IncognitoAnonymous

honestly…i have no idea what to write about my recent manila trip. it was kinda fun yet extremely exhausting, and being exhausted is not my idea of being on a holiday hehehe.

anyway, after being ragged much for an update i decided to post some here just to quench their curiosities haha. so here goes..

27 May 2008

we didnt do much on our first day in Manila because we reached our hotel sometime after 8.30pm. so upon arrival and after settling the check in process, we headed straight for dinner in North Park restaurant..mind you, i was extremely famished i could eat a whole horse (metaphorically speaking hehe).

i thought of heading straight to bed after dinner as i was feeling extremely tired and not getting enough sleep the night before somewhat aggravated my condition (hey, i couldn’t sleep not because i was excited..but i just couldn’t doze off..). but due to the group pressure who kept insisting i join them for a night out around town, i finally caved in. so, our first night out we headed to a strip bar where there were half naked women dancing on poles unprofessionally!! come on, pole dancers are supposed to be sexy and arousing..the soft porn they had playing in the pub was much more worth watching hahaha. to make things worse, a drunk Australian had to strip down to his boxers and started fondling the dancers (okay…i was actually intrigued looking at him fondling them hehe) but the unforgivable act he did was..he stripped his boxers and danced around showing his bare ass, wtf!! a while later, we moved to another bar we had a chance to watch the ring girls box.

the place was called the ‘Ringside’ pub, well..there wasn’t much to see though. the girls were wearing these pair of clowny oversized boxing gloves and all they had to do was punch each other (which wasn’t even realistic!!). and after that show was over, a friend and i was called into the ring to lather oil on the ladies (much to our disgusted refusal hehe).

after watching the girls wrestle for awhile..all of us decided to leave the place and went back to our respective rooms for the next day’s activity.

28 March 2008

we woke up quite early the next day (i didnt want to, but as always, i caved in to the peer pressure hehehe), had lunch and took the cab to Greenhills to do some shopping. Apparently this place has a lot of cheap stuff on sale, and it’s a waste not to shop here if you’re somewhere in Manila :P. i didnt shop much here though cos i never planned on coming here to shop, all i bought were two pairs of shoes hehehe.

we stayed at Greenhills until late evening, and after having dinner and all…all of us stayed in house because everyone of us were tired from the walking and shopping and played a card game accompanied by few bottles of San Miguels and a bottle of vodka, we stayed up late for the game and i lost about 400pesos on it (darn it..thats more or less about 3 bottles of San Miguel Super Dry in the pubs hehe).

to be continued :)…

ps: some pics for the moment, please click here

okay peeps, my next trip would be to Manila. Finally got my leave approved which means i will be spending 1 whole week starting from May 27th onwards (basically boring myself to death) in a foreign city with nothing to look for except of a happening night life (yeah right, i dont even go clubbing here!!!). anyway, heads up for my next entry and i’ll make sure to include lots of pics in it hehe…

makati, here we come!!! hehe

Located somewhere in the middle of the Celebes sea and about 40 minutes boat ride from Semporna, Mabul is an island which started off with only 10 families and grew to approximately 2,000 inhabitants in a period of time.

These islanders are made up of mostly the Bajaus and Suluks with the Bajaus being divided into 2 categories, the Land Bajau and Sea Bajau, and their only difference is their lifestyle. As per their categories denote, the Land Bajau lives on land while the Sea Bajaus are predominantly seafarers spending most of their entire life living in a boat which are commonly known as the Lepa (meaning boat). Rumors has it, some of these Sea Bajaus have never even been on land unless a death occurs in the family and they would need to dock to perform the final burial rites.

One thing all of these islanders share in common irregardless of race or category they belong to is their love and respect of the ocean. Other than the ocean being their source of livelihood, it is obvious the vast sea is more than just an ocean..it is part of who these people are. Some might find this as an exaggeration, but that’s only because they have never seen how the children would jump into the water fully clothes, at times with their jeans on, a resort worker walking along the pier and suddenly dive into the water right after removing her blazer and seeing a fisherman paddling the boat home with his catch of the day.

