Who would've thought I would agree to waking up at an unearthly hour at 6.30AM to defy gravity by swinging from tree to tree? How about walking in a zig-zag position on nothing but strips of wooden planks suspended more than 70metres in the air?

Don't look down, Jess. Don't look down.

Yup, I chose to have that moment of exhilaration over my beauty sleep. It better be worth it! For my long-time readers out there, yall would know that I completely detest mornings.. make that VERY EARLY MORNINGS. I would yank the covers over my head and bury my head under the pillow if I didn't see a dire need to wake up early.

But how my mind categorized a Skytrex Adventure as a 'dire need' was beyond me

So by invitation courtesy of Visiber, off I went up the hill in Shah Alam to put my Sky Trekking skills, stamina and durability to test Thanks guys! Hopefully I won't break a bone or come crashing down to the ground 70 feet below. That's what safety nets are for by the way

Okay.. now for the gloves…

Johnson, meme & Chris

Upon choosing the Big Thrill Adventure (there was a Little Adventure and an Extreme Challenge Adventure), we were briefed by the instructors about what to expect and got our *stinky* gloves from the deck Okay lah, it wasn't stinky. If you didn't buy a new pair at RM5, then you'll get the stinky ones Hint : BRING YOUR OWN

I did the Big Thrill challenge okay! Don't play play

Was initially confident that it was gonna be easy peasy lemon squeezy since I used to be an athlete back in high school AND go to the gym often. But when I saw this…..

My jaw dropped

Am i supposed to climb that thing with my bare hands? Where's Tarzan and his vines?

So I brushed that thought aside, and headed off to the Gear-Up deck with Fong Mei to get our harnesses, hook & pulleys, carabineer and V Landyard. Yeah, it's prolly jargon to you as it was to me on that very morning but hey, didn't you just learn something new?

This is a carabineer!

If you don't have this you won't be able to swing from tree to tree!

Getting harnessed up with the equipments hanging around me

It was good to know that the peeps at Skytrex-Adventure were really well trained. Safety first! They made sure our harnesses were well fastened and even let us go on a dry run before the real deal

Yeah, so just in case you fall down down down down downnnn~

You'd just bump your head and not break your ribs

 So after I passed the "test", it was time to face the trees. I did lots and lots of warming up – lest I get a leg cramp right up there and no one can save me even if I screamed my lungs out or made smoke signals! Okay, time to proceed the beginning stage of our adventure!

*gulps*

The participant would have to be able to climb that tree to get to the top of where the challenge begins. But it was pretty tiring before it began! I had to stop twice in the midst of climbing it because it was one hell of a loooooooong way up, trust me.

When I *finally* reached the top, there was a net which I had to cross next! As I was walking across the net, the net kept wobbling & swaying left and right. Gosh! It was pretty freaky but glad that the net was really sturdy. I bet it can withstand the weight of 3 elephants too

Shot when I finally reached the other side

There were a few other challenges we were supposed to be up against, before it became repetitive with different difficulty levels. There was this part where I had to 'walk the plank'! Can't believe there was no support except the suspended planks and well, the strength of your arms!

Focus now.. focus. Don't miss a step!

Once that was done, I was excited to know what lies ahead!

oh.my.god

I was terrified! My voice quavered with fear when I yelled "WHAT NOW?? HOW?" Like seriously, I didn't know how I could finish walking that without having my heartbeat thump right outta my rib cage. But I managed – finally.

BUT THAT WAS NOT ALL!

There was round two. This time, MUCH HIGHER!

Noooooooooooooo

But the worst was yet to come. You wonder how circus acts do their thang on the tight rope? Well, stop wondering and try it for yourself. No joke! Take a look -

HOW TO WALK LIDDAT!!!

but in the end everyone managed to Isn't that always the case?

Okay here's something you should know actually. You ain't supposed to bring anything up except yourself and your water bottle. But being me, I obviously didn't give two hoots and brought my DSLR climbing with me all the way up anyway. Yes, you read right. I lugged my DSLR from tree to tree.

IF NOT HOW TO TAKE PICTURES AND BLOG FOR YALL TO SEE?

heeeeee

Shit shit shit shit

We had to cross to the other tree on top of those slippery rubber tubes! Each time you step on one, the whole thing will shake vigorously! Hmm.. I guess they didn't set the maximum weight at 100KG for nothing. LOL But I hated this part the most! You're so frightened yet you can't close your eyes entirely

Are we done yet? Can I peek now?

