Monstaah!

Before After


Siin Xiu : God's Hand in Hakka tongue/ MonstAAH Crane!

My,my.. what a glorious invention~Nice and flat in no time,.No worries thou,we be doing lotsa planting once the accomadations are up.It will be nice and shaded again.
It must be quite fun to operate a crane,..but I shan't try since i'm still struggling with the 4 wheeled car.

Btw way, found a dead fish on the hill top.Uncle Jalil said maybe a birds accidentally droped it after catching it from the lake down hill. But im convince its a sign,..According to the bible,5 loaves and 12 basket full of fish can feed 5,000,hymm 1 fish up in the hills..must be him saying hi!Yessa !!we will prosper and flourish!

other funky Hakka words
Diao Ungh : Fishing
Ungh Pian : Fish Slices
Ungh Waat : Flat Fish Cakes
Ungh : FISH!

I just find the Hakka tongue Hilarious hahahaha.

BELIAN,the Red Ridding WHood

"Secretly duped with Tongkat Ali,.here's Anton exerting some super crotch power!"

Belian: Eusideroxylon zwageri of the family Lauraceae, More commonly known as The Iron Wood.

After another set of hasty breaths,I finally manage to huff my way through the cobble stone *soon to be driveway.* The long awaited ,250 pcs of Belian timber set before my eyes. There's something about seeing wood logs that drives my adrelin into perculiar paths,Cuz somehow it leads to the bladder instead?!yea, I got so excited it made me wanna pee..

Well thats before we discover the supplier had stocked rotten timber amidst the bundle..Anton and I had to sort them out and place it aside before we can get the crane in.we had to tumble the 150kg +/- load along a 3m stretch. Anton cauldn't stop ranting about how the Iron wood had splinters like Iron nails, Being the wiser partner,I decided to adapt an alternate strategy through this potentially back breaking (i'm serious) chore!...focus on the breathing..one...huffff.. two ..puff.. one huff... two puff...

It seems you can't trust the loggies these days.Since Belian timber is considered a top notch tropical wood,We'd paid pretty aching sum for it. A good log should have a nice handsome red blush,sm what spicy hint when you smell it. Due to its great weather proof properties,its commonly known to hold Jetties and Bridges for a good decade or 2. We'll be using these as main support pillars for the Longhouses,Duplexes and the oh so fabulously designed 3 Tier Communal Pavillion.

After rolling some 20 logs,My errmm "maiden hands" was badly violated by the splintter,I took awhile to straighten my back then ..Heck,! I was seeing stars!

The Maths

I gasp in awe as we trek around Uncle Jalil's hill~

Well honestly speaking I can't quite tell the whether I gasped in awe or was I simply gasping for air since it was a terribly hot day.
We finally found a perfect footing on 2 naturally formed plateau which is believed to be the arms of a valley. Nicely tucked away up in the hills, the total build up is half an acre. Encircled by huge steadfast palm trees and lush secondary forest. We soon discovered the many great look out points to build watch towers and hammock stations. One of which, almost seem like a parallel view of the Labuk Nature Reserve across the road. Nearly peeping through its canopy, Just 200m away!If you've got a bad left brain, or you can't imagine ,try lining up 6 Broccolis an arm's length away, thats probably a fraction of what I saw.

The reserve is one of the few Virgin Rainforest left in Sandakan.(by virgin we mean its untouched by evil filthy illegal logger's hands~) 10mins drive away, there's another big ass Nature reserve and thats where the "Sepilok Orang Utan Rehab" is. Legend has it that the top canopy sweat at the beat of sunrise, creating a mystical mist that probably last not more than 5 - 10mins. should be quite a scene, Fingers crossed, hopefully I manage to take some wicked pictures of these sweating broccolis soon.

Meanwhile, folks we should all take good care of our bladder!

In The Begining

Old friends, future friends and dear family,

This blog was created to keep us close to you. Even thou technically speaking Sabah is still part of Malaysia, it sure does almost feels like another world! Nevertheless i'm well fed with great seafood and all psyched about our humble little Tropical Retreat. PaganakanDii. http://www.paganakandii.com/

"Amidst the Foliage" journals through the process of building this project from scratch. Reporting in detail, the birth and growth of a little community full of people whose green thumbs are so huge they can no longer contain it in their teeny weeny backyard. So stick around, I promise you there will be full off intriguing characters and great laughs and lots off pictures. On the other hand if we have yet to meet you in person, do drop by soon! after the launch in July 2007.

Important notes to help you make sense If I go too fast :

Eco Tourism : To travel around the world to learn and preserve kinky flora & fauna, weird animals in the forest, tall mountains, deep seas, fast rivers, great waterfalls or simply kicking it in the great outdoors.

Sabah : Commonly known as Land below the wind ( don’t ask me why! ) www.malaysia.travel/consumer/destinations/state.asp?state=sabah

Sandakan : the town that we're in, well known for Prawns so huge and juicy it taste like chicken. Scuba Diver's pit stop before heading to one of the greatest dive sites and islands of Malaysia such as Sipadan, Pulau Lankayan, Kapalai.

Anton Ngui : Brainchild and slave driver of this project.

Uncle Jalil : Comical chatterbox man with a big heart, long hands and really big palms.

Linn : ME!