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 noticed there were some people busy setting up a funfair at the parking space next to Wisma Sabah, KK. Don’t know where they are coming from. I read the newspaper but didn’t see any news about them. They just arrived quietly.
Anyway, it is good to see some interesting happening in our city. I took a few photos of their site. see the photo I got below. It is kind of funny. The Big Wheel looks like a big fan that blows the cloud away. It would be really nice if the background is a sunset. I waited there until 6 PM, then a dense and dark cloud came and covered the sky. Well, no luck today.. 🙁
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 tonight is the last episode of War and Beauty. There is not many drama that makes me feels time passes so fast. Personally I am ok with the ending coz it makes sense. Some friends complain that the ending is “Eli O Lo”. They are not happy with the ending coz the bad people don’t die eventually, but many “good” people die.
I am glad that the story writer didn’t choose to make all the audiences happy by using something like kid’s fairy tale, to end the drama. Another thing that I particularly appreciate the story is that there is no absolute bad or good people. Everyone looks so “gray”, which is closer to the truth. And there are more “good” people die than bad people, which match the law of survival better.
Actually, in almost every drama, I tend to like the bad people better coz they are aggressive, smart, decisive and have the strong will to win. On the other side, the good people will look dumb, passive, and equipped with many other flaws that make him a born loser. Despite the disadvantages, somehow the losers will survive all the attack by luck and win in the LAST episode, where the bad people suddenly become stupid or out of luck, and fail miserably. A stupid ending that majority like (and expect)…
Next week at 9:30 pm Astro will show the kung fu drama that looks more like a star war. People can fly without wing, excessive explosion scenes, and all the actors dress like bozo… I think I will skip this one then. To be frank, I like the old kung fu drama created in the time when they didn’t use steel wire.
The ZCHEN show was started at 8 PM on Nov 2, 2005 in KDCA, Kota Kinabalu. It was a rainy day. I arrived there around 7:25 PM and the parking lot at KDCA was already 90% full.
Seem like my camera got some attention (respect?). The guards there kept on asking if I was a reporter. Actually to make my task ran smoother and gained access nearer the stage, I should have answered Yes. Otherwise they would chase me away like a wild rat if I got too close to the stage. Haha… nevermind, this time is different, now my camera got 12x optical zoom. The tough day is over…
It was a Hotlink promo tour, so it was not really a concert. ZCHEN sang a few songs, invited a few audiences to play game, sang a few more songs, then ended the show with signature gathering at 9:30 PM. From the 1-hour queue, can tell that the response was good. You guys are lucky coz you can see all these photos online, before the newspapers published this news on Friday.
I can’t wait to post this blog coz the children are so cute and lovely. The older I am, the more I like looking at children. Coz from them, I could find the traits that I had lost since I became an adult. They are also a good source of “positive” energy, making us forget about many negative bad things happen in our daily lives.
These photos were taken during the 2nd Annual Concert and Graduation of the Psalms and Smart Reader Kids in Centre Point Sabah’s Palm Square, on Oct 29. A group of children were showcasing their talents on stage. When I got there, I didn’t expect any surprise. But I was really touched by what I saw next. Those children were performing whole-heartedly. Not only their talent, their innocent smile and laugh are contagious, making everyone around there feeling warm and happy. This is the first time I find that children are one of the best photography target. I am really sad that my poor photo-shooting skill could not help me to capture all the wonderful moment.
I was truly wishing anyone of these talented kids is my child. If I were their parent, I will be so proud of them. Hope their happiness can pass on to you, through the photos below. Enjoy… (sorry, I know the page loading would be slow..)
Photos taken in Centre Point Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
The Streamyx always acts funny during the rainy days. It is a pain to update the blog now. No choice, have to use dial-up but it is slow, even uploading 3MB of photos makes me sweats. Goodness, I worry about the phone bill already. 🙁
If you read the newspaper last week, you would know that Wong Kwok organised a Thank You Party and Beach Concert at its Palm Beach Villas in Kinarut on Oct 23, 2005. There was also a 3-on-3 basketball match for boys and girls from 8 AM to 5 PM. I am not a fan of basketball game. But I am interested in taking some snapshots of athletes in action, coz their move and facial expression look great on photo. Can test my new camera too. 🙂
I was already there around 10 AM. Not bad, got unlimited free drink and lunch, later also got free dinner. I am a fair person. Since the organiser is so generous, I think they deserve a space in my blog. I took a walk at the beachside next to Palm Beach Villas. It was low tide and I could walk to the island about 1 KM away, so cool… The most interesting view is the sunset there. It is so beautiful… A lot of other photographers were also attracted and took a lot of photos. I will come back to take more photos in the future.
