Sabah 2007 part 3

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

oh yes. there is a part 3. We stayed there 5 days in total. At first, I couldn't imagine what we would do there for 5 days - but I guess it's quite a relaxed schedule. no rush.

On the 4th day in Sabah,
hubby and hadi spent the WHOLE day playing golf.
My parents and Hanaa, went out to town.
Eema, Nadhrah, Rus and I, just lazed around the resort.
In the evening, the girls did some activities at the Little Magellan club.



At night, we went out to town for dinner, but after half a day of swimming, Nadhrah knocked out by the time we ordered the food.



But that's ok. It's good that the children slept early that night, because the following day, we went out very early again. Arman the guide, had suggested previously, that we should go to the Tip of Borneo, and some other attractions along the way.

And so we were on our way to the Tip of Borneo, which would take about 3 hours to reach. Of course, the beautiful sceneries and snacks kept us occupied.



We also stopped at a couple of tourist spots along the way.
The first stop was the Honey Bee Farm at Kg. Gombizau. I've went to a honey bee farm before, in Australia. The people there, wore full suits, including a net mask. Down here, the lady guides and us, went in without any protective gear whatsoever.



Next, we visited the Rungus Longhouse, at Kampung Bavanggazo. The Rungus people used to live in the longhouse - also known as 'Binatang' in their language. But they are modern now, and they live in another type of wooden houses and they no longer wear their traditional clothes. We had fun 'playing' in the Binatang.



Then we were gently reminded about the time, by our guide, Arman, who said, "masa mencemburui kita." waaah.. boleh jadi lirik lagu. We needed to get BACK to KK by 7pm, if we are going to catch our plane back. And we have not even reached the Tip yet, and it was already 2pm.

On the way to the Tip of Borneo, we were greeted by hundreds of swaying coconut trees.


Actually, I wondered what could be so interesting about the Tip of Borneo. I can be at the tip of anywhere what.. I'm always at the tip of Singapore. But they say the view is nice.

After about 45mins more, we finally reached .... the TIP of Borneo.



And Subhanallah! the view IS spectacular.






Words or pictures cannot describe the view well.
So I'm trying it with a short video.
But being there, beats them all.




After that, Arman aka Amran, who by the end of the day, had 2 more names - Imran and Raman (thanks to my parents)- rushed us back to the hotel to get our bags and head for the airport. One thing we did not get to do in Sabah, was to try the kelapa bakar that Arman was telling us about. We planned to have it on the way back from Kudat, but since we were rushing back, we couldn't.

We reached the airport, said our thanks and goodbyes to Arman aka Amran aka Imran aka Raman. Got into the airport, only to find out that our 9pm flight, has been delayed to 0025hrs.

Anyhow, I'm safely back in my home now. Alhamdulillah. We reached Senai about 240am and our home just before 4am.

So how was Sabah?
It was very interesting, and the mountains and sea views, were spectacular.

sabah 2007 part 2

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

It's quite difficult to get all the children ready for breakfast kat hotel. And breakfast is served only up to 1030am.

But on the third day, hubby had gone to arranged for the guide who will bring us to Mt Kinabalu, to fetch us at 830am. Miraculously we managed to get the children ready for breakfast by 7am.

By 830am, the guide, named Amran was already waiting for us at the hotel lobby. The journey to the base camp of Mt Kinabalu was going to take about 2 hours.

But first, we stopped by the Sunday market in town, where they sell almost EVERYTHING - food, fruits, vegetables, medicines, clothes, antiques, souvenirs, accessories, cats, dogs.
Serious, wa cakap sama lu.




The girls and I, only bought a few stuff there.

Along the way, Amran, or Arman - his real name, stopped at Tamparuli to show us the very long hanging bridge over the Tuaran river. The kids had some fun jumping and shaking the bridge, and we took some pictures.



We were also told by our guide, that the legend says that Tamparuli is a lady's name - a lady who liked to sit under the bridge and sings well. The story stopped there before he went on to tell us about the day he got married. Not to Tamparuli.

*How that Arman changed to Amran - He explained that most tourist, especially the Japanese, were unable to pronounce his name properly (same predicament as I - which i was going to blog about another time, still in neuron planning stage). So back to Arman - it was more convenient or easier for the Japanese to call him Amran instead.

Although the journey was about 2 hours, it was not boring, because we were entertained by the beautiful sceneries.



