ConTinuitY

The purchase of 14 Mercedes Kompressor by the state government of Terengganu has gone on to become a issue in the past week. This topic has become the ugly event that kick-started the further investigation that would then reveal behind-the-scene use of the people’s money surely, as the ACA has now laid its hand on the state government to launch its investigation.

Firstly, by setting its own trend of not making Proton Perdana Executive V6 as the government car, the state government has gone against the federation. Then, by making ‘undisputed’ claims that the quality of Proton Perdana V6 is below par, and by revealing the sky-rocketing figure of the maintenance fees to the public, this Terengganu state government must have lost his mind. While the government has been claiming that Proton’s products are up to strict regulation and quality, our own MB here has lost his patient and has now pin-pointed a few negative highlight on Proton, and what was more, his effort was then joined by his fellow comrade, MB from various state including Selangor and Perak, were seen agreeing with what was commented on Proton, so the question is, is it a rock-solid fact that what the government have been promoting so intensively all these whiles were actually wrong?

But hey, even the actuality is against the make-up sales slogan, shouldn’t those MB direct their gun point to Proton but should not make this known to the public? Did it not occur to them that what they have said would damage Proton’s performance?

Then, they began to demand the federation to bear the maintenance cost that will incur by their Perdana V6 should they continue to abide to this instruction. Is like children who acted childishly by telling parents if you want me to score A, buy me PS3! Oh what was funnier should be the ‘decision’ made by our PM, who later claimed that the Mercedes should be maintained, but only for use to fetch VVIP from foreign country. The first thing that came across my mind is that if we’re to dump aside our ‘own production’ and adopted a Mercedes to welcome a foreigner, will this indirectly means that we ourselves have admitted that our car is below par and inacceptable if it’s used to fetch a foreign minister (while we have hung the phrases on our mouth to say Proton is Good all these whiles)!

All sorts of funny headlines have made their way to the press headline recently, and later successfully captured the attention of everybody and become a hot topic, a hot issue. This is one of the funny little things, and the dark side underneath this should be coming up to the surface soon. Knowing that it’s our parents money that contributed to the government budget, and realizing that we all are helpless to stop them from exploiting the money in the wrong way, but luckily all these issues have been so laughable, at least we got entertained!

A group of 7 had made up an exciting plan to have a great trip to Kota Kinabalu by taking Air Asia flight some 2 months ago and everything went so smoothly, courtesy to tkb who’d been the runner n planner for most of the things. Group of 7 ended up with only 6 people able to have the time to travese from peninsular to the west malaysia, but that did not stop us from putting our foot on the Gigantic Mount. Kinabalu on the second day upon our arrival in the City.

From the city centre to the Kinabalu Park, where this sacred mountain is located, would need a drive around 2 hour, after a accelerate-brake-accelerate drive inside that rent ToyotaInnova, we had to stop over a tourist spot near the park that looked like a flea market, to get a replacement shoe for the gem of this trip Mr. Max Ng. Finally! We have reached the entrance to the park, as designated by the signboard, with a turn to the left, the gate of the park is waving its automatic arm to welcome our arrival, heartbeat intensified!

After a lengthy debate over which bag should be transferred to our porter, Mr. Bornia, we decided to stick to the initial choice, the biggest bag inside the company that weighted around 10kg to the porter’s shoulder while 2 bags of our provisions would then be carried by hand alternatively by the gentlemen in our file.

Before we departed from the gate, our charismatic tour guide, Mr. Tommy shown us the general map of the whole mountain and the whole hiking trip, then he went on to instruct us to go on with him and the porter would then start walking behind us later, looked like a challenge for us to see how far it would be when he catch-up with our pace. Curiosity striked me at the beginning phase as we were descending down a series of stair-cases, just when i started to believe innocently that the whole trip would be easy-going one, a very cheering waterfall appeared to be welcoming our passing-by, then, the not-so-pleasant picture began to realize as we were faced with ascending land from there onwards, path laid with uneven rocks, tree branches and muddy soil waiting for us to walk through with determination.

We began to feel the pressure when we met the sign board reading ‘KM 0.5′, it means 0.5 KM, while the total journey to the resort would be KM 6.0, what?! Tired, but we kept on walking with our desire to reach the top as soon as possible become the force that fueled our steps. Each hut we bump into, we would sieze the opportunity to take a rest and bite some KitKat and WangWang, salvaged the salty taste of the biscuit and the milky sensation of the chocolate, we would resume our long distance stride toward the resort, our first check point, our refuge to the ever changing atmosphere!

The longer we walked, the weaker our leg seemed to be, at one point we needed to put on our glove and sweater as the temperature began to drop drastically and teeth shaking involuntarily. The sun ignored our call and went into hiding silently, while we knew that we would need to continue for another 1.0 KM, the surrounding began to fade into darkness as the sun had completely hid itself from being seen, desperately, we took out the torch light and headlight, and continued to climb, hoping that we would reach the pit stop sooner than later. At Last, the hut appeared but it did not look to fit our imagination as it was only a ’stand-alone’ house, precisely at this moment, Bornia appeared and told us that it was not the actual destination, as another 2 min walk from there was required, then we struggled to walk reluctantly, and finally, inside the resort house, desperately took down the rain coat, sweaters, and seized the packed food vigorously, restoring our energy with the rations provided before we went into our room, no.6, that occupied with 3 double-decker. Knowing we had to start the second phase 2am, we hurriedly went to rest(sleep), only to be called to consciosness by Ms. Lee phone conversation that radiated her laughing sound that vibrated the  whole room. Everyone was tired and helpless when the time for us to start climbing reached, but we nevertheless continued our quest to conquer the peak, the temperature was read as 7 degree! madness!

The second phase was really nightmarish, despite only 2.5 KM from our starting point, it took us 4 hours, and involved more rest, more energy than the previous day one. There was one point where we needed to hang to a rope, and ascending the cliff by pulling agaisnt our weight, dangerous but exciting experience! Numerous time i almost stopped and turned my back on the peak, as it was getting really difficult to breathe, and muscle was really like soft gel unable to flex anymore. At one point, my torch light went out of light, i could no longer see the trail of granite rock laid in front of me, so i had to stop and sat there waiting for other people to pass by, while the wait was torturing, i almost fall asleep in the vast coldness(lucky i did not! otherwise i would have RIP there)! Hey! i wished that you were there at that time, when the sun rises and the breathtaking scenery began to materialize, you would wish to be there forever man! the view was really wonderful, so taking pictures ofcourse would become an inevitable thing to do there.

Along this whole trip the only thing i realized is that no matter how difficult the whole journey could be or would be, as long as we hold strong to our belief and our will, we could overcome obstacles and reach our destination, and the most beautiful thing is the feeling that would run over us when we have achieved something BIG!

Having been able to climb to the peak of Mount. Kinabalu is considered as one of the BIG thing i have accomplished! Cheer!