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.
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.
Got addicted with my site? Kept on reloading the page yesterday and wonder why no new blog? 😀 Smoke Head was busy last night lah. There was a Miss Malaysia Tourism (Sabah State Selection Semi-Final) competition at BED pub (Waterfront) last night. 20 sexy ladies lined up to show their nose-bleeding figures in jean, beach and evening wear. It was so HOT that I give it a three thumbs up (don’t ask me to show my 3rd thumb ok. It is too private).
After I quit smoking, I seldom go to pub. Staying there is like smoking a dozen packs of cigarette, my shirt and hair become stink, the loud music also making my ears “yih yih yih…” until now. Anyway, for the welfare of my hungry readers, I decided to sacrifice my health.
The entrance ticket costs RM15. The subzero costs me RM25+. :’-< Hai.. so expensive... Me joble$$ lah.. The competition was started at 9:45 PM and ended around 12 AM. Quite enjoyable looking around there. Even if it was a Monday, it was still crowded. I noticed many girls were also as good-looking as the beautiful girls on the stage. Ok lah, Click Here to see 96 photos of Sabah beauties:
You should thank Smoke Head. MySabah.com is now one of the web sites that got the MOST number of Sabah pretty girls photos (any objection?). And you can find many pretty faces in my other photo albums too. If you want more, below are the quick links to other Beauty Contests photo galleries. Enjoy.. 🙂
You are busy, and your friends will come to Sabah soon. They never visit Sabah before. To make them feel welcome, you want to show them around for 0.5 or 1 day. You scratch your head and think, "KK got any interesting place meh?" I believe all of us had experienced this situation before. So far I haven’t seen anyone wrote a guide to make our lives easier. Probably I can start a list here. 🙂
Since this guide is for busy people, below are my criteria to select a site:
1. It must be near to KK (less than 1 hour drive). That’s why Kinabalu Park is out.
2. It is a place that opens almost every day or at least regularly.
3. Can go there yourself without tour operator.
4. Tour only takes a few hours. No overnight required.
Place
Interest
Remark
City Tour
(Yayasan Sabah, Sabah State Mosque, City Mosque, UMS, Poh Toh Tse Buddhist Temple, Atkinson Clock Tower, Tanjung Aru Beach)
General
–
Local Food
(Anjung Selera – Likas Bay, Anjung Senja – KK City)
General
–
Shopping
(Centre Point Sabah, Wisma Merdeka, Wawasan Plaza, KK Plaza,
Central Market)
Open daily from 9.30am to 5.30pm. Elephant Ride: 10.30am – 11.30am and 3.30pm – 4.30pm only
If you plan properly, you can even go to 4, 5, 6 places in a day. To make the list more complete and useful, please post your comment if you have any other recommendations. I believe many of you know KK a lot better than me.
From the newspaper, I heard that there would be a grand launching for this jewellery fair at the Magellan Sutera Hotel today. There are exhibitors from Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, India, Switzerland, Thailand… Personally I am not quite interested in jewellery coz wearing it will not make me look prettier. It will attract the robbers and kidnappers, more than beautiful girls. But seeing many liang moi (pretty girls) wearing expensive jewellery would be a cool photography subject, so I went there in the morning. I am quite happy with what I got below.
To share my happiness, click the individual thumbnail below to see larger photo. Click Harder, Ooohh.. yESs… (sorry if the jewellery doesn’t look clear coz I focus on something else):
Haha… I heard that many guys were so scared and left the town because of this exhibition. Those who go with their wifes or girlfriends will seek for hiding place once they walk in (If the couple doesn’t split up, I am quite sure that they are not married). Most of the time you will see a group of women look for best bargain, but their men missing in action. I do not have any wife or girlfriend, so I am safe.
I am not able to show the photos of the jewellery coz I can’t. When I point the camera to their jewellery, most exhibitors, especially those from overseas, will be so nervous that as if my camera will suck away their diamond. “Are you from the press?” “No, I am not.” “No, you cannot take picture…” They explained that they worried others would copy their brilliant design idea. Oh, I see… Then why they asked if I was from the press? Obviously they got two set of answers. If I am from a media, they would allow me to take picture and publish it on the newspaper. Isn’t that end up more people copy their idea? I don’t understand their funny logic. Well, nevermind, jewellery is not my main shooting target.
