Archive for May, 2009

Posted on May 27, 2009 - by Abner

The Third House From The Right

I thought that the two of them was out clubbing all night long since it was already 1am on a Friday. Well, it’s not uncommon for them to come home late at night with K either slumped on the sofa like a sack of rotten potatoes or staggered up the stairs in stupor, slamming the door behind her, only to hear her vomiting over the porcelain. A jerk and a pull… a mini whirlpool and silence once again.
I did not bat an eyelid in the morning when I left the house. The car was not there. It seemed the guy and the girl did not come home at all. Anyway I don’t care. Not my business anyway right? Shrug.

It was only after lunch hour on 22nd May 2009 that my phone began to ring. K is on the line. Normally I do not get calls from my housemates at all unless there is something on. So I answered with a casual “What’s up?” Here is where K starts spilling the beans along with her sanity in tow.

Our house got dirty things she said. Before I could get her to rephrase, she has already went into second gear. K is now motormouth incarnated. And I listened intently.

She was not the person who experienced the spirit’s doing. It was WY, the guy. Asking her to break the news seem a bit inappropriate as she has the tendency to lose control of herself, making it looks like she lost her mind as well. And that my friends, freaked me out. Her dramatization really kicks my imagination right in the balls. I swear I could hear something crack. The air conditioning in the office seemed to dip a bit lower along with my heart.

Her narration went something like this:
WY has been feeling uneasy for a while now. It started when he heard a voice speaking into his ear one late night. He was awake placing bets online when he heard a man’s voice. He looked around thinking it was someone in the back alley but there was none. The TV was on low and everyone else was asleep. Chills went down his spine and he went straight to bed. WY was not someone who believed in all these mumbo jumbo about spirits and the unseen, initially. The previous voice incident did spook him but not enough to convert him.

All was well until he woke up one fine day to discover a small but obvious teeth/bite mark under his arm, very close to his left armpit. You can try leaving a bite mark and see. It’s not that easy and doing it while sleeping won’t be easy. He claimed he did not have any girls sleep over so it’s not a love mark. This physical evidence has start to rock his beliefs. WY called up his mother in Penang and got her to the temple to shed some light on this matter. She came back with the news that the sifu (master/medium) said that there is a child spirit residing in the house. WY has kept it from us so far, only confiding in K. And K being the scaredy cat even when in normal mode got even more erratic. Earth Hour can kiss her ass, she was turning on every single pendaflour and ceiling fan in the house, from porch to the bathroom on the upper floor. As for WY, he was still doing fine. Not scared out of his wits. He can handle a child spirit. It was only that the sleepless nights and uneasiness come bed time that made him paid another sifu in Gombak area a visit. Going to sleep every night repeating protective chants has gotten to him. He said he felt like he was being watched every single night.

Long story short. He met the sifu and he brought K along for the ride. Sifu did some chants and a deity took over. The deity was Ji Gong (济公) and he told them the spirit disturbing him was of a woman. A lady spirit dressed in red who has chosen him to be her husband. She has been residing in that area for a long time now since before the construction of houses. It used to be plantation land, dark and damp area. She was butchered into 5 pieces there. That is why she was dressed in red. For vengeance. She roamed the housing estate and now she has decided to stay in our house. And she has chosen to reside in the Kuan Yin idol that WY had brought back from Penang. They had been praying to the idol for a year and a half now without getting blessings from temples. I have been told that to have God enter the idol, first you must bring it to the temple for a simple ceremony before humbly inviting God/Goddess to your abode. The Kuan Yin idol belonged to WY’s grandfather many years back and has been passed on from family to family when some of them converted to other religion and had quite abandoned it. When that happens, where no worshipping has done for a long time, the idol is empty with no holy spirit in it which renders it powerless. Due to ignorance he had brought it back to KL and got an altar, incense and vase. WY and K prays and burn incense everyday, unbeknownst to them, at one point the female spirit has went into the idol. They have been praying to it day and night for at least a year.

