There were 49 teams joined the Dragon Boat Race at Likas Bay (of Kota Kinabalu city) last Sunday. Japan, Brunei and China also competed, and China won two trophies. For details on the result, please read the newspaper. I am not a reporter, so I am not obligated to report ok.
Same as last year, all the dragon boats were racing on a 800 Meter racing lane that needed about 4 minutes to finish. Last time I was taking picture with my 3x optical zoom camera. This time my 12x optical zoom camera allowed me to get closer shoots. The team spirit they showed in the competition was something really interesting.
I hope next year the organiser will have more exciting programme. The one-hour breaktime in between, which had no show running, really bored me to death.
This morning I read the news about a team who complained a boat, which was hired by an unregistered photographer, blocking their lane and caused them to lose. They even plan to suit that photographer. I think they have the good reason to get mad. I also noticed the stupid boat that “invaded” the racing lane to take photos. The pictures below show clearly that he was disturbing the race. If they want these pictures as “evidence”, I will be pleased to help. I am angry too coz the presence of his boat “spoiled” some of my good takes.
The Pesta Kaamatan (Harvest Festival) Grand Finale is celebrated at Penampang KDCA from May 30 to 31 every year. It is the biggest, most colourful and best cultural festival in Sabah. If you visit the first time, you will be totally “lost” coz you will see so many unique and beautiful costumes that you cannot name. You will be busy finding out “who are those people? Their costume is so cool,” “where are they from?”… If you are interested in costumes of indigenous people from all over Sabah, this is the BEST time to see them. I read the news the next day and found that 3 newspapers got the names of certain ethnic groups wrong.
There were so many things to see and experience, so I was there for 2 FULL days, 8 AM to 4 PM (but still not enough time to shoot everything). However, I was a bit disappointed coz the scale was smaller. For example, last year they got 6 booths for 6 ethnic groups, this year only got 3. And most of the programme and performance were quite same as last year. Nothing much new. Anyway, the event was still great. I have grouped 100+ photos into 11 categories for you to view. Trust me. I take better pictures than last year.
The biggest pleasant surprise is the Dusun Tombonuo from Pitas (northern part of Sabah). Their colourful headgear is so cool that they became the favourite of all photographers. I never saw such costume in any magazine, book and culture exhibition. Besides the booth, there are 8+ traditional houses and a stage that had cultural performance. Sometimes they got wedding demo inside the house. So I search for goodies from house to house and managed to get photos of Lotud and Dusun Tindal brides. I was also very glad to see Bobohizans / Bobolians, the high priestesses of the KadazanDusun. You can only see them in VERY important function.
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.
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?
It is quite late to blog about it coz it has happened for more than 10 days (since May 5). Sabah Fest was started annually since 1988, but this was the first time I watched it. I would say it is the most colourful and best cultural show of Sabah. I will come again next year.
Though the cultural show (8pm – 10pm) was only two hours, it gave you a very good overview of the traditional dances and colourful costumes of Sabah indigenous people such as Bisaya, Murut, Bajau, Idahan, Suluk, Kadazan, Lotud, Rungus, Orang Brunei, Dusun Tobilung. Tell you, I have seen all these costumes and dances, after I travelled almost a year to many places in Sabah like Kota Belud, Semporna, Lahad Datu, Kudat, Kota Marudu, Sipitang… Now you only need to pay RM10 (USD2.50) ticket to watch all these comfortably, in an air-cond ballroom. So lucky lah you.
As a Sabahan, if all you know about Sabah indigenous people is only Sumazau and KadazanDusun, your knowledge is really poor man. I have seen many locals who can’t even differentiate the costumes of Bajau and Murut. If I am not mistaken, Sabah got over 30 ethnic groups, and each of them may have sub-ethnic that they may speak different language or wear different costume. For example, KadazanDusun got 16 sub-ethnics such as Dusun Tatana, Dusun Tindal, Bajau got 20 such as Suluk, Iranun, Murut got 14 such as Tagol, Paluan. If you sum up all these, it will be more than 100 groups. So far I don’t see any book has complete text + photo documentation on all Sabah ethnic groups.
In normal Sabah cultural show, one or more of the dances below are popular choices for performance:
1) Sumazau by Kadazan Penampang
2) Sazau by Kadazan papar
3) Magunatip (bamboo dance) by Murut
4) Limbai by Bajau
In Sabah Fest, you will see more: Click Here to see photos of Sabah Fest 2006 >>
Before the show began, all the dancers were lining up from the entrance to the hall, to welcome all the guests with friendly greeting, dances, and traditional musical instruments. I walked back and forth many times, to see if I could name their ethnic and took some photos of them. Many of them were really the village people so they could be a bit shy, but very willing to cooperate. I know coz I saw my Idahan wives from Lahad Datu (just kidding), haha… they still recognised me. So happy to see them again.
If you miss Sabah Fest, don’t worry. You can see more indigenous people dress in their beautiful costumes at Penampang KDCA from May 30 to 31. Last year I took a lot of photos and post them all here. According to my web report, it is always the TOP visited page every month. FYI, it is the first photo gallery of MySabah.com (posted in June 2005). My first blog was started in August 2005, so I didn’t blog about it. One of the goals of MySabah.com is to provide the most photos of Sabah people (especially beauties). Hope you will continue to support me by introducing this site to your friends.
