What have I been up to?

Just the other day my sis said that I've been very quiet with my blog lately. I must admit she's right. I could only blame laziness, procrastination and lack of inspiration for the silence. Somehow I wasn't in quite a mood to update anything. Why? Is it because I've nothing interesting to write about? Not really. Well, here's a quick summary:

1) A friend of Joyce's who owns Indulgence @ Tropicana City Mall asked if she could get her students to perform at their opening ceremony. Initially I thought it falls exactly on my mom's birthday, so I didn't agree to go. And I was roped in just the day before after realising the miscommunication! I simply didn't know any of the steps except for the primera copla of the Sevillana, but I participated anyway. Just hid myself in between the rest who were more well-versed with the steps but it's tough since I'm quite tall! :P Made quite a lot of mistakes throughout, but who cares? We had a great time! :)

Arte Flamenco students @ Indulgence, Tropicana City Mall

2) I took up swing dance classes with Ming from KLSwing. And coincidentally, just after 4 classes, Matt Bedell from NY happened to be in town and KLSwing organized a welcome party - the Matt Hatter's Tea Party @ Urban Attic. It was a blast! Both TW and I went as poker cards, while we also had Alice, sexy cats, cute bunnies and queens who could schwinggg! Check out their photos here!

3) While SS was back in KL sometime in July, we went for a cake decorating class at ICCA. It was supposed to be a 3 hours session but we end up spending close to 5 hours at the center! Both of us brought home 4 cakes each decorated with fondant. Haha... when we asked the rest of the family members to guess who decorated what... they immediately pointed out the correct ones! Wanna know why? :P

Mini wedding cake decorating class @ ICCA

4) Salsa Party @ Urban Attic was just last Friday. Organized by Niels and DJ Vicente from a Cuban band named Habana Revolution, it was a hot latin night. Lucky for me I managed to get TW to do a few merengues and simple salsa with me too. Thanks to the all supporting & encouraging friends out there :)

5) And since I'm so obsessed with dancing, I took up belly dance too *grin*! Nanci Traynor, who also teaches yoga is now conducting Tribal Belly Dance class at KLPAC. I really enjoy attending her class, and so eventhough I live miles and miles away from the studio, I didn't mind travelling there every Saturday during the busiest time of the day. It's a good thing that she always start the class with a Savasana pose first :D

6) I finally found the heart to throw away my collection of miniature bottles. They are at least 15-20 years old, probably even more, and some of the contents have already turned into a different colour, leaked out or simply deteriorated. Instead of continuing to keep them and add to my already unbelievable amount of collector's trash, I've decided to just keep photos of them instead.

A small sampling of my miniature bottles/samples collections

6) I completed my very first oil painting(s)! Hehe.. nothing complex... in fact I believe a 10 year old could come up with something better. Still, I'm proud of myself :) Details here.

7) My new blog, craftee guiri was launched sometime last month. It's dedicated to all my crafty moments and my passion for DIY gifts. I thought it was best to have a focused craft blog rather than cramping everything in here. Now you know why I've been so quiet :P I can't split myself into 2~!

OH dear...and I still haven't updated anything about my last Europe trip yet. Bummer.

Mango Lime Sorbet

Some time ago I received a comment wanting to know how to make that Mango Lime Sorbet. Coincidentally I made another batch last week and managed to snap some photos. Here's the recipe that I got from SimplyRecipes!

Ingredients (makes slightly more than 1 pint)

1 large mango (about 1.5 pounds)
A pinch of salt
Juice of 3 limes
1 tablespoon of tequila (or Choya plum wine)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
Lime zest (a little would do)

*Note: Adjust the ingredients to match the size of the mango you use

HEAT sugar, water and lime zest in a small saucepan until the sugar is completely dissolved. Set aside to cool.

CUT the flesh out from a mango. Here's a great guide on how to do it properly - How to cut a mango.

PUT the mango pieces, syrup, salt, and lime juice into a blender. Blend until completely smooth. The last time I tried this recipe I had to use a strainer to get rid of some fibrous pieces, but this time the mango I used was really nice and and smooth, so it wasn't necessary. Pour the puree into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill it overnight in the refridgerator.

