SMSL '03: Kundasang All-Girls Trip (^^)

I think I haven't been at home on most weekends this year.. Last week I went diving with Z in Sapi Island. We did 3 dives there; at Clement's reef, Ron's reef and Coral Garden. The visibility was not that clear but I think the corals were beautiful though we only encountered few marine life compared to the ones we saw in Sipadan *duh! memang la x bole compare, Haziah..* The fish were not in large schools. But I saw Nemo and his dad with his other kin! haha Haziah, mungkin kamu patot mula mengenal nama ikan ~

I didn't take many pictures during this trip.. And I 'murdered' my smurf cam (encik waterproof Nikon) during the last dive. We were suppose to dive not more than 10m.. But I think we actually exceeded the depth because my camera suddenly stopped functioning; dark screen all the way~ Sedey jugakla.. But got myself 2 new cameras within less than a week (-_-") I can't live without a camera!!!! Bought 2 because I also broke my Sony camera in Indonesia last December... And the cheaper one is for my other family members to borrow hakhak kedekot!

Then we treat ourselves with this cozy room for us to spend the night after the dives.  This was sort of like our trip to Gayana last year.. Some activities at the sea and a pinch of luxury.. Pure relaxation that is.. And then we also treat ourselves with scrumptious Italian cuisine at our all-time favourite Italian restaurant!

And this weekend was spent with SMSLian girls in Kundasang (^^)
*At this age, I should already be using the word woman.. but then that's too boring~ And that word makes us sound like a bunch of old ladies on a trip~*

What I love about my batch is; we actually belong to different cliques when we were in school, but after we finished, we got closer to each other. And regardless from which clique we are from, when we have reunions, we'll chat endlessly and laughed like mad! Boys and girls alike! *Still feels it sounds wrong if I use men and women.. Hik!*

JF and I left for Kundasang a bit later in the evening than the others. I was busy preparing food while waiting for JF, who was driving from Beaufort. I was too carried away that I forgot to pack my sweater into my bag! Bijak~ Pigi gunung, nda bawak sweater. So... I end up buying this red jacket haha Cost me RM 25.. Bundle maaaa~ hehe

That night we had grilled chicken (Thank you Ricci for the recipe..), grilled lamb and bolognaise spaghetti 

And in the morning, we had nasi lemak berlauk ayam and kambing grill and coleslaw which was suppose to be served the night before but I forgot to take it out from the fridge hehe (^^")
 The girls were so suspicious.. They thought I was strangely 'semangat' in preparing the foodies. Hehe they thought I was in the middle of practicing to become a good cook for a husband.. What da..!?
I always love to cook. I love to try new recipes and let my family taste them. But this particular interest is not something that I usually talk about because I'm not confident with my own cooking haha I don't think they are that delicious (^^")

We had a beautiful view of the mountain during breakfast too! We stayed at the D'izz homestay Kundasang, recommended by Ricci. Cost us RM 350/night and well worth it! It's not too big nor too small. There are 3 rooms; one master room with King size bed, one room with queen size bed and one with two single beds. There are 2 bathrooms and a kitchen equipped with a rice cooker, a toaster, an electric kettle, a fridge and a stove. They also have plates, bowls and cutlery. And there's a huge TV with Astro in the living room. We simply love our stay!

Initially, the others wanted to go to Poring to have a dip in the hot spring bath tubs but JF and I were planning to have a look at the Mesilau trail which is infamously known as the more beautiful part of the mountain. So, finally, the rest thought it was a better idea to go to Mesilau since most of them are going to catch a ferry back to Labuan later.

It is beautiful indeed! We stopped twice to take pictures before reaching the Mesilau Nature Resort; where the climbers start the ascend from Mesilau trail. There's a very nice stream flowing just below this hill that we are standing on in this picture. The water was ice cold!

The stream.. Gambar bajet itu wajib :p

And after that we went to the Kundasang War Memorial.. Baru prasan one part that I missed on my previous visit..

I didn't know that the war cemetery in Labuan are real graves until I saw this that day (-_-") I mean, I thought it is just like a memorial that they made to look like a real grave. I'm gonna bring my niece and nephew there this weekend to have another good look at that place. Well, I think the last time I set foot there was when I was in primary school, when I less appreciate them hehe I love bringing my nephew to places like that because he's the curious type and I enjoy explaining things to him. Tapi kadang2 malas jugak mo jawab hahaha

Testing bakat fotografi

Waited under these roses for about 5 minutes for the Union Jack to flutter.. But it didn't.. So I cropped the pic haha

The 'Death March' trail...

And the beautiful ladies.. (^^)

Can''t wait for our next meet up! O0o0o0 AS (left) came all the way from KL for this small reunion! Sangat terharu ok!

Reunions make me feel 17 again! Ahax!