Next we stopped by a souvenir shops area in the highlands. Got crazy bargains. Like if the price is RM28, before you even start to bargain, they would offer "Ini 28 - saya kasi 18 aje." That's good for me, because u know me, not-a-shopaholic, poor-at-bargaining person. We got lovely rattan bags and purses.



We continued on our journey to Mt Kinabalu's Timpohon Gate, one of the gates where hikers can start their journey. One of the signs there says "Don't take anything except photographs. Don't leave anything, except footprints". Heh.. cute.

Even at that level, it was already very high and cold. The atmosphere and the scenery there is breathtaking.



After taking a zillion many many photos there, we went to the picture museum. In there it says of Mt Kinabalu :
Mt Kinabalu's name is a mystery. The most popular view derives from the Dusun word "Aki Nabalu' which means 'the revered place of the dead'. The local Dusun, believes that their spirits dwell on the mountain top, among the bare rocks or the summit grows moss which early dusun guides said, provided food for the spirits of their ancestors hmm.. (note, it's not word for word cause i attempted to correct some spelling and grammatical errors from the original)

By the way, Dusun and Kandazan are two of the several different groups of natives in Sabah. There is even a newspaper in the Kandazan/Dusun language - which looks and sounds nothing at all like Malay.



After that, we went for lunch.
I thought Gardenia only produces bread...



Then we made a detour and stopped by Poring Hot Springs. Even along the way also, there are so many places you'd like to stop and take pictures. I managed to convince hubby to stop one place for pics.



We reached Poring Hot Springs about 430pm where we had a foot dip. We also did our solat there.



After that we headed back to the hotel. It was a fruitful and beautiful trip. I was also surprised that the children were not bored, although there were no kiddie or thrill rides whatsoever. Packing a LOT of snacks and water for the journey helped.



The journey back to the hotel was about 2.5 hrs. The children were asleep most of the time. And not forgetting how fast and sudden the night fall is, it was pitch dark half way through the journey back.

We safely reached our hotel about 830pm. Alhamdulillah.
Wow.. 12 hours. Lepak.

sabah

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

hey! guess where we are??

oh, the title gave it away.

How did we get here? Well, 6-8 months ago, hubby booked 9 "free" (but u have to pay for other charges like airport tax, service fees, insurance blah blah eksetera eksetera eksetera.. which adds up to about RM1300) tickets from air asia website - for a trip to sabah in November. It was soooooooooooooooo in advance that sometimes I forgot.

And unfortunately, I found out in early November, that the dates booked, HAPPEN to fall on my course EXAMS day and Hafiz's wedding/birthday. Terpaksa mintak defer exams for me. Hafiz tak boleh defer wedding date dia. :(

ANYHOW, we're here now!

So far so good. Sabah is as I expected. I expected that it's not KL. Heh.
What excites me the most on the 1st day we arrived (friday) was the fact that, Maghrib is at 5.57pm and isya is at 7pm. and subuh.. oh subuh.. is at 4.30am!!
the subuh part is a bit hard to adjust.

Other than that, I'm looking forward to Mt Kinabalu.

No, we're not going to the peak.
No, we're not hiking there.

We're just going to the base camp.
By car.





don't be fooled by the look of these floating kampung houses.. we were told that some of them, kat dalam macam condo.. ada big TV and air-conditioned some more..I wouldn't mind staying there.

mai! kat sana pun u ada restoran!


staying kat sutera harbour

and they have free internet connection in the room!!

bowling in the dark is possible and fun, with glowing pins



went to manukan island, where the fishes are oh-so-beautiful and colourful. Subhanallah! Even kat jetty sutera harbour ni pun.. you can see interesting species.


With our doa, the life jackets on, and the fine weather, I enjoyed the boat ride. The speeding, boat ride was somewhat fun, terasa macam naik roller coaster.

due to the currents, the water nearest to the beach, was not as clear as we would like it to be, although it's crystal clear a bit further out.



ok lah.. i'm so very tired.
not to mention, STILL having the flu!

Will update after Mt Kinabalu, insyaAllah.


p.s. pink, baby nur - yes i was online! but away when u girls were online. :(
hope exams was fun! haha.

3rd week of november

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

a room from a room

home plant

beauty among ruins

parents n eema

wedding venue

the bridegroom

best man fm yakuza clan

the bride

cooking pot

tak kerja, makan air batu

4 kali pegi kedai

"da masak nasi 2 periuk, kaki da boleh angkat"

moral support

bila pulak budak ni

da abis masak, kemas2

dinner with koliks

kopi

..and kopi again

to get or not to get

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

I don't really go shopping. It's not a hobby. I also don't really know how to go shopping with friends most of the time because I feel pressured into getting something fast. I feel guilty that they are tagging along sana sini, due to my fickle-mindedness. But follow them go shopping I........................can lah jugak. Agaknya.