ONCE chilled, pour it into an ice cream maker and add in the tequila. Process the mixture according to the manufacturer's instructions. The alcohol helps prevent the sorbet from being too icy. Transfer the almost frozen mixture into a container and freeze in your freezer for at least 6 hours (or until firm) before serving.

Another note: Although the amount of sugar syrup to put in is not meant to be to taste, do check before you pour it all in. At times you may get mangoes that are already sweet, and you may risk having your sorbet too sweet. Also be aware that if you do use less sugar, the texture of the sorbet will tend to be a little icy too. Just experiment and see what fits you best :)

Good luck!

Skytrex Extreme Adventure

Some time in June Ben posted some of his Skytrex photos on FB, and that got me really interested. Of course I've been told about it before, but it never quite sparked my interest because no one invited me to go :P

This time Ben asked if I'd like to join them for their next session in July, and I promptly agreed! Also I tried extending the same invitation to a few others, but only Lyne decided to join us. So in total there were 9 of us :)

We paid RM3 at the entrance of the Taman Pertanian, then waited about 10 minutes for the Skytrex shuttle to arrive. On the bus they'll do a headcount and check against their booking list, priority is given to those who have booked a slot.

As soon as we arrive, we immediately proceeded to the registration counter and got ourselves a pair of gloves each. Personally I didn't think their gloves were sufficient, I still had some minor blisters at the end of the trek. And yes, this is almost as good as a pair single-use gloves. Don't expect to be able to reuse them, because depending on how hard you hold on to the cables or harness, it would have been completely ruined t by the time you finish.

Lyne showing off her pair of RM3 gloves, you'll need them!

Once we gao dim our registration, we were required to put on our safety harness. Don't worry, there will be experts to help you put them on correctly. Coincidentally there were a big bunch of school children that day to try on the "Little Adventure". While I was starting to regret my presence there, the children was all excited and did not show any sign of fear.

Lyne being fitted with a set of safety harness

After that we were taken to the Initiation/Jump Start circuit. Here we were all given a briefing on how to use the carabiner, pulley and all the do's and don'ts in the circuit. Everyone was required to try out their simple trail and get used to hooking the carabiner and pulleys on the cables. It's VERY important to have at least one carabiner hooked at any one point in time, so that if you do fall, there's something to hold on to you! Safety first!

Our instructor demonstrating the ways to use the carabiner

In only less than 5 minutes, we completed the trial circuit. And now for the real thing! The first challenge was to climb this flight of ladder. Trust me it's tiring! I was already panting eventhough I was only halfway up. Serves me right for not having a heavy breakfast before I came (as recommended by Ben). Only had 2 pieces of digestive biscuits and a glass of milk. Yikes! Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go straight to the Extreme Challenge before first trying the Big Thrill *sweat*.

There were about 4-5 of ladders of this height throughout the circuit

Immediately after climbing this ladder we were to do a Flying Fox (FF). Indeed it was very scary. Not only would this be the longest of the whole track, it was also very very high (there are higher ones later, but much shorter distance). But later I wished that they had more FF along the way (as a mean to skip some of the challenges). The whole thing was getting very tiring (especially since I didn't have a proper breakfast) and dragged too long. Partially because we were held back by "traffic jams" created by the earlier groups. Only a maximum of 3 persons is allowed on each platform and a maximum of 1 person on each challenge at any one time.

Some of the challenges that you can expect to see at the Skytrex Extreme Challenge

Basically I completed the whole course without chickening out at their 'Ayam Exit', with an exception of the monkey bar which was at the beginning of the circuit. I knew I didn't have enough upper body strength nor did I want to exhaust myself completely when I still had 80% of the challenges waiting for me! So I kinda cheated and did the FF instead.

Me on the flying fox (photo courtesy of Darry Lum)

Also at the very end I had to be "rescued". That particular challenge was extremely difficult, and without a proper upper body strength and technique it was difficult to get through. We can choose to skip this with a FF, but I decided to give it a try. I only managed to cross about 75% of this particular part before having one of the guys on the platform pull me up because I was taking too long and was simply too hungry... ermm... I mean too tired to continue :P (food...I need food!!)

My rescue at the last leg of the circuit

It was a great sense of achievement having completed the whole thing. Really, I mean it. Never mind about the pain that follows the very next day. I enjoyed every moment of it, and wouldn't mind doing it again. In fact, Ben said he is planning another one in October! Yep, I'm going again!

