A scary flight and an equally dramatic sunset

As you all would know by now, i was on my way to Kota Kinabalu to present my little research paper in the College of Surgeon's meeting and also the Asian Endocrine Association meeting. i was very excited as it all sounds so prestigious and this is my first time attending an event of such calibre. imagine the adrenaline level flowing in my veins as i boarded my flight ( i think i could have been diagnosed with phaeochromocytoma based on my catecholamines level!!!)

So, why on earth did i manage to land up in brunei international airport? apparently, my plane to KK couldn't land dt runway problem and we were diverted to brunei after wasting a few tonnes of petrol circling the KK airspace. So aside from leaving a massive carbon footprint on planet earth, we burn up 2 hours of our precious time waiting for the plane to refuel at brunei as i caught my first glimpse of brunei without setting foot on the soil. Man..and i thought i had a free trip to brunei.

then i had the worst half hour airplane trip of my life. the turbulence was so severe that at one point, we fell 50 feet and at that brief moment, i felt my stomach in my mouth (literally). i felt 0 gravity for free again...thank God no one vomited but as lighting flashed by around us, i was praying like mad and wishing to God that we would land soon. so after a two hour delay, i managed to reach KK in one piece to enjoy this...


Yup, that's me trying out my bath-tub at magellan sutera harbour resort, KK. as u can see, i was pretty thrilled that i could slide the window open and watch tv from the bathroom. ahh..the luxury of a 5 star hotel. no only that, i had 3 beds all to myself and a nice view from my room...grin

after my horrendous plane ride and the rain enveloping KK the first day, i would have never expected that i could catch this kind of brilliant sunset at my hotel. as usual, good things always come unexpected and i was in perfect awe of this majestic display of colours during a particularly cloudy sunset. trust me, i didn't have time to edit any of this pictures and it all came from my little canon ixus camera which has no extra functions or special lenses.

so, as i was busy snapping all this picture, many well-heeled european tourists were seen enjoying the sun (baking themselves relentless) prior to that. actually, i began to realize that travelling alone is not that scary after all..i could spend a lot of time people-watching and snapping pictures this way too...cool

so as the day draw to an end, i retired to my room and pondered my next move...wat should i do the following day in this land beneath the winds? stay tune for the next instalment of my Sabahan odyssey....