Category Archives: Beauty Pageant

Unduk Ngadau, Monsopiad Village

I didn’t know there was a Unduk Ngadau Competition in Monsopiad Village on May 14, until a friend who worked there informed me earlier that they got such activity as part of the 10 year celebration of their village. Actually my initial plan was to go to the Unduk Ngadau Competition in Kota Belud. Somehow my friend managed to convince me to go to their function.

Click Here to see 100+ photos of Unduk Ngadau (Monsopiad Village) >>

The Unduk Ngadau competition started by 22 contestants crossing the suspension bridge at 2 PM. I was glad that I was there coz most of them seemed to be quite “high quality” (as my wife, hahaha…). Most of them are from Penampang. It was quite true many told me that Penampang is the best place in “making” Unduk Ngadau. Another nice thing is that there were not many “arrogant” Nikon-SLR photographers around.

Click Here to see 100+ photos of Unduk Ngadau (Monsopiad Village) >>

The hall was quite small, so I could stand very near to the stage, only a few feet away to take the photos of the contestants. This eliminated the need to use high optical zoom level, as it would make the photos look grainy and blur. Again, I shot 100+ photos so you could see each of them from side, front, figure and up-close. I think the overall outcome is quite ok.

Click Here to see 100+ photos of Unduk Ngadau (Monsopiad Village) >>

Being selected as the beauty queen is probably one of the happiest moment in girl’s life. But I never used my camera to capture the expression of their faces at that moment, a mixed feeling of happy, excitement, joy, surprise. Sigh… only now I realise that I miss a lot of precious moment.

Click Here to see 100+ photos of Unduk Ngadau (Monsopiad Village) >>

Unduk Ngadau, Kota Kinabalu City

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If you are from Kota Kinabalu, you should concern about this Unduk Ngadau Competition (May 12, Dewan Masyarakat Menggatal) coz it was selecting the Unduk Ngadau to represent KK City. The contestants were beauties from Inanam, Api-Api, Luyang, Telipok, Sepangar, and Menggatal. In the end of May, more than 40 Unduk Ngadau, sent by different district from all over Sabah, will compete for the best of the best in the grand final.

Click Here to see 100+ photos of Unduk Ngadau (KK City) >>

Usually there are 3 rounds in Unduk Ngadau:
Round 1) Introduction & Catwalk
Round 2) Knowledge Test
Round 3) Selecting finalists

Click Here to see 100+ photos of Unduk Ngadau (KK City) >>

For knowledge test, the candidates will be tested on their knowledge on Kaamatan. Below are some of the most popular questions:
1) What is the meaning of Kaamatan?
2) What makes a good Unduk Ngadau?
3) What is the name of the paddy spirit?
4) What is the purpose of Magavau?
5) What are the jobs of Bobohizans?
6) Which ethnic group celebrates Kaamatan?
7) Name 3 traditional dances / musical instruments of KadazanDusun.
If you find that your favourite face can’t make it to the top 3, very likely that they may have screwed up in the knowledge test. The judges are not blind ok.

Final Result of Unduk Ngadau Competition (Kota Kinabalu City):
Unduk Ngadau 2006 (middle): Jacelyn Joyce Apun(No. 2)
1st Runner-Up (left): Kay Maryln Josune (No. 7)
2nd Runner-Up (right): Devenna Jaikob (No. ‘8’)

The web traffic of MySabah.com has increased a lot lately. Guess some of you may be crazy downloading the pictures of Unduk Ngadau. I was so dedicated taking photos on the spot that everytime there was someone gave me his namecard and said he wanted to buy my photos. This is the 4th Unduk Ngadau photo gallery I share online, free for everyone to see, and they are more later. Lucky lor you. I have been shooting the photos of beauty pageant around Sabah for nearly a year. It is not an easy job. You can check out the FIRST beauty pageant photos taken by Smoke Head, very bad job, isn’t it?

Click Here to see 100+ photos of Unduk Ngadau (KK City) >>

Unduk Ngadau, Kudat

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There were 13 girls competed in the Unduk Ngadau Beauty Pageant in Kudat district on May 9, 2006. This time the organiser also displayed the biodata of the contestants, so I got a copy from them. You can see their height, figure, hobby… at the bottom of each photo. Quite a number of them are Rungus girls (most Rungus lives in Kudat area).

