Sidney Sheldon's Mistress of The Game - Finally in My Hands

I’ve always been into reading ever since I was a kid. I don’t mind digging some money out of my pocket every time I see a book that interests me.

I’ve bought quite a number that I’m actually running out of space in the shelves to stuff any more of them in.

Including this one here that I have been trying to finish reading for months now.

And this one for my whole life.

Of all the books that I’ve bought and read so far, there’s one book whose story is so stuck in my head so much so that there are times when I think I'm living my life based on this book. A book that would surely make it to my list every time I am asked to fill up a form which requires me to put in my favorite books.

Its Master of the Game by Mr. Sydney Sheldon. Look, it's quite tattered now from too much flipping and reading. Being so possessed by the story, I must have read it at least 10 times! No kidding.


It is a story of four generations beginning from a man named Jamie McGregor who at a very early age dared himself to leave his poverty-stricken family in Scotland in search of a better life in South Africa. His journey is chronicled in such an exciting and unpredictable way that I had a good time trying to figure out what it would be next in the story every time I turned to a new page.


The story goes on down to his next generations with the real ‘master’ being Kate Blackwell who parlayed her inheritance into one of the biggest conglomerates in the world. 

I was so in love with the story that Master of The Game was the only book that I had put my trust in by bringing it to go through the agony of flying 13 damn hours to all the way to London.

I was on a domestic Air Asia flight when I happened to read in its in-flight magazine that the sequel to the book called Mistress of The Game is NOW AVAILABLE at Malaysian book stores! My heart leapt in excitement as I never expected there was gonna be any sequel to the book especially now that Mr. Sheldon has passed away (RIP). I actually found myself running from one bookstore to another upon touching down at KKIA. And I almost got fainted in disappointment when I couldn’t find one. The lady at the Times Bookstores of which I am a member of came up with a so creative idea of ordering it from KL through them. I was guaranteed to get hold of the book in 2 MONTHS time! Unfortunately, people like me CAN'T wait that long.


Out of desperation, I sought help from my FB friends. The response was quite overwhelming, and a friend in KL who happened to come back to Sabah for Christmas holiday had been so kind to buy me a copy. Through her kindness, instead of waiting for 2 months, the book reached me in less than 2 weeks. Holla Claire!

OK guys. If you may excuse me, I wanna start with my reading now.

I need my moment.. Would you mind..? Please...?

Thank you.

Kota Kinabalu Bird SANCTUARY..?

I don’t know if blogging about this place is a good idea. I am not even sure if this place is worth blogging about AT ALL. I had been aware of the existence of this so-called KK Bird Sanctuary ever since I used to drive past the area to my workplace when I was still working in KK. Somehow, I kept postponing my plan to drop by until recently when I decided to... drop by. @v@

The RM 3.00 of entrance fee for local visitors might seem to be just a small change to some people but I couldn’t help but questioning the ‘worthiness’ once I got inside. I mean, why would I have to pay three bucks when the only birds that I could see around were these..?

So, they call it Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre. Seems appealing. I was jumping on my feet with full of anticipation. But it wouldn’t be so for long.

Looking at the plentyful bird images that are drawn just about everywhere along the trail, you might expect to run into hordes of birds once you are inside the area. Well, you better spare your excitement. You might tend to see nothing than something.

My tour buddy went cynical to say that the place could make a better place for the filming location of some porn movie than a bird sanctuary. I couldn’t help but laughing out loud not because it was funny but it seemed quite true. White the scarcity of people around and the windy outdoor atmosphere, I had to agree with him! LOL!

But then, if you’re curious about how it is like being in a real mangrove area, KK Bird Sanctuary may provide you the easiest access to one of them. IT IS a mangrove area. A REAL one.

You gotta bear in mind that mangrove forests are highly inaccessible due to their thorny, wet and mostly dangerous and unsafe elements.

Here in KK Wetland Centre, making a dash across the mangrove area is made so easy with the existence of a network of wooden bridges.

And it is quite perfect for a quick (and green) getaway in the middle of KK City.

But then, you gotta go down to the ground if you want to see more of the mangrove inhabitants. Besides, it provides you with some adventure.

With the need to protect the mangrove forests from further demolished by the rapid urbanization, I gotta give some credits for their reforestation efforts here.

After all, the existence of mangrove forests along the coastal areas that were affected by the deadly 2004 tsunami had actually reduced the impact by a certain extent. It could have been worse. We do need mangrove forests.

Being disappointed by the absence of 'flying' creatures in this little tour of ours, we opted to check out what other things the mangrove forest might offer to us – the crawling ones.

But then, with the intensity of the sunlight, they all seemed to be in the hide. We were disappointed. I had almost believed I saw something inside this but when I tried to peek through it, it instantly shrank out of sight in a fraction of a second. Phew!

