The Babe Mobile

VW Combi Refurbishment Updates... The body work is done, we're ready to rock soon,Guest coming after September should be able to check out our pimped out ride !

All that chrome parts shopping & speaking mechanics language to some old chinese man. - I feel like Megan Fox from transformers for awhile "all anton said was - NOT!!

Btw I crashed his white 4wd truck.Yea, the truck that he tells you guys to wait for by the roadside.Its fixed now. Lost control in mile 8. Went into muddy ditches. crashed the bonnet & 1 head lamp. Anton is obses about how his belongings have to be in pristine conditions. I splurge on a Paul Smith wallet for him once..and its still..well PRISTINE cuz its still in the box. SO as you might have guessed, He went absolutely mental on me.

So im no Megan Fox. & I guess I wont be allowed to drive the combi too.

Crocodile Dundee

Compared to a normal size lizard.

Compared to Anton's Hand.


So we finally caught the lil guy who's been shitting all over our Dewan (The conference hall). but we didnt expect him to be this big. We knew it was lizard's doing cuz he keeps announcing his arrival proudly along with his trail of "Gold nuggets".But HECK! this guy is the size of a baby crickey! Ohhh mate, luk at dat beeeUuutiful creychah(If you havent' seen Steve Irvin before - Translation "baby crocodile,look at that beautiful creature ) Its stuck to our glue trap.so too bad. It's gonna die!muahahhah!

Been awhile

Hey folks its been awhile, I've been so lazy..These guys "USE TO" hold the longgest staying guest record. see that's how slow i've become. anyways all they did was played cards & chill off. - sounds like my kind of perfect holiday.

" crap, for a second i've forgotten how to upload pictures..."

I lub mama earth!

Lola : Linn's alter ego, a Wilhelmina at heart,loves rubbing you in the face the oh soo wrong way bitch & 10 complaining Singaporean aunties snatching over discounted apples all combined in 1. Yea I know! She scares me too.
(sorry aunties, I cant act like Im fond of you & your entourage of permed hair!)

Past week I feel like Spidey in his Venomous suit & Lola's been trying to break free. My body feels like a pressure cooker with double broiled sweet & sour Chinese pig trotters in me. Basically I was in a cranky mood. So we took a break & chilled out at the islands & boy was I glad we did that!

After whipping up some make shift Margaritas for the boys down at the island, They started sharing their often life threatening experience as Reef Guardians for SIMCA - These guys are serious bout walking their talk! Perhaps its the poisonous city air I grew up with,The cynic in me have thought me to spot & regretfully spat on people who don't walk their talk! It simply creeps me out when ppl join NGOs/Charity groups and claim that they are doing good when the ulterior motive really is for their own personal gain. Not sure if this practice is universal, But around this region. When you ask for donations..you are expected to give em recognition by putting their names on school buildings,on magazines,really i would think ... why not on my arse?

The Reef Guardians, do what they say they are..they protect their waters from fish bombing, cyanide fishing & achieve reef conservation works.They've had pirates shot at them, Fish dynamites thrown at them & lotsa tripping over red tapes..and it's just another day at work. One of the boys actually got recognized & threatened by a fisher man at the local markets.

Over the 2hr mental sparring sessions between Archier(she's in-charge) & her round table of conservationist. I was blasted with scientific terms, amazing cycle of growth & teased with lil sacrilegious jokes like how a diver's piss could damage the reef..& most of all confronted by myself - "What have I done to make a difference?"

Inspired by them,We started a Tree planting campaign at our Bar in town,duh off course its Anton's idea as usual..he's the thinker & im the do-er.So when you guys do drop by, Do plant a tree for merely RM20 & help us keep Sandakan the way it is for years to come.I'm not a self proclaim environmentalist nor am I ever gonna turn Raw food vegan flashie hippie blahh,But I'm definitely holding in my piss when I'm out at sea.


