Dragon Boat Race

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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.

Click Here to see photos of Dragon Boat Race >>

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.

Click Here to see photos of Dragon Boat Race >>

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.

Click Here to see photos of Dragon Boat Race >>

Help Needed…

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As you know, I like to take pictures of traditional costumes. But very often I was in a hurry and forgot to ask about their costumes (or they got a name that was very hard to memorise). If anyone of you can identify their ethnic group, please post the info here. Thank you in advance…

People of Sabah

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Traditional costumes of Sabah indigenous people are always one of my favourite photography targets. So far I never see an “expert” in such area. Coz most people, even those from tourism or cultural sector, cannot name more than 10 indigenous groups in Sabah. Many say Sabah is a melting pot for so many cultures and ethnics, but how many of us really know what are inside the pot? I found that even newspapers got the name of the ethnic group wrong sometimes.

Click Here to see 230+ photos of Sabah Indigenous People >>

There are more than 30 indigenous groups in Sabah. Each indigenous group can have over 10 sub-ethnics / sub-groups, which might use different languages and costumes. For example, Suluk and Iranun are the sub-ethnic of Bajau. Getting the photos for 100+ groups seems like a Mission Impossible.

In the past one year of travelling around Sabah, I have been trying my best to “collect” the photos of indigenous people in different district. Their photos are scattered around in my 50+ photo galleries here, so I decide to categorise them for easy viewing below (most photos may look familiar to you). I know my collection is far from complete, but it is one of the best sources to see the people of Sabah online. You can even find the photos of minority such as Iban and Ulu of Sabah. Anyway, this is just a draft verion. In the future, I will add more photos and write-up. If there is any mistake, please correct me.

Click Here to see 230+ photos of Sabah Indigenous People >>

Photos of Sabah indigenous people:

Related Links:
1) Kaamatan Festival 2006
2) Sabah Fest 2006
3) Kaamatan Festival 2005

Miss Kaamatan Beauty Queen

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Now MySabah.com got thousands of photos on Sabah beauty pageant, crazy man… I still have more. Don’t worry, this one is different, no more Unduk Ngadau already.

Click Here to see 160+ photos of Miss Kaamatan Contest >>

Ya, these are the photos of Miss Kaamatan Beauty Queen Contest held in Razz Ma Tazz on May 26. Honestly, I didn’t know how they would run the show. I thought they wanted to have something like an unofficial Unduk Ngadau competition. My jaw dropped when I saw those “Unduk Ngadau” wearing tight t-shirt and swimsuit, catwalk on the stage.

Click Here to see 160+ photos of Miss Kaamatan Contest >>

Generally, most were “good quality” candidates, so I didn’t need excessive alcohol to make them looked attractive to my eyes. The show started at 10 PM and ended at 2:30 AM. There were 3 rounds. Round 1 was casual wear, round 2 was evening gown, round 3 was swimsuit + IQ test + hot dance with guy. Needless to say, it was a hot night and I was glad to be there. You will be glad to see the photo gallery here too.

Final Result of Miss Kaamatan Beauty Queen 2006:
Miss Kaamatan Beauty Queen: Contestant No. 5
1st Runner-Up: Contestant No. 8
2nd Runner-Up: Contestant No. 13
Miss Body Beautiful: Contestant No. 3
Miss Photogenic: Contestant No. 7
Miss Personality: Contestant No. 11
Best Costume: Contestant No. 12

Do Sabahans Live on Trees?

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“Do Sabahans live on trees?” I have no idea how some idiots from Semenanjung got such idea, probably they live in the well. We do have tree houses in Sabah, but they are mainly the accommodation for tourists. Last time I blog about the tree house on Banggi Island. Actually the more famous tree houses are in Tambunan.

If you drive to Keningau or Tambunan from Kota Kinabalu, after 1 hour, somewhere 30 KM before Tambunan, you will pass by Gunung Emas Highlands Resort. The tree top cabins are just at the opposite side, hidden inside the forest on the hill. This is the highland area, so the air is cooling and refreshing. I heard that it is very chilly at night, so you better bring warmer clothing if you plan to overnight there.

No, I haven’t stayed there before. But I will stay there for a few days after the weather turns good, coz I would like to visit the Rafflesia Centre and Mahua Waterfall nearby. The view of the Crocker mountain range there, along the road, is marvelious too. I will post some photos after I visit there.

For those of you who have stayed there before, it will be great if you could share your info with us. I was told that the cabin got air-cond and toilet inside. I was just walking outside the cabins that day, so I don’t know much about the facilities and accommodation fee.

“Limited Secured” Parking

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At first this sign confused me coz I thought it was a warning sign (“Limited Secured”) saying this area was not safe for parking car. Actually the owner was trying to advertise that he got limited number of safe parking lot for rent.

Korean Students

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Their presence really spiced up the State-Level Kaamatan celebration at Penampang KDCA on May 30, even though it was just a short while. These are the Korean students from Yongho High School in Gunpo City of Korea. This was the 4th year they performed in KDCA. I didn’t know they were around until I heard the loud drum noise that attracted lot of crowd to the parking lot.

It was refreshing to see an “alien culture” joined our local cultural celebration. I grabbed my camera and tried to take more photos of them. They were wearing hat with a long white string attached. When they rotated their heads, dozen of strings spinned in the air, creating very cool effect. You can click the link below to watch the video.

Click Here to see the 35-second video clip >>

We were lured to their fund-raising stall behind KDCA building. Then another group of young Korean girls performed a modern hot dance under the hot sun. I saw many big WOW expression in audience when these girls took off their jackets during the dance. After the dance, they sold some 2nd-hand stuffs to collect fund to donate to our local schools. Their kind heart and desperate presentation (and pretty faces) made me no excuse not to contribute a bit.

Below are more photos of their show:

Pesta Kaamatan 2006 (State-Level Celebration)

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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.

Click Here to see 100+ photos of Kaamatan Festival >>

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.

Click Here to see 100+ photos of Kaamatan Festival >>

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.

Click Here to see 100+ photos of Kaamatan Festival >>

Related Photo Gallery:
1) Pesta Kaamatan 2005
2) Sabah Fest 2006