anything is possible... the sky's the limit!

actually, sometimes i feel, even the sky is NOT the limit... if the sky is the limit, people won't be going to the moon or mars or anywhere beyond our atmosphere, right? anyway, how cool is it that my future CEO actually blogs? but today, i want everyone to read this post that he put up recently...

for all you know, you may one day hear a very familiar voice when u're flying with our m'sia's first low-cost airline... a voice that goes: "ladies and gentlemen, this is stargal, your pilot speaking..." :D

miri/mulu: day 4

ok, i know it's been more than 2 months, and i'm still blogging abt it... stale news oredi, sorry! i'll try to get it done asap.

anyway, to continue on with the story... woke up bright and early for breakfast at 7am. we're to depart from camp 5 at 8.30am, to our rendezvous point with our boat.

leaving our mark in camp 5's guest book...

with some time to kill, we went to check out the hanging bridge near the edge of camp 5, which leads to the head-hunter's trail. if we have one more night here, this head-hunter's trail will be in our itinerary.

our "white" shoes! on day 2, when our guide richard saw my white shoes, he remarked, "you're going to wear that to climb mount mulu? it won't be white anymore after the hike". to which i replied, "it's ok. i don't mind!"

while waiting for the others to get ready, we took a pic with richard.

this was supposed to be taken on arrival, but somehow, we missed it. so took it upon departure! :P

we were the first few to make it back to our rendezvous point, in 2.5 hours... it was a grueling walk. we started out in quite high spirits, singing loudly some of our favourite show-tunes. but after a while, the blisters on our feet got really bad and we just plodded on in silence, just focusing on getting to our rendezvous point fast! here are some of the "results". oh, and i got 2 leach bites!

the first thing we did upon reaching was to peel off our shoes and put on our slippers! in case i spoilt your lunch or dinner, sorry! :P

after everyone has arrived, we descended to the river onto our boats... here's me "kay-poh" helping to pass down the bags...

N has never seen a pineapple tree before...

we went back to benarat lodge, where they opened up the rooms for us to shower and prepared lunch for us, before ferrying us off to the airport...

the mulu airport is so small, that their "luggage cart" weren't even motorised, but relied on manual labour!

N finds it amusing that UPM needs to put out an ad for student intake! aren't public university places going like hot cakes? why still need to spend money to put up ads? *scratches head*

our flight back to miri was turbulent, so everyone, including the flight attendants, had to be strapped to our seats for the whole duration of the flight. so no one came to distribute the milo... and N was like kept bugging me abt it! "where's my milo?" "u think i should request for it?" "we're nearly reaching, how come still no milo?" "if i don't get my milo, i'll throw tantrum lor!" but in the end, we got our milo! they distributed it to us when we were disembarking... :)

upon reaching the miri airport, my  phone battery went flat (coz unable to charge at camp 5 and benarat lodge - electricity from a generator!). so i stole some electricity at the airport while waiting for ryuu to come pick us up.

ryuu's guestroom #1 at his government quarters. see, told ja he's a closetted interior designer!

books as table deco!

ryuu's upstairs living area...

before departing from mulu airport, i sent ryuu an sms: "we're at the airport oredi. flight at 3.25pm, reaching at 4pm. we wanna eat buffet! any good buffet at marriott? we also need to send our clothes and bags to dhobby, coz they stink big time! any such service in miri??"

hehe... after all those simple food cooked by our guide at camp 5, we were craving for something good! so that's what we had for dinner that night: buffet at miri marriott resort & spa! :P oh, and in this pic, N is pointing to the bar code sticker that was stuck to her without her knowledge (until a few seconds before this pic was taken!). somehow, she always ends up with the luggage sticker on her, dun ask me how! =_='''

read also:

1. miri/mulu: day 3

2. miri/mulu: day 2

3. miri/mulu: day 1

4. off to another adventure!

blog intro...

