Showing posts with label Malaysia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malaysia. Show all posts
Work trip to Kuala Lumpur!
It's been such a long time since I logged on here! Guilty as charged.
Was whisked off to Kuala Lumpur and Xiamen for work over the last 2 months (late March and late April) which leaves very little time for other things in-between.
Unfortunately, I don't have any photos to show of the amazing KL city but I do have MANY shots of the hotel and serviced suites I stayed in. Yup, that shows how boring my work trip was - most of my time was spent indoors. Hahaha!
Okay in all honesty, the nature of the work done in the Hotel was very fun but I do wished I had time to step out.
PARKROYAL Kuala Lumpur Hotel
My colleague and I spent the first 7 days of the trip here. Located in Bukit Bintang (shopping and entertainment district of Kuala Lumpur), the PARKROYAL Kuala Lumpur Hotel is the perfect place to stay in if you want to do loads of shopping and eating around the city.
First up my room! I was staying in the Orchid Club Premier King room. It's not the best habit but I guess it's part of being in my line of work. The first thing I do every time I step into a room is to drop everything and take loads of photos of the room in as many angles as I can. No matter if it's for work trip or for personal holidays, it's the first thing I will do. Extremely particular about toilet cleanliness and arrangement of cushions and furniture and I'm glad this room was perfect in every way :)
As we were staying at the Orchid Club rooms, we had access to the Club floor where you can come up here for drinks and breakfast (if you don't wish to eat with the crowd). It was very spacious and has amazing view!
Unfortunately, no shots of the vicinity. As the Hotel had many dining options, we didn't see the need to step out for food. If you asked me about the weather of KL in those 7 days, I wouldn't be able to tell you!
PARKROYAL Serviced Suites KL
We shifted over to the Serviced Suites for the next 5 days. I got the Studio Suite King room. Absolutely love how spacious it is!
The breakfast area
As the property houses more long-stay guests compared to hotels, they have a common area for in-house guests to hang around. There are computer terminals, loads of reading materials and games to play as well.
While the Serviced Suites served breakfast and in-room dining, it actually does not have an in-house restaurant. This gives us more reasons to venture out.
We were quite hard pressed for time on our first day there (loads of work to clear at the new property!) so we opted for somewhere nearby. One of the staff directed us to a roadside economy rice store just across the street.
The concept is rather interesting. They have a wide range of food selection available and you get to take food yourself in whichever portions you want. In Singapore, the store owner usually takes them for you so sometimes it's hard to nick an additional piece or two.
Once satisfied with what you have, you can proceed to the counter. The lady takes a look at the dishes you pick (with no regards for the portions) and charge accordingly. There seemed to be no standard way to price this!
There were many nice cafes around the Serviced Suites so we cafe-hopping over the next few days. This was our favourite although I don't remember the name. It's less than 5 minutes away from the property, serves to-die-for curry chicken and amazing teh (milk tea). It has very old school deco, reminds me of those hipster cafes in Singapore!
As the property staff didn't think it was safe for us to go out at night, we usually have our dinner early when the day is still bright and makes it back to the Serviced Suites before skies turn dark. The GM (General Manager) of the property was very kind to take us out for dinner one night. We went to Restoran Siu Siu (Cantonese for Small Small Restaurant) at Robson Heights, an elevated area in Kuala Lumpur.
The owner speaks Cantonese and this place serves out of this world food, especially so for that perfectly roasted char siew! You have to order this if you go there.
Steamed patin fish. Another must-order. The fish was very fresh and the sauce light, it really brings out the tenderness and flavour of the fish.
Home-made bean curd with long beans and minced meat. The bean curd is very soft and the salty long beans/meat paste complemented it so well. Also must-order!
This dish is called Green Dragon Vegetables. Yes you read that right. It's lightly stir-fried and absolutely yummy. Another must-order as well.
Besides eating, most of my time is really spent doing work in various corners of the room (at the desk, on the bed, in the living room or in kitchenette) and spinning the television around whenever I am.
