Sabah Day 1: Tawau to Lahad Datu

We flown in an early flight to Tawau. After getting the rental cars (we got one 4WD and a Proton Wira..badly needed for service). The views from Tawau to Lahad Datu are mostly plantations. If you ever wonder what happened to all the plantations that Subang used to have, they all moved here! Most of the big plantation companies are here..

This is where we are going..but we had to get to Lahad Datu to register at the site office first. Lahad Datu at lunch time is a jam area..school's out time.

A common sight in Danum Valley. The roads that we travelled to DVFC are mostly gravel roads. Imagine 4 hours of bumpy ride. It would be easier if we get the DVFC transport but unfortunately, we travelled on the days that don't have the transport in and out of DVFC. It would more expensive to try and get one at these times as they would charge you for an 'empty ride' out of DVFC.

Another 10km more. This is where the road branches out to DVFC and Borneo Rainforest Lodge (BRL), the 5-star accomodation popular with Europeans and Japanese.

Office lunch

Sometimes we were too lazy to walk out for lunch. On other days, it was just too hot. But most of the times, it was a time for sharing..share news, share food, share the time to get together (When you are too busy at the office, you tend to be on your own private world with the computer..).

We would cook the rice in the office pantry (hmmm..any meals would be good with hot rice!!) and someone would go out to buy the lauk and sayur (for 1-2 persons serving). Most importantly, there will be a person who will initiate the lunch..the person who has leftover meals (last night's dinner). It was not much of a meal but somehow it was enough. A good portion for diet and it is cheap..hehehe

Having fun @ KLCC Waterpark

Tuk Balqis, Amir, & Imran..

Sepupu hang kat Taman Air KLCC ni..syoknyer depa main bawah air terjun tu..

Lepas solat kat masjid, sambung lagi kat taman permainan sebelah lak.Ni Fahim nak cuba turun stail 'fireman escape'.. Rambut dah sesuai dah tu..hehehe Tu tangan abang Faiz..tumpang sekaki..

Billa lak turun slide..makwe nok test multiple shots kat camera ..hehhee

Anis duk crite mende ntah kat Billa..

Masa jalan2 kat KLCC tu, makwe jumpa patung ni..makwe suka mende gini..tu hah..kain baldu digulung2 jadi mcm bunga rose..Makwe teringat masa tengok2 blog dekorasi kek..orang wat kek Barbie macam gini ah..

Balqis, Amir ngan Imran...bile nok mari KL?

I {heart} Mom

A friend made an album for her mother's birthday gift and asked me to make the album cover on a weekend when I was at my brother's place. I only had Monday to finish it as she was flying home to KK on Tuesday. Here's the result.

I hope she and her mom like it!

Fahim is 6 la..

Balqis, Amir, Imran & Nabila...
Ni kek bday Fahim yang ke 6 tahun..Makwe gi cari kat Tesco Selayang..yang ada banyak bunga2 jer..Ada se tu warna oren tapi banyak la pulak dekorasinyer. Makwe takut gak tak best. Lepas tu makwe nampak ada jual Ultraman 2 biji atas kaunter. Makwe suruhla kakak kat kedai tu buang bunga yg sekuntum tu ganti kan dgn Ultraman ni.. kira bday Fahim dapat kek cun gak la..hehehe

Masa makwe sampai rumoh Fahim..dah kul 10 malam. Tengok la muka Fahim tu. Makwe kene stuck dalam jem teruk hala nak gi Selayang tu..kat bulatan Bt Caves tu..padahal hari tu dah seminggu Thaipusam dah..Fahim telepon masa makwe dalam sesak jalanraya tu..Dia kata bile nk sampai ni..adik dah ngantuk dah nak tidur ni..Makwe kata kita wat esok la..Fahim dah nangis2 dah,,ngajuk. Masa makwe amik gambo ni..adik pakai underwear je..hehehe Sbb tu makwe suruh dia duk belakang kotak..klu tidak gambo kene censored! hahaha..

Kira ni masa dah belah2 kek, tiup2 lilin la..Muka ceria skit..Tu makwe suruh dia gi pakai baju elok skit..hehehe Perasan dok? Tu rambut bday fesen mcm ayah.. :-)

The years we were..

We had a UNO reunion the other day. We had fun reminiscing old stories and such. One of the good thing about Facebook is that it bring old friends together again. Hope to see more of them on FB.

This picture was taken during the early days when we arrived in Omaha.

I even met my old primary schoolmate also through the FB of her sister! Imagine 38 years had passed since we saw each other.

Personal Wellness - Jan

http://www.dietwords.com/muscle_mass.shtml

Found this to be a good reading. I had weighted myself on the scale on Tuesday. While I lost abt 1kg++ from last month, I found that my body fat is increasing. Two months ago, I was weighted at 2kg heavier, but I had a much lower body fat percentage. (You see, I had been skipping dinner..well maybe not, but I just ate whatever's available. Too lazy to cook when you are back at home so late in the night..hehehe).

