Lepa Queen

Regatta Lepa + Water Festival, Semporna

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I was in Semporna from April 14 to 16 coz of the Regatta Lepa. “Lepa” means “boat” in the dialect of east coast Bajau. Semporna’s Regatta Lepa is one of the most popular and colourful annual tourism events. All the hotels there were fully booked and I saw more foreigner tourists than any other events.

The territory of Bajau people is not only limited to the land, as we see in Kota Belud’s Tamu Besar. The Bajau at east coast, someone calls them Sea Bajau or Suluk, is good at sailing too. I consider Bajau got the most colourful culture in Sabah. They like to use bright colours in their costumes, handicrafts and even boat (lepa). In this festival, they decorated their boats with colourful flags, trying to win the first place in Beautiful Lepa Contest.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Regatta Lepa >>

After you see my photo gallery, you will understand that why I was willing to “risk” myself sleeping on the street (coz all hotel room fully booked). It was a fruitful and rewarding trip. I took nearly 700 photos in 2 days. Don’t be shocked. Usually I take multiple pictures of the same object, with different angles, timing, distance, camera setting, etc. At the end, I would only like one (or none) of them.

The Lepa boat has existed for several hundreds years. It was mainly used as a public transport in Semporna district, to transfer passengers and goods from island to island, village to village, between Borneo, Sulawesi and Suluk. Now we usually see lepa in wedding ceremony and special occassions such as National Day, celebrations and festival.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Regatta Lepa >>

There were more than 50 lepa, each represented a village, participated in this regatta. The colourful boat is not the only thing that makes this event so interesting. Every lepa got its own dancers and band. As early as 8 AM, they already played the gongs and drums, the dancers were wearing colourful traditional Bajau costumes and faked long fingernails, performed on the boats. Just imagine 50 boats made loud noise together. It was so grand and lasted until evening. You may check out my video clip (Format: Windows Media Video, Size: 7 MB, Length: 3:30 minutes) to get the idea.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Regatta Lepa >>

Needless to say, I was as excited as a kid, busy taking photos of the lepa and dancers. I particularly like seeing the little girls in their colourful costumes, so adorable and look like doll. I was there for whole day, so I knew they got two set of clothing, one for morning, one for afternoon. They were very cooperative. Everytime I just did a simple eye contact, they would smile and look at my camera.

After the festival was over, the heat was still on. I saw a “Lepa Car” Competition in the stadium when I was on the way leaving the town. So funny… You may check out the photo gallery for more pictures.

Trip to Semporna

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My last destination was the regatta lepa (Bajau’s colorful boat) + water festival in Semporna from April 14 to 16. I was really pissed off. It was supposed to be a comfortable and exciting trip.

I had booked a room in Semporna one month before the event, but when I got there, the hotel told me, “No, there was no room reserved for you. And our room was all full.”

I was very very very angry. I had left my phone number to them earlier. If they need deposit, why they never called me?

I knew I was in deep shit already. The Semporna Water Festival was the peak season, the accommodation might be fully booked. I really wanted to go so I decided to take the risk. The worst scenario was to ask a local if I could stay in his house. After nearly 9 hours of traveling by bus from Kota Kinabalu to Semporna, I arrived Semporna around 5 PM. Of course the first thing I did was to get a room for overnight. I went to over 10 hotels, inn, resorts… and got the same answer, “All room was full until April 16.” The sky was getting dark. At last I came to a lodging house. The owner also said the same thing, full. Then I said, “Really? I could take storeroom. Got or not?” (You see. So hopeless already. I even won’t mind to take haunted room) He looked at me and replied, “I still got a room but it was very small. You wanted to take it?” Well, guess I had no choice then. It was really small (and smelly), enough to fit in one bed and a small fan only. All for RM20 but for one night only. The following night I slept on the chair in that lodging house (RM0. FREE!). Basically, the whole night I hugged my camera like teddy bear, worrying that they got stolen. Practically only half of my brain slept, other half was in alert state. Terrible…

Well, I only can tell you that all my photos is full of blood and sweat. For the Lepa Festival alone, I was exposed under the sunlight for 2 days. I am very patient. I could stay at a site for whole day to make sure I won’t miss anything. Very stressful to my body coz I didn’t sleep well. If possible, I will blog and upload the photos of Lepa Lepa (Bajau’s colorful boat) tomorrow.

