Sunday, December 28, 2008

Borneo Tropical RainForest Resort

This is the last in my series of blogs on Borneo Tropical Rainforest Resort. These few pictures highlights some of the facilities available. Please visit their official website for more information. To see all my other blogs on this resort, click here.

This is one of the chalets available.

This particular unit has two rooms with bath, kitchen for heating up food...

... and a place to relax yourself outside.

They have a well equipped facilities for "team building".

... low ropes course, high ropes course, obstacle course, abseil tower, station ropes course, wet postman walk, flying fox, etc

This is the entrance to One Tree Hill Cafe.

The interior is well equipped. But look outside... you see tree top again!

They also have hostel type accommodation. It is non aircon but really, this is not needed. The place is so cool.
While the W.Malaysian are talking about landslide, leveling hill, re-enforcement, etc, I think they have a lot to learn from this resort. I noticed that all their structures blend into the natural environment rather than destroying the nature to make way for development. The structures were built onto mountain side with all the surrounding trees remaining intact.

Go and Make Disciples of All Nations

Matt. 28:18-20

From Biblical perspective
Mark 16:15 “Evangelism”
15He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Luke 24:47 “Message”
46He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

Matt 28:19-20 “Discipleship”
19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Acts 1:8 “Witness”
8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

John 20:21 “Commission”
21Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."

From Wesleyan perspective
John Wesley:
New Converts: Just come to believe the Lord. Know very little about God. Need encouragement and teaching of the Word of God.
Believers: Know Christianity as religion of heart. Practise faith in love. But always fail in the walk with God. Need support and teaching of the Word of God. (WJW, Vol.1,p.104-106)

Dr. William Abraham (Logic of Evangelism)
  1. Conversion
  2. Baptism
  3. Rule of Life
  4. Basic Doctrines
  5. Life in the Spirit
  6. Spiritual Formation
From Practical perspective
Rick Warren: P.E.A.C.E. PLAN
  1. Plant the church
  2. Educate the people
  3. Attack the diseases/AIDS
  4. Care the needy and poor
  5. Equip the leaders
(Note: The above is a summary of today's sermon by: Rev. Dr. Su Chii Ann, The President of SCAC)

10 phrases of positive people

Say these phrases more often:
  1. I am wrong
  2. I am sorry
  3. Thank you
  4. You can do it
  5. I believe in you
  6. I respect you
  7. I am proud of you
  8. I trust you
  9. I need you
  10. I love you

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Borneo Tropical Rainforest - 2nd day activities

Second day at the resort ... (View all related blogs) We had our breakfast at 7:30AM. It was raining since we arrived a day earlier. Fortunately, the rain was not heavy.

The breakfast was quite simple but more than sufficient... although the combination was quite interesting. But the kids love it... so no complain.

Mummy got ready... armed with umbrella. The resort provides all the umbrellas.

We went boating... unfortunately I didn't take any picture as I was busy rowing ...

Mummy in her safety float ...

... the children said there is "flying fox"... oh, no, it is this thingy... the expert demo first...

... then Ah Jon did it! He enjoyed every minute of it.

The team of experts... it was drizzling a little but we figured that there is no danger for lightning ...

We tried out some of the games ... for team building

Jos is brave leh ...

My trip was not complete if I didn't take pictures of flowers...

... and creeping creatures...

... and the children tried to figure out how the millipede coordinate the movement of so many legs...

We met the owner of the resort ... the friendly Mr Henry Lau. Our appreciation to him as he gave us a guided tour of the place.

Our appreciation to Bernard ... one of the supervisors there...

We have patin produced by the farm for lunch...

Borneo Tropical Rainforest - Breakaway

... Continue from my last blogs... View all related blogs

On arrival at the Borneo Tropical Rainforest Resort, we were greeted by this sign and very friendly and unambiguous traffic wardens. We later found out that they were all "multi-tasking", ie, traffic directing is not their main job but there to work as porter, etc. Our bags were taken care off immediately. This is very good!

"Bridge" leading to the check-in counter...

There wasn't many people there on Friday. But on departure, I can see retreat makers started to stream in.

The lobby... equipped with rotan furniture.

As I said earlier, the check-in was smooth. We were in Room 315 and were directed to the elevator to go down! Wah... check-in was actually 5th floor, ie, ground level, ummm, mountain top level. The room was huge... the biggest ever... equipped with one queen size bed and another single bed.

... the room was adequately equipped.

Bathroom ... and with sufficient toiletries.

Hot and cold water supplies ... and high enough water pressure.

A washer control for the backside ... watch out, the water pressure is very strong and do it slowly ...

Looking out of my room, I saw this ... of course not every room has this view. Some will see the nature, or tree top, etc.

When I was studying in W.M'sia, they asked whether we are staying on tree top. On a second thought, it should be "yes", because from the lobby, we see only tree top.

2008 visit to the dentist

We had our annual dental checkup done yesterday after much delaying. Timmy was the first one to have his done. After applying some jelly, he had his fragment of baby tooth removed.

Then Ah Jon had his teeth clean out ... no new filling!

I had my tooth filling redone after years of usage.

Mummy also had her teeth "polished". Thanks God that we can claim as this is part of our employment benefits.

Unwinding at Borneo Tropical Rainforest Resort

We were undecided whether to go for a break or not during this long holiday. We finally decided to book into the Borneo Tropical Rainforest Resort to check out what they have to offer. At the same time, I was very keen to take some photos of nature. This resort is 38KM from Miri, about another 4KM from the main road, immediately after Lambir National Park.
After 4o minutes of driving, we arrived at the resort, and the beautiful authentic natural surrounding surprised us.

I was surprised to see a few busload of people at the resort. They have their "away day" there. Check-in was smooth. I will talk about this in another blog. After putting our bag down, we have to join the guided tour ...

This is one of the tour guides, Rozina...

... and Shafiee. I tricked him to believe that we were Japanese! Sorry, Shafiee! Then later, he realised that we are actually "ka liew" (foochow)! Very nice people everywhere!

We visited their domestic farm ... rabbit, peacock, duck, tortoise, fresh water turtle ...

... sheep, fish farming, etc. The sheep wasn't as pretty as what you see in UK.

Even though there is quite a lot of walking, it is completely covered. So, you can wear your best clothing if you choose. However, don't wear high heel shoes or you will be "stuck" everywhere!

We visited one of the nice refreshing pools of really cool water. Washing in the water will keep you young! hahaha...

Along the way, you will see giant ants, millipede, etc!

.... also visited the fruit farm. Any guess why there are zinc wrapping on the rambutan tree trunk? See answer at the end of this blog ...

A boat ride across a lake ... it is more like a mini dam. Lots of fishes in there!

We then visited another "waterfall" ... you can feel the fresh and cool water. After this visit, we chose to walk back to the resort via an elevated jungle path which is about a KM away. No worry, the path is elevated...

Walking back using the jungle trail gave us an opportunity to be near to the nature. The reward is seeing things that you will not see in the concrete jungle!

This is a rather common flower... when I was young, I used to play with the "fruit". It is purple in colour.

See the elevated path... so don't wear high heel shoes...

... giant leaves ...

... fan looking leaves as if someone has purposely trimmed it.

... while walking on the path don't forget to look downward ...

... and upward... the canopy from the huge trees gave us shade...

Perhaps the biggest leaves we saw at the resort. The leaves must be about 5 feet long.
ok... here ends the farm and jungle trail. It took two hours.
Answer to the question above: The zinc wrapping is to prevent rodent from climbing up the tree but will not prevent visitors who flew in, eg, bat.
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