Okay if you didn't already know, I didn't exactly put the challenges in order. I saved the best for last! The ultimate flying fox! If I'm not mistaken, I did the flying fox at least 5 times. There were 5 plusminus altogether but with different heights and different distances.

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if someone were to be stuck in the middle while flying fox

There's no way up nor a way down. Ya just gotta do the Na'vi call for the bird

if Tarzan's quick enough, he'd prolly get to you first

So hold on tight, shut your eyes, let yourself accelerate and  free fall diagonally downnnnnnnnnnnnn!

Repeat this a few times and there was one that lasted for a whole 30 seconds!

How far is that! Woots!

When it was all over, I was exhausted! The shots that you see in this post is prolly only a quarter of what you're gonna expect in the Big Thrill adventure! There was so much more climbing, swinging, balancing and gliding throughout the entire track. I was parched because I chose to bring my DSLR instead of a good bottle of water.

*facepalm*

But so what! I gulped down gallons and gallons when we got down to the party deck!

Oh and it's my first time sitting on a hammock btw

You don't see that very often!

So.. ready to defy gravity for yourselves now?

Just came back after a weekend getaway in Singapore. Perfect remedy for weekday stress! But very very… very BAD strain on the pockets. Spent a bomb on shopping again. Sigh.

But just when I thought I could stick to that, I completely blew it when I touched down in Singapore – Double sigh. Bought a pair of stone-washed skinny jeans from Topshop, not the usual blue denim tones but black instead. Walked into River Island for the 1st time and discovered it was quite a big hit in Singapore!

Walked out with more purchases ouch!

Yes I know the price tags are dangling -_-

Cotton On was next, bought myself a bodycon print skirt from there.

Walked PAST Forever 21 and withstood the temptation of entering as I knew it was my danger zone. Completely off limits for me unless I want to fall in a pool of debt or end up stripped for cash. No sirree! But I failed big time in Somerset 313.

There was 4 levels of Forever 21 goodies there!

pic from rockthetrend

4 levels of Forever 21
4 levels of Forever 21
4 levels of Forever 21
4 levels of Forever 21
4 levels of Forever 21
Imagine, 4 storeys of lovelies suited for the fashionista in you.
Gosh!

But what was SO MUCH BETTER was the rooftop garden at Orchard Central! Baby brought me up there all the way to the *can’t remember which floor* but it was the highest one. From there, we overlooked Orchard and all the high-rise condominiums around its vicinity

This is us trying to snap a decent picture at the balcony overlooking the city. Angle’s perfect, color is fine and whatnot but look what ruined the photo completely :

I became a man with a macho moustache
-_-

As we wandered deeper and around the rooftop garden, we came by a wall which reminds me of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The entire wall was enveloped with lush greeneries and potted flowers and other plants!

Us by the not-so-concrete-anymore wall

There were lotsa restaurants there and some which I reckon is fine dining, considering the impeccable setup as well. Indoor water features include mini fountains with lillies inside! There was also a playground at the rooftop garden with bright colorful statues:

Trying to squeeze ourselves into the picture with the playground!

Other days of the week was spent baking cookies. Yup! I’ve got a keen interest in baking cookies already. In fact, I’ve begun to harbour the love for baking delicious morsels last year. The only setback was that I never owned an oven to burn down the house nor experiment with.

See the gingerbread man wannabe?
*coughs*

The recipe we used was the one I looked up on Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies, sans the pecans as YingZi’s pre-braces condition disallowed her to crunch on hard bites. Anyway, it was long and grueling to mix the entire batch of batter together – thanks to the oatmeal & semi-melted chocolate!

We didn’t have a blender in the house so no blended oatmeal!
It just adds the extra crunch to it once it’s fully baked

I buttered the baking tray and off we put it into the oven. The smell was extremely invigorating! Ya know, that chocolatey fresh-from-the-oven smell you get whenever someone’s baking?

Yup that’s the one But let’s just hope it tastes as good as it smells!

We couldn’t wait to sink our teeth in those loves!

After less than 20 minutes and laid down to cool,
it was ready to be eaten!