just wanna share this blog with everyone... this is my friend from high school. after high school, we went our separate ways to different uni and then embarked into the rat race. she was working in KL for a while, and then accepted her company's offer to be transferred to china. she worked for a while there, then quit her job, went traveling backpacking style for months and months. then she went back to china again to look for another high paying job, worked like mad for a while, then quit her job to go backpacking for many more months, sometimes for a whole year... and it goes on and on!

anyway, here's her blog: http://kahyeim.blogspot.com/

even though it's all in chinese and i can't read a word of what she wrote, but her photos are enough to tell that it's about her travels. for those of you who read chinese, i'm sure u'll find her writings insightful, as i've always known her to write pretty well. for those of you who're illiterate in the chinese language like me, there's a link to her flickr album in her sidebar. she takes pretty good photos too!

but gosh... visiting her blog always make me feel like packing up and setting off on an adventure of my own! so envy neh! haiz...

i guess some people are just free spirits like that...

smoothies galore!

have been having a lot of smoothies lately... everyday! and i've been buying many kinds of fruits for my smoothie experiments, but being the only one consuming them, they can go a very long way. and as everyone knows, some fruits perish quite fast, so what do we do? a trick i learnt from the internet is to freeze them! dice them up and store them in individual plastic containers in the fridge. and this way, we don't have to use up the whole fruit (eg. a whole banana) and end up with too thick smoothie. just throw in a few pieces of this fruit and that fruit and we're good to go. also with frozen fruits, we don't need to add in ice-cubes. anyway, here are a few to share...

 kiwi + pear + orange (all fresh): this is quite yummy... but a bit on the sour side. blended with natural yogurt and fresh milk...

dragon fruit + mango (all frozen): yummy! again, blended with natural yogurt and fresh milk...

 banana (frozen) + mango (frozen) + pear (fresh) + orange (fresh): from previous experience, i learnt to use only a few pieces of banana to avoid the banana taste dominating the smoothie. and it worked! here i tried using strawberry flavoured milk... not too bad! quite nice, but i think i used too much milk and not enough fruit pieces, so this is a bit diluted.

dragon fruit (frozen) + mango (frozen) + pear (fresh): ok, i reckon everyone would be bored with the same photo layout for all my smoothies by now, so i've changed it a bit for this... this was before i added in the usual yogurt and milk.

result from the fruit combination above... nice bubble gum colour, huh? yummy too! :)

read also:

1. smoothie feast!

2. avo milk smoothie

moving again, but in career this time...

well, looks like i'm doing a lot of "moving" these few months! anyway, i've tendered my resignation last 2 weeks... so i guess i might as well make it "official" here.

so where am i going next? well, i'm not gonna spell it out here, but let's just say it's the company that's made it possible for everyone to fly! obvious enough? hehe...

i'm so excited that i've even created a ticker on the top of my blog here... hehe... so obvious that i can't wait to leave, kan? :P but the toy story ticker is cute right? would be great if the colours are shaper and of a better quality, tho'... no, i've not watched the number 3, but hope to before they stopped showing in the cinemas!

anyway, i'm now serving my 2 months' notice (i know, dem blardy long!), but i'm trying to get an early release... and bossboss said that is only possible if they are able to get someone in to replace me before the end of my notice period and after i've trained him/her for a week or two. bummer...

but let's not let those trifles dampen our mood, 'aight? for now, let's just focus on all those perks i'll be getting in the new company! :D

read also:
1. back in the rat race!
2. still in a daze...

avo milk smoothie...

this recipe was introduced to me by biow. apparently it's very popular in singapore. it's just so simple, yet so yummy!

yums...

ingredients:

1. 1 average sized avocado

2. 1/2 glass of milk (depending on the mug/glass you plan to use for your smoothie - to make sure you get exactly one glass!)

