Becoming a Lobster

SATURDAY 26 APRIL 2008

Yay wedding yay! Well...not mine. Today was the wedding reception for Alyssa and Chico. Its really just a chance for everyone to get together, have some fun and get drunk since they got married in Auckland in January already. This was just another party!

I also checked into the resort where the party was held so that I can stumble back to the room at 1am in the morning and not have to worry about catching a taxi that could take me anywhere LOL. I had to have a sea view room so I splashed out during check-in time and went 'what the heck' and upgraded to the Club Floor. It was only RM$100.00 extra so it wasn't going to put a big dent on the credit card.

I was high up on the 11th floor this time and I also had the chance to dive off my balcony into the swimming pool if I wanted to (unlike those $750 suites where you can't). The room was nice...


It also had a bathroom that have shutters that you can open up while you take a bath so you can look at the view. You can also use them to surprise your roomie and see their naughty bits while they are in there if you want to.

I had a nice big king bed but unfortunately I was not lucky enough to have someone to share it with me .. nor able to spy on them in the bath/shower and see their naughty bits ... *sigh*

After I explored my room, checked out every single corner and criticised every little imperfection of it, I took a stroll around the resort and enjoyed the sun.

The resort was pretty fabulous....




I did not bring the gold clubs though ....


Good job I brought the swimmers so I could take a dip in the other fake beach =)

I was rather put off by this sign though .....errr.... I guess I say no to swimming in the ocean LOL

The pools were nicer anyway with no jelly fishes....

Plus I could eat and drink in the pool bar.... What more could you ask for?


But it was quite nice just to lie there and become a lobster.

The afternoon went pass quite quickly but rather relaxing so I was glad that I got some time to myself to enjoy the place before having to enterain everyone that night.

A Very Big Room

THURSDAY 24 APRIL 2008

Today, it was time for Alyssa and Chico to check into their resort and blow all their money away on a very nice hotel suite. Oh well, we all have to do this once in a while I guess. Its only about $750 per night ... YIKES!!

It DOES have a great view with no balcony .... partly because they want to stop those people from diving into their swimming pool from their room.


You get a fruit platter on arrival on your dining table (In the Room OoooOOooOO) but compared to the one I got last time I stayed there, it was minuscule. I supposed everything have gone up in price over the last few years and they have to charge more for things and give you less of it!

Before......

Now.........
The bed room was a bit boring I thought, they could've jazzed it up a wee bit more to make it more exciting ... the bed also had a funny feel to it. It was just OK to sleep on.


This is the lounge .... it was also OK .... They originally designed this hotel for the corporate travellers but that doesn't really apply anymore. Perhaps this is why I only think its an OK room. Its nice.....but the other hotel on the other side is more my style. The resort style rooms just seems nicer....

The bathroom on the other hand was FAB! Look at it!


Definately beats our Hotel SO bathrooms LOL ....

Today, the aunts and uncles from Sandakan and Singapore also arrived. We all went out for dinner ... It pissed down with rain so apart from sitting there, eating, talking and more talking, there wasn't really much more that we could do. We went to this seafood restaurant at Tanjung Aru Beach and it was super expensive and not very nice....we are not going there again LOL. Its interesting how the more expensive you pay for your meal, the crappier it is over here LOL .... I'll keep reminding myself to by cheap meals....can't really complaint about that!

and yes .... I got asked when am I getting married and having babies ..... errrrr .... pass ....

A Place of Hope

WEDNESDAY 23 APRIL 2008


Today was quite a nice relaxing day. There was no one to see, nothing planned, so we just took a drive around the city and did what ever we felt like.

We started our day at the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Beach Hotel, another one of those big 5 star resort by the beach....except this one was THE first and original beach resort that was actually built by the sea, next to a REAL beach. I remember visiting this resort once every so often because we have nothing to do and it looked pretty cool then ... it still is today! They must be doing a good job ....



I fought the kids and stole their pretty pink slide ...

We headed to Tanjung Aru Beach ... another one of those places where we used to visit as a child but its sad to see that irresponsible people have had it a filthy place, full of rubbish and no one seems to go there now.... funny that!

Anyone for a designer lampshade?

We felt like a Malay lunch today so we didn't go off to WOW West!

I sampled the REAL Malaysian Beef Rendang as well as an ABC (Ice shavings with apparently 18 ingredients in it and a blob of ice cream!!) All it did was gave me a brain freeze, numb tounge and made me want to pee every 5 minutes.

Now instead of going to the Amatuer Fatalist Centre as I've mentioned previously, I would rather recommend people to go and visit the 'HOPE' Church. At least we know that there is a place of hope for all of us. May be Britney should check it out.

Photos Photos More Photos

TUESDAY 22 APRIL 2008

Today, we had the cheesy photo session at the photo studio.

Told you it was cheesy....I also looked like a giant compared to the rest of the family. They MUST be really small.

I was hoping to get my teeth done ... again ... but much like last week when I visited them, they could not get it done for me ... They've promised me Friday so we'll see about that.

