Swordie Bloggie

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.

OK… we are still stuck waiting for our vehicle to get into the service line… we are trying to jump queue since the service centre is fully booked… we are trying to get inside contacts to get into the line… wish us luck…

While waiting and hoping for that… I just want to share my experience with iPhone…

Apple iPhone created a craze around the globe when it was launched… although the size is quite huge, it still not bad when holds on your palm. I have the chance to play with iPhone recently when my boss asked me to configure its WiFi and his email in the iPhone.

I’m reluctant to accept iPhone… because why should I change since I have been using Windows Mobile PDA phone for more than 2 years and it serve fine with me… first with HP iPAQ HW6965 then HTC TyTN II… both with real keyboard and not with software keyboard. iPhone is using software keyboard.

Maneuvering the menu at first is quite difficult… must get use to the sliding thingy although I’ve tried the slider or shift in the HTC before but I’m just not comfortable with it. The iPhone response is fast… yea very fast!.. very impressive… much more responsive than my Windows Mobile PDA phones.

The 5 megapixels camera is super clear… the quality is as good as my Sony DSC-T200 8 megapixels camera. Holding the iPhone is very confortable… the width is just nice… and the thickness is thin… yes so thin with such power under its hood.

At the beginning iPhone and also other model of phones are locked to some operator only. But today, unlocked cell phones are easily available. Unlocked cell phones are much better than locked since you can do more things with it… and you can sell it back easier at higher price. You can have unlocked iPhone here in KK, but most of the time the seller will say it is ‘under water’ phone… meaning the phones are smuggle in and you will not get proper warranty.

With all the great things about iPhone, although after having fun with it for a couple of hours… I still prefer to continue using Windows Mobile PDA phone… and my next dream phone is the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1.

Wow… manage write that long post… with all the stress but with freedom from office work 😀

Damm… our vehicle is having a minor problem right now but it is causing a major delay. We have just filled it with diesel… and now it started jerking after some distance journey.

According to the mechanic it is caused by the main diesel fuel filter. The filter has been contaminated with water causing the diesel fuel pump not working 100% perfect. The water must have mixed with the diesel fuel!!!

It is well known that new vehicle using the new generation of diesel fuel pump is very sensitive with low quality diesel… the fuel pump will start protesting once it detected a slight mixture of water in the diesel fuel. There are news or story about Toyota or Nissan owner has to replace their fuel pump… and this new generation of fuel pump is not cheap… it can cost more than $10K… yea that spell more than ten thousands… and it is not covered in the warranty!!!

We can’t continue with our Journey Around Sabah… we were on our way to Tenom… we have to turn back and now we are stuck still in KK… This is a real bummer…

And now, our official workshop said they don’t have stock or spare for the fuel filter!!! Double damm for that… How the heck is that you can’t have a single spare for that important part while having a fleet of the same vehicles? Haiyooo… demand too high is it?

Now we have to run here and there to fill up forms so that we can proceed to service the vehicle at its ‘real’ workshop at Inanam!!! If like this, I’m not only getting stress but going to loose some weight… yea no need weight loss pill lah if like this…

OK, the most important is we are going to have a safe journey… I have to be positive with this.

Today is the final race event of the 2008 Sabah F2 Powerboat World Cup held at Kota Kinabalu. The race event was held since Friday, 12 December 2008 till today Sunday, 14 December 2008.

I missed everything… I supposed to get an access pass but unfortunately my pass or rather our passes are nowhere to be found!!! Cheated again… they must have given it to others…

The final race started at 10.30am… and I only went there around 12.30pm… so lame… I did not really check the schedule… I thought it will be like the Formula One… start around 2.00pm.

When I reach there, only one or two boats speeding from time to time… I guess they are being fine tuned after the race and also before they are packed into their container. These boats are actually packed unassembled into a container for shipment… together with all its accessories and tools.

Looking at this photo, I’m sure they are not using digital signage like the one used in the 2008 FORMULA 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix held last September. The FORMULA 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix has to use digital signage or hi-tech electronic DigiFlag because it was held at night time.

Anyway, hopefully I will get a proper pass next year event…

And I got to go now for my sleep… Tomorrow I’m going to continue with my Journey Around Sabah… this time heading to southern region.

As a human being, what are your rights?… I guess not only for human being, but to any living things…

10 December 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was proclaimed on 10 December 1948 in the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

…There are 30 articles, read it at The Universal Declaration of Human Rights…

P E A C E

A row of shops at Tamparuli town which was build during the colonial-era was burned down early yesterday, 9 December 2008. It was in the newspaper today and also in some blogs. The fire started from a jewelry shop around 5.30am.

Mrs. Lee, the third generation and who has a 20-year old son (forth generation) operator of the Lok Hing Coffeshop, said they lost everything in the blaze. Reading through other’s blog about their memories with the shops before it gone makes it more touching…

Officer-in-charge of the Tuaran Fire & Rescue Department, Mazlan Sarman, praised the six local volunteers who were part of the volunteer fire brigade who did whatever they could to control and put down the fire.

Police do not suspect any foul play but are investigating. The cause of the fire is not know yet but suspected by a bad electrical wiring or equipment.

Why electrical equipment? According to a report, most of the recent fires are caused by electrical equipment. And these cheap and low quality electrical equipments are believed imported from China.

Public are advised to use only certified (by SIRIM) electrical equipments although they are more expensive. If you notice lately, we are flooded with all kind of cheap stuffs from China. These cheap stuffs include electrical equipments, eyeglasses, toys, cloths and many more…

The economy is not good right now… cheap stuffs are the choice. But we have to be selective when we want to get something cheaper or at low quality…

The simplest rule is: if it using electric and/or generating heat, try not to buy and use the low quality although it is cheaper… do value your life.

On our way back from Kudat on last Friday, 28 November 2008, we stopped at a few stalls along the way. Traveling around Sabah by road is a great experience. We can see great scenery… almost still in its original natural habitat.

There are stalls selling handicrafts, fish, crabs, vegetables, herbs, birds, fruits and many more by the local peoples staying along the roads. It’s great to see these people doing their business happily. I don’t think they care how much they make in a day. Imagine, they are able to survive without money because they can eat what they planted, what they catch at the river, what they hunt or collect from the jungle… and share or barter trade with their neighbors. For us, I don’t think we can… we need money to pay our bills, loans, buy foods… everything need money… money… but money. Without money, we can’t eat.

One of the stall we stopped by is the one selling corn (jagung)… they are selling two types of corns… jagung pulut (pulut corn?) and jagung manis (sweet corn). They sell the corn fresh, still with its stalk. They also sell ‘pangang’ or barbecued corn. I bought two bundles with 5 corns on each bundle… one bundle ‘manis’ and one bundle ‘pulut’. I also bought some of the barbecued corns and we ate some at the stalls. Imagine if they have popcorn machines, they might even sell pop corn right at their stall… and we will be enjoying eating popcorn in the middle of nowhere minus the cinema 😆 The barbecued corns taste very nice… sweet and hot… coz they are fresh from the oven 😆

Nothing much to do today except went to hit some balls at Lintas driving range at 9.00 am. Wanted to finish the 200 balls, but it seems impossible. I only manage to hit about 120 balls and headed for some food at the nearby shop… breakfast with noodles and fish 😀

Then do some adjustment to my shutterbomb photo blog. Do you know that the Google custom search is so powerful?… But the only drawback is I can’t make the search box centered… anyone knows how to do it?… I tried to ‘center’ it with the ‘p’ and ‘div’ tag.

And I’ve been neglecting shutterbomb… maybe it is time for me to upload photos there… coz my 250gb mobile drive is half full with photos I taken.