Views from Signal Hill, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Too bad Mount Kinabalu was shielded by clouds

KK seaside view from Signal Hill


KK town and Sutera Harbour in the background




Stick insect. You don't get to see this in the concrete jungle. They move kinda slowly.

Love your enemies

Dear Friend in the Lord,

“ Love your Enemies” – Faith: In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks us to “love our enemies.” Humanly speaking, this would be impossible for most people. However, it is good to ask ourselves, “Would hating our enemies bring us peace?” Reflect on how Jesus wants us to bring His peace to others daily? .

Fr Philip Heng,S.J.

Not a chill out birthday

What was I doing on my birthday?

Triathlon!!! Whats else....hahaha!
Triathlon organised by Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (Malaysian Military). A chance to race with the army, air force and navy!

Many will think I'm nuts...why the heck did I swim bike run...drank murky sea water...rode 40km under the hot hot sun...sweat buckets...puffed n looked like a deflated puffer fish...and ran as if my life depended on it when I can chill out at the seaside in a hammock seeping long island iced tea enjoying sea breeze listening to sea gulls??

Well, chilling out is just too easy isn't it? Anybody can do it... hahaha!

God can help you laugh again

God can help you laugh again. Laughter feels good, doesn’t it? Recent health studies have shown that just 1 minute of laughter boosts your immune system for 24 hours. But 1 hour of anger can depress your immune system for the next 6 hours. Wow. Sure makes you want to laugh more, right?

But sometimes life and its worries steal our laughter. Remember how easy it was as a kid to laugh about anything? But now as adults, it’s so much harder to be carefree and laugh, with all of our worries and concerns. Who will pay the bills? What about finding my future spouse? How can I fix my kids’ problems? The list goes on.

But God laughs at His enemies—and that means we can too. Psalm 2:4 describes God’s attitude toward His enemies: “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.” Can you imagine God laughing? A wonderful image. Sometimes we picture God in heaven worried or mad about the current circumstances. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, God gets mad at injustice, but He is certainly not worried about the future—because He sees the end from the beginning. He knows He will set up His glorious kingdom and all His enemies will perish. Revelation 7:17 says, “For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes."

Take a minute and thank God for the end result. Even take a minute to laugh at your current troubles, because they will soon come to an end. Ask for God’s perspective, seated victoriously in heaven with Jesus. He has a great plan for you and is not at all worried about your current—or future—enemies. He will defeat them, and in the meantime, you can laugh off whatever worries may come your way.

So, this week, let us pray and

• Thank God in advance for the victory He brings in our lives in Jesus Christ

• Ask God to provide financially for the needs of your family and the needs of Global Media Outreach

• Ask God to bring His Kingdom here on earth

THANK YOU so much for your prayers. God loves to hear the praises of His people! So this week let us rejoice — and laugh — and praise our Lord together this week. May God bless you!

Your Friends at Global Media Outreach

More random pix of Tioman Royal Race...

Which run?

This coming July, I have listed 13 sporting events, either a run, a ride or a triathlon. But it's more, a lot more than 13. Could double up for all I know. Looks like every organisers cramping them before the Muslim month of fasting begins. So here we are, deciding which to join...every weekend with 3-4 events taking place simultaneously. Bummer! Dilemma!

ntv 7 fun run, Siemens run, Subang Jaya run,McDonald Olympic fun run, Jog for Hope, Century Ride, Seremban half marathon, Port Dickson Triathlon, Centro Klang run, Admiral run, SHAPE run...which run to join?

To date, I've signed up for... ntv7 fun run on 3rd July. Only 1 for July? Yes, only 1...so far. Initially the plan was to go downunder, down to the Gold Coast Marathon in Australia. But...but...but...always a but...it's kinda pricey. Need about RM2,500 for a decent trip. Pricey! Expensive! Damm our lousy ringgit!!!

