TADAU KA'AMATAN (HARVEST) CELEBRATIONS

Another year has passed as we welcomed another "Tadau Ka'amatan" Harvest Festival this week. To our friends who celebrate this occasion, we say, " Kotobian Tadau Tagazo Do Ka'amatan" 

I went over to the Hongkod Koisaan compound, the Kadazandusun Cultural Association Hall in Penampang to join in the merriment as local folks sing, dance, eat and play traditional games.  .

  The entrance of the Hongkod Koisaan, a cultural village.

The hot afternoon heat did not deter people from joining the celebration at Hongkod Koisaan.

 The traditional houses of the Kadazan-Dusun, the major ethnic groups of Sabah. 

The celebration, highlighted the cultures of almost all the state's ethnic groups through various artistic and traditional dance performances.

 Visitors participating in the most popular traditional dance "Sumazau".

It's a colourful afternoon at the "homes" of the ethnic groups. The young men and girls dressed in their traditional costumes were entertaining, busy posing for people with cameras like me. 

The "home" that offered the local food and rice wine called Tapai or Lihing.

Would you like to dance? One of the ladies asked a visitor next to me.

The drummer boy.

A beauty queen.

 Handicrafts on display.

 The F&B area.

A Queens Park Rangers' fan was manning a "fried banana" and pancake stall.

Satay of the day.

It's free for all - Visitors could park anywhere with no worry of a ticket or summon from the Traffic police on duty near Hongkod Koisaan.

" Kotobian Tadau Tagazo Do Ka'amatan" 

  

A WEDDING FEAST

It was a pleasure to attend the wedding dinner reception of Safrey Sumping and Elaine Shui at Grand Port View restaurant yesterday evening. 

 A picture to remember with the young couple.

As usual, an "eight course" dinner was served to celebrate the auspicious occasion.  

 The first course was a Hot and Cold combination.

 Shark fin soup with abalone, sea cucumber and fish maws.

 Crispy roasted chicken.

 Sea bass in sweet and sour sauce.

 The ever popular Yam ring.

 Mushrooms with bean puffs and broccoli.

 Fried rice in lotus leaf.

The dessert - Lotus with lily in light syrup and the sweet crispy Chinese pancakes.

Congratulations to Safrey and Elaine. We wish them all the best and happy life together forever!

MALAYSIA AIRLINES NO LONGER FLIES WITH QPR

Malaysia Airlines management has finally woken up and cancelled it's multi-million $$ jersey sponsorship deal with Queens Park Ranger, the English Premium League club owned by the bosses of Air Asia. 

This less than one year old jersey is now history.

The sponsorship deal with Queens park Ranger was set for a period of 2 years at RM18 million. This was done when Air Asia’s bosses were in the Malaysia Airlines board.

Malaysia Airlines officially announced on 02 May 2012 that the share swap deal between Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia Bhd has been called off.

After eight months, they claimed that the cross-holding of shares has become a distraction to management’s efforts to turn around Malaysia Airlines.

As a result, Tony Fernandes and Kamarudin Meranun of Air Asia have resigned from the board of Malaysia Airlines.   

I believed that all Malaysia Airlines staff including those in MASwing and Fireflies are happy with the ending of the share swap.

With such changes, the questions now are:

1. Will the jet services of Fireflies return to Sabah and Sarawak?

2. Will they resume their Kota Kinabalu-Osaka, Haneda, Incheon and Perth schedule?

I hope they will do, so that the Sabah and Sarawak travelling public could enjoy more low cost domestic travel and direct access to International destinations.  

GOLD CROWN SOLAR ECLIPSE

Millions of Asians watched as a rare "ring of fire" eclipse crossed their skies early Monday morning. These pictures were taken by Miura san in Iwatsuki, near Tokyo. "I have never seen anything like this"

 It was a cloudy morning but the "ring of fire" was amazing!

KUALA PENYU

Last week, we drove to Kuala Penyu, a small seaside town located on the Klias Peninsula, about 130 kilometers from Kota Kinabalu.  It is one of the gateways to Pulau Tiga, the Survivor Island of Sabah. 

This small and beautiful town is situated at the river month of Sungai Sitompok (Sitompok river).

 It took us about an hour and half driving through the scenic countryside via Klias "highway".   

 Entering to town area.

 A mosque in the town center.

Kuala Penyu, like many other small towships in Sabah still features old wooden shops.        

The town was very quiet on that the Saturday afternoon - hardly any people around.

On the side of the river is the old ferry, an old work horse which used to ferry people and vehicles across Sitompok river before a bridge was built.

We bought these fresh fishes near Kuala Penyu. According to my wife, they were fresher and they were cheaper by at least RM8-9 per kilo comparing to those in the market of Kota kinabalu.  

The new bridge across the river.

After the bridge is the old road leading to Kota Kinabalu. Going this way, the distance is shorter by about 30 kilometers. 

 Watch out for water buffaloes when driving on the kampung "highway".

We did come across one of them after the road sign.

We did not see much of kuala Penyu but we were happy that we bought some fresh fish. I plan to come back in a month or so to do some fishing near Pulau Tiga. I heard that fishing is good around the island.