Finally I went to Kota Marudu, my first time being there. Before I departed, I asked my friends and family what are the places of interest in Kota Marudu. All of them looked at me with blank face. Ok then.. I took a mini-bus, after 2 hours, I arrived Kota Marudu. Gee.. there was a power blackout. Luckily the electricity was back after 15 minutes.
Kota Marudu is a small town with some blocks of shop houses, and surrounded by sea of coconut trees. At first I saw nothing unique about this town. But in the evening of second day, around 6 PM, the view shocked me. I was walking to the venue of Pesta Jagung, and I saw thousands of birds all over the sky and wires, making hell lot of noise. Seem like there are more birds in this town than people. I didn’t bring my cap so I ran as quick as possible to avoid being bombard by bird sh*ts. Just check out the photos below.
There were some games in the first day of Pesta Jagung. I participated in the blowpipe competition. Using a blowpipe to hit a corn 20 feet away is easier to say than do, and it was windy that day. I got 3 darts but missed it totally. In fact, after 3 rounds by 20 participants (each with 3 chances), we hit the corn the 3rd time. I won nothing but taste the saliva of 20 other participants left on blowpipe. Goodness, I kissed 20 guys indirectly…
Guys, you should thank Smoke Head again for bringing you more photos of Sabah beauties. The Maize Beauty Fashion Queen Pageant is the highlight of Maize Fest. This is the 5th time this event is organized but probably the first time you can see these online. If you look at the photos closely, you will find that the pretty ladies were wearing “jewellery” made of corn leaves and seed.
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.
Remember I mentioned that I wrote an article about fiddler crabs and mangrove forest? My article and photos are posted on the newspaper today. Feel happy but a bit disappointed though. I sent them 30 photos but they only used a few, so it could not really show how colorful are the fiddler crabs. It was quite a pain to write the article in Chinese, as I have forgotten so many words. I also found it very tired to do hand-writing.. Too bad I could not make a living writing stuffs like this for newspaper.
Today I am lazy to blog. So I prepare an incomplete comic for a sequence of funny pictures below, for you to fill in the blank. Let’s see how creative are my readers. 🙂 Have fun.
Photos taken in KK Wetland Centre, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
Though it was Monday, it could not stop the crowd from flooding in. There were 4 rounds, namely (1) Traditional costume, (2) Mini-skirt, (3) Beach wear, and (4) Evening dress. The top 3 winners will represent Sabah in Miss Malaysia Tourism competition held in Penang in Nov.
The result was not close to my expectation. But after second thought, I think the judges made the good choices. Besides a pretty face, the Miss Tourism should look like a kind and friendly person, the one that you feel comfortable to ask for road direction, and also the one that would nicely help the old people to cross the street.
The event was quite well organised. What I am a bit confused was – there were 12 finalists shortlisted in semi-final last week. How comes there were 15 finalists contested in the final? But nevermind lah, the more, the better. 🙂 Anyway, please click the picture below to view the photo gallery. I know it is hard, but please, don’t lick the monitor.
It is always interesting to browse the Sabah web sites coz I can see many funny stuffs. I had been in web design field for many years, so I just list a few common mistakes of the Sabah web sites below for fun. To give “face” to the webmasters and their management, I purposely blur the names of the web sites in the pictures below.
1) “Launch and Death”
I strongly advise you don’t invite those toothless Datuk to launch your web sites. Once the web site is launched, it dies. I have no idea whether the organisations invite the Datuk to KILL the web site or invite them to launch a MEMORIAL. Once the launch button is clicked, the web site will not change for many years, as if it is for display and launching purposes only. There is totally no maintenance. Even if it is down for months, also nobody knows. The web site has become a death town, no activity, no visitor…
2) Online Grave
Very often I see Sabah web sites that are not up-to-date. Some playing the same annoying Flash that can’t be skipped, for many years. I e-mailed to them, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month… no reply. Hey! Are you building a online grave for your company HUH? It has no life, no update, no response, like nobody running it. If it is not a grave, what is it?
3) Junk Content
WHO CARE about your organisation chart, vision, mission statement, director speech, and history? The famous hacker, Kevin D. Mitnick, mentioned in his book “The Art of Deception”, he loved to trick the operator to send him a copy of org chart. He will learn the internal structure of that company, then acts like their employee, to steal more information. The hackers will be very happy to know that most Sabah government departments love to publish their org chart online. Wow! Some even got photos. Keep your Carta Organisasi in your Intranet please.
4) Only Sabah Got Internet
Some webmasters think that only Sabah got Internet, so the listed phone numbers also don’t have country code, some even don’t have area code. Probably they think only KK got Internet. Some Sabah web sites do not have the word “Sabah” or “Malaysia” in their postal address and web pages. That’s why sometimes it is quite hard to identify a Sabah web site.
5) Under Construction Forever
If you don’t plan to build it, do not indicate you will build it. There are many web sites display the animated “Under Construction” banner for years.
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.
