Please pardon my ignorance, coz this is the first time I see this. I noticed an unusual truck when I drove along the Lok Kawi Beach.
As you know, every vehicle has only one registered plate number, no matter how big and small it is.
This long truck has 2 car plate numbers?!! Why ah? Probably this vehicle has two driver seats or it is meant to confuse the police? I might be drunk but my camera proves that my vision is Ok. I didn’t overtake this truck to see its plate in front. Who knows it may have two different plate numbers in front too, lol.
Another funny thing is – it also seems to have two set of speed limits? Left side is 50 KM/H and right side is 60 and 70 KM/H? Anyone can explain? I’m interested in getting two plate numbers for my car too.
It has been a long time I didn’t update this blog. I suffered high fever (viral infection) and allegic to medicine for 10 days. I still feel weak until now..
I don’t know how much you believe in Feng Shui (Feng means wind, Shui means water). But I know many bosses and companies do, some even spend 5-digit figure to hire a Feng Shui consultant to design the best Feng Shui arrangement for office interior. Damn… I should had invested in studying in Feng Shui. Look at the fortune of Lilian Too. There is a saying “Feng shui guru can cheat you for 8 years 10 years” because it is hard to prove that they are wrong. I am a bit skeptical about Feng Shui, but not totally in disbelief. After all, it is a thousand-year old knowledge, in many parts backed by science and experience.
Don’t know if you notice Chinese like to have fish tank in their houses and shops? Not that they really love fishes. In Feng Shui, fish tank is a body of water can neutralise bad luck. Chinese also think that best Feng Shui house is the one facing sea and backed by mountain. That’s why you see many Chinese temples built in such location. Building a house right next to a 3-road or 4-road junction is very bad in Feng Shui. Like the photo above I took in Beaufort, a house next to a junction setup feng shui cannon.
Some Feng Shui books say people live in house next to such junction could get bad luck easily. I was told that evil spirits are more likely to wander around such area. The fake cannons are probably to scare them away. Certain businesses tend to believe Feng Shui more than others, especially those that have strong connection with luck factors, spirits and crime, such as gambling, PR, lumbering and police. Many years ago, a fortune teller told me that water element was bad for my career, but fire element was good. After knowing I studied in computer science, he noded, “hmmm… computer is electronic, electricity is fire, good, good…” Though I didn’t really believe this, it was a relief somehow.
Some Feng Shui theories have scientific basis. For example, Feng Shui says you should not plant a tall tree next to your house. Well, the reason is quite obvious and common sense. If the big tree falls one day, it will crush your house. Instead of giving a scientific explanation, Feng Shui would give very “deep” reason such as the bad spirits would hide in the tree shadow, making the whole thing sounds so superstitious.
Basically, Feng Shui is about changing the flow of magnetic field to repel bad energy (e.g. sickness, bad luck, evil spirits) and draw good energy (e.g. fortune, luck, morale, health). That’s why in horror movie, you always can see a Feng Shui guru checks the site with Feng Shui compass. If the pointer spins like crazy, it means presence of ghost.. For this feng Shui house in Beaufort, the cannons are pointing to a old building only 10 Meters away. That is a gazetted building built by British colony hundred years ago. During World War II, Japanese used it as hospital. Some locals believe there are spirits lingering around it…
Actually I had heard of butt washer many years ago, but this was the first time I saw it in The Mark’s Lodge in Sandakan. When I saw this weird pipe stick out of the toilet bowl, I thought some pervert installed a spy cam to watch people sh*t, though I don’t really mind.
This butt washer is considered as outdated technology, since Japanese version can clean the a$$hole as well as drying it? Anyway, so far this is the only Sabah hotel where I find this interesting feature. I just let you know in case you like to try it out.
Turn it on and you will get a jet of water spray shoot at your hole. If you turn around, you can wash something else, hehe… BTW, I was told that a doctor said very few Muslim got hermorrhoid compared to Chinese coz they clean “it” with water and hand. No kidding. Tissue paper can’t clean our x totally.
Back to the washer, you can increase the force, so strong that it could hurt. The photo below is still not the display of full power of the pipe. Sorry ah, I just make fun of this thing, not laughing at the hotel who is so considerate. It is useful to senior and handicapped people who have difficult to do the cleaning. It will be better if the water is warmer.
Personally I didn’t try it. Somehow I think it would give me a funny feeling of someone licking my butt.. 0_o
Not Canon camera ah. Sabahans know it is a Kadazan Dusun custom to pay dowry with buffalo.
