Another Highland Story

I just came back from Ba Kelalan, the interior of Borneo where the air is fresh and the people are friendly.

This is one of the best trip to for me so far with nice and cool people coming along. It's always filled with laughter the whole trip despite some bumpy rides.

Although it's a short working trip, we managed to have a day of leisure walk while doing some interviews and a BBQ dinner with lotsa pork, lamb and chicken wing!

.:Silly.. hehe:.

.:The view Point of Ba Kelalan:.

.:Before we went off by flight:.

.:How can I miss photo with my favourite gang:.

.:I love this photo, very dramatic:.

Aliciaks to the Rescue!

I've always wanted to save sad dogs in the street but at the same time I'm scared to touch them especially if they are big dogs. Another problem is, how am I going to bring the dog back and who do I give them away to? 

After all I'm not living in an animal shelter and I'm not even active and have never visited the SSPCA in Kuching yet... I just feel sad to see unhappy dogs that are in bad condition and I have always wanted to "Do Something!" but didn't have the courage to do so because I'm afraid to see anything suffering. I'll have trauma...

Today, it's my first attempt to rescue a puppy with his body full of skin disease. Of course I dragged my sister who is in town now. Muahaha I don't know what's the condition now but will send him to the vet tomorrow for treatment.

For now, I'm also trying to find a suitable owner who wants a new male puppy. :)

.:My sis did the rescue work:.

.:Full of ring worms!:.

Lost in the Jungle of Borneo...

The title says it all... Yes we were lost in the jungle of Borneo which is actually located in Matang. Hilarious enough for Jungle experts to lead a few of us into an additional 2 hours walk in the jungle before we found civilization. The whole experience was not so bad despite 1 pair of shoes gave up during the walk. So here's basically a summary of what happened that day in Matang in March 2012.... ;)

.:A very good pair of shoes.. just been awhile since it was utilized:.

It was supposed to be a Sunday Brisk Hill Walk to an ancient Indian temple in one of the area in Matang. Cynthia even told me that I can wear sandal or sports shoes. I was blessed with Adidas Kampung which I bought in Bario and something in my mind have made me worn that shoes that day.

.:My saviour Adidas Kampung:.

We (Cynthia, Ian, Jordan and myself) took our time with some educational session since Ian is a specialist trainer in environmental education. We learnt a lot from him. It took us about 2 hours to get up there. In between the walk, we actually discovered interesting stuff like a beautiful caterpillar, acorn from oak tree, mushroom that grows inside out and many more.

.:Explaination about Acorn:.

.:A dead tree with a dangerous big hole:.

.:An interesting looking caterpillar:.

.:A type of mushroom that grows inside out:.

When we reached the temple, it's beautifully constructed with a guardian, Kalimuthu staying there to take care of the temple. The view from the temple was absolutely breathtaking despite Cynthia blocking Jordan's view. hehehe

.:The view when you reach the highest Peak:.

.:Soldier of the goddess:.

.:Me, Master Kalimuthu & Cynthia:.

On the way down from the temple, we saw an interesting sign to walk to Charles Brooke's bungalow and we wanted to have a look at the foundation as the original bungalow has been demolished.. That's when we ended up walking for another 4 hours into the jungle without turning back. Ian lead us to a walk in the stream but there were not much water in the stream and that god it was not raining. At about 2pm, my stomach was damn hungry! To make the situation worst, there were leeches, a type of blood sucking worm... I was geared up with the Axe Medicated Oil ready to splash on any leech that got near me. Luckily, there was only 1 leech trying it's luck to get into my jeans... Cynthia was quite worried when it's 3pm and since everyone's mobile was still with signal, she made some calls just in case if we need help. Oh well, thank god again that we found a site where the villagers took the wood from and that trail lead us to the other way to go to the temple and we were all out from the jungle.

Despite all the scary thoughts I had that day, I managed to take photographs of interesting creatures in the jungle which we seldom see in the urban area. I just can't help it.. hehehe

.:The crazy sign:.

.:Waterfall:.

.:A yellowish crab spider:.

.:Wild Mushroom that looks poisonous:.

.:Cockroach?:.

.:This was our opening to be SAFE after all:.

.:A resting hut that resembles the Penan hut:.

After that, each of us drank at least 2 glasses of water (I think I had 3 glasses) in Ketz Kitchen in Matang Jaya and I had the Ayam Penyet... It's not as good as before though... My body took about 1 week to regain energy after the tiring walk. No complaint, just some impromptu adventure.

Skype moment with Ba'kelalan

Ba'kelalan is a remote area in the Heart of Borneo where the 'Lun Bawang' a local etnic group stays. The flight to Ba'kelalan is only 3 times a week on a twin otter by MasWing. It is a nice and cool place to visit if you are into the nature and to learn more about the culture of the people there. More about Ba'kelalan, please visit HERE.