Look! It's not that scary after all - I can still laugh right?
(photo courtesy of Darry Lum)

A Weekend of Food and Fiesta

Last Saturday our farmyard members decided to host an early birthday celebration for TW. Of course it was just an excuse to get together and stuff ourselves silly again. We had a nice dinner at Tong Tong, a restaurant just of 5 minutes walk from my place and after that we had a nice homemade mango ice cream (by yours truly of course) and a cake cutting session :)

That's us trying to blow the candle together
(though I really looked like I was about to suck in the cake)

Sunday it was Father's Day... and this time we thought we'd have a steamboat session, something we haven't done for quite a long time. From the morning I started to prepare the tomyam soup and porridge. Mom got the fresh ingredients from the market while I got the frozen stuff from Giant supermarket. WL on the other hand bought his favourite pork slices from the non-halal section at Tesco Extra.

The table ready for our steamboat session

Everything seemed to be in order at first. I had the table nicely set, we had plenty of food to put into the 2 pots, one for porridge and one for tomyam soup. I had an induction cooker that we could use and mom had another. We were happily getting ready to start when mom's cooker started beeping non-stop and giving funny error codes on the screen.

No matter what we did, the cooker would not stop beeping, and wouldn't even heat up. *sigh* In the end we had to make do with just one cooker and swapped the two pots whenever the other reached the boiling stage. After the dinner we had some durians by TW's family...and some pineapple from Ophie's family.

Halfway through the dinner I had to take a photo ...cheeezzze

There were also a plenty of leftovers. I had porridge enough to feed 3 persons and half a pot of tom yam soup. Fortunately for me, that'll be my breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next 2 days :P

Accounts cleared!

Prague - Salzburg - Vienna - Krakow - Budapest - Madrid - Salamanca - Seville - Cadiz

Spent several hours today compiling my expenditure for the trip and guess what, I only exceeded about 7% of what was budgeted. Not bad, huh? And that excess was purely due to unforeseen circumstances such as change of flights (thanks to Ryanair*) and overindulgence on food :P

On an average, our spending was as follows:

RM75 per day per person on accommodation (approx. USD21 or EUR15)
RM85 per day per person on food (approx. USD24 or EUR17)
RM120 per day per person on local tours/inland transportation (approx. USD34 or EUR24)

This was based on the fact that we managed to stay in a 3 star hotel towards the end of the trip, and indulged in restaurants every now and then (mostly in Spain). Also we did not join tour in every city. Most of the time we did our own exploring, and just paid for the train/bus tickets. And the cost above also include cheap opera tickets, entrance fees to various museums/cathedrals/castles and even a spa session! ;)

So yes, it IS possible to travel on a shoestring budget. There really isn't a need to spend so much on the food if you aren't picky. There are plenty of cheap local delights available if you keep an eye out for them. And if you don't mind having a snoring roommate, sharing rooms in a hostel isn't too bad an idea. More good news - most of the cities provide FREE use of bicycles for at least an hour, which means you can save time, $$$ and energy moving around in a big city.

So much for now, will post more details about my trip soon.

Jet lag??? What jet lag???

Lucky for me, I'm immune to the change of time zones. I can fall asleep practically anywhere, anytime, given an opportunity. Last night we arrived at about 9pm, and after a quick Hokkien mee supper, it was home sweet home.

A nice scrub in the shower then went straight to bed and slept like a log. This morning I was up at 9:30am and back to my normal routine. I know. Many are envious, but I just can't help it :P

Got about 10,000 photos to upload. Be patient.

We are coming home!

Can't believe it's the end of our trip already. It's time to squeeze everything back into our two tiny luggages. What a nightmare. :(

Our flight departs Seville at 21:15 and arrives London at 23:00. Then we have to rush to the check-in gate again for our flight back to Malaysia at 01:25 tomorrow. Hope there's no delay!!!!

Hasta muy pronto!

@ Budapest Airport

We are at the Ferihegy Terminal 1 waiting to board our flight W6 269 to Madrid. At least they provide free Wifi at the airport, this ought to keep me busy until the battery runs out. :P Will try to upload some photos.

Already the 4th stop

I can't believe we are already at the 4th stop - Krakow. We arrived here this morning by a night train (my first on a sleeper coach). Exciting.

