I happened to be Kota Kinabalu in November 2004 and the Borneo Orchid Society of Sabah (BOSS) held their Annual Orchid Show. I think it was held at Maksak Sabah.
I like the abbreviation B.O.S.S
Although the place wasn’t really that big, there were quite a number of different types of Orchids on display. I may be wrong but I believe most of them can be found in Sabah itself.
I do not know the names of the Orchids. In fact, I am not do at identifying flowers so I shall not embarrass myself and as they say “A Picture Paints a Thousand Words”, I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
There were a lot more types of Orchids that were on display and if I were to post all of them, it would be a very long post. In fact, I never thought there were so many types of Orchids out there and many of which are not just your average looking ones. They are a very spectacular species of flowering plants out there. Some actually look fake until you touch them.
These are flowers taken from the Kinabalu National Park up Crocker Range in 2002. It is the first State Park of Sabah set up in 1964 and recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2000. The first in Malaysia. If I was a Sabahan, I would certainly be proud of this status and for the lush landscape and natural resources that Sabah has. No matter how Singapore tries, it will never be able to match up to what Sabah can offer in this area. It is God’s gift to Sabah.
The Kinabalu National Park at 1653 meters high is the first start off point to climbing Mount Kinabalu which peaks at 4095.2 meters. There is a lush garden which is home to many orchids and plants unique to the region. It is indeed a sight to behold and the 2 hours drive from Kota Kinabalu City is certainly worth the effort. Along the way, do drop by Kundasang. In fact, the view up Crocker Range is quite magnificent and if you are in Kota Kinabalu, you should make the trip up even if you are not climbing the peak of Mount Kinabalu.
Well, this is not a real Rafflesia but the actual one does grow very big
The view from the park is speculator and I cannot help but being humbled by it
With that I made my way back to Kota Kinabalu City. This is definitely not my last visit to Kinabalu National Park and I shall return.
If you are following my blog, you would noticed that the pictures are a lot bigger this time. Well, I finally found out where to set the photo display size in WordPress and it definitely helps. I would stick to this size for all future blogs.
Since it is the 12th Anniversary of Kota Kinabalu as a City, I thought it was fitting to include a photo blog of the KK City through the years during my visits to this lovely city.
Kota Kinabalu in 1999
Wisma Sabah Building
Kota Kinabalu City in 2000
The old bus terminal in front of Centrepoint where Warisan Square Shopping Centre is now located
Kota Kinabalu City Celebrates its first year as a City
Kota Kinabalu City in 2001
The Sabah State Railway train before the upgrade
Old long distance bus stop where Wisma Bandaraya is at now
Kota Kinabalu City in 2002
The site in front of Harrison is Suria Sabah is on was initially used as a car park
Sugarbun Restaurant at near Jesselton Point
Kota Kinabalu City in 2003
The Waterfront and B.E.D. is being constructed
This was before the time when the Waterfront was rebuilt in front of Wisma Merdeka
Kota Kinabalu City in 2004
This was the year when Tanjung Aru Beach food plaza was built with Sugar Bun as one of its main tenants
On the left of Centrepoint and in front of Le Meriden Hotel is the site of Warisan Square Shopping Centre
Kota Kinabalu City in 2005
Across the road from Promenade Hotel in Jalan Tun Fuad Stephens were rows of eateries. This is the current site for the Kota Kinabalu City Waterfront project which is currently under construction
Kota Kinabalu City in 2006
Warisan Square Shopping Centre is being constructed
The Euro Traveling Theme Park visited KK City in 2006 at the spot where Suria Sabah sits on now
Construction work for 1 Borneo – Sabah’s Biggest Mall begans
Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) Airline used to operate flights from Taipei to Kota Kinabalu but the flights have been discontinued
Kota Kinabalu in 2007
2007 saw the opening of the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park which is Sabah’s first official Wildlife Park or Zoo
Warisan Square Shopping Centre construction was completed and it opened its doors to shoppers and visitors alike
Several shops such as Times Bookstore and Sweet Secrets made its debut to its Kota Kinabalu customers
Kota Kinabalu in 2009
1Borneo opens its doors and with that came Tunes Hotel and Diaso store from Japan
Cititel Express Hotel opened its doors
Kompleks Asia City opened it doors too
2009 was an exciting year as it was the year where many new shopping centres were opened including Suria Sabah which brought in Metrojaya for the first time into East Malaysia
Kota Kinabalu in 2010
The Shoreline in front of Suria Sabah is being constructed
Kota Kinabalu in 2011
The Waterfront
The waterfront boardwalk in front of Sabah Suria and Wisma Merdeka is taking shape
The Logos Hope visits Kota Kinabalu for the 1st time
I read a lot about InfraRed Filter in 2002 and being excited, I bought an IR filter from the US for my Olympus C2100UZ camera. These are the photos I’ve taken from the Prince Philip Park in Tanjung Aru, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. It certainly gives a different perspective on things.
