Oh God, save this land

How did we end up like this? How? What happened? Did we enrage God by idolising the many gods in this land?

All the old kids in the block really screwed up everything, from a to z of politics, economics, social and racial issues and you name it. Oh God, I pray that you help us restore and heal this nation of ours. Our children has no where else to go.

I am worried, confused, anxious, anxious and anxious.
God help us.

Another mashed potato

It's another tasty mashed potato. A whipping courtesy of PKR. What a development. What a news. Things moved at such a speed. Anwar is to be sworn in Thursday, 28 Aug and will be debating the budget 2008/9 in the parliament. Whooooo!!!!!!! What a nation we have. Another serving of mashed potato but this time with the sweet chocolaty cream all around????

Helleluiah

Welcome to this wonderful nation of mine. A wonderfully screwed up nation that is. I am fed up and I am tired. I am disillussioned and I am sick. I am utterly disgusted, period.

But in the bible, in the book of Isaiah, chapter 51, verses 1 to 16, the Lord tells us that the glory of God will prevail and we will see another wonderful nation of Malaysia coming into place, soon.

1 "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD : Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;

2 look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many.

3 The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

4 "Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: The law will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations.

5 My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm.

6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.

7 "Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts: Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults.

8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations."

9 Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through?

10 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over?

11 The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

12 "I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass,

13 that you forget the LORD your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor?

14 The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread.

15 For I am the LORD your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD Almighty is his name.

16 I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand— I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, 'You are my people.' "



HALLELUIAH !!!!!!!! GOD's wonderful glory will prevail.

Part 4: The ironical finale of the climb

Having managed to go so far and come back to the comforts of home, I got all the pictures that were taken downloaded onto the external disk drive which I have just bought. Unfortunately, and very unfortunately (as I am so green in this kind of gadget), the drive was badly corrupted and nothing could be recovered.

SOOOOO, the very wonderful ironic part of the climb is that I will now have to bring my entire mind, body and spirit up there again in order to capture the beauty of this place!!

Part 3: 2nd day of climb

Left laban rata after packing up and breakfast at 1115. Expecting a grueling trek down with high steps to go trough. Very high steps of rocks requires the legs to work harder and steps are uneven. True enough the timpohon trail is another punishing walk down. Although pace is quicker, had to very careful often when rocks or red earth are wed and muddy and full of moss. Had a few fall almost landing on my backside but the arms took the impact. Lots of steps and flat or almost flat terrain was a welcome at certain stretches esp toward the timpohon gate. Did the first 2km without stop!! And to me that was amazing. But after that had to stop once a while. Reached the gate in 4 hours exactly.

Part 2: 6th May - the first day of climb

Amidst the cold of the morning, we had buffet breakfast. Food was not bad!! Anyway, hot food is most delicious what these are in a cold weather. Once done, we gathered and had a group photograph taken and after a group prayer, it was already 8am when we started preparation for the climb. Bags were assembled and weighed by the guides. Tags were distributed and climbers were assembled in groups of 5 to 6. Then we started the climb.

Immediately we had to tackle a 1.5 km of uphill jungle trek. We could feel the strain when people start to pant, stop, walk, stop, pant. Someone then said it's because we are not warmed up enough yet and should be okay as we go on. I thought, ya, that's true and hope to recover as I journey on. There was a short reprieve downhill and then it was uphill most of the time. The climb gets difficult most of the time and mostly are through rather narrow jungle treks. At certain stretches, it can get a bit spooky if one walks alone and I was caught in the middle of the stream of climbers. At this time, the fast ones have gone far ahead - these are the youngsters. No way that I could catch up with them unless they stop for a long while. While the slow ones are behind and I was in between these two groups. I was alone before Dr. Leow caught up with me.

The view was scenic at certain part. At two short stretches, we had to cross the ledge of the mountain. This point was very scenic indeed - we could almost touch the passing clouds and the flowers too were beautiful.

At the trek gets higher and further up, I began to feel the anticipation and anxiety of reaching the destination for the day - Laban Rata. At one point, I could actually see Laban Rata amidst the clouds but through an uphill jungle trek, that actually means hours more of climbing. The strain and tiredness really set in. The doc and I had to really pace ourselves. We were doing a few steps, stopped, a few steps, stopped and this carried on even as we were almost there at LR. At the approach to LR, a sudden blow of mist brought a misty shower and I signalled to Dr Leow to put on the raincoat. I suddenly felt warm and nice but the shower went away as quickly as it came. We continued on and finally, the resthouse at Laban was within sight and reach. Walked up to the main resthouse and walked in, into a big group of people who were having their food in nice, warm comfort. The first group was already there since 2pm, while me and doc reached at 5pm, a good 9 hour climb!

Finally, the day comes,,,,the journey - part 1

5th May

Started journey by cab to sentral. Costs RM29 but the cab went like wind.

Connect to a coach to LCCT which costs RM8. Bus left at 0630 and reached LCCT one hour later. Check in was slow- typical of a low fare carrier? Had nasi lemak for breakfast - another RM8!! Flight took off after 15 minutes delay. Touched down at 1230, a good flight.