So I googled.

It seems that as you put yourself on a diet, you may lose some of your muscle mass as well as your body fat. You may find yourself at a plateau eventually where you will not lose any more weight even as you continue your dieting. This is due to a drop in your metabolic rate.

So the article was saying that to reduce body fat effectively, you need to support, maintain and build lean muscle mass by incorporating these 3 things:

1. protein - muscle is build by protein
2. calcium - maintains muscle
3. strength training - pick up those weights!

Note: Muscle mass increases the rate at which your body requires calories by burning body fat i.e your metabolic rate. So you look slimmer even if you actually weighs the same.

Taman Negara Merapoh, Sg Relau, PHG

Cuti hujung minggu kat Taman Negara Sg Relau, Merapoh, Pahang. Tuju jalan ke Gua Musang, berdepan dengan stesen keretapi Merapoh belok ke kanan 7km kedalam. Ada beberapa chalet dan kawasan perkhemahan yang besar disini.

Sungai di kawasan campsite..sesuai tuk mandi manda..Air jernih tapi sejuk. Ke atas lagi ada jambatan..boleh buang roti tuk tengok ikan kelah, sebarau datang makan. Bila time makan, loceng akan dibunyikan dan pellet ditabur..masa tu boleh tengok ikan2 datang serbu..Meleleh la air liur memana pemancing tegar..almaklumlah tgk ikan sebarau, kelah yang besar 2kg lebih..

Kenderaan 4WD disediakan tuk ke Kuala Juram, 11km ke base camp permulaan bagi pendaki2 Gunung Tahan. Di Kuala Juram ni ada santuari kelah..

Bila loceng dibunyikan, ikan2 kelah dari lubuk belah kanan tu merebut2 naik ke atas, melawan arus tuk makan..Cuba tengok betul2..nampak tak kelibat ikan kelah tu? Disini ikan kelah species merah..tertarik tgk ikan2 tu datang beratus2 berebut sampai lupa nak amik video..memang sesuatu yg menyeronokkan..Kalau ada goggle lagi seronok tgk dari dalam air..ikan besar2 datang menerpa. Ada bumbun tempat melihat binatang.. ada disediakan tempat tidur katil bertingkat tuk sesiapa yg ingin bermalam. Ada kawasan bergaram berdekatan..rimau, beruang, pacat pun besar dan panjang disini!

Di menara tinjau Bukit Seraya, dihari yg terang bolah nampak puncak Gunung Tahan (dibelakang, dibalik kabus). Pendakian Gunung Tahan dari Merapoh dan turun semula ke Merapoh mengambil masa 4 hari gitu.

Di kawasan dewan makan, ada tempat rehat dimana ikan kelah, lampam dsb ada di akuarium. Sambil menjamu cokodok dan kuaci boleh tengok ikan2 ni melayan arus..

Tak pun boleh mandi manda dan bermain air..

Not feeling well..

Start dengan sakit tekak..then demam 37C..then batuk pulak..skrang tgh amik ubat..

Theme of the day

farewell09
Originally uploaded by myroz

Farewell party for Hassan and year-end get-together.

You are invited to a tea party today 24thDec at Test Room at 5pm.

Life is sometimes like driving at a traffic light junction. Sometimes you have a smooth driving at a green light, sometimes you have to stop at a red one. And sometimes you have to rush out at a yellow one. Even if you are an observer like a tree beside the traffic light, aim to be a green and a tall one.

For your new age onwards, we wish you a very 'Volkswagen' year for 2010, cool, classy and rich! Do appreciate beautiful things in life even if it is a small one...

See you there. There will be pizza, pudding, potato salad, some kueh and tea. Maybe something extra, so please adjust your lunch accordingly. :-))

farewell2
Originally uploaded by myroz

Hmmm..looks yummy, but wait till 5pm to taste..

Year-end Celebrations

Happy Holidays 2009
Originally uploaded by myroz

The office held a year-end bowling party. 'Bowling with a twist'.
Not your usual bowling competition, but our team won 4th placing. Each member got 2 rm5 McD vouchers (thus the 2 prosperity burgers in my last post, hahaha).

Jazzercise studio had a Xmas/year end party last night too. As well as to celebrate Christina's birthday. Though not many turned up but we had a good time anyway. Talking and eating..to compensate that night class's worth of sweat. LOL! Time for gifts and prizes.

Goodies
Originally uploaded by myroz

My goodies of the night..a 2009 FitClub tshirt (80 classes achieved), a Jazzercise towel (minimum 6 classes in Dec), a tag holder (Q&A), a manicure set (7 or more classes)

The birthday cake
Originally uploaded by myroz

The birthday cake..from this

After
Originally uploaded by myroz

to this much..

