, no changes on the outside. People will still (mis)judge me and piss me off. I may still walk into different places with a mask of formality; maybe not? At least, I feel much better letting out this noxious fart, at a quiet little place where no one will be gravely harmed.. Or so I think.

Updates

2010-05-20T00:00:00.005+08:00

As promised, I've registered to vote, and surprisingly, the entire process took me less than 10 minutes. Get to post office in the morning, get to counter, ask to register to vote, fill the form... pretty much it, really. Proof!

Tried to get creative with censorship.

The picture below shows my first ever official document that states I am a Christian, and I am proud of it (despite it being spelled 'Kristian' in Malay)

Maybe I should've thought better than to use the star. haha. Anyhow, it's really empowering to know that I've registered to vote, especially after I've watched two videos Cheryl shared with me (yes, the Ficus lady) regarding the state of Malaysian politics. I think they're from Malaysiakini.tv. We gotta vote to make the numbers so them parties don't stay in their safe/comfort zone and snack on our money. If you haven't registered to vote, come on, even the lazy assed Furryturtle did it.

Please don't say "I don't care" because if you really don't, you have no right to whine about how backward Malaysia is or how you may suffer in the future if a bad ruling system gives you shit; because you didn't exercise your right to vote when you had the choice to. Whoa, I feel like a bullshitting politician already, awesome.

This Friday night, I'll be playing guitar for the first time for worship in Homes (cell group), serving my God for the first time. Wish me luck =p

Songbook holding my chord sheets, one of my new commitments (to print n keep them so I can refer in the future).

I also bought a new wallet. Australian Donkey. Or some prefer calling it Alain Delon.

Notice the little leather strap around the headstock? 30 bucks so I don't have to drill a strap button into my poor Jasmine (the guitar).
Speaking of straps.... RM70 T_T

They'll be my gear for Friday night... and a long time more =)

Do Something EPIC?

2010-05-10T01:24:00.003+08:00

Do Something Epic

Heard about those guys? When I read the website on the papers (The Star) the other day, I thought it was another group they were talking about. But nope, I just checked, it's my friends from school who were really up to it. Looks like something big, something epic indeed.

Check them out, in both videos -

vote to make a difference.

Voice your Choice

Starting a Voting Booth

Or at the very least, just get your ass to a post office closest to you, and register yourself as a voter. I admit, I haven't, but I am going to =p

Kemaluans..

2010-05-06T20:03:00.002+08:00

"A survey in five secondary schools revealed that most male teenagers will deny making their girlfriends pregnant. Instead, they would accuse the girls of sleeping with other boys."

"Besides denial, many of the boys also tend to run away instead of taking responsibility for the pregnancy. As for the girls, many yearned to be in love, and they were willing to 'give all' to their boyfriends."

(Excerpts from The Star, 6th May 2010)

Oh fellow kukuchiaus of Malaysia, what kemaluans you have brought upon your fellow penis-bearers. ~~Come erect~~ Stand up and do what's right.

Mulu 2 - Plants, Fungi and A Little More..

2010-05-03T14:11:00.015+08:00

Hi, here comes another picture post. It may not be of interest to many since it involves little humans and many plants. Not so many, but more green than brown (humans). Enjoy, if it delights you. Most of these pictures were taken in different parts inside of the Mulu National Park itself, unless otherwise stated.

"test tis, one, two.... (there can't be three)"

Fruity-Tutti

Bola!

Beany

Furballs!

The following few pictures were taken at the fringe of a heath forest that we visited after a brief visit to a Penan village.

I was baffled when I saw this.
What exactly are these fruit?
Nope, I never found out either, any words of wisdom?
A failed flash photo that shows some detail but shrouds 50% of the subject. Moron. Haha

*Back in the Park*

Low-hanging fruit? *snip*

Fungi Junky
The colours in this picture are truer to the actual scene.
Quadrabolus =p

*takes a step back*
Berries on a flower?

*takes a step back*
Badly out of focus.

