Swordie Bloggie

Today, we carry electronic gadgets like phone, camera, handheld game console, media player and watch everywhere we go… even when doing rough activities like paintball, hiking or water rafting. These gadgets costing from hundreds to thousands of dollars will not escape from being exposed to water and knocks here and there…

Spending so much for our gadgets is already a burden… exposing them to tough environments is a heart wrenching experience… wrist watch is not a problem coz there are tough watches like Casio G-Shock or luminox navy seal meant for tough activities… they can be submerged under few meters of water and heavy knocks.

But how about smart phone or media players like iPod?… well there are water proof pouch for these. Last year, I bought a waterproof arm-band for my Samsung Galaxy S2 from H2OAudio… it cost a lot… 😛 I bought it online and it was shipped form US. When I tried putting my SGS2, it was quite tight… very hard to put inside… end up I never use it… it supposed to be used during my hiking training and also for the two Mount Kinabalu climb last year… to protect my SGS2 from rain which come unexpectedly.

Actually there is a cheaper waterproof bag to protect gadgets from water… the waterproof bag in the photos which can fit-in the SGS2 nicely was bought in Pavilion for RM50 only… it’s not an arm-band type, that’s why it cost 6 times less then the H2OAudio. It has a good sealing… triple seal… roll… then lock it with the velcro… The plastic is so clear and the touch screen work effortlessly with it… so now I can protect my SGS2 from water when I’m doing tough activities… 😀

This year, I’m planning to climb Mount Kinabalu twice… well, I don’t know if I’m fit enough to do it… the first one will be with our department’s sports club in October… and the second one will be with a group of friends in November… October climb is more then 50% confirmed. As for the November climb, it still depends on everyone’s commitment and fitness. Mount Kinabalu is 4,095 metres or 13,435 feet high. The trail to summit is about 7+ kilometres. It’s a long climbing trail.

Currently I’m trying to build my fitness… especially my endurance… I sit, eat and sleep too much… I’ve tried climbing the small hill at Bukit Padang… which is only like 150 metres high with trail about 900 metres… it was quite hard… :p And I’ve downloaded a training software called runtastic for my Samsung Android phone which can track the distance, altitude, speed and some other stuffs. To protect my phone from being knocked, sweat or rain, I bought the H2O Audio Amphibx Fit Waterproof Armband and the H2O Audio Surge 2G Waterproof Sport Headphones. I bought them online from H2O Audio… it’s quite expensive coz they are waterproof… but the courier charge made it super expensive… 😛 But lucky I manage to get a 15% discount coupon for the items.

Usually when I buy stuff online, I will Google for coupon code first before I checkout. You can easily find coupons codes shared on the net… you just have to search for it. For instance, if you shop a lot from KMart online store, you can easily saves coz there are loads of kmart coupons on the net. When I Google for H2O Audio coupon, I found one which gives 5% discount. But when I register for the H2o Audio newsletter, they email me the subscription confirmation together with a 15% coupon code 😀

Last Sunday, 13 February, four of us… Disney, Malcolm, Stevenson and Me went to Tuaran & Kota Belud. We have been planning for this trip since last month and we supposed to go on 6 February but unfortunately everyone has plan on that day. We also having difficulty choosing a suitable date for this trip coz of the wet season… we need to have clear sky to take the Mount Kinabalu photo… yea, that was our mission, to take the Mount Kinabalu photos.

The rainy season for almost 3 months already made it uncertain for us to go… unless we all have waterproof cameras then we don’t have to worry about the heavy rain… but still, the mountain will not be visible or clear when it rain and when clouds surround the mountain. But luck was with us on last Sunday… although it was raining the whole day on Saturday, I was surprised to see the sky so clear on Saturday night… I can see thousands of stars on the sky… no clouds… wow… 😀

I woke up around 4.15am and immediately went to prepare for breakfast… all I have to do was make a cup of tea and put the hams and sausages into to microwave oven… I have fried the hams and sausages the night before… I packed the rest of the sausages to bring along for the trip. Disney picked me up around 5.15am and met the rest at KK. We stopped at Mc Donald, Jalan Sulaman to pack breakfast coz the others have not take their heavy breakfast… I bought a cup of tea which I did not drink… but I drank it on our way home around 1.30pm.

The trip was wonderful… the sky was a bit cloudy but it was actually very hot and I received sunburned on my neck. And it was for me to test my new Canon 7D which I just received on Friday after waiting for it for almost a week 😀 That camera is damm good… my old Canon 400D and 40D looks like dinosaur… 😆 All together we stop like five times at five different places to capture the mountain… the sunrise and the clouds surrounding the mountain is very challenging.

Along the trip, we stop at one hanging bridge and saw a family bathing and washing their cloths at the river… we took the opportunity to capture their life. It was great… I feel like going back there next time and do different way to capture their life… Then we stop at Kota Belud Tamu… this is my first time here… and it also a wow… then we had our lunch at the Kota Belud Pasar Tani… the food is damm bloody tasty… and I even got a shocked when we paid for the food… for four of us, the food is just RM16… that RM4 each… In KK it will cost us more than RM25… :O

Then on the way back, we saw funny stuffs too… like excavator bathing itself… I was frozen when I saw it… can’t even lift the camera and snap the moment… then saw an almost accident… a Viva suddenly did an acrobatic in front of us by doing 90 degree and luckily manage to recover while overtaking on a bend… on a bridge… 😛 Then lastly we saw a lion dance show at Mengatal Town…