Elisha's 1st xmas
Originally uploaded by myroz

Luckily, she slept on..while we talked and talked and ate..

12 Days of Fitness - Dec09

12 Days of Fitness - Dec09
Originally uploaded by myroz

Personal Wellness - Dec

Body weight - up by almost 2 kg! Yikes...
Body fat - up by 0.3..see above
Water index - less by 0.3..not good ni
Muscle Index - up by 0.7
Physical Rating - 3 (solidly built) Down by 3..
Calorie - up..more muscles the more calorie you need, that means your metabolic rate is actually higher (according to my teacher la)
Metabolic age - same as last month (phewww!..lucky me...)
Bone Mass 2.6 - same as last month (sad to hear that a friend died of joint cancer last night..)
Visceral Fat - 8, up by 1..not good ni..

Let's see what I had been doing wrong in December.

-10 classes..mostly in early days of the week as I had been travelling to TGG during the mid-month weekends.
(classes not consistent).
-Been having too many nasi dagang, nasi kerabu and nasi ulam kuah singgang during those travel days! Yikes..no wonder all the weight gained. I hadn't mentioned about the 2 prosperity burgers in a week! Double yikes!!
-When you are out of your comfort zone, you tend to forgot to drink more water..
-Lack of good, restful sleep
-Eating habit changed. When you eat while you are hungry, you tend to eat more..

You see, I put myself on the scale before class began. You can imagine what will happen if I weighted myself after class like usual as we had a Xmas/year end party last night at the studio. LOL!

Time to catch up in January..

Hexagon etui

hexagon etui
Originally uploaded by myroz

Etui = decorative box. This one in particular is meant for my sewing things. I finished this one when I was at the Penang retreat.

hexagon sewing box-open with lid
Originally uploaded by myroz

When you open the lid, this is the view with the strings tied. You have a choice of doing a pincushion center (which I haven't finished the sewing yet) or this round little container to put things in.

hexagon sewing box-untied
Originally uploaded by myroz

When you untie the strings, the hexagon sides open up like this. I am supposed to put in two pieces of felt for needles on the 2 empty sides.

hexagon sewing box-open
Originally uploaded by myroz

When the sides are opened completely..I hope to put this on my sewing table one day..

tulip for etui
Originally uploaded by myroz

A close-up view of the tulip ends

Wedding gift

wedding album2
Originally uploaded by myroz

The couple happened to share the same initials and the groom did mentioned that he wanted to make something out of the Rolls Royce logo for their wedding. Thus how I got the idea for the decoration of this album cover. I copied the logo and did the machine applique.

Unfortunately, the felt doesn't stick nicely with the glue so I had to applique everything to the base cover. I am thinking that it would be nicer if I grid quilt the cover. But the idea came only after I glued on the cover to the album. Maybe next time..I wonder whose wedding is next? Hehehe

Din & Rozy, hope you like it..

wedding gift2
Originally uploaded by myroz

A closer view.

Selamat Pengantin Baru, Rizaudin dan Rozy.

Joining the bandwagon for Zila's giveaway

zila's giveaway
Originally uploaded by myroz

http://coretanseni.blogspot.com/2009/12/copy-n-paste.html

Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Copy n paste
16 Dec, 2009
Author: zilakasim | Category : free gift |


salam semua kawan2... aku ada 5 ketul coin pouch suteramas nak giveaway... syaratnyerr senang jeee.... u all kena paste my posting kat blog....akan banyak giveaway nanti bila aku balik dari ganu... shopping kat kraf2 tu... so copy this posting pastu letak comment kat banyak... insyaallah setiap yg buat copy n paste serta comment akan dapat hadiah dari zilakasim.... yg 5 komen pertama akan dapat hadiah kat atas... pastu akan menyusul hadiah yg lain........... nantikan.......

A wedding gift

Nurul Hafizah Dec09
Originally uploaded by myroz

It's so hard finding a good, archival album here. A scrapbook album is ideal for photographs as it is archival and non-acidic, but it can be too expensive.

I love magnetic albums as you can put in photos of mixed sizes in it but the glue used is not good for photographs over a period of
time. If you noticed a picture turned yellow, check if you left it near sunlight or your album page is acidic. The best alternative is finding albums with polypropylene sleeves. Polypropylene is non PVC, but I also don't know how to differentiate them.

So this album have to make do..hope the photos will last long...

Selamat Pengantin Baru, Nurul Hafizah & Didi.

Personal Wellness Chart

Just want to share my personal wellness chart measured at beginning of this month.