Semporna is a town near to the sea. Just like other small towns, the locals are actually quite friendly. I think the main tourist attraction is the Semporna Ocean Tourism Centre. They got “floating” restuarant, inn, etc. The concept is quite similar to Gayana Resort. The whole structure is built on the sea, so you can see corals, seaweed and ocean life from the walkway. On Sunday, there are hundreds of locals gathering and hanging around there. Semporna is famous for 3 things, (1) Lepa Lepa Festival, (2) Seafood, and (3) Diving at Sipadan Mabul Islands. I will talk about lepa lepa tomorrow. Hmmm… I wonder if there is any poker room around for me to pass my time.

Best Model Competition (Semi-Final)

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Sorry for not updating the blog for nearly 2 weeks. And thanks for all the comments you post. I will try to post the reply ASAP. There are hundreds of new photos that I would like to upload. Be patient ye. My line is not totally fixed yet.

Here you go, the photos of Best Model Competition Semi-Final (a.k.a. Female Model Search) at Waterfront’s BED on April 17 (last Monday night). Before that, there was a photography session with all the male and female models on April 16 at Tanjung Aru Beach. That day I was still in Semporna so I could not make it. Too bad…


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Best Model Competition >>

BED was really crowded that night. I could hardly move in the crowd. All the seats were reserved and I was pushed to stand at the side of the stage lah. This was one of my worst photoshooting experience. Many photos turned up blur or dark. Really hate the Sony Cybershot, very very very slow in focusing and flash recharge. Well, don’t have $ to invest in better camera, what to do?

There were 3 sessions in the competition for 22 female models, namely, casual wear, beachwear, and gown. The models were supposed to do catwalk. However, a few of them were like scared birds and walked very fast (so shy, then why want to become a model???). So… I missed some shots. At the end, 10 models would be selected as the finalists for another competition again on other day.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Best Model Competition >>

Overall, all the models are quite good looking and have good figures. If you ask me whom I like the most, I would say No. 10. She got the look, figure and style. And also… See the last photo in the photo gallery, then you will understand loh. Haha…

Ghost Island (Pulau Batu Hairan)

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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).

Mini Bus

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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.

Pesta Kalimaran (Apr 1-2), Tenom

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You may call it Murut festival. I was staying in Tenom for 3 days coz of this annual event. In general, this festival is to celebrate and honour Murut people and their traditions. Murut is the third largest indigenous group in Sabah, with a population of over 100,000. Murut got 14 sub-ethnics and their costumes could be very different from one another. One of the best time to see them is in Pesta Kalimaran held at Murut Cultural Centre.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Pesta Kalimaran >>

Murut people are famous for three things: (1) Head-hunting (in the past), (2) Bamboo dance (Magunatip), and (3) Lansaran (a spring board). You can learn more about their culture in the mini-museum inside Murut Cultural Centre. To go to Murut Cultural Centre, you can take a mini-bus in front of Sri Perdana Hotel in Tenom. The Centre is about 15 KM away from Tenom town, and the one-way bus ticket costs RM2 (USD0.50). The earliest bus is available around 7:30 AM.

