Sunday, September 13, 2009

Mount KK expedition

Merdeka 2009... Never will i forget that day.. Gawd! Thinking back i really did it!! Lol.. After thinking about it so long, i even trained for it.. I made all the way to the summit!! Yay to me!! :)

I wud say to all u guys who loves challenging urself, pushing urself to the limit, here's a good way to start.. I knew it was gonna be tough, but honestly, I really thought of stopping at times.. But not for long cos the urge to continue on to climb to the summit was stronger.. Jalan jugak no matter how tired or in desperation of air.. Lol.. exaggerate habis2!!

So we started off from the Mersilau Gate late at abt 9.30 when we were supposed to take off at 8! True M'sian spirit huh? Anyway we took off with 22 of us all jalan-ing together, but the next thing u kno it, be4 reaching 1km all broken up into groups d.. There was like another 4 guys in front of me, n i was behind with another fren of mine n we went on to walk all the way to Laban Rata together..

We took an estimated 6 hours and 20 minutes to reach to Laban Rata after walking/climbing for 8.2km.. For those who have climbed before, sure u guys wondering kenapa la 8.2km.. Cos the other route up is from Timpohon Gate which is like 2km shorter.. yes u heard me.. 2KM!! So we walked like 2km more!! Lol.. But no regret la.. Cos the road kat Mersilau gate had much nicer view.. and then it was up and down road la.. so balance it up la.. Kalau kat Timpohon gate, besides the Carson Fall rite at the beginning, nothing else all the way up.. So worth it oso la in a way from Timpohon Gate..

One thing i din like about the route up from Mersilau Gate was tat at points there were stairs up.. wait lemme finish first.. the stairs were made of like planks.. wood la.. but it was vy kecik punya wood, and look vy unstable.. i forgot to take pic pula.. but don like tat steps la.. cos like kalau kat timpohon gate kan, all memang stairs up, but it was solidly filled wan.. so one whole feet can step on the steps.. tapi untuk mersilau can't.. u get d idea? even I'm confusing myself..

Then at 5.5km, tat's where the 2 routes up join lo, then climb all the way up to Laban Rata, our rest stop.. tapi half way up tat road, i was like almost half dead d.. keep stopping.. not fit la!! lol.. then after tat, thank god i did not like sit and take a rest on the way up until i read 3/4 of a journey.. cos if i had done tat since the beginning, i'd be dead by the time i reach up.. So to all future climbers, please listen to ur guides advice and continuously climb, don stop too long or sit too long, u'd get super lazy and will take even longer, get even more tired to continue ur journey up the mountain..

When i finally caught a glimpse of a building, a concrete building and not a hut (cos there were rest huts all the way up), i was so happy!! tired tired oso go go go!! when reach straight plop on the chair, drink lots and lots of water.. half way up d.. not bad.. I was starving at tis point, hurled down all d food tat was meant for lunch.. satisfaction!! lol.. then can eat dinner somemore at 5pm.. tat was how hungry i was! Lol.. lunch at 4pm, dinner at 5pm.. okie la, it was 5.30pm.. then chit chatted as we waited the others to come up then head on up to our dorm to zzz...

Slept at abt 9pm, and had to wake up at 1am for supper to continue on our climb up mount kk.. we started at about 2.30am.. i had coco crunch after so long.. for those who dunno i was like crazy for coco crunch last sem.. everyday coco crunch for breakie.. gila rite?? Lol.. the way up was tricky i wud say.. cos the route was narrow, and some ppl just tak pakai otak punya, tunggu kat rite in the middle of the road!! hello?? tunggu la kat tepi!! Lol.. d starting journey was vy similar to the route up from the previous day but then after tat was rope up all the way.. at place it was so tricky up!! u had to trust ur shoes so much!!! Cos it was slanting 45 degree then u jln up la in an up rite position.. teruk2.. but we din really noticed tat, cos all we had in mind was, climb climb!! wanna reach the peak!!