Geez

*takes a step back*

The plant

*rushes forth*

Fruit-free flower
Out of Focus, Fruit-free Flower, F....luffy fishballs.
Fakey snakey

The following photographs were taken en route the hike to Clearwater Caves, which I undertook with Cheryl ~~as Tse Yuen was too much of a lazy fat ass to follow the arduous journey and preferred to stay in the room munching away on our potato chip supplies~~. Haha, nah, the guy's hiked there once
Some twin fruit/nut that penetrated a leaf and hung around. Solid cherries? Penetrative nuts. wooo..

See that lil thing on the right? That's Cheryl beside a huge strangling fig. It big. BIG. Cheryl's probably about 1.62 m.

Just for ~~entertainment~~ comparison, up till the top of the picture, it's about 6.8 Cheryls, which would come up to approximately 11.1 m tall. Hehe, of course, the fig extends way beyond the picture, so this picture maybe measures less than half of the fig tree? Maybe half, I can't tell. As it was an emergent tree in the canopy, it's too tall to see the top properly because of the scorching sunlight.

Rattany Barney

Spider's web? Or some other insect nesting? Ants perhaps.. Don't see anyone there.

Furry Orange lil Ballseys

Spot the fruit(s). Hanging reddy, dangling greenie.
I loath myself for being lazy and not getting all the focusing right.
purpur karre frawer (use bahasa baku, helps)

Blooming Amorphophallus sp.

Wikipedia (2008) says...

"Amorphophallus (from Ancient Greek amorphos, "without form, misshapen" + phallos, "penis", referring to the shape of the prominent spadix) is a large genus of some 170 tropical and subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the Arum family (Araceae). A few species are edible as "famine foods" after careful preparation to remove irritating chemicals."

Proudly plagiarized from Wikipedia.

..in full diagonal view.. with funny, broccoli looking thing visible.
Grrr..
Fear my pincers!
And this thing is actually part of the plant. How adorable!
Familiar? I saw this guy's friend in Niah when I was there last July, exact same flowers. Jin-Jer.

*Back in the Park again*

Dark Cheryl
The photographer took a photograph of a photographer taking a photograph... of another photographer.
~~Shahril~~ Cheryl and the huger than previous huge fig HUGE fig. Just look at the width of that buttress (Wikipedia buttresses.. "Buttresses are large roots on all sides of a tall or shallowly rooted tree", in case you don't know what a buttress is)! We estimated the base of the tree to cover almost our entire room in the Park.

It's not because I wanna make fun of Cheryl (hahah, yeah right), but she is known as the Ficus (fig) lady in the lab since her Honours project was mainly focused on a few fig species, whose leaves she avidly ground on a daily basis. So, for the visible portion in the picture, that's about 2.5 Cheryls wide. But really, if we were to measure it tip to tip of the buttresses, it'll probably be about 4 Cheryls. ~6.5 m. WHOA. That's about 2 storeys wide.

Whitey bitey.

Funny fruit?

Big

Cheryl, amazed at and immediately taken with the huge, huge fig, refusing to leave its side. Girls and big trees.. Tsk tsk, just like Sher Lynn in Mulu as described by her mates last year, obsessed with hugging them huge hard trees.

Everyone wants to take a picture with the biggie though.

And not all of them are decent pictures. Some people are interested in large trunks, others are interested in other large trunks. Oh well.

Spiky, artificial looking, but real.

TY, as usual, thinks out loud (really loud) about his 'put things in your butt' fantasies as he saw this, claiming he already thought about me the last time he was here and saw these. Oh dear.

Closer to the heart of the Park..

Spidey at work.

Cropped. Do *click* it to watch the lil silver spidey sippin a bug for lunch. Just a teaser for the next Mulu post, all about bugs and creepy-crawlies. Probably the longest picture post of the Mulu series.

And I never saw the writing that was on the wall..

2010-05-02T00:00:00.007+08:00

If I'd only knew, days were slippin past,

that the good things would never last,

that you were crying.

When a song plays in the car (because I turned it on) and it never quite gets out of your head even when it's over and when you're done driving =)

Summer turned to winter, and the snow it turned to rain..

.. and the rain turned into tears upon your face.

I hardly recognize, the girl you are today,

and God I hope it's not too late

And I'm done marking the full report that's bogged me down all last week, but here comes another batch, two full classes which would make ~ 80+ papers. God have mercy on me.

life can show no mercy,

it can tear your soul apart.