My ideal shopping trip would be, knowing exactly what I want, and where to get it. I'll go directly to that place, get, pay and leave. Yup..like the panda who eats, shoots and leaves.

(Have you read that panda joke before? I read it in reader's digest. Pasal panda ni kan.. he walked into a restaurant to eat. When he was done, he shoots around (I believe no human were harmed), and then he left. Someone stopped him and then asked him why he did it. He said, "that's what it says in the dictionary". So the person went to look up the dictionary, probably when he reached home, cause i don't think he carries a dictionary around. He looked up the word 'panda' and it says. 'a black and white mammal, found in China. Eats, shoots and leaves.')

Ok, where was I.. right. yup.. get, pay and leave.

But ok lah.. I'm not such an abnormal lady who doesn't go shopping AT ALL. I DO go shopping, once in a while - like once in a purple moon. And WHEN I do, I can finish quite a lot of money. Especially when I'm in a certain place where Singaporeans feel macam OKB sikit because of the exch rate. And it's also because i happen to find more pretty clothes that are also decent, there.

I think if I go shopping more often here, both in town and geylang - i'd probably find something too. But that's the problem la.. I don't really go shopping.

Ok..so now I think I need to get a handbag. Because all i have now is the hoversack, a purple handbag, and a smaller black handbag.

The black handbag (which i don't know when I got in the first place.. i found it in my drawer) - strap dia da tercabut. And the purple handbag does not go with all my baju.

I CAN still carry the hoversack.. hmm.. yeah.. maybe I can just use the hoversack - it's an option.

Actually I'm thinking of getting something like a sling bag - in which I can carry my cameras, purse, hp, tissue, make-up sikit, car key and a small book. Hmm..Hanaa pun ada sling bag that I can use. But of course that one macam budak2 pulak.

So I either go out shopping for a bag, or just use the hoversack.

How da dey?




p.s. Ok.. My last weekend activity post is still pending. I haven't even started writing yet.. because I'm waiting for me to upload the pics first. maybe tonight. MAYBE.

writer's block, not.

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

I read before, that if you want to be a writer, then you have to write something everyday. It's like going to work. Everyday, at least a page.

But if there is really nothing to say, then.. what do people write about? Ok lah, in the above article - it was about writing a book. So of course, you have the main topic there already. So you just have to keep on adding to it.

So I guess, it's trickier to be able to do that in a blog. Because everyday, it's a new topic.

Some people use their blogs to record the daily life experiences, complains, gossips. But some are too mundane for me - or maybe I don't complain that much and I'm always the last person to hear of any gossips - which is just fine. Less dosa.

Kelakar eh, how sometimes you're a different person on the road. You tend to lose patience more easily on the road.

Ok, forget that.. my boss, just called me on the phone. about some work matter la. Today, he is on half day leave to play golf. Yesterday, I adalah joke dengan dia.. I said that I'll join him for his round of golf. Skali tadi he asked.. 'eh.. you seriously want to join me today?' Like what?? dalam hati la.. he would let me get off work to go play golf with him?? waah.. ni sudah baik. I better start practising again. Then also, I can join hubby and hadi for their round of golf.

Actually Hubby and Hadi pun ada ajak main golf la.. but, they are inviting me, so that I can take pictures on them on the golf course. So, I'll dress like some golfer.. bawak golf bag AND a camera. Well, that has not happened yet.

But I think I have a few reasons to start again with golf.

The last time I started to play, I got pregnant. Then i stopped. Then I picked it up again after Hanaa was 1 year plus. Then I got pregnant again. I stopped again. Then again, started after Eema was a bit older.
Then.. yes... i got pregnant again.
I didn't start again ever since.

Come to think of it.. maybe i shouldn't start. takut pregnant lagi.

merepek.

So much for writer's block.

this entry is *unplugged*
Need to get ready for work.
Have a sweet day.

here comes the sun

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

it was 0645hrs thereabout.
Time nak hantar Eema to school.
From the lift lobby on the 19th floor.

2 birthdays, a wedding & a hospital visit

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Pink turned a year older on 4th Nov.. but we responded quite late like that.

