Catching up part 2 - Borneo

Another amazing trip of the last months was to the imperium of orang-utans - a mysterious island of Borneo.
There is much more to see and do in Borneo but visit orang-utans: climb one of the highest in South East Asia mountains - Kinabalu (4,095 metres), go snorkling, diving or jungle tracking, visit turtle island or just mingle with the aborigenes :)

So, my French and Canadian girlfriends and I flew to Kota Kinabalu (or KK, as locals call it), capital of the state Sabah in Malaysian Borneo, and next day headed off to Sepilok, rehabilitation center for orang-utans, located close to another city of Sabah state - Sandakan.  It was started in the 60-ies to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned baby orangutans. Tourists are aloud to visit one of the feeding platforms close to the entrance of the whole area, where orang-utans are feeded twice per day. What can I say? They are truly amazing - intelligent species, whose genes to over 90 % replicate genes of human beings...

After visiting our fellow species, we decided to do bit of a jungle tracking - brave girls dressed in a manner not very appropriate for the purpose... After being attacked by aggresive Bornean leeches, we decided to turn back... Finally we returned to KK, to do some snorkeling and just enjoy sun and the beach during next day on the islands close to Borneo...

Oh yes, in Borneo I tried durian - an awfully smelling fruit, beloved by many in this part of the world... It was also an experience, but I made it. So now I am durian-approved :)

 Island Manukan - perfect snorkeling next to Borneo

Catching up part 1 - Bali

Now, it has been a long long time, since I wrote anything onto this blog... Many things happened, many events occured, many places have been visited, and, sweet and sadly, many goodbyes were said in the meantime...

Currently I am in Pattaya Jomtien beach in Thailand with my beloved husband, chilexing (yes, this is a new word I learned from one dear Singaporean friend: relax+chill=chilax :D) under the sun and tanking power before our long journey on the bike all the way to Hong Kong...

But first I want to catch up on some events and trips that happened in the last months of my stay in Singapore: Bali, Borneo, full moon party at Koh Phangan in Thailand etc...

Bali

We went to Bali during SMU recess week: Oct. 5th to Oct. 11th 2009. First time and I loved it!

First day after we arrived, we stayed in surfers' paradize Kuta in the South-West part of the island: long wide beach with famous sunset, bunch of Australian sunny boys coming up to surf and show off their tanned trained bodies, abundance of small shops offering all kinds of staff one never even thought of, and crazy crazy traffic...

Next day we rented motorbike: Honda Tiger, and headed off to to East. We drove small curvy roads and finally reached Amed - tiny place with great diving sites. This was meant to be our headquater for the next 3 days... We stayed in the cozy bungalows "Good karma", located directly on the beach, and runned by one of the local men. And it inspired indeed a good karma for our Bali journey...

Next days we relaxed, went sailing and snorkeling, and Ilkka had a chance to loose some of his hard-earned money in a cock fight, where he was invited by one of his newly gained local friends...
We drove all around Eastern Bali, to the lake Batur, and active volcano mount Agung, and Pura Besakih - the Mother Temple of all temples in Bali...We arrived to Basakih by dusk, and experienced surreality and mighty of this temple, all covered with half-transparent fog and surrounded by wild and loud sounds of the night jungle...

We then drove down to the place called Ubud - spiritual and artistic center of Bali, where we visited monkey forest and saw famous kecak dance in one of the temples... Our last day we spent again in Kuta and tried our surfing, not without success yeah ;)

I think we both fell in love with this island, with its incredible spirit, magical traditions and rituals, with all its temples on every street corner, and inherently happy people, ready to burst in smiles anytime... Instrinsic happiness they call it...Something to learn from people who have few from material world, but lots from spiritual...

Notes of a student

Today I devote myself entirely to studying. At least I attempt to do so.

Currently reading chapter on Corporate Social Responsibility in the book on Corporate Communications. Now, throw the stones onto me, but I wonder why is it so extremely boring, if it is considered to be so extremely important. Or are we just trying to pretend, that we care, although deep underneath we are still all after old good profit and maximization of shareholder value. Is Gordon's Gekko "Greed, for the lack of a better word, is good" still adamant for us?

To be continued... went to bore myself more ;)

Update:
From discussion about negotiations: what is crucial  for negotiation between two parties:
1. Both parties should be in a position to move from their initial standpoint into the zone of mutual agreement.
2. Empowerment - person negotiating should have power to take a decision.

