The Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) organised
The Harvest Festival Carnival 2011 at The Lintasan Deasoka (Between The City Hall office and Gaya Street). It's being held over the 2 evenings (12th and 13th May). I went there at about 6 pm this evening ...
... there were tents set up ...
... then a decorated structure ...
... called Walai Koubasanan ...
... to the DIGI Tent (Main Sponsor) ...
... and the Main Tent to the right (with the stage) ...
... with the last-minute rehearsals.
The entrance to Gaya Street, with The Chinese Arch, was to the left. As I was taking these photos in the evening, I used my daughter's Canon EOS 450D instead of my Lumix FZ35. The Canon had the better performance in the low-light conditions. The light sources ranged from the remaining sunset light, to sodium street lights & spotlights, and flourescents, giving the photos various colour casts.
Gaya Street with the stalls. The above photos (and the next three) were all taken without using flash; this was just after sunset.
The first stall had a product of interest to us older folks! A concoction of 7 herbs in Virgin Coconut Oil to cure hair loss / baldness!
There were the usual food stalls ...
... and junk food stalls (what's that guy in the red T-shirt doing back there?) ...
... OMG, were those power sockets certified for external use?
The more interesting stalls included the one selling fried quails (I told the lady I would be back to buy some, but they were ALL GONE when I returned to this stall) ...
... to the handicraft stall ...
... to the one selling Kaya Durian!
Hey, the guy selling
the painted stones (stall photographed at The Sabah Fest) was here too! ...
This car owner had better come fast and drive away his car. He was not only delaying the fella (using the megaphone to broadcast the car number, while leaning on the car to trigger the alarm!) from opening his stall, he will not be able to go home until the whole event is over.
A stall selling colourfully decorated boxes ...
... they do look good stacked.
Everyone was still waiting for the carnival to begin ...
... luckily, the gongs started at The Walai Koubasanan ...
... so we could watch the native dancers ...
... he had a really colourful and attractive costume ...
... the women were almost as well dressed!
You can't beat the one with the brass rings ...
... with the current price of metals; she was a "walking bank account"!
The woven cloth really looked good ...
... and you could even personalise it.
Finally, at almost 8pm, the MCs announced that all the "big-shots" had arrived and the event could begin ...
... with the obligatory 1Malaysia dance ...
... since Harvest Festival is a KadazanDusun festival, I will just put up one photo (Sumazau dance) from that dance ...
Our Kota Kinabalu Mayor, Datuk Abidin Madingkir, giving his welcome speech ...
... as he mentioned that DBKK will ensure this was a "no-litter" event, I saw someone had just thrown a cigarette butt on the ground ...
... the DBKK clean-up brigade rushed in and swept up the offending item; thus preserving the Mayor's credibility ...
... then the Huguan Siou (Kadazan - Paramount Leader) gave his speech ...
... and declared open the festival carnival by banging the Gong 7 times ...
... and symbolically harvesting the rice.
Some priestesses (what are those guys doing there?) doing a sacred song and dance ritual ...
... followed by a drums and gongs presentation ...
... then a local kadazan singer ...
... and then the winner of the Sugandoi (Kadazan - Singing) Contest 2011 for Kota Kinabalu. I did not stay for the Unduk Ngadau (Kadazan - Beauty Contest) 2011 contests for Kota Kinabalu, Likas and Tanjung Aru. I presumed the winners will be selected over the two nights.
There was a good-sized crowd of spectators; including ...
... orang puteh tourists ...
... to a cyclist ...
... to the DBKK clean-up brigade ...
... to two friendly sailors ...
... to a hyperactive kid ...
... to a well-dressed little girl ...
... to a "What Do You Call That?" ...
... and a tired tourist.
Having to wait for the stationery shop at Plaza Tanjung Aru to open for business, I walked around the "business" area at the car park's ground floor. I never knew why these chinese mainlanders come all the way here to sell these stuff. The proprietor had a simple bed with a mosquito net, a gas cylinder and wok. I didn't think he would be pleased if I took a photo of those items; so I didn't.
Aside from the usual pots, dishes, bowls, ceramic vases, brass feng shui objects ..., I did see some colourful items. Here's a ceramic religious figurine ...
... and one painted yellow (or was it supposed to be golden?). The proprietor told me it was a wooden sculpture under the paint ...
... a set of 6 laughing buddhas in various poses ...
... really laughing out loud! ...
... putting you in a good mood for the day? Cheap humour at RM80 (before discount)? ...
... I didn't really know what this was. It just looked interesting. I did buy a couple of clay mugs from him, so at least he didn't lose out from my visit!
