~4th of September 2009~
The trip started on my birthday morning, so unfortunately I miss so damn many birthday wishes from my friends (whom really forgot to wish me the next tuesday). We jumped on a white van, which was rented by UMS and could fit all 10 of us (including pakcik driver). Pakcik fetched us up at 9 in the morning. Still so damn early to start a trip if you asked me. Luckily I didn’t forget anything. Then the journey started. At first I thought pakcik was going the wrong way because as far as I know the road to tawau is passing through ranau and all. Actually the trip is about journey around sabah, literally! So we were using keningau’s road to reach tawau. We ‘mounted’ bukit emas and reach keningau town first (the first stop). There we saw somebody was showing a newly dead black snake at the shell station where we’re stopping. The most disastrous thing during the 1st day of the trip was the 2-hours drive on totally gravel road. With the dust left behind by the car upfront, even the aircond cannot be switched on because the dust will enter the van. I wonder if my fasting is accepted or not when I’m inhaling the dusty air. Then we reached merotai besar, tawau (if I’m not mistaken) at 5pm. We were supposed to sleep at Yati’s house that night. We stop at bazaar for 10 minutes then rush to her house. Her parents had already bought us all nasi ayam then they head to semporna to their other house. Actually I was about to retire for the night but all the others want to have a look at tawau city, so I’d followed them with a heavy heart. Not many things we could see at night in a small town. Many shops were closed. Luckily the supermarket (forgot the name already) was still open. Since it’s still my birthday, they bought me a cake, so sweet~the rest of the night was explained in my previous post.
~5th of September 2009~
Happy belated birthday to me!! We officially fulfilled the trip objective by going to the Tacara factory. The factory is processing seaweed into gel in powder form. We were given white boots before going into the processing area.
After the study trip, we stopped by Taman Bukit Tawau, which were on our way to tawau city. Shalany, fei, rey and yati ‘mandi’ at the waterfall while the others and me were just playing with the water.
Next we stopped by tawau city to buy delicacies and souvenirs to bring back. Tawau is famous with its delicious amplang (keropok pelang-pelang). Afterwards we’re heading to semporna where yati’s house is situated. We really did saved a lot of money on accommodation because of yati. Thanx A Lot YATI. Yati’s parents had set up bbq for us. So, everybody was showing their own skill in marinating and cooking. It was a lot of fun. Yati’s father brought us to tampe-tampe (where ‘duyung’ movie was shoot) that night. At first I don’t want to ‘mandi’ there, but I can’t stand the temptation and straight away jumped into the sea. That was the 1st time I ‘mandi’ in the sea at night. I sharpened my swimming skills and now I can even do ‘kuak lentang’.
~6th of September 2009~
Everyone woke up late that morning. Pretty tired after 2-days journey but we have to make sure that we reach docks at 7am. So sleepy. While waiting for the ‘boat person’ to come and fetch us, we went to a nearby resort with splendid view. That’s when our photo-whoring started. Even there’s ‘abang’ that works at the receptionist who ‘sound’ us not to take pictures there. Duh!! Kedekut btol. So what right?!
After that the boat person took us to the ‘bajau’ houses at bum-bum island and the seaweed farm. The water is so clear that you can even see the fishes, even sting rays swimming around, the starfish crawling (is this the right movement of starfish?) and also various colours corals. Got green, purple, blue and etc. I saw one like dory (finding nemo) but just the small one. The bajau people also showed us a sleeping coral snake with blue and white stripes.
The moment we stepped on the mainland, the seaweed field trip is officially ended. Time to go back guys. We headed to Lahad Datu next. Prof. Awang planned to go to Gua Madai where they collect bird nest before going to Lahad Datu, but people there said it’s too dangerous for outsiders to go into the cave. So we headed straight to Lahad Datu where we stayed at a hotel for the night. All seven girls of us crammed into a queen-and-single bed room. The room was so packed that the only space left is space to walk to the window where we perform our prayers. Dr. Suhaimi spent all of us ‘buka puasa’ at Grace hotel-buffet style. You can imagine how glutton they were after a tiring day of seaweed trip. Even the lift can’t hold all of us up anymore which can hold perfectly before.
~7th of September 2009~
We had our journey back to Kota Kinabalu. We stop by a line of stalls at the T-junction of Ranau and Sandakan. I did buy some delicacies and fruits for friends and family. There’s an incident where shalany encountered with a small, stripes snake at the roof top of the stall. The snake was just few cm in front of her (because the roof is not that high). Everyone was so shocked. But everything was alright after snake went away. Then we head straight to Kota Kinabalu. Hence a long, four-day trip ended with beauty sleep after we arrive at UMS at 3pm. The trip is more to having fun than a seaweed field trip. With that I officially have went round Sabah~
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