We kept like a positive attitude all the way up.. every1 kept saying, in another 5 min we'll reach.. 5 more min.. 5 minute turned out to be an hour!! thank god i had my guide, Abang Lajuni who was showing us all the selok-belok up the mountain.. made our life a whole lot simpler.. lol.. seriously.. when we finally reach the peak.. we were literally jumping up and down.. so happy!! we made it!! wat else to do?? camwhore la..

Then we watched the beautiful sunrise, before heading back down.. i was so scared, seriously scared to go down.. it was as if i was gonna tumble down anytime.. cos i told u kan.. 45 degree walking up rite le!! Reminded me so much of d incidence of jatuh tergolek masuk longkang ketika beli kuih kat pd.. malu saje.. can tumble turn somemore u kno!! falling with grace le.. lol.. Thank goodness i had d others who i could hold on to go down.. like gentlemen escorting a lady pula.. cheh wah.. tak tau malu!! Lol..

Then we had our breakie n continued on jalan till timpohon gate to balik Kinabalu park then to UMS.. all the way down, i was actually thinking thank god we took the other road, cos tis road was tough.. climbing up steps of various sizes all the way up.. not fun le!! although 2km shorter.. d more i jln down, the more my legs ached.. cos it was so hurtful on the knees!! when we finally saw the 500m mark, we literally sprinted to the gate!! we made it!! weee~

All in it was seriously a gr8 adventure, even more special doin it with a bunch of close frens.. so let's c the to-do list in Sabah:
1. Go snorkeling. Done
2. Go Tip of Borneo. Done
3. Go Labuan buy lots and lotd of choc. Done and put on a few pounds :(
4. Conquer mount KK. (proudly) done!!
So wat's left?
1. Visit other islands in Sabah esp Sipadan
2. Learn diving
3. Go water rafting. (Going tis wednesday.... weeee~)

Well the list goes on.. Like i said, going water rafting tis wednesday.. wish me luck!! For tis mount kk trip i hv aldy uploaded photo kat facebook.. just have a look there and leave comment yea!! :) till the next post~
-karleen-

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Taiwan Part III

Okie.. I've finally reached the final part of my Taiwan. Like Lord of the Rings Trilogy. More like Trip to Taiwan Trilogy. Well basically this was supposed to be like the climax of the whole trip. Where it is supposed to be blogged about for paragraphs and paragraphs. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances, I was left to sulk and sink in the 5 star hotel room overlooking the wonderful scanery of Hualien. Okie, I'll talk more on it as I continue. Before that, to get to Taipei, we took a 6 hours train journey, all the way from Kaohshiung to Taipei..


Scenery from the train

We opted for the Tzu Chiang Railway which was longer compared to the other faster train as it was more economically feasible for us. Save about RM50-80 on train one way u kno! The train that we took weren't so bad either. Definitely more comfy than the KTM in Malaysia. Lol. Tak habis2 kutuk train system in M'sia kan? But one thing's for sure, the railway system in Taiwan is definitely a few classes higher compared to M'sia. Just to get from Taipei to Kaohshiung, there's like a few train options to be choose from. In M'sia, there's only KTM, KTM and KTM. Haih.. So after 6 hours of sitting and sleeping and eating and getting butt-ache, we finally reach...



Taipei Main Station
However, when we reach there, we got to know that actually we should have gotten off from the previous station as it was nearer to our hotel. Apa nak buat, we took the Taipei MRT and reach..

Yuan Shan Station

The view from below of the station

With Wai Leong upon arrival
We were all so very excited and can't wait to get to the hotel to kick start our conference. Lil' did we know it started raining in Taipei!! After suffering for hours under the hot hot sun, it started raining! Apala?? Lol. But that definitely din dampen our spirits although it did wet our bags. We took the shuttle bus from the station all the way to the hotel for registration. Later that night, after the awkward ice breaking with my group, we set off, all 400+ participants to the opening ceremony of the event..
The venue of the opening ceremony

I can't recall the name of the place, but it's something like a wedding house with a total of 4 floors (I think) consisting of all banquet halls for lavish weddings. It was really a very very beautiful place for the wedding of ur dreams.
Taken with my group, Group 7

We had like a 10 course dinner. Somewhat like what you can get in a chinese wedding dinner. Of cos la here oso venue for chinese wedding. We were also entertained by lotsa performance, and this was one that I enjoyed most out of all the performances

Who said medic students can't rock??

