Mt K hike

Did it! I survived Mt Kinabalu! Ouch.
Anyway, here's a pictorial journey to give y'all an idea..

First sighting of Mt K from the ground..


Details of the trail



the hike itself covered lots of steps, trails and then natural rock steps..



An idea of the foliage up once you pass 3,000m up the mountain ..





After arriving at Laban Rata, about 6km up the mountain, higher than 3,000m, we continued hiking at 230am next morning, to cover more than 2km up to 4,095.2m.
This is the granite terrain that we had to trek across in the last 500m to the peak of Mt K. See the ppl "rappelling" down? (this pix is taken while descending.. in the morning, we had to climb it in utter darkness, save for the torches strapped onto our foreheads!)



so close to the peak.. and yet so far..


A long trek over sloping, granite terrain - took me close to an hour, I reckon, slowing following the white rope, taking 30-50 steps at a time, while all the time the rising sun on my right was urging me to go faster


Here's Low's Peak, which at 4,095.2m or close to 4,100m, is the tallest mountain in SEA. Climbing that last steep bit wasn't easy - I really wanted to give up!


The sky has brightened up.. and you can still see the climbers inching their way up, like ants on a granite hill..


Started climbing down the mountain at about 615am, arrived at bottom at 4pm. Legs pretty much as stiff as boards. :)

Pix - finally!

This here's the church I attended on Sunday Morning.. the SIB church is truly Malaysian .. cos it's a church group started in Sarawak's interior.


yushan - this shot's for you.. a vintage MG in bright orange.. seen quite a few vintage cars here in Miri. Can bring your chequebook here next time too. there's a vintage volvo a few doors away from my friends' home!


Here's a "nodding donkey"..they're in people's backyards and gardens in Kuala Belait, Brunei! Amazing.. no wonder Brunei is so rich.. oil can still be pumped from the ground here. Even in some Arab countries, oil is now being pumped offshore.. not on. miri used to have its nodding donkeys too, but no more. It's offshore drilling nowadays


you know what.. the skies here are amazing. Saw a stunning sunset today but I didn't have my camera with me. I should take more pix of the skies at different times tomrw. The land is very flat in Miri, it's by the coast. But the skies seem a lot closer to the ground somehow and not so far away. makes u think the earth is flat!

book project

HI folks.. greetings from Miri.. have kicked off my legwork for my "book project" - for which I don't have a catchy title yet. :(

For those won't don't know.. it's a travelogue on Malaysia and I cover a topic in each state.. On leave to do this from May to July.. Do pray for open doors and favour for me, as well as inspiration when I write!

anyway.. dropping a note from Miri since I'm at the computer now. Staying with my friends from Penang who're working at Shell. Shell is the biggest employer here, btw, and we even drove over to Brunei yesterday.. where oil was being pumped at people's backyards! Imagine that.. these machines are called nodding donkeys and each pump movement is one barrel.

I'll put some pictures up when I figure out how. Anyone else with problems posting pictures? I don't know why I can't seem to get them uploaded..

Good Distraction

I find any reason to distract myself from the books & writing on our family blog is such a good one. Stan and myself went to the Mornington Peninsula for the weekend and grazed on the wineries in the area. Lots of fresh produce and beautiful landscape. This is our half-eaten steak sandwich and over-ordering of shoe-string fries.


Besides eating, we went mountain climbing, with rough terrain, conquered light houses

And jungle trekking where Stan found a few mates...


Actually this was a sculpture competition with about 100 sculptures displayed throughout a beautiful winery. It was also tempting just parking ourselves at the restaurant and not walking the sprawling grounds of the winery.



Now its back to reality....

New beginnings.. saying bye bye to Martina Mansion

Oops, we forgot to take pictures of Cheh Ee's ACTUAL moving day
but here's the Martina Mansion aptment after almost everything had been cleared out!
Cheh Ee's BIG MOVE was Friday, Mar 16, where the movers came right on the dot that morning, and very efficiently started wrapping all the furniture up in cardboard to move to the big container van. Then Cheh Ee flew to Penang that afternoon.

My move was the next day, Sat.. and it was a packed wknd for me, where I got stuff moved to Chee Tiang Ee's place on Sat morning, came back to the aprt, took bus to KL, ran a half marathon the next morning, took 1.30pm bus back to Singapore after that, and i was back in the apt doing the last minute packing by 6pm. Off I went at 7pm, to Simei! Clockwork. Praise God noone was late, and bus didn't break down in between!

Cheh Ee, now you have to take pictures of the Penang apt to show us how it's like - fully furnished!

The Living Room

The Master Bedroom


My stuff piled up near the front door - as I await a lift from Patrick, to Pat and Karen's place..

A very warm welcome to Mrs Tang

on 10 of March 2007, Jay Ern led the way to the registration hall.....(practising as flower girl for her July stint - we are still working on the smile)

after their vows, signatures, rings and kisses...

siao fang is officially Mrs Tang and Ah Kim to Jay Ern !!

the couple walking out of the registration hall...( not your conventional shot of the happy bride!!)


And we would like to extend a very warm welcome to the new member of our family and this Blog.


Mrs Tang's official statistics :

Maiden Name : Shirleen Toh Yin Fong
( we called her Siao Fang because dad and mum kept calling Shirleen "shireen" and all sorts of variations)

chinese zodiac : rabbit

other stuff : siao fang please post it yourself before I do something damaging :) !!

Cheh ee's last CNY in Singapore

The decorations to usher in the yr of the pig


And then the steaming steamboat (actually this is on the eve of chap goh meh)





Making sure the ingredients aren't overcooked needs a lot of concentration.. !

