mock outbreak..... the day 2 challenge......

Day 2 at the course, we started early by presenting the mysterious outbreak that we had to investigate the day before. Our group was the last one so it was already nearly 1030am by the time I get to present our management. The whole time I was waiting for the chance to snap a good mountain picture but no luck today.

Dari pagi tu gunung bertapuk saja di belakang awan... a'macam ni?

Gadis gadis urusetia, ready to print anything that we need to be printed. Hehehe.

In the afternoon, we were given another task, this time a more realistic mock outbreak, of possible Avian Influenza involving the whole state. My group was given the task of being the state Health Headquarters, and I am the Director of Health. Uiseh, pangkat besar but really, I don't know what to do...

So during the second session, we planned out our strategies and the night session ended with a (mock) press release, at which I was stuttering like woodie woodpecker.

The moon veiled by the clouds, 8seconds on ISO 200, mounted on tripod.

all photos taken with RICOH Caplio GX8
photos by PicHarmonics Photography

outbreak management course at kundasang......

We took off at about 8am, but still the jam held us back a little. It's really exciting going for this course, with the landmark of my destination so visibly clear early in the morning.

The view of Mount Kinabalu from the reverse side, not the typical postcard view. This was taken from Tuaran.

Since I was going to be late anyway, we stopped by at Tuaran for a quick breakfast after refueling the car. I think there are more shops in KK selling Tuaran noodle than in Tuaran itself.

Quite a pleasant surprise to find out that the secretariat gave me a suite for my whole stay here. The suite comprises a living space with a sofa, normal TV and a fridge, and the bedroom proper with a queen size bed, a flat screen LCD TV with an ample sized bathroom - all for myself. Wow, I don't mind going for courses all the time if all the accommodations are like this!

I missed 2 lectures in the morning, but was just in time for the practical work. It's a problem based discussion activity, trying to solve a mysterious outbreak which causes unstable high fever in a group of camping hippies.

The weather was kind enough for me to take good pictures of the mountain. I believe it will do no justice to put this picture in black and white, so some special exceptions are always tolerated in PATCH.

Nah, urangranau, your mountain, sya jaga baik-baik juga tuh...

Later in the evening it rained, so we drove down to Ranau town for a drink and some tid-bits.

Blogging and researching from the hotel lounge, Topion Cafe.

I tried the long exposure function of the camera. The mountain actually is hardly visible in the darkness of the night, other than the blinking lights at the mountain foot. This below is taken with exposure 30sec on ISO100, mounted on mini-tripod.

This I think is 15sec on ISO400, zoomed in.

All photos taken with RICOH Caplio GX8

Photos by PicHarmonics Photography

up the mountain.......

This year I realised that I haven't been to any courses yet... I have been involved in quite a few as a speaker or facilitator but not yet as a participant. I need at least 2 for my year end appraisal actually.

Tomorrow I am going up Kundasang for a 4 days course on Outbreak Management, something I will need once I start work in the district. Sigh... hardly a week in KK now, but it's all good. Expect for good pictures!

mount kinabalu, picture courtesy of amai26

SEE AMAI26'S PHOTOSTREAM AT FLICKR

all too familiar... my worst nightmare......

A few days ago I had another misfortune with my car tyre... it was all too familiar, as long as I have been driving, this is the fourth time it happened, and none of it I could handle myself...

...okay I admit it, not macho at all.

It happened like this... okay, I'm not really in the mood to recall that unfortunate day when I lost almost RM200.00 to a bad tyre... but that morning, I had 3 cups of Nescafe, in anticipation of the events to follow.

Again, Awang came to the rescue, helping me to change using the tool box from the department's Hilux.

Then with the spare tyre intact, I slowly drove to the tyre shop at Sadong Jaya.

Volvorine getting a pedicure.

Bloody pedicure costs me RM 190.00. sigh.....

Bah siapa boleh guess apa ni barang?

Almost a year ago, the same thing happened, read about it here.

sandakan trip day 2.......

Woke up at about 8 in the morning, I purposely declined the offer for a driver to come pick me up from the hotel. I took my sweet time getting ready, had 2 roti canai at habeeb for breakfast (still Sri Pandii owns the gold standard for Indian food) and went around looking for a taxi to get to the clinic. Unfortunately Bandar Indah isn't the best place to get one, so I had to walk out to the main road. Seeing a bus going pass, I flagged it and really glad that it's going the clinic direction.

The last time I was on a bus in Sandakan, was many many many years ago, during Interact Club's first Pan Borneo Convention. That was in 1995, some 13 years ago. The trip from mile 4 to the clinic was only 70 cents.

The cross road at Mile 4, Sandakan.

The front entrance of Klinik Kesihatan Sandakan.

Alamak... bad spelling...

Front view of Klinik Kesihatan Sandakan.

