JIPP'S WORLD

…….The World Without Borders

The Limestone Wonder of Batu Punggul

Written By: jipp - Feb• 11•24

So I went to Batu Punggul as part of the bucketlist challenge that I put up for myself last year. I had always wanted to come to this place for as long as I could remember, having heard a lot about it from my friends at school especially when I was in my secondary school at SMK Pekan Keningau where quite a majority of students came from the area where this magnificent limestone pillar is located.

I joined a group of strangers, comprised a majority of ladies from Kota Marudu – probably one of the loudest groups that I had ever joined in in a trip. I gotta say they did annoy me in the beginning but then I managed to make peace with myself and decided to just join along. They turned out to be fun to be with when I gave myself a chance to accept the way how they were, instead of expecting them to be how I wanted them to be. Heh.

This nature wonder is located in Sapulut, one of the remotest places in Sabah. Or at least it used to be, but the opening of the main road connecting the district of Keningau (or rather Nabawan) and Tawau had provided quite a much more improvised access to this place compared to how it was before. Yet you need to stay overnight at a village quite near to it so that you can make it early to a boat ride that will take you right to the foot of the pillar.  The boat ride itself was already very much part of the fun.

Batu Punggul is probably not the tallest of pillars, but it requires you to climb almost vertically at most parts of the trail. It is more of a rock climbing than a hike. Accidents are so likely to happen, so it requires a great level of focus and concentration to say the least. This is where the local guides are of a good use – even mandatory. Most of them are local youngsters and still attending school.

I don’t remember how long it took for us to reach the top from the bottom, but it should have been less than two hours. It wasn’t the toughest, but I remember thinking it definitely wasn’t for those who are afraid of heights.

The view from atop was magnificent, just as I had imagined it would be. It is surrounded by greenery. The limestones had definitely protected the area from extensive deforestation activities in the past, because it is located in a patch of (almost) intact forest surrounded by palm oil plantations. The sound of nature as I called it was amazing. I think the fact that it was a part of a small patch of forest that was still intact made it such an attractive sanctuary for what there was left of once a massive area of virgin forest.

I spent almost an hour or so at the top of the pillar, doing a lot of cam-whoring of course and enjoying a simple meal provided by the tour guide team as part of the package. Going down was not an easy task either. A simple mis-step could lead to a fatal occurrence and the risk was very much there. I was told that fatal accidents did occur in the past too.

Batu Punggul was great, but a place called Gua Tinahas that we went to later had surprised me so much, not only because it was such a beautiful cave but also the fact that I never heard of it ever before had left me wonder if the tourism industry in Sabah had really done enough to promote it. For one the cave is massive. A simple search on Google would lead you to Gua Gomantong in Kinabatangan as the biggest cave in Sabah but I am pretty sure Gua Tinahas is bigger. The cave chamber required a little bit of hike within itself and I am sure I was not wrong if I said it is quite comparable to those renowned caves in Mulu of Sarawak.

The highlight of the cave is probably the gong rocks that gives out the sound of a gong when it is struck with a wooden mallet or something. The rocks are conveniently located near to the exit, so striking it is like your gracious way of checking yourself out of the cave complex. Somehow, I felt like there was much more to explore of the cave but of course I’d save them probably for another trip. I just wish relevant industries could do more to promote it, because seriously, it really deserves the recognition and people especially Sabahans deserve to know what more is there in store for them to feel blessed about in this beautiful land of Sabah.

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Going Down the Memory Lane of my Campus Life

Written By: jipp - Jan• 23•24

So my job had required me to fly over to KL just before Christmas last year and the arrangement for accommodation had had me staying very near to the main campus of University of Malaya, the university that I had attended and later shaped the career that I am still holding on to up until now.

I made my time to go jogging inside the campus area while doing a lil bit of going down the memory lane while I was at it. I went to some of the buildings that I spent so much time lounging around, to the lecture hall and classrooms that I had first visited and later to the residential college that I was first placed in as a freshie.

