Day 4 (15/8) - Kota Kinabalu (Part 1)
When I woke up I had the most amazing pain. Even moving around slowly in bed was painful, not to mention turning about. Sitting up (and worse, standing up) was a struggle. Let's just say that if terminal cancer is like this, I am more convinced than ever that euthanasia is the way to go.
In the past, after exertion usually my feet hurt and at most I had some muscle soreness here and there which disappeared after I warmed up (an hour at most). This day I was limping around for the whole day (and many more after that). The worst were my thigh cramps (unprecedented, if not in location then at least in severity), but my calfs, lower stomach (this was odd, since it was more than a week after kayaking had injured those and coughing was unlikely to injure this area), arms (from using the hiking pole), neck and shoulders were cramping as well.
After a while, my condition improved from sheer agony to 'just' extreme pain. I was advised to stretch, but this sent fresh waves of torment through me, resulting in my manifesting 1 of my 2 reactions to unbearable pain - laughing (the other being crying). I laughed until my stomach hurt, which sent me into fresh throes. At this point the others came in and started exploiting me photographically.
Hum Sup Guy had gone out for breakfast and bought me 2 canai biasa (kosong) and 1 canai telur (egg) back. They raised my spirits (since canai is almost uniformly better than prata), even if they didn't soothe my muscles. However, they were far too much (since canai is bigger than prata) and I ended breakfast stuffed and unable to have lunch. Hum Sup Guy, of course, not being able to eat a lot, was able to pile on the food during lunch since he had had only 2 canai biasa.
After a forgettable dinner at a kopitiam (about typical Singapore kopitiam standards), we walked (or in my case, hobbled) around Kota Kinabalu.
The exhaust pipe of this car was extended and curved upwards. On it was mounted a HUGE Malaysian flag (as can be seen).
We walked into a shopping centre. Though I couldn't find any Malaysian Mannikins, I found a proto-Malaysian Mannikin:
It looks like it's on drugs. This must be why they used to censor Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in Malaysia. Maybe this is the stage before it becomes a full-blown Malaysian Mannikin.
Then we went to an exhibition of freaky animals (Hum Sup Guy got freaked out and left early). All of them came from Indonesia, though. Maybe Malaysia doesn't have any. Most of the exhibits had information panels in Malay and Chinese (a few only had Malay), and most had scientific names on them also. However, since I was unable to find any results on Google for some of the scientific names that I did take down, I have realised that the DAMN INDONESIANS were giving FAKE information.
English names are translated from the Chinese notices.
Albino chicken
4 legged snake ('Tiligua Gigas')
'Phitan Muelurues' (No results on Google)
'Iguana Iguana'
'Passer Domesticus' (This is actually the name for the House Sparrow)
Snake-head turtle
Alligator Crocodile Turtle
Pig head turtle ('Amyda Cartilagenea' - misspelling of 'Amyda Cartilaginea')
Chameleon Frog ('Litoria Caerulea')
Very Big Snake Head Turtle ('Cheldina Siebeniacki' - the first word is a misspelling of 'Chelodina'. The gods know what the second is)
Active Turtle (my name) ('Cheldina Parker' - the right name is 'Chelodina parkeri' and it's on the 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, hurr hurr)
2-tailed chameleon
Albino python
Satanic Bunnies
3-horned goat. The man said it fell sick and died while in Indonesia. We think they killed it and chopped off its head for easy transport.
'Don't miss it. The Unique Animal Show & Mummant' (Wth is a mummant?!)
Press clippings
'The exhibition's operator, Dr Haji M N Syafe I from Indonesia... claims to have the ability to detect diseases in people and says that he is a psychologist cum faith healer who has cured many'
'Dr Syafe disclosed that he also had the ability to detect diseases in people. A qualified medical doctor, Dr Syafe'i claimed to be a psychologist and faith healer who had cured many patients... the consultation fee for those seeking treatment is RM30'
Dodgy sign. He says he has an MBA too.
Quotes:
[On his team making the semi-finals] I'm so proud. I don't know how to describe it. [Me: I'm in such agony. I don't know how to describe it.]
[Me: 45 ringgit for rebonding and steaming!] Is that cheap? [Me: Yah, but then all your hair will drop out.]