Every year in May is the month to celebrate the Harvest Festival (Pesta Kaamatan). Each year one district will be pre-chosen to launch the Pesta Kaamatan in state-level, on 1st of May. This year the launching was held in Kota Marudu. After the launching, each district will have its own regional Kaamatan celebration and Unduk Ngadau Beauty Pageant. No matter who you are, what is your nationality, where you are from… all are welcome and invited to join the fest.
Pesta Kaamatan was used to be celebrated annually by the KadazanDusun and Murut communities, after the harvest of paddy, the primary food of our people. Now it has become the most colourful and joyful event of Sabah. Unduk Ngadau beauty pageant is only part of the programme of Kaamatan celebration. This was also my first time seeing the Tobilung Bobolians (native priest) performed the Magavau ceremony, a ritual to appease Bambarayon, the Spirit of Paddy, to ensure the bounty of next harvest.
Kaamatan Festival is a “harvest” month for me too coz it is the best time to take photos of indigenous people in their beautiful and unique costomes. The organiser also built about 7 traditional houses of indigenous people to attract the tourists. I have shared the photos online here.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This year the launching of Pesta Kaamatan (Harvest Festival) month was held in Kota Marudu town from April 29 to May 1. I didn’t want to miss anything, so I was already there on the first day. To go to Kota Marudu, you can take the mini bus near the Padang Merdeka (in Kota Kinabalu). The ticket costs RM14 and it takes less than 3 hours to get there.
Most of the events were carried out in the football field of Kota Marudu. The first day was only a “warm-up” day, so the only highlight was the Tamu Besar (big local market), where you could buy some food, drink, fruits, vegetables and handicraft. Besides, there were some exhibition booths of government and a mini fun fair.
The second day was the Marudu Bay Carnival with lot of water sport activities. The BIGGEST attraction was on the third day (May 1), the Unduk Ngadau (Miss Harvest Festival beauty pageant). I will blog about them and upload the photo gallery ASAP. Make sure you come back and check later.
There were lot of handicraft on sale. I think most of them are made by Rungus people, who are skillful weaver live in Kudat and Kota Marudu area nearby. The prices are so cheap, can be up to 50% lower than the price in Kota Kinabalu! One of the booths even offered to weave my name on a bead bracelet, everything for RM5 only. The handicraft sold in the city was marked up really unreasonably high. It is the “tourist price”, I guess.
After shopped around for a while, I decided to buy the ship handicraft below. This 9-inch-tall ship is made of seashells and requires great deal of time and labour work. But it only costs RM10 each, so unbelievable, so I bought two. If you want to get this in city, I am afraid you will have to pay RM20 or more for each? But it was quite a headache to carry these fragile things back, on a bus. Glad I made it. They are in my room now.
There was a Lundayeh Festival from April 21 to 22 in Sipitang. Lundayeh is one of the indigenous groups of Sabah. To be precise, they are the indigenous people of Borneo coz they have been living in Sarawak, Kalimantan and Brunei, before the states and countries drew the territory borders. In Sabah, there are about 10,000 Lundayeh people, concentrated in Tenom, Sipitang and Long Pasia area.
Lundayeh was also headhunter in the past. The “Ulung Buayeh” (cutting crocodile monument) ceremony, which you can see in my photo gallery, was to show the bravery of the headhunters. The crocodile represents their strong and aggressive enemies. Nowadays, Ulung Buayeh is performed as opening ceremony of important functions. The VIP will place a sword on the neck of crocodile status to symbolise the cutting.
The Lundayeh Festival got 250 participants from Malinau (of Kalimantan, Indonesia), 40 from Sarawak and 10 from Brunei, so it is more than just a small regional celebration. The festival was considered very well done. The programme was good, packed with lot of cultural performance to show the unique culture and beauty of Lundayeh. I am sad to know that Sabah government didn’t allocate any funding to sponsor such an excellent event. Their festival is not even listed on the Sabah Tourism calender.
The highlight on the first day were the longest “Nuba Tingaa” (Nasi Bungkus) line and Lundayeh traditional wedding ceremony (got cancelled). Nuba Tingaa is the traditional food of Lundayeh. It is just rice that is cooked til it becomes very smooth, fine and soft, then wrapped in the leaf. I went to Kaban Village to see them align more than 6,000 Nuba Tingaa together to form a 308.95M line, recorded as the longest in Malaysia Book of Records. Best thing was – everyone, included me, was invited to eat it after the record is officiated. Too bad, I was too busy taking picture so I didn’t try it…
Lundayeh Festival offered me the best opportunity to take photos of Lundayeh people. If you look at the picture below, you will find that their costumes could be very different. The costume of Lundayeh Sarawak is very bright and colourful, with complex motif (like Dayak). The costume of Sabah Lundayeh is plain and simple, with black and white as main colors. The Lundayeh from Sarawak calls themselves “Lunbawang”. Despite the difference, they all speak ONE language.
Most of the events were held in Dewan SFI, from morning until midnight. There was no bus at night. Fortunately, their people were very kind and helpful and sent me back to my hotel. I hope I can write an article about this festival soon and send it to the newspaper, so more people will learn more about them. In the cultural night, there were many dance and song performance. The Lundayeh’s Suling and Bas band is also famous. The main attraction were the Puteri Lundayeh (kids) Beauty Pageant in first night, and Ruran Ulung (adult) Beauty Pageant in second night. I have uploaded over 90 photos for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy~
