Pentecost Sunday

Halfway through my "Harvest Festival Holiday" and I'm already feeling reluctant to return to KK. See, apart from the fact that I won't be seeing my nephew and cousin, and other family members till next time (which is one of those undetermined kind of stuff), I am so gonna miss the spoilt-brat-comforts yet again:
- hot shower
- aircon (I'm such a lousy eco-warrior)
- eveready supply of good food so I don't have to think of what to eat come every meal time

My nephew is absolutely adorable!

So yea, back to Sunday and the first time I've ever attended those Sunday Service thingies in a church. My conclusion is: they sing A LOT. But I find it amazing how powerful the strength of faith can be. I see some people whom looked as if they would never hesitate to be involved in gang fights, yet they look so humbled and pious in the House of God. Basically I went to church because the 'baby-sitter' has to tag along wherever the baby is :)

Sebby fell asleep some time in the middle of the service.

I noticed that age matters when you are really young and as you grow older, the gap seems less significant. Ryan is about 6 months older than Sebastian, and from their actions and stuff it is very obvious how a few months in a toddler make a whole load of difference.

Ryan at Tg. Lobang beach...

...and Sebby with AiLin

I really like this shot of mother and son:

...and the sunset was quite superb :)

It's that time again...

I hate saying goodbyes. I had to do it early this month (which sucked), and now I have to do it again. And more will come.

There's just something depressing about seeing people leave.

At least not everyone's leaving, that's consolation enough.

And I am leaving this place for a long weekend, not for work, and not to head into some jungle again. That's awesome enough to cheer me up.

On an entirely different note, I am very upset over some other crap stuff which I can only comment as "What the f**k were you people thinking?!?". Even as far as friends go, some things are just not funny and not meant for public domain. One already bungled it up even after two persons clearly said NO, then the other one just had to add to it. Sometimes, it's better to keep the "funnies" to yourself, especially when they are absolutely not funny.

Come on...sheesh...

I am also feeling a tad frustrated about some stuff. I've say it once, I've said it a million times, but sometimes some people just choose to be stupid and there's nothing I can do about it. It is old-fashioned, and it is rather narrow-minded, but let's face it, it is a fact that as a female, one is always on the losing side when it comes to certain things. So why put yourself in incriminating dispositions?

I see another form of hypocrisy taking place...

I reckon what sucks the most is that you care but can't do anything about it. So in the end you stop caring and just don't give a damn anymore. What was it someone told me? "There's nothing you can do about it, but if the oven gets stuffed, just bail out."

Bailing out at the most dire moment is the bitchiest thing I can think of doing. But then again, didn't I tell you so?

And really, wtf were you thinking?

back...

...5 days earlier :)

Yesterday was rather unfruitful (fruitless?) as the other team ran into some engine trouble on the river and was delayed over an hour. Since we were already too late to get to either Sandakan or KK to courier the samples, practically what we did the whole day was for nothing.

Sing and I got back about more than an hour before Claire and Randy so we ended up playing with the boatman's kids, folding origami stuff and drawing pictures for them. Initially I folded a small origami jumping frog from some leftover paper for Suwanta's 2-year-old. Then since it's really difficult to make a 2cm frog jump, I folded a larger one for her. After awhile of playing, she went into the house and brought out this massive katak toy and gave it to me! That toy frog was so huge, I could stick the paper frogs into its mouth! That was really cute and funny.

Anyway, the samples Sing and I got were useless so we ended up pouring it down the drain in front of my house in KF :) Well, we wanted to pour it on Sing 'cos he missed his chance to mandi sungai...

So yea, crap happens at times..you spend over five hours in the hot hot sun and ended up not being able to do anything. But it's part and parcel of every element in Life (omg why so philosophical?). Like I've said it before, things always happen for a reason, and then it turns out not so cacat after all.

If we had indeed got all our samples just in time and having to rush back to KK, we wouldn't have had the time to take another shower in the inn, had a good (very) late lunch -- mi goreng basah, nasi goreng payau, and tuhau. And I wouldn't have gotten the chance to drive all the way back to KK from Telupid in the rain, mist, and darkness. oWh, and not forgetting the coffee at Bayu Kinabalu :)

Just so that nobody gets it wrong, I really love my job. It's just typical of me to be reluctant to wake up early so there's always an 'ugh' if I have to be up anytime before 6am (ugh).

x's and o's!