A short stroll in the village indicated a harmonious relationship between communities and tribes, although petty arguments do happen once in a while but other than that the islanders are pretty peaceful and friendly people. this is obvious from the children’s unabashed greetings of ‘hello’s’ ‘hi’s’, ‘money?’, attempts of speaking English and the x-generations smiles with a glint of curiosity in their eyes.

Living on a land limited of space, the only sport activity they seem to really enjoy is volleyball and this is apparent from their level of playing skill and the time they can spend in this game, it’s not unusual for them to play from morning until evening.

To say that these people are living in poverty is not exactly accurate, they may look impoverished and in need of financial assistance but looking at their own lifestyle, their need to be materialistic is greatly less than those living in the urban areas. Even with the resorts around, most of them still prefer to depend their livelihood on the ocean rather than working for someone else on dry land.

Everything seems to be calm, peaceful and in order until deeper observation revealed the hidden plight these islanders are facing. Apparently this island only has a ’surau’ for the Muslims to practice their religious duties and a school which only caters to the 7 year olds until 12 year olds. But that is not the main problem they are facing, most of the inhabitants are without nationality. they are neither Malaysians nor Filipinos, they are actually in limbo of which country they deserve. And another surprising fact is that, some of these children only converse in their own mother tongue and has no knowledge of the Malay language.

There are much to say about this island and it’s inhabitants, but to the extent of going deeper into the topic would only create arguments and dissatisfaction, and since lethargy has begun to sink in, the need to jot down what was seen and told is slowly fading. In light of this, this is where the story ends :).

Travelogue part 3 - The Final Day…

I wasn’t expecting much on the last day, since the first day was a disaster and the second day was somewhat mediocre, my expectation for the last day was somewhere in between. in fact, i was a bit hesitant to go to Kappalai as i thought that we’ll be dropped off somewhere in the middle of the ocean.

so right after breakfast, all of us got ready and headed to Kappalai Island. my first impression of the place was…how can this place be called an island when there isnt any dry land in sight? anyhow, the question remained unanswered when i saw there werent any deep end anywhere near the boat hehehe.

we docked at the jetty and everyone seemed eager (though not too happy with the fact that the place wasnt deep enough for snorkeling :P) to get into the water including me. the fear wasnt as bad as how i felt towards the other islands since the water was only about my shoulder deep and there werent any sea urchins or poisonous anemones around (not that i would know hehehe), all i could see were corals, sea sponge and lots of starfish hahaha.

anyhow, i had fun snorkeling around although swimming past the corals and sea sponges did give me the creeps as i kept imagining something would suddenly emerge from in between them and attack me while i swam past haha. well, the imagination was solidified when one of the group member pointed out a moray eel from between the cracks with its head pointing upwards ready to snatch at anything hahaha.

since there wasnt much danger (or any danger at all hehe), i was happily swimming around, and as usual without my life jacket until i got bored of swimming aimlessly hehehe. not knowing what else to do, i decided to pick up the starfishes on the sea bed and put them at one spot, so i swam and dived repeatedly when i finally ran out of breath hehe.

basically, we were only given an hour to snorkel at the island and when the time was up, we headed back to the lodge at Mabul island.

Travelogue part 3 - Semporna

After lounging around at the lodge doing nothing for hours, the boat finally came to pick us up to the mainland. by this time, i was already feeling somewhat groggy and couldnt wait to get back home. and the moment we touched ground at Semporna, i was already sea sick hahaha.

the boat dropped us off at the Dragon Inn floating hotel. we stayed for quite awhile before walking to the bus terminal accompanied by Kupi and Joe. it was quite a long walk, and i can feel my legs getting heavier by the minute. when we did reach the terminal, a friend asked me to get him a bag of ‘kerupuk amplang’ which i gladly looked for irregardless of the blisters on my foot and exhausted legs :). we kinda went around town going from one shop to another only to be dismayed by the unavailability huhuhu.. :). so we went back to the terminal and had our dinner there…

