14th October 2003.... Pa' Lungan Adventure

The journey of adventure at Bario continue....

We woke up around 8.00 in the coolzy morning. It was extremely cold last night but there still got mosquitoes came and attacked. To make thing worst, the croakcroaches came to attack us too.... Oh... what a night....

We ate breakfast (fried rice, steam fish and tea). Around 9am, we began our adventure walk to BATU RITUNG, which is situated a few miles from the lodge. The journey took about 10 minutes. The Batu Ritung slanted and almost wanted to collapse. So, for those who interested to see it before it collapse, better go now :)

Then we went back to the lodge around 1030am. We sketched the map for Pa' Lungan and took some photos. The maps are available at www.ebario.com

Around 12noon, we ate lunch ( fried rice, honey CHICKEN!!! and steam fish)

Around 100pm, we hiked to the view point of Pa' Lungan guided by Mr. Chew. The journey to view point was terrible adventure!!! On the way to the view point, there were lots of LEECHES!!! The view point is located at the top of a mountain. It took one hour walk to reach the view point. At the beginning we did not notice that the trees around us become shorter and shorter because we had hiked higher and higher up the mountain. Out of a sudden, we noticed that there was no trees around that big enough for us to hold!!!! We began to nervous but no choice except to keep going.... so scarily!!!

Went back to lodge around 230pm and take bath. The leeches bite were terrible and our legs bleeding the whole day...

Such a long time ....

Seems like I am really busy these few months :)

Anyway, I will keep update about the Bario progress here :) Maybe will post something next week... hopefully.

I am going to Bangkok, Kasetsart University to present my first conference paper this October. Will be going with my wife and also honey moon around there before coming back and continue my Master Research :)

There can be Miracles... When you believe...

This song really mean something.... Coz God really bring me thru lots of miracle so far... God never let me down....

"WhenYouBelieve"

Many nights we've prayed
With no hope anyone could hear.
In our hearts a hopeful song we barely understood.

Now we are not afraid
Although we know there's much to fear.
We were moving mountains long before we knew we could.

There can be miracles when you believe.
Though hope is frail,it's hard to kill.
Who knows what miracles you can achieve

When you believe.
Somehow you will,You will when you believe.

In this time of fear,
When prayer so often proved in vain,
Hope seemed like the summer birdsso swiftly flown away.
But now I'm standing here(Now I'm standing here)
With heart so full I can't explain
Seeking faith and speaking words I never thought I'd say.

My third day at Bario...

I created an eBay account and now started to sell some Hand-made bracelets. You may have a look at these items thru these links.

100% hand-made colourful small beads bracelets from Borneo Island

On the 13/10/03, the third day I stayed at Bario.....

I wake up at 8am and when straight to eat my breakfast without brushing my teeth because the water was freezing cold!!! I ate corns and drink tea. The corns are sweet but a bit too hard to bite on it. Anyway is good for me as I did not brushed my teeth. Around 9am, me and Hoi started to track to Bala Palaba's farm to take some photos and to have a look of the farm.

On the way, we saw lots of pitcher plants. We passed by some paddy fields and pineapple farms too. The pineapples were so BIG and Yellowish. Around 10am, we reached Bala Palaba's farm. Bala Palaba taught us how to pluck the pineapples and without wasting any time, we went to pluck 2 pineapples and start eating it!!

Nearby the farm, there was a fish pond. We could see the fish swimming at the cyrstal clear water in the pond. Its such a wonderful place for fishing. Around 12 noon, we went back to Bala Palaba's house. We ate a simple lunch and around 2pm, we started our journey to Pa' Lungan. Pa' Lungan is the furthest village at Bario and the climate there is SUPER COOL!!! Day time is around 18 degree celsius and night time is around 10 degree clesius.

We went by boat using the river nearby Bala Palaba's house. Esther's brother was our guide and also the boat driver. The journey on the boat was adventureous!!! We passed by fallen trees and on the way there are lots of blue berries, which can be eaten!!! I ate lots of it. It is so sweet!!!

It took about an hour on the boat. Then we needed to track from the place the boat stopped to reach Pa' Lungan. We started walking to Pa' Lungan and the time was around 3.15pm. The road was wet and muddy. So MANY GOOD FRIENDS WAITING FOR US TOO!!!! THE LEECHES!!!! Esther told us to walk faster as a way to escape from our GOOD FRIENDS. The sceneries were nice.

We reached Pa' Lungan around 4.15pm, that was 1 hour walking. The weather was much colder than Pa' Umur. We stayed at Batu Ritung Lodge. The house is nice with lots of facilities. The owner of the lodge is a CHINESE!! Me and Hoi were amazed that we still can find Chinese people around besides 2 of us!!! At 5pm, it started to rain. We ate a snack made with tapioca flour called Diru'. It was nice and yummy!!!!

Then we had some rest and ate dinner around 8pm. WAH!!!!! We were amazed by the dishes for the dinner! We had HONEY CHICKEN, FRESH VEGETABLES, POTATOES, STEAM SWEET AND SOUR FISH and WILD MUSHROOM SOUP!!!! It was our first time we ate meat at Bario. We were at the most rural village at Bario but we the most luxury meal here !!!! The owner said there are plenty of foods around here and the peoples here are well blessed with the foods provided by the nature. I am AMAZED how GOD really BLESSED this place.

We chatted with a tourist called Helen from London, England. She had been around for a month!! We interviewed the logde's owner too, which is the Chinese guy. We slept at 10pm and it is SO COLD!!! At night, there are many BEST FRIENDS TOO, the Cockroaches!!!!