it's all about his busted knee...

the 1st trek in 2007 was a hard act to follow. if we'd recall, it was longer and it was a mix of KK and KL locations. definitely, there were more activities and highlights. so i must admit that when howlake told me he wouldn't be able to climb the mountain this time around, i was a bit worried that things wouldnt turn out so great. i reminded myself that it's not much of where you go or what you do, but rather it just adds spice to who you spend these activities with. we wished yang was there though .. oh wait, yes he was there again in the form of a tripod. hahaha!

upon learning that howlake busted his knee and we both agreed that we wouldnt want to inflict further damage to his ability to perform anything physical (especially in bed), we decided to cancel the mesilau trail trek up to the low's peak (highest peak of mount kinabalu) and arrange our plan B. ofcourse we did this a week before our set dates. it was a bit of a challenge for us, since we are limited by time and sabah's such a great island that there are a lot of adventure trips we could take. we finally limited it down to 4, which we eventually had to cut into 2 to fit our free and easy holiday. ofcourse, we wouldnt want to stress ourselves -- that's not the point of going to this trip. so skipping the tip of borneo roadtrip (about 3 hours drive from the city) and saying pass to the survivor island, which is very very tempting to take (since im the biggest survivor fan hahaha!) ... we opted to do nature tripping in mesilau resort (since we already had advanced bookings and reserved a cabin there) and do water rafting, while we check-in at sutera harbour resort (our dream resort!). hahaha! unlike last year's, we decided to allot a greater amount of budget on accommodation and not so much on food. we also rented a car, so we can finally fulfill our 'ala-amazing race dream'. we did get lost a few times, making wrong turns and ending up in a dead-end with a landslide greeting our eyes, but what the heck! we just had to make a u-turn. but i must say that the view of the landslide was kinda creepy. i wonder why we didnt bother to take photos while we were there. dang!


there's so much that happened that i don't know how to write about them. i'll do random bullets. i'm sure it'll be nice to look back at this one day and it'll definitely remind us of this great adventure.

• i ran out of mobile battery, but we managed to SMS each other the night before and our plan was to meet each other at the airport at 2pm. i got to the airport, but he wasnt there. apparently, he went to the other terminal to pick up our roadtrip buddy (hertz rent-a-car). i kinda had an idea where he was, but to make sure, i called him up using payphone, but it's broken so the conversation was only one-way. i can hear him, but he couldnt hear me. since we're so smart ... he managed to realize that it was i who was on the other line and said... "i cannot hear you, but i can hear the beeps (coz i was pressing the number pads -- hahaha!) i'm here at terminal 1". we met at terminal 1 after 15 minutes.
• we got a 50% deal on hertz (i wonder why, i wonder how)
• i brought with me a bag full of assorted food ... oreos, chips, biscuits, vienna sausage and instant noodles. it was a food trip on the road. we even stopped to buy some fresh fruits from the side stalls - mangoestin, bananas and chesa (i forgot the english term for this fruit).
• the first question he asked me was not 'how are you?', but 'do you put anything on your hair?'
• the answer is no. it's naturally curly.
• HL was just curious.
• we had a full tank of petrol, and only went to fill-up the tank once. we spent 36MYR and found out we overfilled it. we wasted some of it by revving it soooo hard before we returned it to the rent-a-car. hahaha!
• it was my idea to get wine for dinner in mesilau. one, because beer makes belly fat. two, it was cold .. nice to have something to heat up the body. it helped us get a goodnite sleep.
• we had choices of gameboards to play: chess, snakes and ladders or scrabble. we chose snakes and ladders because we dont want to use our brain anymore.
• i lost all 3 rounds of the game.
• we planned to wake up early on the first day so we can witness sunrise and get a good view. HL set the alarm at 630am. the sun rose at 530am. he was used to PG time where sun rises at 630am. PG actually deviates from real GMT to follow KL time.
• we had bfast in the cabin to save some cost. we had vienna sausage, instant noodles, sabah tea and crackers. enough to fill the stomach.
• we bought the fresh millk straight from the caretaker of the farm. it was well chilled. one was white fresh milk, the other one was chocolate flavor. seriously, it tasted really good and FRESH! i wish we bought more.
• i think we spent about 1.5 hours in the dairy farm, just taking photos.

oh man ... there's still a lot to write.

• the uranggutan stuffed toy, antje, paige, pizza, sunset, bridget (oh yea .. how can we forget), the housekeeper who thought we were singers, the water rafting, the nightmare in the locker room, the stinky poo, the guy in trunks and ofcourse the serious talks (yes, we also had serious talks).

this trip was more than fun. it was living life. the good life.

everything happens for a reason! :)

Falling like a Dropbear...

I've Just Seen a Face

by Lennon, McCartney

I've just seen a face,

I can't forget the time or place

That we'd just met, she's just the girl for me

And I want all the world to see we've met

Na na na na na na

Had it been another day

I might have looked the other way

But I had never been aware

And as it is I dream of her tonight

Na na na na na na

CHORUS:

Falling, yes I am falling

And she keeps calling me back again

I have never known

The likes of this, I've been alone

And I have missed things and kept out of sight

But other girls were never quite like this

Na na na na na na

CHORUS

I've just seen a face

I can t forget the time or place

And we'd just met, she's just the girl for me

And I want all the world to see we've met

Na na na na na na

CHORUS

...continuation

1/15/08
12nn
my current location: hotel room, sutera harbour

im supposed to check-out now, but i was allowed to do a late check-out as requested. thanks to bridget! im thinking of requesting for a later check-out, coz i just learned my flight's delayed for an hour and a quarter. i hate waiting at the airport. so anyway, im just gonna write about the holiday.

i know this is supposed to be the continuation of the previous blog, but a lot have happened since, that i dont think i can do the same format. it's just crazy! ok, let me try.