The group was picked up by travel agent and proceeded to a chicken rice lunch which costs RM11. Yummy. Got few bottles of water and maggi from a local store. Started journey to the base at 1430. The road was windy and the weather, hot. The road was long and bumpy. Expecting to take us about 2.5 hours and ETA at base 5pm. Going uphill, the sit-in-coach has difficulty moving. 8 in the coach. Hope no breakdown. Towards end of the drive, the coach indeed couldn't move up the slope to the resort. We had to get down to lighten the load and had to carry our own luggages up a slope - is this a preview of the torture to come? haha.

After 3 torturous hours, finally checked in into the Mersilau Nature Resort.

Mersilau nature resort is very welcoming but temperature's very cold here. There are a few chalets. Like living in a jungle. We have a few rooms with bunk beds. Had an upper deck in a 8-bed bunker room. Dinner was served immediately after a short briefing by the resort's personnel on what to expect the following morning. Dinner was buffet style, mainly vegetables!! Weather was cold, very cold, think it was probably below 10 degrees celcius.

Decided not to take any shower from that point until Wed. Hot shower did not work anyway and the water was really cold. After much repacking of bags, dressed up 3 layers for the night - socks and all and went straight to sleep. Target to start climb 730 after breakfast.

The final preparations

I think I have gotten almost all the stuff that I need for the climb up Mt K. Have just bought the final piece of knee guard after searching around for some time. And the bag's there waiting to be packed. Excited? Yes, and a bit of anxiety too. Just want to get this over and come back with the pics and certificate.

T minus 10 days

Training now at T minus 10 days has been at the gym mostly. Doing the steps. Have been consistently sweating it out after work and dinner at about 8.30pm. The sweat was good, to wear myself down for bedtime. The sweat was dripping like flowing water. I did not feel the pain and hope that this will continue during the climb, without pain. While training, I feel confident of making it to the peak. I hope and hope and pray and pray that nothing will go wrong and will come back with the pictures. Well training too has kept me fit too and I have God to give praise and thanks to for allowing me this opportunity to be able to put myself in this preparation mode.

Soon it will be T minus 9, 8 and so on till 5 May. And I am looking forward,,,,,,

9 km of torture

13th April - I ran the 9km Orange Run. Though the spirit was willing, very willing but the flesh was weak, very weak. And from the run, surfaces the weaknesses that worry me for the climb. My legs gave way at slopes and boy they hurt lots for the next 2 days. Stiff like logs for the next 2 days, forcing me to walk like a zombie.

But after 2 days, yes, the spirit was up and willing again and raring to go again, this time up the mountain. Am looking forward to the climb. But first, need to continue training,,,,and yes, the pain.

It's getting near

Yesterday, 6 April marks the T-1 month countdown to the climb up Mt K. Despite this, I cannot say for sure myself that preparation has been intensed and consistent. Laziness does set in at times and last week, my body was really tired. Oh man, excuses and more excuses.

Anyway, have been climbing steps, at a friend's condo and the batu caves temple. Also have been go up the office stairs daily. Sufficient? Probably not and I am praying for God's help!

Confused state

Oh, what do I want to write? There are so many things that are happening around us and so many things in my mind at this moment. Things that are in perspective and things that are yet to be in perspective.

The aftermath of the GE08 has multiplied the thought process of everyone in this country by trillion times and gossips are still abound. Rumours too. Many things are still unsettled. Pictures remained fuzzy. How do I as one little tiny individual in this big country fit in in the macro picture of what is going on now? Fuzzy fuzzy fuzzy. God is in total control of the situation - that's the one and only thing that I am 100% sure of.

At ground zero level, I just wished that people can shut their mouth and just go about their work, to be more productive and generate more business for the economy. Shut their mouth and let the elected leaders do their job. Shut their mouth and let it remain shut. I am puzzled why people like to talk, gossip, rumour monger and the likes. Why?

Tsunami, typhoon, winds of change,,,,,all in one

Hallehuiah, as I write this, I am still in shock and still soaked in the joy from outcome of the 12th general elections. But it is Hallehuiah and Praise God for the outcome. For indeed it is through His Grace and Mercy and through His will that we see and experience this Great Tsunami of 2008, the Great Winds of Change of 2008. Glory be to God.

Penang, my homestate and Selangor, my current homestate are now out of the hands of people who have wrenched us of every single thing we have. The great corrupts. And thank God, the great sami velli is finally out,,,,,he can take his permanent retirement finally.

Praise you God. We give Thanks to You. Glory be to Your name.

It's finally here

It's finally here. Malaysians will now have a chance to re-chart our course to our destiny. I am eagerly waiting for the day to cast that very important vote. And I hope my fellow Malaysians who have been screaming, blogging, crying, protesting etc etc will now also exercise their votes wisely.

The challenge,,,,,it's tough

The preparation is not easy, it's tough but I will persevere. So far, training has been quite regular but this will have to pick up over the next many weeks. And I am very very happy that along the way, my family - my wife, and children have also joined in in the regular walks and runs.

The beginning of a challenge,,,

Monday, 21 January 2008 was the beginning of a challenge which I am going to take coming May. It's the Mt Kinabalu. I confirmed my participation with a group of church friends and therefore marks the start of a disciplined training which I will need to go through.

I know it will be a real challenge but I also know that God is and will be with me all the way.