It can make you feel like you've gone crazy but you're not.

things have seemed to change, but one thing that's still the same,

in my heart you have remained and we can fly, fly, fly away.

Well, at least I can take my time marking the next report, there's no lab next week. Gonna have my first double session of church tomorrow, morning and evening service. I wonder if I'll feel an overdose. hehe

'cause you are not alone,

and I am here with you,

and we'll get lost together,

till the lights come pouring through.

'Cause when you feel like you're done,

when the darkness has won

Babe you're not lost

When the world's crashing down,

when you cannot bear to crawl,

I said "Baby you're not lost"

Labour Day's over, but it's only just began.

Intermission

2010-04-26T20:38:00.007+08:00

As I am currently busy marking Chemistry reports, very busy, the Mulu series shall have to wait a few days. In the meantime, I'll share some 'fail' pictures I stumbled upon in Photobucket.

Gotta love that tennis ball dog. hahaha

I am a bad person

Who said whites can't do kungfu films huh?

(someone's lookin rather retarded there, hehe)

That's all for now,

ta, folks.

Mulu 1 - Scenery

2010-04-22T16:09:00.024+08:00

During the mid semester ~~berak~~ break, I was in Mulu National Park a couple of days to 'assist my colleague in his research and scout for potential project sites', which in short, could also mean holiday. Crap aside, Mulu National Park was a wonder to behold even without a visit to its peak. The biodiversity (species richness, different types of living things) is obviously overwhelming and the types of habitats and forests are also very numerous. I'll be posting many, many pictures from now on, breaking the pictures down to categories such as 'scenery', 'animals', 'bugs' etc. I traveled with two other mammals: Cheryl (female) and Tse Yuen (~~hermaphrodite~~ male) . Let the visuals begin =)

MAS Wings plane, AK 7xx... I forgot. But I was rather entertained by the lil screens displaying the safety procedures etc. Bumpy lil plane.

"fock fock fock fock fock" it goes

That dark column on the right is actually pouring rain. Not bad, watching rain from above.

And this is Mulu National Park's Headquarters. Or the HQ's exterior at least. Yup, it rained when we arrived.

*sigh*

Holiday!

"It's rainin men, Hallelujah it's rainin men"
Now after braving the rain with all our luggage (whee -_-), we entered the research centre (above). That's Tse Yuen and the store room.
As you enter the research centre, you will see this.
.. and out of curiosity, you turn left, and see this..
..before turning right and seeing this. meh. haha

Research going on about wasps in Mulu, that are apparently parasitic if my memory fails me not.
The kitchen in the research centre.
Beside the kitchen.
A cute sign in the research centre. These can be found out in the field. It's funny how they first misspelled the word "pengkaji" ("researcher" in Malay) as "pengkeji" (Malay: keji = disgraceful, infamous, contempt)
Remember the age-old Iban headhunting practice that hangs beheaded heads outside their long houses, Malaysians? (Of course they do it no more.. right?) This is the insect version of it, found in the research centre.

OUR ROOM

Knowing very well that food in Mulu is flown in and hence, extremely expensive, we (I) stocked up truckloads of food in Miri.. Well, very tiny trucks that is.

Yes, all that food was mine, and mine only. What, 5d4n you know!

Another thing that affected us was this..

Maxis no more. But at certain hotspots, you can get Maxis line. Like the left side of the veranda outside the research centre, the top left corner of my pillow if you leave it long enough etc.

And yeah, my phone it coming to the end of its service. Note the chipped off bits between 3, 6 and 9. And the half-gone silver bits surrounding the donut key (which by now, of course is completely gone). Not to mention, the chipped off paint all over the silver sides of the phone. Oh dear Z610i, you have served me well.

(Z610i: Still serving!)

Our self made clothesline. Ignore the items on display and don't go guessing whose are whose.

Yes, we put Cheryl in the middle bed to avoid violent chemical reactions (see how TY's already eyeing me). Nice part about our room's it only had a fan but it's so cool at night, you'll actually need the blankets or your legs'll freeze by morning. haha. Occasionally we get a moth/bug flying into our room when we leave our door open by accident and we'll have to work on getting it out. Being a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Mulu National Park is maintained to pretty high standards and this is especially true when considering cleanliness. Compared to other Nature parks I've been in, these toilets are the cleanest and always had toilet paper and functioning taps etc, despite the abundance of bugs always present in and out of the toilet and rooms. Cicadas in the toilet are a norm. But it doesn't bother me.