Sorry I haven't been quite active with my blog, but its quite difficult when there's so much that I want to write about and yet so little time and very much limited internet access. I'll try to post some of my offline drafts soon.

And yes, we ARE enjoying ourselves here... try not to be too jealous, ok? ;) At least you won't be as broke as we are when we get home...

Till then...miss all of you back home... HUGSSss..

A day in Prague

It's always like this for me, only updating my blog days or weeks later, only to forget to mention about all the exciting stuff that happened.

We arrived Prague on Monday morning, decided to avoid all the hassle of taking public transport to our hostel and chose the shuttle service instead, which costs us 480CZK (approx. RM90). It was probably slightly more expensive than taking the public transport but cheaper than taxi. Most important was it got us straight to the doorstep of our hostel. If you are a group of 4, shuttle is the most convenient and economical choice because you'll pay the same amount whether you are 2 or 4.

Airport Shuttle service price list

We were greeted by Mirek at Hostel One that morning. He provided us with a map and gave us information on how to move about in the city. While waiting for our room to be ready, we decided to look at some of the brochures at the reception. There was this "Ultimate Prague Tour" for 1200 CZK per person (approx USD60) which was highly recommended. It included a walking tour, river cruise, lunch and a complimentary Ghost tour in the evening. Since we only have approximately 2 days to visit the city, we decided to give it a go. Frankly, we were not disappointed.

The tour was booked for the next day, so that morning we decided to just casually stroll in the city, and (ehem!) shop for souvenirs in case we didn't have time tomorrow. Also we had to find our way to the train station to get tickets to Salzburg. The main train station was only about 3 tram stops away from the hostel, but we just walked. It was a beautiful morning! How could we waste that? ;)

Praha main train station

Just about 20 minutes of walk from the hostel we arrived at Wenceslas Square. And the first thing I saw was.....MCDONALD'S!!! Seriously I ought to have taken photo of every single McD I find in all the cities and I would have been able to compile a thick album! :P Of course the Chinese didn't lose out either, throughout our trip, Chinese restaurants are just as easy to find as McD, if not easier :)

It was then we spotted our very first meal in Prague.... hot dogs! LOL! The street was lined with fast food kiosks selling a selection of sausages, long, short, big and small :D

"Which one should I eat first???"

While walking towards the Old Town quarter, we passed by many souvenir shops. Most of the similar souvenirs are sold at a standard price. So if you see something you like, it is not quite necessary to hop from one to another trying to get a better bargain. Unless of course you want to look for a bigger variety of items.

Not too far from the Old Town quarter is a market, selling handcrafted items, puppets, chocolates, vegetables, flowers and many more. I enjoyed looking at all the puppets that are hung at the stalls, some were cute, while some were scary.

Different types of puppets that can be found at the market

More Prague updates soon - our Hostel, the Marionnete show and the Ultimate Prague Tour

Countdown to Eurotrip 2009

Just 5 more days to my long awaited trip to Europe!!! Ooh...I'm so excited!

Itinery: Prague-Salzburg-Vienna-Krakow-Budapest-Madrid-Asturias-Seville

Happy Mother's Day

This year I thought I'd surprise mom with a photobook I made using Provocraft Yourstory, a new toy I got from ebay. It took me almost a week to complete the photobook of approx 18 pages, with all original hand drawn pics and illustrations. I used Inkscape, which was surprisingly easy to use with my Wacom tablet. Then I printed them on double-sided glossy photo papers, and bound them nicely in a hardcover album cover.

Here is a small excerpt from the photo book:







So glad to see that mom really liked it... :D

Happy Mother's Day to all mommy's and mommy-to-be out there :)

Mt Kinabalu via Mesilau Trail - Part 2 (The City)

Although I have been quite worried about the weather (in KL it was raining almost everyday), we were greeted by warm sunshine as soon as we arrived at Kota Kinabalu (KK). From the airport, we took a six-seater van to Akinabalu Youth Hostel at Jalan Gaya.

Our taxi from the airport, fits up to 6 passengers, only RM28

This was just one street away from where we were staying the last time, but I clearly like this new hostel better. There were more bathrooms and toilets to share (of course there were also more rooms). The reception and common area were very pleasant with lots of open spaces and greens. Good thing our rooms were on the 1st and 2nd floor, so we didn't have to climb very high.

