My weekend was really full! :) Left for Sabah last Friday to attend a wedding in Kota Kinabalu. Abah's colleague held a wedding ceremony for his daughter on Sunday night at Sutra Harbour Resort and Spa. Our flight was around 10:30pm so by the time we got to the hotel, it was almost 2am, Saturday. The hotel is really huge! And I think it's a wonderful place coz it's by the sea. The hotel has two wings, one is the Pacific Sutra Harbour and the other is Magellan Sutra Harbour. It also has a golf course and marina. We stayed at the Pacific Sutra Harbour wing. :)
Saturday - 13/09/2003
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After breakfast on Saturday morning, another of Abah's colleague, Mr. Choo, drove us around Kota Kinabalu. We passed by University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) campus, stopped by Nexus Resort in Karambunai and Shangri-La Hotel too. Both hotels have a golf course. Just amazing. :) Then he treated us to lunch at a seafood restaurant, Gayang Seafood Resturant. Before we sat, we got to choose what we wanted to eat. So, we looked at the fresh fishes, prawns, lobsters, crabs, siputs... :p And I mean really fresh coz they were swimming in the aquariums and basins. :D Uncle Choo chose this huge fish...also named the Sea Chicken coz it's the top of the list fish! :D We had steamed prawns and lokan as well and not forgetting sayur Sabah. Everything was just scrumptious lah...Mama, Abah, and I didn't even touch the rice! Hehehe... :)
That night, Uncle Kasmin (the colleague who married off his daughter), invited us to dinner with his wife and another friend. :) He wanted to treat us to seafood dinner at this famous restaurant, but when we got there, the parking lot was filled with so many express buses. It was cultural performance night, so many tourists were there. Obviously, the place was full so we had to eat some place else. In the end, we had Chinese dinner at Hyatt Regency, which was also nice. :)
Sunday - 14/09/2003
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Sunday morning, we took the hotel shuttle to the Gaya Street "Tamu" (pasar tani). Lots of interesting stuff were sold. Ada dua ekor kucing Siam jugak. Commeeelll!!! :D I bought some local crafts for myself and the office. And we bought a local kuih, called kuih cincin. :) Then we walked to the Philippino craft bazaar by the seaside. Dah jalan-jalan kat dalam tu, dapat tengok dua ekor ayam sabung. Melompat sana, melompat sini. Kitorang duduk jauh-jauh takut ayam tu lompat atas kitorang. Kekeke... :p
Anyway, lepas tu Cik Din came over to the hotel with Wan Endon to eat lunch together. He brought us to this Kelantanese restaurant and we had tom yam and other dishes. Yummy... :) Then he gave us a tour of UMS campus. Since he's a professor there, we got a really good tour. :D Took a few pictures here and there. It really is a beautiful campus. After that, we went to their house in Likas. Solat Asar and then had keropok and drinks while chatting. He sent us back to the hotel and we got ready for the wedding.
The wedding
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I think the wedding was one of the best I've ever attended. One thing, Abah and Mama naik merenjis. :) And then the entertainment was very, very good. The guy was just hilarious. I think he's quite famous, Abu Bakar Elah (not sure how that's spelled, but it sounded like that). He's a good singer too. :) There were also cultural dances, mostly Sabahan dances from the Kadazan and Murut clans. I really enjoyed myself that night. :) Pictures will be available in my online album soon! :)
Monday - 15/09/2003
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Mama and I thought of just relaxing and enjoying the steam room and jacuzzi in the health club downstairs, but Cik Din called us up at around 7:30am. Seems he got someone to take over his class so that he can bring us to Kundasang. Thank you so much, Cik Din, for taking the time to make our stay in Sabah really wonderful! :) So, we got ready and met Cik Din and Wan Endon in the lobby and headed straight for breakfast. Then we began the drive up the hill to Kundasang. The air up there is just wonderful, something like Genting or Cameron Highlands. :) Despite the "long and winding road" to reach Kundasang, I think it was worth it. We went to a lookout point and had a glimpse of Mount Kinabalu, still covered in the clouds. :) In Kundasang town itself, there was a vegetables and fruits market. They were fresh and cheap and just amazing...better then the skinny and scrawny vegetables in KL! I couldn't resist the plump daun bawang!! If we were staying with Cik Din and Wan Endon's house at Likas and stayed longer, we would've bought those beautiful veggies and cooked. Oh well, insya Allah next time. :)
So...before going back to the hotel, we stopped by the railway station to buy some frozen seafood to bring back to KL. :) The hotel receptionist told us that to get really fresh seafood, we'd have to go to the market early in the morning. And since we missed that, he said that the next best place would be the railway station as the seafood at the airport are not that fresh coz they've been frozen for a few days already. Anyway, having only about an hour to spare, the three of us packed and left for the airport at around 4:20pm. Bie dengan Mama sempat lagi tengok "La Intrusa" sebab it was the last episode!! Suspen betul pasal ending dia. Tapi Uncle Kasmin called Abah and said we should leave early to beat the traffic. So tak sempat nak tengok penghabisan!! :p
Anyway, kitorang landed at KLIA around 8pm and Pak Cik was already waiting for us. :) We stopped by the Dengkil R&R for solat Maghrib and a drink. Sent Pak Cik home in Shah Alam and arrived home around 10:30pm. What a weekend!!
Tuesday - 16/09/2003
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SELAMAT HARI MALAYSIA!
Had to wake up early yesterday since it's Hari Malaysia celebration at the office! :) Our advertisement was successfully published in the NST, The Sun and Utusan Malaysia. :) I brought our family's congkak for props and of course my costume. :) It was really a busy day at the office yesterday. But I missed out on decorating the training suite coz I wasn't here since Friday last week. :( Takpe lah...insya Allah, next year ada peluang lagi. Anyway, we did some last minute gift wrapping, and cleaned up the place for our guests. Lunch time, Azree treated us internals (Me, Alex, Azy, Beelie and Vivien) to lunch at Burger King in Sri Hartamas. We were like kids yesterday, taking pictures with silly poses in the elevator, car park, in the car and at Burger King itself. Each of us, except Azree, wore the Burger King paper crown while eating too. Hehehe... :p When we got back to the plaza, we were still wearing the crown. Azree didn't want to walk near us coz we were so silly looking. Ahahahahahh!! :p In the elevator, someone else was with us and Azree talked to us like we were strangers. Nanti engkau, Azree! :p But hey, it was a fun outing anyway. :)
As for the celebration, it was successful. :) Anas' mother also joined us. We were all dressed up and I think our guests really had a good time with our performances and food. :) Guests were sprinkled with rose water at the entrance and we had a guest board for them to sign with silver marker. Creative, huh? Angkat bakul la pulak! Hehehehehe.... :D We still had guests coming over after the celebration ended, which was good coz we had a lot of leftover food. :p So anyway, after all the guests left, we cleaned the place up for our public program today and took pictures with Anas. Macam-macam posing kitorang ambik gambar!! Hehehe... :D Anyway, the photo at the top of the entry is one of my favorite photos taken yesterday. I even have it as my desktop wallpaper. :)
I'm still in the process of uploading yesterday's event's photos, so they will be up in the album soon! :)
Today - 17/09/2003
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Another nice day. :) The five of us are watching a movie after office at GSC, Midvalley. :) I'm thinking of getting a thumbdrive or flashdrive (they have so many names for it, I don't even know what's the original name) for myself. I think it's a really good investment to have it. Beats the 3.5" diskette anytime. :) Wokeylah...this must be the longest entry I've written so far!! :p I will announce when the photos are in the online album. Till then, cheerio! :) Wassalam...
