Thursday, June 30, 2011

It's a Turdday!! - Yummy Meat Poop!!!

I was doing some "research" when I came across this article - Japanese Lab makes meat From Poop!
It is made from human poop I might add!!.


"Look I can eat my poop!!!"

So watch out when someone hand out a artificial ham or beef jerky!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Things to do with the family - Tip of Borneo Part II

Recently Cinda and myself decided that we needed a break and a good way to do this is to include  a long drive.   We decided that a revisit to Kudat is in order and the tip of Borneo - Simpang Mengayau (SM). I did a search to find some decent place closer to the Tip of Borneo to enjoy the beaches there. I came across The Tip of Borneo Resort for only RM150 during the off season even though is was during the 1st May Labour holidays. Cinda sorted out the payment and realized it was owned by a friend of ours, Tommy Lam!!

So off we headed north to Kudat in our trusty Toyota Avanza. The boys were particularly excited about it!





Tested out the GPS on the phone even though I didn't need it. The country side was good with a bit of paddy fields and oil palm plantation. The drive was about 186KM.

As we arrive SM and the first view was breath taking, one of the cleaner beaches I have been too in a long time.




The beach was about 150m from the Resort (you can just about see the roof from the beach)

































Forgot Ashe was in Australia and registered her as well!!


We then decided to do a walk about before swimming at the beach.


Beautiful day for a walk about and after 8 years there has been some changes and places to stay and eat.

Then to the beach for a swim. There were hardly anybody the next group of people were maybe 500m away!






































The water was clear and cool and stayed at the beach until it got dark. We went back to the Resort to shower and change. Now everybody was hungry. We headed to for Tip Top Bar and Restaurant at Tampat Do Aman for some food to load up after a long day about 500m form where we were staying. The owner, Howard Stanton was friendly and enjoyable to be with. (thanks for the beer Howard!!) The restaurant had your western and local fare. But beware the chicken wings are hot and spicy as my son found out. It is a lovely place to hang have some food and a couple of beers. The rrive to Kudat Town will take another 20 minutes or so that will just have to wait until the next day.

Next day was rainy and for some reason I had a headache. We had the complimentary breakfast at the Resort and headed for Kudat Town. The roads are interesting here as at quite a few T junctions, both direction could get you to your destination!!!



You can actually get the KK and Kudat both ways. I personally prefer to turn left to head to Kudat eventhough it points to the right!


I enjoy the architecture and the old houses that we pass by to our drive to kudat. The town itself is pretty ordinary but the seafood is excellent.


 I enjoy going to the same corner stall next to the fish market every time I head this way and this is no different.


















The food was excellent than back to the Resort for a swim and nap. We finally checked out at 5pm with Tommy's blessings and headed back to KK. We stopped half way for some really yummy BBQ corn. Yummy and we arrived back in KK for dinner at about 7pm at Kopi Ping. Chat with Ashe on Skpe.
All in all was one of the most relaxing trip we had, wished we booked an extra day!!!!



Friday, June 3, 2011

Things to do with the family - Tip of Borneo part 1

(Part 1 - 2003 & Part II - 2011)
Kudat town and district is the northern part of Borneo, "the left year of the dog". It is a town I have visited many times over the past 15 odd years. The place my dad was born.

View Larger Map

It was founded by a bloke by the name of AH Everett under the care of the British North Borneo Company in 1881 and was the first capital of North Borneo. But problems with pirates, the BNBC shifted the capital to Sandakan in 1883 (the year Tottenham Hotspurs Football Club was born, but I digress). It has the oldest golf course in Sabah, established in  1906. It is a pretty quiet town but it has beautiful beaches including the Tip of Borneo - Simpang Mengayau - most northerly part of Borneo. Some records suggests that the fleet of Ferdinand Magellan stop here for forty two days for some ship repairs as well.

My visit to Simpang Mengayau in December 2003 with Cinda (wife), Ashe and Tristan (kids) and Ursula (sister) was brief to say the least as we stayed in town at the Kudat Golf and Marina Resort. It is more accessibly and the road signs are decent (there were none exsistent about 10 years ago!).

The seafood in town is great if you know where to look (more in Part II). Then at night we ended up at KFC!!! And the kids and myself only swam at the pool at the resort.

Ursula with Tristan and Ashe