Oct / Nov
Body Fat Range 36.4 / 35.7
Water Index 46.5 / 47.1
Muscle Index 39.5 / 40.2
Physique Rating 2 / 6
Calorie 1262 / 1283
Bone Mass 2.5 / 2.6
Visceral Fat 7 / 7

My body weight is still about the same as I had only been to my Jazzercise classes about 6 times in Oct (after puasa month) and 4 times in Nov due to my vacations. But my metabolic age is down by 2 years. (Don't know if I see this wrongly). See how the chart measures when your water index increases! So drink lots of water! And exercise, of course..

Here's the ideal charts...I still have a long way to go.

Body Fat Range (for my age) - healthy 25.6
Water Index 50-55%
Physique Rating 6 - normal; excellent (7-9)
Bone mass - women (50-75kg) 2.4
Visceral Fat (5-9) healthy; (1-4) excellent.

Body fat range: THis range is measured against a minimum training from 10 hours a week. Women 11-18% (So I am still OK if measured 18% less..hehe)

Muscle index: For every extra KG of muscle gained the body uses approximately 100 extra calories a day. Everybody who experiences a change in the muscle mass should monitor and adapt the calorie intake accordingly.

Physique rating: Offers the opportunity to set a desired physique rating to tailor your healthy/fitness programme accordingly. When a person increases their activity, their weight may not change but their balance of body fat and muscle may alter which will change the overall physique or body shape.

BMR: The number of calories the body needs when at rest. Understanding BMR will allow you to monitor the number of calories your body requires according to your physique and lifestyle. The more muscle or general activity you take the more calories you require. BMR decreases as the body ages.

Metabolic Age Rating: BMR starts to decrease after the age of 16/17 years old. Your Metabolic Age rating indicates at what age level your body is currently rated at. If the age is indicated higher than your actual age then you need to improve your BMR. Increasing exercise levels will build healthier muscle tissue which burn more calories, consequently improving your metabolic age rating.

Visceral Fat: Fat that surrounds the vital organs in the trunk/stomach area of the body. High visceral fat levels increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Lowering your visceral fat levels can stabilise insulin action substantially, reducing your risk of diabetes and other related illnesses.

Rumah Jambi

Rumah Jambi
Originally uploaded by myroz

I love old houses, old architectures, old building...I wonder what stories go with these old houses.

Rumah lama kat kampung ni..Tak der orang duduk dah..saje suka tengok rumah, bangunan lama2 ni. Kadang terpikir gak cerita apa agaknya ada pada setiap bangunan lama ni..cerita h**tu tu tak yah cite la..

Sign board RUmah Jambi
Originally uploaded by myroz

Baca je la

Masjid Kg Laut
Originally uploaded by myroz

Masjid lama kat kampung. Sekarang dah ada masjid baru kat jalan besar.

Flood Nov09

Kesan banjir Nov09
Originally uploaded by myroz

See the big log stuck at the bottom of the bridge. My brother said that the concrete bridge itself never yet been in use. All damaged. Left only old wooden bridge that can accomodate pedestrians..I have no idea what's on the other side of bridge. I don't think there's another kampung there, maybe just plantations.

Kesan banjir kat Kemaman..ada balak besar tu tersangkut kat jambatan konkrit yg blum digunakan sepenuhnya lagi. Air sungai pun masih tinggi walaupun banjir dah surut masa ni. Walaupun kampung tak ditenggelami banjir, tapi jalan2 yg menghubung tak dapat di lalui. Time ni makan sardin dan ikan kering jer...

A peek..

peek_NH
Originally uploaded by myroz

Part of the decoration on a cover of an album as a wedding gift.
I will post the full picture later as I am in the process of making
another one for another wedding later this week.

I have a very limited time to be crafty at the moment, so sometimes
I have to make 2 of the same design, maybe with a slight variation..

Saje kasi intai dekorasi album tuk hadiah pengantin. Sekarang tengah buat satu lagi, jadi tak leh nk letak gambar penuh. Hilang stim nanti..hehehe
Tgh sibuk skit jadi tak sempat nk pikirkan design lain tuk album yang ke2 ni. Terpaksa buat design yg sama tapi mungkin ubah skit2 jer..

How true..

Found this on the internet..

There is this saying that women are better photographers than men because they just go out there and shoot with the camera instead of talking endlessly about shooting, and the equipment used for the job...

My opinion on this? Know your camera no matter what you use. Know how far you can take it, and how to take advantage of it's features. The camera doesn't make you a pro and the way you shoot don't make you one either.

The fact that photography brings the bread and butter on your table is what makes you a professional photographer. The results are what makes you a good or bad professional photographer. What you use for equipment, or how you use it, is very secondary to making you a pro.

Conclusion? I haven't even mastered yet the manual function of my own compact camera, so a DSLR would have to wait..but it's getting there..Maybe I should just buy the macro lens attachment to my camera?

But then again my friend said if you haven't got yourself a DSLR, how would you know how to use it? Hmmm..

Sajer je ngomel pasal impian nak beli camera SLR digital..