Mt Kinabalu - Part Three: The Quest

We woke up as early as 5am the next morning ready for the adventure of a lifetime.  Our tour agent was supposed to pick us up at the guard house around 6:10am.  After washing up, packing and having had our breakfast, we marched to the guard house to fulfill our destiny!

We were early, so we thought.  But the tour bus was even earlier.  The tour guide greeted us and ushered us into the bus.  He handed over a bottle of mineral water and a sealed wet towel to each one of us.  There were another 2 groups of people staying in Marina Court that signed up for this climb as well.  Hence, we waited for another 10-15 minutes.  The bus stopped by a few other hotels to pick up more passengers thereafter.

Finally at around 7am, the tour bus headed towards Kinabalu Park Headquarter.  It took approximately 2 hours.  The road was very winding.  Usually I don't take motion sickness pill, but I gobbled 2 pills down the throat just in case I felt sick even before the climb due to the journey.  Thanks to Audrey.  She was indeed very well prepared.

The tour guide gave us a 20-minutes briefing on our way to Kinabalu Park.  Apparently he has climbed Mt Kinabalu 14 times!  Phew!  He was only 14 years old when he first hiked up the mountain peak.  His fastest record was to climb up and down the mountain within 6 hours!  However, a mountain guide is required to do so in 3 hours.  Incredible, isn't it?  The youngest person recorded that reached the peak was a 10-year-old child and the oldest was 87-year-old.  So, are you ready for such a challenge?

However, the guide also warned us of the acute mountain sickness (AMS).  If anyone suffers from AMS, he/she should not continue the climb as it may endanger one's life.

Soon, the 2-hour journey came to the end and we reached Kinabalu Park Headquarters.  We received a sourvenir tag that serves as an identification.  We were then introduced to our mountain guide, Robbi.  He helped us to rent the hiking pole (extremely useful!!!) at RM10 each.  Donna also purchased a headtorch at the cost of RM35.

A packed lunch consisting of a sandwich, an apple and a bottle of mineral water were given to us.  When all of us were ready, we hop on a shuttle van to travel to Timpohon Gate - the starting point to the stairway of 4,095 metres height.

The four young adventurers!

Isn't she beautiful?

To be continued...

Mt Kinabalu - Part Two: The journey has begun

After 10 months of anticipation, finally the day had arrived!  To my surprised, I wasn't very excited about it.  Perhaps talking about it, reading about it, preparing for it have worn my enthusiasm off.

Audrey flew over from Adelaide a couple of days before our departure to KK.  We stayed a few nights in Subang.  Since I always have a problem sleeping in new places, I did not get much rest prior to our climb.  That worried me quite a bit.

We left KLIA 2 on Sunday morning while Andrew and the kids returned to Melaka.  The flight was such a breeze.  We took a taxi to Marina Court Resort which was booked via Amazing Borneo.  Upon arrival, we checked with the reception only to find out that our names were not in their records for booking.  Apparently there are many private units in this condo, but only Promenade has its own reception counter in Marina Court.  We tried to call the Amazing Borneo office but since it was a Sunday, no one answered the phone.  To cut the story short, a security guard led us to a housekeeping lady, who finally gave us our room keys.  The housekeeping lady explained to us that the person-in-charge was off that day.  Looks like someone has 'forgotten' to make some arrangement for our arrival.

Marina Court Resort

Well, we were quite happy with the unit given.  It was a 3-room apartment.  This room was meant for 6 pax but it could easily accommodate up to 8 pax.  Very spacious, clean, complete with all kitchen utensils, washing machine, and air-conditioning in all bedrooms and living room.

The living room

The kitchen

Room 1

Room 2

Master bedroom with attached bathroom

The sea view from the balcony

Marina Court Resort is located at the heart of KK city.  Right opposite the condo is a newly opened shopping centre, Oceanus Mall.  Audrey and I took a 2-minutes walk to explore this mall.  We were surprised that this mall is quite upmarket, with HardRock Cafe being one of its tenants though they are still under construction.  However, the crowd is undoubtedly less for a Sunday afternoon.  There was a few performances eg traditional and modern dance, lion dance, acrobatic lined up to celebrate CNY.  We had a nice lunch at Nandos before returning to the condo to welcome Chu and Donna.

