sandakan supervision trip day 1........

Another few days away, and this time I headed to Sandakan, on the East Coast of Sabah, seen from the map, it is located at the nasal bridge of the rough canine-head figure. I always plan my seat on a Boeing, knowing that I would have a glimpse on the mountain (which I never get tired of) and carefully to avoid the sunny side of the plane. We had a full load that day, so I didn't get my favourite 25F but I still managed a window seat up front. The view would be better if its an A side (window) to see the mountain but then the sun is also on that side.

Who ever gets tired of looking at Mt Kinabalu at sunrise?

The view from inside the CDC Office (Communicable Disease Control Programme) at Sandakan Health Clinic. Outside, the view of the new block of Sandakan Hospital.

My work includes checking through the files and registry of people in Sabah with HIV or AIDS and those that succumbed to the disease to make sure it is in order. Strict follow up must be done for mothers who has HIV, so after meetings with some Health Inspectors and Nursing staffs in charge, I called it a day early because our specialist in charge of them was out station.

So I went back early and took a long nap... resting my mind after a big news earlier that morning... about me getting a transfer back to East Coast, the original plan was to make me MOH of Beluran, but I am going to appeal for Lahad Datu. After the nap, I went to a place called Jesselton Coffee. I mistakenly put my camera right below the aircond vent, so when I wanted to shoot, it was making a lot of bad pictures like this, even after the camera has come up to room temperature. I was so worried, I thought I was going to lose this one too. Gladly enough the function came back after 1/2 hours. Half an hour of agony and heartache! I was even thinking of the Olympus Miu 1030 which costs about RM1300 - 1500 already! But I am glad its still okay.

The espresso at Jesselton Coffee. The barista made my day by doing a leaf on my mocha foam. I love latte art. Really takes my mind off being transferred and a spoiled camera!

Jesselton Coffee.

Okay, enough promotion.

The view from a divider along a road that separates Bandar Indah, the old phase and the new phase.

I had dinner at this place called Home Recipe, just behind Mark's Lodge where I was staying. They offered a set dinner of soup, garlic bread, salad, chicken chop, coffee and ice cream for only RM16.00. Now that's value for money!

Entree, garlic bread and creamy muchroom soup. The macaroni salad was so good I forgot to take picture of it.

Another serving of salad and mashed potato at the side of chicken chop with mushroom black pepper sauce.

Then to round up dinner, there was coffee (which I strongly suspect is Nescafe) and a scoop of chocolate ice-cream.

The first day was fine. I didn't get much sleep though... probably because getting used of the new bed.

next destination, sandakan......

a piece of pawn on the godfather's board......

I have to admit, I feel more alive nowadays, more happy and looking forward to the days ahead because work is back! Ah, although I hate to admit that I am dependent on work to feel like this, but someone once told me that it's normal to feel this way... although the day could be slightly more stressful (then again, what stress?) and traveling seems to be an agenda to be planned weeks in advance, I sleep better at night, through the tiredness from the day's work. Remember how I was complaining about depression a while ago? That ARTEo has left the ship, leaving the old ARTEo who loves his job! Uiseh...

But while I was going through the HIV case management files in Sandakan earlier this morning, I got a call from Dr Yusof (he's like the GodFather who extracted me from Lahad Datu a year back to the HQ, and when he was transferred out, I was orphaned, left hiding in the office, facing the danger or being transferred out too - another reason why I got so depressed) but all is well now, GodFather, being a Survivor surely with a capital S, is back and I can come out from hiding again! Yay!

Ah I was talking about the phone call, actually it was a message asking me to call him back. Suspiciously the sms sounds almost identical with the one I received from him almost a year ago! If I guessed it right, it could mean only one thing... movement! And sure enough I read the signs quite correctly, he offered me another transfer, this time back to the East Coast, to be the Area Medical Officer of Health for Beluran.

It is a good opportunity for me to practice and learn about district management, since I am thinking of taking up Masters in Public Health anyway, and someone has advised me to go to the district in order to sail through MPH. Hmmm.... Yea the mixed feeling is familiar, I got the same one when I was taken out of Lahad Datu.

One thing about Dr Yusof is, people acknowledge that he has an eye for people he wants to train up, and being handpicked by him can only mean good thing...

