Dixon's Lifestyle Blog
Sunway was painted pink today. Ran 7km in 36:56s. Managed to get placing #31, helping VU adding 2 points. I’m hoping Emerge VU can become the overall winner. Still possible, guys. Keep it up!
Mein and I…
Thomas Ong, one of the organising committee and a buddy!
Adrian Joseph, an ex-school mate.
Bootcampers’ shoes…
Mr and Mrs Staff Sarge Dann… “Thanks for everything guys.Both of you have definitely given impact to many lives.”
I was invited to participate, representing team VU, in the crossfit challenge, organized by Emerge KL. It was divided into 4 segments. First was last man standing of squat hold, which I got second behind Joe Liew. Second was last man standing of plank hold which I emerged as the title holder, beating favourites like Joe Liew and Wee Liam. Third, last man standing of thrusters. Thomas Ong of VU lasted second. Lastly was a mystery challenge which was being announced on-the-spot. It was a race of pulling and carrying tyre. VU fought to its best and we succeeded to go for gold. We were crowned the champion for the crossfit challenge.
Thanks Yin Har, Thomas and David Oh for giving me a chance to fight this challenge with you all. Job well done!
Online shopping is not new to me. My latest purchase was made here http://www.zalora.com.my. Not bad. Products reached on time.
Eating around in KK was such a pleasure and as usual, food-hunting has been my past time in every trip I go. I believe many of us know about something called, fried bananas aka pisang goreng. BUT I found one called Sanggar Keju which no one can resist! I found it one of the shops opposite 1Borneo. It’s a corner lot, facing some colleges. But I couldn’t recall the name of the shop. My bad. Sanggar Keju is basically fried bananas, covered with syrup and shredded cheese. OMG! Must try! Such a sinful breakfast we had. But who cares?! Hahaha!
At the same shop, I had Nasi Kukus Ayam Goreng Berempah. It was so-so only lah.
At night we hunted our dinner around the Pasar Malam Sinsuran Kota Kinabalu, which is located near the Philippino Market and Waterfront area. We had so many food to prey on! Look at that huge cuttlefish! Is that a giant or what?!
Also look at the baby lobsters and mother prawns.
This plate costs RM10 only for 7 prawns…
And they sell them life too!
Grilled fish everywhere!
Camwhoring while waiting for our grilled sotong…
They have these too! Try guess what are they!
Time to makan! Murtabak sayur… Nothing to shout about. 
And here, you have our grilled baby sotong…
This was the spot of the pasar malam in the morning… it’s located just by the sea side. It’s actually some fishermen’s wharf or something like that…
Running the Borneo International Marathon also exposed us to this cozy restaurant called Little Italy. We were given some vouchers for their set lunch menu. Knowing little of this Little Italy, we asked the waiter to recommend us some food. And they were good! Their topnotch services were exceptionally marvellous. The waiter was genuinely patient in explaining some dishes I asked about. Keep up the good work!
We had this tomato sauce pasta which was gastronomically a bomb! And also, its salmon pizza which was a bit on the salty side but the waiter actually warned us about it before we confirmed the order.
Did we have a feast or what? Their set menus include garlic bread and drinks/soup.
Our cute proboscis monkey camwhoring with our cup of cappuccino and ice lemon tea.
At first we thought we wanted to go to the beach and sunbath in one of the island in Sabah. However, do to the level of fatigue and tiredness, we decided to save that plan for another time. Subsequently, we signed up the Mari-Mari Cultural Village tour package which brought us to venture and explore into the life of the aborigins of Sabah, 5 ethnics to be exact – Dusun, Rungus, Lundayeh, Bajau and Murut. Each of these ethnics has their own culture and lifestyle.
We signed up the afternoon session which start at 1.15pm with the coach transfer fetching us from our hotel. The journey took us about 30 minutes and rain started pouring along the way. However, the tour still went on.
Welcome to Mari-Mari Cultural Village! First, we arrived at the Dusun house where we were welcomed and demonstrated the process of rice wine fermentation, the local way. We were served with some samples too! Cheers!
The white coloured things are actually chunks of processed rice powder, shaped into round balls, tied up with a string to hang around the house to dry. After drying, they will become one of the main ingredients of the traditional rice wine.
Outside of the Dusun house, near the kitchen area, we were given a chance to try out, mixing some local ingredients to be cooked in a bamboo. Mein was my chef that day. Hehe…
The next stop was at another booth of rice wine making demonstration. The wine made here are with higher alcohol content and we got the try out some samples too! But the dilluted version, of course…
At the second house, we were welcomed by a Rungus girl. Here, we were served with some locally produced honey. Genuinely and purely made by bees in the nature. The honey was real sweeeeeeet!!!
In the Rungus house, a “fire-making” master awaited us. He demonstrated on how to start a fire with only dried bamboos. It was really impressive and great for learning as we might need it as a survival skill one day. Who knows?!
The third house was the Lendayuh tribe’s. A Lendayuh man performed the way to make clothings and strings using only tree barks! OMG! Who could have such patients to make one?! But it was really warm after wearing one.
We have heard about the Bajau tribe during school time. Bajau was divided into the land gypsies and the sea gypsies. Also Bajau was the richest tribe of all as they were mostly traders and businessmen. We were welcomed with a type of Bajau’s delicacies – kuih jala and also some pandan drink.
In the house, there was a platform for Bajau’s wedding ceremony. So, we waited no more and camwhored… Hahaha!
The final destination was the Murut house. It was very special as we must queue up while entering the area. And the tribemen came out and asked our group leader some questions before letting us in. At the entrance, we were given a chance to try out a long blowpipe used by the Muruts to hunt.
In the house, there was a springy platform which was very interesting. The Muruts dance and sang on it while jumping up and down. Mein also got a chance to dance along with the group.
After the dancing, a Murut artisant drew some inai artwork on our arm. It was the traditional way of body art and decoration, something like a tattoo… but the natural way.
The last stop was at the main stage where the dancers and performers graciously danced and performed the traditional dances of the tribes.
Still remember the mixed ingredients Mein did at the Dusun house? It’s a mixture of chicken meat, chillis, lemon grass, garlic, pepper and others. It was served at the end of the tour where we had our simple hi-tea, served with some snacks like fried bananas, tapioca, fried meehoon and hot drinks.
Also see our tattoos before the inai dried… After it dried off, we washed it off and it became like this :
It lasted for about 1 week.
Both of us loved this tour so much. And we really think the Government should have come out with tours of this type to help boost up tourism Malaysia. It’s definitely educational and memorable experience for everyone, be it local or foreign tourists.
dixonthum 