my sabah experience..

I had my first conference in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah over the last weekend.. to me, it felt more like a holiday cum break-from-hectic-PhD-life.. being delegated as a poster presenter, as opposed to some who had to deliver presentations orally (phew!), i merely had to put up my poster for those other members of the conference to look upon.. not sure how many people actually looked at my mini little poster (which i adhered to the size limitations given..), but oh well..


















my poster (top), "belittled" by others non-conforming sized posters..


anyway, having stepped upon this faraway land on the east side of malaysia, it felt like a totally different country... the place seemed to be 10 times more slow paced, as compared to the ever bustling city of KL... it even took me almost 30 minutes just to check in, and there was completely no other guests at that time...but i guess, for those who look forward to retirement with a calm environment, leisure and pure tranquility, this is definitely the place.. abundant with beautiful golf courses (as said in the Tour Sabah DVD) and merely watching the sunset helps you cast your problems aside.. just for that day anyway..haha
















sunset at 6.30pm


thanks to my colleague who was born and bred in this serene place, we were brought around to witness several "tourist spots".. if you are in Kota Kinabalu, the Filipino market is one spot not to be missed... for the ladies anyway... =)
here, you can get most of your souvenir shopping as well as those famous crystal and pearl accessories Sabah is so well-known of... of course, you will need to be good in negotiating to get the best deal here... being a fan of bracelets and bargaining like an ah-sam, i eventually got off 4 beautiful bracelets for quite a good offer.
















the ceiling is compensated by all the handicraft sold


for the locals, you can even get your clothes altered here, by professional men...















something you will definitely not see in KL


just next to the Filipino market, the interest will shift to mothers and aunties if they were around...the fishy smell fumigating the air as far as a 100m radius away is unmistakable...
the Pasar Ikan Masin... an entire market dedicated to this delicacy...
















you can even get real sharks fin, still with its grayish blackish skin intact...





















one of the climax to this trip was the beef noodles that became famous overnight after a talk show on Astro... located away from town and away from everywhere else (don't ask me where is it because all i did was sit in the car and get down when i arrived at the place), this shop sells only that.
beef noodles..
i must say, the beef was really tender... and it was indeedly good .. especially when you are hungry.. haha











beef balls, tendons, brisket, stomach, sliced beef...


the 4 days "trip" really ended fast, with 2.5 days dedicated to listening to conferences ("supposedly educational talks")... i will definitely miss the cute fish figures at the Waterfront... it would have been nice to sit and watch the sunset from there...















the Waterfront


without knowing it, it was time to fly back to reality and hit the labs again...















yup, back to putting these on in the labs...


hey, i wasn't the only kia-see one around okay...