3. gula melaka (palm sugar) - i didn't have any, so i used honey

method:

1. dice up the avo (click here to learn how!), chuck them into the blender

2. pour in the milk

3. blend until smooth

4. add in some ice cubes

5. continue blending until smooth

6. pour out mixture into mug/glass

7. add in as much honey as your heart desires!

will do an update if i can get my hands on some gula melaka! ;)

moving again - part 3

love it that (in no particular order):

1. i get the whole place to myself

2. my things stay where i left them, and not get moved about/smashed up/misplaced/thrown away

3. it's peaceful and quiet, without slamming doors or clattering of pots and pans from the kitchen

4. there's no air-headed, messy, sloppy, dirty and shedding (hair) housemates around, who not only don't do their share of cleaning up, but mess up the place even more!

5. i'm free to do whatever i want at home, such as watching movies with the volume turned up super high, sing off-key, have silly conversations with myself, dance naked (not that i do it, but i CAN if i want to!), letting off bodily gas (both top and bottom!) without having to be discreet... erm, too much info? :P

6. i can do my laundry as and when i like it, instead of having to follow a fixed laundry schedule

7. i have my own study!

8. the deco theme is as how i like it (not that there's much of a "theme", but u get what i mean!)

9. my car is parked right in the building, so i don't have to walk across to the next building if i bought a lot of stuff and need to make 2 trips

hate it that (in no particular order):

1. it gets too quiet sometimes without any human presence, that one can get a tad lonely

2. it's me against the world outside... so have to make sure all the windows and doors are secure before retiring for the night

3. i have to bear all the bills alone!

4. there're no kitchen cabinets

5. there's no swimming pool *sob*sob*

6. the bathroom has minimal ventilation and is damp all the time

hmm... not bad, the pro is more than the con. so considered ok lar... :)

read also:
1. moving again - part 2
2. moving again
3. clearing out the fridge

moving again - part 2

all tidied up... sorry for the overexposed light from the balcony, but i was just snapping without thinking too much abt it...

ok, all these are old stuff from my previous place. i think the only new thing here is the curtains. as this is a rented place, i don't think i should invest too much. so even though the couch is of such an angry colour (ryuu: the couch scares me. does it bite?), i think i'll live with it for now.

anyway, according to the inner interior designer in ryuu, i need bright yellow or pastel pink curtains to match my couch and rug, while i was leaning towards midnight blue. but ikea doesn't have it in those colours... then i saw this brown one and i could totally see it hanging in my living room! turned out not too bad, right?

other than my living room, my bedroom, bathroom and yard are all tidied up. now i'm only left with the study and kitchen. i'll need to arrange all my books onto my billy bookcase (they're all still in boxes!). should not be too much of a problem... i'll just need to have the right mood to get down to it.

the problem now is my kitchen. as the kitchen does not have built-in cabinets (only a kitchen counter with a doorless bottom), i'm having trouble storing my 2 big boxes worth of kitchen wares. yeah i know i don't cook, but somehow i seem to have so many kitchen stuff! and it being a studio unit, the kitchen is not exactly big... for now, my kitchen stuff are still in the 2 big boxes under the extra table i put there for my rice cooker and water boiler (or whatever you call those things). so whenever i need anything, i'll open up the boxes, rummage through them to get what i need and close it again. and those things that were taken out don't go back in. so i reckoned with time, i'll have taken out enough stuff to be stored away, to finally empty the boxes! hehe... yup, the laziest way to unpack! :P

read also:
1. moving again
2. clearing out the fridge

smoothie feast!

i bought a new blender recently, and have been experimenting with fruit smoothies... experimenting as in trying out the different fruits combination. so far, i've tried:
1. banana + dragon fruit = *blergh* too banana! and i hate bananas, actually!
2. dragon fruit + green apple = ok, but green apple too strong. can't really taste the dragon fruit
3. green apple + mango + pear = nice, with a slight hint of pear. but again, green apple is too strong!
4. avocado + green apple + mango = creamy and nice! best combination so far, but green apple still too strong!

