St. Simon Catholic Church, Likas, Kota Kinabalu

Wow, my last post was on the 9 September 2013. I had been busy with work and the approaching year end. This morning I attended a church service celebrating the 30th Wedding Anniversary of one of my old classmate. It gave me a photographic opportunity to go inside one of the catholic church I pass by frequently; St. Simon Likas.

The inside was warm and cosy.

 This church had many beautiful stained glass displays on the walls.

This was the one next to where I sat.

They were made in Milan.

A coloured view of the outside world.

Obviously you are expected to look at and to admire the stained glass window from inside the church and not outside!

I end this post with another of the stained glass window; "The Holy Family" and wish one and all Merry Christmas and A Very Happy 2014.

Piazza del Duomo in "Inferno by Dan Brown"

I am in the midst of reading "Inferno" by Dan Brown. In Chapter 53, his adventures reached the Piazza del Duomo. I recalled the photos I took when I was there in May. What struck me was how little I knew from the trip compared to what was written in the book. Trips nowadays are just the "Been There, Seen That" kind of affair. The Piazza had 3 main structures. The Giotto Bell Tower (tall building on the right) described in the book as 300 ft tall with more than 20,000 pounds of bells in the belfry. The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (middle building including the red dome) had a ceiling fresco The Last Judgement and the dome was the biggest at that time. The octagonal building (to the left) was the Florence Baptistery where in the novel the Dante's Death Mask had been hidden; that Robert Langdon was searching Venice for.

All I saw during the trip were the exterior facades; no doubt very beautiful, but how much did I missed?

The main feature at the Baptistery was the East Doors (bronze doors) with the ten panels by Lorenzo Ghiberti. The doors took him 27 years to complete. It was said that Michelangelo commented they were so good they should be the Gates to Paradise. I did take some photos of the panels. As pointed out in the novel, the doors were actually a copy put up in 1990 so that the original doors could be treated for preservation. In the novel, the inside of the Baptistry was described in detail. Again I missed a lot; the ceiling had scenes from the Bible, constructed from small mosaic tiles, depicting Heaven and Hell.

The Golden 50 Art Carnival - Kota Kinabalu

This year, in Sabah, many events will have "50" in their title. Sabah got its Independence from the British on 31 August 1963 and jointly formed Malaysia, on 16 September 1963, with Sarawak, Singapore (they left subsequently) and The Federation of Malaya. Today and tomorrow, an Art Carnival is being held at the Sabah Arts Gallery.

The events and the map to the Art Gallery from the brochure. The Gallery was actually behind the State Achive and The National Archive (Sabah Branch).

As I turned into the road beside the State Archive, I saw a lot of cars parked beside the road ...

... even beside the main road! I was pretty surprised that the attendance at the Art Carnival would be so good.

But they were actually the cars belonging to the participants at the Launching of the "Want To Be Healthy Campaign". This was being held at the park just beside the main road.

The Minister was giving his speech in the sun...

... while the participants were preserving their health under the shade.

So I continued to the "artsy" building that was the Sabah Art Gallery.

Various booths were set up in front of the Gallery entrance ...

... the calligraphy fella was there ...

... the world's smelliest flower was there, beside the world's sexiest flower ...

... and a very useful dinner dress.

Since I was there, I visited the Art Gallery itself.

It was a very nice building; 3-storey, airy, ...

... very nice curving staircase ...

... with natural lighting from a skylight.

Entry was free during these two days of the carnival; normal fee is RM3 (Malaysian adult).

There were more than just paintings; this one by Maduni Majidin ...

... and one by Christianne Goonting.

There were even some fabrics.

Of the paintings, some caught my eye (I don't claim to be anything artistic). One by Muslim Mattajim.

This one by Datuk George Chin.

Waterfall by Adrian Ho.

A Tina Rimmer.

There will of course be paintings of Mt Kinabalu. This one by Benedict Chong.

A more modernistic acrylic by Tan Sheau Ling.

A very nice grouper by Zaimie Sahibil.

Oh, don't forget to say "Thanks and Goodbye" to the guy holding up the front counter.

52nd La Salle Alumni Dinner 2013

The 52nd Annual Dinner for Ex-students of La Salle and Sacred Heart was held on Saturday 17 August 2013.

 

Never having been to "Port View Palace Hall" at Wisma Hakka, I went earlier to have a closer look at the place. Its in Tanjung Lipat, next to the KPD Tamu Ground.

The entrance looked rather grand, but no multi-storey parking ...

... though with the hall on the first floor, there were parking spots underneath and also parking on the open ground outside as well as in the Tamu Ground.

The building at the end was the official Wisma Hakka ...

... though uncompleted and much "junk" stored there.

The event hall was very big and very well air-conditioned. I was told (not sure though if this is true) that this is currently the largest function hall in Kota Kinabalu.

Sneaking up on the stage gave a view from behind the MC's little nest.

The hall had a transparent glass stage ...

... and a giant electronic backdrop screen.

 The first floor lobby/reception was rather small ...

... though you could use the larger space in the ground floor lobby. What was that boy doing behind the pillar???

The Alumni Association was doing the usual. I bought a T Shirt and a lapel pin.

The food was good (since it was by Port View Restaurant) and an enjoyable evening with my old classmates. The "old" is getting more literal by the year; it was the 40th year since our Form Five at La Salle!