+..Day 3 (28th Sept)..+

Today we started the day at 7am as the team needed a round-up discussion of findings. Dr. R unfortunately woke up late and we had another 15 mins delay. The last two days, he left his laptop underneath the meeting table and his expensive shoes in another car. i wonder what will he do today? Ehehhe...

Today's trip was another eye opener. Someone previously said as a-matter-of-factly, that our client will definitely full of NCRs. Well, he definitely swallowed what he said to them today. I felt like slapping his mouth and said, "Eat this". Lucky my self control was at its peak. muwahahah...
At this new estate, the handsome manager in charge was implementing their own composting ground. It is manned with 3 big plower machines amounting to three Merce SLKs! From afar, it looked like corpses...(hantu pocong ehehhe). I was truly amazed with their effort and R&D was being carried out to elevate the mineral contains necessary. Their new mill meanwhile was not fully run as they have just begun their operation in April. We went up Tiger Hill with 4WD and the area was breathtaking! As Dr. Y put it, the area was not conducive for oil palm trees as it was more than 30 degrees slope. It is maintained as cocoa planting area. Nice! The view and my phone had full bar signals! yay! I managed to call B while he was busy (mwahaha) and we had a coupla minutes talk.

The Tiger manager, as we named him was what its name suggested. He was a good manager who knows his ground very well. We visited the estate and witnessed the harvesting and spraying activities. There, I learned about Bugis women who happened to be the sprayers. When we asked them whats the use of their small lovely parang (with carvings), the Tiger manager said, "oh! you know they won't use it for anything...it will be with them as a culture like the traditional Bugis women who brought along their small parang for their own protection..."
No wonder ler...lawa bah parang kau ni..and Dr Y eyes were wide opened as he's a parang collecter. Another side of Dr. Y besides having a vast knowledge of forestry and environment. I happened to practice my Sabah dialect here but it was slightly different from KK's..oh well...

I learned alot from my team as well...how they asked questions, how they see things..and their own personality. Egotistical, humble, friendly and willing to share their knowledge. i have my own personal favourite as teachers...

On the afternoon session after visiting the estate's office for another records findings...Mr. H brought us to the original Tawau hospital where we got to see some Operation Theater (OT) antiquities..Man! I was deep to view the old scalpels, the odd horror looking OT table and whatchamallits in there! And the rare 1930s-1950s books! Whoohoo precious to nerdo like moi! The manager also brought us to see ancient Japanese graveyards and the morgue. (gory huh? they were joking about bringing in the Seekers, bah!). Later the most anticipated trip was to Taman Bukit Tawau and Taman Bombalai, both are National Reserve forests. We witnessed how our client buffered their plantation area and the entrance. Mr. Roslizan the friendly ranger showed how they marked their forest using red paints onto their trees.

We were then brought to witness the full blossoms of rare forest orchids! It was indeed a marvellous trip...i got to snap few piccas with my handphone. And again, i miss B so much as he's an ardent photographer with his Nikon D70s DSLR...bah! if only I could come here again with him...

All the estate managers asked us to join them for their iftar session with their Director. What to say? Makan Free lagi maa...(with that clothes already stuck to your skin and our bodies smelt like goat - we had no choice but to go along).

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All of us reached BMP around 8 ish, took my long bath again and slept like a baby. Until B called me up...eheheh he was about to meet Amin to share some knowledge. thats what i love about him, he's never stingy with any knowledge he has...crazy, garang, perfectionist, caring, classical guitar playing, good photographer, outdoor lover, good in cooking, sports playing, creative, goodwith computers, at the same time, jgnla cuba nak berhujah about religion with him, especially if your knowledge is peanut like mine...he's above par in that area. Uwaaaaaa~@! Lama tak ngedet Boe nih...
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Tomorrow will be our last day in Sabah. I returned B's call for him to fetch me and send me home. eheheh...Windu nye..

I noticed our sahur during the fifth day at BMP was already returning to its first day menu. So i only ate 2 pieces of toasts and fruits...