Memories just came flooding in as I recalled how I started off so innocently as a curios 18-y-old teenager, eager to take on the world. I was lucky because I already went to a boarding school on the East coast for two years prior so the exposure to the cultures of the people in the Peninsula was already there for me I actually fit right in so smoothly and without much hassle.

I went to the building block that I stayed in, where the other block was already allocated for female students instead of male ones as it used to be. Other than that, and a new cafe that was built independently to replace the old one which was an extension from one of the hostel blocks, everything doesn’t seem to have changed that much.

So many things happened at the hostel block that I stayed in where I shared a room with two other students who were also both from Sabah. I chuckled at myself when I looked back and noticed that most of the funny incidences that came to mind had involved alcohol. We worked hard and partied just as hard. Heh.

Somehow, all I could think of were the distant memories of me as a student. I don’t particularly miss them, or missing the campus life because they are just distant memories that I had moved on from. All of the people that I created the memories with are no longer there of course, and thanks to the social media and cellular technology, I am still in contact with most of those that I were close with.

I was there for two years before I moved to an off-campus residential college, and later to a house that I rented with more than a dozen others! I mean, I kept moving from one place to another since, but this place will certainly have a special spot in my memory and heart.

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Good Bye 2023, Hello 2024

Written By: jipp - Jan• 07•24

It’s a week through the fresh new year of 2024. 2023 was like my second full year since I moved back to Sabah. It was not the most eventful of year, but at least it was a big jump from those gloomy and dark years when the pandemic was still very much in control of how the world revolved and worked.

Travel-wise, I managed to go to three countries, which was still above the targeted average of traveling out to at least two countries per year. Of course, the highlight was my very first trip out to China. It was so modern and beautiful just I had expected it would be, at least at the two major cities that I went to, and wish I could explore more of the giant country but of course I couldn’t do that since I was there on an official job where the itinerary was pretty much pre-arranged.

Then I returned to Manila to fulfil the promise that I made to myself, which was to take my every family member to some kind of pilgrimage, visiting churches and all. It was the last of three batches and I was so glad that my mom managed to join me in all the three batches. When she contracted Covid when this deadly virus was still all over, it was quite bad that it did come to me that she might never get to travel with me any longer. She survived, but of course at 75, it took quite a great deal of effort to convince her that she still had the energy to go out traveling. And she did.

Then I travelled out to Yogyakarta to fulfil the long overdue plan of visiting the Borobudur. It was quite a last-minute self-arrangement. Borobudur was great, but visiting it once is probably enough for me, unlike Angkor Watt where there is much more to explore and is always worth to come back to for more. At least I got to retrieve my solo travel mojo again, and everything just went into place and was almost effortless. Going solo was always my favourite type of travels and it still is anyway.

Half way through last year, rumours came around that my office might have to close doors due to what I saw was more of a political demand. Staying based in Sabah didn’t seem to be quite an option at that point of time. Things went quiet chaotic because it was quite sudden, but still I came up with a list of places and activities that I aimed to go and do before I got transferred back to the Peninsula. Quite in the rush, I managed to tick quite a great deal off the list, until I was told that our office would still be there to stay for at least another couple of years or so. So things just slowed down a bit, and I’m continuing ticking things off the list to 2024.

Career-wise, I don’t think I did any better than I did in previous years. I just did what I was paid to do. I was still trying to get used to working in my own homeland of Sabah after spending so many years working in the Peninsula. The job environment itself is pretty much convenient, logistic-wise at least  except for all the traveling and long gruelling road trips that I had to  endure through to get my job assignments done. I have to admit I enjoyed it in the beginning, then it became quite too much. The nature of job required me to go running around to get things done, and time just flew past before I knew it. I’m not quite sure what lays ahead of me this year, but somehow, I’m not really worried of any possibility, including getting transferred back to the Peninsula. I think at this stage of life, I’ve been through quite so much that any possibility no longer worries me, at least career-wise.

So that was about it, and somehow I know that 2024 is going to be a BIG year for me, or at least I’m planning to make it one, traveling to more places and climbing more mountains. I seriously need to get my mojo back.

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