Grand Canyon

Yeap it has been ages! AGES since coming back from the US. What to do, gotto tune back to the super hectic, cannot rest, must work till death lifestyle. 

Seriously, we need a cultural change! 

Anyway, back to serious business, PICTURE OVERLOAD! YAY!!! I'll try to provide picture comments ok?

The bright and sunny day, snap a few shots of De Beau hostel.
Won't tell you where is my room, we booked a 2 bed dorm.
Kitchen
Recreational area.
Mount Humphrey, dupped the tallest mountain in America.

We left Flagstaff about 9 in the morning, travelled with 4 others, 5 including our tour guide.
Mount Humphrey again! 
On the way to GC, there were still ice patches all around. 

The journey took 1 1/2 hours! Yeap that's a long distance, but in the US, its OK.

We made our first stop, was told to buy lunch and supply for a long long day.
It has been 1/2 hour since we enter the Grand Canyon reserves, yet we were made to wait for the view of our life.

Michael made us walk blindfolded (ya kena tease and all) but he say it is worth it. So we walk behind each other, waited for Michael to place us in the right spot, and in unison, opened our eyes for.....
Yeap this.................

Its amazing, as you can see, there are the vertical cliffs and the slopes with gradient, there are both different rock types. The vertical ones are limestone, where as those slopes are soft red rocks.
I took a 15 minute hike, the trail was filled with mule's poop and urine, frozen urine, making it dangerous.



Yellow rocks.
A picture with Michael.

After that, we were gathered and promptly boarded the van for our next destination, lets call it, 'LUNCH SPOT'.
We spotted a MOOSE on the way, it was HUGE! 
Everyone enjoying their LUNCH?
Here's our tour guide, Michael, enjoying himself. 
Its great, Michael persuaded me to join him at the edge, it took some getting used to (cold and wind blah blah) but it felt great after awhile. Seriously, if you are going to the Grand Canyon, don't go if you are scared of heights.

After lunch, we were taken to another spot, this is where we will start our journey, a long 6.5km hike down the Grand Canyon!
That's Michael, Carley and Courtney.
Stoped at a ridge to snap some pic, this man was so nice to have his picture with a completely unknown chinese stranger, well the folks down there are really friendly, seriously!

A glimpse of the 'safer' parts of the trail we embarked on.
Somehow you just have to make a few stops, because the view is just Speeectakular!
Will never forget this place, it is called 'Oo Ahh Ridge'. The name is so freaking unique, visitors steal the signs every time a new one gets erected. A small slip anywhere will cause you your life!
Thread carefully! these are the soft red sand, no wonder areas around it gets the name 'Red Rock'.
Finally! CEDAR RIDGE! After hiking for 6.5++++km and descending for about 1000ft!

Not forgetting to snap pictures of myself, Anne reminded me hehe.
Well after a long hike to Cedar Ridge, can't help but sit near the cliff to enjoy the spectacle
Bet this marking wont last 2 days

Believe it or not, that is the trail to hike up! And that peak? that is not the destination, the destination is somewhere to the right ---> nope you can't see it.
The small group with us, from left, Mun Yau, (skip), Courtney, Carley, Michael
It took us roughly 1 1/2 hour to hike up from Cedar Ridge, serious shit! Well it wasn't easy, got terrible frost bite on my hand from the ever changing temperature and wind. I think we took about 5 stops. The climb took a toll on Mun Yau, we froze waiting 40 minutes for him. Anyway, he should be proud of himself, a guy with no extra curricular activies for the past who knows how many years! He made it....
The last place Michael (our tour guide) took us, it is called the 'Watch Tower'. Self explained.

Observe closely, and you will see the Calorado river. This particular river is 100m in width.

Thanks to Michael, we found a small trail that lead us to a very secluded spot
I was shivering then, LITERAL!
Wahhhh
Sunset
Grrrr...RRRrrrrr...CoooLLLLdddddd
A moment to snap my last shot before sleeping all the way back to Flagstaff, we passed through the Navajo reserves, that is where all the red indians live.

Just a short note, if you read through the comments, you might notice, there are 2 Michaels? Yeap there are 2, one is our tour guide, and another Polish native, residing in US. There were many things I went through that trip, but it is not easy to pen it down, ask me if you have questions hehe.

Aftermath of US trip

Geesh, it has been 4 days since arriving home, guess what?! I've been busy WORKING! ARRRGHHH!!!!!

Journey to Flagstaff, Arizona

Woke up really early this morning, ate breakfast at the hilton embassy suites, checked out, send the car back, and then waited for the shuttle service.

We were greeted by 'Jeremy' friendly driver I would say; The journey was boring, talking once in a while with the folks there..
Spotted a roller coaster ride.
Did I mention the speedlimit is 75miles per hour? That's like.... 120kmh, oh wait? The driver was going at 80mph. But he says it is perfectly legal, they have this, obstruction rule? Well you are suppose to speed up when there are tonnes of cars behind

Hehe, when we arrive at flagstaf, they somehow knew we were coming and send SNOW!?!?! YEAH SNOW!!! 