When I heard the female spirit in red I already went Oh Shit inside me. But they can’t believe the sifu blindly right? Well he did convince WY. The sifu also said that WY used to pray to Ji Gong when he was young. True, he followed his mum religiously to the temple when he was a kid. He likes to drink alone at home. True, he enjoys drinking liquor or wine alone at home and quite often too. And a few more things. By now Wy as his balls in his throat. K at the side has totally flipped. Sifu also spoke to K a little about her which I don’t remember what. Oh, in case you did not know, the sifu has his eyes closed at all times, because it was now the deity speaking, not the medium.

Did I mention that the lady spirit hates to have other females around WY? Any females close to him will kena. K’s radiator overheats here. She would have literally shat her pants now. She was close to WY. She is imagining the wrath already. And her idle minds has been hell’s playground of late. I can’t stand her now. She would be calling during office hours trying to get my other girl housemate, SY whether she felt anything yet and has her mum ask the temple master to triple check about the house. K also asked if I had a good sleep at night with a hint of cynicism.

By now, shit has hit the fan. I have not seen the both of them in the house since then. Since Thursday night to be precise. I have kept it from SY over the weekend fearing that she would get scared. The first few nights of going inside the house made me feel uneasy. I practically had to calm myself, telling myself not to think too much about it. Be cool as a cucumber. Haha… impossible right? The pressure I tell you. I would stop my car in front of the house and take a minute to compose myself. Mutter a foul word at myself then I step in. Dropping the keys at the door just builds the tension up. I tried avoiding eye contact with the Kuan Yin idol. Honestly I had always tried looking away from the idol. It’s not those friendly, smiling white porcelain idol that one normally sees. It looks ancient, dark grey… a little faded but it has a fierce expression. Even SY’s mum commented on how fierce it looks when she came over last time. I kid you not. WY has even bought a red headgear (similar to the one Tripika sports in Journey to the West, triangular like) and also a red cape on her shoulder. Spice up the aggressiveness. And a gold chain. It’s hard to ignore it’s presence. I would always get a glimpse of it at the corner of my eye.

Last Monday, the four of us met up in a nearby food center for discussion. WY told it to us himself. I had already ask K to shut it. WY and me agrees that she looks crazy. SY gets filled in the details. She don’t seem at all disturbed. Her family are firm believers and followers of Buddhism and her mum ask the four of us to have a discussion with the spirit. Haha… nope, she have not told her mum that it was wearing red. Anyway it was because she wanted her mum to ask another sifu in Penang. Just to get a second opinion. I on the other hand has already got my dad to get a third opinion. All one needs to do is just give the sifu your house address. I smsed my mum. Awaiting reply.

K just could not help herself from flailing her arms around and looking a little wild. Her long hair does not help. And she has been favoring red clothes lately, which I did not notice at all… seems to be her ass talking here. I just deadpan and replied, why don’t you go cut your hair because in movies we seldom see vengeful female spirit in red with short hair. Oh she does have more reasons to freak more than us because in truth she was the one who frequently prays and make offerings to the idol. She admitted that a few of her wishes came true and we reminded her that one must always return the favor. Definitely did not put her mind at ease. More big movement until she knocked her head against a worker’s elbow that she stopped and remain calmer. Note to myself, hit K if she behaves eccentrically, again.

So we are now deciding whether to move out together or go our separate ways. Will be having another discussion soon. Damn I really like staying in this area but according to the sifu in Gombak, the spirit won’t be moving away and it’s presence will absorb our energy, leeching it little by little. For WY, to avoid the spirit following him, he has to move to a place that crosses a river so that the spirit cannot follow. His mum even ask him to get the gold chain off the idol. He has already decided to leave the idol in the house for the next tenant. He also said that the medium told him to do something to the idol when leaving. He did not say what because he thinks it would scare us even more. That’s comforting and considerate of him since SY and me are still staying in the house. Ha. Think not.

If it’s going to set my mind at ease, the piece of information that K shared that day was of no help. She said she called up the agent to say that we would want to move out of the place because the house is not clean. The agent told her that we would have to stay till July, to serve two months notice and also the two months deposit would be forfeited. K argued that the house got spirits how to stay on. Another night would be out of the question. So the agent replied that he is also a Buddhist. He will ask the temple about it. True enough he called up the next day and told K that we can move out tomorrow. What does it mean? Did he really went and ask or the contract does not state that we must stay for two months to serve the notice. Because that is what the deposit is for right? But it’s enough to K go bonkers again.

