If you go to Tuaran, you may take a short walk at the Yu Huang Temple. To get there, on the way from Kota Kinabalu to Tuaran, you will see a junction at the right, about 1.5 KM before Tuaran town. The temple is about 100 Meters away from the main road. The first thing you will see inside is the 12 Chinese Zordiac sign. I took a picture next to my zordiac sign too. But I like the dog statue the most. Haha… like me mah.
There were a bunch of children noticed that I was taking pictures, so they all climbed on the snake statue, yelled and asked for a photograph. I took one picture and quick quick walked away. If they broke the statue, the owner would think that I encouraged them.
The 10-feet tall Dragon Door is also a very creative design. As you can see in the photo below. The back of the dragon extended out from the door as the roof.
If you live in Kota Kinabalu, you all know about this annual event at Padang Merdeka already. So nothing new to introduce. Luckily yesterday was a sunny day. The difference this year is that I snapped over 250 photos and add them to my photo collection. It is the best chance to see the lions and dragons of all kinds, gather in one spot on the same day. Just click any picture below to view the photo gallery. Ya… I know the messages below are a bit… Anyway, don’t be so serious and let it gets to you. Happy Chinese New Year to you all!
I read the news about the parade of celebrating the consecratel of new Fook Tet Kung Temple in Penampang Donggongon. (Please pardon my poor English in describing the event coz there are too many religion terms that I don’t know.)
The main highlight was the parade on Jan 2, 2006. You could see the colourful event formed by various lions, dragon, god statues, flags… from over 20 temples from Sabah (Sipitang, Kudat, Tuaran, Kinarut, Papar, Labuan…). It is not too much to say that it is one of the most colourful (also the strangest) events that I ever saw.
To make sure I didn’t miss a thing, I was already at the temple at 7:30 AM. There were two sessions that day. In the morning, all the god statues from different temples arrived Fook Tet Kung one by one. The comers didn’t walk in directly to the temple. It seemed like they followed a protocol. If the visitor lions came, the temple would send the lions to welcome them at the entrance. If the visitor was a dragon, then it would be welcomed by the dragon from the host temple.
Picture 1 & 2: Anyone knows the names of these dragons?
Picture 3: Visiting dragon was welcomed by the dragon from host temple
Picture 4: Long line of parade in Donggongon town
Picture 5: Kids love these stilt men who also gave candy
Picture 6: Dragon: “It is a rainy day lah.”
Picture 7: Charge!!!
The 2-hour parade started at 1:30 PM and passed by all the shops in Donggongon town. Many Chinese shops prepared the table with burning joss-sticks, candles, fruits and food to welcome the blessing from the gods, lions and dragons. The loud gongs, drums, dancing lions + dragons, and hundreds of people made a really noisy opening for the new year 2006. This was the first time I seeing such religion parade, and I thought I was in a China town. It rained heavily at 3 PM but everyone’s spirit was still high. Quite an unforgettable and exciting experience… at least this is something new to me. For those of you who never see such event, I post 70+ more photos here for your enjoyment.
Yesterday I didn’t blog coz I was not at home until 11:30 PM. I went to the Gaya Christmas Carnival (Dec 19 – 23) at Gaya Street. I got there around 7:30 PM and the traffic started to jam. More and more cars coming in. Luckily I was not too late to find a parking nearby. Later the street was crowded.
There were a number of stalls along the street, just like the Sunday Gaya Street. But the difference was that everyone’s face was full of smile and look so happy. I am glad that our country is still a “worry-free” zone to travel. No big natural disaster, no H5N1 bird flu, no terrorist bombing… And people from different cultural background, religion and races could happily celebrate the Christmas together.
The highlight of last night was the Bamboo Orchestra. You could see a group of performers using traditional instruments made of bamboo, to play Christmas songs. For the picture above, in case you wonder, the people at the left were playing Sompoton, a famous bamboo pipe musical instrument in Sabah.
And the big bamboo tubes in the middle is the Bamboo Drum. There was a donation box in front of them, for audiences to donate $ for charity. Though I am jobless, I contributed RM10. Since I am so kind, I won’t be sent to hell, right?
Hehe… I noticed a young girl who played flute among them. She was so focus and concentrated, so that expression was really nice. Plus – her sweet look made her look like a little “angel”. I tried to take a few of her pictures to capture that moment (see the left). FYI, tonight (Friday) they got firework for the closing of Gaya Christmas Carnival. Do not miss it if you haven’t been there.
I don’t have any statistics in hand, but somehow I believe Sabah is quite famous for the garbage problems. Not only sampah is bad for our health, it also gives the tourists a very bad impression about Sabah and they will call us the “Sampah” State.
I think DBKK has been trying hard on keeping Kota Kinabalu a clean city. They did it through various campaigns, posters, banner, fine penalty… but the result is very limited.
Actually the problem is not too hard to solve. If you observe carefully, you would see the habits of the garbage bugs. Based on their habits and natural behaviour, I come up a few new dustbin design to encourage them to use the dustbins. The designs are so comply with their INSTINCT that they will use the dustbin naturally. No training is required. In Sabah, the trash cans only collect 10% of the total waste. 90% of the junk would go to sea, longkang, toilet and the road.
Below are the designs after years of my research. It will be really great if DBKK will take my advices and implement it.
