Chap Goh Mei

This took place about 2 weeks ago.

So we just got back to campus thinking there will be a test but found out that it was canceled at the last minute. Hence, out we go through the campus gates straight away.

1st thing we did when we reach Penang Island was to savour a bowl of herbal soup. Situated in Sg Pinang Food court, it looked just like any other stall except it's a tad bigger. We ordered a black chicken herbal soup. It wasnt too shabby albeit the soup was seriously black in colour.

We then went to try 'Kou Lou Sah hor fun.' Now i've known this place a few years back. My dad brought me here but i kept forgetting to introduce this place. Coincidentally, sue searched online for good 'Oo chian' Fried Oyster and it was located at this very same stall.

Unsurprisingly we ordered both at the same time. =)

 

Since it was about 4pm and we had a planned dinner at 7-8pm. We needed to do some walking! But we had to find the location of the restaurant first.. We parked on king street and just started walking as 'The Sire Museum' is located on King's street.

We walked the whole street but couldn't find it. Something smoky caught our eyes. It seems there are some procession or event up front. Since we needed some digestive help anyway we walked towards it.

We saw lots of people gathering infront of the Kuan yin temply and there was a structure with holes erected in front of it. Next to it was a chinese association building and then we saw it. We are in our very first Chap Goh Mei festival in Penang!

 

Stuff like this, you dont get to see it in kl. And having been to Penang countless times, this is the first time that i got to experience.

 

There was also a street food section where people where invited to hawk their wares. We noticed a 'Char ke' stall which was frequented by many people. Alas, we were still full.

Having planned to catch a movie at 9pm, we chose to forgo that to play audience to this celebration.

There were flag throwers and cute little girls selling 'Kam' which is mandarin oranges.

You buy the 'kam' and throw into coloured holes of the hole-y structure i mentioned earlier. Each colour bears a different wish. If i remember correctly, Blue-Career, Yellow-Wealth, Green-Health, Red-Family.

Took me 4 times to get my orange into the hole. Sue was being a showoff.

We found out there will be a lion dance perfomance at around 9.30-10pm by the main troupe of Penang. Promises to be spectacular. Since people were gathering inside the Chinese Association for the opening ceremony, we continue our search for The Sire Museum and have our dinner.

I whipped out my bb and using google maps found out that the restaurant was located a few meters from where i parked my car. But if we did find it earlier, we wouldnt have seen the Chap Goh Mei festival. Blessing in disguise i guess.

Free bread! Woohooo, we all like free stuff.

Sue had her mushroom soup. Which wasnt one of the best but it's one of the good ones. Being not creamy, we could really taste the mushroom and feel the texture of grinded? Blended? mushroom.

Sue ordered a Salmon with Croissant. The salmon was generously served and it was fresh. What more could u ask for from a RM28 dish?

I ordered lamb cutlets with mushroom sauce. It was D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! Having not eaten lamb for quite some times now. And i dont know why. This lamb is just the thing that tempt the gluttony in me for lamb. I dont need to describe it, just take a look for yourself. And it's cheap to, about RM38 if im not mistaken.

After that Sue dragged me to cam whore around the restaurant.

Once she was satisfied, we rushed back to the temple to watch the Lion Dance. Alas, it was almost over when we reach. Oh wells, there's always next year.

Off

When i think too much is given, i go on a holiday to rethink some policies.

;)

Bangkok here I come!!!


Will be back on Monday.

Adios.

Kota Kinabalu June 01 - 06

Kota Kinabalu is a shitty place. It's hot, it's boring but most shitty of all, it's expensive. A glass of teh ais will cost you a leg and a bowl of plain white rice an arm.

We stayed in a backpackers lodge costing us RM20 per night per bunk. Oh yea, we sleep on bunk beds in a narrow room with a single fan. FML.

About 20 of us civil-ians took over that lodge and i was told more were to come later that night. I pity the white skins staying there. They must've feel threatened.

Taking the earliest flight, we went an scourge for breakfast. We arrived in KK at 0900 hrs and were out of the lodge at 1130 all on the verge of death. We had our 1st taste of the price with a plate of chicken + pork rice.

RM5.00

We then explored the town. Tooks us oh roughly 5 hours? We ran out of things to see. We then head to the Famous Filipino market for some barbecue.

Ohhh!!!!!!! We had some little dicks to savour before the meal. They were very obliging indeed. Picturesque!

They actually came up to the pier, lined up and posed for us. That pic's with teikz. They even had the balls to ask for RM1.

We then shopped around the handicrafts market for souvenirs. Okay, they shopped around. I just looked. and i found this.

A gobbo !!!!! Reminds me of gollum from lord of the rings. My preciousssss......

Coming back to the filipino market for some tea, we ordered a 2kg fish fresh out from the sea.

They will barbecue it right infront of your eyes so that you'll know what you were paying for. And for RM65 for our 2kg fish, it comes complimentary with

Plastic. The fish was a total disappointment. We waited about an hour for it to be served. It wasn't cooked at all.

2nd day
Was planned to be awesome! We were gonna river raft down the Padas river a swift as a turtle. Got up at 0730 to get ready for the van to depart at 0800. We were anticipating and exhilarated. We got potong stim 30 mins later.