Did I mentioned that the sifu told WY that he sees no point in giving him an amulet because it might further agitate and alarm (打草警蛇) the female spirit?

We are actually a bit confused. WY heard a man’s voice but was told it was a child spirit. Then it’s now a vengeful female spirit in red. A family? WY mentioned he wanted to put some peas and something else to experiment if it’s really a child spirit because he heard that the child would come out and play. Not a good idea. He also expressed interest to invite a friend with third eye to come over without telling him in advance. Just to see if he can see what is in the house. Another not so good idea.

We have a dog in our house. A Shih Tzu but so far, we have not heard any crying or howling. We even had two big Labradors at our place last time. Nothing. But if the doggie starts doing it anytime soon…..

Posted on May 26, 2009 - by Abner

Iceberg Float Wall and Slide

Who has a Olympic size pool at home? Or any of you live near a lake? Unused mining pool perhaps?
The weather has been stifling hot and driving people mad.
If any of you are getting this, please let me know ok?
It’s would be perfect. I found two sites if you are seriously considering to get one of Aviva Sports Iceberg.
Overstock.com is selling for  $5,399.99
WagonDepot.com is selling for $5,888.99

Good le me…

Posted on May 26, 2009 - by Abner

Nike SFB Tactical Boots

I am not a fan of Nike. But I do like this pair of kicks.


Sweet.

Posted on May 26, 2009 - by Abner

Hiking: Gunung Yong Belar Perak, Pahang, Kelantan Part 2

Three weeks have gone. The bites from sand flies have already subsided. It’s my first time getting attacked by these pest and it really does hurt. The females needed the protein in my blood so that they could make eggs. How comforting is that? I am doing my part in extending their family blood line. I feel noble. Hell I am. I was swatting blindly everywhere. Can’t really see them as they are really small. The darkness of the jungle is just perfect. The trees seems to desperately claw at the stars leaving only gaps for the moonlight to penetrate. Barely enough for us to look around the campsite.

I just hated the part where I have to squeeze into the LRT with my backpack. It was already a nightmare to board the train after working hours. Maneuvering itself is hard… let alone with a big bag. Boarding the LRT from KLCC is insane. The people just push and push and so did I because I was rushing to make it to meet the rest. It was during this frenzy that I did not realize that my left thumb got sprained. It hurts. The pain lasted the whole trip.

Everything happened like I somehow expected it would. I have reached the Wangsa Maju LRT station and tip tap tip tap. It started raining. The heavy downpour made me worried as the journey up Cameron took around 4 hours and poor visibility made me a little queasy. The friendly strangers were late. There was some confusion on where to meet but after running up and down a couple of times, everything was sorted out and we are ready to roll. I managed to express my amazement upon the sight of of K’s enormous backpack. G’s bag wasn’t any better. Both was filled to the brim and it pains me to see K shouldering hers. It dwarfed her. Not surprising, for this was their first camping trip. Their usual day trip hikes  prepared them for the hike up but not the packing part. I had my fair share of sloppy packing… or should I say inexperience, that I stuffed things that was unnecessary. Total dead weight. Unused items.
I ditched a lot of stuff this time. Wallet became a plastic ziplock pocket size. Toiletry bag kasi buang jauh jauh. No camera as I would be enjoying the air and water more. Don’t want to waste the moments squatting over a small plant. My previous trip also went undocumented. My clothing were only the necessary ones. The only extra I had was one boxer. Bought a cheapo raincoat this time instead of bringing the thick useless heavy jacket. I learned a little from Stong. And no can food, please. Unless it’s an easy hike, otherwise leave it at home.

The journey to Kampung Raja in Cameron Highlands was a bit flat > boring . The music selection was a bit dusty I must say. I had to struggle to keep my eyes open on numerous occasion. While the rest in the car played song guessing, I was totally clueless. Although I do recognize one or two tunes and tried to tap my feet along. Movement keeps me awake. I even tried to have senseless conversation. But overall, we did have a couple of good laughs along the way. I think. It’s a bit fuzzy now for me to recall.