As soon as we left our bags in our rooms, our tummies were growling. And guess where we ended up in? Haha... the very same place we had our curry laksa during our last trip. The restaurant was just right below the hostel. So very convenient. This time I decided to give their beef noodles a try. It was not too bad, but I preferred the curry :)

One thing that I was particularly impressed with KK is that the city is very clean. The streets are well maintained and the people are patient. Of course you can find signboards almost everywhere warning people of fines, but you find that too in KL and yet nobody takes heed. Not only that, this particular restaurant that we were dining in actually place a mini dustbin under every table!

Mini dustbin under every table at the restaurant

We wandered a bit before finally deciding to proceed to the Monsopiad Cultural Village. As we didn't quite plan this properly, neither of us remembered the name of the place. We only knew that it was a cultural village. So we went round asking some taxi vans if they knew how to go to the place, and finally found one who could take us there and back for RM60. Fair enough, considering the distance was much further than the airport (from town) and don't expect to be able to just stop any taxi there to bring you back, so make sure you have a backup!

Our little taxi van, can fit up to 10 passengers @ RM30 per way to Monsopiad

Entrance fee for Malaysians was RM45 per person, and you'll be provided a guided tour and a welcome drink (traditional rice wine or fruit juice). There are also scheduled cultural performances at approximately 2 hours interval, each lasting between 45 to 60 minutes. While you are there you'll get to visit the House of Skulls, walk on the suspended bridge, sample various types of home made wines and spirits, try some traditional games, blowpipe, any many more. I personally experienced the bamboo stick dance and the bird-like dance and also given the chance to try the blow pipe (a hunting tool).

Trying my luck with the blowpipe, was only able to shoot targets within 5m range :P

As soon as our transport arrived, we left for the town. That evening we all had Bak Kut Teh in a restaurant not too far from our hostel. After dinner we bought some food for next morning as we would be departing for Mt. Kinabalu before breakfast is served.

It takes approximately 2.5 hours to reach the Mesilau starting point from KK, so we arranged the morning pickup at 6:00am. The Mesilau route is 2km more than Timpohon trail and we wanted to make sure that we have ample time to reach Laban Rata.

Next: Mt. Kinabalu via Mesilau Trail - Part 3 (The Climb)

Mt. Kinabalu via Mesilau Trail - Part 1 (The Comeback)

For those who remembered, 7 of us attempted to reach Low's Peak of Mt. Kinabalu last September but only 1 succeeded. The rest (including myself) failed miserably, owing to several factors, with the weather being the main culprit. Even if the weather had permitted the climb, we probably would not have been able to catch the sunrise anyway as we were not as fit nor were we mentally well prepared.

The moment I touched down KL, I immediately planned for a return trip. A famous chinese saying, "Shape the iron while it's hot". I was determined to make it to the top and would not accept another defeat. And this time I picked a date which was within the recommended climbing period, avoiding all possible rain spells. Lucky for me, Airasia was having another promotion and I got myself a return ticket for less than RM200. Lyne was equally enthusiastic about returning and TC too wanted to go again as he was not even able to take photo to proof his climb with the strong wind almost blowing him away :P

Since the 3 of us have already tried the Timpohon trail, we decided to go via Mesilau this time round. TC had 2 of his friends join us for this trip, WL and YL. Then TW's sister decided to tag along too... making us a group of 7. And so I had the following planned:

Day 1: Depart KL, arrive KK, visit Monsopiad Cultural Village
Day 2: Proceed to Mesilau Nature Resort for Mt. Kinabalu Climb
Day 3: Summit Climb to Low's Peak from Laban Rata,
descend Mt. Kinabalu via Timpohon trail
Day 4: Depart KK to Pulau Tiga
Day 5: Return from Pulau Tiga and back to KL

TC would head back to KL the day the climb while his friends have opted out on Pulau Tiga and decided to go for white water rafting instead.

Unfortunately for Lyne, she was hospitalized just a day before our flight for suspected dengue and hence she had to forego the trip completely. She was in no condition to even walk for 1km, so the 19.4km that we had to endure on this trip was definitely out of the question.

That leaves only 6 of us.