The science behind Infrared is rather confusing even for a greek like me so I shall not try to explain anything. I enjoy taking IR photos as it provides a different perspective of things around us. Everything becomes more surreal and there is simply no bad pictures in IR photography. Leaves are whiter and sky gets darker. It puts you in an alternative world.
My present camera does not support adding lenses filter as it does not have any threads to clip or screw any filters on but I will see if I could find a way to do it. I would also need to check if it does work with the camera as technically most digital camera would come equip with IR blocking filters in the camera itself.
Hope you enjoy the pictures. I will of course post the real world Prince Philip Park photos in the future.
Kota Belud in Sabah is not your typical rustic town of Sabah, it is the home of the West Coast Bajau people. The Bajaus are your typical seafaring people and in most parts of the Malay Archipelago, there are still groups of Bajaus who still continue to live a seaborne lifestyle. The Bajaus people is the second largest group of ethnic people of Sabah, the Kadazandusun being the largest.
Like the other bajaus in the distant past, the West Coast Bajaus were seafarers but with constant contact and trading with the Kadazandusun people, they slowly move landward and started subsistence farming.
The Bajau of Kota Belud are renowned horsemen and are dubbed the “Cowboys of the East”. In researching for the post, I could not find any article on how the West Coast Bajau gain their riding skills but I guess could speculate. Horses were not indigenous to Sabah or Borneo Island for that matter and I believe they must been brought in by the British under the administration of the North Borneo Chartered Company and subsequently as a British Colony. There are several turf clubs and riding clubs in Sabah now so I guess the West Coast Bajau people may have worked for the British as jockeys and have perfected their horse riding skills.
In November 2002, I was in Kota Kinabalu and I was excited that the Kota Belud Tamu Besar (Big Market) Festival was held during my stay and I had to make a visit.
The Majestic Mount Kinabalu
Arrived at Kota Belud
Kota Belud is a small rustic town with a very rustic fell to it.
First sign that it is a cowboy town is the gun shop. I have not seen anyone in Kota Kinabalu carrying guns around apart from the Police and the Army so a gun shop is certainly quite different.
Not to be outdone by Hollywood, Kota Belud has its own sign in the hill
There is a small town centre but much of Kota Belud are largely rural
More pictures of Mount Kinabalu
Inching nearer the Central Market and the horse displays
Goat glazing in the field
In most parts of the world which I’ve been to, you get fined if you illegal park your car but in Kota Belud, you get find if your animals are found to be roaming outside freely. The sign said that if any animal is found in the streets or roaming wild, would be caught and the owners would be fined. If the animal is not claimed within 14 days, it would be auctioned off.
It is certainly a crowded market day
Betel Nuts sold at the market
Seafood being sold at the Tamu Besar Kota Belud
Conch flesh being sold at the market
Backpacks of the Bajau
I did see several ladies carrying this in my earlier trip and it was definitely a good idea to carry one especially on a market day like today. It is certainly eco-friendlier than plastic bags and free the hands to do more shopping
Now off to the horse display
The West Coast Bajau are very colorful people and they do take pride in dressing up their horses too
The VIPs at the Event
A little video clip of the event
A Crowd is gathering to watch the performance
The horse and his rider taking a rest in the shade
Not to be outdone, here comes the water buffalo
The horses riding without their costumes
The Tug of War match between two groups of horsemen
A young horse waiting for his spa treatment
I did a little shopping before proceeding back to Kota Kinabalu after a very eventful day. It was certainly a totally different experience.
With that, I’ve ended my visit to Kota Belud
Would a 100% Discount Shop means that everything is free ?
Chung Hwa School in Kota Belud
Yikes! Roaming cows
A cute traffic adversary which said “Don’t Cross Like a Chicken. Look Right, Look Left, Look Right then Cross”.
Hope you enjoy this post as I’ve enjoyed being there in Kota Belud.
I visited 2 mini zoos in Kota Kinabalu during my visit in the early 2000s. I applauded the effort and care for nature these people have to showcase what Sabah has to offer in terms of its wildlife.
There were several delays but I was excited when it was announced that the Sabah 1st Zoo, the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park was officially opened in January 2007. Naturally, I love animals and I visited the wildlife park when I visited Kota Kinabalu in May of 2007. This park is located some 15km away from KK City.