A new beginning... I am asking for transfer to Lahad Datu, at least there's a programme or two there that's quite close to my heart, like the SexWork Outreach and the Father Friendly Antenatal Course... Maybe I get to do something for the kids under Malnutrition Recovery programme too.... wah banyak idea already!

random pics.......

Treated pipe water

Air Asia has been having quite a lot of sales nowadays and I was really tempted to book myself a flight to Jakarta for RM0.00 fare which comes up to about 200bucks return. A little bit less careful and I'd be a compulsive traveler.

Was waiting for my driver to pick me up one day from Tuaran, and got talking with a bunch of teenagers on their way to LPKN who are interested in photography.

A reflection of my office. Behind the window is an angel figurine holding a red ribbon.

oil... oil... oil......

In the midst of all these, don't forget to smile a bit...

urgent: have you seen her?.....

This is Bobby's sister, I've enlarged the pic hopefully to make it clearer. Bob, I hope someone will find her in good health.

Good citizens of Malaysia, keep your eyes peeled!

Distressed parents Hairy Lojimin, 53 and Rosnie Majamin, 49, are pleading to the public to help find their daughter who disappeared about a year ago.

Their youngest child Helena (pictured), now 17, was last seen leaving her aunt’s house in July last year to meet her friends in the city.

She never returned home after that. Hairy, a Menggatal resident, said his daughter used to live with her aunt when she was in Form Four. “We do not know why she did not come home.

We never had any heated argument but if we had offended her in any way, we would like to say sorry…we just want her to come home,” he said. Hairy said he has already lodged a police report on Helena’s disappearance.

Anyone who knows Helena’s whereabouts can contact:

Hairy (013-8720697) or
Rosnie (012-8306510) or
Rozita (016-5853566).

by JOSEPH JUPIOL
news cut out from Sabah Times Online

snippets: calvin and hobbes.......

many happy returns....

June 8 is Mizal's Birthday

Dude I know how strongly you feel about not celebrating birthdays, but here's wishing you a happy one, and the gladness that you're around! Cheers.

it's coming near my b'oil'ing point now....

Apa yang saya sudah faham...

Banyak sudah artikel-artikel yang ditulis atas subjek ini, dan sudah banyak rencana-rencana tentangnya terpapar di akhbar-akhbar... Ya, memang rakyat akan marah, memang rasa mahu memberontak, rasa mahu protes, dan saya, walaupun tidak akan turut turun ikut piket, pun rasa muak dengan seruan kerajaan (atau pun seruan seorang yang dah tak de benda lain nak cakap) untuk rakyat cuba faham keadaan pasaran minyak dunia yang meningkat menyebabkan harga pasaran tempatan juga turut mendapat kesan.

Apa yang "kerajaan" harus faham...

Saya dah muak dengan dengan pemikiran cetek sesetengah pihak (and we know which pihak is this) membandingkan harga-harga pasaran minyak di tempat lain, tak faham kah bahawa pendapatan per kapita di tempat lain tak sama dengan negara kita? Stop comparing, it's bloody effing not the same okay!

Anyway, Tun DrM has written some calculations for us to put better light on the situation. To those math junkies out there, hop over.

click: Che Det on Oil Price

the aftermath.... post-siopon morn......

ko/gu/tan (noun) orig. kadazandusun sum of unpleasant physiological effects following heavy consumption alcoholic beverages. [e.g. silaka, sakit kapla sya, kogutan ni, jangan ko macam-macam] The formal name for a kogutan is veisalgia, from the Norwegian word for "uneasiness following debauchery" (kveis) and the Greek word for "pain" (algia) -- an appropriate title considering the uncomfortable symptoms experienced by the average drinker. The most commonly reported characteristics of kogutan include symptoms of dehydration, fatigue, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, elevated body temperature, hypersalivation, difficulty concentrating, anxiety, irritability, sensitivity to light and noise, erratic motor functions, trouble sleeping and lack of depth perception. Many people will also be repulsed by the thought or taste of alcohol during kogutan. The symptoms vary from person to person, and occasion to occasion, usually beginning several hours after drinking.