Then, just now pegi Kak Julie's wedding.. i mean her daughter's. I realise, i didn't take any of the pengantin's photos.. but it's because i think it doesn't matter to her also la - she's busy enough.
But then, now I think i shud have taken at least ONE photo..for me. ceh.
ANYWAY...

Umairah, my niece will be undergoing a minor surgery tomorrow, so, let's all pray for her speedy recovery. Ameen.
Go umairah!

the stuff that we pack

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

to the tune of 'the wheels on a bus'..
here we go!
all together now!..

the stuff that we have, we pack pack pack
phone and files, we pack pack pack
ornaments and mugs, we pack pack pack
cause we need to shift.

but some are lazy, they tag tag tag
even the mouse! they tag tag tag
with paper so big, they tag tag tag
because they bo chap.

ok lah.. it's not meant to win any song award kan..

slow response

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

I've been trying to think of what' I've been thinking about. No one thing seems to stand out above the rest, but they are ALL there.. about the same level - doing more for God, ..and hubby, the 4 children, spending time with my parents, brothers, sisters, studying for exams, starting my hafalan, doing my assignments, planning/going for holidays, plan for the house, work, car BADLY needs vacuuming, body, getting out from the 'rat race', shopping, not shopping, baking, birthdays, weddings, books, blog, pictures, camera..

so, errm... forgive me if I'm not responding as fast.

high standard

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

i think i can only say 'the standard is too low for me, if I go into kindergarten or P1 and 2. Even in P3.. there are some things taught that I probably have forgotten or is totally new to me.. so I cannot say standard too low pun..

Or sometimes.. we THINK we know better, but actually we don't know much.. and you'll only know how much you DON'T know when you learn - and you realise, that there is SOOOOOO much, that you really do not know.

Or sometimes, there are some areas you probably do know well, but there are other areas, which you NEED to know and learn, so that you can apply what you do know, better.

Impatience can also lead a person to claim that a standard is too low, just because she thinks she knows the beginning.

In any case, i think the use of the words 'the standard is too low for me' - does not strike well with me. Even if it is somehow true.. it reflects to me, some kind of arrogance, which aku macam tak boleh angkat.

Only Allah knows best, if any standard is too low for us.


رَّبِّ زِدْنِي عِلْمًا
"O my Lord! advance me in knowledge."


Oh well... have a look at another beautiful sky.
See the different shades of blue, the different shades of the clouds and it's textures.
Subhanallah.

..right after this

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

i have been in love with the sky - eventful, full of colour surprises with different hues of blue, yellow, red, purple... clouds of different textures and shapes, sometimes moving fast, sometimes slow. Subhanallah.



I am suppose to be busy, but last night, I ended up doing useless stuff like watching youtube videos, even though I had my book by my side, ready to do my assignment.

'ok.. right after this video, buat assignment ah..' 'ok.. ni last' 'ok ok.. THIS one last', I was telling myself. At last, I felt sleepy and tired and I slept.

How then do I advise my children on procrastination??

Ok enough!
I'm going to do my assignment NOW!

right after i post these pics.
insyaAllah.

the forgetful beings we are

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

It's very easy to get absorbed into this world and forget our final destination.

We work, play, laugh, watch tv, entertain ourselves - with no slight thought whatsoever that today or tonight, may be the time, when the angel of death, in charge of us - will carry out his duty, as ordained by Allah SWT.

Sometimes even in doing 'ibadah', (e.g. going for syarahan or giving syarahan, reciting the Quran, advising others etc), we lose our focus or forget the root intentions, and get absorbed in wanting to 'win' the situation or prove something only to ourselves or to others. No longer is the intention for Allah SWT.

So how can we constantly remind ourselves of Allah SWT, of our purpose in life, and our final destination?

I believe that is one of the purpose of our 5 daily prayers. Just like.. why do you think, in schools, we need to say the pledge and sing the national anthem every morning? But Allah knows best - once a day is not enough.

That would also explain why 5 prayers grouped, only to be done at night - will not work. That's besides the fact that we don't even know if it will be accepted by Allah SWT.

We are truly forgetful beings. and Allah knows best, we NEED to be reminded constantly.

With the properly done 5 daily prayers, insyaAllah, we can be in 'constant' reminder. Of course not constant by Rasulullah SAW standards, only constant by our weak standards. Weak as in, even there, right after prayers, while still on the praying mat, I can start to forget. :/

But the efforts and sincere intention counts, I believe.
So we keep on trying.