Dr Zaiton, the Family Medicine Specialist and Dr Senthil, Medical and Health Officer.

For lunch, a group of nurses decided to abduct me (no kidding, they insisted that I go although I told them I'm on a diet) to have Ikan Bakar or fresh roasted fish. This place is famous in Sim-Sim, and have been wanting to come here myself, but since Jr had to go back KK for Clarence's funeral, I am quite glad for Plan B.

How it works here, you just choose the fish you want, then take a seat as rice and all other dishes will be served on the table.

Nah, the complete meal.

There a few things I don't take for lunch. One, is fish, obviously because of the smell. Second, Indian food, also because of the smell that lingers, and thirdly, chilli, of any kind, because I wouldn't stop sweating. Not that I cannot tolerate chilli, I can take it quite well, but once the flood gate opens, it will take some time before I get dry again.

But they say it's not eating ikan bakar if it isn't taken with the chilli, so I tried both, chilli in tomato paste and chilli in calamansi juice. I prefer the one in calamansi juice.

Muka puas lepas makan...

The clinic at near sunset. In Sandakan, the sun sets over the hills.

My favourite place to shop at Bandar Indah, Parkwell.

I closed the night out by having a slice of cheesy cheese cake and white chocolate mocha at Jesselton Coffee. Needed the internet badly.

Actually I had a shock when I opened the file that my colleague saved for me in the pen-drive. It was supposed to be the presentation slide from my boss, that I am presenting the next day, but unfortunately he got the old file in! almost panicked, I had to get connected to download some pictures for my talk the next day. Biasalah me, it ain't Roddy is it ain't last minute!

random juke: prayer to st peter.......

A friend of Junior's just passed away last Thursday, and I have been hearing of his struggle throughout the time when I first learned about it end of last year. A guy by the name of Clarence, struggled with metastasised cancer, and now back to Lord. Seeing the sadness in Junior's face brought back some uncomfortable memories of my own struggle with emotions facing death. I am glad full that all of my close friends are still with me, but from time to time I do have patients whom I cared for so much succumbing to their sickness. This song reminds me of the tiredness of they who had to struggle before they can rest. It's a song by Edwin McCain, after an anonymous poem found on a war-torn wall of a hospital during WW2.

Prayer to St Peter, Edwin McCain
Let them in, Peter
For they are very tired
Give them couches where the angels sleep
And light those fires
Let them wake whole again
To brand new dawns
Fired by the sun
Not war-times bloody guns
May their peace be deep
Remember where the broken bodies lie
God knows how young they were
To have to die

You know God knows how young they were
To have to die

Give them things they like
Let them make some noise
Give dance hall bands not golden harps
To these our boys
Let them love Peter
For they've had no time
They should have bird songs and trees
And hills to climb
The taste of summer
And a ripened pear
And girls as sweet as meadow wind
And flowing hair
And tell them how they are missed
But say not to fear
It's gonna be all right
With us down here

Let them in, Peter
For they are very tired
Give them couches where the angels sleep
And light those fires
Let them wake whole again
To brand new dawns
Fired by the sun
Not war-times bloody guns
May their peace be deep
Remember where the broken bodies lie
God knows how young they were
To have to die

You know God knows how young they were
To have to die

And tell them how they are missed
But say not to fear
It's gonna be all right
With us down here

It's gonna be all right
With us down here

LISTEN TO PRAYER TO ST PETER HERE

(coming soon)

sandakan day 3... homeward bound......

What happened to day 2 you may think... yea I forgot to edit the pictures from day 2, of which the height would be going for ikan bakar with a bunch of nurses... Well, that's for another day.

Now day 3 was short, I gave a talk on Epidemiology of HIV and AIDS in Malaysia and Sabah, under great pressure I may add because it was in the presence of the Great Dr Timothy, the Person / Voice / Brain with authority for Clinical Infectious Disease. I find myself kept on looking at him while delivering the talk, and him looking down as if shutting down his other senses other than his hearing to scrutinise everything that I said from the stage. Sigh...

But the Great Dr Timothy was nice, he in fact restored confidence in the Public Health effort to push down the HIV level in the state and maintaining it at 'low'. Nice things he said about Kesihatan Awam.

After the talk, I was eager to go home.

At Sandakan Airport.

MAS has introduced a new image for its cabin, the happy Candy Colours! Multiple colours of bright red, strong orange, apple green, cobalt blue and a darker blue ? purple were randomly thrown on the seats. Honestly I'd rather have the old songket motive on a dark purplish seat we had for ages. For this flight, I got apple green! Yay!

The plane shadow as it descended to land.

Night, as usual, I went out with Jr and Mesh for a drink (or two). We had lok-lok (don't know what it's called here) just outside the pub, and we mistaken the chilli sauce for satay sauce because both were brown. I belched fire after taking a generous generous helping of the sauce on my fried dim sum.