The Magical Iceland

Once again, I've been away for a very long time since my last post. My recent travel experience was quite a unique one which gives me the inspiration to write again :) Why is it unique ? Well, it's our first ever self drive trip in a foreign country, our first time seeing aurora, got to experience sunshine, rain, snow, sleet, strong gale, blizzard and even sand storm in a single trip. As you might have already guessed, it's ICELAND !

Iceland has been a very popular country for most travellers all along, perhaps it's the most popular country in recent years due to its 10/11-years solar cycle of the northern lights. There were a lot of rumours/reports saying that the lights are going to dim for the next 10 years so we didn't wanna miss that and went ahead to what may be our once in a lifetime trip !

I would like to begin sharing my experience with a photo as usual of course and some overview of the itinerary before covering it in depth in my next few posts.

As I mentioned earlier, this our first ever self drive trip. We did clock-wise round the island in 12 days, traveled for 2,755km, covered as much key sights possible and of course chased for the northern lights ! The road taken is coloured in blue in the following map.

It's been our daily routine to firstly check the weather, road conditions and aurora activity before heading out because weather in Iceland can change abruptly and rapidly. "If you don’t like the weather right now, just wait five minutes", people often says in Iceland. Glad that we were still able to complete most of our planned itinerary plus discovered nice foods along the way. Also, some roads closure due to snowstorm gave us a chance to travel the road in the most eastern part which in my opinion has the best view of all !

Iceland sure has its unique way to make it unforgettable and it is undoubtedly one of the best country we have ever visited ! In my next post, I'll share on how I got to Iceland and things I planned beforehand.  Stay tune !

Hong Kong (Part I)

This is my second visit to Hong Kong and this time round I had my DSLR with me rather than a compact point-and-shoot camera I used in my first visit. Beside better equipment, I brought along a set of knowledge and experiences I've accumulated over the years :)

I've always wanted to capture something unique of the cities or places I visit every time and to me Hong Kong is very unique because of its densely populated city. Hence, I would like to start my post with the architectural photos of Hong Kong.

These high rise residential flats, apartments and condominiums are everywhere so you can hardly miss. I found those located in Choi Hung Estate (彩虹邨) are more colourful ! Besides, I tried some long exposures in broad daylight too !

And some landmark shots.

These are all the photos I'm sharing with you for now. Stay tune for my second part for more ! Let's end this with another popular landmark in Quarry Bay !

Mount Kinabalu, Sabah

I've stopped travelling for awhile at least to overseas since the year 2013. Hence, I start my vacation again for 2014 with a challenging trip that I've been wanting long ago which is the Mount Kinabalu climbing trip !

The planning and booking were actually started about a year ago as the responses are always good especially during peak seasons. So here we go ! A little briefing on the route, rules and safety precautions before the start.

So it began !

We were accompanied by 2 accredited guides as required by National Park regulations. There are two main trails for the climb which are the Timpohon Gate (6 km) and Mesilau trail (8 km). We chose Timpohon Gate and started climbing around 11:00 am :D

Kinabalu Park is home to a diverse array of flora and fauna that changes in nature as your altitude increases. There are still a lot of greeneries before reaching Laban Rata. Near the top of the mountain the trees thin out and give way to shrubs and stones.

The last 2km is entirely rocky and turned into a water course when the rain started. We stopped by at the fourth rest point for awhile due to heavy rain and thunder storm. We had to continue our climb later in the rain due to time constraint and finally we reached Laban Rata Resthouse at around 5:00 pm.

We then rested and had our dinner before we went to sleep at 8:30 pm. We slept for few hours and woke up at around 1:00 pm to have breakfast before the last part of the climb to the peak. We then started to climb at 2:30 pm. The distance from Laban Rata to the summit is 2.7 km hence there is only 1 check point at Sayat-Sayat Hut. We then rushed up again for the sunrise !

We stopped by behind the big rocks before started descending due to strong chilling wind.

Short rest for some photo :D

Started to descend at around 7:00 am.

We were back to Sayat-Sayat Hut again to check out !

Let's continue to take some more photos along the way...

The descend part is not difficult although it's really steep but we have to be extra careful. The journey down back to Laban Rata only took slightly more than 2 hours.

There are some stuff to bring along other than a good pair of shoe (Kampung Adidas) and warm cloths which are:

  •  Gloves/hat/mask
  •  Extra Socks
  •  Rain and wind gear, raincoat, thick windbreaker, rain cap
  •  Headache tablets
  •  Deep heat lotion (for muscle cramp)
  •  Headlight & new batteries
  •  High energy food (chocolates, nuts, raisins)

We booked through SUTERA SANCTUARY LODGES Kota Kinabalu if you are wondering. It costs RM 600 for Malaysian and RM 682 for non-Malaysian which includes accommodation, shuttle service to National Park, climbing permit, 5 meals, mountain guide, certificate and insurance.

There is a Via ferrata (or iron road in Italian) path consisting of a series of rungs, rails and cables embracing the rock face. There are a lot via ferrata routes around the world and Mount Kinabalu has the world's highest via ferrata. It is a challenging route hence they provide free rental of all safety devices like harness, lanyard and helmet.

Lastly, as always, would like to end this with an amazing view of the South Peak of Mount Kinabalu.