How I Spent The First Day Of 2010

How I Spent My First Day Of 2010
Due to the monsoon season, I was kept indoors for most of the time. It is actually still monsoon season but staying indoors and watching reruns of Sex & The City was driving me bonkers. Bonkers or not, Sex & The City presents some amazing scripts don't you think?
I couldn't help but wonder if the monsoon season was still brewing at my destination. Taking a risky chance, I headed off on the eve of new year and camped overnight at the enormous and mysterious age old Temenggor Lake.
Camp on a helipad. 630am
I arrived at the start of my trek and noticed that the roaring sound of the river was loud and deafening.
How do I cross?
That meant monsoon season was still ongoing. Coupled with a heavy current, the menacing rocks did not help either. Anyway, I made my way through eventually
Not an easy job
and finally arrived at a more serene and calmer surroundings. I guess that was nature's way of thwarting unwanted visitors.

After clearing the challenging obstacles, I reckon I stumbled onto an amazing discovery - a pool twice the size I found 2 months ago. The colour of the pool was completely jade green. Who can resist falling in love with this spot?
Not a soul
Look how green the water is
Posing
Saw 4 hornbills flying across from this view
Check out the video
I went up to further explore upstream and since it was quite high in the mountains, cloud vapours forming around the mountains in the far end of the horizon was a sight to behold.
Loved the view on the horizon
Now, a word from my sponsor. If you noticed, I did not bring any water container and the picture below shows that I am drinking straight from the stream via a portable filter called LifeStraw. Lifestraw, a Swiss product that can filter a minimum of 700 litres, providing safe drinking water.Seriously, this device provides me with a lot of flexibility when it comes to moving around.Lifestraw is constantly on my neck and you can't never go wrong with Swiss made products for example Nestle. These guys brought us Maggi for crying out loud. You can now obtain your Lifestraw products in Malaysia from Nadir of Outdoor Dynamics (www.outdoordynamics.com.my)
LifeStraw in action
One last interesting bit from this adventure was coming across a section of the stream where it looked like a private shower room with two shower passages as seen in the video at the beginning of this blog. I love that it has like an opening path to the shower space with enclosing walls on either sides. Awesome isn't it? One thing though, you can't control the water volume and there is no such thing as a HOT shower here.
Two showers
Nice pic
Look at the pecs

What a great way to spend the first day of 2010!

Diving In Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park

I have been diving pretty much these days and one of my recent destinations was to Tunku Abdul Rahman Park or fondly known as TARP in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. I tell you, we are lucky to be in Malaysia because we’re surrounded by awesome dive sites. If you are a Singaporean, the only place you could dive is probably at MacRitchie Reservoir.
It was a punishing hot day and the moment I got out of my transport, off with my shirt.

Il fait choud
H20 is a must
Kota Kinabalu is probably just inches away from the ocean and although it was brutally hot, a city located just next to the sea will always have their charm, for example Alexandria, New York and Kota Bharu.
I signed myself up with Sabah Divers and the entire 3 dive package at TARP was only RM200.00. Everything was included – gears, boat and lunch. That is like a crazy 80% warehouse sale in diving lingo.
My divemaster, Jason is probably 50 plus years old. He was a dive master in Sipadan for 2 years. Did I also mention he is quite grumpy at times? I guess staying in Sipadan for 2 years is akin to staying in Alcatraz. Doing the same thing day in and day out, regardless of where you are can be repetitively mind blowing. A balance is so needed for my divemaster.
We took a boat ride to Pulau Sapi and Pulau Gaya, two islands filled with lifejacket-wearing-ankle –deep-in-water tourists.
I saw my first black fan tail ray and several lion fishes.
I love compressed air
Backroll
Feeling pukey
During lunch, while chillaxing(I just learnt this word. It combines the words- chill and relax), two wild albino boars came out from the woods and mingled with the crowd. The pair were the most tamed wild boars I’ve seen and did I mention albino? They should be in the Proboscis monkey, orang utan, pygmy elephant group – endemic only to Sabah.
Albino wild boar
My 3rd dive ended about 5pm and what a glorious sunset to view. Ohhh how I love Sabah.
Blackberrying on the boat