Lots of Love from Sukau

Since I've been going to field quite frequently I'm gonna stop the "Day 1:..." etc. entries. I mean, twice is more than enough. Besides, there's nothing new to write about apart from driving around or riding in the boat.

Just some 'updates':

Yours truly drove in an oil palm plantation yesterday, which sounds awesome but then it's Lam Soon's plantation so the roads are really well managed. In other words, it wasn't those crazy muddy rocky off-road kind of extreme stuff.

Also, the boat ride today was good. Although it's another 6-hours ride, this time the boat has a nice cushy seat, and a roof!!! Claire and I had it good :) We had so much leg space, and the villagers were so so nice. We didn't even need to carry our stuff into the boats because they did it for us. Then Hjh. Minah (the lady who's in charge of boat rentals and stuff) handed us a bag filled with canned drinks, two bottles of water, two bags of nuts, and a packet of biscuits "just in case we get peckish". She also handed us a parang, a machete. And there was this old man who was assuring us that the rivers around that area are safe.

Anyway, since I have the chance to get online out here in the field, I thought I'd update my blog just to show you guys out there that it's not that 'ulu' out here. I'm now typing this in the Pusat Jalur Lebar Komuniti (Community Broadband Center) in Sukau. The wi-fi here is good, and all I need to do is bring my lappy along and pay them RM1.50 for an hour of usage. And they have air-con :) It's really good to see that places like these are providing their community with the internet. Plus there's a guy here with an iPhone...

I don't know where I'll be next and when will I be online properly again. So till then, here's a gorgeous pic I took of Sukau at dawn.

x's and o's to everyone!

the hunt for flip-flops

It's finally that time again!

LiYing needs a new pair of flip-flops as the trusty black pair she is wearing now are wearing out. I need to get another pair before I risk slipping and falling in the old ones (oh wait, that has already happened..)

As usual, I'm eyeing Ipanemas as they are really comfy. Unfortunately, they are getting rather pricey nowadays compared to a couple of years ago. Was comtemplating of getting a pair of orange with gold straps Giselle Bundchen ones...or well, I'll see what else is good.

Sometimes all the colours and designs are really tempting, but at the end of the day, a simple black pair works the best.

I didn't know they're machine-washable though. Now that's interesting... :)

Why is it so hot?

I was asked this question a gajibillion times and I've been coming up with rubbish answers from global warming to summer solstice.

Maybe these photos explain better.

Day 3: On the road again

We completed the last five tributary headwaters today, and what was good was that everyone was really enthusiastic with the work. Measuring depth upstream is rather a challenge though.

There was me with my feet in sucky gooey mud:

and we had The Daredevil doing this:
en garde!

Yours truly slipped and fell into mud:

We stopped for a pic with this cool roadsign :)

We finished up in Sukau and Lahad Datu that day and returned to Sandakan for another night.

towel fight!

And seeing as we didn't have to get up early the next day and we've completed our work there, we spent the rest of the night being stupid :)

Q: Why was she playing cards with her backpack?

Hint: Her "baby"'s in there and we were particularly up-to-no-good that night *evil grin*

I reckon that doing field with my peeps made the whole thing a lot more enjoyable than it usually is. Thanks you guys :)

** x's and o's **

Day 2: Baked in the sun

Now at least three of my friends understand what I have to go through everytime I go to field. We took a boat from Tongod to Tangkulap and back, and the trip was about SIX HOURS. Six hours under the hot burning sun.

I don't even care that I look like one of those construction labourers anymore.

We made a stop at one of the 'islands' along the river ('cos the boatman needed to pee). River rocks are kinda cool.

Straying a little, you know how embarassing it is when you make a remark about some cute guy and then someone near you say they're related or they know him or something? While on the boat, we passed this young man who was washing his boat along the river and I mentioned to Vanny that he looks macho, and as always with me when on the river, I'll wave to anybody I see either on the banks or in passing boats. So I waved to this guy and he waved back. And then our boatman said "That's my brother." And then Vanny had to tell Mr Boatman that I've just remarked that his brother is cute *smacks forehead*

With another day's work done, we decided to head down to Sandakan and put up a night there. And unlike the first night, we didn't konked out at 9pm, but there wasn't anything good on telly anyway. I discovered that it's fun to receive a phone call and having the conversation in the bathroom sitting on top of a closed toilet :)

Day 1: Back in the Field

Two weeks later and I found myself heading East again to do more river profiles. This time however, it was a lot more fun (oops! we were supposed to be working) and very memorable too.
The fact that I had to plan, make arrangements, and recruit a team for the whole thing in a matter of a few days was funny, but then it's cool do submit to spontaenity.