This was my first meeting with Chu and Donna but they are totally lovely.  We rested for only 10-minutes before venturing out to hunt for Chu's favourite 'bak gua' in town.  However, after all the hustle and bustle of asking for direction and walking for half an hour, the famous 'bak' gua' shop was closed for CNY.  But.... they would be opened on Wednesday!  Audrey and I would miss it since our flight was in the morning, but Chu and Donna could come back for this mouthwatering piece of meat as they planned to stay one more night for shopping.

It was interesting walking around KK city as this was my first visit to KK.  The 'pursue' for bak gua has led me through the side streets and the byways.  Audrey depicted this part of the city as Petaling Street in KL.  Generally I find KK quite a clean city.  We came across this sign that says 'Stick No Bills' and my Australian friends were quite amused by it.  They couldn't understand until they read the Malay translation 'Dilarang Menampar Poster'.

We headed back to Central Point for dinner.  It is only less than 10-minutes walk from our condo.  In contrast with Oceanus Mall, Central Point is a bit old but it is flooded with people.  We finally settled with Secret Recipe for dinner before returning to our condo to rest for the night.

To be continued...

Mt Kinabalu - Part One: The birth of a great adventure

Photo derived from beautifulkk.com

Another check off my life-list (aka bucket list) ......

Honestly, I have never thought of fulfilling this dream. The seed of climbing Mt Kinabalu was first planted 10 years ago when the Royal Rangers in my former church organised an expedition to this highest mountain in South East Asia.  My dear hubby discouraged me from signing up as he was very concerned that I couldn't make it (disclaimer: hubby has no recollection of this).  Well, it is quite true coz I'm not one who loves to exercise.  I certainly do not have the physical training and stamina.  I didn't pursue this dream since then.

In recent years, thanks to FB, I found out a few of my peers had successfully climbed Mt Kinabalu.  However, it was not until two years ago when hubby was 'forced' to enrolled in an excursion to Mulu Cave that my desire to climb Mt Kinabalu was rekindled.  This time, hubby was more encouraging.  His only condition was to find a partner.  It is not advisable to be alone in such an expedition.  Especially I'm both a newbie in travelling and climbing.

I started my 'hunt'.  It wasn't a smooth ride though.  After months of looking around, I found my 'soulmate' - my sister-in-law, Audrey.  She was excited and immediately gave me the green light to proceed with the rest of the arrangement.  Weeks later, Audrey's friend, Chu and her sister, Donna, joined us and we are finally settled down with 4 adventurous and ambitious climbers.

The 'human' factor is done, now let's turn our attention to the web.  I read many reviews on the climb to Mt Kinabalu.  Although it may be cheaper to book everything separately (accommodation, meals, permits, transportation, and etc), we have decided to book via Amazing Borneo, a travel agency.  Dealing with them was an absolute pleasure.  Hmm... after my Hong Kong trip, I admitted that I have quite a bad impression on tour agency.  But as for Amazing Borneo, their services and professionalism amazes me.  I am thoroughly satisfied and happy to book through them again should I plan for any future trips in Borneo (maybe Mulu Cave???).

Amongst us four, though I am the youngest, I am embarrassed to confess my physical strength is the weakest of all.  Later I found out Chu visits the gym 3 times a week and Donna has been consistently excercising on a weekly basis for years.  As for Audrey, ever since we embarked on this voyage, she has been going for hiking and walking at least 3 times a week.  Me?  Needless to say, I only started my exercise in Sept last year.  Stopped due to illness.  Then continued again.  And stopped again.  Of course, I am the only lady in the group that has 2 young children and this could easily give me the 'license' to not exercise.  But there will always be excuses.  So, I'm guilty.  It was not until December when I started my swimming lesson thatI began my training 2 times a week continuously.

Hubby was pretty nervous about me climbing Mt Kinabalu.  He was upset with my lack of diligence (not that I purposefully choose to laze around all day long).  Perhaps I know that I may not be as fit, but I do have the determination and perseverance to keep me going.

