A Journey To The Past: 01/07/2007

I'm doing this because my brother asked me to help his friend promote the event. Please bear with me as I know nuts about gaming & the event. I'll just type out what's on the poster my brother gave me.

ICCG 2007

Date
14 July 2007

Venue
APIIT TPM
Lot 6, Technology Park Malaysia,
Bukit Jalil, 57000
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia.

Games
Counter Strike [5 vs 5]
Defense of the Ancients (DotA) [5 vs 5]

Registration due
12 July 2007

Website
http://iccg.apiit.edu.my

Organisers
APIIT & UCTI

The above games are open to college (and, I'm assuming, university) students in Malaysia.

I was told that there will be side events apart from the above competition. So, you needn't be a college/uni student or a gamer to attend the event.

The prizes, registration forms, rules and other information can be obtained from the website.
Any queries are to be sent to the e-mail provided on the website above.

Posting this after 2 weeks of procrastination.

The hype of going to Sandakan sank in the night before my mum, sister, cousin and I left for the town in Sabah. While I was packing, I was talking to my doogie telling him how exciting it is that I'm was going to Sandakan and my sister commented that I was mad. :p

The reason we went to Sandakan was for my mother to teach the chefs in my uncle's restaurant a few nyonya dishes which may be on the menuof his future coffee house there.

We left for the airport at 11.15 a.m. on Monday (18 June 2007). The last time I took an aeroplane was when I went to Langkawi Island, when I was around Standard 5 or 6.

Day 1
Highlights: Walking on the tarmac to and from the plane; Reaching Sandakan (first time in East Malaysia!); Imperial Bayview Restaurant

LCCT, KLIA

We checked-in at this counter. :p

See the black guy on the far right? He's the Air Asia flight attendant who told me off for using my camera on the tarmac (it's not like I knew we couldn't use a camera there; there were no notices, or at least, I didn't see any).

The plane took off later than scheduled but we reached the Sandakan airport at exactly 4:45 p.m. (talk about accuracy!).

Sandakan Airport

We were met by Eddie & Simon at the airport, who took us to the Hotel Sandakan.

Left our things at the Hotel and went to my uncle's restaurant, Imperial Bayview Restaurant.

The kitchen my mum would LOVE to have.

Mum with the restaurant's Manager, Eddie Yap and Head Chef, Dixon Lai.

We found the notice on this rather amusing. :D

Rough translation:
DO NOT STAND HERE!
If Found Out, (that person) Will Be Fired

According to Simon, it was put up because some waiters/waitresses used to hang around there and the place had very high voltage.

The tourist spots in Sandakan, some of which we didn't have the time to visit.

We were also introduced to Sandakan Harbour Square by Eddie.

First night in the hotel room and we got locked out (somehow the card couldn't work), and after that, our room (only ours) had a black out because mum filled the kettle with too much water and it overflowed to the electrical part of the kettle (we learnt a lesson there).

Day 2
Highlights: Sandakan's Central Market; Imperial Bayview's Loh Pak Koe; The town

Walked to Imperial Bayview from the hotel and made a stop at the new Sandakan Central Market. It's quite a clean market, except for the place where they sell fish, though it's kinda difficult to find certain things, which my mum needed for some of the dishes she taught.

Went to the restaurant for dim sum and I have to say that they have one of the best Loh Pak Koe! I've been craving for it ever since I came back to PJ.

Mum taught them to cook Nasi Lemak, Sambal (for the Nasi Lemak) and Sambal Sotong during their break time.

We drank this on our first day at the restaurant and was told it was a "health drink". It tasted good considering the fact that it's made of vege. (Someone should've told them to spell check before printing; I only noticed it when I came back and saw the picture)

When mum was done teaching, we had a walk around town. It's basically just rows and rows of shops. Of and also some illegals selling turtle eggs. We were crossing a road and there were these people holding up one hand showing an OK sign, some even holding an egg. We just walked past them and one guy shouted out something. I thought I heard "Eight Sen". I thought, wow RM0.08 for an egg (which I thought was a chicken egg before we found out it was turtle eggs they were selling)! Then my mum said, it's A-C-T-I-O-N. Haha. He said we were action. :p

This bakery is like the Secret Recipe of Sandakan. It's on almost every row of shops.

By the way, we found out that there's no McDonalds in Sandakan, only KFC.

After dinner, we went to the Bistro on Sandakan Harbour Square for a drink, which has a lot of siu keongs (my sister's name for cockroaches), with Eddie & Datuk Thomas Lau (the Bistro owner and former Deupty President II of the Sandakan Municipal Council).

Day 3

Highlights: Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary; Kampung Buli Sim Sim

We left for the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary at 9 a.m. because the feeding time for the orang utans is at 10 a.m. (or was it 10.30 a.m.?). Simon drove us. :)

We saw this on the way to the hotel on day 1 and thought it was a cemetery. We thought wrong. It's the garden of a very wealthy Sarawakian who hasn't built is house after 7 years but kept changing his garden.

The road which sounds like a Japanese dinosaur's name (Tino san), according to Kat.

We made a stop here to buy some buns. Apparently the buns sold are very nice. I didn't quite like the curry puff though. The luncheon meat one was yummers.

Kat waited so long for this shot.

After the trip to the sanctuary, we stopped by Kampung Buli Sim Sim, which has houses built on stilts. Kampung Buli Sim Sim is where the town of Sandakan began in 1879.

Went shopping for souvenirs. I thought this was a random shape till my sister told me it's the shape of Sabah.

Mum taught them Rendang and Otak Otak
.

I guess this is for roasting.

The table we've sat at for 3 nights!

Trial run for the Seafood Platter which they were to make the next day.

Day 4
Highlights: Sharks (dead, of course); English Tea House

Outside the fish market.

I followed my mum to the restaurant as my sister & cousin were still sleeping. They woke up later and went shopping (not my thing).

Kat's new shoes.

We just couldn't get enough of the name of this road. :D

Mum didn't teach any new dish but supervised them as they had to cook for one of the restaurant's partners for dinner. He wanted to try whatever they had learnt from my mum, so far.

Went to the English Tea House. Beautiful place.