Signal hill behind
I have 3 trips to Sabah in 2010. A Sipadan dive, a solo camping trip along the Liwagu river hopefully with Mt Kinabalu in the background and a sideways illegal entry into Maliau Basin(because I’m too frugal to pay RM3000)

Pulau Mantanani

I went diving in Pulau Mantanani recently and it was just awesome!! Pulau Mantanani is located off the coast of Kudat, a 2 hour drive from Kota Kinabalu(I want to marry a Sabahan). Anyway, accompanying me on this trip was a Frenchman and two power Japanese babes. As a hot blooded male man, I was easily distracted by them. So this post is just going to concentrate on the two Japanese girls rather than a post about diving.
Japanese babes
I'm just a man
I've made mistakes, I'm just a man
As usual, language was a barrier and I'm usually at watashiwa nihonggo skhosi skhosi ne. We made it possible to communicate by saying famous Japanese people - Ken Watanabe, Godzilla, Kimiko Date and Aum Shinri Kyo. When I said I liked the Japanese group Shojo Tai, she said " You're old". No denying that fact.

I paid RM280 for 2 dives. Pretty steep for only 2 dives but it was worth it since Mantanani is a remote island with not many tourist unlike Pulau Manukan and Pulau Gaya. Plus the fact that the there were two very skimpily dressed Japanese women and that made it all worth while. The water in Pulau Mantanani was absolutely clear. You can see for miles and miles of the underwater scenery.
That's Bruno at the right. He's my bunkmate in the backpacker's lodge we stayed in. When I asked him what he does for a living, he said "Je suis un president de la Francais banque a Singapore" Blew me away how humble he was
Getting ready to backroll
Je suis tres bien
After the two dives, we were treated with lunch and by 4pm, all of us headed back to Kota Kinabalu/
Lunch
Superb
If you want to get away from the usual diving crowd, head to Pulau Mantanani for their crystal clear waters. In summary, I had a blast because it was an awesome combination of day dives and night dives(if you know what I mean).

American Pie

I was sent to the United States Of America (USA) recently for work and extended my stay in Washington and Los Angeles.Los Angeles was my first destination, particularly Hollywood for some work and once I finished, I took some time off to do some sightseeing.
Satellite related matters
Huge crowds in Universal Studios. I reckon it would be the same for Singapore's version
Marilyn up to no good
Hung out on a beach in California
Pacing the streets of Hollywood at night

I also dropped by the San Diego Zoo, recognized as the world's best zoo after the Kuala Krai Zoo.
Entrance of San Diego Zoo
and I saw a mountain gorilla and a panda for the first time. I did not take a picture of the mountain gorilla but the moment I set my eyes on one, I froze and was in awe. Somehow, these magnificent creatures cast a spell on you. Now I know how Dian Fossey felt and why she fought for the mountain gorillas. Who has panda eyes?
I took this picture and was pleased with the outcome. Awesome shot isn't it?
Priscilla, Stephen, Amy and Jeff, I've registered your names as requested. You will be receiving a confirmation mail from the centre soon
I dropped by Washington for a bit and visited the most powerful house in the world- The White House.

White house
Ironically, there is also a White House in Kota Bharu, Kelantan and I think better and wiser decisions were made in this nasi berlauk coffee shop.
Kota Bharu's White House
National Geographic's headquarters was around the corner and I swear I thought I saw Dr Bob Ballard(He found the Titanic).
Nat Geog's HQ

I also hung around the Lincoln Memorial, Capitol Hill and the Washington Monument. If you watch movies like National Treasure or any government agency related themes, you'll see these monuments all the time.
Lincoln Memorial
Washington Monument
Blue blue sky
To those who know me well, you all know what my basic human rights are
What a grouch!!Sesame Street's 40th Anniversary

What can I say about America? I guess America is an alright place to visit but if you like cultural surroundings, America's not the destination. What I'm trying to say here is that we have buildings in Malaysia that have existed even before America was founded, hence America does not really have an enriching culture to absorb.

