Month: August 2004

Back from Sarawak!

Back in Kuala Lumpur!!

Alex’s parents were helpful. They packed our stuff, organized everything and bought us many things.

Sarawak was fun. It was a huge eye opener.

I came back darker and fatter. Alex’s parents kept on forcing us to eat. Yesterday, I ate from 1PM to 9PM, NON STOP!!

So now, all I can say is, I went to Sarawak, came back with gifts, new experiences and a big belly.

GOD DAMN THE BEERS!!

Kelabit – a traditional native ear lobe piercing expansion

blowpipe – also known as sumpit, used as a hunting tool

huge pineapples – ONLY RM3 PER PIECE! VALUE!!

tuak – home made rice wine, very lethal, PREPARE TO DIE HEN AND IVN!!

Bintulu day 8

Sarawak has been a huge exposure to me in terms of nature.

I saw this huge wild boar caged @ a construction yard. Apparently, someone is raring it as a pet. It looks mmm..ugly.

I learnt how to drive a motor boat today! It was easy. It’s like driving a car. Well, not exactly, the way to handle the boat is opposite of a car. If you want to turn left, you gotta turn the handle to the right visa versa.

We drove a 15 horse powered motorboat on Alex’s river (Semenyih River). The river is absolutely filthy. Everybody treats it like a huge rubbish bin. There was once we almost ran over a bloated carcass of a dog. It’s so bloated till it looks like it’s going to explode anytime.

Oh yeah, last night we ate durian kampung (small durian). It tasted like SHIT.

Then today, we had fried maggots. They call it ulat sago. It’s as big as my thumb, looks very juicy. Its flesh feels like jelly and it smells like blood initially. But after frying it with pepper and salt, it deflated. I had 2..it tasted like…

PRAWNS..

god damn maggots tasted like prawns. EUW. Some are a little bit juicy though. According to Alex’s Dad, the maggots were supposed to be juicier. However, he cooked it wrongly. euw..I cant imagine eating a juicier maggot..

So anyway, here are some pictures of Bintulu courtesy of David. thanks mate!

In Miri now

HELLO PEOPLE!!!

THE INTERNET!! I MISS THE INTERNET!!

I’m in Miri now. Waiting for my friends to finish their game @ the arcade. We’ll be heading back to Bintulu in few hours time.

Mulu Cave was superb.

Day 1 @ Mulu, Day 4 @ Sarawak
Alex’s driver, Jack, drove us to Miri airport. The journey took about 3 hours and it was bumpy like a roller coaster ride. We tried sleeping but were kept awake by the sudden bumps and breaks. God damn Sarawak roads.

We took a short flight to Mulu National Park Airport. There we were greeted by our tour guide. Let’s call him Mr. Potato (direct translation from a Chinese comic character, tai fan shu). He just started work hence he was inexperienced. I will deal with him later in this passage.

After settling down at the hotel room, we hiked 3KM to Lang Cave. It’s a small cave filled with stalactite and stalagmite.

We then headed to Deer Cave, the biggest cave chamber in the world. The smell of guano was overwhelming. It is estimated that there are about 2 – 5 million bats living inside the cave.

According to Mr Potato, the cave got its name from deer which drank from the stream that flows out from the cave. Further, he said that the stream water is salty due to guano. However, I took the opportunity to try the water. It tasted fresh. Not salty as claimed by Mr Potato. In reply, Mr Potato said that he himself never tried it. He was taught to say that.

The aforesaid caves were much better than Gua Niah. Gua Niah is dirty and doesn’t have proper routes to travel. However, if you really want adventure, head down to Gua Niah. At Gua Niah, your movement is unrestricted hence you can explore the entire cave.

Then at 5PM, we waited at the observation deck to witness the phenomenon exodus of millions of bats flying out from the caves, spiraling high overhead and ascend to the jungles where they will search for food.

Throughout the entire trip, Mr Potato didn’t say much. I guess it is due to his inexperience. Unlike other tour guides, they would give us interesting facts and so on. Mr Potato on the other hand, was quiet most of the time. However, the conversation below between Alex and Mr Potato cracks me up.

(while tracking thru the jungle)
Mr Potato: That is the sound of sikatak.
Alex: sikatak? Is that an insect? You mean Cicada? (an insect)
Mr Potato: No no, not cicade. Sikatak!

Unknown to him, he wrongly pronounced cicada. Si katak means frog in Malay.

