Kaamatan 2010 (Harvest Festival 2010)

The public holidays on 30th and 31st May celebrates the Kadazan-Dusun Harvest Festival Kaamatan. Kadazan-Dusun is a general term denoting the majority of various ethnic tribes in Sabah. The Ibans in Sarawak have their festival on the 1st and 2nd June called Gawai Dayak.

For those of us in Kota Kinabalu, the easiest venue to visit is the Kadazan Dusun Cultural Association site in Penampang. The program for the first day, today, included the official opening ceremony (of course with all the usual speeches from the dignitaries), the obligatory sumazau by the dignitaries (and the foreign guests who could be persuaded to participate), the performance by the Bamboo Band, the special appearance by the Miss Harvest Festival 2010 (Unduk Ngadau) contestants, songs and dances contests and other activities. Tomorrow will mainly be occupied by the finals of the Unduk Ngadau contest.

The front of the KDCA Building had a straw couple (scarecrows?).

If you turn left, you see the "commercialised" sponsors tents!


Inside the hall, the program continued.


Some local lasses in their traditional wear.


The Bamboo Band from Keningau playing traditional kadazan songs. All their musical instruments were made of bamboo, even the saxophone.

Then the appearance of the Miss Harvest Festival 2010 (Unduk Ngadau) contestants.


Miss Sandakan! Taken at full zoom 28x, handheld, 1/60th sec, and ISO 800. The Image stabilisation helped, but also breathing out slowly when pressing the shutter. I forgot to bring the tripod!

The full list of the contestants, courtesy of the Digi (Malaysian Celco) poster.


I didn't know there was a contestant - Miss Tanjung Aru! She's Ms Crystal Eve Huminodun William Majimbon. I am from Tanjung Aru.


Miss Kota Kinabalu was Ms Lydia John Alai. The poster was taken with RAW setting, which allowed 3016 x 4018 pixels; so the enlargement crop of the individual photos were possible.


If you want to find out who wins, then be there tomorrow morning (finals starts at 11am).

Actually, there were much more interesting things outside! Here is a family (?) getting ready to perform, perhaps in the traditional singing or dancing contest.


The boy was holding a "traditional" electric guitar!


A traditional house (Papar).


A traditional Murut house. But the contraption made of horizontal logs underneath the house told me there was something different with this house.


There was a platform inside the house which "bounces" up and down. The platforms rested on top of the horizontal logs, which flexes up and down.


A close-up of the logs underneath the platform.


Participants entering the arena.


Yet other participants.


Ah, I recognised these ones; they were muruts in their traditional tree bark shirts.


More colourful traditional dresses.


The Bamboo Band was playing "Its Now or Never"! Did Elvis run away from America and came here?


Traditional beat from the Gongs of Kota Belud.


This was NOT traditional, I am sure!

Wesak Day - Part 02 - What Buddhism Should Be, But Has Become

The Noble Eightfold Path is:

1. The Wisdom To Have The Right View.
2. The Wisdom To Have The Right Intention.
3. The Ethical Conduct of Right Speech.
4. The Ethical Conduct of Right Action.
5. The Ethical Conduct of Right Livelihood.
6. The Mental Development To Have The Right Effort.
7. The Mental Development To Have The Right Mindfulness.
8. The Mental Development To Have The Right Concentration.
   

(Click on the link above to learn more about The Noble Eightfold Path).

The only conclusion is that True Buddhism is VERY HARD TO PRACTICE. It involves totally changing your way of life and sacrificing everything. The monks in those isolated monasteries are the only ones closest to practicing Buddhism.


What Buddhism has become is a set of Rites and Rituals, which are "followed" instead of doing those very difficult steps to self-enlightenment. Let me be the first one to say that I cannot practice this in my daily life. At least I can understand the cost I am paying for following this "modern" life.


The sets of rituals and the temples (those places to practice the rituals) are what makes it seem that Buddhism is a Religion. The "practitioners" have replaced the hard work, mental effort, and sacrifices with symbolic gestures of burning joss-sticks and prayers. Another example is where the "Buddhist" goes vegetarian on the 1st Day and the 15th Day of the Lunar Month. In addition, various deities seemed to have been added on.


All this is only my opinion, I am just saying that there seem to be a vast difference between what Buddha taught and what people practice today.

A Temple (Puh Toh Tze) I visited this morning.

Another one I visited this morning.

Giant Joss-sticks.

A White Elephant.

A White Lion.

The Peak Nam Tong Temple with its pagoda. There are other pagodas in Kota Kinabalu and Tuaran, for those interested.



About Buddhism

The greatest achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the world's ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not be concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

Atisha (11th century Tibetan Buddhist master)

Wesak Day - Part 01 - The Buddha and Buddhism

Wesak Day (or Vesak Day) today celebrates not just the birth of Siddhārtha Gautama, but also his enlightenment, nirvana and passing. The term Buddha means The Enlightened One; so those later people who attained enlightenment are also Buddhas.

Wesak Day falls on the 15th Day of the Fourth Lunar Month (for countries in South East Asia and China).

