Besides the Unduk Ngadau beauty pageant, the Sugandoi Competition (means Singing Competition) is also one of the popular activities of Kaamatan celebration. The contestants usually dress in KadazanDusun or Murut costume, which is counted as part of the score, and sing the popular KadazanDusun songs. The winner will be invited to perform in district Kaamatan celebration.
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.
Click Here to see photos of Sabah Fest 2006 >>
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.
Click Here to see photos of Sabah Fest 2006 >>
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.
Click Here to see photos of Sabah Fest 2006 >>
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.
Click Here to see photos of Sabah Fest 2006 >>
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.
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.
If you are not a Tawau’s local, it is a bit hard to find Tawau Hills Park (Taman Bukit Tawau), and there is no bus going there. Tawau Hills Park is a recreational and national park about 20 KM away from Tawau town. During weekend and Sunday, many families and youngsters would go there to swim and BBQ. The locals normally call this place “Abacca”, “Table”, “National Park”, “Taman Negara”, “No. 4 Gudang”, “四號麻房” (Chinese)… If you say “Tawau Hills Park”, they will look at you with a “Huh? What?” expression, like you ask for direction to another planet.
To get there from Tawau town, go to the road that leads to “Jalan Muhibbah” and “Jalan Air Panas” roads. You will come to a few roundabout until you reach the one like the picture below. Take the left turn, you will see a yellow sign “Old Folks Home” after 10 meters, go straight for a few KM, near the end you will reach a T junction that got a “Muhibbah Jaya” sign at your right, turn right, go straight for quite a long way, you will passby Taman Semarak, Sungai Tawau bridge, big Golden Hope signboard… then pay attention to your right side, you will see the “Taman Bukit Tawau” sign, follow the sign to drive for another 8 KM, you will arrive Tawau Hills Park.
Click Here to see 24 photos of Tawau Hills Park >>
There is not much information about this park on the Internet. I thought it was just a small park. It is a very very big national park, with the size of 28,000 hectares. You need to pay RM3.00 entrance fee to enter the park. Most people go there to swim and picnic. There is a restaurant inside the park too. If you look at the map below (from the leaflet printed by Sabah Parks), you can see that there are lot of places you can go.
Click Here to see 24 photos of Tawau Hills Park >>
The popular extra choices are jungle trekking 2.7 KM to Gelas Hill Waterfall, or 3.2 KM to Sulphur Hot Spring. If you are lucky, on the way you can spot wildlife such as clouded leopard, hornbills, pheasants, giant tree squirrel. You may want to wear leech socks. For those who are adventurous, they can take the 10++ KM jungle route to climb a mountain. I am not sure if you need to get a climb permit and hire a local guide in advance, you may call the park at +60-89-918827 for info. You can stay in their jungle lodge (RM40 per night) or chalet (RM200 per night), or even sleep in the tents in camping ground for RM5.00 per night.
Click Here to see 24 photos of Tawau Hills Park >>
I was not so lucky that day. The weather was bad. I wanted to go to the Gelas Hill Waterfall and Sulphur Hot Spring. Their staff said these trails were next to the river. If the river flooded, I would trap in the forest. I really wanted to go, so I checked with a life guard at the riverside. He said it was quite safe to go. When I planned to move, it started to rain heavily. Well, my mission failed so not many photos were taken. The only place I can go is the small Tawau Hills Waterfall in the park. Due to the heavy rain, the waterfall was very big and strong. Quite a view. I have taken a video clip and share it here. Too bad, hopefully I can come back again one day.
Click Here to see 24 photos of Tawau Hills Park >>
I got a leaflet which has useful information of Tawau Hills Park (accommodation, contact, etc.). You can Click Here to download it.
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Photos taken in Tawau, Sabah Malaysia
At first I thought there was only one hot spring in Tawau. Actually there are two hot spring in Tawau. One is the big sulphur hot spring in Taman Hills Park. You need to walk 3.2 KM in the jungle to find it, so it is not famous among Tawau people. The second one is the small hot spring at Air Panas Road, and it is more popular.