Saw the rest at Kwan Tee Temple Hall. It was already 1230am. The cold night air nestled me like a long lost adopted son. Our group was already taking up the corners, lying snugly in their sleeping bags. I quickly chose a spot and made my bed for the night. Brushing my teeth made them chatter. The water seems to shake me up, chasing away the sleepiness. Staggered back to the hall which nearly cause me to fall. Another shake up. How to sleep now.

I was thankful I had a sleeping mat, though cheap it did work, for the concrete floor was hard and icy cold. Maybe that was a glimpse of a morgue’s slumber party. Without warning or sirens blaring, cars and four wheel drives hummed to a halt. I think the time read 130am. The passengers alighted, all boisterous and ignorant of their surrounding, like they have just hit land, reached the port, after months of traveling in the tongkang. Their numbers were bigger and very quickly marked their territory. I seem to attract the special ones, for these two 40 plus-ish couples laid out an air bed and started to give it a real pumping. It was extremely annoying as it lasted more than 20 minutes. When a woman in their bed said in a hush voice that it’s good enough, (thank god she felt a little embarassed) but the dick prick said he would rather continue since he already killed the mood for everyone. Loud enough for a few of us to hear anyway. They went on for another good 10 minutes of blowing before stopping.You thought it would end there? You are so wrong. They continued to toss around in their air bed, creating friction and noise. In the other corner, a snorer emerged. All my sheeps started running against the traffic. By then I was just wishing the sun would come up soon. This scenario would repeat itself in the mountains.

Morning came and we quickly packed up and went for breakfast. I ate a lot. Drank some water and took a dump. Lighten the load for the road, baby. My backpack has taken on an additional 10kg easily, for I was carrying 6 packs of rice and a big plastic bag of food for my group. Topped it with my 3 liter reservoir and I am so gonna get hell.

At 930am after the briefing by Botak Chin and group photo, we are all set to go. I chose a beaten up Land Rover Defender, with faded POLIS on it’s side doors. Sweet. We flagged off about 10am with us trailing in second place. If you have been to Cameron Highlands, you would see the old four wheel drives, races up and down the slopes. Our diesel friendly driver had the air huffed and puffed at us carelessly and roughly. It felt great. I stood on my feet the whole journey.

First reason : I don’t get to ride on the back of a speeding 4wd in the mountains that often.

Second being that my scrawny ass hurts everytime our ride hits a rough spot.

Third, it’s much more fun! Whee…

We lumbered past the vegetable farm, setting sights on tomatoes and beautiful cabbages. There were a number of times that I thought we would flip over, or I get thrown out of the car and onto the greens. Thrilling ride really. I was more worried about our backpacks on the car roof instead. A bottle of 100plus had fell out earlier spilling its mildly sweet sticky content all over the road echoed by ooo’s and aaa’s.

Another group photo before the long hike. This time I am sitting on the car roof.

The start of the journey was a long flight of steep stairs. The first 5 minutes gave me a taste of what is in store for me for the 6 hours ahead. My backpack was just too heavy and I trudged up the stairs, visibly straining under the mercy of my load. It was really bad. 15 minutes later I stopped and unpacked. I rearranged my stuff. The food went lower in my bag, making sure it’s about my waist level. Rested a while before giving my group the thumbs up. Slightly better. The shoulder strap has already begun to sink it’s teeth on my left. Nothing much I can do but soldier on. The first hour and the half was not enjoyable. We had to balance ourselves on PVC pipes, avoid soft, muddy, wet ground, that waits patiently to suck your whole ankle and calf in. The rotan plants made it worse. I never knew they had thorns that vicious. I had only tasted the lashes of the finished product often in my younger days.

We stopped at a river. Waited for the rest here. News came that a few of them had been stung by wasps. And it looks bad. One had the most, about a dozen and he needed a jab. Lucky for us, a doctor was in the group. He gave out some tablets and cream too. Good thing that T was resilient enough though he did feel the poison run through his veins. There were times that he was swaying a little. It worried us and he is the biggest guy in our group. He is strong and he persevered.