So after rocking and dancing the nite away (yes i did dance in front of a crowd), I finally arrive back in the hotel to get my much needed rest.. What I wore for the nite??
I've always wanted to do tis

What you think?? All courtesy of my friends kat M'sia. Semua bukan baju saya. Lol. I think for the rest of the post, I'll just let the picture do the talking la..
2nd day, opening ceremony

The planned seating. Can c how many countries there are

To prevent us from falling into deep deep sleep throughout all the talks, we opted to do some camwhoring!! Lol.
Take 1 (actually tis was take 7 aldy)


Take 2



Take 3



Take 4


There were altogether 10 pics, but then if i post up all it wud have been to 'zi lian' or in english, loving myself too much. Lol. After all the talks, performance, opening ceremony, we had exhibition..
At one of the booths.. (comelkan?)



The M'sian booth to promote EASMC


After all that, we set off to visit Taipei. Here are a few places that I went and pics I took throughout the trip visiting Taipei City..
Taipei 101

Shilin Night Market (Largest night market in Taiwan)

Deserts anyone?? nyum nyum
During my walk to Taipei 101, I actually met a star from Taiwan!! Aaaahhhhh!! Jerry Yan of F4!! Okie okie. So I'm not much of a big fan of his. But then he's just so gorgeous. Just like on TV. Who would have tot my luck. Weee~
3rd day, paper presentation. Take pic then wont fall asleep

Team M'sia in action
After all the presentation, we also set out on 2nd trip arounf Taipei city..
Taiwan cinema. Tickets are super pricey!!

5th day, Poster presentation, also day I got quarantined!!

After the 5th day, I was no longer in a mood to take more pics. Who would if you were to be quarantined and all?? Imagine papparazzi chasing you around asking questions!! Like superstar no?? Hahaha.. So let's skip all that to the final day, cos I missed out like the fun part of the whole conference, including cultural nite, Taroko Park visit, visit to Tzu Chi University, and closing ceremony. Oh well.. Just my luck..
Here's with my roomie, Laura *hugz*

With Jason all the way from UK
That nite after the supposed closing ceremony, we were all so down on not being able to attend it that we set off to spend the nite at the beach. It was awesome i tell u!! I saw shooting stars for the first time!! weee~ yea me!! Lol. So how beautiful it was u ask??
The morning scenery

Sunrise

Me with my specs on
There was no regret going to the beach as the view was just awesome with even more awesome company. Good was to cap the whole Taiwan trip I would say. Although i did end up with backaching after sleeping the whole nite not on sand, but stones!! Lol.. Then it was back to the hotel for breakie and back to M'sia

Nacoco and I.. miss u dearly
We spent another nite in Kaohshiung befor eheading back to M'sia. The trip was still awesome through it all.. Okie lecturer here d.. Till the next post!! XOXO
-karleen-

Mosquito Bites

Well I for one was always a favourite for mosquitoes to come and attack.. Since young it has always been like tat without fail.. then later comes the small red very very itchy bums that i will start scratching which at times will end up to bleed.. the worse time is when the silly silly mosquito nak jugak bite on ur toes, on ur sole.. itchy ohr!! oh yea.. on the palm oso.. haih.. but jz today i found one very interesting fact..

"If you're one of those people whom mosquitoes tend to favor, maybe it's because you aren't sufficiently stressed-out."

Now i kno i'm happy-go-lucky and all.. now tis definitely proves it no?? mayb i shud start to get all stressed out and prevent tis from happening..

Caught in the act

Jie jie was laughing saying i busuk.. haih.. So to stay stressed out onot?? it's all up to u.. kena mosquito bites saje.. hv a good day every1.. Till the next post.. :)

-karleen-