Thanks to this info board, at least I could assume what it was.

But not all of the crawling creatures could move as fast.

Errr, what do you call them? Unicorn seashells? I am not sure myself. What I’m sure of is that they are edible (seen them being sold in some open markets before). There were thousands of them lying in the soil so unbothered by my flashing camera.

And of course there are some that DON'T MOVE AT ALL. Ewwwww.

Some wooden tower that seemed to jot out over the whole area had caught my attention. I dared myself to go up to the top level where a breath-taking view of the wetland had got me mesmerized. It suddenly felt OK not to have seen the birds when I got to have their.. eyeview.

And this on the opposite side.

Lush green. Love it!

Bear in mind that it wouldn’t be a good idea to go up to the top level (Level 5) if you are afraid of height. Just look at how small my tour buddy was seen from the top level.

I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody come to this place to errrr, commit suicide. *touch wood.

Being a fully wooden tower (merely nut- bolted here and there), and with the help of the blowing wind at such a high elevation, I could feel it was actually rocking off a bit that I had to get a firm hold on the hand rails. Scary. But fun. No. Scary. But fun. Scary. Fun. Scary scary. Fun fun. Scary. OMG!

Is it really safe..? There was no way of telling. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have bothered to put this up.

Getting safely back to the ground, I had to half-run to return to the base. It was beginning to rain. Well, I did happen to see a bunch of birds, at last.

But then, I couldn't force myself to get excited for them. Not when they are so commonly seen all over KK. :-(

Well, while the KK Bird Sanctuary turned out to be not really a bird sanctuary for me, not like how I had imagined beforehand, what they put on the wall of their office building had still made me smile in amusement.

Well-said. We BORROW the earth from our children. It's not ours. We don't deserve to damage it. 

A Treasured Gift from a member of WWF Sabah

I received a CD from a member of WWF today. Being a big fan of WWF, it really had put a BIGGGGGGGG smile on my face. Being a wildlife lover, it really means A LOT to me.

Thank you. Thank you. And thank you.. :-)

Guess What..? MLTR is in Town!!!!

Those fuckheads went all out trying to stop the MLTR’s concert from taking place in Malaysia in September this year. Then their stinking loud speakers had almost put the 200th Arthur Day celebration at bay and almost jeopardized the plan of bringing one of the greatest musical groups the world has ever seen – The Black Eyed Peas, to perform LIVE in front of its Malaysian fans. Then their extremism had apparently scared Beyonce off that she decisively cancelled her much anticipated first ever concert here in Malaysia, leaving those who had bought tickets to the concert in both disappointment and anger. And the worst part is, I was one of them. GRRRR!! But despite all those, I must give my highest credit to Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) for refusing to get stupefied by all the calls by these paranoid geeks to put off its plan to bring MLTR to do a LIVE concert here in Kota Kinabalu TOMMORROW!!!

OK. Due to my commitment to some other things, I’m not going to attend it. But at least I made my point. To this wonderful group Michael Learns To Rock, Welcome to Sabah dudes!

Getting Frosted In Portsmouth, South England

It’d be at least one more month before I’m gonna start jet-traveling again. While I’m kinda excited to come up with hopefully renewed ideas and blogging materials, I can’t help but feeling the urge of slotting in at least another blog entry about another place that I went to during my trip to Europe earlier this year. May I present to you…..

... the Portsmouth, South England...!!

Portsmouth is a city located in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the South coast of England. It is the United Kingdom's only island city and is located on Portsea Island. I went there on a damn cloudy and windy and freezing cold day so I gotta be excused for all the lame and forced smiles in ALL the pictures that I put up here. Believe me, my visit to Portsmouth was the reason why I had to reconsider celebrating Christmas in London next year. I don’t think I can survive even a single winter day in England.

The bus that I took from Guildford had taken me right to the center of the recently developed area known as Gunwharf Quays. It was within a walking distance to the iconic Spinaker Tower and Gunswharf Quays Shopping Centre. The rooftop of the bus station building itself is a good open platform from where you can view a major part of the harbor area.

I had come to realize that the architecture of the buildings in Portsmouth is quite different from most other cities in England. I’d say they represent the modernized architectural features but in the same time maintaining the typical English (brown- bricked) architecture that are commonly seen all over England.

Sumptuous restaurants and cafes with eye-catching façade are scattered all over the city which was quite an advantage for a non-muslim like me. Unfortunately, gotta tell you that halal foods are not quite easy to find in Portsmouth. It'd be just a good idea to tapau around..

I happened to see this when I was running for cover from the worsening rain and I compulsively came in. I am not sure if it was plainly the usual curiosity or because of the clearly stated ‘Free Admission’. LOL!