Yes I know, it doesn’t look too fancy-pancy or neatly rounded with perfectly proportioned corners. It’s irregular, lop-sided, mishapen but call it whatever you want, it’s your TASTEBUDS that takes control

So shut your eyes and open your mouth wide

we loved it!
So did YingZi’s mom

I had it for the next morning’s breakfast, the following day’s breakfast and even during the journey back to Malaysia! Wanted to bring some for my friends to try ‘em but it was all swarmed by ants the very next morning as I stole some for midnight snacks but forgot to shut the lid FML

Anyway, I had a fab time in Singapore!
Loves

Didn’t bring my DSLR this time because the luggage was enough to drag a horse down. So this is technically my 1st holiday without bringing a camera.

But no sweat, baby bought me this very novel Nikon camera necklace-charm with blings on it! Love it lots, really special (although it can’t take real photos) ! Never seen it anywhere before.

Now I can still lug a DSLR around even when I’m not carrying my real DSLR with me

SMILE!
You’re on candid camera

Yayyyy it’s time for Episode 3 and the finale!

Just a recap, I had the opportunity to venture on a sponsored trip to Sabah, Borneo courtesy of Mayflower Holidays. Oh and, I brought one of my girl friends Jacquelyn along with me to experience the adventure too!

Read about Episode 1 [here] and Episode 2 [here]

Okay so we finally got our bums up at 6am in the early morning to live our last moments in the wilderness of Borneo. Packed up with a heavy heart and headed to the lobby for our breakfast.

Right after breakfast, we headed down to Sepilok, where the very popular Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Centre was located. The rehabilitation process has 5 steps – admission, quarantine, nursery, outward bound school and survival training. It’s time to check out those Orangutans yo!

Sepilok is where orphaned and injured Orangutans are nursed to return and fend for themselves back into the wilderness. This rehab is a primary lowland forest, a fine showcase of Borneo’s remaining rainforest – almost like the real one yet very user-friendly too!

When we entered, there was a rather grim looking security guard holding up a ‘SILENCE’ signage of which he waves at people’s faces, should they be making unnecessary loud noises. This is because noises of people chattering or children screaming might frighten the Orangutans away.

We first spotted Mariko, a very emo looking Orangutan. (Okay in fact, I can’t tell the difference between an Orangutan, a Gorilla, an Ape, a Monkey and a Macaque initially. I only knew they differed in size but actually they have different facial features!)

Okay it was time for feeding! The dude climbed atop the platform and emptied a whole bucket of bananas for the Orangutans’ consumption. Being the smaller and faster species, the Macaques and Monkeys managed to steal some away before they ran away in fear upon seeing the gigantic Orangutan CID.

CID’s the tailo! Don’t mess with him

It was so amusing how they “warned” each other that CID was coming and they hid behind the tree after that, occasionally snatching some bananas away.

Look at CID’s mouth stuffed with bananas!

More and more Orangutans swung from tree to tree to grab their share of the bananas.

Just before we left, I was extremely tempted to purchase this Orangutan plushie. But it costed a bomb so yeah. See, adorable anot?? It’s schmiling too!

And we then drove to the capital. I insisted we try out the reflexology there! I practically LIVE for reflexologies. Love love love the feeling of pain at your soles, followed by a relaxing-relieving feel when it’s all over.

Reflexology by the blind in an outlet called Hing Loong

They were sssooooo good and the price was so much more affordable than the exorbitant-will-cut-your-wallets-into-a-thousand-pieces ones in KL

We had a good lunch after that, courtesy of Sandakan Hotel. The decor was pretty simple and clean. Oh, they had chillies at the table too. Sorry had to camwhore – was waiting quite a bit for the food to arrive. Muahaha

with Jacque and Gary enjoying their conversation
=P

Here’s what I ate, a Beef Steak burger and of course, drank the very popular Sabah Tea that came in abundance here!

I bought like, innumerable boxes and packets you can’t even imagine.. oh and, I placed a packet of it into Grandpa’s palms while he lay on his deathbed. Because one of it was meant for him T_T But guess he had to go.

Anyways, Jacque and I went shopping for pretty trinkets and souvvies back home. *cough* Believe it or not we even headed to the market and explored the town! To buy fruits of all things lololol.

Here I was at the T-Shirt store. One T-Shirt was freaking more than 50bucks FML. But I shut my eyes, took a deep breath and paid anyway.