There were two highlights in this festival, namely, (1) Miss Kilamaran Beauty Pageant, and (2) Tilau Wedding ceremony by Murut Tagol. Besides, you can see hundred of Murut people wearing their traditional costumes. The Murut female costume we normally see in cultural dance performance is not so “traditional”. To make dancing easier, the dancers wear shorter skirt, use less accessories and the design is quite simple.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Pesta Kalimaran >>

If you like those cultural stuffs like me, you would be really glad that you came. The Murut traditional costumes can be so colourful and beautiful. The embroidery is hand-made, so you find no two same design. Usually they use nature things such as flowers, wildlife, insect, trees, stars… for the picture design on the dress. One of them even got the wording “Sabah Boleh” on it. The Murut costumes presented in Miss Kalimaran Beauty Pageant were even more impressive. I found that the most colourful designs are from Murut Tagol. BTW, the Miss kalimaran this year is gorgeous. The moment she walked out, I already knew she would win. You can check out the photo gallery. I got some photos of her.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Pesta Kalimaran >>

The Tilau wedding ceremony by Murut Tagol was also interesting. I consider Tilau the biggest wedding in Sabah coz it can take year to prepare. One of the tradition in Tilau is “Agiruandu”, all women dress like man, and “harras” the men who wear women cloth. It is just for fun. They also got “joker” in the wedding. The most important things are to eat and drink. I also tried a bit of Tapai. This local wine is very strong. If I drank too much, I would have danced among them already.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Pesta Kalimaran >>

Macky and Lady

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I got so many dogs, now and before. The dogs that I love and miss the most are Lady and Macky. Even after so many many years, I still think about them occasionally. Both of them died in March, 3 months after they born.

Their father, Snowky, was my loyal childhood partner. We liked to call him “Soky” coz he was a bit “soh soh” (nut). He was quite bad temper but nobody really knew what he mad at. Soky also had a very bad habit. He liked to bury food. Whenever we gave him some food, he would go and buried them, and came back for more. When we saw the soil on his nose, we would know what happened to the food. He did a very lousy job on hiding food coz he used only a bit of soil and leaves to cover the food, so it was very easy to find it. We purposely dig out the food and placed at somewhere near him, then we hide at a corner watching him. When he saw the food, he would go and bury it again, in the same spot. When he walked away, we would dig out the food again. He would bury the food again. So this went on and on. At the end, we could see his eyes turned red and got really pissed off (and confused). So funny. Soky’s first wife, Dolly, was killed in an accident. Later Soky became really old and didn’t have any offspring, so we got him another wife, also named as Dolly.

Finally, Dolly delivered two puppies. We were so happy for Soky. We called them Lady and Macky. They were so adorable. I fed them and played with them every day. They were so cute when they ran to me for milk. But after 2 months, they still looked very thin and small. When we wonder what went wrong, they started to have serious cramp occasionally. The doctor said Soky was too old so his puppies were very weak too. They may not able to make it. I felt sad but I thought they were strong enough to make it. Every day after I back from school, the first thing I did was to look for them, hug them, and saw if they were ok. I loved them so much.

The cramp attacked them more and more often. It was such a pain to see the lovely puppies suffered every time. One day, I was playing hide and seek with Macky in the living room. It looked so energetic and chasing me excitedly. Then it hide under a chair. I was waiting but didn’t see him coming out after me. I went and had a look. I saw him struggled painfully. It was heart-breaking to see him dying. I cried helplessly. But nodody could do anything, Macky had stopped breathing. I sat at his side for hour and didn’t believe that it had left. I was really down until my mom told me that Macky had gone to heaven. Lady also died one week later. Week after they passed away, I still missed Macky so I drew a picture of it, and kept it until today. I still feel sad when looking at their photos.

I considered a few times before posting this. I am a guy so I don’t really want everyone sees my “sentimental” side… Well, they are so important to me so I decide to include them in my online diary.

Cute Lion Dance

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I got the photos below at Karamunsing Complex during an opening for a shop. The presentation was kind of cute. I also got a video clip of the lion playing with the children. Note that it swallowed the hand of a child twice.

My sister is a super fan of lion dance. I think she watches the past year lion dance competition VCDs dozens times. I even teased her, “Probably I can advise your boyfriend to use lion carries a ‘Will you marry me?’ banner to make you marry him.” She was quite amused with the idea, “Ya oh, I will really like that.” Haha… I cannot imagine how such romantic thing can happen under the noisy gong and drum. Hope them both won’t dance lion dance in their candle light dinner for anniversary then.