Thats all~
"devil wears diapers"


Inspired by them,We started a Tree planting campaign at our Bar in town,duh off course its Anton's idea as
Edited after 8 days! -

After watching the Environment Day 2009 Specials : HOME by Yann Barthus-Bertrand.We were Aw-spired to make change. Despite only gathering 50+ trees over the past 8 days, I'll like to think the project have changed my perspective of life on earth.Quite honestly I'm 1 stubborn mule,Not even the world most influential woman - Oprah & her multiple attempts to glamorize going green have made real impact that this video has. I'm ashamed to be part of the species that single handedly destroyed what was given to us. The statistics shocked me. I was so upset I felt bad about having some Haagen Daz while watching it...seriously.

The movie is 90mins long, loads of disturbing stats,but let me put things in a dead simple term where you can imagine life not too long from now ...

1) In 40yrs, there will be no more fish ...that means no sweet juicy fancy pancy sushi,no crispy fish & chips,no filet - 0 - fish with that tangy mouth watering tar tar sauce, no piping hot soya sauce steamed grouper, no sizzling pan seared salmon. NO FISH!!!

2) Then we'll need to install fart nozzles on cows to ration their farts cuz the methane they are releasing is causing even more damage than CO2..n why do we have so much cow farts.. cuz we're raring way too much cows at the same time to meet demands!..remember those times when you have to ration your fart in the lift .. yea.."hold on to that thought while I move on"

3)Every mouth full of food you have in yours is taken out of somebody else's. Can you live with that? Great Famine! & only those who can afford will have food.. ARRGH can you live with that,you monsterrrr?!

I did a small experiment on my MSN title :" Msg me if you want a better future!" and I've had way much more "beeps" than Christmas. wait till you tell em.. planting a tree today will give you a better future... ".........."XXX is now offline" It's not easy to do good these days,It seems every1 is a teenager fogged by the cigarettes mentality. "doing the wrong is way cooler than the right. I've had to consciously stop my eyes from rolling away at ppl who don't care less about their own town. At the end of the day, I realise very few people want to face the music. Nevertheless I also realise barking around with frustration is not the way to go. So start small today.. sow a seed now.

Fortune favours the brave ...& the good -
"if you don't make money at least you feel rich at heart...i guess... cuz a certain crouching tigress & hidden dragon drop by our bar...!"
*Gleeeeeeeeaaaaming out*

New webbie

Anton finally got the new website up, I love reading his fine print..I wish there was a function that checks grammar smt equivalent to spellcheck.Cuz i can never write as well as he does & he gives me crap for my bad english.

anyhoo have a go and let us know what you think
www.paganakandii.com

and here's a shout out to Lindsey & Sam,Sorry we'll be missing you guys! Roses will give you all her
carebear shine while we're gone..since we're in memory lane,I think they've absolutely over-design the transformer's face in the movie.

anyways.... autobattsss transform. %&^%&*^*^ - roll out~

From Trashy to Flashy ..Coming Soon

We reallly need a new vehicle..But instead of buying a spanking new van, We decided to re-work an old T2 Volkswagen from the 70s... Beware here we come.. n Puks can be our borneo version of scooby -d00.

our 3rd owl

We got another owl... same species..after almost 3 months we've manage to tame it.But unlike cheftain only Lalaine our chef gets to stroke it.Apparently it really puts him to sleep when she talks to him & stroke him gentlely.Once he fell so deeply asleep he fell off the pole where he was standing as soon as Lalaine let go.We are trying to let it out to the new spot more often without the leash & cage. But Bengkok keeps annoying the owl.