On our last weekend in KL, we decided to venture out to the Chinatown area just behind the property. The Serviced Suites is located near vibrant night life (read: a string of pubs and nice restaurants). Once you walked past pubs, you will find Chinatown!
My only regret about staying here is... I didn't get to use the roof top pool at all! :( If I get to come here for work again the next time, I'm totally going to bring my swimsuit.
Can't wait to come back to KL for work trip again!
Mount Kinabalu Expedition
I will have to start writing about my climb to Mount Kinabalu before it gets too busy at work! Will be jetting off to China this coming Monday and will be out of town till end of the month.
Better get down to writing this post!
I've always wanted to climb Mount Kinabalu but never really found enough friends who wanted to do it. So when Sarah suggested it during our last class Christmas gathering, I jumped on it! :)
We booked our tour package via Amazing Borneo - I honestly can't remember the full cost but it took care of our lodgings/food/climb (excluding porter fees and other misc. costs) for the 4 days we were there.
This is our accommodation for the first night! It's located some 1,500metres of sea level and a short walk away from the Kinabalu Park Tourist Centre. It's nice and cozy with a huge fireplace, a size-able living room and comes with 3 bedrooms (2 rooms with twin beds and 1 with a queen size). There's no heater in the lodge but it comes with a stable source of hot water (just remember to switch the water heater on 30 minutes before shower)
They gave us so much food - 3 packs per person!
Do grab as much sleep as you can on the night before the first climb. It really makes a difference.
View from our lodge the next morning.
Highly advised to check the weather forecast at the tourist centre before the climb! It always help to be a little prepared (at least mentally).
The lodge provided packed lunch for us (additional weight though!)
My (non-biological) brothers!
Every climber is issued a Kinabalu Park tag - the flip side list your name, group number and date of climb. It is for identification purpose and has to be worn at all times.
All smiles before we start the journey!
That's our guide - Safrey Sumping! We found out eventually that he's a climbathon champion (!!) and one of the best guides any newbie climber could ever ask for :)
After gathering outside the Tourist Centre, you will be whisked off in a van to the starting point which is around 1,800 metres above sea level.
Obviously, we have no idea what brutal stuff we will be going through in a matter of minutes..
Just minutes through the gate, we were greeted by the Climbathon 2012 results board. The top climber is some Spanish dude by the name of Kilian Jornet. 2 hours and 11 minutes???
Madness.
There are 2 trails up to Laban Rata (which is the mid-lodge located at 3,200 metres off sea level). One is through the Timpohon Gate (which is slightly more intense with the quick elevation - 6km trail that brings you up an additional 1,400m in elevation) and another through Mersilau Trail which is a more scenic walk. Both routes eventually will merge at Layang-Layang, which is kilometres away from Laban Rata.
The map noted a rest hut (or Pondek) at every kilometre mark, it really didn't seem so bad. It's only a 6 kilometre trail! I've ran half-marathons, this wouldn't be so bad right?? I was so wrong.
The trail started off with a series of descending steps.
Guides usually double up as porters. The limit is 50kg per porter. So unless your team carries more than that amount of luggage, there's no need for an additional guide. Porter fees are at RM8 per kilogram of luggage, which isn't expensive in my opinion. If you want someone to carry you up, it's RM350 per kilometre. Safrey mentioned he once carried a 80kg man down the mountain because he broke his knee on the way up. :O
The first rest hut - it was relatively easy to reach this one as the first kilometre is still considerably easy and we were still brimming with energy. Every rest hut has a toilet (comes with a flush too!) and a water tank. The water is untreated so do bring along chlorine/purification tablets if you don't wish to carry 3litres of water for your climb.
You can find these little critters at the rest huts as well. They are probably conditioned by climbers over the years so they have no fear of humans. In fact, they can be quite shameless in asking for food. In my case, they blatantly took the banana off my hand when I was lowering it down.
These porters carry anything man.
The female guide of another team of Singaporeans. She was in slippers and climbed faster than all of us!