Let me introduce the team this time:

Vanny ~ the awesomest extreme 4WD driverYuLi ~ the daredevil
MrLin ~ the Guy

and of course, yours truly.

Oh yea, and there's *ahem* "Baby Snoopy" (whom for the rest of the trip had to succumb to our bullying just to drive Vanny crazy)

He sleeps a lot.

* * *

On the first day, we travelled down from KK at 3.30am so that we'll arrive in Telupid at 7am to meet Randy and Zaime, who handed over the DO meter and myriad of maps. Oh, and the VERY VERY IMPORTANT GPS points and routes.

Digressing a little, I realised that if it weren't for me and my work, the newly obtained GPS by the EnvSc Program would be under-utilised. Being an undergrad before, I know for a fact that the GPS will be brought to field; at the sampling point, the coordinates will be jotted down, and that's about it.

WE tracked our routes and if it weren't for the GPS we would have been terribly lost.

And yea, with technology fieldwork is a lot easier :)

So anyway, back to the first day:
We had a big car, an iPod full of songs. Things didn't get crazy till after we bade the ERE team farewell and made our jolly way to Karamuak and Tongod.

Upstream Karamuak was fun as it has a tagal, weir, so the water's quite shallow to wade around.

Although the water's colour is not so appealing, it's still very tempting to jump in and play around.

Then we continued our journey to upstream Tongod River.

Silly city kids got their big car stuck in mud omg.

See, there was this huge puddle in the middle of the road and we initially thought it's deep so we headed to the (wrong) side. We got stuck.

Thank goodness we had extra rope and there were these really helpful people who stopped and gave us aid. We were towed out by a Kementerian Kesihatan 4WD. So I guess the Ministry of Health does not only help the sick, but also those who are stuck ;)

It's funny sometimes to think that we go to all these trouble to get measurements just from ONE point.

The things people do in the name of research :)

That night we put up a night in the Telupid Resthouse again. Thing is, the Deathmarchers were also there so all the 'posh' rooms were fully booked. We had to opt for the dormitory-style rooms instead which was just as good. We had a room with four single beds, with air-con. The only slight downpoint was that the bathroom were common bathrooms and the Ladies one had no shower and very dim lights. We had our showers in the Men's bathroom instead, with ChinYik keeping a watch outside :)

Being up since 2am knocks everyone out cold by 9.30pm that night.

Back and tanned

Like omg wth so tanned I have tan lines along my midcalves. But then, being back and treated with two awesome dinners consecutively was great :)

Seafood and big massive crabs

There's this good Korean in Tanjung Aru

I'm kinda out of words again (as usual...I think I talk too much, that must be where all the words are going. Word vomit) but yea, here's a nice view of the sea from Le Meridien.

The Jungle Girls came back from Cambodia and were in KK this weekend, which was cool that we could meet up before they head back into the jungle till next month.

We found this really cute moo cow tray at the food court and that night we went to, where else, The Loft. The pool table upstairs have been substituted by all these huge black sofas instead...

I shall write about the memorable Kinabatangan Pt. 3 experience later today or this week.

xoxo

Kotobian Tadau Kaamatan!

The month of May marks the beginning of Tadau Kaamatan festivities in the Land Below the Wind. Villages around Sabah kick off their own celebrations which will lead up to the major Harvest Festival at the end of this month.

So we spent Labour Day joining in the festivities at Kampung Kipouvo in Penampang.

Talk about a bunch of city-dwellers who had to do the Sumazau out of respect for the villagers. I love being in Sabah :)

Apart from Sugandoi and Unduk Ngadau, they had contests for traditional food and best home-made tapai. I noticed that some sort of eel-like-fish-thingie seemed to be a choice of many. But then there's this one dish that looks like it has snails in it.

They gave us rice with beef and potatoes for lunch. And we camwhored a lot that day. Now if only I can get my hands on that pic of us jumping in front of the arch...

p/s: yours truly is heading into the wilderness again tomorrow..wish her the best of non-klutzy luck!

pp/s: I'd say last week was memorable. I've never spent so many consecutive nights being asked out :)

x's and o's