The Almost Strongest Man Contest - May 2012

I went down to Hone Place (rugby ground near the Tanjung Aru Beach) to check out the OKS (Sabah Strongest Man) Contest. It was billed as the "Junior" event for those enthusiasts who wish to experience the Strongman contest (only three types of challenges and the weights used were lower).

But there seemed to be too many tents and even a water truck from the Jabatan Air ...

... ah, an official event at the Tanjung Aru Multi-purpose Hall ...

... the Tadau Kaamatan (Harvest Festival Celebration) organised by UPKO.

The heavy rain last night seemed to have flooded the ground ...

... instant drains by DBKK (I don't think the rubgy players will like that?).

One of the many bands (some inside the hall and others in the stalls). No music no fun.

The OKS Land Cruiser! A mobile billboard!

The giant tyre (for the tyre flip) and the rack and stones (for the Atlas Lift).

The Penampang stall had the gong gang and the Sumazau dancers.

The Tawau-Silam stall had my old friend Basari ...

... with a very colourful and flowerry pattern on his traditional costume.

Some of the other very nice ...

... and colourful ...

... patterns I saw.

But back to the OKS; here's the 100kg river stone (covered by the rubber mats to stop it from getting too hot from the sun).

The challenge is to carry it as far as possible in 90 seconds.

You can carry it like this ...

... or like this ...

... or else like this ...

... even like this ...

... until either you give up or the 90 seconds are up.

I took time out to watch the Murut dancers ...

... and went for a haircut at an old shop in Tanjung Aru.

He was a professional hairdresser, but now only "cut hair" for his old clients on the weekends.

The shop still had those old "thingies" to set the hair?

Anyway, I went back to the OKS event, where the Atlas lift was starting ...

... the stones were 90 kg each ...

... but with a bit of encouragement ...

... You Can Do It!

Hey, this event seemed unfair to the "height-challenged"!

FOUR MORE STONES? You must be JOKING!!!

Inter Professional Bodies (IPB) Games 2012

I went down to Jesselton Point to have a "look-see" on the Inter Professional Bodies Games 2012 - Futsal Competition. I took a photo of the Suria Sabah Mall on the left of Jesselton Point. The place marked and enlarged was the balcony of the foodcourt where I took the last photo in my posting on the OKS on 26 March 2012.

The launching of the Games and the Futsal Competition was at the Suria Indoor Soccer Centre ...

... on the right of the above photo were the ticketing counters for boat rides to the nearby islands and the ferry to a much further island (Labuan). The prices were clearly displayed.

The Suria Indoor Soccer Centre ...

... at RM100 per hour in the evenings.

IPB 2012 - Futsal. The usual gang of participants; Engineers, Lawyers, Surveyors, Accountants, Doctors, and Architects.

The Surveyors have a Royal Charter? How come all the rest didn't apply for one?

The Architects seemed to have a rather abstract logo?

Last minutes tips from the player manager ...

... side-line coaching allowed.

The netting casted a shadow in the wide-angle shots; a slight zoom will avoid those netting shadows ...

... the low-light and the cheaper (smaller aperture) EF-S lens produced blurred "action" photos. Now you know why the professional sports photographers use those expensive huge and fast lenses.

Increasing the ISO and selecting shutter-priority (Tv setting) froze the action, but at a cost of the increased noise level.

Yet another goal! This photo without shutter priority; blurred but less noise.

There was a new (at least to me) cafe across the road. Wasn't this building previously an office for the Rubber Fund Board or some government linked corporation?

There was a restaurant called Sino-Thai (can the food be called "fusion"?) ...

 ... where the "three monkeys - hear, say and see no evil" were placed one on top of the other; I normally see them displayed side by side.

Some Photos From Another Outstation Trip In May

Underbrushing and felling of the small trees (done by humans with parangs and chainsaws) to clear the land for oil palm development ...

... hilly terrain required terracing (done by excavators).

I didn't know that Sime Tyres had one called "centipede"!

A main road and bridge being constructed by JKR. The steepness was not exaggerated by the camera angle! There was another bridge (bigger one) being constructed on the other side of that hill.

The steep climb on this side after the bridge in the photo above. I wondered if it is more economical (long term) to just build a elevated bridge across the whole thing? Long term costs to include repairs from landslides and wear and tear on all the vehicles using this road.