But then, I later realized how lucky I was to have come in. I got to learn things that had never come anywhere within my limited thinking ability. The expo emphasized very much on the fact that we, humans have never changed from the time we were created. There is no such thing as evolution.

Of so many things that are said about evolution of human genes inside the expo room, I found this quite spiritual. Yeah, we all came from Adam and Eve. Errr, it’s in the Bible kan..?

So, it is here where the body of Darwin and all his crap has been 'buried'.

Portsmouth, besides being one of the major ports in England is quite popular for being a shopping hub. The Gunwharf Quays itself is full of shops offering a vast variety of goods to choose from. You know you're going in the right direction when you come through this underground passage. It is the only public entrance to the Gunwharf Quays area.

And the Gunwharf Quays Shopping Centre is just a perfect place to fulfill your shopaholic drives.

Oxford Street in London might be a popular shopping area but I think the crowds are just so sickening. Gunwharf Quays has that relaxing atmosphere that makes your shopping more.. easier and hassle-free. I bought at least a pair of T-Shirts in Gunwharf Quays. Errrr, I bought NOTHING in Oxford Street.

Shop owners in Gunwharf Quays have their own unique way of naming their shops. If they are brands, then they are not familiar to me. I still find them quite amusing.

Errrr, Fat Face..? Hmmm... I've got a fat face.Hehe. Some people used to call  me 'baby' for it.. Ahaks!

And most of them are repeated words.

I wonder if the idea of naming Tiger Tiger had come from ‘Hari Hari Mau’..

If you happen to come to Gunwharf Quays, don’t forget to check out any of its toilets. They were designed to keep you wanting to come back again and again just for its beautiful interior and aromatic ambience. And while thery are hundred times better then most of our public toilets here in Malaysia, the admission is FOC.

I didn’t get to come to the toilet when I went to the Harrods, so I couldn’t make any comparison. But still, the toilet in Gunwharf Quays is one of the most enchanting toilets that I’d ever been in any of my traveling trips. Believe me; if they would ever open those toilets for a crash-in accommodation in Portsmouth, I don’t mind opting for it over a hotel room. LOL!

One of the must-do things in any of your visit to Portsmouth is to do a boat tour around the shipping harbor. Believe me, you won’t regret it. It is one of the best ways to check out what the city is best known for – Naval Port. It really is a very hassle-free business. Just buy a ticket from the booth here. (5 pounds..?)

And head on to the docking jetty where a hop-on boat would be ready to bring you into a 30-minutes tour.

Portsmouth Harbour is the docking harbour for dozens of naval as well as commercial ships. They come in different sizes and functions.

I found the boat tour was actually quite informative. One of the tour-guides was ‘loud’ on the loud-speaker providing both historical and contemporary information on each of the major ships that we passed by.

Portsmouth Harbour for me is a vast display of British Naval superiority that signals out to other countries not to mess with them and I was glad for being there to see it for myself first-handedly.

The most famous ship in the Portsmouth Harbour is probably there HMS Warrior 1860. HMS was the first iron-hulled, armor-plated warship that was built for the Royal Navy in response to the first ironclad warship the French La Gloire that was launched a year earlier.

When completed in October 1861, Warrior was by far the largest, fastest, most heavily-armed and most heavily-armoured warship the world had ever seen. She was almost twice the size of La Gloire and thoroughly outclassed the French ship in speed, armour, and gunnery. When she eventually became obselete, it was put out of the fighting unit in 1883 and has since become a museum ship in Portsmouth Harbour.

Portsmouth is also one of the major gateways to Britain for a number of passenger liners from other countries such as France and Spain. Deep down in my heart, I hoped to be someday getting on board of one of them and voyaging all the way to Espanyola. Another dream of a kampung boy. HAHA! But who knows..? :-P

We were brought to ride past the Spice Island where, according to the tour guide, the very first bands of spices had landed in the England soil for the very first time. I wonder if some of them had been brought in from their years on colonization in Malaysia.

Out of quite a number of landmarks in Portsmouth, Spinaker Tower is probably the most prominent one. It wasn’t open when I was there so I didn’t get to go up to its viewing deck. But still, I had a good time taking pictures with it in the background

I had seen a postcard in one of the souvenir shops that I dropped by inside the Gunwharf Quays Shopping Centre and didn’t buy it. I mean, why would I when I could actually take exactly the same postcard picture for myself?

I could even take a picture WITH ME inside the it. Holla.

As much as I liked to stay longer, I had to say good bye to Portsmouth before I get frosted in its sickeningly cold windy air. Hopping back into a bus to bring me back to Guildford had brought to me such a great physical relief. May be going there on a summer day is a better idea. Brrrrrrr.....