***********************************************************************

I've not had a hangover for a very very very long time now, and quite gladly too... This morning I woke up at the sofa, with Bobbi sleeping at my feet and Rex licking my fingers, then putting his head on my hand, asking for a neck rub. Sisqo looking suspiciously at me, Rocky no where to be seen and Yuki minding her own business under the table.

Wow, it's not funny, I slept with the dogs! Haha, not as bad as it sounds actually but my host actually owns 5 pooches in the house.

At about half past 6 I woke up the first time, roughly remembered I puked in the toilet last night, so I went to check if I cleaned up after myself. Either I did it on auto-pilot mode, or the dogs ate it up, the toilet was clean. (But Mesh said I left something on the floor, pieces of chicken I suppose, sorry dude)

My head was heavy so I went back to sleep. At about 9, I woke up again, and helped out a bit on cleaning the mess from last night (although minimally) and was ready to get breakfast by 1030. I was still not feeling good in the head and stomach, so I had to poke myself in the throat. Funnily I puked out more chicken (how much did I take, really?) and that piece of eggplant I took from last night, plus a few pieces of long beans. Probably food floats on alcohol, that's why I still have my food in recognisable forms... yucks.

I badly needed coffee to flush down the nausea, and being bulimic didn't really help. Ah, that's probably why I'm still fat today, had I been comfortable with bulimia, I'd be sexy by now, hahaha. And Jr didn't have coffee in the house. There was a bottle of unopened Kahlua I see, but I guess coffee liqueur won't do much help for my hangover. A couple of paracetamol would have to do.

Had brunch at Wan Wan Restaurant, and I was dying already for strong coffee by then. The konloh noodle with fishcake soup was nice, but quite rarely, I wasn't able to finish mine.

Adventure was the word of the day so we carpooled to 1-Borneo on its opening day, to jalan-jalan. The jam was quite unbelievable, we had to park across the complex, at Alam Mesra to park the car, then a walk across the construction site to reach 1-Borneo.

The jam.

The jam.

Nih, Mesh, si (@%^# insert choice word to replace gibberish) yang tiau ko secara tiba-tiba tu... pasal ko pijak simen dia bah kan? Kita kasi tayang muka dia sini! Baru dia tau!

The crowded complex. Kenapa ramai nih? Ada barang free ka?

Patung mencangkug macam mau birak.

Ada lagi kuda pakai baju...

kotobian tadau kaamatan......

Ok, siopon story time, hahaha....

Like I said before, I was invited to a Kaamatan celebration, and it was actually a village level celebration, of Kampung... ah I forgot the name, but it's in Donggongon, inside Jalan Pogun, of which Jr's dad is the JKKK chairman.

Celebration started with gong showcase, with village people young and old pulling up a piece to officiate the ceremony. There was a few speeches, and after that, dinner.

Jr's place is just across the celebration campsite, so we decided to have our own celebration in his place, with the buffet spread was just outside.

While siopon naturally was the main attraction for the night, we also had shisha to keep us occupied. Shisha is just flavoured wet tobacco, filtered through cold water.

Nah, this is the siopon. While fermenting, the earthen vase is covered with leaves. A jar of this potent stuff isn't that expensive, as the one we had costs only RM30.00.

The proper way to prepare siopon as shown by Jr. The jar of siopon would actually come dry, only a huge lump of caked up fermented rice inside. It had to be filled up with drinking water. Just water at room temperature, not boiling please.

Then, the opening is covered with clean plastic sheet.

Put some holes onto the plastic sheet for water refilling.

Place the bamboo straw provided firmly into the rice lump, preferably with one swift insertion rather than having to pull it back up again, so as not to break the rice lump.

Ha! Ready for consumption.

Iitadakimasu......

Aramaitiiii.....

The actual way to drink the siopon is first to sip the potent fluid in the jar (called tapai) until the fluid level comes off contact with the plastic sheet, that's about the equivalence of a cup of tapai. A cup of clean water is then refilled into the jar. So as the process is repeated, the potency of the tapai will taper off until it becomes tasteless. When does that happen I don't know. My guess is that 1 jar of siopon could actually give out up to 5 jars of potent tapai. That's a lot of refilling to do.

