My Good Week :)

Ahh..this week has been nothing but pleasant to me. I'll tell you why.

Monday, Aug 18th

Left for Kota Kinabalu for a holiday.

Checked in the hotel, and after lunch went for a boat ride at Klias Wetland, Kampung Kota Klias, 120km away from our hotel in KK. The boat ride, which was about 2 hours long was to catch a glimpse of the infamous proboscis monkey. It was a beautiful ride, and we got to a chance to see the beautiful sunset which brought me to tears, just looking at it.

Drove back to hotel and went to bed with a full tummy :D

Tuesday, Aug 19th

Went to see the Mount Kinabalu!

Brought me nearing to tears looking at the Mountain too. According to our tour guide, the name 'Kinabalu' originated from a story of a Chinese widow. One of the Kinabalu's peaks, called St. John's Peak (which is not the highest. The highest peak is Low's Peak) resembled a face of a Chinese lady, facing the South China Sea. Legend has it that this poor lady sat on that peak, facing the SCS on days on end, waiting for her husband to come back from China. She apparently unfortunately turned into a mountain peak, because of the long, endless wait. Sheesh! Tu la, dulu takde roaming. Nak buat camne. So, the name Kinabalu was actually originated from the words Cina Balu (Chinese widow). Geddit?

And then we went shopping at a souvenir bazaar.

Then comes the fun part.

We went to Poring Hot Springs! My colleague, who went to Poring 2 weeks before came back and told me that I MUST go to Poring for the canopy walk. 'Are you afraid of heights?' he asked. I can't answer him. I can't recall a time when I was too high above ground, neither can I remember feeling 'gayat' so I guess I had to go for the canopy walk to answer his question.
And the answer is I'M NOT! :D I'm so proud of myself! Hehe..

That night we had lobsters for dinner at Port View Seafood Village ! Yum yum. Lobster with butter. You can’t get anything better than THAT for dinner.

Drove back to hotel and went to bed with a full tummy :D

Wednesday, Aug 20th

Another river expedition.

This time even better! White Water Rafting at Kiulu River!

The Kiulu river was one of the tamest rivers in Sabah for white water rafting, said out tour guide. It was a 15km river and it took us about 2 hours to reach the ending point.

The scenery was beautiful. You just have to experience it yourself as I am out of words.

After rafting, we showered and made our journey to the Monosopiad Cultural Village and saw the cultural dances as well as the infamous skulls of the men killed by the legendary warrior, Monosopiad. The skulls, 42 of it, were more than 300 years old as were lined up and displayed as proof of Monosopiad’s power.

That night we went out to eat and a Northern Indian Restaurant, Kohinoor. The food was delicious!

Drove back to hotel and went to bed with a full tummy :D

Thursday, Aug 21st

Last day in Kota Kinabalu.

We went shopping for souvernirs and visited famous buildings and landmarks around town.

Had lunch in Sri Melaka Restaurant.

Went back to hotel, packed our bags. That’s when I received an SMS from my very dear boss saying ‘Esok pasang badan. I got you a ticket for the Star-Biz ICR Awards ’

Woohoo! I jumped up and down as I was sooooooo happy that I can go. My company’s nomination for that award was my blood, sweat and tears. I worked soooo hard for the report, the write-ups, the material collection, the table bookings and everything else in between. So yeah, I guess I deserve a seat, thank you.

After packing, we drove to the airport and boarded the plane.

In the plane, to make the day even better, I tuned in to Ironman! Oh.My.God. He never fails to make my heart skip a beat. He looked sooo...wangi! And cute, and smart and had a very, very adorable sense of humour, which scores big time with me anytime, babes, anytime. Tapi dapat tengok separuh je sbb movie started half hour after takeoff and flight was only 2 hours. Lepas tu siaran diganggu oleh iklan-iklan MAS. Bummer.

We reached home at 12.30am.

Friday, Aug 22nd

Went to work, to catch up on e-mails and to return phone calls when I was on leave.

Went home earlier to get prepared for the dinner at Nikko Hotel.

Arrived at Nikko Hotel and my Group General Manager said to me ‘Kalau menang, you tak boleh balik awal-awal tau, kene tolong I jawab soalan interview kalau reporter cari nanti’. Hehe. So I guess that means that he knew I was the one who struggled for the awards, not the ‘other’ person, so that’s good. Sat beside my good lovely friend (gambar later) and had a good lovely dinner. The Tetamu Kehormat was Raja Muda Perak, Raja Nazrin Shah, and boy oh boy, was he a view to behold *drools*

After dinner was the announcement of the winners and................my company WON! WE WON!!!Woohooo!!! THAT was just the icing on the cake. I was sooooooooooo HAPPY! Beyond words! (I wished Papa was around so that I can tell him about it. He would be very proud of me :( )

Drove back home and went to bed with a full tummy and a smile that lasted until morning :D

*More pics here

Saturday, Aug 23rd

Oil prices went down! I mean, THAT made my day. And my week. And maybe the months to come until it hikes up again.

What a week!

So...I am proud to declare that I had a GOOD week. Maybe not such a big deal for you guys out there who go for a holiday on a monthly basis, or attend dinners week after week. But it was big to me. If you knew where I came from to get where I am today, then you’ll understand. My life has been quite stressful as far as I can remember and this week was one of the best weeks in my life so far.

So SMILE for me :D