Talking about pricey, the local runs are all going up and up and up, in price. Hardly can find a RM10 run, not like before. Now the minimum is RM30 for a 10km. Worse still when you have event companies organizing them. For example, SHAPE/Men's Health run started RM20 a few years back and now it's RM50. Every year without fail, just like fuel prices, running in events is getting more and more expensive. And that is just running. In duathlon or triathlon, the charges are way above RM100.

As for overseas, the nearest...Singapore...the Sing dollar will suck your ringgit dry! What about Thailand? Cheaper runs but flights, accomodation...and mind you, some events there can get pricey as well.

So how? Which run?

SAS International Eco Challenge in Tioman

This is the 2nd time I DNF (did not finish) due to cut off time. My first was Kinabalu Climbathon but it was expected then. The cut off time was 2hr30min to reach peak and 2hr down to finish line. Only the elites can do it. I'm just a elite wannabe so I still dream about it...hahaha!

As for this, the challenge is not just for anyone as well. The so called trail was cut out from primary jungle by the army. In fact, only about 20% of the race route was clear trail...the rest, we just have to look out for yellow ribbons tied up somewhere along the way...

Distance : 30km

Time : 7hrs
Registration the day before. That's the closest I ever get to the Kenyan elites!



Military medic on standby. They need the military to do it as it's a very tough job, not for school's St John's or Red Cresent.

Starting line.... after 1km along the golf greens, welcome to the jungle!

Climbed rocks, jumped over crevasse, abseiled down boulders, tripped by roots, scraped by thorns...things we did in Tioman island. Where was the beach? The sea? Fishes? Beach resort?Halfway checkpoint with Rescue Team. So many emergency beds...expecting participants to kaput?

Cooling down using village water tank before going inside jungle ...again...


Beach at Kpg. Genting, checkpoint D1, where we were stopped from going any further. Distance covered 20km. Time taken 7hrs15min!!
Although only 2 more checkpoints left to go but the distance is another strenuous 10km. So near yet so very very far!

At the jetty waiting for boat back to Tekek.
DNF comes with free Rescue boat ride! At least that's a consolation! Hahahah!
If you think you're tough, try this Eco Challenge. Out of 250 participants, less than 100 made it.

I failed to make it to the finish line, I'm still weak. So next year, I'll be back! I want to toughen myself up!!!!!!!

Pix from Chong, Yim. Muchos gracias!

Still on butter vs margarine

Found more on butter vs margarine after my first blog on it.

Some are not true so we just have to be more cautious on these mumbo jumbo from the internet...but I must admit they're really interesting.

A will say this...
B will say that...

We are in the middle listening...

Sometimes the more we know, the more confused we get and the more we realised we don't know much....aiyoyo...

Anyway, here's the next episode of this Butter vs Margarine...

Margarine or Butter-Truth! & Fiction!

Summary of the eRumor: A list of comparative facts about margarine and butter.

