Up the Kilimanjaro mountain

Almost 2 years have passed since I was up the mountain. Writing a post only at this point of time serve as the chance to reflect and just tell what was still enact in my memories and how these memories made me feel now. I want to wait till the pain and joy I went through at that time are diluted. I think these would be my real learnings.

Speaking now with additional years of growth and thoughts, the emotions and experience that have passed through me at that point of time now gave me a new perspective to my life and aspiration.

Trekking up the mountain was a training of the mental strength and releasing of the potential of one's body and mind. I could still remember when I was moving up on the summit climb, I could only push on by focusing on the success story I could tell if I have done it. What a show-off I want to be, when I think about this now. I'm not a story teller who can leads anyone to feel how I felt at that time.

I started to read some stories from mountaineers who survive the worst ordeals in the mountains. Under the titanic forces of nature, it is easy to understand how vulnerable humans can be and how naive I have been. But at the same time, human can only tap into the deepest wells of potential when it is for survival.

If ask how I truly felt about being on top of the mountain, I felt just what those authors did. After being at the highest point, when you look back in time, you can feel a sense of almost emptiness in the heart. Like you lost something and you know you can never get it back or replace it with anything else. And you can only feel its presence in the way it had influence and grow you.

Boracay Wreck Dive (May 08)

After 2 years, I finally get to dive again. This dive is quite deep, up to 30m. At this depth, air get used up pretty fast.

Nothing very spectacular. It's a vessel sunken 7 years ago, so not too much coral yet. This is my second wreck dive after the first one during my advanced open. Nevertheless, it's still enjoyable. after all, it's scuba diving.



So much fun down the water.

Christmas at Cambodia

Back to Cambodia with a bunch of "crazy fellows" from MPX2 (including myself) Really wild, all of us. Chic-ku-chic-ku-log-log. LOL

Went to Sihanouk Ville, the beach area. It's fun with banana boat. Gotta sabo by the boat driver, we all capsized and get wet, thrice! That's bad enough. Had a go on the jet ski...woohoo, full speed ahead!

Went to the village on Sunday evening. Did almost everything I set out to do here. Catch up with the kids, look at Ming Xing, watch sunrise/sunset, river fun, cooked a good meal and Christmas party.

Read more.

Sunrise

Mud war at the River

Ming Xing

Ming Xing!

And Ming Xing!!!

Yes, I'm bias. haha
More of the kids...

Autumn Amsterdam

Besides the cold wind and rain mentioned previously, the days are just so so short.
The sun rises at about 830am. (look at the clock)

And sets at 430pm. That is about 8 hours of sunlight. In the day, it can be gloomy as well due to the over-hanging, heavy dark clouds. No wonder there are stories about people suffering from depression due to shortage of sunlight.
And this is the Royal Palace at about 5pm. So dark that you can't even see the clock in the picture.


Didn't get to cruise the canal this time. Nor did I visit the "coffeeshop".
Had a few good meals here at New King and Pancake Bakery. Not to forget to mention, potluck at my colleague's place. Great company. Nice. ^_^

(ps: many thanks to Janine for finding out the address of Pancake Bakery. Yes, I'm touched)

Amsterdam - Boom Chicago

OK, you have me here after the show by Boom Chicago.


Today's show is entitled "Me, Myspace and Ipod". There are spoofs about the uses of Internet like online purchasing, YouTube, Wikipedia, ITunes. And about 60 to 70% of the show is impromtu. It's pretty nice for a social event after meeting.

Amsterdam - Cold & Wet

It's the season when there's lots of rain and wind. Wind are icy cold, and when compounded with the effect of the rain pouring overhead, it just make thing worse for me. I'm freezing.....

Been here for a few days and everyday it's raining. Little sunshine.

Glad I was very welcomed over here and gotten really good hospitality. Outside is cold from the weather but it feels warm inside from the warmth of the colleagues here.

Watched a stand up comedy, Boom Chicago, last night. Very funny and creative. Had a laughing time.

Haven't had the chance to walk around yet, but hope I'll. Visit the art museum, famous Red Light District, and maybe the flower market. And nope, I'm not interested in the coffee shops.

Walkabout in KL

This is in fact my 1st time to visit places, walk about and eat all the different (cheap n delicious) food in KL after visiting it for the 3rd time. Thanks to a colleague's relative who is willing to drive us around to have good food and shopping. I love bat kut teh. *drool*

There's a small Gundam model exhibition in Sungei Wang when I dropped by. My lucky day!


Went to the Petronas Twin Towers Sky Bridge. There's a long queue for the tickets usually and by early afternoon, all the tickets are gone for that same day. The tour up is pretty short, but there's nothing much to see actually. Just to get a birdeye view of the surrounding landscape. I can see my hotel from here too.

I'll have the chance to work in the towers if I'm posted here next time.
Think I will be back again next year for my course.

My colleague's cousin drove us up to Genting on one of the nights. It's cold and misty up there. No, I didn't make any extra money. I don't gamble usually, only on special occasions or with friends over mahjong. Chill out a bit at Starbucks after my colleague made a killing at the casino.