Day 2 @ Mulu, Day 5 @ Sarawak
Our itenary of the day was Wind Cave and Clearwater Cave.

We took a boat to Wind Cave. It was boring.

However, Clearwater cave was great. A huge river flows underground.

At an extra fee of RM20, we ventured deep into the cave. The water level rose up to our chest and was bloody cold. So cold that I can feel my balls shrinking.

The route was muddy and slippery. At one point, we had to climb up a slippery wall. I had no problem thanks to rock climbing. However, Aik Keong had problem climbing up due to his size (huge). 3 of us had to push him up the wall. This wasn’t the last, he tripped and slipped many times. Oh yeah, before the journey even started, he ripped his pants while trying to climb over a fence. His last words at the end of the trip was, “this shall be the first..and last time..”

Overall, the route was an easy route. But there were some parts which were dangerous. There was once we had to stay low on the ground cause if we slipped, we would fall into a pit and disappear.

After caving, We spent the entire day swimming at the river.

At day 2, Mr Potato had it again. While we were trying to cross the river, our boat, driven by Mr Potato didn’t work. We were stuck there for 15 minutes. Our initial thoughts were
A: the boat’s engine has gone kookoo.
B: the boat was too heavy hence it could move.

We finally found out what happen to our boat the next day. It was Mr Potato’s first time driving a boat…. That’s why it couldn’t move.


Miri
Initially a boring place. We visited some dirty beaches and so on. However, things got interesting as we visited this humongous house at the beach side. It was soo big till it took us 5 minutes to walk from one end of the wall to another end of the wall that faces the beach.

Then later at night, I met this really HOOoooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT girl working @ a sourvenir shop. She looked mix but in fact she’s pure chinese. She was sooooo hotttt till…. I spent about RM90 @ the shop buying sourvenir. 😀 She gave me a RM20 discount. w00t w000ttt. But….

WHYY WHYYYY WHYY MUST SHE BE IN MIRI…WHY!??!?!!! Anyway, I passed her a note telling her to email me if she comes to KL. /me prays she comes to KL..

So boys and girls, I better run now, will update again once I get back to Bintulu. Btw, good job Frank! Cya guys!

Azan controversy

In the article written by Claudia Theophilus entitled “Azan controversy draws mixed reactions” published in Malaysiakini on 12th August 2004, Prof Mahmud Zuhdi Abd Majid of the Islamic Studies Academy warned that religion should be politicized as it “defeats our efforts to create a peaceful multi-racial, multi-religious society in Malaysia”. He said that such matter can only be discussed with an open mind. Unfortunately, the grassroots tend to react defensively, a sentiment which is often manipulated to suit the interests of certain quarters.”

He advised the people (non-Muslims) who were unhappy over the loud azan should approach the state government. The state would refer the matter to the religious department and decide against the use of loudspeakers for anything else other than the azan. Mahmud said that in the 1980s, the Kelantan state government, following complaints from non-Muslim citizens, had ruled that loudspeakers in mosques and suraus should only be used for the azan, especially in dense residential areas. Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria agreed that loudspeakers should only be
used for the azan and nothing else. “There is no need to use loudspeakers to air the pre-recordings of the tarhim, Quranic recitals or selawat preceding the azan,” he said.

On the other hand, Harussani – a member of the Malaysia Mufti Council defended Shah Alam UMNO’s move to lodge a police report. He said that UMNO was merely upholding its motto to defend, protect and preserve religion, race and country by lodging the report, not to gain publicity.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president R Sivarasa believes that such issue will not occur if there is an open discussion about this so call sensitive issue. “We should instead talk about how to practice our respective religions without interfering with another person’s quiet time. The fundamental thing is not to use oppressive laws to intimidate
people into silence because this is not the way for Malaysia to grow into a genuine multi-racial society,” he said.

Echoing Sivarasa’s call for open discourse, Sisters in Islam legal
adviser Nora Murat said Muslims should take into account the feelings of others. “We must consider how we as Muslims would react if we were the minority in a country. That is why we must be able to dialogue with non-Muslims. It is good to remember the ethical principles of the Quran which is to engage and accept the differences within the society leading to a peaceful co-existence.” Nora said Muslims should not turn away from talking about these issues and should refrain from using the notion of racial disunity or religious sensitivity as a shield to suppress an opportunity for greater understanding. “Prophet Muhammad himself had great empathy towards believers of other faiths and never forced them to accept the Muslim practice,” she said. “So, how can we now force our respective practice unto others?”