Model 1. This model will collect the most garbage because many Sabah people have the habit of dumping junk into the sea, without second thought. Make sure the trash can is always filled with sea water, to lure them to use it.
Model 2. If the cover of a longkang (drain) is gone, the next day you could expect it traps a lot of rubbish (sometimes people). Sabah people also tend to throw / kick rubbish into something that look like a hole.
Model 3. Most toilets got trash can. However, the toilet bowl seems like a more attractive spot to store the waste, and that includes plastic bag, can, cloth, cup, cigarette box. This design can fool them.
Model 4. You can operate this dustbin like a car window. Just roll down the window and stuff in the junk. A “Worry-free” design coz no wind will blow back your rubbish.
Finally I went to Kota Marudu, my first time being there. Before I departed, I asked my friends and family what are the places of interest in Kota Marudu. All of them looked at me with blank face. Ok then.. I took a mini-bus, after 2 hours, I arrived Kota Marudu. Gee.. there was a power blackout. Luckily the electricity was back after 15 minutes.
Kota Marudu is a small town with some blocks of shop houses, and surrounded by sea of coconut trees. At first I saw nothing unique about this town. But in the evening of second day, around 6 PM, the view shocked me. I was walking to the venue of Pesta Jagung, and I saw thousands of birds all over the sky and wires, making hell lot of noise. Seem like there are more birds in this town than people. I didn’t bring my cap so I ran as quick as possible to avoid being bombard by bird sh*ts. Just check out the photos below.
There were some games in the first day of Pesta Jagung. I participated in the blowpipe competition. Using a blowpipe to hit a corn 20 feet away is easier to say than do, and it was windy that day. I got 3 darts but missed it totally. In fact, after 3 rounds by 20 participants (each with 3 chances), we hit the corn the 3rd time. I won nothing but taste the saliva of 20 other participants left on blowpipe. Goodness, I kissed 20 guys indirectly…
Guys, you should thank Smoke Head again for bringing you more photos of Sabah beauties. The Maize Beauty Fashion Queen Pageant is the highlight of Maize Fest. This is the 5th time this event is organized but probably the first time you can see these online. If you look at the photos closely, you will find that the pretty ladies were wearing “jewellery” made of corn leaves and seed.
I went to the Tamu Besar (Big Native Market) of Kota Belud on last Saturday and Sunday (Sep 24-25). Actually I have been waiting for this annual grand event since May. The Tamu Besar is one of the most popular festivals in Sabah. After the visit for 2 days, the 1GB memory card of my digital camera went full. No kidding, my digicam was so busy working that it almost melted (Go ahead, so I will have an excuse to buy a DSLR). I was really glad I went there. Next year I will come again.
For those of you who don’t know “Tamu”, it is a weekly local market, where all the local farmers, fishermen and vendors sell their products such as vegetables, fruits, fish, shrimps, livestocks, traditional medicines, food, drink, cloth, shoes, handicrafts and almost every daily-use items. A truly village type setting. You are not only seeing the Tamu, you can smell the Tamu. The Tamu Ground of Kota Belud is the biggest Tamu in Sabah and open on every Sunday. Kota Belud is just northeast 70KM away from Kota Kinabalu. Due to the good road condition, you can get there by car in only an hour.
I can only use three words to describe this festival: Colorful, Interesting and Fun. “Tamu Besar” is the name of the festival that is more than just a Tamu. Bajau people is the second largest indigenous group in Sabah (first is KadazanDusun, third is Murut) and they are very popular on their colorful costumes, horsemanship and handicrafts. Tamu Besar is a 2-day event that let you see all these.
There are 5 things that you must check out during the Tamu Besar:
Bajau Horsemen: See 100 Bajau horsemen in action then you know they are also known as the Cowboys of the East. Each horse is decorated with color mat and different design. It is an exciting day for the horsemen, tourists and horses.
Bajau Beauty Queen Pageant: Beautiful Bajau and Iranun ladies, with unique and ornate costumes, line up for contest.
Animals Sport: The buffalo racing and game with horses are really eye opener and make you laugh out loud.
Tamu Ground: The biggest local market with lot of interesting stuffs not found in shopping mall.
Performance: The colorful traditional dance performance by local Bajau, Iranun, Dusun, Malay and Chinese people.
If you miss the event, don’t worry. I have shared over 200 photos and 7 video clips in this web site for your viewing pleasure. My Streamyx broadband is not quite stable recently. It took me 4 hours to upload only 35MB of files. Such a pain… It always happens a few days every month, as if it got PMS. Anyway… here you go:
The next 360° Panoramic Virtual Tour that I would like to introduce is the Puu Jih Buddhist Temple, which is the highest temple in Sandakan. This is the second time I visit Puu Jih Temple. The first visit was more than 10 years ago, but I could not forget the breathtaking view of Sandakan Bay from there. For me, the whole building, from the door to the roof, is like a piece of art. The outstanding artwork is nicely integrated into the great scenery.
Inside you feel the greatness of the Buddha, when you walk outside, you feel the greatness of the world, then you feel great, haha.. Just a few hundreds meters away from Puu Jih Temple, there is a Di Zhang (God of Earth) Temple, which is surrounded by sky, mountains and forest. Really a nice concept. Puu Jih Temple is just a few KM away from Sandakan city. If you plan to take a city tour, you must not miss this attractive spot.