Travelogue part 3 - Journey home

the bus departed at 7.30 am and i was sure i would be able to sleep well throughout the journey as we got the middle seats (cool!!! hehe). but 15 minutes after departing, the bus took a sudden halt and parked by the road side for about 40minutes. at first i thought the bus stopped because they were waiting for someone else. i didnt bother to check cos i wasnt gonna trouble myself with trivial stuff haha. apparently, there was an accident. according to the bus driver, prior to stopping the bus, a kancil seemed to swerve in and out of the supposed lane. and when the bus was about to overtake, the Kancil suddenly swerved too much to the left resulting it to turn turtle in the drain haha. yeah, we wasted 40minutes for something which has nothing to do with the bus..idiots…

anyway, i did fall asleep right after the movie Rambo 4 finished playing and only woke up when we reached Telupid for the pit stop. as i’ve mentioned earlier, there’s nothing much to complain about the place, but one thing they should focus on improving are their lavatories. it was horrible and dirty!!

anyway, after supper i had a fitful sleep throughout the way until we reached our destination.

Travelogue part 3 - The conclusion

This trip has shown or taught me few things about myself. i realized that i’ve been living in my own world all this while and i failed to see the people who would be around when i need them. i’ve learned from Kupi that there’s no harm in thinking about someone else and there’s no harm in trying to make the people around you feel happy and appreciated. but one thing that i’ve learned the most is that, my fear of the ocean isnt exactly the ocean itself.

all this while, i’ve lived anticipating what the future holds, knowing by instinct what’s going to happen next. but the ocean is full of possibilities and full of danger, looking out into the blue yonder shows me nothing but emptiness and inadvertently hinders my ability to predict whats going to happen since this is a world i am not familiar with. the underwater is a strange territory…a territory i wasnt born in, a territory that i know little about. figuring out the dangers are just aimless guesses and unlike on land which we can predict and calculate future events, the underwater is plainly unpredictable..and thats one thing i dont handle well..

unless i embrace the notion that life is unpredictable, i will never be able to grasp the beauty life has to offer, be it on land or underwater….

okay…this shouldnt be part of my travel experiences..or should it?? hehehe

a big thank you to the organizer and treasurer for organizing this trip hehe. salutations to Kupi and Sumpit..

ciao…

ps: pictures will follow suit when i’ve compiled all of it hehehe

-the end-

Travelogue 2 - The 2nd Day

i was quite intoxicated to realize the gale last night, but i did realize the room was exceptionally cold. according to Kupi, she had awoke to the sound of the wind blowing and actually went out to salvage any clothes left to hung outside, it was typical of her to think about others during dire times hahaha.

our day started with the girls singing God knows what haha..and if it wasnt for them i would’ve slept until noon cos i was pretty sure i wouldnt be having fun as i did the day before.

our second day were to be spent at Mabul island itself, and having 2 persons who has been on this island before somehow helped in terms of getting around. we took a short walk across the village, and went to an old pier just few meters away from Borneo Diver’s resort. Being on the pier and looking out to the wide blue ocean somehow gave me the creeps and just like the day before, i was a bit hesitant to go into the water :).

after just sitting and contemplating at the pier for about 10 minutes (or more), i decided to ignore my fear and join them in the water. it was a low tide so we could clearly see the corals and fishes swimming underneath from the jetty…but soon as i got into the water and after putting on my goggles, i saw something which actually did freak me out..there were sea urchins everywhere and i quickly swam and got back up the jetty hahaha. hey, i knew that the sea urchins aren’t deadly and they dont attack people.. but seeing hundreds of them everywhere somehow got my imagination run wild hahaha.

it didnt take me long to recover from the self induced shock though hehe, i was already back in the water in no time :). but i still didnt have fun with the snorkeling cos with the goggles on, i can see the deep end of the ocean and i didnt like it. maybe my fear would’ve been less scary if i joined with the rest of the group in their search of the ocean’s inhabitants. well, i wanted to join them..but midway through my swimming i realized i was getting further and further away from the pier so i decided to ignore the rest of the group and just stayed by the jetty hahaha (yeah yeah i know, dont rub it in…i know i’m a puss..hehe).