The Truth: The heart of this eRumor, the comparison between butter and Margarine, has been circulating since 2005. Later versions added the tidbit about Margarine being manufactured to fatten turkeys. We'll go through the email one fact at time but it needs to be kept in mind that not every Margarine product is the same. There are other spreads that are loosely called Margarine but may, for example, be part vegetable oil or a fat-free Margarine product. 1. Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed The turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a Payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this Product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food Appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in Place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever New flavorings-Fiction! According to the National Association of Margarine Manufacturers, Margarine was the idea of a Frenchman named Hippolyte Mege-Mouriez in response to a request from Emperor Louis Napoleon for ideas for a substitute for butter. In 1870 he used margaric acid and the name of his formulation became known as Margarine. It became a hit in the United States in the late 1800's. 2. Both have the same amount of calories-Truth! A tablespoon of butter is 100 calories. A tablespoon of Margarine is 100 calories. 3. Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study-Truth! But Updated! We didn't find the "53%" study, but Harvard School of Public Health has published a report on this. It says that more than 30 years ago research indicated that saturated fat (such as in butter) was bad for the heart and people were told to switch to margarine. A Harvard study of women between 1980 and 1994 found a significant reduction of heart disease risk by reducing smoking, hormone treatment, and dietary improvements including reducing or eliminating saturated fat (such as in butter.) Further research has shown, however, that some margarines contained trans fat, which was even worse for the heart than saturated fat. The report cautions us not to make decisions as a result of just one study but to consider the body of recent research about an issue like butter versus margarine. 4. Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 Grams-Truth! A tablespoon of butter is 7g of saturated fat. A tablespoon of margarine is 2g of saturated fat. 5. Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other Foods-Unproven! We could not find anything definitive about this. 6. Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added! It depends on what you are measuring. The advantage of butter is that it is a more natural product than margarine and does have more vitamin content. But butter is high in saturated fat, which is associated with increased heart attack risk. Saturated fats are the ones that are solid at room temperature and increase the "bad" cholesterol (LDL) as well as the "good" cholesterol (HDL). The disadvantage of true margarine is the trans fat level. The more solid a margarine is at room temperature, the more trans fat it contains, as much as 3 grams per tablespoon. Margarine makers have responded to that by releasing tub or liquid products that have either reduced or eliminated trans fats. Watch for the labels. Heart doctors recommend butter over normal margarine but recommend trans fat free margarines over butter. It all gets very confusing. There are even margarine products now that say they actually lower cholesterol. 7. Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods-A Matter of Personal Taste! 8. Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for Less than 100 years-Truth! 9. Margarine is high in trans fatty acids-Truth! 10. Margarine triples the risk of coronary heart disease-Unproven! Although trans fats are to be avoided, we did not find any research that says that the use of margarine triples the risk of heart disease. 11. Margarine ncreases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)-Truth! 12. Increases the risk of cancers up to five fold-Fiction! We could not find any substantiation of this claim. 13. Margarine lowers quality of breast milk-Truth! We didn't find any research on this but there are studies on how a mother's eating of trans fats affects the level of trans fats in her milk. One study, for example, comparing Canadian breast milk to Chinese breast milk found that Canadian mothers had 33 more trans fats in their milk than the Chinese mothers. So the quality of the breast milk can be affected by the consumption of trans fats. 14. Margarine decreases immune response-Truth! We found several references to this including an article by nutritionist Dr. Mary Enig that said that consuming trans fatty acids "Affects immune response by lowering effeciency of B cell response and increasing proliferation of T cells." 15. Decreases insulin response-Truth! Actually the trans fat can increase blood insulin levels, which increases the risk for diabetes. 16. Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC-Fiction! We found no support for this. Perhaps whoever wrote this heard a discussion about the "plasticity" of margarine. It is "plastic" at room temperature meaning that the shape of it can be changed when pressure is applied. That doesn't mean it is composed of what we normally think of as plastic. It was originally made of animal fats but increasingly now is made from vegetable oils. Updated 3/29/07

A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed The turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a Payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this Product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food Appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in Place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever New flavorings. DO YOU KNOW... The difference between margarine and butter? ; Read on to the end...gets very interesting! Both have the same amount of calories. Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 Grams. 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study. Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other Foods. Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only Because they are added! Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors Of other foods. Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for Less than 100 years. And now, for Margarine.. Very high in Trans fatty acids. Triple risk of coronary heart disease. Increases t otal cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and Lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol) Increases the risk of cancers up to five fold. Lowers quality of breast milk. Decreases immune response. Decreases insulin response. And here's the most disturbing fact.... HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING! Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC.. This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and Anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing The molecular structure of the substance). You can try this yourself: Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things: * no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that Should tell you something) * it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional Value; nothing will grow on it Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will Not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you Melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast? Share This With Your Friends.....(If you want to "butter them up")! Chinese Proverb: "When someone shares something of value with you and You benefit from it, you have a moral obligation to share it with others."