Mind.Wanders

I haven't been writing on here for a while, and I kinda miss it (and also, because I haven't really been anywhere, haha). So today, I'm going to post some old photos of my climb up Mount Kinabalu, about 6 years ago (I think). Reason being, a few days ago, I was reading some of older my blog posts of my earlier trips to Chamonix, Paris, Cappadocia... and the thing that I kept thinking about was 'thank God I blogged about this',  I was able to re-live the memories of the places with photos, and the experience with my stories. 

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So here goes, some photos of my Kinabalu trip with my homies...



There was a point in my life where I was pretty active in my hiking and running activities and kept on browsing the 'running calendar' for the next months. One day, I came across one in Sabah, which was the Borneo International Marathon (BIM) 2012. I asked Fizal (who at the time was just my friend, haha) and my friend Nadhira if they wanted to join the run in Sabah. Fizal immediately said yes but Nadhira had her job commitment that she had just started, so she had to back-out from the plan.

I then thought about flying all the way to Sabah for the marathon; 'who would want to fly out to Borneo just for a 10km run?' and I know I was not fit enough to do a 21 km and most definitely not 42 km, so the idea of climbing Mount Kinabalu crossed my mind.

"If we're gonna be flying to Sabah to join the run, why not climb this highest mountain in Southeast Asia too while we're there", I thought.

So I asked Ika and Sarah if they wanted to join and of course they did! It all happened so fast. After deciding to go, Fizal and I registered for the BIM run and I settled the climbing registration/accommodation and all with (Sutera Sanctuary Lodges). So that was pretty easy and straightforward.

The trip to Sabah was a 5-days trip. We arrived in Kota Kinabalu (KK) on the night (delayed flight, pfft) before the BIM run. Had dinner and went straight looking for our lodge for that night. We had a good night's rest as Fizal and I had to wake up early for the morning event (flag-off at around 6am). The run went well and ended at around 10am. After taking a short nap after the run, later that day, we went around KK town, including getting some souvenirs at the Pasar Filipina and also went wall-climbing at the Sabah Indoor Climbing Centre. The next day, we took a trip in a minibus from KK to Ranau, and stayed at a friend's house the night before our climb. Fuhh! Sorry for the long-non-stop intro. Haha.

So here is where it all started...


We started the climb in the morning, of course, looking all fresh and cheerful. haha.

Off we go!

Going home after more than a year being away from home is like a big break from my PhD, so my close friends and I planned a short trip to an island on the east coast of Malaysia, the beautiful Perhentian Island, in Terengganu.

It was about a week after Raya and we took an overnight bus from KL (TBS) at around 9:30pm and reached the Besut jetty at around 5.30 the next morning. We waited around until 8am for the first boat transfer of the day.

Meet Ika, Sarah and Nadhira! - the people that made this trip. :)

We had already booked our 3D2N stay in Ombak Resort, Pulau Perhentian, and supposedly, check-in time is at 2pm, but the kind staff working at the reception asked us to wait for a while and he'd call us if our room was ready. We waited at the lobby which was nice, cool and very comfortable, since it was already very hot that morning. There were only the four of us there in the lobby at the time, so we made ourselves feel at home. haha. We played card games and took out a board game (Saidina) and played amongst us. We were so enthralled in the game that even when we were called about our room being ready, we said we'd go when one of us loses in the game. haha.


When we got in our room, had a good rest and freshened up, we went to lunch which was included in our tour package that we booked beforehand. We had our lunch at Amelia Cafe, located at the Coral Bay side of the island, which had very poor service and extremely rude staff! (would NOT recommend this restaurant to anyone!).

After lunch, we then decided to go for a little walk up the hill to the windmill viewing station - our first destination on our first day. We had to do a little hike into the forest but the path wasn't actually so bad. It was just made worse when we had went in the afternoon (on a hot day) and did not prepare even a single bottle of water. (-.-')


Well, you might not find the path in this photo even the slightest bit challenging (and thought that I had complained too much and just exaggerated). That is because at the part where it was steep and difficult, I couldn't be bothered to take my phone out and snap a picture, so obviously, I took this picture because it was the easiest part of the trail. haha.

...but after what felt like forever to reach, what we saw in front of us was just breathtaking. The turquoise and crystal clear water welcomed us upon our arrival. Given the surrounding atmosphere was also cooperating and giving us a bright and cheerful blue sky, the sweats and the whole hike was all worth it!









It's really frustrating to see that they hadn't maintained the area. Many planks throughout the area were missing and had become rusty, which was very dangerous for visitors because a single mistake can cause you to fall meters down onto rocks! (which was the case with Ika - she almost fell!).



When we had reached to the very end of the path, 'enjoyed' some scorching sun by the sea (with very little sea breeze), and was admiring the fantastic view, we decided to wait for a boat to come pick us up from there and take us back to the beach. Yes, they do provide that service to and from the main beaches to the windmill station. We were just too tired to do anymore hiking. There were us, and another group of boys that were waiting for boats to come, but none came. We waited and waited, until we gave up and all of us decided to just take the hiking route together before it gets dark and it'll be more difficult to hike in the dark.

Actually, there were a few boats that came, but they were all full, so none of us could get on board. (-.-")

So we spent the time waiting to enjoy this little gem of Perhentian Island...







What more can you ask for when on an island and you have this view in front of your eyes. Just stunning sunset landscape!

That night, we just stayed in and continued playing Saidina and watched a movie in our room.

The next day was scheduled for snorkeling. We met with the boat man at the jetty just in front of our resort at around 9am. There are 5 main snorkeling points altogether; which, of course, included several coral viewings, turtle and shark points.




The snorkeling trip finished at noon, so we had our lunch and went back to our room and had some rest from all the swimming from morning til noon. haha. After a good nap and rest, we went back out to Long Beach late in the afternoon for kayaking. This was my favourite activity! We rented the 3-man kayak since Nadhira just wanted to watch from the beach, so Ika, Sarah and I went on.


Sarah finally gave up because she finds it hard to sync the two paddling together. So she just jumped into the water and swam her way to the beach. haha. Ika and I rowed our boat into the sea (cewah!) and even made a stop at another side of the beach to take a few photos and wandered around for a little while.






We had BBQ dinner that night by the beach to end the night before going back to our room.
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Except for some bad experiences with the tour agency (De Penarik Beach Travel and Tour) and Amelia Cafe, the whole trip was a blast! We enjoyed our stay at Ombak Resort, and what more do you need when you have your closest buddies on an island trip.

I look forward for more trips with these monkeys.

Until then!