lost in wonder

Back to Kota Kinabalu trip posting: day at the Tanjung Aru beach, white water rafting, and the famous Sunday morning Gaya Street market.

I was SOOOO glad we had time to go to Tanjung Aru beach. Sunset there was amazingbeathtakingsuperawesomely WOW. I was so happy and content with my camera the whole time- approx 30 minutes, just clicking away every minute or so and gasping at how beautiful creation can be at times when we really just pause, look, and admire.

I prefer sunrises over sunsets. But I never wake up early enough to take photos of sunrises =P

6.06pm. still blocked by clouds
still lovely

6.19pm. move away, clouds!

6.20pm. zoomed in on the rays
gah i need antiglare lens. but I'll need a new dslr first ;)

6.23pm. I love how the sea glistens in the sunlight

6.24pm. and then, this dude just blocked my view! I think he was taking a photo too
but I decided to take a photo anyway

6.25pm. SO. PRETTY!!!

6.26pm. sunset over the horizon!
*happy sigh* now I can tick off 1 more item from my "to-do-before-i-turn-25" list

6.27pm. happy, contented me

Kiulu river white water rafting: the day before we went back to Kuching- Valentine's day!
RM150 per person if I remember correctly. We probably got cheaper prices as my cousin's friend works as a freelance tourguide and was able to get *ahem* special deals for us.

The guides were so funny and sporting! We set off in 2 rafts, 8 in each raft. The main instructor in our raft, a funny-as Filipino dude who can speak so many Chinese dialects even dragged me into the river while I wasn't noticing. Then I got pushed into the river once again when he "saved" me by pulling me over the other side of the raft. Good fun, though. He tried to overthrow our raft on purpose many times but we were just too pro in rafting haha. Crazy dude even jumped off a suspended bridge over the river, and I spotted him smoking while swimming after that. I secretly envy his job.

the beautiful Kiulu river. It's graded level 1&2, the more challenging rafting course is at Padas River. The weather was beautiful that day, so we took 2 short breaks, went swimming, and took photos. To me, it was the highlight of the KK trip. Highly recommended for anyone travelling to KK.

spotted: girl fanning the cute baby @ Gaya street Sunday market

I found this quite... amusing.

It means "hit also cannot die" when directly translated from Mandarin. Apparently it's a traditional herbal medicine thing (they even sell the tree there at the market) mixed with wine- the uncle who was selling it said it can cure pain aches. Sounds magical and totally illogical to me anyway. But mum bought it anyway to test it out -_-

The yummy Hainanese Mee, recommended by my cousin

BIG as billboard at a traffic junction.
Super rich couple or just an ad for a bridal studio? I doubt the latter since there was no visible sign of any company logo/number on it.

This week has been a LOOOOOONG one. I'm glad that tomorrow's Friday. No wait, I do have to go back to the lab even on weekends now =( Looking forward to the "got talent" night at Southside tomorrow! I was supposed to play the keys for Jo who was performing a song, but change of plans. I'm now turning the pages for Michelle (keys) and Emily (viola) for their duet! Yup, that's an important role.