Tag Archives: Photography

Sabah Fest 2007 (May 4)

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Sabah Fest is the most colourful annual tourism event, which is made lively and impressive by rich display of traditional costumes, music, cultural dances, and handicrafts from different indigenous groups of Sabah. Very well done this year (thanks to Sabah Tourism). I notice there were a lot more visitors than last year, and the RM20 (US$6) tickets to watch cultural performance and stage show were all sold out. In 2006, they even offered early bird promotion of RM10 (US$3), a 50% discount, to sell more tickets. No more discount this year, probably the response is too good, due to Visit Malaysia Year 2007. If you missed the show, no worry, they will publish a CD for sales later.


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My mission is to capture as many beautiful photos as possible, of those indigenous people dressed in their newly-made traditional costumes. Usually the most colourful and bright-colored ethnic groups are Bajau (from Kota Belud) and Suluk (from Semporna). There were a few traditional dance performance around, so I also snapped some pictures. All of them were very cooperative and even made excellent pose for photo-shooting. Another catchy target is Murut warriors, with swords and long-feather headgears. I also took pictures of Kadazan Papar, Rungus (from Kudat), Tidung (from Tawau), Orang Brunei (from Papar), Orang Sungai (from Kinabatangan), Iranun (from Kota Belud), Bonggi (from Banggi Island) and Lundayeh (from Sipitang) people. It was a fruitful photography trip. Just check out my photos to see more…


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Some souvenir, handicraft making demo, food and tourism product booths were setup and free for you to browse. To watch the performance, you need to buy the ticket (sold out). The programme is not the same every year. Each year they will invite certain indigenous groups from very far district to come here to perform authentic cultural dance. Since everything will be taped, it is a great way to document and preserve their culture too. It is a big lose if you never come to this event.

Visiting the event is a VVIP experience (free, no ticket required). Start from entrance, every guest will walk on red carpet and welcome by hundred of performers in their unique and colourful costumes. Along the way, your ears will be busy occupied by music played by all sort of Sabah’s traditional musical instruments such as tonggungak, gong, kulintangan, drum, and sompoton. And the warm and sweet greeting from those cute children, in beautiful dresses, will melt your heart. You can see their photos in my photo album.

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Open the newspaper every day, and we will see depressing news on people hate and kill one another, due to difference in races, religion, political view, interest, etc. It is a blessing that the people of Sabah, which are formed by over 30 ethnic groups, can live in harmony together.

Related post:
Sabah Fest 2006

Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Mimpian Jadi Resort, Tuaran

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At first I wanted to go to Pantai Dalit (Dalit Beach). Somehow I lost and found this Mimpian Jadi Resort on the highway from Tuaran to Sulaiman. To reach there, you need to drive through a narrow gravel road for more than 5 minutes. You will see lot of mangrove forest, swampy land, rivers next to the road. To me, it is kind of fun.

It was Monday and so quiet that I saw no guest. The resort is built near to a sandy white beach. I also would like to try out the Polarising filter for my camera. This filter acts like a sunglass that can block excessive sunlight comes into our camera, so the picture is more color-rich and not being washed out by the hash light. The outcome is quite good. That’s why the picture below is color-saturated.

I also snapped a photo of their guest houses. The shadows of the coconut trees paint a very interesting pattern on the greenish grass. The “tropical” feel is so lovely.

Then I go to their beach to take more photo. I used Photoshop to make the grass greener. I like its simplicity and sense of harmony.

The photo below is a “unique” collection to me. Actually it is a drain next to the resort, with thick layer of algae floats on the water. The sunlight shined through the tree leaves and lotus, forming a interesting mix of shadows on the green surface. Cool huh?

I walked nearly 1 km away from the resort to see this small “lake”. During low tide, the water was trapped here, together with some organic stuffs such as soil and leaves, so it got darker color. Note the beautiful long strentch of sandy white sand which separates it from the blue sea.

They have a few interesting statues in the garden. This is the first time I came to Mimpian Jadi Resort. If you expect a lot of privacy with your loved one, here is quite a cool place. I think they also have a golf field so you can play both types of golf. I remember one of my friends said the mating, no sorry… I mean match-making companies run their programme here.

Nobody was on the beach. I could even swim nakedly. But I found the sea waves were quite strong and scary. From a far distance, it looks like thousands of white snakes crawling. I took a video clip. You can check it out.