Sun Bird

The best time to catch good close up view of the birds are usually at around dusk. around 4.30 ish till 6.00. Or after a rain, When they come out to dry their wings. And the pavillion is a great spot to watch em swirl in & out of the big fig tree. If you are lucky, you even see wood peckers, hornbills & other endemic species of Borneo. Honestly I can go on & on describing how it magical it is in big detail fila fala vocab but, you've gotto come experience it yourself.

and when you do ...Be sure to grab a good book, make yourself a cuppa coffee or beer & make time to lay on the hammock all afternoon. You'll discover the show nature puts up daily, 24/7 is way way more happening than Hugh Jackman's abs in X-men origins...Haha who am I trying to kid''

Feline V.S Canine

We've never introduced "Bengkok" officially on the blog..so here it is... Bengkok - Crooked in Malay.
He's a got a broken tail since young..as a kitty he had some bad skin problem so nobody was giving him any love.. we got it off Uncle Jalil & brought it to a vet for a jab & now, he's blossom into a handsome jungle cat. With those maple eyes & really spoilt rotten attitude all he want is attention,attention attention!Its amazing to watch him catch birds that are flying by,then there's the not so amazing moments when he goes absolute mental with the field mice,squirrels,lizards,praying mantis n anything that moves. This cat rules our hills.

He had a close shave once. When we found him one morning with a huge gash on the belly & we couldn't believe our luck when one of our Portuguese guest was a veterinarian.She plop him on the table & stitch him back up like a Muppet. Too bad no camera around.

A came Puk puk, my 4ths old chubber. We brought him to the retreat a few times.Some days they get along some days they don't. & his close shave at the retreat was falling almost 10ft down the cliff concussed and passed out for a few seconds. Few seconds later he got up, shake it off & did a huge mount of poop - till this day I cant tell if there's any brain damage..cuz he acts like he's possessed by a kennel full of puppies all day long.

Orbituary

There's a funny little call "death". From my whimsical border-lining mentally ill point of view, I thought i'd manage to capture death in a uncannily beautiful way. It's as if the bird was playing dead like a dog would.The dramatic lighting, set up & cause of death are all natural. Technically no animals were harm in the making of this shoot.. since it was dead when I found it.

Oh and if your'e a first timer to this blog, I'm not always this morbid...sorry if I freaked you out today.

Happy Estate

I’m in a queer, uneasy, random & odd mood. Ant’s gone fishing while I’m left behind to man the fort. Usually the rantings comes with an easy flow as soon as I click open the blog. But for the past few weeks I feel this strange verbal & thought constipation.

I blame it on the work load. Whilst im trying my best to keep to deadlines , Im also consciously procrastinating a lot…& obviously I know the consequences. As if I’m waiting for shit to hit the fan, I manage to catch long breeezy afternoon naps on the hammock hanging in communal hall hehehe. – Hey gotto put myself in customer’s shoes once in awhile to provide better service eh

Anyhow we finally manage to move the old signpost from the original Happy Estate and transferred it to the Retreat. We thought it would make much better sense and amuse a lot more people at the retreat rather than the original location .. watching tractors move in and tear the whole plantation apart. Most of the recycle wood we used at the retreat is also from an old barn house from the original Happy Estate…scroll down to see how we almost burn the barn house down

Every time I drive by it, In my animated little world ,I would scream – “ YOU CAN TAKE MY BODY BUT YOU CAN’T TAKE MY SOUL!!’’ and think to myself Yeeessah the Happy Estate legacy will live on.

Village Head

"BAH" - The Sabahan version of "LAH"used by local & singaporean chinese.Used to exagerate or exclaimate a point being made earlier in the sentence.The pitch usually determine a spectrum voice tone - endearing,rude,condecending,CONFUSING LAH!

I had to man the fort while He's gone fishing.I must say its a pretty tough job. From driving people around to being under that humid jungly air all day. Apart from meeting really interesting folks,I guess its not that fun afterall. So,I've decided Anton deserves a "Tribute" entry in our blog. & for once let him take due credits.So here goes .....

I remember a friend of mine use to say "I dont work for ugly people!" & her boss, totally bought her over through & through..sign sealed delivered with a giant neon sign on her head blinking "chief slave". Or as we call em in Starbucks term, "A convinced partner".But today I finally understood what a great leader Ant is.