The beach concert was started at 6:30 PM something. A number of Malaysia artists, namely, Chopsticker Sisters (Lim Yan Ling and Lim Yan Chin), Siao Ping Ping, Lau Yeong Nan, Nac Chee Ciang, Ho Foon + Hon Chun, Chai Ming Feng, Tan Weei Zee, and Do Re Mi, were invited to perform. But I didn’t see Yiam Ching. Besides, there were two hot dance performance. Please click the picture to view the photo gallery. It worths a look.
Though the police department tries to prove their usefulness to the public with their statistics, Sabah is not a safe place anymore. I do not know how they calculate the figures. But robbery and thieving are no longer something that I only read in the newspaper. It actually happens nearby and become part of our life. I believe EVERYONE was a victim at least once.
Below are the favourite targets of the thieves:
Target #1. Shoe Rack
Many houses have a shoe rack just outside their door. Some even hang the shoes on the fence for drying. Stealing branded sport shoes is always the MOST favourite activity of the thief coz it is low risk and takes less than a minute. If people see them attempt to steal, they just say they are jalan-jalan and walk away. If they manage to steal the shoes, usually very few victims will report to police coz it is not worth the trouble.
Target #2. Coins
There is no more free parking in Kota Kinabalu. You must have prepared a lot of coins in your car. But do not put them in the visible spot. Last time I had a friend who parked his car behind the Wisma Gaya. He left only a few Ringgit in his car and the thief broke his car window to steal it. It is still a pain in his chest. Everytime talking about this, he would say, “Haiya..! They wanted the money why didn’t they tell me lah. I would give it all to them. Why broke the window?!” And do not leave your bag, no matter got money or not, in your car. You are only asking for trouble.
Target #3. Handphone
Your handphone is guaranteed gone if you leave it unguarded in an open area. It is a bad idea to leave it on the table, like how you leave your umbrella. I got a friend whose car was broken down. There were many guys came and helped her. When she was so happy and thought that she was too attractive, she found that the handphone in her car was missing. Obviously it was stolen by someone “helpful”. I could not help laughing loudly when she said she had given that person RM10 tip for helping her to start the car.
Target #4. Handbag and Jewellery
This one I don’t need to say much. Just stay alert and hold your bag tight all the time. I think in KK not many people dare to wear expensive jewellery walking on the street. If your handbag snatched by motorcyclist, it is because you make yourself looks like a good target.
Target #5. Laptop / Computer Notebook
“I put my laptop in the boot. They won’t see it so my laptop is safe” Wrong! According to a report in Computimes, the thief can use a device to scan your car, your computer will pick up such frequency and respond by emiting electro-magnetic signal. Don’t think thief cannot afford a tech gadget..
In addition, your houses have high chance of being robbed / borken into, if…
1. There is a renovation project or construction area nearby your house (80% chance).
Very soon you will hear that someone’s house is broken into. They will even observe your schedule such as time not at home, time go out to work. If you walk out of the car to close the gate every morning, they will wait for you outside to rob you. This was what happened to my neighbour.
2. Your house do not have a big dog (50% chance).
If stranger play play and make friend with your dog, be careful. They try to test your dog. Tell you. My house got three Rottweilers but still got broken in last year. We lost a VCD player and a few bottles of wine. Anyway, my dogs still managed to chase away the thieves a few times (we heard our dogs barking and saw the thieves running away). Make sure all your windows downstair got iron bar (but it would become a trap in a fire).
3. Your house is near to illegal squatter (90% chance).
Needless to say, your houses are convenience store to them. I had heard that policemen did not dare to go into the squatter area to investigate. Want to report to police after the incident? Forget it.
4. As long as the conditions above don’t change, you will have the HIGHER chance of becoming a victim AGAIN.
It is death wrong to think they only come once. If they manage to steal from your house once, they will come back again and again until you improve the security. Since they are already familiar with your house, next time they would eat and sh*t in your house. You have been warned.