What if you offer a bronze cannon instead? Yes, you can, but in 13th century. I find this interesting “bride price” in the museum inside Sabah Trade Centre.
Just read the label if you don’t believe me. Probably bronze was a precious metal in the past, so you could use it like money.
But I am curious how they used it. Place it in front of the house as a display of wealth? Or melt it to make sword or other stuffs?
Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
To thank your support, I would like to invite you all to try the juice below FREE. Just kidding… But I would be interested to know what happens if it enters your stomach.
Probably the dirtiest and smelliest water in the world, it is highly concentrated with waste, toxin, bacteria and virus. Surprisingly, it is always come out in orange color.
Some years ago, the location outside my house seemed to be the favorite spot for dump trucks to compress their garbage. When they did that, such yellow liquid would flew all over the ground. The next morning I would keep cursing the bad smell that they left behind. Even the harsh sunlight couldn’t neuralize the scent (actually making it worst), so we smelled something sour and rotten hanging in the air for whole day, as if we lived next to a dustbin.
Perhaps the modern dump truck is cleaner now, so this incident doesn’t occur that often. May be it also has something to do with the Ang Pow that we gave to the workers during Chinese New Year. The only thing bothers me is the noise of dog barking and garbage throwing during my sweet dream.
Contrary to the smelly dump trucks of Malaysia, the dump truck of developed countries doesn’t have such strong odor. May be their weather is so cold that it supresses the growth of bacteria. Our warm climate is just a breeding ground for harmful things. It won’t be that bad if we learn to recycle the organic stuffs instead of dumping them.
Some countries have started a system to charge more to people who throw extra rubbish. If we practice the same thing here, more garbage will go into the sea, rivers and toilet bowl, a nightmare… Remember the people live in illegal squatters, which has been removed, in Likas? Most of them are reloacted to housing in Telipok and business as usual, they still continue dumping their garbages everywhere. However, the immigration is still very pleased to grant them PR status. Seem like the government loves to accept rubbish too.
I didn’t know that Brunei was claiming Limbang (of Sarawak) as part of their territory, until I read the news last week. I have gone to Brunei multiple times coz of some IT projects of my ex-companies. However, I was only given 14 days of visitor pass upon arrival to Brunei. This posed a problem coz my assignment needed 3 weeks to complete. To apply for extended stay from Brunei immigration is very troublesome, you need to go to their office in city and have a local to be your guarantor.
The fastest way is leaving Brunei and go to nearest immigration gate of Sawarak (Malaysia border), then enters Brunei again to get a new pass (for another 14 days). It sounds funny but it works well and many Malaysians do that. Hey, many Bruneians also go to Limbang to buy beer (no tax if buy 1 dozen only). In my case last time, Limbang is the nearest gate, which is only an hour drive away from Brunei city. So I left Brunei via its immigration gate in Kuala Lurah, took a short walk to Limbang to enter Sarawak, then entered Brunei from Limbang again. The whole process took less than 30 minutes and I got 4 chop on my passport, i.e. Brunei(out)->Sarawak(in)->Sarawak(out)->Brunei(in). The photo above is the area between Sarawak (right side) and Brunei (left side). If Brunei people go to Kota Kinabalu (6 hours drive passing through Brunei, Sarawak and Sabah), they may get 10 chop!
Brunei is a country in many ways similar to Malaysia, but also very different. For example, I hardly saw a Proton or Perodua car on the road, needless to say, a land without Sang Kancil. If any, the car is from Malaysia then. Their petrol is about 50% cheaper than Malaysia, and imported cars are 30 to 50% cheaper than ours. Probably that’s why there is no bus there, since everyone can afford a car. The road is so good that I feel safe digging my nose while driving over 100KM per hour, and can skip seat belt like most of the Bruneians. And Brunei people don’t know what is income tax. They live a very relaxing life, with lot of money. The Bruneians I met were gentle and not so demanding as Malaysian customers. It is a peaceful place where a small crime can make a news headline.
Brunei is so near to Sabah that the KK flight can reach there before our seats are warmed. The value of Brunei currency doubles Malaysia Ringgit. I guess most Sabahans know that we can use Singapore dollar like Brunei dollar with 1 to 1 exchange rate in Brunei. At first, due to lack of confidence, I always asked at the check-out counters, if them accepted Singapore money. The cashier just took the money from my hand without saying anything. I looked so silly to ask.