Arizona Biltmore Spa & Resort, DevCon!

Limited internet access at the hotel i'm staying at, so i'll just post pictures in sequence what we have done so far
The 'Crew' from left, Hayati from IWK, Munyau, from hesper, Jacob from Speedminer, En. Roslan from UTM, and finally, En. Murad from Celcom. As you can see, the wind is very very strong! First day of dinner at DevCon.
This is the introduction, presented by a few fellahs, don't recall their names.
Just a shots of Biltmore Spa & Resort.



Oh yeah, the background, see the beautiful mountain? That view reminds me about Grand Canyon, someplace i'll visit tomorrow.
My very first ZEN class, to be frank, I think ZEN will revolutionised development phase.
My final product, a webpage coded with a few lines in ZEN
Yeap that mountain again

A shot, Anne reminded me to take a few pictures of myself, I did, here's one of them.
Aha, famous cacti
flowers
That's me sleeping and accidentally hitting the shuttle on the camera, some of the classes were just plain boring.
Oh yeah, did i mention that the resort is a golfing resort?

I don't know about this game...


Bluffer maze
Hahah rodeo! Almost tried when Murad, Hayati and Roslan challenged me, but tweaked my neck muscle 2 days ago, so rather not take the chance.
BANG! Once again, i was ready to play this simply BANG BANG game until Hayati, Murad and Roslan wanted to balik rumah hehehe. No offence ya!
Oh, yes, En. Roslan survived 5 seconds on the rodeo ride
Night Shot.

That's all i have for now, that's the arizona biltmore spa and resort.........

My last conference class

Too bad, i'm using one of those training computer to go online, so wont be able to post any pictures. Anyway i'm taking the last class offered here, its called, "Securing Zen Components".... sounds boring? Well for techy guys, it is kinda interesting actually.

Alright, no more internet after this for the next day or so forth, will try to get access when i reach FlagStaff.

Day 2, Preview

This probably will be my final day blogging, as the internet access will be cut off pretty soon, NO TALK! just pictures.

Day 1, LA and Arizona

Hrmm..... well, I'm suffering from jet lag, why? because we were on the plane for 24 freaking hours, and since it is econ class, no leg room, thus, sakit tulang belakang!!!

Actually it is not that bad, managed to sleep well for about 30 minutes at 4 hours interval. The flight itinerary is as follow;


1. KL to Taipei - mind you, the people in taipei are Xtreamly rude! (not all of them) thus i totally had no mood to take pictures there.
2. Taipei to LA - the people in LA are not any better, except that funny guy at the United Airlines counter, he was nice and funny too, reminds me of Police Academy, Tackleberry! hehe
The only thing i got off taiwan.
3. LA to Phoenix - waited for 5 hours at LA airport, we walked from terminal 2 to terminal 7, sounds near? YOU TRY IT!!!! temperature was excellent! 15 degrees C.
This screen appeared when I was watching a movie on the plane, looks like linux is prone to crashing too! hehe

Arrived at LA about 7.30pm, it was late already, the temperature was surprisingly high yesterday, 31 C, but it was okay, got used to it.

Rented a car too, from Dollar Trifty, it was pretty cheap i guess, USD350 for 5 days, plus underage tax (siau kia, their 'overage' is above 25) and got myself a GPS system too (SUPER NIFTY!)

Drove straight to Embassy Suite (hilton) and SLEEP LA!!!!!!!......

Seriously, driving in US for the first time was somewhat scarry, every turn I have to remind myself to drive on the RIGHT LANE!!!.... geesh that's hard when u have been on a plane for almost 24 hours straight.

Below are some post of our hotel and room, will snap more later and post up more

That's about it. Next post will be day 2

US anti terrorism act

Haha! I am on my way to LA now, and guess what? Got a great story to share later....
As you know, a picture speaks a thousand words, and that is what i don't have right now.

Currently at the Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei, Taiwan. People here are not friendly at all, the airport makes u climb stairs, and for an old boy like me (cough cough) well, not so suitable.

At least they have Wi Fi here and ... stay tuned.

How To Add Image with blogger

Here's simple guide how to add pictures to your post in google's blogger!

First, login to blogger, and click "New Post" on your selected blog. Make sure you are in the "Compose" mode as shown in the next picture.

Next, click on the "Add Image" button as illustrated on the next picture.

A window will popup, follow the onscreen instruction. The next picture shows the popup window.

I hope this will be a great help to bloggers who have questions about using the upload image function. I do not blame you, took me 2 months to find out myself! hehehe

Arrgh..That ache!

Its been a while since I last played futsal, did it yesterday, and its ACHING ALL OVER NOW~!!!

Bye Bye :'(

Today is the last day I'll be seeing Anne, sob sob................

She'll be flying to Miri for work. 

Did initially book a flight ticket to see her, RM300 on the 20th this month, but combination of bad luck + dunno what, boss told me to go US on the 21st.... double whammy??? 

Good thing it is the "beautiful" city of phoenix, else i'll definately be crying

Jewe

Jewelries anyone? well here is a glimpse of it....

The link... Here