As I read through the fine prints of the new & improved webpg - Which took forever to finish!I was glad he took his time to think through & pen down his ideals for Paganakandii. Coming from a Dysfuntional, Money craze & mentally imbalance family,Nothing spells security more than a blanket full of cash!Some days the hippy in me just aint' sober enough to fight for my ideals & I get lost chasing the dough.

Apart from being a hardworking borderlining workaholic man, He's the only boss i've never called an idiot. Hey you know most emplyees thinks their bosses are idiots at one point or another but most employers thinks their employees are idiots most of the time.. so im glad im a boss now. HA! Working up there is back-breaking & armpit drowning.Cuz the humidity on a bad day is enough to suffocate your brains.

To spare everyone the nitty gritty details of the "Lewinskyness" ooozing out of me, bottom line is I wont mind being this guy's chief slave with 2 blinking neon lights for a bit..erm just for a bit BAAAHH!~

15hrs day

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Xien Ka Lin - Direct translation the dickhead fairy, used to describe people who know nuts and act as if they're connoisseurs of so n so. and i hate that my name actually means Dick in Hakka. there you go, thanks dad! He's Hakka too,perhaps he wanted a dick so badly after my sis was born he'd secretly hidden the riddle in mine.

I had a long day ... long looong loong loooongg day.Haven't been in the best of moods to write & I'm absolutely burnt.I'm working long and unproductive hours.But I recon my mind needs to wind down after that 15hrs of spinning in a million directions & getting nowhere.

With a blink of an eye, its been almost 6mths since we open.Not a single complaint nor moan of any short comings. & thats a record we've gotto be proud of. Nobody is complaining and acting like the typical Sandakanite "Xien Ka Lin". And the whole global family of globe trekkers is finally coming through. No complaints about hymm your tap beer taste too strong then too soft other days, Oh your Cabernet Sauv (KABOR - NET to them)..is not chilled - DUH! and the classic"kest" as in best"est" ever was your tuna/steak is under cooked. All in all I really understood why Anton have been so fired up cuz all he got was great comments & lots of referrals daily while I was toiling soil from the wrong side of the grass. - no, the grass is not always greener on the other side.
Some days god drops inspiring characters along the way to keep your fire burning. People who genuinely appreciate what we've done.Even though Im somewhat behind the scenes of Paganakandii. I try to suck in all that positive juices every time i flip our guestbook & remind myself this is why its worth having a 15hrs day. - I call it borrowing morale.

anyhow at the end of today i've decided I cant please everyone. we just gotto stick to our guns.If anyone ask me 1 more time why our lodge is not heavily drenched in lacquer, I'll tell em to go wrap their face in a cling film n lets see how long you'll preserve the beauty that was there all along! - nvm "Xien Ka Lins" prolly thinks with their "Lins"

SANDAKAN is on its own.

So no busses / or cars /bikes /bicycles or tricycle can come to sandakan by land. Wow the quality of roads we have here.. that only breaks apart by the chunk after a few days of heavy rain. GREAT ,,.no wonder we're enjoying "full house" every day!

Bye Bye Onasis

We've lost a limb ever since Onasis left to further his studies..Such a great kid.Huge shoes to fit! Sigh~ ...you just cant teach someone how to be warm & friendly. Either they have it or they dont. And he has it all & a pair of good hands on the guitar! We still miss you even tho you've broken every single soda glass at the lodge!

Oh .. n thats the ice -cream war aftermath they had on the farewell party.

Hari Raya

New fan reminded me why I need to keep this blog alive.

Grrr diggin thru the memmory capsule...Hari Raya. Quite honestly speaking I cant recall much about that day cept Lalaine our chef at the Retreat did a great job with the beef rendang!Everyone whom help build our place was there... To be honest,I probably felt abit indifferent about the reunion....Considering 110% of our lodge was built from pure manpower... - Now I feel bad for not taking time out to be thankfull~