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Sudikah kau menjadi suami ku (-_-")

First and foremeost, today is a public holiday.. Salam Mailidurrasul everyone *though I'm scehduling this post a little bit later*.. I've no plans today.. Was planning our coming trips just now, stopped for lunch and now I feel like rambling... Heee~

Tension no. 1

The beginning of the year is always challenging.. I feel like I need a getaway right away!!! This is the time to summarize everything that was done last year, do revision and improvise for this year. Sampai satu tahap, when I'm done with my work in the ward and finally have time to do the documentation stuffs, I'll just stare at my computer; as if my brain refuse to function~ (-_-")

Tension no. 2

And, for this week alone... I was asked "Bila mau kawen?" for more than 5 times by different people!!!  (-_-") Hurm.. I'm more or less immuned to that question these days. Laughed out loud when asked and gave the same answer each time. But one conversation with a school friend was quite elaborate.

AR: So korang bila mau kawen
GG & RR: Uhuk uhuk uhuk
AR: Seriously jangan lambat sangat.. Kite da 27 da weyh...
GG: AR,  masalahnya ktorang nak kawen dengan sapa skang ni? Cuba ko gtau aku..
AR: Haha.. Tak salah kalo pompuan initiate dulu..
GG: Ko mau aku wat macam mana? Approach potential husband atau orang yang aku suka then tanya "Sudikah kau jadi suami ku??"
AR: Remind me not to ask you this question anymore, Haziah hahaha

Naaa.. surrender terus c AR hehe

Tension no. 3

And this morning when I was studying hard for our next trip, everything written on the screen was indecipherable.. alien to me (-_-") That I've to fully utilize mr google translate  tapi akhirnya makin bingung.. Usually, I can do my travel research a whole day long; sampai muka jadi oily dan lupa makan. But today, I retired early..

 

Happy no. 1

But those were just trivial matters.. Not stressful enough to ruin my 2013 heee There were many happy things happening in my life too! Besides getting my diving licence, I got myself a pair of new futsal shoes! Mercurial Vapor Superfly ape tah (^^) Woho! Haziah kaya beli Mercurial!!! RM 300++!!! WRONG!! My feet are small so I got the junior size soo0o0o0o0 murah seja!! \(^^)/

Wore it during our futsal game last week.. Haha I aged... I don't play as well as I used to.. Was out of breath in less than 10 minutes after the game started.. Bikin malu~ Anyway, it was a fun game. I can do it every week but please.. no more tournament for the aging me~

 

 Then came my school mate's wedding. Manage to recruit some of the girls.. Had a great karaoke the night before and on Sunday, we drove all the way to Sipitang for our friend's wedding (^^)

Wedding tips: Jangan buat masa cuti skolah.. Nanti banyak clash.. dapat hadiah or duit pon sikit :p

 Then some of the guys are in town, so another reunion on Monday night. Makan seafood eventhough we've been warned about the red tide. Alhamdulillah, we were not poisoned hehe

 And last but not least, I want to share this pic that I got from FB

Sangat bagus.. Applicable.. Kalo bab kawen I'll take the #6, 2nd point, Amazing thingscan and do happen when you least expect them.. Sebab, saya malas nak fikir sebab saya rasa I can do nothing about it.. Kalo bab travel bab mengejar cita2, I'll take #1 to #10 (^^) InshaAllah~

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Am a Scuba Diver (^^)/ Yaw!

Woho! Riuh sekampong! Hehe yah.. and I'm writing this to inspire you (^^)

I don't know why I put a lot of thinking before deciding to have it a go for this one. Initially I was afraid of being claustrophobic in the water like I did when I tried my discovery dive in Siamil island. Then I start thinking about addiction, about how expensive the hobby is and finally the body hugging wetsuit. And one night, when encik banyak lemak di perut; EBLDP (I seriously hope he doesn't follow my blog) showed me his PADI card, I held it in my hand and scrutinized it like it was a piece of jewelry that needs to be examined for originality.

EBLDP: Weyh, ko jangan amek lak kad aku tu..
Gg: X lah.. Nak tengok betol2 je..

Macam Gollum kan... Precioussssssssss.. Macam x mo kasi balik ni :p So actually that was when I realize that I actually wanted to have my scuba licence so much and those thinking was just a drag.. Text Mr. P for advice, in less then an hour Mr. P gave me the dates because there was a friend of his who was waiting for someone to take the licence with and Mr. P said I should get a few more people to get a good deal.

GG: EBLDP, kalo ade member nak amek lesen scuba, gtau tau.. 11, 12, 13 Jan..
EBLDP: eyh? cepat gile!
GG: Ko la ni.. Pi tunjok kad!

Dan bermulalah....

Actually, after I went back from Mabul in December 2011, I was so excited about it and told the climbers at the climbing center my experience  there. Most of the climbers are actually advance divers and some are even dive masters and instructors. One evening, when I came to climb, Lee handed to me a bag full of Scuba Divers magazine. He said, "For you to read a bit. :)" 

Sangat terkejut dan terharu! (^^) So, yeah, been keeping these for more than a year, and opened them again to get some inspiration before the course starts.

I actually changed the date to 12, 13, 14 Jan because I don't want to work on Monday haha 

So, the course start off with a video show which was divided into 5 sections. Basically, the videos tells about the basics. Almost the same as what you can find inside the manual except the manual is more detailed. I was also given the Recreational Dive Planner (RDP) which function as a reference to decide on how much time you have underwater and how  much time you need to stay on the surface before your next dive. After the video, we were told to answer some of the exercises inside the manual to test our understanding..