Photos taken in Tuaran, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Tun Fuad Stephens Park (Bukit Padang), Kota Kinabalu

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Tun Fuad Stephens Park (Bukit Padang) is closed for two years (10 Dec 2022 to 18 Sep 2024) for an upgrade to Tun Fuad Stephens Botanical Garden.

Facts Sheet of Tun Fuad Stephens Botanical Garden project
Facts Sheet of Tun Fuad Stephens Botanical Garden project by Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK)

Summary of the Upgrade Project:

  • The lake will be maintained and added with other facilities such as floating platforms, tracks around the lake, lighting
  • New gardens such as Ginger Garden, Orchid and Nepenthes Conservatory, Nadir Park, Herb Garden, Bamboo Corner and Botany Playpark.
  • Forest restoration by planting local trees
  • Upgrading and increasing the amount of parking, build an e-hailing vehicle stop
  • Upgrade of the main gate (main entry board, guard house, plaza and kiosk)
  • Other New Facilities / Upgrades: overwater platform, administrative, research and maintenance offices, nursery building, public toilet, existing jogging track, lights, stairs, park chairs, CCTV

Tun Fuad is the most popular jogging site in Kota Kinabalu city. During weekend and Sunday, there are so many joggers that very likely you would see your friend or familiar faces. Personally, I think Tun Fuad is far more better than Likas Sport Complex. If compared, the jogging trail of Likas Sport Complex is about 0.6 KM (correct me if I am wrong) and the path is flat. The jogging path at Tun Fuad is nearly 1 KM, with many up and down trails. And Tun Fuad has more nice-figured liang moi (pretty girls), heheh… Ok, seriously, below are the features that make me like it.


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Feature 1. Superb KK City View

Besides the jogging trail, there are some hiking trails that lead you to the top of the hill. Normally, it took me about half an hour to walk up there. The last part is the “tyre” trail (should be renamed as “tired trail”) that I fear the most, extremely tiring… But soon you will forget all the pain, when you are washed by the windy fresh air and see the view of KK city under you. You can see most of the KK landmark building from here.


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Feature 2. Jogging + Hiking

BTW, if you would like to experience how it feels to climb Mount Kinabalu, just walk up and down the hill non-stop for 6 hours. This place was once my training ground before the summit trip. Jogging is a monotonous and boring exercise to me, so a 2-in-1 activity (jogging + hiking) works well for me. Tun Fuad Park is surrounded by forest, so the air is fresher and you can spot small wild animals and insects on the way. At the end, I think jogging + hiking is not enough, so I bring my camera along for photo-shooting.

Tun Fuad Park gets more fern plant and spiders than any other places in KK. There are so many types of spiders, so I am not surprised if you find a new species there. Most of them are very small. Next time I will try to get a macro len for photographing smaller insects. See the “jade” spider below? It is like a jewellery. You can give it to your grandma as a birthday present, if you have no money to buy precious stone. Here you also can find one of the biggest ant in the world (see picture below). In the evening, these forest ants are everywhere on the forest floor of Tun Fuad park. Be careful while exploring area outside the trail, wasps are common, and they love to build nest under the leaf. Sometimes you can see snake but it is not common.


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Feature 3. Magnificent Sunset View

Tanjung Aru Beach is NOT the best spot to view sunset. To truly appreciate the beauty of sunset, the hill top of Tun Fuad Park won’t disappoint you, but you need some luck. I shoot the “Sea of Cloud” photo below in a cloudy day. Haha… in case you wonder how the photo was taken, just turn the picture below upside down, or look at the original photo here. Both look equally good. You can see more Tun Fuad sunset photos here.


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The road will be very dark after the sunset. Do bring a torch light with you, if you plan to stay longer on the hill.

Photos taken in Tun Fuad Stephens Park of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Bikini photo-shooting

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Hope you all can see this greeting before your eyes are drawn to the photos below. Last year I blogged about the bikini photography session in Palm Villa Beach, Kinarut (Dec 18, 2005). After 1 year, I decide to post the photos, as a Xmas gift to you. There were 3 beautiful Sabah models joined us. Needless to say, they all have pretty faces and nice figures.

Model 1. Yvonne Wong
The First Runner-Up + Miss Popular of Miss Malaysia Chinatown 2004. Friendly and got lovely smile. A power station.


