Photo by Indonesian photographer Yan Manasar.

At around the same time NEXT week, I’ll be floating on a lake, 100 km long and 30km wide, and 505 m at its deepest point in the middle of the northern part of the Indonesian island of Sumatra …

And thanks to my good friend Huey who’s organizing this expedition, an adventure awaits us at this exotic location which was formed out of a super massive eruption that took place more than 70,000 years ago! That’s mind boggling to imagine and it’s going to be awesome … meanwhile it’s the nose back to the grindstone. But I’m sporting the most gleeful look you can imagine amidst the shove and push, noise and dust of this life situation known as work! Life is great and life’s a joy. Yeah!

Peaceful (until Gladys showed up) and beautiful Tasik Biru in Bau on a beautiful Sunday morning.

Bev sms me from out of the blue suggesting that we go and kayak at the Blue Lake (Tasik Biru) in Bau now that the water there is no longer arsenic (hence the blue colour). Tasik Biru was formed from an open cast gold mining pit know as the Tai Parit mine, operated by the Borneo Company from 1898 until it was flooded in 1921. It became a popular recreational and picnic spot. In fact Tasik Biru is the prime attraction of Bau although there was concern about people fishing and swimming in it due to the arsenic content of the water. Although no cases of arsenic poisoning has ever been recorded!

Top Pic - Gladys, Joo, Annna, Maryani, & Bev. Bottom Pic - Annna, FH2o & Gladys.

There was a boat rental service operating in 1977 for those who want to paddle on the lake but that stopped following the bus tragedy of 1979 when a busload of students and trainee teachers plunged into the lake killing 28 students and a trainee teacher.

Then in 1990, the lake was de-watered by a mining company with the intention of extracting gold ore from the bottom and sides of the former gold mine. The lake was closed on account of this and was only reopened to the public in 2001.

In 1988, it was claimed that three “monsters” – strange huge figures about three meters long swimming just below the surface, were spotted at Tasik Biru and attracted large crowds. The “monsters” (as well as the crowds) disappeared after some talismans were burnt around the four corners of the lake as instructed by the local medium to get rid of the evil beings.

Despite of the above and probably ignorant of the history(!), Anna and Gladys took up my invitation to go kayaking there on Sunday when we had a chance meeting at Star Bucks, The Spring on Friday evening. Bev brought along her friends Maryani and Joo when we met there on Sunday morning.

Bev had told me that there was a waterfall and we paddled there to check it out first. It’s not a big waterfall but it was still great fun to discover a totally unexpected waterfall at the lake which we never knew of. But even the sounds of the waterfall was not enough to drown out the noises made by Gladys. I love this girl!

As the lake is only about 19 acres overall, it did not take us long to traverse the circumference of the lake; so when I spotted a road that went into the lake(!) we went there to check out this country road and where it would lead to. It led to a Chinese Temple – the Bong Low Sian Tze temple as I found out later.

It was like a nature’s walk and we saw interesting things along the way – such as big fat worms; with Annna and Gladys behaving like city bumpkins …

Then it was back to the kayak and a short paddle back to where we parked our cars. As we lifted the kayaks out of the water, we discovered that Tasik Biru should now be re-named Tasik Minyak as our plastic kayaks now have a nice oil ring around them! *sigh*

 
Lazing by the river on a lazy Sunday afternoon - 9 March 2008

What’s a gal and a dog gonna do on a lazy Sunday afternoon but laze at the jetty by the river taking in the breeze with the rustling of the leaves, insect sounds and the chirping of the birds for company. Anyone for a nap?

It was elections day on Saturday, 8^th March 2008 and it was raining when we arrived at Kg Bengoh, Borneo Highlands. It had been raining for the past few days as well as the night before and I watched the high water levels a little bit nervously as I await the arrival of the group from Diethelm Travel.

But I needn’t have worried as everyone took the high water level and flow in stride as we arrived at Kg Danu in record time! It was not the best of conditions for kayaking but everyone enjoyed their rain forest kayaking experience - or so they said so!

An International Group: Edo, Peter, Nick, Lauren, Edwina, Johanna, Sean, Brenda, Carolyn & Chew with FH2o. 

Edo from the Netherlands carried on with Bev to do the full trip to Kg Semadang also reaching there in record time! Goes to show that even if conditions are not ideal, one can always elect to be happy and paddle on regardless!

Oh and since it was Elections Day; here are a few elections day snapshots and as you can see, it was a friendly affair - well at least at Borneo Highlands that is …

Fiji sunrise, 18th February 2008 

Although I’m not really a morning person (who is!), I automatically wake up at sunrise and promptly go back to sleep if I have nothing on for the morning!

But on the occasions when I do have to be up early, I look forward to the sunrise to enjoy the peace and the magical colours of the morning. Moments to relish before we get caught up in the madness of the day.

A peaceful morning in Fiji, 18th February 2008 

Nice new double storey semi-detached house for sale @ Polarwood, Kuching

A good friend of mine has decided to sell off his double storey semi-detached house located in the very nice neighbourhood of Polarwood in Kuching for the asking price of RM462,000/- or nearest offer. It’s unfurnished but comes with new curtains and complete with decorative lightings. I came to know about this when I caught up with him for lunch. Here’s the video of the drive to this new house (which has never been lived in) from the entrance of the estate. As you can see there are only detached and semi-detached houses in this housing estate.

If you’re looking for a new place to stay in Kuching, it’s worth taking a look as it’s conveniently less than 5 minutes drive to the Kuching International Airport. To check it out, call 016-862 6986 for a viewing appointment.

A particularly relaxing spot @ Taunovo Bay Resort & Spa, Fiji 16th February 2008

Here’s wishing you a relaxing weekend … and best of luck to the candidates vying for their parliamentary seat(s) in the Elections tomorrow. Unfortunately it’s all ho-hum to me … so can someone wake me up when it’s all over? ZZzzzzzz

If you particularly like tapiocas (cassavas) and yams, then you’re going to be particularly happy when you visit Fiji as it is their staple food there and readily available everywhere. I can understand its popularity as they store well (for months), can be cooked in a variety of ways, tasty and are nutritious. They must grow easily there too as I understand that yams can be harvested in 9 to 12 months and can yield about a hundred more times of yam than the amount that was planted! The cassavas grows even faster - about six to nine months after planting, most varieties are ready for harvesting.

I have honestly never seen such abundance and sizes of them until I saw them at the local markets, road sides and outside supermarkets.

We really did not have much free time as I would have love to taste them cooked in the traditional “lovo’ manner - underground oven or barbeque.

Popular fried Fijian chips. 

Please do not ask me the differences between them as you can click for more information on taro, cassava and yam.

One would expect to find fresh seafood in Fiji, it being an island(s) Republic and we spotted some offered for sale on a roadside stall displayed on a makeshift table as we drove along one of the main roads in Nadi, Fiji.

There were fresh lobsters and crabs for sale and some are of the types that I’ve never seen before. They don’t sell them by weight or by pieces but rather by ‘bunches’; so you’ve got to choose which of the bunched up lobsters or crabs that you like and start bargaining with the seller.

We didn’t buy any as we’d crabs just the night before. In hindsight it was a bad decision; as not buying these beauties still haunt me till today!

Actually Mohd Firdouz and Nazarrudin, both 26, are having a splashing time of their life on Sungai Sarawak Kiri @ Borneo Highlands on the 9th February 2008. And as you can see they seem to have a thingy for waterfalls - but then who can blame them!