Next: Mt. Kinabalu via Mesilau Trail - Part 2 (The City)

I Came, I Saw, I Conquered

TW, Susan and I at Low's Peak (4095.2 m above sea level)

Details to follow later :)

My First Cricut Project

Rock Melon Lime Sorbet

Just the other day I had a sudden urge to make honeydew sorbet... but instead of getting a honeydew, I found a good deal at the supermarket for rock melon, and so I got that one instead. I compared several honeydew lime sorbet recipes online and decided to do some experiments.

The melon I bought weighed about 2kg, so I split them into 2 so that I could experiment with different flavours. The first half I try to keep the melon taste as original as possible, only adding a little bit of sugar to taste. Add sugar sparingly. It is best to test the melon to see if it is already sweet enough to your taste. In my case I used about 1/4 cup of sugar to half a melon.

The second half I added some lime juice to it. I like this version better. Also added 1 egg white (I used meringue powder as a substitute) as a stabilizer but you can always omit this and keep it simple. But you'll need to get the ice cream out 15 mins from the freezer before serving coz it can get pretty hard to scoop.

Ingredients (makes approx. 1 quart)

Group 1

1/2 rock melon cubes (weighs approx. 1kg before removing seed and skin)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon citrus fruit liqueur (it can be lemon or orange)
1 egg white or meringue powder as a substitute (optional)
--------
Group 2

grated lime zest
approx. 1/3 cup of lime juice


Combine the melon cubes, sugar and fruit liqueur and let it stand for about an hour or so in room temperature, stirring every now and then. Then pour everything (Group 1 and Group 2) into a food processor, and blend until you get a nice smoothie consistency. You can skip group 2 if you would like to have a pure melon sorbet. Also if you plan to use egg white, blend it in now. Refridgerate overnight or at least several hours before you pour it into an ice cream maker.

If you do not have an ice cream maker, you can freeze it directly in the freezer, but every 30 minutes while it freezes, check and stir vigourously with a spoon or spatula. Repeat until ice cream is completely frozen. This should probably take 2 hours or less depending on your fridge.

Happy Birthday Ophie

A birthday cake for a new mommy

It's my sis-in-law's birthday today, so I decided to bake her a cake. But she is still in her confinement, and supposedly eggs are not allowed in her diet until much later. So I searched the internet for an eggless chocolate cake. The result was nice and moist and not to mention super easy to make!

Ingredients

4 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3 cups white sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups water
3 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vanilla extract


PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, soda and salt. Add sugar and mix together. Add oil, water and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Pour into a 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

* I only used half the recipe and a 9x9 inch pan. Also I added some chocolate chips on top of the cake ...yummy!

Promotion Without Increment

Thanks to baby Lucas, I'm officially promoted to "ku che" or aunty status. A promotion that comes with no increment but a possibility of burning a big hole in my pocket. There are just so many things that I want to buy for him... :P I'll have to be a little bias with my opinion though.... coz he is really really cute!!! Cuter than any other babies I've ever seen... he he he..

Although I'm very happy for my brother, I can't help feeling pressured by both our family members and friends about having one of my own. I personally do not think that this is something to be rushed. When the time comes, it will happen.... until then, I really hope that I can get a peace of mind. Thank you, ありがんとう, 謝謝, Muchas gracias, Nandri, Grazie, Merci, Terima kasih, Danke.

I feel good!

After several months of absence, due to weather, procrastination...etc.. Je suis toujours plein d'excuses, I finally resumed my weekly hiking this morning with my mom (well, re-started was more like it). SS and Joseph joined us to... which was nice... the more the merrier :) We went to the small hill near Ketumbar Heights (needed something easy to warm up the old engine). First 10-15 minutes was hell...but after that I felt really good... ahhhh...

It is very encouraging to see a lot of really young faces during the hike today. Some were as young as 4-5 years old, perhaps there are even younger ones that I have not noticed. I guess there are still parents out there who realise the importance of outdoor activities instead of just occupying their kids with Playstation, Wii or even the infamous idiot box.

Well, anyway, I better pull my socks up! My second attempt to conquer Mt. Kinabalu isn't too far away. This time I have to make sure that I succeed (at the mercy of the weather of course).

*Update 29/2/2009 - Now already at the 3rd week and I'm still consistently doing it... hooray for me! :D