Am I Backward??

Hurm.. Nowadays I'm just sick of those rants posted on FB about the current political situation.. I've no urge to take any part in it. I choose not to be on any side. But I'm compelled to write this tonight in response to this status update that I came across that says something like 

"Sabahans are backward because they are not aware of the current situation and that's why they don't resist.."

I was like.. "WHAT DA!???? Am I backward just because I'm not in your side?? I'm a degree holder, dude! How come you say I'm backward!!"

Terasa bha! I'm a Sabahan.. 

Everybody has their own opinion and stands. Here's mine,

1. I'm afraid of change...

I read a lot.. I don't only read fictions. I also read about the rise and fall of other nations. Change can be good but it can also be bitter.. We don't need to look far.. Look at some countries in Asia itself... Some have won their fight some thirty to forty years ago.. They've devoured the change they've craved.. But why are they still struggling for stability. Why they still flee from their country and make a better living in a foreign land... I just read about a history of another country in another continent in which the leader that the people had elected to make a change finally betrayed his own people. He provoked civil war to gain riches for his own..

But still, like I said, change can be good. One country become an economic giant just because its leader choose to make a change.. 

The problem is.. I don't know what kind of change is coming ahead.. I just don't want to contribute to bad changes.. That's why I don't take any sides...

2. I believe in MJ's words "If you wanna make the the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change"

There are two nations in our continent who are famous of their fast development in knowledge, economic and technology. One of them even had a massive destruction in the 50's due to civil war. What are the similarities of these two nations?? Discipline, integrity, hard work, perseverance and a long list of all the good ethics thingy. An ethical leader is of prime importance (ayat buku text zaman undergraduate), but to make a massive constructive change, we need the whole nation to do so...

We complaint and condemn of the upper rankings for corruptions, slander and whatnot, but have we fulfilled our own responsibility accordingly with the highest and uppermost standard of discipline...??? Hurm.. ponder ponder, Haziah...

3. I choose a different path...

2 years ago, I said I don't want to return to Sabah to work. I applied for Selangor, KL and Putrajaya.. But today, if you ask me to leave Sabah.. I just won't.. I fell in love with my own land...

I'm actually from a middle class family and my friends are mostly from the middle class too and some are rich ones. I have some collections of barbies and polly pockets during my childhood, enrolled into a boarding school and befriended bright students and during my study in West Malaysia the air ticket back to Sabah was never a problem. Not boasting; just to describe to you a little bit about my economic status. So, yeah, I've been living in comfortable zone for many many years. If you ask me of the rural places in Sabah back then, I don't know any of them. It even surprised me when I saw that there are still places that are not accessible by road in Sabah on TV.

Working in Sabah is an eye opener. I can see that some parts of Sabah is deprived from development and is quite far behind compared to West Malaysia in terms of economic, infrastructure and education. But Alhamdulillah, despite all that Sabah is still a very harmonious, peaceful, beautiful and united multiracial and multiethnic state. The way I see it, it's not all about funds, it's also about recruiting people who are willing to take charge. We need people who are generous enough to give time to tend the sick, to teach the illiterate, to feed the poor, to conserve the flora and fauna and whatnot. So.. do not belittle Sabahans just because they don't resist.. Like me, I choose my own path..

"Ya.. Saya golongan yang mau kosongkan jiwa.. Golongan tengah yg mau teruskan hidup helping da sick n da poor, gain knowledge, explore da world n enjoy da peace etc etc :)"

All of us have our own way to uphold the nation... 

4. I love a leader who inspires

I'm not the kind who buy promises and not the kind who is interested in disclosure of slanders. I'm more into inspiring leaders.  No matter how many critics this person received, he is one of the person who inspire me to become who I am today. He's the one who instilled in me that success follows hard work. He's a great man.. (^^) Sedih sangat nda dapat jumpa masa dia di UMS.. 

Am I backward?? I don't think soooooo :)

29 April 2012 Batu Caves Rock Climbing Trip (^^)/

It took me a very looooooong (typical sabahan!) time to finally decide to have it a go for this trip or not. I have too many plans already that I was afraid I couldn't make it for this one. But outdoor climbing is just so tempting especially when you heard so many stories about the place that your friends are going.. So yeah.. went to www.airasia..com and got me tickets as usual!