Longboat Rides

One of the main modes of transport in Mulu National Park is the longboat, which connects you to Penan longhouses and other attractions that are deemed far to walk, such as the Clearwater caves. While Cheryl and I walked to the caves once, we first took the longboat there with TY, which took about 20-30 minutes. Walking there on the other hand........ still haunts me. hahah. More on that next time

Here we are at a lil shed outside the park HQ, where Cheryl's posing as we wait our guide who was to take us for a boat ride to Clearwater Cave. I'll leave the Cave pictures for another separate Cave post.
Cheryl: Uh huh, check me out.
TY fussing about grumpily as usual.

A very happy Cheryl.
Businessman in Jungle, TY. Really, he's just whispering sweet lil sentences into his girlfriend's waxy lil ears. Urh. haha
HQ

Ever been in your own country and felt like a foreigner? Well, Mulu's the place. While we're there, we're practically the only 3 Malaysians who weren't staff or local in the area. This makes sense after all, since Malaysians are quite generally non-adventurous couch potatoes (general Malaysian population) more concerned with making money (mostly Chinese; stereotyping, tsk tsk). Even with that, most Malaysians would find a trip here taxing on the wallet considering the price of food and everything else. Then again, if you aren't keen on outdoor-sey things, you'd probably think the bucks would be better spent elsewhere - like a new laptop or ipod.

Conversely, guai lows (Caucassians, whites etc) are usually quite outdoor-sey people and find Mulu such a wonder to behold that they would save and fly here just to experience bag packing in the biodiversity rich tropics. It's good to know there are at least some people in this world who appreciates the majesty of nature in its finest. But yeah, like I said, it's awkward being 'the foreigner in his own country'.

Miss Coolio

Checkin out that ass..(hole).. hahaha (Lab 5 inside joke)

The jetty we take longboats from. Love them longboat rides. Cool breeze, luscious green all over, blue blue bloooooo skies (really nice) and sometimes when the water's calm at some areas, really nice reflections of the sky etc. Also, scorching sun that goes unnoticed despite the perpetually squinted eyes, since the breeze makes you forget the heat.

Our guide that day who brought us to the jetty. She wasn't the cave-guide. She's of Berawan descent, a common tribe in the area other than the Penans, who were nomads in the past.

On the boat we go~

Kreepy Treeeee
TY's lil thing sticking out from the side as he handles it with both hands. Not so lil.
At the top right end, you see what looks like the shores but really, it's just fast flowing waters flowing in a different direction. Looks kinda cool, and we see it every time we go for longboat rides.
There ya go, sediment aplenty. It's the rainy season by the way, so the stream's bound to be murkier with sediment and sand.

Flufffffy

Lil green Pikachu amongst the forest.
Looks more alien here.

The first Penan village long house we stopped by. Can you see the end of the house? Enlarge it and try. haha. They sell handicraft and stuff under the long house, as below (pun unintended).
Angelic Taliban-ic cherubim strutting by on the right.
BIG BIG SMILE
And our longboat journey resumes. What did I tell you bout the BLOOOOOOO skies?

Hello, fellow longboaters.
"Who is that tree I see, staring straight, back at me. When will my reflection show, who I am insideeee"

'Karst' or limestone formations we see on the way to the caves. The caves are actually much, much, much larger karst formations on their own.

Just purr-fehto

-end-

And back to the park.

Boarded walks connect the entire park.
This is a helipad. Why do they build this over the helipad? I don't know.

Our 'life-sized comparison' model for the trip's photos, Cheryl, as she stood by the Deer Cave entrance. The entrance is actually quite far from where we stand, at the black hole you see in the middle of the picture, above the bushes. Here, we just finished our tour of the cave and are awaiting the bats' mass exit from the cave that usually lasts more than an hour. They get out in the evening and hunt at night. And yes, we did see it happen and left halfway to avoid being drenched in the rain. Video next time.

There ya go

Me. Picture taken to assess cheek-redness, since Cheryl said my face was sunburnt, whaddaya think?