With all the factors sum up above, Brunei is a nice place to work and stay. Hey, working there 1 year you get salary equivalent to 2 years of Malaysia’s. But the moment I stepped in Brunei, I missed Sabah. I believe most Malaysians, who work in Brunei, would agree. Last time my client provided free meals for me. I ate halal food for so many days that I feel there is a songko (muslim) hat on my head already. Even though the food tasted good, the protein from fishes and beef couldn’t satisfy me, I started to crave for pork. I missed Cha Sao (叉烧) and Sao Yu (烧肉) so much.
Pork… I want Pork…
Pork… Pork… Pork…
Chinese restaurants in Brunei (muslim country) do serve pork, but they do not display Cha Sao and Sao Yu so openly, like in Malaysia. Luckily it is not too hard to locate a Chinese restaurant around, and finally I found what I wanted. The thing surpises me was they think running a restaurant is a lower-class job in Brunei, so most of the restaurants are opened by Malaysians.
Pork is very important ingredient in Chinese food. That’s why the Malaysia mooncake nowadays tastes like shit, after the manufacturers decided to go halal by replacing the pork oil with something else. Same as the hotel food. Many friends come to Sabah simply say NO to hotel food. The hotels have many attempts to make Chinese food tastes like real Chinese food. Well, it is still very different from what I am used to. No offense to Muslim friends, it is just one man poison is one man meat.
Many also subscribe to Astro TV in Brunei. I am not sure if their version is a bit different, coz I noticed some sexy scenes disappeared from the movie that I had seen in Sabah before. This also applies to their movies. I am already quite unhappy that a Malaysian so-called 18SX movie is actually a so heavily censored version, but I didn’t even see a kissing scene in Brunei TV and movie. They are so “clean”. Well, these are their lifestyle in the eyes of Sabahans. Brunei is a great place anyway, bye bye!
You think Mini-Buses are the worst transport in Sabah? Perhaps you haven’t gone to Keningau town.
These overloaded lumber trucks are the common view in Keningau. They carry logs that can be twice as long (and heavy?) as the length of their truck. Tons of log are only secured by 2 steel ropes.
The logs are so long that whenever this truck makes a turn, the tail of its log can sweep the car on other lane or behind it. Just visualize a person carries a very long stick horizontally. Even if he turns slightly, his stick can whip someone by surprise.
Such truck is clearly compromising the safety of other vehicles. They will be fined dearly if doing this in city. I have no idea why they can act like an outlaw in Keningau. Probably the Keningau police station is run by timber company. A little citizen can get saman (fined) for bad parking… So what is this?
Bye bye stupid truck. In fact, the lumber trucks are responsible for many damaged roads as our highway is not designed for such heavy duty use.
Not only overloaded trucks, you also can see dirty truck that have plate number totally covered in dust, like the oil palm truck below.
Well, this can really get you impatient, when you are behind a dozer in a double-lined lane.
I was observing the interaction among these crabs and took the photos below. Crab is a territorial animals and they constantly defending their boundary. As they don’t build any fence, their claws are their fence. Whoever got a bigger claw will win.
The weak will fight back anyway, no matter how small their claws are. That makes me think of the current political situation of Malaysia. To get unfair advantages, the government has controlled police, Election Committee, newspapers, TV, Anti-Corruption Agency, judges, education, ISA, etc. So they have super big claw to bully the people who have different voices.
Whenever they are on the losing side, creating race tension will be their next weapon. However, as people are more educated nowadays, they don’t quite buy this cheap tactic. They know in globalization age, stressing special right is just plain stupid.
Dialog: “You are my hero, hubby!”
Well, I don’t believe such thing as BN is bad, PR is good. Absolute Power will create Absolute Corruption. PR will turn into the second BN too, if they also get a super claw. It is foolish that BN is more interested in the conduct of opposition rather than its own. Because of this, PR will become cleaner and cleaner, BN will become more and more corrupted. The people can’t wait for the next election to remove them from the office.
Monster is chasing the PR and Rakyat… Constitution is the Mother of Law and is above any governmental bodies, even Sultan. I worry if we allow something unconstitutional to happen in Perak, it will give the BN even a bigger claw. Anyway, though making great headlines, the people actually are not quite interested in the fight between BN and PR, it is a lose-lose thing.
Now everyone just hope to keep their jobs and overcome the economic downturn, which is of the least concern of rich and corrupted VVIPs. I am already very sick of seeing white becomes black, black becomes white, under the influence of people in power. Be cautious BN, in next election we would pinch you with bigger claw.
Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