The Statue of Liberty on a motorcycle. Think lots of designers like to use the icon as a source of humor. Spoof?


And there's this "Qing Ren Qiao". Too bad, I'm a guy alone without any "Qing Ren" with me to stand on the bridge. The red lightings of the bridge does remind me of the photos I seen on the infamous Red Light District in Amsterdam. .There are many canals there and it is unmistakingly to notice where the red light district is with such explicit "signals" on the bridges over the canals..

USA - Yosemite NP

This place is the place to go if you step into California and you are a nature lover. It's so beautiful and natural. It puts me at peace whenever I think about that place. The huge grey-washed rocks and white waterfalls against the clear blue sky, along with the greenery and gushing of water.


I did a few treks here up to have a closer view with the waterfalls. One such trek is the Vernal Falls trek. It's a fairly simple trek, started off with a gentle slope and is well covered with shade from the trees. From afar, one can see the waterfall pouring down over from the ends. This indeed motivate me to carry on the trek up. The tricky part is towards the end where the trek leads me to the side of the waterfall. It gets slippery and steeper at the same time. But with the cool water sprinkling over your face as you walk along, well, it's pretty refreshing.



At least there's water for Vernal Falls. A hike to the Yosemite Falls earlier one day was a disappointment. Someone turned off the tap for the waterfalls. Only a slow flow of water trinkled down. Yosemite Falls is suppposedly the grandiest of the falls in the park.

USA - Grand Canyon

I have been thinking for the best descriptive way to portray the magnificance and beauty of Grand Canyon in writing. Guess I not apt at descriptive essay writing after all. You have to see it to know it.

My favorite picture taken for the trip to the canyon is this:

(Taken at East Rim, Desert View Point during the sunset)

For star lovers or gazers, the Grand Canyon provides a clear night sky with little light pollution. I had a pleasant surprise when I looked up at the darkness and saw the Milky Way. I couldn't help it but spent a few more moments, braving the cold and looking at the stars while I warmed my hands with my breath.

Hot, Hot LV

Las Vegas - Paradise in the desert.



It's a "HOT" place (in one way or another). With the day temperature hitting 38 degC, all the casinos, and night-life and shows.

Hotels here are really beautifully decorated and designed. Moving from 1 to another along the Strip easily took me more than 1 whole day.

For me, the exciting part here in LV is that there are many shows worth catching, like Mamma Mia, Phantom of Opera and many of the arcobatic shows by Cirque de Soleil. Of course. I would highly recommend "Celine Dion - A New Day" staging at Caesars Palace.

Rare Sights I saw on the trip

Two most unforgetable and rare sights I had are, one as I mentioned in an earlier post, the double arc rainbow, and second, the MILKY WAY at Grand Canyon.

Here's the rainbow. Too bad I can't capture the whole thing and I have to do it on a moving bus.

USA trip events

It's almost a month and I have seen a bit of this big land and experience different and new things. On this trip, I would say there is a good mix of activities thus making this trip a fruitful one.

1. Chilling out and relaxing: In SF, Sonoma
2. Extravagant tourist city: Las Vegas
3. Architecture viewing: SF & Las Vegas
4. Shopping: Gilroy, SF, Las Vegas
5. Food: I think I have covered an international cuisine - American (including the burgers and all), Chinese, Thai, Vietnam, Jap, Korean, Mediterranean, Italian. Perhaps I miss out the French.
6. Nature viewing: Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, Big Sur & Grand Canyon
7. Impressive man-made feature: Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse
8. Musical: Mama Mia
9. Concert: Celine Dion - A New Day
10. Hiking: Yosemite NP, Mammoth Lake area
11. Extreme sport: Sky diving

New sights

After moving through 7 states in West and North Central America in a bus, I realised I'm a toad in the well looking up at the sky thinking the world is as beautiful as the sky with occasional clouds.

USA is indeed a country with many beautiful landscapes and nature. It caught me unaware. Bit by bit, I begin to understand why so many Chinese wanted so badly to migrate to America and refuse to move off from here. Not only it is a land of gold, it's weather at the Bay Area is simply nice for them (not too hot and cold all year round. But a bit too cold for me though even in summer). In addition, there are countless places to go sightseeing and interesting activities one can do in this really big country. It has a mix of highly urbanized cities with uniquely designed buildings and skyscrapers as well as vast land and greenery which gives you a good flavor of nature. Plus, state-of-the-art technology is also readily available. To me, it has the best of both worlds. I think to achieve these, it does help a lot if you are one of the world richest countries and superpowers.

After this bus tour (which I quite dread now because of long-time travelling, otherwise I enjoyed it tremendously), I have another dream. That is, to lie on the yellow grassland, with the mountains at the far horizon, bask in the warm sun and feel the cool wind blowing by. Just lazing there on a morning and look at the big blue sky and white clouds floating and shifting their shapes gently with the wind.