Visit to M'sia/S'pore during CNY'07

Lo Sang - a typical appetizer on menu during CNY

Roasted pig

Jennifer's new condo in Penang

A beaufitul plant in Sa Ko's garden

Picture taken at Sa Ko's house (Sa Ko, Sarah, YehYeh, MahMah & Jennifer)

The two beautiful ENs - Sarah Yung-En and Jia En

Je Ko and granddaughter - Jia En

Sarah and Chiew Ming's boys - Luther and baby Victor

Serious business

Bak Kut Teh from Klang, yummy to stomach but not too sure about arteries

Sarah with YehYeh and MahMah on first day of arrival

Hello From Atlanta, GA USA

Thanks to Sharon for the invitation to this blog. Allow us to read many fun and good news from the family and to say hello to all of you. Looks like for those of us reside in US have not done much in updating our news. For a start here is a picture of us taken in Nov'06, Jeremy, Sarah and me. So for some of you who are wondering who we are, Jeremy is the second son of Tan Kar Ting (oldest son of grandpa Tan Seng Ghee) and I am his wife and Sarah is our daughter (aged 3+). We (just me and Sarah) visited M'sia/S'pore recently during CNY and had opportunities to visit Tua Ko and Je Ko in KL and San Ko in Penang of course my in-laws in Ipoh and Jennifer in S'pore. Will be loading more pictures from our trip when I get organized. Heard that there is a thought of a big reunion for the 3 rd generation, any more info around that? I also learned that, our daughter, by chance has same Chinese name of "EN" as many of her cousins...

The Twins

Gong Xi Fa Cai to all!

Ok since Christopher is taking too darn long to post the news..I'll have to do it for him!
A scan last week confirmed that he and Karen are going to have twin GIRLS!
Due sometime in June. Mom and dad going over then.

So y'all can plan to have holidays in London from now, I'm sure he won't mind some baby-sitting! haha

Any suggestions for Chinese names??

Also, that means the Cheah family now has 4 pigs - dad, josiah, and the twins!

OINK OINK!

keep 8 July 2007 free

It is official.

Meng and Shirleen (a.k.a Siao Fang in our family) will be registering their marriage on 10 March 2007 and the wedding dinner will be held on 8 July 2007 in Le Meridien. So please keep 8 July free !

From the official wedding planner
( i tried to post a photo of the soon to be wed couple but the uploading just isn't working right now.)

A small world

It's a small world after all (hum to music), it's a small world after all..

on Sunday, Feb 4, I was standing in queue to check in for my flight from Geneva to Singapore (work trip)
and someone familiar pops up in front of me !

Good thing I got my nikon coolpix with me!

Yushan - where did you go to ski?? Some of us just travel to work, not play! hah
Cool to meet cousins halfway across the world.
It was a hi (yushan), hi!!! (sharon), oh must take a picture (sharon), hurry,i've got to run cos my plane is flying off in 20 mins (yushan) kinda moment..

News! News!

the family blog

ok - while waiting for the rest of the family bloggers to blog.. (hint! hint!)

here are some news to kick off 2007 !

1. The wedding bug has bitten yet ANOTHER member of the family. Woo hoo! Kee Meng should give us the details soon.

2. Christopher and Karen in London have had the second scan of their TWINS.. and both are looking good, as best as they can in the xray kind of way.

3. Yes, cheh ee has sold her apartment - officially ! Penang here she comes! As for me, er, dunno yet. Will keep you all posted!

Wedding in KL

Wedding in KL

It was a busy weekend in KL! To sum it up: The bride and groom had to somehow fit 4 tea ceremonies in 4 different locations, dance practise, hair & make-up session and of course, the grand wedding dinner. But I-lynn & Stan somehow never seem to let all this stress faze them. There is always still space for good food and time for family. Lets begin!

Tea Ceremonies
Groom's Paternal & Maternal Side

Sorry! No pictures available.

Bride's Paternal Side (KLANG)
...it always starts with good food.

Tea is first served so as to receive.... :)

Then, Tea is received so as to give back....
(Congratulations!!)

Family Shot

Bride's Maternal Side
(And the cycle repeats itself...so no commentary needed)


Above(Upper Left to Lower Right): Mabel, Marcus, Marvin, Luther


Meet Victor and a proud Grandma!

Family shot


That was it for the day and a much deserved break was needed.
The bride and groom retired to their luxurious bridal suite in Mandarin Oriental....

The awesome view of the twin Towers from their room


The Dinner



A Grand Entrance























The Kids had their fair share of fun...













And of course....the Wedding Rumba, which I belived they received a standing ovation for.

And finally, ending their night at the comfort of their suite


The next day....
In all 'Tan' (and I guess now...it shall also be 'Tay') family fashion, the final day in KL started with a sumptous breakfast, lavished with DURIANS!



Followed by the final tea ceremony to complete the introductions of the family to this newly wed.


And from here, the search for more food shall continue on to Penang....


But for now, this shall be the end of my blog entry concluding yet another beautiful wedding story in the family, but the start to their whole new life ahead as Mr and Mrs Tay!

(I hear, my sister had difficulties losing her "Lee" in her name)
Just so you know jie, we will always know you as the daughter who used to refuse to eat her meals (I guess childhood habits can change afterall!),
the sister who always pretended to cry so as to get her way and
the cousin & niece, who never fails to make all effort to meet up whether in London or in Australia.

Since we are on the topic of "Wedding in KL"...... I guess its a good place for me to stop here, to make way for the next great news..... of perhaps another wedding (?!).
Sharon, you can do the honours. ;)