Radiation Exposure

You've heard of housing areas complaining about telecommunication towers being erected nearby their humble abodes. They're afraid of electromagnetic radiation spillovers that may cause bodily harm. Think Chernobyl?
As I work in the telecommunications industry, I am pretty much exposed to radiation everyday but the dosages are not harmful according to the International Telecommunications Union(ITU).
Satellite Earth Station
Recently, I had to climb into a very large satellite antenna dish for some technical intervention and the electromagnetic waves for one of these babies is ten times higher than the telecommunications towers you see by the roadside.
Climbing
The moment I stepped inside,
<I grew another pair of hands
ITU, you need to relook into your rules and regulations about electromagnetic radiation! It's not that I'm unhappy that I grew another pair of hands, but I wished that something else grew if you know what I mean.

My Stand Up Comedy Performance

Maybe I'm going through a mid life crisis but when TimeOut KL magazine announced that they were having stand up comedy performances, I jumped at the opportunity. So, ladies and gentleman, let me tell you this. I've gone camping alone, got lost in the jungle when I lost the GPS, hung around in tiger infested areas, explored the depths of the Belum rainforest, had my BCD hose explode while I was 60metres deep and took a ride in a Nuri helicopter. All these episodes never shook me to the core of my bones but an hour before my stand up comedy was the scariest moment in my life. My palms were sweaty, I paced up and down and words cannot describe how petrified I was to try to make people laugh. So here goes :
My attempt in stand up comedy

Let me know your verdict.

Layang Layang Island Work Trip

I arrived on Layang Layang Island not for diving activities but for work actually. I was tasked to set up a satellite communications network on the island for the military base there and the only way to arrive on the island was a chartered Antonov Russian built plane. Russian Antonov plane on the landing strip
As a frugal manager, I needed to watch the budget for this site. The cost to travel all the way there is high and no mistakes can be made because if one forgets to bring even an Allen key, no work can be done on the island, thus a costing disaster. I was tres tres careful during the preparations.
Usually it takes 4 people to install,test and commission a satellite communication network. Three men to carry out the civil works(cement, cabling, wiring,etc) and one person to commission the equipment(usually me).
In order to cut cost, I decided that I was up for the civil works portion and so, my colleague and I took the flight to Layang Layang Island(RM800 each). From Kota Kinabalu's airport, the flight took at least an hour to reach Layang Layang Island it was an awesome view to see atolls and charming islands along the way.
Abundance of atolls
The moment we landed, it was work work work like removing the equipment and raw materials out from the cargo of the plane.
Removing items from the belly of plane
Assistance from the
military

After identifying the site,
Obtaining the azimuth and elevation
I started constructing the base and that's where the ordeal started. We did not bring sand for the cement base as we were on an island and sand surrounded us the whole time. Also, I needed to pay for the extra load on the chartered plane. So, there I was, with a shovel and a wheelbarrow in tow, I headed towards the beach. Shovel after shovel, I poured the sand into the wheelbarrow. Once filled, I carried it back to the site and dumped it nearby and headed back to the sandy area. I took at least 30 trips to and fro. Oh how my skin got burnt by the sizzling sun.
Sand shoveling time
Not easy as it looks especially when you have a pair of eyes looking at you. It's bordering to irritation
By the fifth trip, my shoulders were aching
Very repetitive

I've gathered enough sand now to start mixing it with the cement that I brought. I learnt this trade through watching other people and so we went on mixing and mixing.
That's right. University graduate mixing cement
I now know how an Indonesian construction worker feels
The hot sun really came down on me
Pouring the cement into the base
Not too bad eh

After 3 hours of mixing cement and pouring the cement onto the base, we left it overnight for it to dry. We continued the next day with the installation of the antenna and finally the commissioning.
Installation of antenna
Commissioning
We were scheduled to fly back to KK in 2 hours time and I took some time off so that I can visit a nearby island to watch migratory birds from Siberia nesting. Also I managed to catch an unforgettable sunset here before I left.
Migratory bird nesting
Siberian birds everywhere
Sunset on Layang Layang island
Sunset on Layang Layang island 2
Although it was a back breaking and tiring task,
Fatigue
I'm glad I completed the job with satisfactory results and more importantly, a sense of accomplishment.
Satisfied smile and look