Finally .. my final post on the Sabah trip!

*phew*

Sorry to have bored you people lately with my what seem never-ending posts on the Sabah trip -_-"

Nothing much this time, really. Just that during the flight back home, I experienced the longest sunset ever in my life >_< Usually sunsets don't last long, probably only about 5-10 minutes ... but that evening, it was indeed the longest sunset because we were seemingly flying towards the sun's direction :D

At 5.57 pm GMT+8

At 6.09 pm GMT+8

At 6.25 pm GMT+8

At 6.39 pm GMT+8

Soon enough, we finally touched down. And reached back home. Home sweet home!

Waiting for luggage.

Oh, just one more pic! This was taken at the KK terminal before we boarded the plane. Somehow, this conversation amongst the trolleys caught my attention >_<

Trolley #1: Oh! Oh! You can hand carry your camera into the airplane! No need to check-in.
Trolley #2: Oh! And my baby's stroller too! How nice!
Trolley #3: What else can we hand carry, dude?
Trolley #4: Let's see ... jackets, walking canes, books ...
Trolley #5: ...



Yay, the crappy me is back! *LOL*

And double yay, I can now get back to my usual crappy posts on boring everyday stuffs >_<

Labels: travel

You'll never miss Sabah's special tea when you're here. The Sabah Tea. They're served in coffee houses, restaurants, hotel rooms ... and even during our lunch at the Rungus Longhouse.



In Kudat, we had some really fresh seafood for dinner. Not any fancy seafood stuffs like fish or crabs or lobsters. The dinner was part of the tour package we took, so can't expect much. We had sharks fin soup, kam heong prawns and fried squids. The lovely thing about them all was the freshness. Absolutely fresh. And the portions were so generous especially the fried squids. The sharks fin soup was delicious, and it was cooked with some fish maw and mushrooms thrown in as well. Aaaah, think also I feel like eating again >_<







You won't quite get anything like that here in KL, at least not at the price you can get in Kudat. And I heard the tour guide mention that we were allocated RM40 for a dinner for two >_< Tell me lah, where you can get that in KL?!!!

On our way back from Kudat to KK on our last day, we stopped by one of the stalls at the road side that was selling some barbecue sweet corn. Not my usual way of BBQ-ing the corns, but rather that the corns were BBQ-ed with the husks still intact. The sweet corns were no doubt sweet. But I think burning it together with the husks gave the corn a rather aromatic grassy/leafy fragrance as you sink your teeth into the juicy, sweet kernels. Next time I have a BBQ, I'll BBQ my sweet corns this way. Saves me those aluminium foils, too >_<





That's more or less the bits and miscellaneous stuffs about our visit to Sabah. As for pics, I like this simple flower picture that I took. So, just thought I'd share it here. The minimal colours and simple composition gives the picture a rather pure touch. As least that's what I think :P



And this ... well, I actually took it as a dedication to the hubby >_< And yeah it's been past a few months, but whaddaheck ... happy belated anniversary :)




More pics in my gallery.

Labels: travel

Did I mention before that I'm such a sucker for sunsets? >_<

So, how could you miss sunset in a beautiful state like Sabah? No matter which town we were in, so far both the sunsets in KK and Kudat did not fail us.

We were in Kudat when these sunset pics were taken. The tour guide brought us to the Esplanade after our visit to the Tip of Borneo.

Honestly, it was albeit a little boring. Probably I was tired. Or probably golden sunsets were somewhat something I've seen and photographed quite often. Deep down, I'm always wanted to catch a sunset where the sky is painted with beautiful blue, red, orange streaks. Maybe some purple as well. But then again, I shall not complain much. Golden sunset is better than no sunset at all -_-"

And so we were seated there for a couple of minutes. Waiting for time to pass by so we could go have our dinner >_< Poor hubby who had to sit there, probably looking at the rat below running up and down, while I snapped a pic here and there. Here are some that I personally like ...

The sun was beginning to set behind the horizon on our right. While on our left, the sky was still bright blue with the foreground bathed in golden sunlight. It was a pretty sight to behold, similar to what we encountered back at the beach in Nexus Karambunai.

On our right.

On our left.

It was a golden sunset, and for this pic, I spot-metered for the sun.

Golden sunset.

Sunset is also a good time for silhouttes >_<



The following pic, I love how the dark blue colour of the sky was being reflected in the waters. I think my pic does no mercy to the actual scene, it was so much nicer seeing it with your own eyes.



And these 2, yeah they're a little quiet and have no profound subjects in them but I simply like how the light falls out as the sun sets behind the horizon, and the sky and earth begins to darken.





Aaaah ... sunsets! Don't you just love them? >_<

Larger and more sunset pics over at my gallery.

Labels: travel

Following the visit to the gong making village in Kg Sumangkap on our 3rd day in Sabah, we went to the Honey Bee Farm in Kg Gombizau. Here, I had my first encounter with live bees buzzing around freely.

Before we went, the guide actually told us that there will be no protective gears to be worn. And I was like "Shits! What?" >_< No protective clothes? I had this image of lotsa bees buzzing around hungry to taste my skin, conjuring up in my mind! Oh no, I'll get stung!!! -_-"

Luckily, I walked off clean and safe :D

When we reached there, we walked up this little road to where the bee farm was. As we reached, there were little boxes on poles scattered around on the left and right sides of the road. The lady in the village who brought us around the farm held a container that had some leaves burning inside, releasing some smoke, which according to her, causes the bees to become inactive and breaks down their communication with one another. Well, I tried to stay as close to the smoke as I could >_<



We reached one of those boxes when the lady started pumping more smoke into it before she opened the cover. Which then revealed frames and frames of wood that hold the honey combs.