One thing I appreciate was the clear signage along the way - they have such signs every 500 metres. Sounds a little unnecessary? Not at all because every half a kilometre honestly felt like eternity!
Sitting around at the rest hut too long makes you cold, so it's advisable not to take too long a break. You would want to make it to the next stop as humanly fast as you can. That being said, do pace yourself. If you climb too fast, the altitude sickness will hit you hard before you even realize it. Don't lose your breath either. Due to the thin air, once you lose it, it's hard to get back on track.
That's the legend we met. He's the porter who was carrying 3 bags and still managed to be faster than us. He was always in front! It was inspiring, yet demoralizing at the same time.
This view was before we even hit the 2km mark and we already felt pretty near to the clouds!
That's NOT the summit behind us. Hahaha.
Weird plant bro found along the way.
As you can tell from the photos, I was getting paler as we climbed further up. Breathing became a chore as the air got thinner. We developed a "Paleness Index" for me and had frequent "O Breaks" also known as Oxygen Breaks. Hahaha.
Elevation got more intense as we climbed further. Just 500m on, we are 100m higher in elevation. As we moved further, the groups became wider and wider apart. We were most of the time alone, meeting the occasional climbers who were making their way down (they climbed the previous day).
Steps! Oh how I hate them.
It got more misty as we progressed on and weather became more unpredictable. It was hot, and then it was chilly. There was light showers and then the sun was out again.
I'm surprised we still had the strength to smile! Hahaha.
After around 4 hours, we made it to the 4km mark at Layang-Layang! There were a lot more climbers at this rest spot because it's where the Mersilau Trail and Timpohon Gate merges. It's a larger resting hut as well.
And it certainly came with larger squirrels and rats! They are the same size!
After Layang-Layang, we are only left with 2 kilometres to the lodge. It sounds like a short distance but it took us almost another 5 hours before we reached Laban Rata. The inclination was steeper and air was significantly thinner as well. Throw in the hard work we put in for the first 4 km, we were seriously exhausted.
To top it all off, it started to rain shortly after we left the rest hut. Thank god it was a light shower and didn't last very long.
There were lesser steps and more soil/rocks on the trail now.
Just 500 metres on, the elevation went up by another 150 metres. I could feel myself getting increasingly breathless and every step took herculean effort man.
That's bro trying to keep me awake. My body temperature was actually falling slowly and I didn't realize at all. Apparently all I kept saying was "I really want to sleep" and everytime I tried to doze off, one of them would wake me up.
It started to rain heavily in the last 1 km and I was slowing down significantly by then. I was cold, miserable, extremely tired and completely out of breath. The last 50 metres was a bit of a blur but apparently I was piggy-backed up by my guide because he realized my body temperature was a little too low when he took my gloves off.
View from Laban Rata taken by the bro while I was busy warming myself up by having a hot bath.
Everyone should aim to reach Laban Rata before 8pm or you will have no food to eat. Thankfully despite my snail speed, we managed to reach at around 5 plus pm. There are 2 types of accommodation available at Laban Rata: the private rooms or the common bunk beds.
Private rooms come in sizes that takes 2 or 6 people and they have attached bathrooms. These are the only rooms that have heated water and heater as well. But of course you can only have one at a time - you want the heater, you have to switch off the water heater and vice versa.
We were completely exhausted by the time we finished food and shower. I reckon most of us slept before 9pm. I collapsed into bed way earlier than the rest due to my bout of hypothermia and altitude sickness.
The second part of the climb - to the Summit - takes place in the wee hours of the morning. We were supposed to wake up at 2am, grab supper and be ready to climb by 2.30am. Bro suggested I don't do the Summit climb due to my condition the day before and he was worried it could get worse for me. But I did not crawl to 3,200metres off sea level to give up! I was feeling a lot better after a good night sleep and decided to proceed on with the climb.
All ready for the Summit! Do bring a headlight along for the climb because it's completely dark out there. It was around 4 degrees outside at the time of our climb.