On the 2nd day, we went to Sapi island for our confined water dives where we were brought to shallow water, dive and kneel on the surface and did some safety drills. I suck at clearing my mask underwater. This was when you have to slightly open the  top your mask to allow some water to go in; half full. Then you need to clear it by tilting your head to the back, slightly open the bottom of the mask and blow your nose to let the water out. Urgh! I hate doing this.. The water goes into my nostril and the salt water stung me eyes!

Anyway, I was not mentally prepared for the 2nd day. I was only informed about the 200m swim the day before. So I text all my diver friends to make sure this is not a prank. EBLDP was the first to reply

GG: Betol ke kene swim 200m?

EBLDP: Yesza! And float 10 mins

GG: So, I'm gonna die soon. Tell Fabregas I love him

EBLDP: Senang je. Aku gemuk, aku gune lemak kat perut je. Tambah la lemak kat perut.

GG: Pastilah itu takkan berlaku!

I was perplexed and nervous. I know how to swim, but I can't float! And the last I swam, January 2012  at Gayana where I actually found out that I've lost my rhythm after all those years of inactivity~ (-_-")

Allah saja yang tahu betapa nervous nya aku! 

So on the second day, when the boat docked at the jetty, I stood, carried my bag and was getting ready to get off the boat when..

"Ko nak gi mane?"

GG: Letak barang la..

"Ko dudok diam2 dalam boat. Berenang dulu"

GG: O S***! Like seriously!?

"Serious laaaaaaaaa.."

I wasn't ready for it at all. Donned my wetsuit and was in the queue to jump off the boat.

"Bole pakai mask.."

GG: Betol ke wetsuit bole float?

"Jangan takot.. Bole float punya.."

GG: Kalo sy lemas kasi slamat tau..

"Confirm!"

Monolog dalaman.. Confirm lemas ka confirm kasi selamat ka confirm float..???

So I jumped off the boat and ploop! I did float. Wore the mask and after that swimming was easy peasy hehehe Kin cuak tol la!

So on the third day, we continued with the rest of the confined water dives and did 2 open water dives. O yeah, on the 2nd day we did 2 open water dives too!

I was more familiar with the equipments and the diving environment on the 3rd day. Was less nervous and start to gain buoyancy control too. On the second day I was going up and down as I dive because I don't know how to control my breathing. To ascend, you just breath more air to expand your lungs and your buoyancy will also increase. To descend you just have to exhale as much air as you could to reduce air in the lungs, then you'll sink a bit. We can also use the inflator to adjust the buoyancy.

Pasal aurah.. Yah, gambar mata sembam ini adalah pagi 3rd day...

Actually, the wetsuit is kind of like a must for this activity. It's to protect you from injury and to keep you warm while you dive in deep water. It was raining on both days, so can you imagine how cold the water was. I was shivering most of the time on the surface! It is tight but you can pick a slightly loose size and actually once you wear the BSD (that's the jacket that's attached to the tank), most of you body are covered so the body shape won't be that exposed.

I wore this syria hijab for diving; which is more comfortable than bawal. Wore a bawal the day before and when I took off the mask, the bawal got pulled together and I sort of strangled myself hehe :p

And when I'm not wearing the wetsuit, I was actually wearing a rash guard. That's like a shirt that's made of nylon or spandex or polyester. It helps you to slip into the wetsuit and also protects you from the sun. My rash guard is super tight to make it comfortable underneath the wetsuit. So when I'm not in my wetsuit, I wore a jacket to cover it. Am planning to buy a windbreaker since it is waterproof. And I was also wearing a dri fit pants which was quite loose.

Actually, when I told about my concern about the aurah thingy to Z, she actually showed me all the options for diving attire. But at that time, I can't really imagine of what to wear and how to wear them. Now that I already know, well, actually, we still can cover the aurah while doing the things we love (^^)

After lunch, we head back to the office to do our written exam. Challenging jugak la.. Macam Sains PMR because we have to really understand how the Archimedes principle works and a little bit about how the depth could actually be fatal and what are the signs and symptoms of the  nitrogen narcosis and decompression sickness. Tapi I passed with 92% marks! To pass you cannot have more than 12 wrong answers.

and then we were given this yellow logbook to record our dives

Yah! And for the 3 days course, we did 4 dives and my total time is 2 hours and 15 minutes! \(^^)/

And that's my temporary card there. Aduh.. burok gila gambar. I didn't know that they'll snap our pictures after the exam for the card.. I thought we were going to hand in our passport pics because EBLDP's pic on his card was quite urm.. good-lookng or maybe he's just photogenic (I seriously hope he doesn't even know about the existence of my blog). Btw, EBLDP milik orang (to avoid speculations :p)

Anyway.. now that I'm a diver, so I can go dive during my island trips! Hoyeah! \(^^)/

I still love the mountains and climbing more.. hik!

And my blistered toes~

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