Therefore, if you say you want to go to Hot Spring, the Tawau people will show you the direction to the small hot spring, not the big one in Tawau Hills Park. Damit… that’s why two Tawau people pointed to opposite direction when I asked for the way to hot spring. That made me very lost. Actually both of them gave the right direction, one to small hot spring, another one to Hills Park hot spring.
Clear? To get there from Tawau town, look for “Jalan Air Panas” and go straight, until you see the “JLN. HOT SPRING EXTN” sign at your right (see picture below), turn into that road, go straight again, when you see the “J. AYER PANAS LAMA BATU 3” sign, go straight for 50 meters and you will see a small wooden bridge next to the roadside.
Just cross the bridge and follow the path (see picture below). After you walk about 50 meters, you will see a bridge made of log. Congratulations! You have reached the hot spring.
“Huh? Where is it?” was my first response when I seemed to come to a dead end (see picture below). What I saw was just a small and stink river.
Suddenly I heard sound under the bridge. When I looked down, I saw some bubbling points in the river. The longkang (drain) smell is actually the smell of sulphur. Then I saw steam coming out from the bubbling points. I was told that the hot spring water was hot. Too bad I didn’t bring an egg to test if it can boil the egg. There are some white substances deposit near the bubbling points. I don’t know what it is. It is interesting but this hot spring is really small. Many locals don’t even bother to look at it.
Click Here to play the video clip >>
Anyway, I made a one-minute video clip for you to get an idea. You may decide whether you want to go there after watching the video.
I think many of you had heard about a “ghost” island (known as Pulau Batu Hairan in Malay language) emerged on 15 Apr 1988. This island just rise up from the sea floor, remain above the sea for a short period, then it would sink and disappeared. It is next to the east side of Banggi Island, roughly at latitude 7 degrees and 16 minutes north, and longitude 117 degrees 20 minutes east, about 70 km northeast of Kudat town. The pictures below were taken in May of 1988 (I don’t know the author and source). As you can see, the island is full of corals, very beautiful. Don’t know whether it will come up again. Really want to go there to have a look.
The island was initially small in size, but after a few days gradually grew to approximately the size of a football field. After two weeks, the island was estimated to be about 60-70 metres in diameter. The island is roughly rounded in shape and is about 2-3 metres in height (taking into account the fall and rise of the tide).
According to Dr. Felix Tongkul, a famous geologist, the birth of the new island, so-called Pulau Batu Hairan due to mud volcanism is closely related to the geology of the northern part of Sabah. The island was caused by a mud volcano or mud extrusion, evidence of which is abundant on the island and is a common occurrence on mainland Sabah, especially in the Dent Peninsula.
The book “Sabah Museum And Archives Journal” (1990, Vol 1, No.3), published by Sabah State Museum, also has a 6-page article titled “Pulau Batu Hairan – The Birth of a New Island” that explains the formation of this ghost island in detail with diagrams.
I took the photos of this article and post it below. You can click each of the picture to view it in bigger size:
According to the nearby villagers, this island first appeared as early as 1941 (year of pacific WWII, a bad omen?). If you are lazy to read the long article, FYI, the conclusion by geologists is – this mysterious island was pushed to the surface by mud volcano activity (abrupt explosion of trapped undersea gas).
I have been to Sipitang, Kuala Penyu, Kota Marudu, Menumbok and other small towns in Sabah. I don’t use my own transport so I rely a lot on local mini buses to move around. It is a great option. So far I don’t have much problem to go to any place.
As you know, all the mini buses in KK got the label “Mini Bus” or “Bas Mini”. In small towns, the mini buses got no label. I think they may not have the license as well. As a city guy, I was quite surprised to hear a local lady (in Kuala Penyu) told me that if I saw any van, just waved hand. If they stop, then they are mini buses. If you wait at a bus stop, they would stop and see whether you need a ride. Sometimes even Sang Kancil provides such service. At first I was not quite comfortable with getting on the bus like that, later I was so used to it and do it often.
Whenever I arrive a town, the first thing I will do is to ask the locals where to get a mini bus to go to a place and their peak time (they only move when get enough passengers). The people in small town are very friendly and helpful. They are always pleased to tell you.