Crossed the river and it was an uphill and downhill task onwards. The hike took much longer because the trail requires us to go up and down so many times that after a few hours of hike, we only managed perhaps few hundred meters above sea level. Yong Belar is 2181 meter. We were tired rested quite a number of times. Some jokes did help lighten the mood. No grouchy ones here, so it was good. I hate those.

We hit our secret base camp around 5. It’s a new place. We were told not to divulge the coordinates or location earlier in the briefing. No posting of it anywhere. It was because some previous camp sites have been badly cannibalized by other people. Overcrowded. Leaving rubbish everywhere. Tudung Periuk, the usual camp site was a good example. The rubbish was in a heap up to my knees and growing. Some dumb fags brought melamine plates and ceramic mug and decided to hide beneath some roots. Big packets of unused rice hangs on the trees. Empty blue cylinders strewn in some bushes amongst some burnt rubber. Batteries. Food wrappers. The worst perhaps are buried food because it attracts ants and they will burrow to get to it. And with constant food supplies nearby, the whole camping ground would be infested by ants. There is no way to get rid of them, apart from abandoning the site for around ten years plus. They said it was not selfish, because they did share before and had seen the place went to shame and hated the irresponsibility. Fine by me.

Since it’s a new site, we had to weaved through heavy vegetation, hacking past plants, trees, rotans and more trees. Some trees were dead and hollow. Be careful where you lean against. Finally we saw it across the river. We huddled together and chose a spot for ourselves. We had a nice flytent and groundsheet enough for the three of us. Alas, it was not meant to be. To my horror, we appear to have gotten a last minute tent mate. What the hell. Honestly the camping ground here is damp and soft. Roots everywhere. It’s not flat ground. Yes it was unhabited but that does not make it a good camping site. I chose the far side of the tent, the edge really. The side where when it rains, I would be literally fucked. And I was fucked on both nights back to back for those who might be interested.

Wait… do you know what is a fly tent?

From Wikipedia:
A fly refers to the outer layer of a tent or to a piece of material which is strung up using rope as a minimalist, stand-alone shelter. In basic terms, a fly is a tent without walls. Since the advent of water-proof materials a fly is unnecessary as an outer layer to the tent. Purpose-made stand-alone flies are also sometimes referred to as bivouacs, bivvies, tarpaulins, or hootchies. Flies are generally used for keeping moisture (such as condensation or rain) or sun off people while they eat, rest or sleep. They can also be used as groundsheets, but this is not recommended since it creates wear and tear which can lead to holes.

A stand-alone fly is a multi-purpose tool and is very flexible. For example, a fly can be put up in a wide variety of shapes depending on the environment and the weather, whereas a tent usually has a pre-set configuration for its structure which can be adjusted somewhat but not substantially. A fly also has the advantage of being particularly light and portable.

Disadvantages of flies include that a person is still exposed to the elements such as mosquitoes and cold weather and that it can be difficult to put a fly up if there are limited natural vertical structures such as trees in the camping area.

Our tent was tied to trees instead of to the ground. So it was just a roof. When I meant I was fucked, I meant it in a good way. Just to experience it. I was kind of hoping it to happen anyway, that was why I chose the side. Sleeping in a fly tent is good, apart from the sand flies of course. The ventilation is good, unlike being in a tent. I was sleeping out in the open. No, I did not think about what if wild boars came, brown bears, tiger. monkeys, wild dogs, snakes, leeches, Big Foot, mawas, terung, tembikai, kakak tua, etc. It did not cross my mind. If it did happen, there are others around me too. My chance was about 1/7. Since we do not have much space at our forsaken site, each of us had rocks, roots and elbows with no room to shift around. Simon though, our resident snore guy, manages to catch some 30 winks every night. We laughed at him earlier because he was sleeping beside a swamp. A hole that keeps filling up with water no matter what we did. We were like sleeping on cold wet mashed potato. And I kept sliding down due to the uneven ground.

To be continued.