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Model 2. Chin
The Second Runner-Up of Miss Hakka 2003, also the Miss Photogenic + Second Runner-Up of Miss Malaysia Chinatown 2004. Sweet and Cute. Very professional and expressive. Any picture that has her looks perfect.


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Model 3. Wendy Lu
Last, but not the least. The Second Runner-Up + Miss Newell of Miss Malaysia Tourism 2005 (Sabah State Selection). Fresh and Mature. I like her long and silky black hair, which adds a seductive touch to her photos.


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Each of them has unique character and style. Professional photographers need to interact a lot with the models to bring the best out of them. It was far more challenging than I thought. FYI, two of them also the models in Borneo Jewellry Fair 2005.

Colorful fiddler crabs of Borneo

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I remember a joke told by LHS:
A group of people go to a restaurant.
One of them asks the waitress, “Do you serve crab?”
The waitress pauses for a while, then reply with a big smile, “We serve EVERYONE!”

MySabah.com also serves crab, and many. You might think that I am crazy about the crabs. Not really lah. It is just that I find that fiddler crabs are very photogenic and few photographers feature them. Aren’t you tired of those macro / close-up shoot of dragonfly lah, ant lah, beetle lah, etc.? I want to have something special here.

This will be my last set of fiddler crab photo gallery and it is meant to replace the older version of my previous crab photos. I dare to say my site is one of the few sites where you can find the most beautiful shot of fiddler crabs.


Click Here to see 40+ Colorful Photos of Borneo Fiddler Crabs >>

I don’t know the name of each species. I had sent some of the photos to a Singapore universary.
Once they help to identify them, I will update the blog. If I report a new species, you will find a fiddler crab that named “Smoke Head Crab”. Haha… if that happens, I wish the crabs won’t go knock themselves to the wall to kill themselves (then become extinct).


Click Here to see 40+ Colorful Photos of Borneo Fiddler Crabs >>

Camouflage

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This is almost a perfect camouflage. If it stopped on a tree, I would never find it.

At first I thought it was a butterfly. It is a moth and I waited more than 10 minutes to shoot its picture coz it kept on flying.

Even though it is in brown color only, the pattern of its wings is so interesting… Damn beautiful…

I Love Pussy

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I took the pictures below when I was staying at a friend’s house. The kittens were very shy at first…

Day 1. Very scared and tried to hide

Day 2. Still feeling uneasy of my presence

Day 3. Don’t bother about me

These kittens are a bit different coz their ears are so big, like fox ears. Kittens are so cute that they are always photogenic even without any make-up. Unlike their mom, they were not cooperative. I took over 20 pictures of them and only got 3 OK shots above. I can’t imagine people can be so cruel to cute animals like them. Last time someone e-mailed me a video clip of people killing and eating cats. It was so sickening that I wish I never see that. We don’t have cat at home. Coz the cats like to climb on our cars and leave the mark of their claws. Another reason is – we have fierce dog who hate cat.

Cute & Talented

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I like to take pictures of beautiful things. Of course cute children and animals are my targets. Sometimes it is not easy to get the photos of children, as many are afraid of strangers and run away. A good way is to talk to their parents / teachers, they will get their children to cooperate with me (sometimes this approach failed too). Even though they cooperate, their faces would get a bit of “fear” expression in the photo. To get better result, later I learnt that I better shave my beard and comb my hair, so I don’t look like “Uncle Goodfish”, which will scare them.

Seeing cute and talented children in action is even more exciting, coz the playful child + serious face create an interesting contrast. I saw two talented children below in Nunuk Ragang Ceremony last Saturday. The first one only a few years old and is the youngest member in a bamboo band. I also caught her performance on a video clip, when she played the bamboo shake in a “Jambatan Tamparuli” song. So cute.


Click Here to her video clip (Windows Media Format) >>

The second one, if I heard correctly, she is the Champion of state-level Sugandoi (singing competition). I think she has become an idol for the locals coz someone sold her photos there. Sorry lah, I was too concentrated in taking her pictures, forgot to take a video clip of her show. But no worry, I believe she will have her own music album in the future. No kidding. She only sang one song in the beginning. Her sweet voice and stylish performance deeply impressed everyone of us. WE WANTED MORE. Due to the overwhelming responses and encores, later she sang another two songs again, then was given a token of encouragement by the Big Heads.

The young girls below are not children, but look like future Unduk Ngadau for me. 🙂 Also taken at Nunuk Ragang.