Inching closer to the entrance
The Lok Kawi Wildlife Park currently occupies a land area of about 280 acres and is one of the largest wildlife park in Malaysia
Blue and Gold Macaws
Wreathed Hornbill
Rhinoceros Hornbill
Chital Deers
A Sumatran Rhino camouflaged in the mud
Bananas on the tree
Emu
Borneo Pygmy Elephants
Stork
A sleepy Malayan Tiger resting in the afternoon Sun
It found another nice position to sleep
The playful Orang Utan
An Orang Utan posing for pictures
A Borneon Gibbon at play
Lesser Mousedeer
Red Muntjac
Tambeng
Who’s that on my head ?
Ostrich
A baby proboscis monkey wondering how a key taste like
The Male Proboscis Monkey with his harem
A Male Sambar Deer on the look out
Sambar Deers feeding
When I visited in May 2007, parts of the park was still under construction
With that we ended our visit to the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, it is definitely a very good effort especially since this is the first zoo in Sabah. Now 5 years later, I am sure there would be a lot more animals in the park and I would certainly want to visit it again in the future.
I visited the Sabah Zoological Society Zoo a couple of times and this is the visit in 2003. This mini zoo is near the Salut Power Station and I remember having to go up a hill to the zoo entrance. This mini zoo opens to the public only on weekends and public holidays.
Prior to the opening of the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park in 2007 in Sabah, there were several mini-zoos set up by the some enterprising individuals with the passion for caring for the wildlife in Borneo. Most of the animals in the zoo are rescued animals and birds from the wild or were left abandoned.
One of which was the one I visited in 2002. We did passed a white metal bridge overlooking a river and the zoo is about 6km after that. I was informed that this mini zoo was in Kimanis and currently is no longer in existence.
The White Metal Bridge over the River
There is no name to the zoo, it was just called “Zoo”
Muntjac (Common Barking Deer)
Sambar Deer
This deer was rescued in Tuaran
A pair of baby crocodiles
White Peafowl
Guinea Fowl
Peacock with the Sambar Deer
Lesser Whistling Ducks
White Muscovy Ducks
Horned Billed Goose
The Common Porcupines can be found locally in the forested lowlands and highlands of Kinabalu
The Malayan Tiger is not indigenous to Borneo Island. This tiger comes from the Melaka Zoo
In the early 1990s, Ostrich farming was introduced to Sabah
Owls
A very exhausted Common Palm Civet aka Musang
Very tired Masked Palm Civet
Great Argus
Short Tailed Mongoose
Wreathed Hornbill
Crested Fireback Pheasants
Crested Goshawk
A Very Happy Sun Bear
Monitor Lizard doing the “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t” .. well almost
Sleepy Bearcat
A Working Horse
Chickens
Ducks
Leopard Cats
Bornean Gibbon
Emu
Rhea
Sorry for the long picture post. There is actually a lot to see in a mini zoo and I really enjoyed myself. I would certainly want to revisit if I know where this mini zoo is and if it is still in existence.
With an ethnicity rich and racially integrated society like Sabah Malaysia, it was its State Government goal to promote the importance of culture in its development agenda. With that, the first Sabah International Folkore Festival was held in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia between May 29 to June 2nd 2001. This coincided with both the Kaamatan (Harvest) Festival of Sabah and the Colours of Malaysia Month. The first folklore festival kicked off with 11 countries participating namely from Malaysia, Poland, Taiwan, Austria, Croatia, Canada, Mali, Agentina, Brunei, China and Turkey.
A presentation of the folklore festival was held at the Sunday Gaya Street Market on June 3rd 2001 where I happened to be at. As this was taken some 11 years ago, I am unable to identify the countries but do enjoy the photos.
The 6th Sabah International Folklore Festival will be held on 8th – 17th July 2012 so if you are in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, do drop by and enjoy cultural dances from across the globe in the beautiful land of KK.
During my visit to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah in November 2002, I walked over to the the Water Village along Jalan Costal. This was roughly where the new Ming Garden Hotel and Harbour City is on now and across the road from KK Times Square. In 2002, it was basically swamp land or pond. Part of this Water Village still exists behind Harbour City.
This was when Sabah Oriental Hotel was called Beverly Hotel
Wisma Muis in the background
Masjid Negeri Sabah (Sabah State Mosque) in the background
Heron Feeding time
The Majestic Mount Kinabalu in the background
Heron in Flight
Outdoor Shower
On the far right, Grace Garden is being constructed
Building with the blue roof is Wisma Anglican
This is where KK Times Square 2 is being constructed now
Sutera Harbour Golf Course in the background
Sutera Harbour Resort in the background
Gaya Island in the background
The field in front is currently part of the Bus Terminal
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