Siddhārtha Gautama was believed to have lived in 563 BCE to 483 BCE (its impossible to be definitive). His teachings and sayings were passed down orally and were only written up some 400 years after his death. His was a nice story of a prince, in a small state said to be in present day Nepal, who was foretold at birth that he would either be a Great King, or a Great Holy Man if he was allowed to see the world. His father kept him within the palace walls until he escaped when he was 29 years old. The suffering he saw in the "real world" prompted his spiritual quest. He achieved enlightenment at age 35 under a Bhodi Tree, and spent the rest of his life preaching this Path of Enlightenment

In the present day, there are numerous varieties of Buddhism of the generally accepted two schools of Buddhism. The older school is called Theravada(India and South East Asia) and the other Mahayana (East Asia - Zen, Tibetan, Nichiren ...).

Its impossible in this short write-up to go much deeper into Buddhism Philosophy, but I like to believe that The Buddha taught The Four Noble Truths. The Fourth Truth states that liberation can be attained from following The Noble Eightfold Path.

The Four Noble Truths are:

• The Noble Truth that is Suffering.

• Life as we know it ultimately leads to suffering in one way or another.

(Note that english words have very narrow meanings and so cannot convey the full scope of the concept . "Suffering" is more than physical pain or mental anguish. It has the wide scope of disquietude - a condition of being disturbed; which encompasses unsatisfactoriness, anxiety, stress, frustration, discomfort, ... The concept of Suffering is not pessimistic, but realistic)

• The Noble Truth that is The Arising of Suffering.
• Suffering is caused by Craving (Desire).

(Usually explained as clinging onto beliefs and wanting things thought to bring happiness or the desire to remove the beliefs and things thought to cause unhappiness.)

• The Noble Truth that is The End of Suffering.
• Suffering ends when Craving (Desire) ends.

(Simple, isn't it?)

• The Noble Truth that is The Way Leading To The End of Suffering.

• Liberation is by following the Noble Eightfold Path.

(What's the Noble Eightfold Path? Well, let's leave that to another day - another post)

Buddhism is NOT a religion.

The Buddha does not have any SPIRITUAL POWER over you.

He is NOT A God.

Balung Fresh Fruits - Kebun Rimau Sdn Bhd

Datuk Harris Mohd Salleh, one of our former Chief Minister (6th CM of Sabah), has many business ventures and interests. Among his agricultural interests are the growing and processing of various herbs, teas, palm sugar, and noni juice. These can be seen at his Balung Plantation (Tawau). They are claimed to be organically grown and hygienically processed in their own processing plants.

Having seen the various newspaper articles (in the past 6 months or so), I wanted to visit their outlet in Kota Kinabalu and try out some of their products. Their outlet, Balung Fresh Fruits, is located across the road from Giant Hypermart in Kolombong. Note that the location map on their website is incorrect as the shop is in the middle of the block.

The shop front

The shop interior (not much expenditure on interior design and marketing display!)

The 3 Balung products I bought; Java Tea (Misai Kucing Tea), Lemon Grass Tea, and one bottle of the palm sugar (Arenga Pinnata) syrup.
The shop also had Noni Juice (either with passionfruit juice or with mango juice). The Noni Juice is one difficult juice to swallow. My friends told me in their kampung days, no one ate the fruit (it was so bad-tasting); the only use for the fruit was as a throwing missile. The shop staff told me the new mango flavour was better. I tried it, it wasn't much better than the Noni Juice I drank in the past, so I didn't buy it.

A Souped Up Volkswagen Beetle?

No comments needed.

Madness in Kota Kinabalu

The Building on the right is Kompleks Karamunsing, while the new shops on the left is Karamunsing Capital. Kompleks Karamunsing was completed in the early 80s by Promet Dikoyu. It was a bad time economically and the complex was practically empty for a few years. Promet Group was restructured (capital reduction etc..) in 1998 or so. The building had been sold to a sarawakian. They seem to have upset a number of the tenants. The shopping mall is now a warren (Sg Wang style), but still popular because of the number of IT related shops there.

The new shops in Karamunsing Capital were completed this year. I haven't been around the shops there.

This is the "madness" in the Post Title. They have blocked off the connecting bridge between the two areas! I can understand it if they put up a carpark toll-gate. But to block off THE PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC is pure madness!

Kota Kinabalu Central Market

The Kota Kinabalu Central Market by the seafront. You can get everything; from vegetables, local fruits, local cakes, fresh chicken, fish & other seafood, beef, to pork on the ground floor.

There are eateries on the first floor (probably best left to the locals who are used to the local bacteria!). I used to eat there many years ago (lunch was RM2.00 - the cheapest in town!).

This is the right-hand end of the market. You can see the overhead pedestrian bridge (famous to us old-timers in KK - it was the first overhead pedestrian bridge).

It connected the market to all the shops in Segama Commercial area. In the old days, there were quite a few stalls operating in the evenings (locally called "under the bridge"). Even now there are vendors selling durians (when in season) from their pickups "under the bridge".

The right hand end of the market has the section selling pork.

There were lots of colourful boats "parked" at this end of the market. I say "parked" as there was actually a carpark just in front of the boats!

I noticed that there was a party of locals who had chartered one of the boats for a fishing trip out in the sea (overnight most likely, there are a lot of good fishing spots around the various islands off KK).

The fish market is in another building around the back of the Central Market.

Apart from the fish, squid, and prawns, there are live crabs and mussels available. Be aware that all the "big" ones have already been bought by the restaurants, hotels, and also exported.