Shah Alam UMNO Claims Bar Council Article Insults Islam

Last week, Shah Alam UMNO lodged a report against Malaysian Bar Council for releasing an article that insults Islam in their May/June 2004 edition of Infoline. This was reported by Bernama on 4th August 2004

The article entitled “Local Authorities Ought To Be Sensitive To Individual Rights” described the azan prayer as “noise pollution and an annoyance to neighbours.” The report was lodged by Mohd Azhar Othman, a member of the Shah Alam Umno Division committee and also head of the Section 7 Shah Alam Utara Umno Branch. He said Shah Alam Umno regretted that the Bar Council as a body set up under the Legal Professions Act 1976 had not taken into account the feelings of the Muslim community and Malaysia’s status as a multiracial country when publishing the article.

Bar president Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari defends the Infoline article and said that “”The Bar will be the last to exercise censorship over articles sent to us for publication. Anything that appears on Insaf (KL Bar Committee newsletter) or Infoline does not necessarily reflect the views of the Malaysian Bar,” He added that it did not appear
to be insulting Islam “if it is read within the proper context”. He said it was quite clear that the writer did not intend to cause any insult to any religious practice.” Indeed, the central theme of the article is not on religion but on a call for the adoption of a moderate and tolerant approach by the relevant authorities in regulating people’s activities. Those who read the article in full will understand the context within which the writer had argued his points,” he said.

Do you think what the Bar Council did is correct? Read the article and judge for yourself Human Writes Pull Out (Issue 10) (Page 4)

Bintulu Day 3 – Gua Niah

Since it’s Nicole, David and Joo Pern’s last day here, we decided to visit Niah Cave. 2 cars, 7 people. The journey took about an hour plus. After that, we had to walk about 3KM through the jungle to get to the caves.

The view was magnificient. Further, there were loads of natives harvesting bird nest. The process was scary. All they had to climb was just a thin bamboo stick.

The rest wore shoes. I wore slippers. God damn guano, they’re every where! At one point, it was raining guano. EUW.

We ventured deep into the cave, taking routes which were not set. The highlight of the day was when we found a bottomless pit. William and I tried walking on the side of it but froze after looking at the bottomless pit. My balls shrunk man..

However, the natives seems to be pretty cool about it. They used a think wooden plank the bottomless pit. I was literally on my knees, trying to get back to the other side.

Gang @ Bottomless pit!

The exit

The gang @ the exit
So the journey ended about 1PM.
We picked a Swiss hitch hiker on the way. Not hot at all, she’s a middle aged Geography teacher. After travelling for half an hour, Alex’s Mercedes stalled. The car broke down.

The other car didn’t know that our car broke down hence they continued their way to Niah town. Alex and the Swiss lady had to take bus to the town to look for them, while William and I were stranded in the middle of no where. We had no food and drinks, no shops nearby, all they have was some Iban long houses. For the next half an hour, William and I were subjected to inhumane torture by the hot scorching sun and dangdut music from a nearby long house. We took refuge at a nearby but stop.

We’re lost..
Thank god for the bus stop, we would be BBQ alive if it was not for it.

Next stop… The biggest Cave Chamber in the world.. Mulu Caves tomorrow! I’ll be there for 3 days hence to my guestbloggers, BLOG BLOG BLOG !!

Bintulu Day 2

I wish I could come out with something funny on this post. But I guess I’m just too exhausted to think of anything funny. So here are the happenings of the day.

This trip is an eating trip. Alex’s parents has been feeding us good food non stop.

The day started off with breakfast @ Bintulu town. We had the famous konlou noodles. Each of us were assigned to finish 2 plates of noodles before we could leave the place.

Bintulu-rians doesn’t speak Cantonese (my chinese dialect). I wanted chrysentimum tea (dont have my spell checker with me now so pardon the spelling mistake), hence I told the lady, “kok fa”.

Lady: har? apa? (what?)
Me: kok fa kok fa kok fa!!

The lady then asked his boss to speak to me.

Me: kok fa.
Boss: ???
William (my friend): (mumbled something in Mandarin)
Boss: ooohhh… (then started mocking me by repeating the words “kok fa” and shaked his ass)

What a fucker man.

We then adjourned to the market place. The prices are really cheap. We could get prawns (no idea what is it called but it has blue testacles, prolly its lobster?) at RM25 per kilo. In KL, we have to pay about RM65 per kilo.

