Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival 2011

The KK Jazz Festival is being held over the two nights (17th and 18th June 2011) ...


... at the covered tennis court of the Sutera Harbour Marina ...


... where stage, lighting, sound systems and seating had been prepared for the concerts over the two nights.


This morning, a free workshop was held by one of tonight's performers ...


... Aseana Percussion Unit (APU). They also work with autistic and spastic children; many do respond well to music.


The workshop seemed mainly attended by members from the Kian Kok School bands.


The Band Leader, Edwin Nathaniel, giving the attendees a free education in percussive intruments, their sounds, the beats, the rythms, and the signals the band used for a good performance ...


... with participation from the attendees ...


... including kids ...


... and even the seniors! No lah, only some foreign tourists passing by.


APU uses all kinds of "instruments" in their show, the main ones being the drums ...


There were all kinds of drums ...


... from many different countries ...


... from Brazil, from Africa ...


... bigger drums (even an extendable didgeridoo) ...


... to a tiny one ...


... and other percussive intruments.


The Band played a couple of short numbers to end the workshop ...


... though I did notice one of the band members who might have got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning?

All the event details are available at the KK Jazz Festival website.

EMDA International Dog Show 2011

The East Malaysian Dog-owners Association (EMDA) held an international dog show at the Sabah Cultural Centre this morning (EMDA has a FaceBook page). As I had never been to the Cultural Centre, I took the opportunity to "kill two birds".

A very nice arena, but lighting on the badminton court area was not quite sufficiently bright. This was only my opinion; no doubt biased, as it was easier to take photos with bright lights!

The area by the wall was used for staging ...

... to enter and win in the many categories ...

... unfortunately, there were no display boards / scoreboards (that I could see); so I had no real idea what was going on.

I presumed this was THE BLUE RIBBON. If they had a knowledgeable commentator keeping the spectators up to date, it would have been more enjoyable.

The above comments are meant to be constructive. I was not complaining; I got to see Big Dogs ...

... small dogs ...

... tiny dogs ...

... dogs you could drape over your shoulders ...

... doggy twins ...

... and THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PUPPY EVER!

12th Borneo Island International Big Bike Festival 2011

I went down to The City Hall for the Big Bike display this morning. But as it was also the sunday fair at Gaya Street, I only managed to park in Kampong Air. I noticed that the dry goods stalls were still operating the tamu.

Some say that you can find your missing shoes here ...

The stalls layout was rather haphazard; its easy to lose your way inside there!

Mostly clothing ...

Anyway, back to the Big Bikes. This was the day they all stopped riding around, and parked all their bikes here while having tea with our Mayor.

Big Bikes was still a "Guy's Thing"; or I was not lucky enough to see any Biker Chicks!

A Big Bike ...

... another one ...

... and yet another one. Beautiful machines!

A nice sunny day = A good attendance ...

... everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves ...

... more bikers arriving. American-size handlebars?

The thing is ... I have NEVER ridden a motorbike!

But I do like the colourful graphics! ...

... and the shiny chrome! ...

... the Bad Boy attitude! ...

... the High Tech exhausts (magnesium!!!) ...

... The Robot (oh, just another exhaust).

The Eagle ...


... and the dog! I noted that he had a handphone! Shouldn't he be in The Dog Show (see the next post)?

06 June 2011

Today is The DuanWu Festival. Generally to us it's the zongzi (chinese rice dumpling) festival; although it's also the Dragon Boat Festival. Officially it falls, each lunar year, on the 5th day of the 5th month (thus also called The Double Fifth Festival). So for 2011, the lunar "Double Fifth" falls on the Gregorian "Double Sixth"!

The entry in wikipedia had many interesting details and stories (a visit highly recommended). I highlighted some below.

The thing about zongzi is that we can buy it everyday, and we eat it many times throughout the year. So there was hardly anyone making a special effort to sell it today! Those who have mothers making the zongzi at home are the lucky ones (check out this blog entry for pictures and details).

As usual, with the many thousands of years, there were over-lapping stories about this festival. The most known one was that the festival concerned the suicide of the poet Qu Yuan in 278BCE. The zongzi were thrown into the lake each year to feed him.

Other lesser known versions included the suicide of a loyal advisor Wu ZiXu (sometime around 500BCE), the drowning of Cao E (143CE) while searching for her father who had fallen into the river. It would seem these all had something to do with water; ergo the Dragon Boat Festival?

But "Double Six" also refers to the commemoration of the tragedy that occurred in Kota Kinabalu on 6th June 1976. I blogged on this last year (gallery and the opening). This morning, there was a simple remembrance ceremony there.

Once a year the monument was decked with flowers and wreaths ...

... after getting a fresh coat of paint ...

... then you can read all about it tomorrow.