A.L.O.E: Kota Kinabalu in April 2011

A.L.O.E = A litte of Everything

This time I bought a one way ticket back to KK because I didn’t know if I should stay for 3 days or a week. I ended up staying 20 days. Well there are more valid reasons to why I extended the trip but at the same time I had fun.  I owe it to a good friend who made it a point for me to experience new things, meet new people, discover the new eateries in town and also the club scenes. For all that, thank you for including me in your circle of friends and reminding me that KK is still made of beautiful people and beautiful experiences. These are some of the best things I got to do and experience in KK this trip.

HAKOD OASIS SPA @ Warisan Square

Started off the hot stone foot reflexology treatment with fish spa! I have heard about fish spa, but I didn’t know if I was ready to put my feet into a pool filled with hungry Garra Rufa fishes. Apparently they are always hungry and never seem to get full.  There were four of us in the pool, me being the last one to enter, and all the fishes just swam from the others and ‘attacked’ my feet. It was a little scary for me in the beginning. They looked like fat leeches. But later I was all giggles as the fishes nibbled at my dead skin. My only tip would be to bring a friend to chat with through the session just for the distraction. After the fish spa, the skin is baby smooth. The hot stone foot reflexology that came after was awesome!

 

ULTIMATE FRISBEE

I have been invited to try out this sport a couple of times when I was still based in KK, never did get to try it. This time I finally attended a few of their practices. What I love most about the game is “the spirit of the game”. There are no referees, and fouls and disputes are actually discussed among the players based on the simple rules of the game. Naturally this calls for honour, respect between players and fair play. In the essence of maintaining the spirit of the game, they are more than happy to welcome new players to try out and they make it easy for you to understand the game. They play on the Tanjung Aru field every Sunday 4-6pm and at the beach Tuesdays and Thursdays 6pm to 8pm. I was so confused the first two times I tried and play, but it got a little better the third time I joined them. My only regret is not getting to play the 2nd week and 3rd week I was in KK because I twisted my foot. 

 

OUTDOOR PHOTOSHOOT with JenifferKu

A few months ago, I turned 30. I normally take a picture of myself every year on my birthday just to document how I have changed every year. This year I am honoured to have Jennifer Ku, a very good friend to capture me. I have had some studio shots done at the studio before but this is my first time having a shoot done outdoors.  We went to Nexus Karambunai for the shoot. It is also Jeniffer’s first photoshoot but we wanted it to be relaxing and fun. A girls day out!The concept of the shoot was just Elaine. I asked Jennifer, who am I in her eyes and asked her to try to capture that. So I would just be me and Jennifer would try to capture me as who she saw me as. Had my own minimal 5 minute makeup done and it’s good that Jennifer does not believe in touching up the face on Photoshop. So happy with the results and the high quality prints she gave me simply because I think I really look like me with a beautiful setting as a bonus, unlike the other photos that were taken of me at the studio where the make up was probably too much.  We did the shoot in under 3 hours, including running in and out of the rain, scouting for good background, etc. It is funny that in the beginning  I worried that I wasn’t an experienced model (and I am not) and she was worried that the photos will not turn out (even though she has captured gorgeous photos of her children) as she wanted them to be. In the end, we were just having fun and I was laughing away. At one point I remember her saying to me “Ok, I think we have enough of smiling and laughing shots. We need contemplation shots.” LOL.   That contemplation look on that rock was hard! I have 5 insect bites to prove it. Haha! I wished we had more time to take photos before dark so you would have more time to experiment, also wished that the weather was a little better but nevertheless what I enjoyed more than anything was having a chance to catch up and laugh with a good friend who is also a supermama. I know that you will make something out of your passion Jen =) Thank you for such a memorable time. More to come…

The one other thing I normally do whenever I am in KK is Sunset watching. KK has glorious sunsets! This trip I watched sunsets from a roof, from beaches, from a platform on the sea (sort of) and from a hill!

The End!