Have you ever wondered how does it feel to have the first flicker of light reach your eyes and the first heat touching your face? Standing there quietly, looking at the cloud lazily rolled towards you, and slowly, your surrounding becomes misty and after the clouds passed by, the sun filled the sky with brilliant color. That was exactly how I felt at South’s Peak of Mount Kinabalu!

As what one of my fellow climbers; Gideon Paren Ding of Technical Record (Engineering Department) told me “Mount Kinabalu humbles me”. I could not help but to agreed wholeheartedly. From now onwards, whoever tells me that Mount Kinabalu is not challenging, I dare you to climb Kinabalu then come back and tell it to my face.

Tracking via Mesilau instead of Timpohon trail according to Jamaluddin Ahmad of Maintenance (Engineering department) is what distinguishes between men and boys! I discovered that Mesilau really brought out the man in me! The trail was hard; we encountered 90 degree steps (no bigger then 3 fingers put together) with no handles, tall rocks with no rope to climb. For to jump from one slippery rock to other rock with a very shaky knee was definitely not an easy feat.

During the 10 hours walked to Laban Rata; braving the mountain rain and the freezing strong wind, (I was wearing only T-shirt and Bermuda) and very much alone, never in my life I felt so vulnerable. What keeps me going on was, the beautiful little purple flowers, that looks so delicate, yet bloomed along the trail despite the harsh weather. The flower is so delicate, but it survived.

I keep plodding on, stopped before I got too tired, moved before I got too lazy and every time I felt that I couldn't move anymore.. I kept telling myself that each 5 steps are better than nothing at all.

2 kilometers before reaching Laban Rata, my body was already pushed to the limit, the cold wind had no mercy and I could feel the sharp pain every time it rained. It was around 5pm and dark. I had to use my instincts to move forward groping in the dark. I lost my way and out of desperation I started to shout “Hello!” “Hello” (I don’t know why I choose to shout Hello instead of HELP”). A few guides heard my voice and started to thump their feet and I followed the noise. (read more...)

People have all sorts of fears. Some are afraid of being alone, afraid of water, heights, small spaces, sharp objects, being touched, and many many more.

Being afraid of flying is also one of the common ones. Some are so afraid of it that they would not even go near an aircraft. But some less-serious ones are only afraid in times of TURBULENCE [when the aircraft goes in bumpy conditions when flying through weather conditions].

I was flying to BKI (Kota Kinabalu) one afternoon, and there were three ladies seated at the first row of the starboard [right] side. And during take-off, my crew and I noticed that one of them were already gripping her friend's hand tightly.

Due to heavy rain over Kota Kinabalu International Airport, we were unable to even make an approach, not to mention to land the plane itself. After holding in the air for about an hour, the captain on my flight that day, Captain Lim Khoy Hing, finally announced that we were going to land, and informed us that it was going to be a bumpy ride in the process.

When the cabin was checked and ready, my crew and I took our seats. Then the bumps got slightly worse, but pretty much like a mild roller coaster ride. And the three ladies just started screaming!

The funny thing was, every time the three ladies in the front were screaming, two little kids seated at row 2 would echo with their childish laughter. The rest of us were trying very very hard to not laugh at the kids' innocence, and I meant we were trying VERY hard!

After a few more bumps, Captain Lim did a BEAUTIFUL landing despite the conditions, and he even got a well-deserved clap from the passengers after that successful landing!

Oh well, the big bonus of having an experienced and good captain on board! =D

It was non stop go go go!

We arrived in Kota Kinabalu on a Friday evening ready to go to the beach early on Saturday to set up for the beach volleyball tournament we had organized for the Kota Kinabalu staff. It was a beautiful day on Tanjung Aru Beach and we were excited about the day ahead.

With the 2 volleyball courts set up we headed back to Tune Hotel where we had a press conference. The reason? AirAsia sent 17 runners to take part in the Borneo International Marathon – the first marathon to be held in Sabah for nearly 25 years!
Some had never run in a race before, some were seasoned runners who had taken part in a number of races (I think I would put myself somewhere in the middle of that!)

Staff from AirAsia came from Kuala Lumpur, AirAsia X (CEO Azran Bin Osman Rani), from Kota Kinabalu and distances ranged from 10km, to 21km, to one of our Captains braving the full marathon of 42km!

Right…back to the beach!

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AirAsia bade goodbye to its remaining Boeing 737 two days ago as the aircraft made its way from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah to the LCCT. In paying tribute to Boeing, Group CEO Dato' Sri Tony Fernandes revealed that the Boeing 737s had rendered wonderful service and got AirAsia where it is today. The original fleet of B737s have made way for the new and more fuel efficient AirBus A320s.

Take a look at these.

Welcome and goodbye! The remaining B737 touching down in LCCT from Kota Kinabalu

It's the dawn of a new millenium, says Tony

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I wish AirAsia would promote & have bargains on air fares for flights departing from Penang cause each time, its either from LCCT, Kota Kinabalu & Johor Bharu. What about us here in Penang? Its like we have to pay the so called 'full fare' as compared to our counterparts in the other states.

Also, on my frequent business trips to Bangkok via Thai AirAsia, I have noticed there are NO vegetarian food on offer. Is it too much to ask for a decent vege sandwich or even a cup noodle? Hope to see some improvements in the near future.