Land Below The Wind - Day One

 

When I first received an invitation for a reunion in Sabah, I was rather sceptical if I could make it. I guess, over the months, the irresistible draw to meet up with former teachers, friends and ex-students was something hard to resist. I must admit, I do longed to be back in Sabah, Land Below the Wind as I have so many fond memories there. The diverse ethnic group, culture, rich history, beautiful people and personality made Sabah what it is today. Though I was reluctant as usually during this December month, attending to flood cases ( my work ) would rob me of that opportunity to make travel plans indefinitely. However, I must say that I prayed silently and earnestly that I would attend this event.

So, confidently and with SLing as my accomplice, I booked our flight to Kota Kinabalu and with our fingers crossed too. As the month drew near and as the bad weather consisting of torrential rain and storms continues to batter the southern side and northern areas of the Peninsula, nothing seemed alarming yet…so far so go. I prayed “O God! I wanna go for this reunion, please! “. The day finally arrived and as we boarded the plane to our destination, I was filled with relieved, peace and anticipation. KLIA 2 airport never seemed so good to me and I needed that break again but this time, it was to see how my ex-students would be.

Gosh! When I finally realised that I have not seen them for the past 22 years, I was filled with much anticipation and excitement, I guess. As always, I had made arrangements with Lusia (a.k.a Apang, my former student and JWee babysitter while in Sabah ) and Rusni Jitah Singh ( my big, strong but friendly and delightful ex-colleague ) to pick us up at the KK International Airport.  As SLing and I walked out of the Arrival Hall, there to greet us warmly was Apang and it was such a great meeting indeed.  Then the arrival of the Mitsubishi Altrage which was driven by Rusni and our ride for the next 4 days.

We hugged and exchanged pleasantries and it was good to see the both of them. Never a dull moment and always a laughter at every turn along the way. Rusni told us that we are not going home until late night that day while we tried reasoning to her that SLing and I had been at the airport since 1.00am that morning. Nothing doing and we are to enjoy ourselves – that was it. From fish beehoon soup in Kota Kinabalu town to Alam Damai Condominium to drop off some dear package to our friends , Timothy & Evelyn, it was one adventure after another – UMS Aquarium and Research Centre and Sabah Museum. 

I was very disappointed with what was offered by UMS Aquarium & Research Centre which did not befit the RM 10 entrance fees though I know, it would go to the conservation fund and so on but to be a tourist attraction, there has to be more offered. Even Apang & Rusni were disappointed with the exhibited fishes in tanks and some very mouth–watering live prawns. I must admit though that the grouper fishes in the tank looked tantalisingly delicious on a nice plate of “yau cham sek pan yue” ( steamed grouper with hot oil and soya sauce base dish ) meal! Yummy is the word, actually.  After putting death to my mouth watering imaginary grouper dish, it was off to Sabah Museum.

Here we go again, my lovely friends will probably ask SLing why can’t resist museums and some of my friends had even honourably tagged me as “Museum Man” of which I am proud of , actually. As usual, we paid for the entrance fees but when I was informed that photography inside the museum was strictly prohibited, I was flabbergasted and disgusted. It is such a shame that this land has one of the richest culture and diversity of ethnicity and yet, no photographs could be taken. The cultural heritage and clothings are itself such beautiful adornment pieces and one would be amazed as I was 22 years ago. I could not understand the mentality of keeping under wraps of such fine art, culture and diversity of this land. 

I must admit in all sincerity that I was willing to be caught by the authorities for blatant disregard of photographs but sound advice by SLing, Apang and Rusni deterred me from doing it. Had it not been them that day, I would have taken pictures of the artifacts and so on. To me, it is such a weird and stupid policy, if I may be forgiven for using such strong words of disgust.

As I could remember it, there weren’t any gold artefacts of great significance there and neither were there any diamonds or whatsoever. To me, there was just an array of beautiful, rich and historical culture of the Sabah people. I am very sure this was not the way to promote Sabah Museum as I see it. I am sorry if I offended anyone but that is how I felt. I especially like the architecture of the museum itself,  the beautiful front façade and the vintage cars on display on the outside. It is such a waste to keep all those beautiful things inside the museum and not being able to show it to the world. Afterall, we do live in a digital world and the exposure would do a world of a good to the museum, actually.

Then, it is off to One Borneo Mall where our reunion would be held. Rusni treated us to Goreng Pisang Cheese and it tasted good. Washing it down with a glass of teh tarik amidst the blistering hot KK sun can be quite a task and despite the falling & pouring sweat,salt and oil, it was a fantastic time together. We walked around a bit at the mall to cool ourselves down from the hot sun and you could see the crowd as usual on school holidays like this.

We had so much laughter, fun and catching up to do that time just slipped by us as it sets down as early as 6.00pm onwards.  Rusni had informed us that she only has licence for “tanah rata” driving and I would have to drive when we go up the mountains the next day. A deal I would not miss out though I am quite apprehensive of the road conditions, undulating terrain and slopes. Well, I just pray that I would not butcher Rusni’s car at the end of the day as I know some places can be quite dangerous with winding roads and slopes. Ahhhh! Think about it after a good night’s rest, right?  

For dinner, we had a spread of seafood ( crabs, fish, vegetables, fried rice , chicken and a good jug of carrot/orange drink ) at Gayang Seafood Restaurant which was fantastically good and I love the freshness of the seafood fare which were ordered. I could hear the lobsters calling out, “ Pick me! Pick me! Eat me! “ but I resisted those expensive calls……hahahahahaaaaaaaaa….. Spending time with these two jovial, happy go lucky plus somewhat crazy duo were fantastic.  We had a lot of catching up to do with these two and I have come to really respect these two persons for their tenacity, patience and heart to lug it out day in day out at their work despite the hurdles of poor management, many heartaches and the difficulties they face carrying out their duties. I love them both for their simple ways and I have always been that way with them. The hospitality shown to us were fantastic and if this was the first day of many days to come, I say, “ Here I come, Sabah -Land Below the Wind! Show me more! ”