I was there back in June and blogged about the place as well http://aliciaks.blogspot.com/2011/06/mama-hen-baby-ducklings.html

UNIMAS, the local university in Sarawak has a project there on tele-centre to help the local communities to be connected to the world. As I made good friends there, I had the first skype session with 2 of the community leaders there. The village head and area chieftain of the village. It was short and sweet but we were all very happy to see each other online. The most memorable question was 'Where are you now?' I guess that was to confirm that I was really in Kuching and not nearby. 

It was indeed a historical moment in life.

.:I definitely wasn't flattering with my pyjama ON:.

5 days in Bangkok with Schoolmates

I recently visited Bangkok for the first time with 5 others schoolmates and their spouse. It was a ‘Follow Your Heart’ trip as I was too busy at work and didn’t have much time to browse through places to visit and hotels booking were all through www.AsiaRooms.com. One Quote for Bangkok ‘Heaven of Pork!’

.:The Airline broke my luggage:.

.:Our Taxi:.

The first day we reached Bangkok was already midnight. At the airport, take (Meter Taxi) which is actually airport transfer. For a Toyota Avanza, fit for 5-6 ppl 700baht to Sukhumvit Area.

Since it was late when we reached Unico Express, we just checked in and rest for the next day Chatuchak weekend market adventure on Sunday. I’ve heard from many that Chatuchak is so big you won’t finish walking around it over the weekends and the things are cheap. I couldn't be disagreed more with that statement. I bought some flower bulbs and hope that it will grow and I’ll be the first Tulips & Hyacinth supplier in Sarawak.. Just wait & see…

.:This taste like mini tosai with shredded coconut 10baht:.

.:Pork Leg Rice:.

.:Fried Rice & Sea Food Tomyan:.

.:Coconut Ice-cream:.

.:Pork Satay:.

.:Coffee @ Chatuchak 20baht:.

The 3^rd day, we hired a driver Mr Wistu. The taxi driver from the airport who looks descent and fatherly. We went on a trip to the oldest & most touristy floating market, Damnoen Saduak. The whole day car hiring is 2000baht and it gets expensive when he drop us in one of the boat hiring agent that is about 2km away from the market and we sat on a boat that cost 1000baht per head. I am sure it will be cheaper for travelers who visit the market via bus and hire smaller boat from the market. But it’s ok, we’re tourists anyway and tourists are meant to be slaughtered wherever they go for the benefits of the local communities.

The road trip from Bangkok to the market is about 1hour 45 minutes and the visit to Damnoen Saduak was great but can be better if it’s not raining heavily. We were so hungry that we preferred to eat than to shop and we were eating and shopping all the way. Janet took her time bargaining with the shop owner and we enjoyed watching the both of them. Luckily we had a good boatman who didn’t felt anxious to bring us back to the boat agent place. I think maybe he enjoys some commission as well but we don’t mind at all as long as everyone is happy. :D

.:Crepe with cream and shredded coconut:.

.:Manggo:.

.:Pancake with sweet coconut cream:.

.:Pork Bihun:.

.:Group photo in the boat:.

.:Rice with Pork Sausage and rice cake:.

.:Cooking Coconut Sugar at the Floating Market:.

.:Janet Bargaining:.

.:Old Lady in a Fiber Boat:.

After the floating market, Mr Wistu brought us to the Elephant Riding place about 2km to  3km from the floating market and the fee to ride on an elephant for less than 10 minutes is 400baht per person. It’s a worthwhile experience but I had a slight headache coz the experience of sitting on top on the elephant was like having a car emergency breaking every 5 seconds. Maybe I ate too much at the floating market earlier.

.:On an Elephant:.

We skipped the Rose Garden coz nobody was interested in the cultural sense of Thailand and everybody was worrying about not be able to shop enough. As Crispin was looking for AAA imitation club and country jerseys since Chatuchak Market, we have asked the driver to bring us to a place where we can buy it sacrificing the Rose Garden. He brought us to the shop lots next to the National Stadium and indeed it was not a bad place at all coz there were plenty of cheap jerseys ranging from 100baht to 350baht depending on the quality of the fabrics.

.:Deep Fried Pork.. this is godlike:.

At night, we called Bank the tattoo artist to ink Eric & I. He came at around 7pm and left at midnight because it took a while for us to decide what to ink and I believe he is a holy Buddhist coz he refused to ink spiritual mantra for me which I tried to get a way with from the monk that cost 8000baht to 10000baht which is RM800 – RM1,000… I got mine in my home town where the headhunters used to live at only RM80! But the price from bank was reasonable from 1500baht to 3000baht for small tattoos depending on the design.

.:Before Inked:.

.:In Progress:.

.:After:.