i wasnt having fun with my snorkeling and i felt like going back to the resort, but it was still early and i dont think lunch is served yet so i stayed and figured what to do next to pass the time. i got to thinking, if i wasnt having fun with my snorkeling, why not dive in instead? so thats what i did haha. i dived off from the pier like any village kids would do and kept at it until i was too tired to do so and the rest of the time, i was swimming and floating idly until it was time to head back to the lodge for lunch :).

we went back to the spot after having our rest and lunch and continued on with the snorkeling and diving hahaha. you must be wondering why i wasnt afraid of diving more than i was afraid of snorkeling…well:

1. i figured that without the goggles on, i wont be able to see the deeper end clearly not to mention the freakishly looking sea inhabitants hehe. although i could see the color, but i imagined myself being in a swimming pool (although it didnt always work hehe).

2. my desire to learn the diving technique my brother in law taught me overwhelmed my fear.

3. probably my selfishness to prioritize my fun over exceeds my superego hahaha

we didnt do much at night though, after dinner, we had a beer or two courtesy of lodge, looked at some pictures and retired to bed early. although Kupi, PS and i stayed a bit later to chat :).

but at around 2am in the morning, it was my turn to be woken up by the gale. learning from what kupi did, i salvaged what i can and left them in a bundle at the respective doorsteps instead of tying them in a knot at the dryer hahaha (hey, it’s the thought that counts right hehehe). i was still groggy when doing all these and when i looked down, i noticed that the water has risen but i wasnt sure if it really has risen or it was just my imagination so i went back to bed without thinking much of it hehehe.

the next morning during breakfast, i was told that the water rose right up to the platform and Kupi, being concerned of everyone, woke up the people in the first room to get them to keep their items in the room only to get herself wet with the wave splash hahaha (sorry Kups, i know it wasnt funny hehe). if i knew it was going to be that interesting, i would’ve stayed up to see nature’s wonder :P.

-to be continued-

my recent trip to the three islands recently was nothing less than relaxing. i expected a relaxing holiday but instead ended up with exhaustion, but the trip in itself has served it purpose because as tired as i was, i was mentally relaxed..

as you continue on reading, i will jot down the sights and sounds i’ve experienced throughout my journey, some may be sound a bit argumentative and some may be downright harsh. but hey, this is my blog and the only thing matters are my personal opinions, so if this is not to your liking… you’re free to leave :).

Travelogue 1 - The Departure

i’ve mentioned before that i wasn’t as excited as everyone else about this trip. the only reason i decided to join in was because i needed a short break from work and everything around me, but more importantly, i was keen with the idea of playing with water whole day long :).

on the day itself, i took a half day leave (in the afternoon) so that i can be home early and spend some time with my dog and thats exactly what i did, and told my mom that i was leaving for ‘Semporna’ in less than an hour prior to getting to the terminal.

yeah, you might be wondering why i opted for a 9 hours bus drive when going there by air is much more convenient and faster. there’re couple of reasons for that:

1. Bus fare is cheaper.

2. To experience what a long journey on a bus feels like

in a way, these are the pros, but the cons are:

1. i’ve found out that a 9 hour long bus ride is hazardous to your back and ass.

2. being in a bus for 9 hours is just a waste of valuable time :).

we departed from the terminal at 7.30pm on a Thursday evening only to reach Semporna at 4.30am the next day. along the way, we didn’t see much as it was a night time and extremely dark (not to mention raining as well). i would usually be asleep in long journeys like this but strangely enough, my eyes were wide open and only managed to get few minutes wink in that 9 hours bus ride. my only probable explanation to that is, we got the front row seats, and with it comes the exclusive drivers view of the road ahead, but what we didnt expect seeing was the ‘what if’s’ or possibility of crashing into something. the express bus was literally…express. the speed we were in somehow kept me awake and i thought to myself that i would rather die seeing how it all happened than die not knowing what hit me (okay, i was being somewhat dramatic, but seriously..it did keep me awake) hehe.

apart from the the speed, there’s nothing else to complain. in about 4 hours later, we reached ‘Telupid’ for a pit stop and i was glad because i was already getting hungry. nothing much to say bout the food though (i was hungry!!), but on normal cicumstances, i would say the food sucked! hahaha.