We had a few choices of toxins to wash away our consciousness. Other than the siopon, there was also Mango Rum, Chivas Swing, an assortment of Vodkas and no water. We had only a few cans of Sprite and a miserable bottle of Tuti Fruity, so at the end we had to take everything on the rocks.

I remembered wandering off from the house to join the celebration outside dancing poco-poco. I probably missed the sumazau but was in time for the poco-poco. I usually don't dance, but surely only after 2 full sips on the tajau, and a few shots of mango rum, I found my dancing bone!

Sleep came quite insistently at about 2 am, I barely remember talking to Jr's mother about dancing the poco-poco (what is it about me with being drunk and chatting up my friends' mothers I don't know, but I had similar experience a while ago, hehehe - but nothing Freudian I can be sure).

There was still invitation to open cans of beer at 2am but I seriously felt like my consciousness was slipping away like a boat leaving the dock. I had to call back my consciousness, come back! come back! come back! But after a few times slipping off, I decided I wouldn't want to fight it anymore, just retire for the night. All and all, I took anly 4 sips on the siopon, 2 in full consciousness, 1 right after poco-poco (I was thirsty) and another before they kept it away for the night.

Ahh... the anticipation for hang over the next morning.

siopon, found at last.....!!

after so much anticipation, the day finally comes! I've been good the past week, I counted my calories, I went to the gym, I stayed off alcohol, I did my homework, mawed the lawn, swept the leaves, cleaned the fish tank, brushed my teeth, cut my fingernails....

...now, hehehehe.... Thanks Jr and Mesh for organising this....

...let's paa-aaa-arr-taayy!!!

Belum minum pun macam mabuk sudah... apamacam ni...

calorie counting day 4..... part ii.....

Ah, really, I'm getting bored of counting calories already, well at least I went up a day more than my last attemp... anyway, these are what I had for dinner at 1-Borneo

1. Bento set at Sushi King, with a serving of rice, 2 pieces kanikama, some fried stuffs and a small portion of ice cream, total calorie I don't know kcal
2. 100plus and 1 small popcorn I don't know kcal

That's it, tomorrow I'll stop counting...

Mission failed.

calorie counting day 4......

Today was an interesting day at work, it's been a while since I felt so motivated. Will talk about it later. Now for calories count before I lose it all to amnesia...

1. Breakfast instant noodle and egg 370kcal
2. Nescafe 3-in-1 100kcal
3. Lunch konloh noodle with fishballs 500kcal
4. Cooling tea 150kcal quite sweet
5. 1 piece of butter raisin cake 80kcal

Later I'll be joining the gang to go watch movie at 1-Borneo, hopefully my appetite will give me a pass and let my conscience go off for skipping gym today.

calorie count day 3....... part ii...

Okay, the actual count. so what I had yesterday....

1. Instant noodle like usual, plain 300kcal
2. Nescafe 3-in-1 100kcal
3. Currypuff 80kcal
4. Coffee and tea 150kcal
5. Noodle again with egg 370kcal
6. Salad for dinner, with cheese 350kcal
7. Carrot juice no milk 120kcal
8. Rice with sardines 800kcal

Total intake 1820kcal

I gave in to temptation of rice last night after coming back late from work, and after getting myself out of a looooooong jam I was terribly hungry. The jam was caused by people lining up to fuel up their cars before the price increase again starting on 5th June. No gym today.

Bloody hell. I'll go over to Che'Det now to make myself feel better..... Hope he has something interesting to say about this matter, and something sarcastic about that ONE particular guy whom WE ALL LOVE......

calorie count day 3........

The temptation......

It's a norm for our Government run programmes to be laden with food and food and food, even if it's a programme held to check our health status like BMI and visceral fat content - like the one they had upstairs this morning.... unsurprisingly, there were food prepared, and like always, in abundance.

Malaysian culture lah, it is said that we Malaysian only eat once a day - our meal starts when we wake up and finishes when we go to bed!

Now, shall I give in?..... hmmmmmm....

calorie count day 2...... part ii......

Ah... the gym session was much more satisfactory today, burnt >300kcal on the bicycle and treadmill so I thought I did pretty well,.... until my boss told me that he usually burn up to 600kcal on the treadmill.... okay la, slowly I'll get there.