In mini bus, very often you will find that you sit next to boxes of vegetables and chicken. Sometimes the driver is “topless”. If I am a female, I would not dare to get on the bus. The mini-bus that I show above is considered as high class coz it got clear label and quite big inside. The “normal” mini buses are very old, paint wore out, smelly and broken seats… Frankly speaking, they just look like a big piece of rusted metal junk that moves.
Usually the ticket costs a few dollars (actually they also don’t issue ticket). In some cases, they even asked me how much I paid usually and they would take that amount. Funny huh? Most of the passengers are regular customers. They even know one another. The drivers don’t even ask them, to know where to drop them. Coz I am always a new face in the bus, the passengers, especially the local old ladies, like to talk to me, to find out who I am and where I am from.
I got the forwarded e-mail below from friends. At first it started as one story, then the recent one got 3 now. I think these are true stories coz I had heard many mentioned the similar things, so I just post it here FYI (the name of the “victims” are removed). If you got any bad experience, you are welcome to share it here. Hopefully our voices will be heard and someone will do something about it.
Story 3: Street Boy Problem
I have received a forwarded email a few weeks ago, about ???’s experience, who is from ???. Since my sister in-law, ???, had bad experience on immigrants on the streets in KK, here’s her story (below). My uncle, husband and I had also experienced the same thing.
One time we parked our car near Upperstar area, and a group of kids and a teenager was following us and after we got into the car, two of the kids were trying to open our car doors. It was scary especially if I was alone that time!
We think that Sabah Tourism or the Government should seriously do something about these problems. We must stop them from bugging us and the tourists in the streets, before something bad happens one of these days.
Story 2: Street Boy Problem
Sabah Tourism and the City of KK need to seriously do something about the mess around the Hyatt (Shenanigans) and Upper Star. After reading the email about the two ‘immigrants’ who opened up your car door I feel i should relay my own personal story. On two separate occasions I visited the the Upper Star area and parked my car and both occassions there have been children hanging out there, from the ages of about 5 to 13. They stand around sniffing glue and harrass passers by. They particularily prey on women and tourists. On both occassions as I was walking back to my car with another girl friend we were surrounded and followed to our car. When we refused to give them money they flashed us. When we got into the car they proceeded to lean against the window and rub their naked parts on my window. It was disgusting and frightening.
The next time, almost a year to the day, again I was parked down there (where else to park?) and again the boys followed us to the car. Except this time they tried to get in the back seat and while my friend ran to chase them off another young one try to grab her purse that had fallen in all the chaos. We were both very shaken. I went to the Wine Bar later and complained and they seemd to laugh it off. How can they expect to make business there if it is not safe for their customers.
I watched from the balconey as the boys continued to harrass other tourists next to the Hyatt. Is this how Sabah Tourism wants to show Sabah? It is a scandal that nothing is being done to clean up the area, especially one that is visited by many foreigners and visitors to the city. It is embarrassing that KK city doesn’t seem to be doing anything and there was even a story in the newspaper the very next day about the mayor or whomever congratulating himself for cleaning up the city, that the city was officially a safer place due to some action or other. Well, I have not seen any difference.
One other incident occurred in broad daylight next to the water front area, across from Marina Court Apartments. I was walking on the sea side, after the market, when a group of young boys approached me and asked for money. When I said no they began to grab me inappropriately and again flashed me. I slapped one very hard trying to scare them and walked hurriedly to the road. They then began to throw rocks at me. In broad daylight! And nobody stopped to help me and nobody came to my rescue. I was extremely shaken and scared.
Sabah Tourism and the city of KK (governement and local businessess) MUST act on these complaints. How can the city be a major tourist attraction for Sabah if this is what it welcomes it’s visitors with. Time to act and do something about it instead of pretending the problem does not exist.
Story 1: Lock your car door
My girlfriend and I was driving along the Centre Point way (Public Bank side) heading out towards Promenade hotel on our way home. We had to stop at the traffic light. To our left was the construction site of the new shopping complex and to our right Le meridien hotel. A group of immigrant looking men pass by our car, and try to open the backdoor of our car. Thank God we locked the car. It was about 10 ish at night. Having experienced this myself, I would like to urge you to immediately lock your car door once you are inside your car, as a safety precaution.
