Deepavali Vanakum

Happy Diwali to all of my Indian friends! (^o^)/
Today is a big day for them as the "Festival of Light” is celebrated for the victory of good over evil within every human kind, according to Indian legend.
First of all, I’ll like to thank Adam for bringing me all around the Sabah for today trip, along with one of his student in his language center who comes from Yokohama, Japan and studying International Sociology in Yokohama City University. She has being coming here for 3 months for her study trip to Malaysia to experience the festival atmosphere lively. (consequently she have to summit a paper for that) Finally, I have one Japanese friend! ^^
We started our day by visiting a local well-known Hinduism temple. (forget the name! >~<) We were welcomed to follow their praying ritual and one of Aiko Tomita’s objectives was achieved. The whole ritual took around an hour and I was surprised to know that Indian student of University Malaysia Sabah had applied for three buses to bring them here for the ritual! Off course I met some of my friends and they were surprised to see me here, too. ^^
After that, we went for the breakfast prepared by the temple officials. I missed Indian foods! >~< It has been a long time since I last ate Indian food, excluding the Roti Canai that we can get everyday. Besides that, it was my another dining experience with hands. That’s part of their traditions.
Having a walk around the temple is ideal after a meal as it is good for digestion and chances of schmoozing. I met a female Taiwan tourist and a retired French scientist who is residing in Sabah for several years. His name was John Paul (not sure whether I spelled it correctly) and studied a lot about Malaysia culture even though it was not his main expertise. He knew more about Deepavali than anyone of us and Aiko was lucky to meet him as we spent a great deal of time listening to his explanation about Malaysia festivals.
Next we moved on to Tanjung Aru for Kota Kinabalu Baptist Church Family Day. Nothing much to say about it as neither of us were enjoying in the activities. I was spending sometimes with the church fellows for some games while Aiko was indulging herself with the sea. Pastor Adam, which is more commonly referred by the church follower, was talking with some senior followers who were not participated in the games on the beach. Ah, missed another chance to talk with Radiance! *sad*
We headed to Likas Sport Complex for the Deepavali Open House by the Barisan National for free lunch. As expected for such event, there were a lot of people coming for the same purpose and Aiko was so full with Roti Canai. (she simply loved it!) Again, we met Mr. John and this time, Adam was starting another lengthy about current world situation with him. Me and Aiko was regretted for didn’t take any contact information from the knowledgeable old man. Suddenly, I felt so pathetic about myself in language skills. I speak fundamental Japanese, incoherent English, poor Malay, and superficial Mandarin, but Adam can speak fluent English, Singkh, French and little bit of Spanish while Aiko knows about French, Spanish, Mandarin, and Malay! Sigh…
As suggested by Aiko, we went to Kiansom Waterfall for a nature bath.

(Top of Kiansom Waterfall. Taken by Nokia E65 and shaky hand)

This was the most enjoyable part of our trip. The feeling of being flushed by the water was so relaxing after half day travelling around several places. Um…Ah…I was so indulged that I get this…

…minor injury by knocking some rocks. Auch! I was told off by someone about safety rules but it seemed that Andrew Koay is always against or forget about them when it comes to nature exploration.
Before we were returning to our home, we had simple tea break at Inanam. Aiko was so delight to share about her favourite Malaysia items while she was buying some batik sarung at nearby store. Since this was our last stop, we decided to call it a day with a tiring and fun experience.