Anyway, I stopped by the supermarket on my way back, and went around looking for something I could call dinner. So these I had:

1. Plain noodle 1 serving 200kcal
2. Sardines in chilly sauce 300kcal
3. BBQ clams 1 serving 40kcal
4. Fried egg 70kcal
5. 1 can wintermelon tea 100kcal

That's pretty much it...

Ah yes, my mom opened a tub of ice cream, so I had a few spoonfuls

1. Ice cream 200kcal
2. and Sandra had to tuba me with a chocolate chip cookie - one single piece 50kcal

So total intake for tonight 960kcal

Total intake today 1940kcal, minus from the gym, so nett intake is 1640kcal.

Ah, damn it, I had a Horlicks Ping with boss at the hospital, so that's about 150kcal making the nett caloric intake to be 1790kcal, Phew, still better than last night. Maybe tomorrow I'll do better (hhmm... sounds familiar...)

calorie count day 2.......

So far so good... work has been keeping me busy so less idle time to think much about food... so here are the things I've downed since morning...

1. breakfast, as usual instant cintan noodle with seaweed 350kcal
2. nescafe 3-in-1 100kcal
3. another liter of juice, guava this time - 380kcal
4. few spoonfuls of Yiyi's left-over jelly - negligible lah
5. handfuls of raisins - 150kcal

Nett intake till now 980kcal

Hopefully tonight will be less tempting to binge on carb... gym! gym! gym!

random pics.......

Haha, jangan terpedaya... this pics isn't really a candid, asyik posing bah tu, hahahaha! Ni lah muka si Mesh yang malas main tennis, so kitorang pi makan sanaaa Waterfront... ada lagi gambar paparazi sya tapi tidak kasi upload sebab orgnya pemalu gitu... gak mau fotonya dipublish...

ISO 400, the evidence of grains in low light isn't one of the camera's best attribute. However, the quality is redeemed in ample lighting, and according to the Photography Master, comparatively to Sony, Ricoh and Canon differentiates green colour much better... But no point discussing that here, all you see is black and white.

Haha, you got PATCHed!!

calorie count day 1... part ii.....

So the other half of the day I was thinking of not having anything substantial, but Mesh invited me to have dinner with his friends nih... Dinner for tonight wasn't too bad...

1. 1 serving of pineapple fried rice with soup 800kcal
2. 1 glass of lite carrot juice without milk 300ml 100kcal
3. 1 slice of ya pear 30g 10kcal
4. The rest of the night I'll be having only cold water and maybe another shot of Nescafe 100kcal

Minus the cycling I did at the gym for 30 minutes 200Cal
Nett caloric intake today was 1900kcal

Not too bad considering I am targeting 2000Cal for today... Let's see how tomorrow would be.

Okay lah I lied, actually I asked Mesh out for dinner first, but I was seriously considering salad, I swear!!!

calorie count day 1......

Ah, I'm doing this again... let's see how far I can go... the last time I went to 3 days...

Positive... must be positive....

1. Okay, for breakfast I had instant noodle, so that's about 300kcal...
2. Nescafe, that's 98kcal... ok la 100kcal...
3. 2 glasses of cold orange cordial during meeting, that hm.... 100kcal lah...
4. Some handfuls of raising, small handfuls, mind you,.... that's probably about 100kcal...
5. 1 litre of OJ, 350kcal...
6. Half a donut... 150kcal...

Total for now 1100kcal

Hmmm... not much left allocation for tonight... but I'll go burn some 300kcal at gym this evening.

random pics...

Went out for movie with Jr and Mesh, it's been a while since I went for one... the last one if I remembered correctly was The Forbidden Kingdom, watched with Adrian Ng in KL. Not shown here is Mesh, since he decided to be the photographer for the night... ISO 100, patutla blur saja ni bro...

Sometimes blurred pics can be good pics too... tinguk tu gang-ho betul, pi tinguk wayang pun pakai baju jata-jata lagi tu...

Okay, after this I am seriously going to do calories calculation again... got to stop all these late night KFCing... okay, KeeTs, every time I feel like KFC I'll imagine you hitting my head with a big tukul...