A little hiccup when I fell sick just about one month before the climb.  But thank God I was able to pursue my dream though I was not 100% healthy.

To be continued...

A sick month - Part Two

Well, who normally takes care of the children when they are sick?  Mothers do.  Of course, I have no complain on that since I'm a stay-at-home mom and hubby needs to go to work.  But I did not fall sick right after Erwyn.  Not so fragile, am I?

The ordeal started when Elyse woke up twice every night for the first week of school.  Perhaps it was the new School.  Perhaps it was the stress and pressure.  While my heart goes out to her for all that she needs to endured, I was not very happy with the waking in the wee hours.  Second week kicked in and Elyse's waking time was reduced to once every night.  By then, nights of deprieved sleep has its damaged done and I had a terrible sore throat.  Yes, I lost my voice.

I was very concerned as I was scheduled to lead worship at the children church on Sunday, followed by the main service the following week.  I pampered myself with lots of nap whenever I can.  I finished almost two bottles of Manuka honey in a single week.  All these efforts bear little fruit and finally I apologised to the children church leader for unable to worship lead that very Sunday.  Thank God that she was so gracious to take over my place.

Days passed by with my voice still no where to be found.  Finally, the "run-away-voice" came back but not whole.  I still couldn't reach the high pitch during the worship practice on Saturday.  Thank God again for the two wonderful back-up singers and a congregation that sings so well despite my set-back.  Nevertheless, I do feel a bit discouraged with me having sore throat or coughing every time I lead worship.  This has never occured to me last time in my former church.

With these two events over, I let my guard down and just allowed my body to recover slowly .... until my children started falling sick again .... one after another...

Just when I thought the worst is over, Elyse showed symptoms of falling ill.  She has running nose and slight cough.  Her condition is under controlled though, and it did not aggravate.  However, the house is full of viruses and germs now, eventually my boy also shows similar symptom the past few days.

My cough took a turn and whenever I am feeling tired it intensifies.  It has been 3 weeks now.  It drains up my energy and I'm beginning to feel a little worried.  I have to continue my exercise routine to prepare for my big adventure (I will DEFINITELY blog on this!!!).

As for hubby, his cough has been improving but whenever he's worn-out, it worsen.  In fact he, too, caught the virus and has slight running nose.

So, we are a sick family living in a sick house.  Praying that this sick month will be over soon and we will all be healthy and strong again in no time.

A sick month - Part One

Yup, I am sick.  And that's not all.  Elyse is sick, so does Erwyn.  And the superman of this house has been sick (coughing) from last year till now.  Hmm...

It all started with one Saturday night.  I do noticed Erwyn has not been sleeping well for the last couple of nights.  I didn't expect him to fall sick as he seldom does.  And there's no symptom of running nose or cough or even loss of appetite.  He's the happy-go-lucky little man in the house.

Then that Saturday night, about 2am, he has been turning and twisting for awhile.  Suddenly, he sat up and vomitted.  No warning sign at all!  I jumped up from the bed, consoled him and got him to wash up and changed.  My dear husband finally noticed the commotion and woke up to helped changed the bedsheet.  So, after settling down, we lied down again about to continue in our dreamland.  Just then, Erwyn vomitted again and there goes another round of washing and changing.

On Sunday morning, Erwyn was down with fever.  He clinged on to me like a koala bear.  We administered paracetomol to keep the temperature down.  We suspected he had food poisoning as the night before we went out to a new restaurant for dinner.  The children, as usual, already had their portion before we went to the restaurant.  But Erwyn was munching keropok and other stuff while we fellowshipped with the church members.

On Monday, Erwyn's fever has gone down yet he's still cranky and all.  Since it was the first day of school our attention turned to Elyse and Ah Gong helped us to keep an eye on Erwyn.  Finally, we brough him to the paediatrician for a thorough check-up.  The doctor suspected he had stomach virus and a few types of medicine was prescribed including a bottle of antibiotic.

