Swordie Bloggie

This is a back posting for my Journey around Sabah – Tempurung Seaside Lodge, Kuala Penyu. I woke up as early as 6.00am on Wednesday, 17 December 2008.

It was already bright… coz Sabah gets the sun earlier than peninsular Malaysia but of course Sandakan at the east of Sabah facing the open Pacific Ocean gets the sun much more earlier.

The sound of the waves hitting the beach in the early morning is very soothing. It makes you forget the world around you… as if you are in another free world.

I took my digital and video camera and went to the balcony. Birds are singing and dancing happily while sucking the flowers’ nectar around the resort. I was frozen until I forgot to take their photos.

I guess I was the only human being awake in the resort at that time. Everything is still frozen… the office, restaurant, etc… Usually I don’t wake up so early but that day I guess I was awaken by the beautiful sound of the waves and the singing birds. The other resort guests and workers must be still enjoying their dreams… not sure what are they dreaming.

I went down to the beach… enjoying the surrounding while walking down the long and steep wooden stairs… probably more than 50 meters long.

While at the beach, I felt like a lot of stuff brushing on my legs… but I can’t see what are brushing on my legs. The feeling is like some cobwebs tangled on you. But when I look closely, they are actually small insects. They are about 1 mm and white in color which make it very hard to see… combined that with the white beach sand and the early morning lights, makes it even harder to see.

The day after my encounter with the insects at the beach, I felt my legs are all itchy. I was scratching my legs all over because it was so itchy and I’m not sure which spot to scratch. Then red spots are appearing like mosquitoes bites and growing to about 2 cm wide. The harder I scratch the spot, the better the feelings are… and you don’t want to stop scratching it coz it felt so good… until the skin peeled.

I was quite worried at that time… I don’t want to be infected with malaria or dengue… and bed ridden with cerebral palsy when nerves breakdown. I was very worried with the itchiness and red spots, but lucky someone commented at by earlier post asking about ‘sand fly’ at Tempurung Seaside Lodge. When I Google ‘sand fly’, I got all the answers I needed. I don’t have to worry about nerves breakdown, malaria or dengue anymore because it’s just sand fly bites. But I still went and buy MOPIKO for the itchiness… and mosquitoes repellent spray to add into my medicine bag.

This is another post about Tempurung Seaside Lodge. We stayed here for one night on the 16 December 2008.
Our colleagues here at Kuala Penyu supposed to make a reservation for 2 rooms for 3 of us. But because of miscommunication they book for 2 persons 😮

When we arrived, the Tempurung Seaside Lodge staff greeted us and took us to our room… for two persons he said… wait a minute… two rooms and for 3 persons lah…

After some discussion, we settled for the family room, for the three of us… which is great.

The room has one double bed and two single beds… really great for family coming for vacation here. The beds are enough for father, mother and 3 or 4 kids… or spare it for baby bedding if you have baby with you 😀 With the huge size room, the floor still can accommodate another 3 or 4 heads… 😆

Like I mentioned in my previous post, water supply is not a problem. Bathroom is OK but with a very low shower head… at my eye level, so I have to bend a bit to wash my head, but should be fine.

No air-con but with two ceiling fans and sea-breeze only… window with no grill but with mosquitoes net.

The sound of the wave hitting the beach is very soothing while trying to sleep…

OK, will talk more about Tempurung Seaside Lodge again next time… with photos and videos, hopefully.

Feeling very hungry now… work till 6pm just now at our Beaufort office… going to eat at the restaurant at the end of the hotel block… same like last night 😛 Lazy to walk far…

If the Tempurung Seaside Lodge management reading this, please chop-off the coconut trees… it really blocking the nice view from the top… 😛

Just to refresh about the delay of our Journey around Sabah… our vehicle was having a minor problem because its fuel filter needs replacement. The mechanic suspects the filter is contaminated with water… we can only travel with the jerking vehicle at 40km/h.

I was so exhausted waiting for the whole thing to get fixed… added with the extra heat… yes, Monday weather was extra hot.

Because of the unnecessary delay, we changed our plan and headed straight to Las Vegas instead to enjoy ourselves… to play roulette, poker and jackpot at hotels las vegas… 😆 just kidding…

We actually landed ourselves at Tempurung Seaside Lodge at Kampung Tempurung, Kuala Penyu. This place is so cool… beautiful beaches… just like the Mild Seven advertisement 😀 A great place to relax, vacationing or to escape from city life.

err… have I mentioned that I was surfin at 3.5G with celcom broadband? 😮

The rate is $135 per head… yep they count by head…  inclusive of room, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Before coming here, my colleague warns that they rely on rain water! Shoot… what happen if there is no rain? Yesterday’s weather was so hot, no rain… I can’t live without fresh water… I guess if the water runs out, I have to learn how to live with salt water… yea, sea water… :O But they actually have plenty of water… not sure whether it comes from the main supply pipe or rain… probably from both sources… but the water is clean and the tap is running strong.

The restaurant and office viewed from the highest cabin.

Anyway, our journey was great… the roads at Sabah’s southern region are in low land… that’s why there are always flood news from this region… not many hill climbing roads… but just a low climbing roads. The stretch is also the road heading to Brunei and Sarawak… and we can go to Labuan if we want to 😆 it’s so close… yay…

The cabins view from the back.

The common area at the cabins.

The restaurant at night.

OK, I will talk more about Tempurung Seaside Lodge later. We only stayed there one night. Currently I’m in Beaufort… at a lame hotel 🙁 There is no great hotel in Beaufort.

Did you notice the Post Office or POS near you is changing its face? It seems that all the POS are having major renovation… a more modern and corporate looks. I believe this is the first time they change their looks since a very long time ago… probably since the 70s.

The POS near my house has changed it looks but I have not taken its photo yet… only while it was still being renovated a few weeks ago. And I really like the new look of the ‘new’ POS.

The one I really like is the front door… the huge clear see-through glass door. Printed with huge fonts on the glass door is the Post Code. Previously their door is a small two leaf glass door and heavily tinted. I don’t really like it tinted since I can’t see if the counters are busy or not from outside or from across the road.

Penampang Post Office during renovation stage.

And because of the new looks, on my Journey around Sabah this time, I tried to find the Post Office nearby to get a snap of the front door… to get the District’s name and postcode… and to proof that I was here 😀

And I can also see a couple of modern gadgets inside like PCs and kiosks. The kiosks are probably for purchasing POS accessories (envelope, stamp etc.) or for withdrawing money… looks like the POS systems are getting better and advance.

Kuala Penyu Post Office with the huge Post Code (Poskod) printed on its new see-through glass door.

You may be wondering why anyone will still need POS since email is there and emails are free. Well, you still need POS to deliver your package and greetings card 😀 And probably you will be able to do internet browsing or cash withdrawal soon within its cool room.