a very creamy smoothie of 1 avocado + 1/2 mango + 1 small green apple

hmm... seems like those small green apples are dominating all the taste! must reduce it to 1/2 an apple and more of the other fruits in my next try...

oh, and i always add in two big blobs of natural yogurt and a dash of fresh milk into my smoothie... love the creamy and milky taste! yums...

miri/mulu: day 3

sorry, people. with all that's happened recently (chewie's passing, moving house), my miri/mulu series got interrupted. ok, here's the next installment.

we woke up before 6am to prepare for our hike up mount mulu. actually we didn't plan to wake up this early, but the UUM students we shared the sleeping quarters with were already up and boy were they noisy!

ah, fresh mountain air!

anyway, after breakfast at 7am, we set out for our hike.

N and i just stood around waiting for the students to finish their warming-up session...

can u see N in this pic? :P

unlike mount kinabalu, it was a difficult hike right from the beginning... all of us were huffing and puffing not 30 min into our hike!

here i'm walking without the burden of a bag! coz N and i shared one bag (we didn't bring small bags for this part of the climb to put our water and whatnot - we were totally unprepared!) and N carried the bag most of the time! thanks, darling! *muaks*

pit stop at the mini pinnacles... 

the climb got tougher still...

as our guide told us that time is not an essence anymore (we had to reach the first metal ladder before 11am and we were making good time), N and i took it easy and stopped to replenish our energy... with this packet of the best-tasting milo in the world, courtesy of MASwings! :P

but as it turned out, we arrived at the first ladder about 15 min AFTER 11am (not only us two, but a few of the students too!), which after some discussion with the team, we decided to go on anyway. but along the way, we met with another group led by the park ranger, who nagged and nagged us about the danger of reaching the summit too late, descending too late, reaching camp 5 after dark, he's not going to take any responsibility should anything happen to us, bla bla bla... gosh, just shut it and let us on our way already! the more you nag, the later we'll descent and reach camp 5! *rolls eyes*

further to the top, we had to navigate these metal ladders...

...as well as these metal "bridges", which can be very slippery when wet. and it's ALWAYS wet up there, due to the mist!

finally, after hiking for about 5 hours, we were greeted with this view!

view of the pinnacles on the summit of mount api, seen from the summit of mount mulu... we made it just in time, before the pinnacles are being engulfed in mist!

we looked so fresh in this pic, but in actual fact, we were dead tired and covered in mud!

we stayed at the summit for about 1/2 hour, where we had our packed lunch, before starting on our descend. it rained the whole way down and other than mud, we were covered in blisters and bruises from slipping, sliding and knocking ourselves on the rocks and tree roots. we were way beyond tired and was just concentrating from jatuh tergolek (malay for fall tumbling) down the mountains, that we couldn't be bothered to take photos (also coz it was raining and we didn't wanna get our cameras wet).

and contrary to what many believed, the descend was tougher than the ascend... we took 6 hours to reach camp 5!

we were the last group to arrive at camp 5. the other groups have already started on their dinner!

the limestone looked as if it's on fire in the sunset, at around 6.30pm... maybe that's why it's called mount api (api being malay for fire)?

*phew* this climb was totally out of our expectation! we never thought it'll be THIS tough, hence we came so unprepared... in terms of the things to bring as well as the mental state of mind! also, we thought that since we've done mount kinabalu, this should be peanuts! how wrong we were... and since then, we've developed a new-found respect for this lesser-known mountain of borneo!

read also:
1. mulu/miri: day 2
2. mulu/miri: day 1
3. off to another adventure!

moving again...

won't you feel faint looking at your living room like this???

that pic was from the actual moving day... now it's better a bit. at least the couch is in place and most of the boxes has been cleared away. but still lots more to do! and i desperately need new curtains for the glass door... now i feel like i'm in a fish bowl, with my living room so open and transparent to everyone! *dead tired*

read also:
1. clearing out the fridge