Click Here to see photos of Unduk Ngadau (Kudat) >>

Actually some of them are very pretty, but it happened that they chose the wrong hairstyle and make-up, causing them looked less “presentable”. Usually I am very kind and don’t post any negative comment about beauty pageant contestants. After all, people took courage to participate to make the event successful and we should encourage that. So just let them have a good memory.

Click Here to see photos of Unduk Ngadau (Kudat) >>

There will be more photos of Unduk Ngadau coming. I am not being crazy about pretty girls or what. I just think that it is fun to post the photos, so my site got the MOST Unduk Ngadau photos than any other web sites, Muhaha… Who got the most photos of Sabah beauties? I guess now you have NO doubt already.

Click Here to see photos of Unduk Ngadau (Kudat) >>

Unduk Ngadau Competition, Tawau

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OK, some of you may have been waiting for this. The photos of Unduk Ngadau Beauty Pageant in Tawau on May 6, 2006. There are 4 reasons I report for Tawau: (1) I want to blog a Unduk Ngadau competition in west coast, (2) to avoid taking same event pictures with other photographers, (3) looking for excuse to go to Tawau, (4) want to marry an Unduk Ngadau. FYI, there are more than 30 districts around Sabah organised their local Unduk Ngadau competition.

Click Here to see photos of Unduk Ngadau Competition (Tawau) >>

The Sabah Tourism Magazine (Page 14, Issue: May 2006, Volume 63) wrote about the meaning of Unduk Ngadau. I post it here for your knowledge:
“The Unduk Ngadau embodies the spirit, beauty and personality of Huminodun who, according to local legend, was the self-sacrificing daughter of the almighty creator Kinoingan. She was sacrified to the land so that her people would not starve. Her head gave rise to coconuts, her flesh nourished the paddy fields, her blood became red rice, her fingers ginger, her teeth maize, her knees yams and other parts provided a variety of edible plants.”

Click Here to see photos of Unduk Ngadau Competition (Tawau) >>

There were 16 KadazanDusun and Murut ladies competed in this event. Below is the final result of Unduk Ngadau Beauty Pageant for Tawau:
Unduk Ngadau 2006 (Tawau): Diana Yaqub (No. 15)
1st Runner-Up: Eneycia Doulus (No. 4)
2nd Runner-Up: Jessy Liew (No. 6)
Miss Favourite: Cindy Celestine (No. 12)

Click Here to see photos of Unduk Ngadau Competition (Tawau) >>

This is the last blog about my trip in Tawau. Hope you enjoy reading them all.

Unduk Ngadau, Kota Marudu (Day 3)

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MySabah.com is incomplete without covering the Unduk Ngadau. I have been waiting a year for this traditional beauty pageant of Sabah, which is part of the celebration for Harvest Festival (Kaamatan) of KadazanDusun community. I shot hundreds of photos, until my 1.5 GB memory was full. The weather was bad that the rain and dark condition made my photography harder. I worried that I would miss any important moment so I stayed around the stage from 10 AM to 6 PM, even skipping my lunch.

Click Here to see 114 photos of Unduk Ngadau >>

Unduk Ngadau, is also known as Harvest Festival Beauty Queen Pageant, is carried out annually in different district during May, the Kaamatan month. To celebrate the launching of state-level Kaamatan Festival, Kota Marudu organised an Unduk Ngadau on May 1. There were 28 KadazanDusun ladies participated this year (The last number is No.30, but No.5 and No. 27 never showed up). They all dressed up in traditional costumes such as Kadazan Penampang, Kadazan Papar, Dusun Tuaran, Rungus, Tobilung, Kimaragang, Tindal.

Click Here to see 114 photos of Unduk Ngadau >>

There were only 2 rounds. The first round was a catwalk, followed by a IQ test session for individual. Then 15 ladies were shortlisted for the final round, based on the total score of their look and IQ. From there, top 5 winners would be chosen. I share 114 of their photos here. Satisfaction guaranteed as i didn’t miss out anyone of them. I post at least 3 photos for each beauty, so you can really see them from different angle and up-close. This time I publish the photos at bigger version. Hope you will like them.

