unexpected adventure...

Today I was supposed to be on a traveling day heading to Lahad Datu where we will be doing supervisory visits along the way, and to attend a meeting later this week... The weather was not too supportive of our long journey early in the morning, but work must go on, and since we are also carrying supplies to distribute to some clinics on the way, we decided that land-travel would be more economical and strategic... and fun...

I was betting more on the fun factor, I packed my tripods and brought all the camera gears along, all of which would have to stay home if I were to take the flight over... I have already plans to take some pictures of flowers in Kundasang and learn a little bit more of aperture setting in doing macro photography, I didn't mind that the mountain would definitely be hidden in this kind of weather, but oh the excitement of having all the gears around when I take seaside pictures in Lahad Datu... it's not always that I want to take the SLR out for a trip because it's too bulky...

The road was wet throughout, forcing us to go below our optimal speed, but that was not even a fraction of the problem we were about to face... at about half-way through to Ranau, the car suddenly lost speed and there was a trail of white smoke behind us, so thick it was worse than the fog that was already there...

We quickly got off to see what happened. Apparently there was a lot of smoking from under the hood (for want of a more technical-way to explain this, but I know nuts about automobiles and their innards, and not ashamed to admit it) and first it was like steam getting off from some part of the engine which slowly turn to spritz of water spurting out for really really long...

And after all that spurting has stopped, we found the problem... some part of the water delivery piping (which I don't know the name) that connects the engine to some other parts (which I also don't know the name) was leaky from a crack that formed after the rubber part (which again, I don't know the name) became too brittle.

And that's the little rascal that spoiled our plan!

Ah what luck! After calling the mechanics and the Headquarters to send rescue, apparently we had to wait, while HQ goes through its multi-cascades of authority to come up with another plan and release another car. For this I am not very proud of the bloody red-tapes and bloody protocols and bloody frigging procedures, in fact I was bloody pissed with the amount of time needed for a little decision like this to be made. Well, to pull myself back into reality, what do I expect as a low-class officer?

From the first s.o.s. telephone call that we made, it was not until about nearly 4 hours later that we'll get our sorry bums on a rescue vehicle to send us back to civilisation. Bloody hell!

Not knowing what awaits us at that time, we decided to lock up the car and take a walk back - tracking to where we came from, for we could have sworn that the nearest town (Pekan Nabalu) was just about half a kilometer away... We just went past the town, it could not be that far... Plus I was in the mood for a little photo-hunting, well, there's always a reason for something to happen...

So we locked up and went on our way... The car broke down at about 55km from Tuaran downhill and about 27km from Ranau ahead...

The walk reminds me of Tolkien when he described the journey Froddo went through, trees and birds, and grass, and little streams of spring water... nice... Behind me is an onion patch, there was a lady tending her onions that we talked to, but Dusun ladies are naturally shy, so she managed to sprint off before I took a snap (thinking that she is still behind me...)

Then, after the onion patch we came across mushroom plantation, where they grow shiitake in little covered greenhouse... I saw this on TV before, so I decided to come in and have a look... There was another lady there tending her mushrooms...

A close-up of the said shiitake...

It was quite weird that even after 2 kilometers of walking we still have not reached Pekan Nabalu, instead we came to this resting hub that offers lunch and toilet for long distance-truck drivers. According to a waitress, Pekan Nabalu is another 20 minutes walk away, so we decided to have lunch there first and continue walking later...

It's been a while since we had simple lunch like this. In KK we usually go our own way for lunch, I miss the time in Lahad Datu when staffs always have lunch together. Nothing to shout about this diner, but when you're hungry, nasi goreng ayam dengan telur mata becomes a cuisine...

After lunch we decided to continue (my) monthly ration of exercise. There is a SIB church just below the restaurant we ate in... With a view like this, would anyone skip church?

The mountain decided to take a peek after the mist settled around noon, not for long though...

After walking for a while (about 10 minutes), there was an opening where we could look over the valley to see how much we still have to walk before reaching Pekan Nabalu.... the lady was waaay off! I too have problem with approximating time and distance sometimes but seeing Pekan Nabalu from where we were standing, that COULD NOT be another 10 minutes walk!

Some of us could use some exercise, but none of us were that desperate, so we turned back and head for the restaurant again... Annoyingly there were more cars on the road than there were drivers, and here we are stranded up on the mountains with no-one willing to offer us a ride... Oh we tried hitching a ride, but after a few embarrassing rejections, we decided to accept the sad fact that Malaysians, or Sabahans are not the type of people who'd do this kind of thing...

And along the way we can see these milestones being vandalised... Panau is actually a fungal infection on the skin...

Nobody wants to go to Panauland but apparently some local youngsters find it very amusing to rip off the legs of Rs to change it to Ps all the way to Ranau...

One good thing was it didn't rain the whole time we were out in the open...

When help finally came at nearly 4pm, we were exhausted from sitting too long in the coffee shop exchanging gossips and juicy stories concerning office politics... Another perfect day gone...

After I get transferred to the town clinic, there would be little opportunities for me to climb behind a truck like this... better enjoy it while it last...

Pekan Nabalu was no less than about 5 kilometers away, and it took us even 6 minutes to get there on a truck going downhill at good speed...

Got myself some bananas... reminds me of dalmatians...

Well, not so much of an adventure, but I'm just glad we're all okay, and the opportunity to take some nice photographs... Tomorrow I'll be going to Lahad Datu by flight... SLR would have to wait another time...