Feeding medicine is the worst nightmare we ever had.  After all the kicking, screaming and crying,  he vomited all the medicine that was given.  We gave up administering the antibiotic.  To our surprised, the next day, my boy was back to normal again!  No more fussing around.  So off he go, we send him to kindy and finally my morning is free again.  Well, after almost two months of chaos with the two kids at home 24/7, can you imagine how happy I am? 

That's only the first part of the sick spell...

A little drama

It was only the second week of January 2015...

After sending my sister to work, I detour to Italy Bakery at Gajah Berang to buy some buns and cakes for my children.  Unfortunately, I had a flat tyre.  I quickly pulled over to the side of the road and parked neatly in a parking lot (another surprise as it is not easy to find one at that hour in this busy road).  Just when I felt a bit loss at what to do there was a tyre repair shop right opposite the road.  Together with Elyse, we crossed over to the other side and requested the mechanic to get my tyre changed.

While we were waiting for our turn, I saw a traffic police stopped next to my car.  Oh no!  Who on earth would think of putting a parking coupon at this point of time?!?  And Malacca traffic police is super efficient!  I've received two summons in my first year of Malacca.  Once I parked at the back alley of the ballet school.  I didn't expect the traffic police to check the back alley.  To my surprised, they do!!!  The second time I parked at Melaka Raya on a Sunday for only 10 mins or so.  Little did I know that a coupon is required even on a Sunday!  Since then, I diligently put parking coupon everywhere I go without fail.  Learned my lesson, ya!

So, seeing that the traffic police was about to issue a summon, I tried to cross the road again to explain to him.  But there were rolls of cars streming down the road.  Just when I was feeling frustrated, I saw the owner of the famous Nasi Lemak shop talking to the police officer, explaining to him my predicament and the police left without giving me a summon!  Phew!!!  What a drama!

Well, a little drama like this do spice up our lives, don't you think so?

Primary One

Entering into the year of 2015.  This is a much anticipated year as my little girl is reaching another milestone in her life - Primary One.  Although Elyse has been working hard on her Mandarin, and I'm quite certain that she is not too bad in her writing, reading and spelling, yet she's still quite poor in her conversation/communication.

We sent her to school and stayed with her the very first day for a couple of hours.  Honestly, it has been years since I'm surrounded by pure Chinese-speaking crowd.  Although I may understand the teachers completely well, the mental adjustment was still needed in this case.  Needless to say, my daughter was totally blank.  However, she was able to follow the instruction pretty well.  That I am proud of her. I left even before the recess.  She told me she's ok.

The second day, we were advised to leave after the assembly.  Since then, we only sent her to the classroom in the morning and left as soon as the assembly started.  Elyse seems to be doing fine with all her homework and spelling.  In fact, the spelling is way too easy for her.  However, she couldn't understand very well whenever teacher announces something.  And she still have a hard time making friends.  Although she made a few attempts to find out which student could speak English in her class, it has not been very successful.

Elyse goes to the canteen alone during recess.  She even buy food from the canteen, her very favourite - french fries.  She likes English lesson (although the teacher teaches English in Mandarin), Computer  and Music class.

Two interesting incidents happened during the past 3 weeks:-

1.  After the first day of school, my girl was complaining to us the classroom is a bit warm the second half of the day.  Casually, Daddy asked Elyse why didn't the teacher turn on the air-cond since we paid extra $$ for it.  The second day of school, Elyse asked the teacher the same question that was posted by Daddy the day before.  The teacher switched it on for awhile.

2.  One morning, Daddy sent her to school.  Apparently my little girl forgot to do her Mathematic homework.  However, everything was written in Mandarin so Daddy was just as blur as her.  So what did that smart alec do?  Daddy look at a few students' book, compared the answers, and told Elyse what to write in her book.  Neither she nor Daddy knew what the question was.  Was that a lesson in cheating???


Seriously, I have been living in fear for the past couple of weeks.  Those months of crying when Elyse entered kindergarten is deeply engraved in my heart.  I fear for the worst to happen when she starts Primary One.  But thank God that my girl did not cry or lament on the fact that she's in a Chinese School.  In fact, she expressed her liking in the teachers as they are all very nice.  It is my continous prayer that Elyse could adapt quickly and to make friends.  Would you do so for my little girl?