While we were on our way to the studio, we got stuck in the traffic ... all because of some stupid person have decided that they will drive into a giant drain .... Seeing as I am a nosey tourist, I had to stop (well, dad actually made me stop because he was being a nosey tourist too) ... Well....we saw nothing as the car was at the bottom of the drain and the person who drove into it....don't really know where he is.


The photo session was about 3 hours long (apparently this is the shortest one...they can go on for about 12 - 13 hours). We got the family photo done first thing so that I could run away and do other things to amuse myself rather than sitting there, watching the other get change into the millions of outfits they have to put on as well as putting cakes of make up on so that you don't look like yourself anymore.

I went out and had some REAL satays.....none of the overpriced crap that you get in NZ...

We went home and had another feast with all the family as usual...

The others drank their cheapy overly sweetened red wine in tumblers ... not wine glasses :O(good wine is super expensive here....stick to beer.....obviously wine glasses are expensive too LOL)

and unlike me, I ended up playing in the kitchen....washing the dishes, being a good boy....Have to keep up the good young man image you see....

The puss also came for a visit. This is a nice puss, owned by someone so its clean and fat....unlike those yucky stray ones that can give you 'Manginitis' LOL

I DON'T WANT STRAWBERRIES!!!

MONDAY 21 APRIL 2008

After Poring Hot Spring, walked high above the trees, watching people pooing their pants, eating a crappy lunch and seeing the biggest flower in the world, we headed off to Kinabalu National Park.

We stopped at at the highlands, Kundasang, which is known for the giant vegetables that they can grow because the climate is different there. Thinking that we haven't seen a strawberry before, all the farm women at their vegetable and fruit stall all took out the tiny little strawberries, telling us how nice they are and that we should buy them. I felt like saying to them that our strawberries in New Zealand are 10 times bigger then theirs LOL ... I just ignored and pretended to be an ignorant dumb tourist.

Every stall was the same....fruits, giant vegetables, flowers, tiny strawberries ... fruits, giant vegetables, flowers, tiny strawberries ...... you get the idea...


I wanted to buy some of the strange pineapple I saw earlier on but they didn't sell any....How disappointing ... =(

Look at this woman with her baby lol!

After refusing to buy piddly tiny little strawberries at every single fruit and vegetable stalls, we headed to Kinabalu National Park...hoping for a clear skies so we can go for a wonder and see the mountain.

The moment we drove through the park entrance, our hope turned to custard. The sky poured down with rain (and bucket loads of it) so there was not even a single chance of wondering around the park...Unless you want to be eaten by leaches..... We winded up the road to the starting point of the mountain climb. The whole park was now covered by fog so there was nothing to see apart from soaking wet people, trees, rain, fog, fog and more fog.


I knew my rain jacket would come in handy at some point of the trip and I'm glad I've brought it with me today. The day kind of reminded me of New Zealand really, foggy, rain, cool wind and trees.


Look at these poor porters that you can hire to carry the gear up for you while you race up and down the mountain. They do it a few times a day apparently.

We also visited the park museum....which was not all that exciting...the guide asked whether we wanted to go for a walk in the botanical gardens.... it was raining and it didn't look like anything special so we passed on that one too.

We were also waiting for 4 very VERY slow and loud people to come back with us. We got warned by the tour guide already to not talk to them. Because of these people ... we waited for an extra hour at the park...I was busy watching the squirrels that were running around, playing in the garbage dump ... :S I didn't touch them ...

I was also tempted to go into this 'Multipurpose Room' ... I've heard that the list of things you can do in there is endless!!

The horrible people finally turned up, soaking wet from their attempt to climb the mountain (they didn't get to the top LOL!) and yes they were noisy and annoying. I pretended I was asleep and refused to sit next to them.

We put our feet up seeing as we are not allowed to put a foot up....

One of them felt a bit sicky...don't know from what (altitude sickness, dehydration etc... don't really care at that stage after all the waiting around for them) so he sat at the front. We drove .... and stopped and he went and bought a bottle of water....we drove again and stopped and he puked on the side of the road.....and then we drove again .... and what do you know... we stopped and he puked again...He must be close to puking his inside out LOL ... Anyway...we kept driving with sour faces and slight cursing from the rest of the tour bus LOL .... and the he puked out the window while he bus was moving and then it flew all over the side of the bus and some EVEN FLEW BACK INTO THE BUS, just so that everyone can have a splash of puke on them!!!!! There was very a very big @!$@$!@$#$&@!*!&@$!@ from me and there was silence... I was ready to throw him off the side of the cliff. I got my Purell and smothered it all over my arms and legs... thank Christ I brought it along with me. Its rather handy.

The day kind of got worst as we got into the city. Some bastard have decided to steal a metal to sell from a pylon in the city so the whole tower collapsed and the whole state went into pitch black for the rest of the night. We arrived home, cleanse my whole body from puke, ate dinner under some candles and sat in darkness, played with candles and hope for the power to come back on......it didn't happen till 11pm. Not impressed...... Apart from the exciting incidents towards the end of the day, it was actually quite a good day. It could be a lot worst I supposed.

DAMN THOSE PEOPLE ON THE BUS!! AND NO I STILL DON'T WANT STRAWBERRIES