So.. This is the picture taken inside the bus from LCCT to One Utama. We went to Camp5 on our first day. I was there until 4.30pm and did some bouldering and lead climbs. The routes were awesome with many many types of handholds. But some handholds are just far off in some of the routes that I finally gave up. I'm quite a scaredy-catwhen it comes to lead climbing. I hate the swing when you fell off and it's just too tiring to restart the climb after you've fallen!

 We headed to Damai Cave as early as 8.30 am on the second day. It was cloudy that morning; just nice to early start the outdoor climb. I was so psyched when I saw the wall! It was huge and tall and and and wow! I guess I was so excited because my last outdoor was on September last year and I've been training for a month for this trip.. I was also excited to see the result of my crash training hehe

Me signature pose! \(^^)/

There are actually three sections for climbing in Batu Caves; the Damai wall (the site we were in), Nanyang and Nyamuk. The Damai part consist of easier routes and harder ones can be found in Nanyang and Nyamuk. The rest of the climbers went to Nanyang and Nyamuk on the 4th and last day of the trip. I went back earlier T_T

  

Actually, I only did an outdoor lead climb onc ewhich was my last climb in Kuching before we head back to KK. I don't know why I was so confident to do lead climb that morning. But that day it was slightly different from the one that I did in Kuching. See all those dangling metal thing on my waist? Those are called quickdraws. In Kuching, those things were already attached to the bolts but on that day I have to bring them up with me, attach them to the bolt and clip in the rope.  

 

Manage to clean the route \(^^)/ Yeehaw!!!!!! I did 5 more lead climbs after that and one top rope at a 6b+ route. I'm not going to upload too many pictures of me climbing. They are just rocks and my backside.. :P

The heat can be deadly in the afternoon. There's nothing to shade you as you climb under the sun. I can still hold the rocks but it was my feet that was hurting. The soles of climbing shoes are made of rubber and they absorb heat. I swear I felt my feet burnt! When I took my shoes off, my feet were so red! The pic above actually shows the cracks on the sole.

That night we spent a few hours bouldering in Madmonkeyz. I was too tired and only tried some routes. made some new friends too :)

This is our group photo. This is actually the right side of the Damai wall. I did 2 lead climbs at this part of the wall on my last day there. The routes were harder than the left side since there were more crimps at this side.

Hurm.. Damai wall is exciting but in terms of difficulty, I think Batman cave's  routes were tougher because it is an overhang. I love this trip (^^) I'll come back to Damai again to finish up the routes and will also try Nanyang and Nyamuk some day :)

Parasailing & Flyfish! (^^)

Another thing that I was excited about Mida's trip to Sabah was that we planned to do water rafting in Padas River. It is among the best spot in Malaysia and some even said it is among the best in South East Asia; the rapids range from grade 3 to 4...

But.. When we reach Beaufort to ride the antique train to Tenom, we were told that there was a land slide and we have to cancel the trip. I was sooooooooooo sad. But of course, I already have a backup plan in mind (^^)v

 

Me, in front of the Beaufort train station. We actually woke up at 5.00 am that morning. You have to depart early from KK to Beaufort to catch the train to Tenom that departs at 7.30am. I kept telling Mida along the way that I was excited about riding the ancient train.. 

So, we went island hoping instead! \(^^)/

This activity was actually scheduled on Sunday; that's the day after we descend from the mountain. And luckily we went that Thursday because our leg muscles were aching after the descend.

We were lucky to arrive at the jetty just before 10.30am because the next boat after that was at 1.30 pm.We bought 2 tickets for transfer to 3 islands and that cost RM43/person. We paid RM60/person for the parasailing.

We did the parasailing in Sapi island. Firstly,you have to wear that blue yellow thing that looks more like a giant diaper. It actually looks like a giant harness but I don't know why I can't figure out how to fasten it haha

At first, I'd wanted to do it alone but the guy at the counter told us it would be boring to do the single parasailing so we took the double parasailing package. And yes, you will enjoy it even more if you have a partner beside you because you can chat as you hover and enjoy the scenery.. And also it is more exciting to scream together as you go up and down during the parasailing haha

It's not scary at all but we screamed a lot.. Maybe because it is more fun to scream though there's nothing to scream about haha Or I think we were just too excited that we screamed a lot

We parasailed for a good 15 minutes and throughout that the guys had let us up so high that we can see all the islands and slowed down the boat a bit and let us dip our legs into the water. We were told to bend our legs when dipping them into the water. I still can't think of the rationale of that, though.

This is one of the dipping. Well, during this, half of our body was dipped.(^^)/ FUN!

Our smiley face parachute!!!!