I was almost blinded by the sparkling of jewellery until I walked to a corner. I opened my eyes and saw dozens of ugly green stones with irregular shape (see picture below). They caught my attention coz they didn’t shine. I asked the exhibitor, “Heck, what is this? They look like broken pieces of beer glass bottle.” The exhibitor said, “These are Moldavite (glass meteor). They were formed by condensed vapors after being hit by a meteorite (shooting star)… They contain energy that can bring good health and fortune to you (Bull s**t!!! Yeah right), blah, blah, blah… (More bull s**t)” Sound interesting and I like jewellery that is different from others, so I bought it. The small one costs RM70. I believe it will bring me good health and fortune.
Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
Hope the 360 degree Mount Kinabalu Panoramic views did not make your mouth wide open, cool huh? Before you close your mouth, I still have more Panoramic Virtual Tours to show you. Can you digest fast enough? 🙂
Yes, the next one is Monsopiad Village in Penampang. Monsopiad is the name of the most popular Kadazan headhunter, a legendary warrior who harvested 42 human skulls. In the past, the more skulls you owned, the more heroic you were. The headhunters believed that the spirit of the victim would trap in the skull and protected them. Today there is no more headhunter in Borneo, but you still can see the 300-year old human skulls displayed in the House of Skulls of Monsopiad Village. Monsopiad Village is one of the BEST tourism spot in Kota Kinabalu but is not very well-known among the Sabahans. Don’t know why…
Actually I feel a bit guilty to publish this virtual tour because it is so thorough and complete that — after you watch it, you can close your eyes walking in the village and know where you are, like you had been there. I have posted 150+ photos, 4 video clips, and 1, 2, 3, 4… 10 panoramic tours for this village. Goodness… I hope they will not kill me.
Video Clips of Traditional Dances
BTW, another thing that I would like to highlight is — I find that the Kadazan Sumazau video clip is the most popular download item of MySabah.com.
If you visit Monsopiad Village, normally they will show you Sumazau, Magunatip and Sazau (by Kadazan Papar) dances. For more video clips of traditional dances of Sabah indigenous people, you may check out my Pesta Kaamatan page.
Sorry for keeping you all waiting. My blog was not updated for 10 days because I was not in KK most of the time. From Sep 2 to 4, I was in Malacca. Sep 5 to 7, I was climbing Mount Kinabalu. Sep 8 to 11, I was in Kudat. Crazy tight schedule but little I could do to control it. Too many happening in September..
I just finished uploading the photos of Merdeka series. The Sep 16 Malaysia Day is approaching, so hopefully you are still in Merdeka mood to enjoy them. In general, the photo gallery pictures the Merdeka celebration in Sabah, namely, Merdeka Eve, Miss Merdeka Pageant, Merdeka Parade, and Malaysia flag everywhere.
I went to the Orchid De Villa Horticultural Show 2005 on Aug 27 – 29. I would say this is one of the best places to hang around with your family during weekend. The only problem is the road condition. After my 20-year-old car running on 1 KM of gravel road full of mud, holes, rocks and dust, I was almost faint when I reached another sign saying “Orchid De Villa 2 KM”. Fortunately, if you don’t have a 4 wheel, you can take a FREE mini bus in front of the Sin Hin Bookstore in Inanam so your car does not need to suffer the 3 KM gravel road. The bus will move whenever it is full or it waits long enough.
I also took a walk in their orchid garden. Actually I was a bit disappointed in the beginning because I didn’t see a lot of blooming orchids around. Luckily I saw Mr. Liew (the owner) and his wife before I left. He asked if I found anything interesting to shoot. Before I answered, he already pointed out 5 to 6 orchid flowers NEXT to me. “Did you see this?”, “Did you see that?”… I was a bit embarrassed to say No coz I didn’t pay close attention to my surrounding. The flowers were so near but I didn’t “see” them.
Many wild orchids are very small and low profile. They could be hiding in the grass, under the leaves, and other corners. You could not discover them without paying very close attention. He also mentioned that’s why many visitors were disappointed and said they saw “nothing”. For me, this is an important lesson. Not all beautiful thing is OBVIOUS. They might be very near to us, but all are ignored by busy, insensitive and impatient city people like us. Probably we can learn to pay more attention to the little thing around us, such as the new haircut of our wife, the good little thing others do for us silently… then we would appreciate the world better.
I also visited their zoo. The Sep 16 Malaysia Day is coming. There is a bird would like to say something to greet you. Click Here to hear what it said (48 KB).
