17 is the minimum age required to join Unduk Ngadau (Miss Harvest Festival) Competition. On May 28, Central Shopping Plaza organised a Miss Kiddies Kaamatan Contest for the small girls. The eldest one is only 13 years old. I have seen so many Unduk Ngadau, so this contest is special coz it is “cute”. It was so fun to watch the small girls tried to act and dress like an adult.
The competition is not easier than the Unduk Ngadau Contest. Besides catwalk in round 1 and costume presentation in round 3, the girls needed to show their talent in 2nd round. Some sang and some danced, one of them did story-telling. One contestant even got two friends to help her in performing modern dance. No matter they won or not, the parents of these little girls were happily watching their pretty daughters in action.
My comment about the contestants? Of course my daughter is better than all of them (even though I still don’t have any son or daughter yet. In the future lah, haha..). Not sure if anyone will organise a beauty pageant for the senior citizens over 60 years old?
Finally it is over. Because of the Kaamatan month, I had been travelling here and there like a wild cat without a home. So many events that I could not blog them fast enough, end up you all reading the old news. Nevermind lah ok, after all, you read this for FREE, kan?
Many were asking me the hit statistics of MySabah.com. In case you are curious, here you go, below is the hit report for past 1 year. Ya, I know many blog do far more better job than me. Still happy though, coz I prove that 1 person also can do no less than the BIG web sites out there. I believe the photos of Unduk Ngadau Beauty Pageant brought a lot of traffic to my site. As you can see, almost 1 million hit in May!
MySabah.com has been running for a year (since June 2005). At first I just published a few photo galleries and invited my friends to see. Later I found that NOBODY really bothered to look at my photos. So I started my first blog in August 2005. Adding some comments about my trip, make it sound interesting, to attract the visitors to look at the photos. The traffic doubled after I started the blog, and it is still growing every month. Thank you for your support.
If this can bring me income, it will be a dream job… There are many web sites talk about Sabah tourism and most of them are more like a formal documentary or a bit too wordy (less pictures). Somehow I think my blog fills in what is missing, I mean something more on experience sharing and personal. I also feel great doing something that no others did before, so the world can see the beauty of Sabah in different faces and angle.
“You are invited to the photo-shooting session of Unduk Ngadau at Hyatt Hotel on May 26, with other press,” the organiser said, after they learnt that I wanted to marry a Unduk Ngadau (Miss Harvest Festival). OMG, my feeling was like winning a lottery. Isn’t that the chance I have been wanting for? During the photography session, 45 Unduk Ngadau walked in randomly, anytime between 8AM to 1 PM. Quite a challenge to keep track all of them. Finally I got the free time to publish the photos online now. This is one of the best photo galleries of MySabah.com.
At last, it was May 31, another important day… coz it was the day of Sabah State-Level Unduk Ngadau final competition. This was the last and also my biggest photography mission in May. In fact it made me nervous. The competition started at 12:45 PM, so I went there at 12:30 PM. But the main door was locked and there was a lot of people waiting outside. We were waiting to get in until 1:30 PM, but the door still closed. It was getting really warm and a few were frustrated and knock the door hard. Then the organiser posted a notice saying that the hall was full. You can check out the video clip to see the disappointed crowd.
What to do? I have been waiting a year for this event, so I didn’t want to give up easily. I walked to the side door. Luckily, there was a guard opened the door quietly and let only a few people got in, so I just followed. The hall was really full. The competition hasn’t started so I didn’t miss anything. However, TYT, VIPs and many press were around, so I could not move freely around to take picture.
There were 3 rounds in the Unduk Ngadau Competition. Score is based on their look & presentation, costume and IQ.
Round 1) Self-Introduction and catwalk by 45 Unduk Ngadau finalists.
Round 2) 15 Unduk Ngadau were shortlisted for a oral test.
Those who made it: Usukan, Ranau, Kawang, Klias (Beaufort), Likas, Keningau, Inanam, Tongod, Petagas, Sembulan, Sulaman, Lahad Datu, Tawau, Penampang, and Kudat.
Round 3) 7 Unduk Ngadau were chosen as top 7.
Why “7”? Coz number 7 is the lucky number of KadazanDusun.
Final Result of Unduk Ngadau 2006 (Sabah State Level):
On the seat: Sabah State Unduk Ngadau 2006, Contestant No. 40, Devenna Jaikob from Sulaman Left to the seat: 1st Runner-Up, Contestant No. 38, Edith Malis from Petagas Right to the seat: 2nd Runner-Up, Contestant No. 36, Kay Maryly Madonna Josuie Laison from Inanam 2nd from left: 4th place, Contestant No. 39, Juliana Stephen from Sembulan 2nd from right: 5th place, Contestant No. 41, Dorithy Binti Misir from Lahad Datu Left: 6th place, Contestant No. 27, Geraldine Grace Petrus Balandong from Kilas (Beaufort) Right: 7th place, Contestant No. 43, Trinna Joyce Dison from Penampang
I must say I am very very lucky in this event, coz I have seen the top 3 winners competed in district level. You can look at my previous blog about Menggatal and Putatan Unduk Ngadau Competition. OK, I know you all don’t know the location of most districts, so I create the map below for you. You also can click the map to see the Flash version of the Sabah map. Very interactive, just move the mouse pointer over the district, you will see the name and photo of the contestant from that area. You can learn a bit of geography about Sabah too. It is about 1MB so it will take minutes to load.