I have recently started with course on "Negotiation skills" and this one promises to be one of the best ever! Lucky me! :D

Remarks on Singapore

Spirit of Kiasu

This is one of the features of Singaporeans, something, that on the one hand drives them forward, but on the other hand may prevent them from doing what they really want to do - or even asking themselves, if what they do is what they want to do.

This is what Wiki says about Kiasu:

Kiasu is a Hokkien (a Chinese spoken variant) word that literally means 'fear of losing'. This word is so widely used by Singaporeans and Malaysians that it is incorporated into their English vocabulary (in the form of Singlish). It is often used in describing the social attitudes of people, especially about South East Asian society and its values. Its widespread use is often because these attitudes are common—to not lose out in a highly competitive society, or to the extent of parents imposing heavy study labour on their children in their wish to make them at the very top of all other students.

Most popular professions in Singapore are lawyers, investment bankers and doctors. All those can bring one to the top of the society, in term of financial success and recognition. But does it really make them happy? What I personally have observed, is that even when going out and having fun, many locals have this certain tension inside, as if they can never truly relax, let it go and just be themselves... I don't make any value judgments here, but just reflect on some of my brief observations...

In the zoo: taking care of each other 

Island Tioman in Malaysia

After sightseeing weekend in KL, we decided to have some rest and pump up some energy into our souls, minds and bodies - in beautiful Tioman island on South East part of Malay peninsula.

It took us just a bit over 6 hours to get there - by bus to the sea city of Mersing in Malaysia, and then by shaky boat to Tekek, capital of Tioman island - and here we are, my roommate Paula and I, in Berjaya resort & spa, in a little paradise close to equator.

What did we do during the weekend? We relaxed by the pool, watched the sea by low tide and went snorkeling, where we saw incredibly beautiful colorful fishes, a huge turtle, some unrecognizable sea creatures and all in all had lots of fun under tropical sun (and even managed not to get sunburn;)!

Sea at low tide

Pool joy

Trying out snorkeling

Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur

This post is about weekend in KL - September 3-6 2009

I just returned from the extended weekend trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. What can I say? It's definitely worth it - to visit, to see, to taste and to smell :) Once. And I don't feel coming back there again. At least not in the nearest future. Although the trip was great.

Petronas tower is indeed impressive, and it was worth it to wake up at 6 in the morning to secure the ticket to the sky bridge on the 41st floor of the tower, with a nice view to the city and to the gardens around the tower. And than again, just in less than 2 km from the masterpiece of modern architecture - shabby old houses, chickens in the dusty streets and rubbish on the pavements...
For someone it will be a charming combination of the ancient and raw with new and aspiring, maybe it is... But I didn't feel it this way - it's just disturbing.

Sky bar in the Traders' hotel with a swimming pool in the middle and a fantastic view to the lights of Petronas twins is a must: house music, delicious cocktails, international crowd and just a nice place to spend couple of hours on the weekend eve.

Batu caves, located a bit more than 10 km away from the city, is one of the tourist attractions...But also this place feels like man-made, with claimed to be world tallest goldish statue of Murugan, a Hindu deity (42 smth meters), lots of wild monkeys and smaller Hindu temples. This caves become epicenter of Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia.

Over 60% of population of this country is Muslim, and as white western woman I definitely didn't feel myself comfortable over there. After all, I was happy to come back to Singapore - and I am sure that culture shock would have been much greater (since I am still waiting for it to come here in Singapore), have I decided to go for exchange to Malaysia...

Petronas twin towers - view from our hotel room

Watch out for moose in Finland, and monkey - in Malaysia

Always on the run

and I truly enjoy it! Today I've done bunch of things (booked tickets for beautiful Tioman island in Malaysia, exchanged money, made some purchases etc. etc.) and even managed to the library, to read for my thesis.
I am looking forward for the weekend in the amazing Berjaya Resort in Tioman: if pictures reflect reality at least to some extend, we'll definitely have fantastic time over there.

Every time, when I see the Singaporean crowd, I am amazed by this multicultural but predominantly  Asian mix. Every now and then you see some Westerners, especially at the City Hall or financial district Raffles Place, or at touristic Orchard - but still, great deal how all all manage to live together in peace on this small tropical piece of land.

Singaporean crowd - Independence Day 

View from Singapore Flyer

 

Famous Singapore Sling