Stole this shot. The girl apparently just returned from a grueling hike up to Gunung Mulu's peak, hence the disproportionately large bag of supplies. You go supergirl. Funny though. haha.

And another boat ride to the Caves

Blooooooooo skies *hearts*

lalala~
Another Penan long house, this time I get a better view of its full length. Complete with football goal posts too.
Our guide that day for the longboat rides, Maman (if I'm not mistaken).

Outside of the Clearwater Caves, the stream flowing out from the cave. Strong currents.

Deceivingly calm.

Outside of Clearwater Cave still.
TY: Check me out.

Back in the Park again
Really nice sunset colours, that unfortunately, my camera cannot capture accurately. Oh well. Those lil balls of light are just lights by the boardwalk.

Walking to Clearwater Caves with Cheryl

My camera batteries died on me halfway, no thanks to TY telling me my batteries were fully charged that afternoon when it wasn't. Anyway, loads of pictures from this part are with Cheryl and I'll get it from her when I can and add some in.
Part of the cruel ascent to the entrance of Clearwater caves. According to the park guide, it's about 4km of horizontal distance. Of course that doesn't say much considering that it didn't put in consideration the vertical ascent we went through. Stairs. Oh gosh. haha. Especially the walk back from the cave after you've had an ICE COLD swim in the stream outside the cave, when all your muscles are telling you good morning. Whew~

Near the Clearwater Caves

Shpookyy

These are heading upward and are not easy to walk on. Mild inclinations for long periods can be annoyingly hard to walk. Also, note that the planks aren't flat, they have raised pieces to help your feet gain some leverage so you won't slip and roll down. And if you wrong footedly stubbed your foot in one of those - ouch. But anyway, annoying lil things I'll never forget. It's a good boardwalk nonetheless, must've been really hard to build considering how high up it was. So solidly built too. Makes me wonder how they even managed.

By the boardwalk in the park.
The night before we left Mulu. Everyone wants a picture with the sign. hehe. Of course, this picture was before she was ready and posed, ngiahahaha~

I think I prefer her not posing.
"wat wat wat"

That's how one species of the frogs there sound like. It's really cute. We call them the "wat wat frog".. But Dorin who also heard them the last time she's there calls them the "hot hot frogs" on a hot day. Well it does sound right. haha

Where we get our transport to the airport. A short walk from the park HQ. We had dinner there one of the nights.
A bottle of tuak, shared between TY and myself. Cheryl had a sip. And we were both giggly after that. haha
The picture I took before we left the park for good *sob*
It was a fun few days.

It rained as we came, it rained as we went.

The closest thing to a hornbill we caught on film. I suspect I actually saw one flying during my walk to Clearwater caves with Cheryl, but it was too fast for me to make sure it was a hornbill. Orange beak, black body with a white stripe near its wings. Ah well.

View from the airport, tata~

Till Mulu 2 then. Mulu 2 shall focus on... Plants and Fungi. I'll move up to bugs and then animals later on. Ta~

1

2010-04-12T15:42:00.003+08:00

O, is for the way you oink, at me,

N, for all the times I nudge, you see

E, for every silly, thing you've done just for me,

whee! now we'll just giggle all the way and rub our tummies~

Frank Sinatra wouldn't be happy. haha

Waiting for Tomorrow

2010-04-01T00:36:00.002+08:00

Here lies me, in the hours before wee,

staring, stirring, thinking, thanking,

what of He, what of she,

unfazed, depraved, near-crazed, yet amazed.

A new dawn awaits,

as with every wasted day,

over and over we're a step too late,

another day, another day, another day, another day.

Is there nothing else that makes me gay?

And yet so much for senseless sorrow?

So, what's left for today?

We just wait for tomorrow.

Goals

2010-03-31T12:38:00.002+08:00

It sucks when...

1. you look forward to the long term goals but the short term ones are the ones needed to achieve the long term one.

2. you procrastinate and lose motivation.

3. you can't sleep/rest well bearing the guilt of procrastinating.

4. ... which leads back to #2.

The vicious, ass-kickin cycle

From Kuala Selangor to...

2010-03-29T22:13:00.014+08:00

..Gombak!