Day 1 / Night

After dinner, I decided to experience the night life in KK. The lodge owner recommended 3 bars. Shennanigans (the bar of Hyatt Hotel), Cocoon (just across Hyatt) and another bar (I forgot what it's called, but about 10 mins walk from Cocoon. Shennanigans was just alright. Just buy a drink from the entrance and you can get in. Band is ok. Cocoon is the same thing, but I think they had better band that nite. Not as crowded as Shennanigans but after what happened to my mobile phone in Embassy ... I dont think I wanna be in a crowded place. I probably spent an hour in Cocoon, enjoyed the music, had a little chitchat with the bar owner. He's Malay/Indian I think and he went to me coz he thinks I'm not a local and he's glad that I chose the bar. He made me feel really welcome, which was very nice. I think it's my hair. I love my hair!... hahaha!!! Then I hopped to the other bar. Here, I gotta pay 20MYR and when i finished paying ... he handed me a stub and a calendar .. with a boy in it. Only then that I realized it was a gay bar. I still went in to get my 20MYR back so I ordered a soda .. I cant get drunk in a place like that. Good thing there was a contest going on ... some silly talent show, so everyone's attention is to the contestants. I stood beside a table of 2 european blondes who were enjoying the funny antics of the fat gay people on stage. Then she talked to me to share how much she's enjoying it. I just nodded and whispered to her ear a question: is this a gay bar? ... hahaha!!! i think i was there for about 10 mins when she told me she and her friend are gonna go out to get some midnite food, so i took the opportunity to ask whether i could go with them. that was my escape! we ended up hanging out in waterfront and talked for about an hour about lots of things. these 2 women were so cool! they're about early 30's i guess. one was from wales, a nurse, and the other one was from ireland, a radiographer. it was fun hanging out with them, and i wish i had taken a photo, but my phone ran out of battery. we talked about the desperate housewives' comment about filipinos in the medical field, which they both think is very rude and out of line. since they're both in the medical field, they know how much contribution filipinos give to the field. we talked about krispy kreme. politics. sabah. diving. probably the highlight of the nite was when they found out im filipino coz all the while they thought i was from south america. hahaha! again, i think it's the hair!

HAHAHA!!!

After the midnite snack, they both wanted to go back to the other bar to check who won the contest, but I decided to pass and call it a nite. It was cool to have had the opportunity to hang out and chitchat with 2 european chicks in a foreign country. When I was walking back to the lodge, I was thinking and realizing that getting up and talking to a chick isnt really that hard.

My holiday was starting well ... :)

...more next time.

Travel Log: Sabah | Day 1 Part 1

Day 1:
630AM
Since the driver wasn't available, i woke up this early so I could hitch a ride with my mom and dad when they drive to work. My dad's so kind to offer to drive me to the bus terminal (in megamall - about 1.5 hour drive from our house during rush hour) where I need to catch a shuttle to the 'clark' airport (about 2 hours drive from manila, 3.5 hours from our home) and I really appreciate that 'coz it's out of my dad's way to work.

Shuttle Schedule:
11AM
12Noon (Last Schedule for the day)

800AM
Left the house and drove off to drop off my mom at her makati office at about 9AM. When she got to the office, she immediately gave us a ring when she learned about a fire in Guadalupe and adviced us to not take EDSA and look for an alternative route. We chose C-5. From my mom's makati office, it should take us around 30 mins drive. On our way to C-5, we could see the smoke from the fire.

1030AM
Still on the road, and my dad and I both thought it would have been better to have taken EDSA instead. I started thinking I wont make it to the terminal at 11.

11AM
Just-in-time and made it to the terminal. When I got there, someone told me they took out the 11AM schedule and the only bus I can catch is the 12noon bus. Good thing I brought a book with me so I entertained myself by alternating reading and people watching.

12NN
Board the shuttle to the Clark Airport and the bus didnt leave until 1230. I slept through the 2 hour trip except when I felt the urge to open the oreo cookies for snack.

230PM
Checked-in, paid fees and then went to the boarding area. At 330PM, while waiting to board, I realized I havent real food since breakfast, so I bought a Jamaican patty and a gatorade. I was so hungry that I hurrily took a bite and I think I hurt my tongue 'coz it was very hot. Hahaha!

430PM and 615PM
Took off and arrived in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. We all had to spend a long time in the immigration area since our flight ran out of immigration forms so we only did it when we got there. My bigger problem was I forgot to bring a pen with me, so I had to wait for someone to finish filling-out his forms before I could do mine.

7PM
I got out and saw my name in a placard being held by a driver, which I thought was very cool. And to my surprise, when we got out of the airport, the car was just parked at the curb and the car was a very sleek Mercedes Benz! I got in at the backseat to feel more special. HAHAHA!!!

I told myself ... this is the start of my Holiday!

715PM
Arrived at the lodge and I went to check-in (the check-in counter is just beside the lounge area where people use the internet, watch TV and just hang out to take a break). When I entered the room, everyone's eyes went to my direction and I was like .. WHOA! I cannot see one black hair person in the room except for the one who's behind the check-in counter. I bet they're telling themselves ... "whoa! black hair". No let's make that ... "whoa! black curly hair". HAHAHA! The people in the lodge were full of european backpackers. I can hear someone talking in british accent. And I already see someone donning almost the same hairstyle as mine, but longer.

I told myself ... this is gonna be fun!

I felt like I was entering the big brother house, international edition. it was really cool!!!

... to be continued