Travelogue 1 - The Beginning

As soon as we reached the destination, we gave Kupi (i dont think things would’ve gone any better if it weren’t for her, thanks Kups :)) a call and from then on she brought us to their hostel, the Semporna Dragon Inn Floating Hotel (how can an inn be a hotel at the same time?? weird huh haha) to be with the other group members. at this point, i was already damn sleepy but i couldnt get myself to sleep even with the seductive calling of the bed who kept whispering to me to sleep on top of it hehe. suffice to say, i didnt get any sleep at all :).

The arrival

From Semporna, the boat ride to Mabul Island where they decided to stay for the next three days, took approximately 30mins. The decision to stay in a backpacker’s lodge instead of in a resort was a wise move because basically our fixed budget per person was about RM370 per pax (minimum) and to pay more than that for a relaxing and fun holiday would be like signing our bankruptcy notice haha.

anyway, Uncle Chang’s Dive Lodge isnt exactly a five star (not to mention 1 star!!) accomodation, and for someone like me who works with an award winning 5-star chain hotel and deals with quality maintenance, there’re much to say about improving this place hehe. well, i didnt complain the least though. although the place was far from perfect, it actually exudes a homely feeling to all the guests. their friendly staff and home cooked style meals would make everyone feel right at home :).

The big sis and i at Uncle Chang’s..

the group posing at Uncle Chang’s lodge..

right after checking into our respective rooms, we headed straight to Sipadan Island. but instead of docking at the jetty for a rest, we decided to go ahead with the snorkeling while the other groups went ahead with their diving activity. the boat stopped in the middle of the ocean where the coral reefs are visible, but few meters ahead..you can see deeper end. i started having second thoughts on going into the water because of my fear (yeah, i have a fear of deep water and colored waters hahaha), but i did anyway. it wasnt exactly fun for me because whenever i looked into the water i can see the deep blue horizon and i kept freaking out haha (yeah i know,…i’m such a puss haha). so i snorkeled for a good few minutes before i decided to swim around without my life jacket (hey, i consider myself as a good swimmer..besides, with my body weight i dont think i can drown easily in the ocean hehehe). so thats what i did, swam around and only came up to the boat whenever i feel the panic attacks arise haha. but after just a few minutes staying in the boat while the others are out snorkeling, i suddenly felt sea sick, and the fact that i havent slept the whole day made it even worse. my first day snorkeling at Sipadan Island was a disaster and all i can think of is to get back to the lodge and get a good rest.

on the way to Sipadan from Uncle Chang’s lodge (look at the tone difference on my arm..we havent even started sunbathing yet hahaha)

after the snorkel…

Grogginess setting in :p

a group photo before leaving Sipadan Island

All of us got back to Uncle Chang’s quite later in the evening and i cant wait to take my shower and get some sleep before dinner time. but try as i might, i couldnt get myself to doze off because i can actually feel the place rocking with the waves and the place was a bit too hot to sleep in as the generator would only be started sometime after the sun had set.

well, if my day time activity sucked, the night time compensated the enjoyment i missed. right after dinner, we had a drinking session. it started off with a few of us and ended with only me, Gurangak and the rest of the staff there (namely: Capt. Ishak - Grandmaster, Ah Voon - Accomodation Supervisor, Dul - Boatman, San San- Dive master and Sandrik -Dive Master @ Funny man…not!). it was a good drinking session, with Gurangak giving off his T-shirt to San-san (given only on the last day) and me being intoxicated enough to sleep through the gale hahaha.

the dinner line up

where the drinking session started (i think i only had a glass when my tattoo started itching..come to think of it, this was the first time my tattoo itched after healing..)

Gurangak, paving the way for the new generations of professional AAs (Alcohol Appreciators) muahahaha

to be continued….

Been thinking alot about what i should do with this blogging account i signed up recently. i’m currently with blogspot and from past experience i know that having more than 1 blog is quite a tedious task, i mean in terms of managing it :).

so i’ve made a decision to make this blog an outlet to showcase my travel experiences (not that i do much of travelling hahaha), the best F&B outlets around KK (based on my own opinion) and other fascinating sites that i may visit or drop by :.

so, heads up for i will be updating this page soon hehehe…

adios peeps :).