Not a lot of pictures were taken during this climb (mainly because it was raining) but suffice to say it was definitely the most grueling part of the climb. The rocky path up the summit was unforgivably steep. At some points, the level of inclination was almost 80 degrees, with only a rope (and basically your strong hands) separating you between life and death.
The weather was a lot colder and the wind was brutal. Throw in the relentless rain and even thinner air, I had thoughts of giving up too many a times. I was shivering from cold throughout most of the climb (despite wearing thermal + 2 sweaters + ski jacket) and it near to impossible to stay focused. At certain points, I tried to distract myself by counting the number of breaths I take in between each step.
Towards the last 800 metres or so, I was practically taking a break every 5-6 steps. Or rather, I was collapsing. I had not even a single ounce of energy left in me. At that point, I fully understood why some people turned back even when they were so close to reaching the summit.
Thankfully for my amazing climb mates, they kept me going one step at a time :)
I collapsed from cold and altitude sickness about 50metres away from the peak.The guide stopped me from going any further as he deemed it too dangerous and mentioned the view is essentially the same.
GAH. So there goes my chance of taking photo with the famed board at 4,095m! Nonetheless, glad the rest of them made it there! :)
Look how shagged and cold everyone looked! (with exception to Phyllis and Shaun though).
We made our way down thereafter as it was freakishly cold and I was getting increasingly dizzy as well from the altitude.
The way down was a lot of pain as well although I must say it was a lot less stressful because we didn't have a time limit to hit! Hahaha. We met Uncle Ler, his friend and Vince (all from Singapore!) on the way down.
After we descended and made our final payment for porter's fees, we bid Safrey goodbye and got our certs! Although I miss the summit by around 50m, Safrey mentioned he admired my spirit and determination to climb despite hypothermia and 2 days of altitude sickness. Yay! Amazing Borneo was thoughtful enough to provide a folder for the certificate as well. From my knowledge, other agencies only provide the certificate.
I'm guarding this with my life man.
After bidding farewell to Uncle Ler, his friend and Vince, we headed off to our homestay place. It's a nice cozy 2-story house that faces the mountain.
We froze a little when we saw stairs. Hahaha.
We pretty much crashed right after dinner. It's nice to have warm water and heater again - and knowing you can sleep all you want through the night and not waking up in the wee hours to scale more heights.
It rained throughout the night, with winds howling right outside the window. Despite the less than desirable weather, we still woke up to an amazingggg view.
I could live here forever.
Due to the heavy downpour, our transport ran into a landslide and was severely delayed. By the time, we reached the airport, the plane has taken off without us! As direct flights back to Singapore was infrequent, we decided to fly back via Kuala Lumpur. It was such a stressful journey home, running across airports and ensuring we don't miss another flight!
You have no idea how relieved we were when we finally made it to the KL-SG flight.
Despite the random hiccups along the way, this trip has got to be one of the most memorable trips I had in recent years.
I had learnt a lot of things from this hike. When we were climbing up the mountain, we were exposed to the spirit of comradeship. Some of the climbers were complete strangers to us, but they never held back when assistance was needed. Uncle Ler who passed me his trekking stick and oxygen can because "You need it more than I do". He had knee problems himself but he did not hesitate at all in sharing the limited supplies he had. The Austrian guy who offered me his jacket, chocolates and water when I was all frozen up near the summit. The French couple who hugged me very tightly on my way down because I was shivering from cold. Vince (new found friend from Singapore!) who offered me a new pair of gloves and heat packs when mine was wet (and turned cold) from grabbing the wet ropes on the way up. Margaret, our homestay host, for preparing warm and delicious food for us. I loved how she shed light on now that we have surpassed ourselves physically and mentally to overcome a mountain, we can also strengthen ourselves spiritually to cross the hurdles in our lives. Last but not least, I'm immensely grateful for the wonderful climb mates I found in the form of my JC classmates! Not only were they completely patient with me at my snail speed points, they were also extremely motivating in the most trying times of the climb.
This trip has changed me and I hope this experience helps to make me a better person.
I can't wait to plan more trips with these folks already! :)
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