Did five days in KK, one of my favourite cities. Coincided it with Kaamatan, which is the Kadazan annual festival of Harvest. Kotobian Tadau Tagazo Do Kaamatan Sabahans!
Was with Eddy, my housemate. Agenda was basically partying, checking out the highlands, islands, and ‘wildlife’.
I’ve basically covered Sabah, inland and off-shore, but dont mind more trips. Not many pictures tho. Camera fucked, n Eddy dont have one. So in d end most pix are of him, from my cheap-ass phone.
First drink of the trip at Irish Bar Shamrock. Not good happy hours tho
Had trouble getting around as Max who was supposed to show us around was in KL. So mostly chilled during d day.
Happy hours at The Loft, Waterfront. Good selection of ales
Got our butts down to the pier, which is downtown. In fact, the sea is downtown. Niice.
Checked out Manukan Island, part of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park islands. They all lie by KK, just a speedboat ride away.
Had a beer with a giant leatherback turtle
Chilled
Beach, beer, tunes
Some old bombs found on the island. Why did they bomb Manukan with a dick?
At the beach, chilled out with Absolut’s Global Brand Ambassador, Matt Pomeroy. Haha! He was in KK for an Absolut masterclass session, where i met him last year and took him clubbing.
Downtown graffiti
Squeezed in a kid's party
We crashed at KK Times Square, a new spot, which also has a few bars n clubs. like Firefly & White Room. But after-party n sleazier Razzmataz is quite a distance.
Pre-party
Party spot
Harvest Fest Eve @ Bed. The band wore traditional outfits n did d Sumazau. Haha
The cultural village, a venue for Kaamatan Fest
Did a road trip into the highlands. Pretty chilly up there, and u sometimes get a view of the summit of Mt Kinabalu.
Kundasang, foreground, summit background
Paulie, aka JB Paul, made a guest appearance
At Jarrod n Rawlins, our usual brunch spot as it was right behind our hotel
No shit
Ed's first toke of liheng, a local brew. Nice stuff
Obviously i love travelling. I have been on an aircraft about 150 times now. Most were incident-free, except for two.
Once i was flying back from Sabah to KL, and bumped into a friend, who’s a doc. “Watsup man?”
He says with a big smile: “Escorting patient to KL General Hospital,” obviously happy to take a few days break in KL. Soon after take-off, there are complications, and i watch as he desperately performs CPR on the patient. Eventually, soaked in sweat, he calls it, and the plane turns back to offload him and the body.
I say to him “No luck eh? Maybe next time then! C ya!”
... for obvious reasons
The other incident was more recent when i was returning from somewhere in China. I noticed some activity mid-flight, and realize that an old man was in trouble. The crew kept paging for a doctor. No luck. I know CPR, but i’m no doc, so i remained seated.
Then i watch as the crew goes around and fetches the man’s family, grandkids, etc who are seated elsewhere. The old man dies.
Most passengers dont notice, and the crew then make it look like he’s asleep for d rest of the flight. Blanket n all.
Kinda weird flying with dead people in the cabin.
I lurv underwater bar stools
On my journeys via 747, I’ve only sat upstairs (the dickhead of the aircraft) twice. That wuz cool. I focused on the champagne of course.
The smallest aircraft i have been in was a 10-seater i think (single propeller), when i did my parachute jumps, twice in UK and once in Malacca.
I love the propeller-run Malaysia Airlines Twin Otters that fly into the interior of Sarawak and Sabah. Pretty small, and u can see the scene and pilots in action in front of you as there’s no door. They need to weigh u before they seat you.
There was even a band to entertain us at d pool-bar
Re drinks, i usually go for wine or cocktails. No thanks to fucking terrorists, there are now rules against opening bottles on board. Asian airlines (I still love MAS the most) obviously have d best service, while the rest of the world sucks. Some crew are real stingy with d drinks. No thanks to goddam drunks who cant hold their booze and start making noise. Dickheads.
Been lucky not to hit any major weather or turbulence. But of course, each time i try to take a piss, there’s turbulence.
For the first time in my life, i was served booze by bargirls in headscarves. Checkitout - Carlsberg AND Tiger draught in d same outlet. Rare.
Its been fun flying around d world. Will upload photos someday if i’m not too lazy. Been to about 30 countries now. Lookin forward to more!
Had a great week in Laos. Vang Vieng to be specific. Second time around.
Hit it with my bro & Klang Kenny. As soon as we strolled outta d airport in Vientiane, we were on da road to VV. The three-hour journey took longer due to d many Beer Lao stops, as well as sourcing for bites.
Food over there is consistently great, whether local or foreign. The street-side grilled pork ribs are insane!
Spotted a bbq goin on, so told d driver to turn back.
Dog BBQ anyone?
Oops!
VV seems exactly the same as it was two years ago, thankfully. Beer Lao, which used to cost 10,000 kip, is still 10 grand, or 4 ringgit. But its even cheaper now, coz we spent mostly in US dollars, whose value has dropped. So a large bottle is only RM3.60 now. Haha!
On d road
One of d many stalls we checked-out had bbq bats.
Decided not to try, coz i dont like d smell of bat shit!
Crashed at our usual spot, the Other Side Bungalows (huts), which lies across the Namsong River, which runs thru VV.
Rickety bridge over wide river
Got up to lotsa activities. Drinking, partying, eating, hammocking, tubing, bacon, kayaking, climbing, biking. My skin got well-roasted.
The bridge by day (left) dat leads to our pad
Chilllin at our 'VIP hut'
Sumtin for d heat
We headed to this great riverside spot that i once went to.
Spot d Beer Lao
A hut for a break
Some of d boys remembered me, so we partied. They brought out some major firepower, ie lao lao. Rice liquor, similar to our langkau.
Kenny waiting for his turn after Thiang to down lao-lao (breakfast)
Buffaloes take a dip, as a hot-air baloon rises over VV in d distance
We went back again d next morning coz they organized a bbq party for us. We had baby birds, freshly-caught fish, wild jungle soup (which was awesome!), and sticky rice, plus whisky, beer and lao lao.
Boys catching our brunch
Babies are crunchy
They caught a few puffer fish, that blow up when threatened
Diggin in. Except for d rice, everything was wild
Tubing (or kayaking if u prefer) is also a great way to spend a day. Ur dropped off several km upriver of VV, then u just cruise down in a tube. There’re loads of bars n party spots on d riverbank, where u’ll be thrown a line n pulled in if u want. A whole day could go by!
Cruisiiin
Climbed this crazy steep limestone hill near our huts
Dipped in here. COLD!
Ready to kayak
Peace
Some dude who gave us free shots of dunno wat
Had to do some fucking-big-centipede liquor shots
Jump off d platform if u dare
The sun sets over Laos
Great place, even greater people. Might even do it again!