Now I am the fan of Unduk Ngadau (Miss Harvest Festival), so of course I would not miss out the 47th Sodop Unduk Ngadau (a.k.a. Unduk Ngadau Gala Night) on May 28 in Penampang KDCA. It was like a annual fund-raising dinner (7pm – 10:30pm) and a warm-up for the State-Level Unduk Ngadau competition on May 31. I already asked for the ticket in early May but unfortunately they sold the tickets by table (10 seats). Luckily they managed to reserve one for me later.
It was quite an enjoyable dinner. Even though I was sitting 50 feet away from the stage, there were two big screens which projected what was happening on the stage. My initial plan was to take the pictures of those Unduk Ngadau. After seeing the food, I became lazy to move already. Anyway, I just remained seated and took some pictures using my 12x optical zoom camera, with my mouth full. Most of the photos were blur, but I still able to capture a few OK pictures of top 3 winners of Unduk Ngadau 2006 (Sabah State Level) in their evening gown.
Besides eating, there were some shows going on. They displayed a few videos:
1) Sabah State Unduk Ngadau since year 1960
2) Introduction of 45 Unduk Ngadau finalists this year
3) Report on past activities of Unduk Ngadau 2005
Madelynn, the Unduk Ngadau 2005, also came on stage to share her experience as a beauty queen. It was a touching moment. From her expression, could see that she missed the days a lot. Guess a lot of thought went through her mind that night.
I also got a chance to see the beauties dressed in evening gown. Well, to be frank lah, the Unduk Ngadau bulky classic hairstyle and heavy make-up make those girls look like aunties. Come on… they are only 17 to 25 years old. So it was good to see them dressed up more “naturally”. FYI, there were Unduk Ngadau represented Kuala Lumpur (Klang Valley) and Labuan too.
Many may not know that there are also two subsidiary titles for Unduk Ngadau, namely Miss Photogenic and Miss Friendship, and both titles were awarded to Unduk Ngadau Petagas and Tamparuli respectively. I noticed that they used certain district names interchangeeably, for example, Klias = Beaufort, Balung = Tawau, Tanjung Papat = Elopura, Tenom = Kemabong, Kinabatangan = Sukau. Not a big issue. It just confused me a bit while I was trying to organise and name their photos.
At the end of the dinner, due to the requests from many photographers, the organiser agreed to let us to take the group photo of Unduk Ngadau. It was only a few minutes. I share some of the photos below. Just click them to view the bigger version. Happy lah you… Kesian me paid RM100 for the ticket. You didn’t buy the ticket so don’t complain too much ok.
I think most of you’ve already gotten the e-mail that tells you how to check the details on your MyKad chip via Astro decoder. I come up the guide below with pictures. I strongly recommend you to check it (it is free and take only 1 minute) coz I heard many complaints about the incorrect personal details stored in the chip. One of my family members got the wrong religion info in the chip.
Lastly, do not forget to remove your MyKad from the decoder.
Note: now you know my birthday is on August 18. I expect gift from you all then. $ by Paypal is happily accepted.
My grandmother is a Dusun from Putatan district, so I am curious how a Putatan beauty looks like. Finally I got a chance to see their Unduk Ngadau Competition on May 21 in Dewan Serbaguna Putatan. It took me quite a long time to find the hall, and I don’t remember how I got there. Only know that it is somewhere near Pasir Putih Road. The road at Putatan is very confusing.
The “official” district-level Unduk Ngadau is selected based on political constituency, like the one used in Sabah election. For this one, they were selecting the Unduk Ngadau to represent Petagas district. You may see other Unduk Ngadau Competition organised by Wisma Merdeka and other shopping complexes. These are the unofficial and “play play” one coz the winners cannot join the State-Level grand Unduk Ngadau Competition (I think).
There were 10 to 11 times of power trips during the programme, very bad. However, I still managed to get some good pictures of 14 contestants. Contestant no. 7 never showed up so I don’t have her photo.
I had to make a choice. On May 20, there were 5 places (namely, Penampang, Beaufort, Tambunan, Sandakan, Papar) got Unduk Ngadau Competition. This time the choice was easy. Penampang to Sabah is like Ipoh to Malaysia, a place “produces” the most KadazanDusun beauties. FYI, the Unduk Ngadau 2005 (Sabah State Level oh, not district level like this one) is from Penampang.
My photo-shooting session was difficult. Due to a stupid videoman shooting in front, no photographer could get nearer than 30 feet to the stage. I was chased away (though I didn’t block the view) by the security guards like a dog. Nevermind lah, already get used to it liao. Luckily, some photos turn up quite ok. There were 31 contestants so the competition was stiff. Don’t play play.
Same as other Kaamatan shows, it started with a group of KadazanDusun seniors doing the Magavau ceremony to summon, appease and recover Bambarayon, the Spirit of Rice, followed by some singing and dance performances. FYI, there are over 40+ districts (e.g. Kudat, Ranau, Lahad Datu, Keningau, Semporna…) in Sabah organise local Unduk Ngadau Competition, to select the Unduk Ngadau that represents their district. By the end of May, these 40+ district-level “small” Unduk Ngadau will compete for the “BIG” Sabah State-Level Unduk Ngadau.
For Sabahans, such toilet is not something new. Most of us probably have used it before. It is the only toilet that you can enjoy sea vew while doing your business. You also can see a lot of fishes open their mouth wide, waiting under you. Sometimes you can see crab eats crap too.
Before you want to swim in the sea or river which is not near to a tourist site, you better check and make sure no such toilet nearby.