Click Here to see 114 photos of Unduk Ngadau >>

Below is the result of Unduk Ngadau for Kota Marudu:
Unduk Ngadau 2006: Kelly Jubin (Contestant No. 19)
1st Runner-Up: Amylia Edmund (Contestant No. 25)
2nd Runner-Up: Dionysia Marius @ Alice (Contestant No. 24)
3rd Runner-Up: Ellyca Paul (Contestant No. 3)
4th Runner-Up: Aheronica Chen (Contestant No. 26)

Copyright Notice

I know some of you are very good in Photoshop, know how to remove the “MySabah.com” copyright stamp in my photo in seconds, then use it as if it is your work. Please note that you are welcome to distribute and use all the photos of MySabah.com for NON-PROFIT purpose, as long as you DO NOT remove the “MySabah.com” wording on the photo, and I will thank you for using my photos. Otherwise, you will get yourself into trouble. You have been warned.

Best Model Competition (Semi-Final)

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Sorry for not updating the blog for nearly 2 weeks. And thanks for all the comments you post. I will try to post the reply ASAP. There are hundreds of new photos that I would like to upload. Be patient ye. My line is not totally fixed yet.

Here you go, the photos of Best Model Competition Semi-Final (a.k.a. Female Model Search) at Waterfront’s BED on April 17 (last Monday night). Before that, there was a photography session with all the male and female models on April 16 at Tanjung Aru Beach. That day I was still in Semporna so I could not make it. Too bad…

Click Here to see the photo gallery of Best Model Competition >>

BED was really crowded that night. I could hardly move in the crowd. All the seats were reserved and I was pushed to stand at the side of the stage lah. This was one of my worst photoshooting experience. Many photos turned up blur or dark. Really hate the Sony Cybershot, very very very slow in focusing and flash recharge. Well, don’t have $ to invest in better camera, what to do?

There were 3 sessions in the competition for 22 female models, namely, casual wear, beachwear, and gown. The models were supposed to do catwalk. However, a few of them were like scared birds and walked very fast (so shy, then why want to become a model???). So… I missed some shots. At the end, 10 models would be selected as the finalists for another competition again on other day.

Click Here to see the photo gallery of Best Model Competition >>

Overall, all the models are quite good looking and have good figures. If you ask me whom I like the most, I would say No. 10. She got the look, figure and style. And also… See the last photo in the photo gallery, then you will understand loh. Haha…

Revisit Palm Villa, Kinarut

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I think God has answered my prayer. Remember last time I mentioned that I wished to take photos for bikini liang moi at the beach of Kinarut Palm Villa? I never thought that would happen. This was made possible by SPPS (Sabah Professional Photographers’ Society) for every photographers. This morning I took 250++ photos for 3 pretty models. I must say SPPS knows how to select model. Three of them are equally pretty, but in different way, one is sweet, one is sexy and one is gorgeous.

Wendy Lu was one of the models too. To remind you, she was the second runner-up of Miss Tourism 2005 (Sabah State Selection) + Miss Newell. You can see her photos in my previous blog. She gave me a strong (and good) impression, not only she is pretty. In the IQ test in Miss Tourism pageant, when the MC asked her, lover and money, which one is important. She chose “lover” and explained that money could be earned anytime but it is hard to find someone that you really love.

Someone left some fish heads near a hut and that attracted a few bees to have a picnic there. Some photographers were shooting photos of them. Man… everyone was equipped with heavy weapon (camera). My camera is like a water pistol if compared with their $uper camera.

The photographing session was running fine. We started at 9 AM and ended at 11 AM. The beauties were wearing 2-piece bikini (my nose bleed til now), and they tried their best to please our cameras. Everyone was having a good time. During the photographing, the beauties were scared by something strange in the sea water. Click the photo at the left to see its video clip. I also have no idea what it is. Is it edible? Please tell me if you know.

Today I am still sick (flu) so I am not in good mood. Just imagine your nose bleed when you have running nose. Therefore, I will not post the photos of the bikini models today. When to post? Me also don’t know.. At the moment, please use macroscope to see the thumbnails below.. 😛

Kebaya Beauty Pageant, Putatan