Yup, the ecology field trip didn't just end in Kuala Selangor. ged species. Family name: Dipterocarpaceae). Large, tall trees and the occasional swirly hanging creeper/rattan branches. Go further in the trail and you'll reach the Gombak stream, which is a pleasure to be at (with a few leeches usually). As usual, quick lunch there with the students (packed lunches - ours were self-bought/brought biscuits). Picture time!

Rattan series

Starring: Rattan branches

Keh leh fehs: Shen and Cheryl

Hug the rattan. Cheryl and the Shen.

Then came this picture that 'gik sei ngo' (Cantonese: literally translates to 'excites me to death' but no, it really means something like "utter unpleasant shock"). Initially, I thought the rattan looked quite nice, then I zoomed in and saw Shen -_- hahah

Spot the Cheryl

Fat Milipede series

Hello!

It was hard to get this guy to not move and expose his body. Thank Shen and the students for spotting this guy on the trail. Spent a good 15 minutes or so with him. hehe.

That's my fat index finger. Top section of my finger's ~ 1 inch (~2.6 cm)

This fella's a good 20 cm long

Boo!

(Dunno how long I spend korek-ing the leaves away to take a picture.. *gently gently*)

Wood
Tree trunk

Tree trunk by a tree trunk. The big "wall" behind that middle broken-holey trunk is the trunk of a large tree. A dipterocarp, so to speak.

See? The dipterocarp's anywhere between 20-35 m tall.
On the tree trunk..

Now, don't get no naughty ideas.

Ecdysis

"Ecdysis" - the process of shedding/moulting, is seen above as the full moult of a cicada was found on the tree. There actually were quite a number of these. We thought it was alive at first, till we looked real close and saw a lil hole on its back that revealed that it was but an empty shell. Actually, there was one found by a spiderweb that we can't be sure was an empty moult, or a cicada-sashimi sucked dry by a nasty arachnid (Spiders, of the order Arachnida, hence the term 'arachnid', do not usually consume their prey whole or 'eat' them. They usually pierce their prey with their sharp mouthparts known as 'chelicerae', before sucking out all its prey's juices. Liquid meals, yum.

Hello!

Masalah lens kotor -_-

Mushrooms (Basidiocarps)

From the top
And a failed picture from the side, bad focusing. Silly me.

Students hard at work (yea right). I remember this loop of a rattan branch. I took pictures of it as a year 1 field trip student, as a demo last year, and now I'm taking it yet again. Same angle too. haha

Twirly branch

I like all three of these pictures. I was supposed to post one. But I just can't choose. You decide.

Gombak Stream

Here we are, for lunch =p

*peeps*

Hmmm.... hehehehe

And that's our blonde jungle guru/lecturer, also known as Dr. Cathy.

Can you tell that he's in pain? It's okay Tajang *pat*

The series begins with the explorer, and so it ends with one.

Awesome Day

2010-03-29T22:00:00.002+08:00

Told you there's more to come =p

Mom's medical report on the possible cancerous lump just came back with a negative result, I can finally eat, sleep and live in peace. Whew~ God is good! Lately, all my prayers have been swiftly answered - like service just got better, haha. All heaven rejoice =p Tralalala~

Now, time to prepare for an adventure..

3rd April - 11th April

Mulu

Time for Miracles

2010-03-27T18:34:00.002+08:00

"Baby, you know that,
maybe it's time for miracles,
'cuz I ain't givin up on love"

(Lambert, ~~2012~~2009).

God is good. But it gets better =D

Happy Birthday!

2010-03-26T13:51:00.002+08:00

Happy Birthday Mr. Tyler!

The Demon of Screamin'

You awesome 62 year old freak!

No more Aerosmith breakup nonsense man, I'mma spank your ass for being a naughty 62 year old.

Ah man, I sound so kinkily gay. Pardon me.

Kuala Selangor 2

2010-03-25T10:58:00.014+08:00

Again,we have our explorer start the post. Fresh from the mangrove field trip, everyone stained grey with mud at one place or another. Whee~

Dr. ~~Jones?~~ Jinggut

Mediocre tasting lunch at a seafood restaurant - Chilli and thai fried rice were the only commendable dishes.

Girls sucking their nuts.. well, coconuts..