In Manukan we decided to try the flyfish. Paid RM60/person. The person in charge told us this would be extreme and tiring and we might fall into the water. I guess he was trying to scare us but we were not threatened by his warnings, of course. Siap reply dengan angkuh lagi "Bole bha kalo extreme. We like extreme!"

A chinese couple tried it first before us. It looked scary because the boat have to stop for like 5 times because the girl fell from her seat (not a very proper seat, of course. Just this bump on the buoy where you can sit on). There's also a handle for you to grip on.

This ride also goes for 15 minutes. When we didn't fall after a few minutes spin, we noticed that the boat went faster and faster. The buoy flew and was in a vertical position many times. To me, it was more like riding a mad bull. I've never held a handle so tight like that before. It was like holding for dear life though it was actually to avoid from falling into the water and we really want to prove to the guy that we are EXTREME haha

Via Ferrata 21st April 2012 \(^^)/ Love it!!!!!!

Like I said in my previous post, the idea of doing Via Ferrata just sort of popped out from thin air when a friend told me he was going to do it early April.. Guess what.. He had diarrhea the day before his climb and cancelled the whole trip!!!!!!!

Via Ferrata cost A LOT ok! The price varied depending on the travel agent. Ours cost RM 1660. My friend who cancelled his trip paid RM 1500 but another friend of mine who did via Ferrata a few days before us paid RM 1070 (-_-"). I'm not sure if they allow walk-in because from what I heard, you must book through a local travel agent because the company is actually a company based in Singapore.

If the trip is cancelled, there'll be no refund. Other reasons that can cause cancellation other than the climber being unfit are, failure to reach pendant hut before the briefing (3.30 pm-4.30 pm) and bad weather. It was very clear why weather is important when we reach Laban Rata.  Those rocks definitely will turn into waterfall when it rains. A HUGE WATERFALL!

Via Ferrata is nothing new in Europe but is still unpopular in Malaysia though ours is actually the world's highest Via Ferrata. Via Ferrata is actually in Italian which means 'Road of Iron'. The history of Via Ferrata goes back to world war II where it was first built to ease military men when moving about the mountains in Europe during the war. So, in Europe there are like hundreds of Via Ferrata and according to our dorm mate, Joe, you can just buy yourself a guidebook and explore it with a bunch of friends. You also need the right equipment, of course :)

Via Ferrata consist of fixed cables, ladders and bridges. There are two routes in Mt. Kinabalu, 'Walk the Torq' and 'Low's Circuit'. Walk the Torq is a shorter route suitable for those who are keen of trying but too afraid to do the extreme. This route is only about 400m long. Half vertical and half horizontal.

Low's circuit, the one that we did, is 1.2 km long. 300m vertical route, 300m hike in the forest (forest ka tu ah??) and another 600m horizontal route.

So as you can see, the basic gears are a harness, two slings with an automatic lock carabiners attached to each end and a dynamic rope.. 

For your attire, please refer to the above beautiful models picture.. Hehe 

You will need a pair of sport shoes with good gripping sole, thick clothing since it will be quite windy and a pair of sunnies to shade your eyes from the sun (and untuk bergaya!). As you can see, Mida is wearing a pair of jeans and actually I was wearing another pants inside. When it gets too cold, you can feel your leg stiffen so it is important to wear just enough cloth to insulate you..

                                                

Another important thing is you must be someone who is not afraid of heights. But, lets say you still want to challenge yourself despite your fear, you can still proceed of course but it'll definitely take a longer time to finish. And as a consequence of that you'll be late for your descend and most probably you won't get your certificate because the office, which is at the entrance of Kinabalu Park, closes at 5pm.. Have to come another day to get it. Get me? The time to finish also varied depending on your fitness, pace and level of confidence. If you're not confident, your pace is of course will be slower. The longest time ever to finish was 13 hours. Bear in mind, the weather is unpredictable there.

So actually, there are three of us including Hillary the trainer who was behind the camera. We tied the rope to our harness and were 3m apart from each other. So as you walk, the two carabiners will be attached to the steel cable while the rope is to be slipped into that loop. The sling is elastic and the dynamic rope also has some degree of elasticity so this will give you lesser impact if you fall.

Via Ferrata is actually safe. You just have to be confident and you must trust your gears.After a few meters from the starting point, we were asked to do lean back like in the picture. You just lean back without holding the sling. I did this quite a number of times during my climbing trips so I didn't hesitate. But surprisingly Mida only hesitate to let go of her hands for a few seconds. Berani ni orang!