We spent the entire day at Alex’s kick ass 3 acre orchard. It was the time of our life. We were fed with barbequed chicken, pork and prawns, together with fruits plucked fresh from the trees. If it was not for the mosquitoes, the place would be Eden-like.

The orchard has about 6 ponds. Alex and his workers fished out the entire pond with a huge net. The smaller fishes were then barbequed while the huge ones were given away.

If Eden exists in Malaysia, it would be Alex’s orchard. Imagine lying down on a bench, with no worries in the world, with a coconut on your hand, aah..that’s life…

Once the dark sets in, we were brought to a NLG plant (natural gas plant). There we witness a real plant at work, the burning of unwanted gasses lighted up the entire place. It was a really spectacular view.

We ended the night with dinner at a restaurant. Bear in mind the last time we ate was just an hour ago… oh my god..im turning into a BFF (big fat fuck)..

Bintulu Day 1

Bintulu
Wow, I’m in Bintulu already. I’m using Alex’s tortoise speed computer and his tortoise speed internet connection. This is so frustrating.

However, Alex’s house kick ass. It’s built next to a kick ass river, with a kick ass fountain and also a huge kick ass boat!! They also have a hut built next to their house for their driver and his family to stay. wow.

So anyway, the trip was tiresome.

I barely slept last night. I think I had about 2 hours sleep.

Thank you Lynnzter for fetching me to the train station at unearthly hours. Oh well, I treated her dimsum this morning in return for her good deed.

The flight to Bintulu took about 2 hours. Bintulu Airport was…WOW…the design is just like KLIA. It’s like a mini-KLIA.

Suprisingly, Bintulu wasnt what i expected. Before reaching here, all I could think of is old pre-war shophouses with old cars and natives running around with their sumpit (blowpipes). However, I was wrong. Bintulu is well developed with constructions mushrooming everywhere. At one point, I felt like I was in Subang (another developed suburb in Malaysia). The only thing that reminded me that I’m in Bintulu are the wooden houses on the river bank .

Oh yeah most importantly, the food was great. Finally got to try authentic Sarawak Curry Laksa. Will post photos of it once I get back.

The only thing that sucked in Bintulu is the road. My god, it’s so bloody bumped. It’s 10 times worst than Old Klang Road.

Night time
We had exotic Chinese food for dinner. Bats didnt taste good. They’re too boney and dont have much meat. Wild boar and deer meat were fine. Turtles tasted good though but they’re just too cute to be eaten.

We had our dinner on the little hut built on the river bank of Alex’s house. Once we’re done with our meal, we threw the left overs into the river for the fishes and Alex’s pet crocodile.

We spent our evening @ a lousy animal park. The tiger’s den was located top of a hill hence we had to hike up. fuck the fucking tigers, they were sleeping in their cages after we used our almighty strenght to hike up to see them.

We then wandered around the park until we decided to head down to the beach to check out the sunset. It was really nice. The beach was really clean as well. According to Alex, during his school days, the place is a lovers’ hangout. So if you really want to let people know that you’re going out with someone, just bring them to that beach and next day, the entire town will know that you guys are attached.

Miss ya guys at KL. See you guys soon!

Off to Sarawak!

I’m off to Sarawak (a state in Borneo) for my long deserved break tomorrow. I’ll be there for 10 days.

OMG 10 Days! 10 days = 10 pairs of under wear OMG! Where to find??

Bintulu will be my first stop. My classmate, Alex lives there hence I’ll be staying with him with my other classmates.

My second stop would be Miri and Gua Mulu. Gua Mulu has the largest cave chamber in the world, which could fit 40 jumbo jets! We will be caving there.

After my Gua Mulu trip, I would be returning to Bintulu. I don’t know what to expect in Bintulu other than getting pissed with tuak (rice wine) or eating insects at the native long houses.

In any event I were to be killed in a freak airplane crash or head hunter by some natives, I leave all my properties to my parents at half share. Further, please retrieve my journal from my computer in order to be distributed among my friends, of course, with modification.

I’m off to Sarawak with my trusty Canon SLR EOS300, cant wait to start snapping pictures!

Frank will be in charge of this website while I’m gone. Hope he blogs!

And one last final shoutout to my other guestbloggers. While I’m away, please “BLOG BLOG BLOG!!”

Click on the link below to see some really nice pictures of Sarawak
http://www.tropicalisland.de/travel_borneo.html