Our next stop was the Sim Sim Water Village. I was in awe the moment I arrived. It resembles a fishing village, no? So serene too.

I daren’t cross the flimsy looking bridge made of nothing but near-chewed up planks and nails! What if it gave way beneath us?

But I guess I was just paranoid, given the fact that the villages walked up and down without a care in the world with their children skipping on it too!

So I faced skywards and walked the plank. (hohoho pun)

I walked right to the very end of the bridge and began to take in the view from there. Pretty breathtaking, if you’re the type who yearns to be one-to-one with nature.

TEABREAK!
SPOTTED SOMETHING HILARIOUS THAT I JUST HAD TO TAKE A PICTURE OF. DON’T ASK HE WHAT HE’S DOING. I’VE NO CLUE!

LOL

I casually took a seat atop the wooden bridge and made myself comfortable there and then. Parked my butt there in the middle of the “road”! Hmm.. ya can’t do that in the city lest you be knocked down by a 10-tonne truck.

And guess what!? It wasn’t that bad after all. It was rather fun to see the sea beneath you with each step you take. I was relatively fascinated by the likes of the villages of Sim Sim Water Village. Their humble abode was built on wooden stilts with bits and pieces of concrete!

But I envied the way their lifestyle. So carefree, with nothing standing in the way of them and nature’s wonder. Waves washing hard against the boulders, flocks of birds fleeting by, cool and airy breeze caressing your cheeks, violet hues and warm shades of vermillion streaked across the sky in the evenings.

Beautiful. Why do we urban folks give up all these for technology?

Jacque and I played with the thingamajig that made music. Reminds me of a wooden makeshift piano! That’s her videoing me when I just HAD to play with the thingy.

Found myself chit chatting with the villages and apparently, they barely know much about KL City where I come from. All they knew was that it was nothing close to the lush greeneries they have here. Which I do admit – was partially true.

Just a few hours before departure, we killed time having fun in the War Memorial, which was the site of the original Sandakan Prisoner of War (POW) camp.

PEOPLE DID DEATH MARCHES THERE OMFG with approximately 500 deaths. Okay, ‘nuff of the depressing and bleak facts.

On the other hand, it was like a very huge park with a water lily pond!

Gary then led us up the staircase, where more interesting things were sitting prettily waiting for us. Haha. It was quite a long walk with mozzies in the evening but fear not, we were armed with mosquito repellant and long pants!

Pretty cottage-like building
We got our visual map/guide from there!

Inside the war memorial was full of artifacts and mechanical inventions. We took interest in the Boiler, which was reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelly tall! It was to generate electricity for the Sandakan POW Camp.

Okay, here’s our height difference.. if you must see.

I don’t even come close!

We also spotted the excavator. It’s something like a trenching machine was used by those Japs to use during construction of the airfield.

Reminded me of a tractor-like-digging thing. Very rusty and ancient-relic looking yo! Meet Ruston Bucyrus. Whoa.. even the names sounds like some suave Englishman’s.

Got so tired of jumping after 100 failed attempts
(ok lah, I was exaggerating)

Soon enough, it was time to say goodbye.

We lugged our stuff and once again, headed off to the Sandakan Airport. However, there was a little complication towards the very end. Our MAS flight was delayed for another few hours! But our tour guide, Gary, was gracious enough to accompany us for dinner.

We chit chatted the evening away and reminisced the memories of our past 2 days. Goodbyes were never meant to be sweet. Before we knew it, our flight was called and we had to bid farewell.

Since there are quite a number of you who asked me HOW you guys can experience the same holiday like I did for 3 Days and 2 Nights, Imma let you in on some good deals! It will cost you only RM980 per person.

Okayyyyyy did that scare you? Haha fret not!

Because from today till March 2010, the promotional rates for a similar trip like mine will cost you only RM582. That’s like, almost half priced.

But then again, since you guys are so awesome and supportive as always, get in touch with me and you will get additional discounts ON TOP of those promotional rates I mentioned.

So waste no time in experiencing an amazing holiday like mine, in the wilderness of adventure and relaxation! Hey it’s not everyday you get a holiday valued at One Thousand goddamn bucks for only RM500 plus. So quickly ask buzz me more about it if you’re interested!

Don’t say I didn’t tell you about this promo! : )