We went snorkelling. Thats all there is to it that day. And banana boat. And para gliding. And if i was lucky would've gotten on the Fly Fish. I was not. FML x2

God was being kind and gave us some consolation. Hidden in the corner at some mall. We were given smth that would melt our hearts.

Oh egg tart, lu sangat cantik. With takoyaki balls to go by the side.

That night we paid a visit to the biggest mall in town. 1Borneo. It's like our times square. Sorry people, you still got a long way to go. Thats where Rm1.80 comes in and teikz will rmbr it forever. That's also where Edmond lost his groceries......foreseeable. ;)

As jakun as we are, we stole a trip into UMS. It was huge and their canselori's like a hotel lobby. No joke. Their canselor's hall is shaped like a friggin stadium! It was huge!!

Unshamefully, we cam whored in front of the canselori. Dont judge me Kzen! Dont you gloat!

3rd day
We depart for Mesilau resort where we will stay a night before embarking on the trail to the mountaintop. We stopped for lunch at some small village. We all ate the same thing. Chicken + pork. FML x 3.

Being a little fuzzed with the food, i asked the waitress to recommend me smth the local eats. Mee Tualam. Super oily. Delicious nonetheless!

Another 2 hours of life frightening van ride and we kissed the terra firma of Kinabalu Park. The driver was skilled alright, cutting corners and overtaking whenever he spots a chance. A chance which was blind to us all before he overtook the vehicle in front. Bitch.

Once there, the planners went to register and asked and asked and asked for more money from us. Whilst us stragglers cam whored for abit.

Once the registration is complete, we went shoe hunting. They all wanted rubber shoes, i told them it was necessary. They bought it anyway. I guess Rm6 is worth their money. I'll stay cheap and use my nike.

We reach our chalet a lil after 1700 hrs. Disembarking from the van, we had to walk up a short steep climb until we see our chalet. It was beautiful, it was comfortable! We all set down our bags and chose our beds. One of us suggested we take a group picture. Sounds good.

Where's my camera?

Where the fuck is my camera?? I couldnt find it anywhere in my bag. Where the heck is my camera i screamed. They all looked at me like i was dumb. Must be in the damn van. I was frantic. It was my new camera bought with my own money!

Where the fuck is my camera?

I pleaded them to call the van. No reception!!! I asked the hotel fella if there's a telephone:

xxxx: err *smiling* sorry, no telephone here.

I swear i wanted to screw his face there and then when suddenly CJ called out! He got through! My voice was breaky, i was acting like a girl. FML x4.
I told the van to turn around, that i left my camera inside.

He must've been very far, i ran down all the way to the guard house whence i waited for a few mins before the van finally appeared. A hand stretched out the window holding a black casing. Thank you!!!! T.T

I ran out of breath on my way back. I didnt realize i ran down so far. The trek up was a killer.

We had a sumptuous dinner that night.... for a vegetarian. 5 course dinner and out of that 5, 3 is vege, 1 is squid in vege and another chicken with vege.

Back in the chalet, a monstrosity greet us at the door!

CJ calmly caught it as it was flying in circles and send that beast out. Poor soul, it must've wanted to chor dai di with us.

4th day
Breakfast was served at 0700 and i ate my normal amount. The rest would beg to differ and said i ate alot. Dont listen to them.

Once finished, we collected our lunch provided by Sutera Harbour.

We left our bags at the reception desk and went for our 'briefing'. Paying full attention to what the guide was saying, i remembered nothing. OFF we went like the hare...

only to be cowed into a turtle 100m in. The first 1km trek was a bitch. It was tougher than Penang Hill, it was tougher than bukit tabor! Either that or i'm a sissy.

We trekked up mostly together for the first 4km whence after that, soon young for bored and vrooom-ed ahead reaching laban rata a lil after 2pm. Edmon and kit hock was just a lil behind him and an hour behind were the 6 of us; me, teikz, cj, wei bing, han liang and eugene. 7 if you include the china girl. -.- Boy is she fit.

Yes we can!


At some random checkpoint.

About 3 km in, after this, 3 members will disappear in front with 2 behind.




misty


Our lunch date. We ate together gether.


China girl took this. She was our photographer much.






Mistakenly conned them into believing it's laban rata.


This is laban rata behind us.

5th day
We catch the sunrise on time, we leave laban rata at 0200 hours in pitch dark conditions. I finally remembered what i forgot to bring. My head lamp. FML x5. Lucky enough, kok wooi went ahead of me one and we shared his light. Life saving. Definitely.

The climb to the peak was torturous and difficult. We were technically blind if not for all the torches. The darkness had one good thing, we were prevented of looking at our tracks. Making us more afraid, making me think if i lost my balls some where.


Rope climb.


Seeing this sign, 1.5km away.
We were the 4 musketeers in the climb up. Always pushing, always encouraging each other. We all knew we had to watch the sun rise from the horizon. We were slow, but we kept our pace.


A few meters from the peak and we saw the orange clouds signalling the on coming sun. We forgot the fatigue, the pain on our legs and raced the final few meters to the peak. There, we waited, and what a sight!













Pictures paint a thousand words. I'll upload more but it's taking a long time for me to upload the pictures hence here i stop. I have plenty more spectacular pictures from the peak.

It made me feel like i'm with the Gods, above all problems, above all troubles. It was truly peaceful and beautiful.

Mount Kinabalu is truly the final resting place for the souls.