Happy Kaamatan/ Harvest Festival

I would like to wish all Sabahans a very happy Kaamatan or simply known as the Harvest Festival of Sabah. Although I do not normally celebrate it but after living outside of Sabah makes me think of Sabah once in a while and this festival is only celebrated in Sabah. As far as I'm concerned, the harvest festival is normally celebrated by the KadazanDusun ethnic group, they will have festivals lasting days and drink and dance for days! They will also held the annual beauty pageant of Unduk Ngadau during this time.
For me, I would normally join some family camp around this time at some resorts and you can get to hear some traditional music being aired in the resorts(weird). Also, those Sumazau dances will be performed at resorts or possibly at the shopping centres.
So for those non-Sabahans, if interested in Sabah please pay a visit to Sabah and enjoy our hospitality and beauty of our state. LOL..sounds like promoting! but yeah,haha.
These pictures have little relation to the festival but these pictures have been taken in Sabah and would like to describe Sabah with these few pictures.

Sabah, a land of freedom( my house)

A land rich in cultures ( unicorn dance)

A land of uniqueness ( Tarap, bet all non-Sabahans never heard of it)

A land where modernity meets nature ( Kota Kinabalu, the state capital)

A land of struggle for political autonomy and better future ( poster from PKR, LOL!)

A land of unity ( at Kundasang)

A land of beautiful marine ecology (ok, it's just a tank, but there are really lots of beutiful coral reefs out there for touritsts to visit)

A land of celebration ( I think we're celebrating Lee's birthday)

A land of peace and tranquility( my house)

A land of splendid scenery ( Mount Kinabalu)

A land of natural beauty

A land abundant in food ( Ah Moo and Siao Di)

A land rich in various kinds of cuisines( Ding Lao Ban enjoying his lunch)

A land of diversity in food ('GiLeen' Diam at Tuaran)

A land of long lasting friendship ( old classmates at TumBui's birthday)

A land of leisure and entertainment ( banana boat at Pulau Manukan)

A land of harmony ( form 6 )

A land of diversity in life ( a stick bug))

A land of surprises ( rare insect)

A land abundant in floral diversity ( the Rafflesia)

A land of hospitality (Traditional Murut Longhouse)

That's the Sabah I saw through my lens but of course it does not show everything(especially the Orang Utan and Pygmy elephants), but ....

Kotobian Tadau Tagazo Do Kaamatan! everybody!

Plus....I celebrated my Kaamatan outside Sabah in a Malaysian restaurant in NZ.

Ice skating: My first time 2008

These few weeks have been boring and nothing much to do except looking at books, do some exercise, sleep, and go to lectures. Maybe that's the reason I'm here for instead of playing around all the time. Nonetheless, it reminds me of my very first ice skating experience last year and I would like to share with you all.
As you know, Sabah doesn't have a real ice skating facility, so I got the chance to ice skate in NZ with the 'awesome foursome'(PeiJia, Vera, Felicia, Reseena) as they called themselves. The 'awesome foursome' is a very adventurous group and I had fun hanging out with them.
They went back to their own respective country already and I will never forget them for all the fun and entertainment they brought upon me. TQ o'some 4'some.


yay, first time!

Fizee with the move

the 'awesome foursome' and I.

Happy Mother's day

I would like to wish my mother and mothers around the world happy mother's day.
I know being a mother is not easy, being mother provides us with care, nurture, love, and teachings.
Being a mother have to face with their children's rebellious behavior and disobedience.
Although I would hardly express my gratitude to my mom, I would like to say thank you for everything.

bought this box of chocolate to show my gratitute to my mom. Unfortunately, I cannot bring it back until I finished this year's study. then, beh tahan will finish all the Hershey's chocs in it. have to replace it then.



Happy Mother's Day

In loving memory of our grandpa

My grandfather just passed away today(9/May/2009) at 7.30am Malaysian time.

He was already in the hospital for quite a few days and was in a very critical condition. my sister and cousins told me that he was suffering and could not talk even thought he knew what was happening and he wanted to say something. He murmured something like..I'm thirsty, 我很辛苦.

I was told that he was strong, few people could have lasted that long with such condition, he struggled to stay with us for a longer period of time, he has a strong will. I remember my dad told me that grandpa was diagnosed with some disease when he was 59, when I was 1 year old. doctor told him that he had half a year to live. surprisingly, He lived until today which is about 80 year old. God's blessings are abundant in him.

My grandpa was a loving person, always with a smile. When I was in my primary school, he was still strong, always plowing the soil, planting vegetables. conditions changed when I was in my form 6, I noticed my grandpa was not as tough looking as he was suppose to be. and today God has taken him from us. May God be with him always. We love you grandpa.

I'm so sorry that I was not able to make it to visit you in your deathbed.
I hope I could have say the last few words to you.
May you be at peace, God be with you grandpa.



They celebrated his 80th birthday on 30th April, then his medical condition got worse and he left us less than 10 days later. I did not manage to say a word before he left.


November 2008, along with my mom, grandma and my cousins, he was there in the airport to bring me home.

November 2008

February 2009, the last picture of my grandpa I've taken before I go back to Dunedin.

Kena Saman by New Zealand Police

Last friday, I was chilling out at my friends' flat after working so much on assignments, I almost fainted. It was at Toraa, along with Peter and Fung, we chit chat about politics, geography and the tv shows we were watching. we did that until 2am then I and Fung decided to go home.

My house is 15minutes away from Toroa if I walk, so usually I would bike over which save so much time. I bought this second hand bike for NZ120(rm250)and does not have any lights installed.

On the way home, I saw a car in front of me and he flashes the car lights at me, then I thought they must be some kind of drunks trying to disturb me, so I biked faster to avoid them. surprisingly, the car began to chase me, then come close to me. I was like, are you kidding me? go home drunks! then they began to shout at me, saying : " hey, PULLOVER!".then I look clearly inside the car, they were Policemen! Oh my Gawd...then I stopped immediately.

That really 'made' my day when she told me you have no lights installed, you know it's dangerous to do that? I was like, I don't have the slightest idea that you have to put lights on for a bike, Malaysia doesn't do that. she was like...you gotta be kidding me!
then she complained about my helmet being too small for my head, then I told her, I've searched for a bigger helmet in the entire Dunedin, but I could not find one because my head is just too big to fit into a helmet. then she was like ".....................".
so she said fined me NZ55(rm110)for that.

Everyone must have thought kena saman is just for cars, but in NZ, I kena saman because I bike and my bike does not have lights installed!!
Never have I been saman in Malaysia or anywhere, I thought my very first saman is gonna be given when I was driving, It was not, It was biking!!!

Thus, NZ$55 just fly away like that, plus I just bought 2 lights, one for the front, one for the rear. which cost me around NZ$70(rm140). oh my Lord.

The moral of this story is that, we have to be careful of the police that's gonna appear anytime to fine ya. It also shows that Malaysia and New Zealand is different in strictness and types of laws and rules applied. People also ask if you can 'discuss' or give some 'kopi O' to the police, I believed NZ being one of the cleanest country in the world in terms of transparency and corruption would not fell into that, I may masuk lokap if i try to bribe them. Also, by principle I would never bribe a police even in Malaysia.
Find it interesting to share with you guys, so yeah..hope you guys enjoy the story.