Mmm.. nom nom nom

Enough of you, Shen. Look what you've caused the camera beside you (TY's). haha

(coco)nut suckin man
Pardon the picture quality - 20x zoom of a kingfisher lurking at the mangrove by the restaurant.
My work of nut. Yes, I confess, I sucked a (coco)nut too. Stupid shells, only 1/3 or so of those I tried to get were get-able. Rest were sandy etc. pfft.
Stick it in the nut!
Ty's nut, badly pierced.
Cheryl: To poke, or not to poke...
Shen's

Back in Nature Park. Here's the Silverleaf Monkey series.
Shy guy up in the trees.
Ermm.. Next

Cool dude. Kinda hard to take a zoomed picture with such a bright background.

Monkey-ing around.
Enough Monkey ass business.
Click on this to see his epic face. Love this picture.

*not paying attention*

Emotional Monkey.. EMonkeyCaught me, dang. haha

Next up, a walk into the secondary forest trail connected to the Nature Park. Brought students there and like before, got sucked dry by mosquitoes. Not funny. This place used to mangrove forests, but most of it was destructed when the Nature Park was being built. Now that they've been allowed time to regrow, it's a forest again, but with different species since it's no longer flooded like a mangrove. There still are several old Avicenna sp. mangrove trees here that survived. Tell-tale signs of this past are in the soil. When you dig deep enough, you get mangrove soil beneath the surface layer.

Some hardcore roots on the forest floor.
yeap
Ferns and more.
Tangly jangly mangle
Berak break

Balls, glorious balls~
*gasp* Three!?
These trees are rather cool. They develop secondary roots/trunks from their branches that goes right back down to the ground again. Either Accacia or figs..
They get pretty big too.
Tree monster

A darker perspective.. literally, hahah.

Elegantly tangled mess

Sunset Watch on Bukit Melawati
Now we walk up Bukit Melawati where there's a sunset-watch spot (kinda..) and a lighthouse. On the way up...

I don't know what plant this is.

And my hands were shaking + the wind was blowing. I couldn't hold still enough for a clear shot. haha

I like this tree
"Bersama teguh, bercerai roboh"
Very nice bands of light and dark brown on its queer trunk.

Now it may seem simple to take all these photos on the way up the hill, but it isn't Kuala Selangor mosquitoes are not the friendly household ones that just go when you shoo them. They come in visible clouds that have to be repeatedly shoo-ed and when you're shooing one side, they attack the other. That's how I got >30 bites on my right leg alone. They bit through my shirt too. and hands. So, taking pictures here really was a(n) (b)itch, having to stay still as you're being sucked try.

Ran up the hill when I couldn't take it any longer - I actually stayed back alone to take pictures as the rest went on initially.

Silverleaf up in the trees! High up, a mother with its cute orange baby. I failed to get a good shot because of the distance, their movements and of course, the mosquitoes.

And here's our failed cloud-covered sunset. Whee

On to other things, here's a greedy lil Silverleaf that took a loaf of bread from somebody and greedily went up to a hard-to-get edge to munch it himself, before throwing away the plastic wrapping of the loaf down. Litter ~~bug~~ ape.

Yes, caught on film.

Meh

Friends forever. Monkey business. I heard these Silverleaf monkeys don't usually hang around the park. Loads of them when I was there though. Maybe they're beginning to befriend the macaque residents there.

Kaboom~

Anonymous models

Fabulous Dinner Spot

The sign leading to the place. If you ever wanna have seafood in Kuala Selangor..... come here! (maybe I shouldn't advertise so they'll have less business and more time to layan me when I'm there. haha)

No food pictures cuz I was too hungry.
Ate em.
Good price too, we only paid about 10-11 per person for about 10 people and 4-5 dishes.

The Nature Park - Hostel

Pre-departure photos. That's my bed and bag on the left, the white one. Not luxurious or anything, as you would expect of a Nature Park hostel, but good enough as a hostel. Gotta run out or prop your phone high to get reception for Maxis users though.

Trying to show you how many Mozzy bites there were on my ankle alone. Those red splotches are multiple bites close to each other. Not really close, but heck, that's my Kuala Selangor souvenir. Got it last year too.

"But you've been here before right, serves you right, don't wanna wear long pants some more"

Bloody Yong... Forgot ma!