And so that was the end of our 3^rd day in Bangkok without drinking session nor Ping Pong show nor Tiger show… I was really not interested coz I feel disgusted even when I heard the stories.

On the 4^th day, we checked out from Unico Express and had bad experience checking out due to the housekeeping has confused with the 3 rooms minibar and we were unhappy about mineral water in the room which we didn’t consumed and charged. I refused to pay and the receptionist sarcastically said to me ‘Never mind Mem, I will pay for you’ That really got on my nerves as I came from hotel line and I believe that’s a lie and sense of sarcasm for Thailand ‘THE LAND OF SMILE’ fuck that quote. But anyway, we didn’t let small small things spoilt our day and I took note on writing pretty NICE review in trip advisor and Asia rooms when I got to Malaysia.

We check in to H-Residence, a hotel under pre-opening period with nice decoration, nice rooms and good but inexperience staffs who really tried hard to give the best shots. I love this hotel. Although it’s quite hidden, they provide free tuk-tuk service for guests to the BTS train station.

After check-in, we decided to visit the Grand Palace and maybe some temples depending on our strength since we have size S – XXL in the group and everyone was considerate among each other… haha

The Grand Palace’s entrance is 600baht per person and no singlet, tight pant/skinny jean or shorts are allowed. If you happened to be wearing the forbidden clothing, they have the attire to borrow when you walk into the palace. Don’t fall into the trap to rent clothing from the shops outside the Grand Palace.

The Palace itself was beautiful and the architecture was amazing. I feel great when I walked in the palace really besides the heat, everything was cool. We also prayed in the amulet Buddha temple which is inside the Grand Palace Area itself.

.:Amazing architecture:.

.:At building in the palace:.

.:The view of the Grand Palace:.

.:A group photo without Crispin coz he said he had headache:.

.:Another group photo but this time, the full team:.

Right after that, Crispin had a bad headache and he felt like dying so we all have to force ourselves to go back missing the Chinatown. Actually we were very tired too and we just enjoyed blaming him for getting sick. Poor Crispin.. haha

.:Headche... attention seeker.. hahha:.

.:Pork sausage with glutenious rice:.

At night, we went to Chinatown and Crispin was resting in the room coz he was sick. Unfortunately the clothing shops closed at 5pm. However, we get to try the food there and I enjoyed speaking in Teochew dialect with the Thai Chinese in the Chinatown. I like the ice-blended coconut milk with jackfruit & water-chestnut jelly and jelly dessert but not the Poh Piah and the Kueh coz they are all salty flavored. At home, we like it a little bit sweet with some dried shrimps etc. (Nyonya influence of Malaysia).

.:Poh Piah:.

.:Traditional Teochew Steam Radish Rice Cake:.

.:Fruity dessert. I like!:.

We met a Tuk-Tuk driver right next to our eating table and we asked where we can eat fried scorpion and he brought 5 of us in his tuk-tuk to Khao San Road at 100baht. Khao San Road was a cool place which I’ve missed browsing in the internet where all the pubs, bar & night scenes are. There were a lot of tourists at that area. Reminded me a little bit of Bali or Phuket at night.

.:Squeezed in Tuk-Tuk:.

Eric got his hair corn-rolled and I found the insect (no scorpion) and some other porky food…

.:Cornroll done:.

.:The insects:.

.:Oh I love this:.

.:This is like the pork version of Kajang Satay:.

.:I felt really nervous & excited when I tried the grasshopper:.

.:Mini Eggs:.

On the 5^th day and my last day in Bangkok, me Crispin went to search for pharmacy early morning and bought medicine for diarrhea and bought some allergy medicine for Lyvia who complaint here body was itchy & swollen. The pharmacist warned us that the allergy medicine has sleepy and drowsy effect but we decided not to tell her so she won’t psycho felt that she was sleepy and spoiled her plans. (Indirectly, everyone’s plans).

.:Lyvia was complaining about sleepiness & Crispin had to hold his laughing mode:.

We found a Thai Chinese shop at that area and had our porky breakfast there since Lyvia & Effendy was still sleeping. We’ll let them have their Halal food later on since Pork was so irresistible for us.

.:Pork Ribs Noodle:.

.:Prok Dumpling:.

We walked from Siam Paragon to MBK which they have connected bridge for the 4 shopping malls. Since there were no discounts going on in Bangkok, the branded shops were bit too expensive comparing to Kuala Lumpur so I didn’t buy much besides food food food. We left the mall at 4.00pm and I had to packed and leave Bangkok 2 days earlier for work purposes. Damn I missed their clubbing scene that night and more shopping and sight seeing which they claimed to be so good! Damn... haha

.:My last meal in Bangkok was a street minced pork + pork skin with salted & spicy vege rice:.

Bangkok again? Definitely yes coz we missed Ayutthaya due to the flood of the century and there are so many other places that are not that touristy which we didn’t visit.