O ya, I  forgot to mention that the trainer will always be the last person in the line. As you can see, in our group I'm the leader. Remember I mentioned that we have a cut off time during our ascend so that we reach Pendant Hut just in time for the briefing. Well, the briefing was to brief climbers on the 'actions'. We were trained on how to attach carabiners and how to put the rope inside the metal loop. For the leader, it's carabiners first followed by the rope. As for the rest, it'll be rope first followed by carabiners.

In the vertical route, there's actually a few meters horizontal route like this one. This part is so so so vertical! 

                                                                                                           

This is another part of the vertical route. You go down those ladders for a few hundred meters. There are parts where you have to change sides. One thing about this via Ferrata is it is built according to the size of Frenchmen. So the ladders can sometimes may be too far apart. For a person like me who is a shorty, I sometimes need to really extend my body so that my foot can reach the next foot hold. But you can also step on the rock because it's rough so the friction is excellent :)

You can rest for a few minutes at this flat surface that's just enough to accommodate around 5 climbers at one time. We got to enjoy lovely view from there because the sky was so clear. Not too cloudy. We were actually sitting at the edge so memang feel!

This is the suspension bridge. This is our first frightening encounter during this activity. The plank is quite far from the rock, so I really really have to spread my legs to get onto to the plank. It was shaking when I was trying to attach the carabiners to the bridge's cable. And when both my legs were already on the planks, I looked down and saw this deep ravine!

To be honest, my knees were shaking!!!!!!!!!

And when Hillary joined us on the plank, he deliberately shook the bridge!!!!!!!!! We were screaming on top of our lungs!!!!!!!! Sangat scary.. (-_-")

This is the 3-cable suspension bridge which was less scary or maybe we already got used to it (cepat kan  kami immune? :p) We even jumped on it! (^^)v

 

 This is the last suspension bridge before the horizontal route

 This is a part in the horizontal route. Not many pictures during the horizontal route, though. It was getting foggy.

  

 We're all done!!!!!! (^^)/

  

Mount Kinabalu 20-21 April 2012

(^^) Our last hike was in Mount Batur, Bali, Indonesia; October last year. After that we resolved to have a good rest and no plans for any adventure. The idea of climbing Mount Kinabalu suddenly popped out out of nowhere when a friend of mine told me he was going to do the Via Ferrata on April. This was on January.. I checked the flight ticket from KL to KK; ahah! cheap! Called Mida,

"We are going to do Via Ferrata on April.. Ini adalah satu arahan!"

It took Mida about 24 hours to check what da heck is her crazy friend talking about (Via Ferrata??) and finally decide.. We bought the ticket first and sought the package later. We always go for the most extreme.. So there were two routes; Low's Circuit & Walk the Torq. So, x payah nak fikir panjang, of course we opted Low's Circuit (^^)

But save the story of Via Ferrata for now. Now lets see how we made it up to Low's Peak first (^^)

We actually booked a package which was inclusive of our transfer from KK to Kinabalu Park so on the 20th we were at the Wisma Sabah bus station as early as 6am. It was still too early for breakfast when we left home. So I bought this tasty Nasi Lemak at this Petronas petrol station on our way to Kinabalu Park.. Macam jadi habit pulak makan dalam van ni hehe

When we reached Kinabalu Park, the driver helped us to settle everything; our guide, passes and lunch packs. Each of us were given this tag to wear. You can bring it home after the climb as souvenir! Our guide was a very young man named Jason. He was very quiet at first but during the descend we talked a lot. Maybe he didn't want to tire us during the ascend hehe

So this is the map of the summit trail. A total of ~8.5km from Timpohon gate to Low's Peak. It was all the way up up up and up!!!!!!! Iwas quite nervous about this climb since this is the tallest mountain we ever climb so far. I was worried about my fitness, about altitude sickness, about the weather and my unpredictable bowel activity when the temperature is too cold. But everything went well! Alhamdulillah.. :)

Actually, you can find your own way to the top by just following this sign. They have plenty of it since there are quite a lot of junctions. I was separated from Mida and our guide until we reached our lodging in Pendant Hut. But, a guide is still IMPORTANT. Especially in the case where your pace is too slow and fail to reach the lodging before it turns dark (^^) The guides are very patient, you know. I think nowadays I can no longer be a 'sweeper' like I used to because I can't even follow Mida's pace though she wasn't too slow..

