What smells?

While waiting for the collection of the pizzas, Br Ekbertus decided to use the waiting time to take me around KK. Originally, we intended to visit the museum, but almost every 5 minutes, I would see something interesting that required a pit stop.

One of these stops is at a place called Sembulan. Known as the slump of KK, what caught my immediate attention was the smell of the place. The shanty cluster of about what seemed to be about a hundred plus homes built over a moss-infested river filled with refuse. Imagine the stench of everything rotting away!

I seized the opportunity to capture a little of the area before it goes. Good thing that within this year, the government is planning to resettle all inhabitants.

More images up loaded on http://imaginativedarkroom.blogspot.com/.

Happy Niu (cow) Year

My journey back from Tambunan to KK's international airport took about 90mins. But in that one and a half hour journey, I saw a good part of Sabah. Not all of it, just a good part of it - passing and stopping by small villages, little churches, pady fields, winding up and down mountains, etc.


I decided to use this image today because it's the Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve today. Tomorrow, we usher in the year of the Ox. The ox or water buffalo (in Vietnamese zodiac), through fortitude and hardwork, is a symbol of prosperity. The water buffaloes I passed by were probably preparing their year of hardwork. They were on their annual break from the nearby pady fields grazing the greens and were free to roam, including where the main road is. Good to know at this day in age, drivers still slow down for obstructing animals. :O)

Definitely a reminder for me to go slow, visit other pastures and rest my body. During the next couple of days of break, I plan to do just that.

Wishing all lotsa red packets to collect!

Sabah: Special delivery

Totally unheard of in the Nabawan region of Sabah and it was probably the topic of conversation for most of these boarding students with their other fellow schoolmates the following morning. A generous donor sponsored a Christmas party for the 80 children in the Asrama. But since they were home for the holidays, Bro Ekbertus used the money to buy KFC (the week before) and pizza for all 80! For the most of them, it was their first time trying these forms of fastfood. The closest they ever got to it was about 5m from the television screen.

Since there are no such reataurants in Nabawan, Bro Ekbertus and I transported 40 large-size pizzas all the way from Kota Kinabalu - about a three hours away! It even took the restaurant about 2 hours to prepare the order. The closest fastfood chain from Nabawan is in Keningau, about a 70min journey away. You can just imagine the smiles on their faces that evening for dinner. :O)

Serene Sabah

I'm back! It's been a short but peaceful trip. The three places I visited are Kota Kinabalu (KK to the locals), Nabawan and Tambunan. The la Salle Brothers have set up schools and boarding houses (known as Asrama) in these three areas catering to the needs of the students in those areas. Most of the students whose homes are far, far away from their schools (some as far as a 6 hour journey), live in the asrama to cut down on travel time.

As I sort out the images for the blog over the next few days... enjoy the spectacular view of Mount Kinabalu! :O)

Travel: Sabah

Today I leave for Sabah, East Malaysia for an assignment. It for a la Salle Brothers recruitment project that I have been working on. Although famed for its lush scenic national parks and mountain trekking, my itinerary will make three pit stops from Kota Kinabalu to Nabawan, to document footage for a mini documentary that I am working on for the Brothers. Will be back on Saturday.