Bidding Happiness Goodbye

"40years of History,and we are left starring at Nothingness."

Coming Soon

Coming Soon..

"Tales of the Guru

and his happy people

under the sun..."

Tongkat Ali

ALI AND HIS TONGKAT

Tongkat Ali : Eurycoma longifolia is a flowering plant in the family Simaroubaceae, native to Indonesia and Malaysia Popular for its testosterone-enhancing properties. Historically, it has been used by the folk medicine in its countries of origin as a libido enhancer and to treat various sexual dysfunctions.

Anton insist i post this pic.and name it Ali and his Tongkat. My Argument was that it really doesn't look all that funny,...nor does it look like Ali(guy wt the moustache) and his walking Cane(tongkat)..besides Ali dont look like he needs help with getting his buddy up~ anyhow u be the judge.!

Silly billy Jaga Api!

Jaga Api :" Watching fire in malay,..common term used by housewives when they need to stay home and watch over their boiling soup."

I dunno what made these silly billies so silly.Is it really the education level or a lack of common sense?First of all, somebody stub cigarette into a huge stack of papers that could possibly initiate a huge plantation fire, then when you tell them to put it off expecting the flame to be extinguished once and for all, just to find the people who created the mess were having a cosy afternoon nap on the second day!... blowing ever so "gently" into somebody Else's face!

The most outrageous part is when the guy in-charge wakes up and rubs his sleepy eyes he tells you that they've been "Watching" the fire all night, that's why they're resting now! ..sigh~ anyhow we finally manage to put it off after continuously dousing it with water for 2hrs.

Recycling an old barn

Happy Estate : An old family palm plantation.its Not so happy these days as the government is trying to reclaim this land to turn it into a University.Under some serious negotiation currently.

The old barn you see here was build in probably the 60s-70s.When the Malayan palm industry was in its expansion era.By late 50s,the govt have acknowledged rubber crop gave a lower profit margin as compared to Palm oil,Hence launched many half /full conversion of rubber estate into palm estate.Till this day you'll notice some estates have the 2 distinctively different crops sharing the same alignment.

I'm not too sure bout the history of this particular land,but according to Ant,..we have had Cocoa, Coffee,Rubber and some other agricultural thingy before it was converted into a full Palm plantation. Reminisce of the yesteryears still lingers in the barn..I found some old chinaware,retro pvc mats,govt newsletters dated in 59-60s,even company receipts dated in the 70s!Apart from processing palm fruit,the 2 story building was probably a poultry barn for awhile,smells kinda funky..but it really felt like a walk down memory lane

anyhow,Its been unused for quite awhile.And we had the wickedness idea to rip it apart and recycle as much wood as much it can.I mean ..as sentimental as it gets, the govt would destroy everything if it lands on their hands..Besides not only do we get to save cost + play our teeeeenny weeny part in conserving natural resources,we also get to take a part of the glorious days into the new project..

so look out for aged beams,old gazette wallpapers,fancy partitions.
www.flickr.com/photos/linnshoots/

The Skeleton

Skeleton : Anatomy, Zoology. the bones of a human or an animal considered as a whole, together forming the framework of the body.

So the full frame work of the long house is up,We just bot the scalp (Zinc roof). And did a brief calculation of how much hair (nipah/dried palm leaves that covers zinc) we need. Even tho market rate is around 70-80cents per feet.It would still add up to a 5digit cost. Unfortunately we can't leave this handsome building "botak" nor would I be impressed if there was bald patches on his head..(yes,.. everything i own is male) we would have to fork out quite a bit to give it that early 90s Aaron Kwok, lush center parting hair.

The Dismantling of the old barn in Happy estate has also gone full on,will be capturing some of its "last days"~ sob sob..

More pics on http://www.flickr.com/photos/linnshoots/page2/

Yoda says:"
build we must,
till the
break of day."

Rumah PanjangNYAA

click to enlarge

Rumah Panjang : Roo-maah Pan- Jaah-Ng

Long House, A long wooden housing unit Traditional found within villages of indigenous tribes in Borneo, Such as the Ibans and Rungus.Usually house up to 3generations under the same roof.

Like all passionate relationships,you discover many traits to fall in love with .This project is very much as such to me. With every visit,every new idea conceived and every attempt to perfect the final delivery,the little voice in your head goes : "hey,i lyyykke that!" well,.. even tho technically speaking i've only got half a foot in,dipping the shallow waters,I really can't wait to work on the detailed touches and interior designs.cuz thats like the cosmetics on a woman's face..the stuff that'll finally make her GLOW!

Being the extremist scorpio that I am,I must say im about the die in this heart-throbing romance.

PS: Actually it sounds more like this "Oh oh i know,.. we can do this!,.. we can do that!.. hey oh no wait thats better,.WoW thats great,.oh yeah thats a yummy idea,.OOohh my thats hot 2!!!."

Plant it.

After rounds of meticulous measuring,aligning and re-aligning,screaming,bearing embarrassing T-shirt tan-lines,suffering from heat stroke and dizzy spells,we finally took the plunge and planted the seeds.

In barely two weeks, Anton manage to drive his 12men crew into laying majority of foundation works.The supporting timber pillars were fixed just 1meter from the Cliff edge!Like a kid with her bag of candies, I couldn't wait to see more! Even tho I must say, with great plans for the sky high living habitats comes sky rocketing blood pressure too! While waiting for the cement to set,The unwelcoming rain decided to gatecrash our building party, We were all soaked in anxiety on those few stormy nights.Fortunately the beams remained erected in the puddle of mud.. which almost feels like cheesecake to walk on~

Keeping it short tonight so check out some pics,..more on http://www.flickr.com/photos/linnshoots/page2/

Tales of our forefathers

fine he's anton's popsie not mine!,But this great man left a great legacy in Sandakan,.he's got palm,timber,developement,cinema,hotel and a nice school to finish things off..YUYUAN SCHOOL is the only independent school in Sandakan,Mr Ngui Ah Kui founded it based on a very simple pricipal - everybody should be given a 2nd chance!..before the existence of this school,Kids who fail their final exams would have no where to go..and YUYUAN would offer them a second go at education. Till date it has expanded much and become the only school that provides private education. they're ripping away the old wooden building from the 60s,to make way for a much bigger one. Best part is - we get to recycle the wood ..hooohoo

PS: ppl stop diggin the roads in town!!!! they are fine as it is!!!

a freaky trivia : Mr Ngui and his Wife and his Mum, where once upon a time buried within the school compound!Brrr

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!