Now lets look at the trail.. I'm okay with trails that doesn't have huge logs blocking the way and low tree branches to bang your head on. But, still, endless stairs can annoy me just the same.. It was not that steep but the steps can be far apart that you have to really climb it with all your might!

More and more and more stairs! Frowning..

You'll find huts like this one every 0.5 to 1 km. Here, you can rest and enjoy watching the fat squirrels running around searching for food. One even tried to carry my handphone away while I was uploading a picture on FB. Every hut has a toilet where you can do your business quite comfortably and a water tank that contain untreated water yet drinkable :) Convenient!

So, after 4 hours and 10 minutes of nonstop climbing-with-brute-strength, I finally arrived at Laban Rata (^^) "But, where is Pendant Hut?" I thought.. And then I saw a white cubicle shape building about 50m up and gave out a loud cry.. It would't be that hard to walk 50m on flat ground.. But after 6km hike up, that was something to be horrified about to see your lodging is waaaaay up from the food supply, Laban Rata..

I actually was battling inside whether to go register myself in Pendant Hut first or eat lunch first since we have this cut off time. I didn't have any watch so I have no idea what time it was. Registering first means I have to walk all the way down to satisfy my hunger.. I finally registered first as to I don't want to exceed the cut off time and was surprised to find it was just 1.40pm when I opened the door to Pendant Hut (^^)

This is the Pendant Hut. They have mixed dorm and some privates. We were in a mixed dorm that has 4 double-decker beds. Our roommates were a British guy who was an avid rock climber and two Chinese from China who was actually father and daughter :) I took a top bunk. The mattress is cozy and they provide you with another sleeping bag since there is no heater.

What I like most would be the Qiblat arrow. I was surprised to see it and later found out that there wasn't any in other lodgings. The staff even allowed Mida and I to use an empty dorm for our prayer since the space in our dorm is not convenient. They also have very clean toilets and showers with heaters :)

We were to start the hike to the peak at 2.30 am so we slept early that night. I think I went to sleep at around 9pm. Dozed off while listening to Hitz.fm

So, the next morning, we had a light breakfast at Pendant Hut first before the hike; some toast and hot drinks. And then start off with climbing stairs AGAIN!!!!! I was surprised to see so many climbers because most of them weren't at dinner. There were Korean, Chinese, Europeans

, one friendly Indian guy and some Malays from west Malaysia.. Surprisingly no Sabahans..Only me :p

We were climbing in a snaking long line. We were at the back of tens of climbers at first. But as we go up, more and more climbers stopped to have a rest and gave way to us. After the stairs, we came to this point where there was this extremely long white rope lying on the ground. We were to follow the rope all the way up and at this point everything was granite... You can hold the rope for support too. See the picture, there's a rope on our left.

The above picture was taken while resting in Sayat-sayat. We didn't intend to rest because it'll be even tiring to start back after you've cooled down. But we have to wait for the ranger and it's not a good idea to reach the peak too early because it'll be too cold up there.

Finally, THE PEAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Low's Peak to be exact.. There are many peaks, you know. We can't even guess which one is the highest. Low's peak is actually at the back of all the peaks and you'll be thinking like, "Which one is it? Why am I still climbing??"

We reached the peak @ 5.10 am. It was cold indeed and we were told that it was not that cold that morning because there was no wind. But it was still extremely cold!!!!!!!

"Ini namanya sepoi2 bahasa'" said one of the guides.

We performed our Fajr prayer on the peak; which is very epic to me :P

Waited for the sun to rise from the east.. But we cannot see the sun quite clearly since the east side was rather cloudy. The west side was a clear starry sky that morning.

Here are some of the peaks

One ringgit peak.. In our entire life before this trip, Mida and I thought this is the highest peak in Mount Knabalu.. What a shame.. (-_-")

Gorilla.. Can you see that Gorilla face??

We manage to do our epic jump in Mount Kinabalu too. The peak on the right is Low's peak (^^)

This is another great adventure of ours (which made Beijing trip seems even lame)

We met a lot of people during our climb and become acquainted to some too. On our way up, we were given supports by mere strangers.. Those who were on their descend will greet you with a smile and say Good Luck. Makes you know, there's something great up there...

NEVER STOP EXPLORING (^^)

Ascend: 4 hours 10 min; 4 hours 30 min

To the peak: 2 hours 30 min

Via Ferrata: 4 hours plus hundreds of pics

Descend: 2 hours 45 min

Post mountain effect: HUGE APPETITE.. Off to eat some grilled chicken right now!