On this trip, one reallllly LUCKY sight I saw is a FULL rainbow. It's a clear sky and the land is flat, and hence I can see the beginning of a rainbow from one end on the ground to the other one which also ends on the ground!!! A big SEMICIRCLE!!! And guess what, when I say FULL, I mean it is a DOUBLE rainbow, with the reflection of the main rainbow, all 7 colors, faintly above the 1st semicircle. It is a rare and beautiful nature view.
I just made a tick on my mental checklist of wish-I-could-see nature view.

Cool Summer

I never expect that summer will be so cold - 23 deg C.

I could literally feel the icy wind piercing at my skin and face each time it blows. Otherwise, the temperature is pretty nice to walk around in.

It's foggy, so I can't see the Golden Gate Bridge yet...hope it clears up when I come back next week.

And SF is full of steep slopes, i think they are inclined at at least 30deg. Walking up slopes is no joke.

=) but I find SF a pleasant place to stay in after exploring it for 3 days. With mega bookstores, tons of DVDs, beautiful buildings, nice food and easy to get around.

I could spend one whole day at the Fisherman's Wharf, peeking into the different shops, watching the street performers, visiting Alcatraz, photographing the sea lions and Pier 39 which of course includes feasting upon the famous clam chowder and Dungeness crabs + other seafood.

The most interesting shops have to be the chocolate shops. The smell of cocoa fills the air and it really perks one up. They have chocolate fudge with peanut covered apple in caramel. It's sinful.

It feels good to take a walk. Just a walk.

Jordan - Wadi Rum

This is my closest experience with a desert so far. Living in it for a night and taking a trail. Short, yes it is, but I love the desert. (think I mentioned previously why)

Of course, I would still like to avoid the hot mid-sun. Enjoy the desert view, best done in the early morning and late evening. Enjoy the coolness, serenity and stars in the night.




The desert does have many interesting landscapes too. =)

Jordan - Petra by Night

My very first visit to this place was a night trail. And Petra is the most famous place in Jordan and it drew millions of visitors every year.

Petra is an old city with many monuments and tombs carved out from the face of rocks. It is impressive.

For those who remembered Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, this is the place where it was shot. And the featured monument is "The Treasury". One of the first large building one will see after they walked through the Siq gorge.

And you bet I'm all full of anticipation to catch the sight of the Treasury after hearing and seeing it on the movies and pictures.

Petra by Night is a beautiful tour. Candelights that lit up the path along the gorge, dark sky filled with stars, a slightly chill wind blowing so that you dun even sweat a bit when trekking down the 1km route to the Treasury.

It's romantically beautiful, isn't it?

The candlelights create a look of softness on the rock and enhance their roundedness, making them look smoother than before. The walk in the Siq seems to go on and on and I can't wait for the famous turn which will bring me in view of the infamous Treasury. The dimly lit path sure adds on the mystery of the place and keeps my mind running imagery of how the view would be.

And as I walked on, I heard music floating in the air. Music from a pipe instrument. I know I'm near. I smiled to myself and quicken my pace.

And there it is, at the turn. My first glimpse of the Treasury through the small gap.

Of course, the beauty of the Treasury in full view. The orange light that bounces off the walls of the Treasury, illuminating it, giving it the unique red color.




Amazing monuments and I can't wait for daybreak so that I can explore the whole place.

Jordan - Umm Qais

This place is up north of Jordan, near to Israel and Syria. I reached here in the evening, just in time to catch the sunset in this anicent city. And we are in luck as the sky is very clear.


And there is still enough light for me to catch a glimpse of Golan Heights and Sea of Galilee. =)



And with the sun lowering behind the mountains, the city bathed in its golden rays.

Jordan - Pella

This is a place rarely touched by tourists. Free to walk around and take a good look at the plains and hills. This is my 1st trekking in Jordan.

The first interesting encounter here is the shepherd leading the goats home. There would be this goat with a bell tied around its neck, with the bell ringing away and this goat will stay at the end of the herd. I think this goat sort of chase the rest to move forward.











So it occurs that there must be farmers who live nearby. Indeed, we spot a family!


So, we paid a visit. Many children around and all of them looks so adorable. Gave them sweets, haha, a fast and easy way to make friends with children.











And if I remember correctly, the lady with the white scarf overhead is one pretty lady with rosy cheeks. Too bad, they can't take pictures.

Jerash - Temple of Artemis

Temple of Artemis

Temples of the Romans and Greeks are usually built on high grounds as they believed that would bring them closer to the Gods and Gods can hear them better.

Columns and pillars of temples are especially significant as they represent the communication tool that channelled the voices of the people on the ground to their Gods in the sky.

As I stand on the last flight of stairs, all I can see is the top of the columns of the Temple of Artemis. As one walked further up, as in the old days, people would say their prayers/wishes and raised their hands up towards the sky as if they are pillars of the Temple connecting from the ground to the sky, hoping that their words can reach the ears of the Gods.


Some other beautiful structures in Jerash.

The South Theatre

See the guy in blue right in the centre. That is the position where you can speak and your voice will be amplified throughout the whole theatre. This is a characteristic of all Roman theatres.

Oval Plaza

Temple of Zeus

Nymphaeum

This is the water point for people travelling along the cargo path in Jerash. So typical of Romans, to build fountains at their water source.