She took out one of those frames and showed it to us. From the pics, you could tell that I was pretty close to those bees. And yes, it was my first experience coming up *that* close to bees!





You could see the different shades of the honey inside the combs. The older the honey, the darker colour they would be. In the above pic, you could see some substance inside some of those holes. Now, I can't remember if those are fresh pollens collected not long ago or if those are eggs. Or were they food for the queen?!!! Hmmmph, can't remember :P



We also had our first taste of fresh pure honey, straight from the honey combs. It was really sweet! And the honey combs, well ... it had no taste, but felt like I was munching on a piece of soft plastic >_<



And as you leave the farm, you'll get to buy these honey for souvenirs. All ready packed in plastic bottles. The 500ml ones were RM10, which I bought a few bottles of.



It was indeed a nice experience.

Labels: travel

On our 3rd day in Sabah, we visited Kg. Sumangkap on the way back from Kudat to KK.

Sumangkap village is known for its gong making expertise. Almost every family in the village specialises in making gongs. Handmade gongs. From small ones to the big ones.



Gong is a traditional Malay instrument made from metal and is hit using mallet. It was interesting seeing how a gong is actually formed from a flat metal piece. A lot of patience and banging thrown in together with whole lot of hard work and strong ears. The banging of the hammer against the metal to form the gong is not something that the weak ears and heart can take :P



Tourists can also buy gongs from here for souvenirs. They even have these really tiny ones that are sold as keychains :D I bought 2 small ones, about the diameter of 15 cm each, for souvenir. One for myself, the other for my little nephew >_< Wonder if he gave his parents and neighbours a "deafening" night or an early morning "alarm" -_-"



Apart from making gongs, the ladies from the village are also very good at handmaking sigal. All hand-sewn, with very delicate and detailed patterns. Sigal is a headdress worn by the men in the Rungus tribe.



As we were toured around the village, there was this group of young innocent kids hanging around. Check out their little pet >_<



More pics over at my gallery.

Labels: travel

I'll make this short.

So on the afternoon of our 2nd day in Sabah, we went to this place called Tanjung Simpang Mengayau. Also known as the Tip of Borneo. Basically when you're here, you're standing at the very tip/edge of Sabah, Borneo. And here is where the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea meets.









You'll be standing at the edge of the cliff, with the wind brushing across your face. It was a very refreshing and calming experience being there. Not to mention very windy as well. With my weight, I practically swayed a little each time the wind blew against me LOL.

It is one place where I'd say is very good for you to shout out and release whatever stress/problems/unhappiness that could possibly be bottling up inside you. Seriously! But no lah, I didn't do it :P



Excellent place for photography as well >_<

More pics at my [gallery].

Labels: travel

On our 2nd day in Sabah, after visiting the Rungus Longhouse, we checked in to the Kudat Golf & Marina Resort. This was included in the 2d/1n package which we took.

Honestly, and this is purely just my opinion, the room didn't fare very well on my "room checklist" LOL. The pillows had the suk smell. The water from the bathroom tap was murky. And there was this really awful smell from the shower area once you turn on the shower. I had to leave the water running for some time before the smell would go off, and before I would step in! The shower area was small and crammed :P Yeah, I'm fussy especially when it comes to the bathroom :P

Our room.

The bathroom.

Don't ask me why they gave us the twin-sharing room, I have no idea! But then the view from the window was not too bad. We had the seaview room, looking out to the pier and sea >_<



Outside, there was a pier/jetty/dock leading out into the water. The sea water was pretty clear! I could see the fishes swimming under and around the dock.

See the fishes!!! 100% crop from the above.

At night, the moon was so big and bright, I had to take some shots >_< But they didn't really turn out very well. The moon was so bright that if I tried exposing more for the land, the moon would overexpose badly. So what I did was to set the shutter between 15-20 seconds, covered the frontal lens partially with the black tripod bag so that the moon is covered away. Then into the take, just as it was about 2 or 3 more seconds to go before the shutter closed, I removed the bag so that the moon is captured. It didn't really work too well, but whaddaheck >_<



The moon was so bright, it illuminated the water so brightly.

Then there were a lot of stars in the sky as well. I tried capturing it, but I guess it didn't turn out very well *LOL*



In case you're wondering about the orange and greenish light at the bottom, they were from the lamp posts albeit I can't remember where the green one came from -_- Probably from the nearby building!

Then ... there were lightnings striking across the skies every once in a while, lighting up that part of the sky orange. For this, I tried the multiexposure technique while trying to capture the lightnings. I set the camera on bulb mode. Throughout the time the shutter opened, I covered the frontal lens with (yes!) the tripod bag, opening it only when the lightning strikes. Repeat this a few times, and then release the shutter. Yeah, it didn't turn out very good as well due to the lights from opposite. And don't ask me when I know the lightning will strike so I can remove away the bag, I left the predictions solely to the hubby ... who surprisingly hit them right, I'd say, at an 80% rate -_-"



Next morning, I rose up quite early. It was like there was an alarm set into my body clock >_< In time for me to catch the cooling sunrise :)



We had an early buffet breakfast before we checked out and continued with our visits to the Sumangkap and Gombizau village for some "gong and honey experience" >_< Speaking of which, the tour guide was late again when picking us up from the resort. Sheesh.

But before we checked out, there was something I needed to do. Yeah, photography again but not so much about it. It was actually ... to feed the fishies!!! >_<



Hee hee!


More pics in my [gallery].

Labels: travel