Early morning on Melinsung Beach

Hope you like my Skywatch post! Check out more images on here.

 

I just love visiting my sister. She lives right next to the beach and it's great to wake up early and hear the surf outside.

I slide open the door and the sound is instantly magnified! 

This was last December. Can't wait to get back there again!

Respite

 

 We were on our way to Tabawan Island: passed this solitary hut in the sea.

Not too sure what it is, but I think it's a place where fishermen stop to rest. Maybe they prefer not to float about while they catnap!

I think that's a reasonable explanation! :) Maybe someone out there has a better idea? :)

Evening sun over Tabawan!

Darvel Bay has got to be one of the loveliest place I've been to. We stayed in this cute little wooden house on stilts in the water just 50m offshore of the island of Tabawan.

Imagine waking up to the sound of water lapping against the stilts of the house and ending the day with a sunset like this to the sound of crickets. Or some other insect. Maybe cicadas. I think we heard crickets.

Check out my video 'Sound of Silence' early morning on Tabawan island. No human sound. Just the water and the insects. Pure bliss! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVMY_ptKwd4

Yayasan Sabah Building

That building brings back so much memories.  It was the tallest building in the state (don't know about country or the South East Asian region, I'd like to think so, but it probably wasn't) when it was completed. I just found out that that was in 1977.

And I just also found out that it's now called Tun Mustapha Tower!!! How awful.  But that's just my personal opinion on the matter. I guess they (whatever authorities are entitled to do so) wouldn't have changed the name had there been a lot of protests.

This view is from the Likas Hospital, some 10km from Kota Kinabalu. I was in and out of the hospital visiting my mum, who was undergoing an operation at the time. Aug 2009. She's okay now. Recovering nicely and in the best of spirits. :) Love you mum :)

Those are Sabahan (left) and Malaysian  flags.

Penampang ~ Yaya siblinghood

Brother and sister outside a little shop in a little place called Kg Sarapung just outside of Penampang.

My security thing was sucking on my thumb :)

Tambunan sisters ~ sweet as can be!

Sisters in a market in Tambunan, waiting for their mom to pack up to go home. I can't remember their names now :(

Petagas Beach at sunset

A july sunset in 2009, not too far from my mom's place

Skywatching - Sunset on Petagas Beach

Petagas Beach, Sabah

Kunak ~ see food seafood!

I took this video while holidaying off Tabawan Island off Darvel Bay on the east coast of Sabah, Christmas 2008. And posted it to my youtube.

Guess what.

Someone expressed disgust at learning that these sea creatures were destined for the dinner table. I guess that is their prerogative. It would be better though, I think, if one stopped being an outsider looking in and tried and stepped into another's shoe and looked at things from that person's world. :)

I was waiting for my boat ride to come take me to an island. I had been observing this family of five maybe, three young kids in tow, in the water, poking about, wading and just looked like they were collecting shells out of the water. When they came out of the water, I was quite curious to see what it was they had collected, it turned out to be sea snails, a common (delicious) food in Sabah. :) I asked if I could take a video and they were kind enough to let me :)

Speaking Sabahan Malay :
lady : inda mau guyang suda tu (it doesn't want to move anymore)
me : tadi dia mau guyang (it moved just a sec ago)
inaudible chatter, giggling and more giggling
me : sya tangkap gambar dia mau guyang-guyang k? (let me film them moving about k?)
observing in silence

me : wah, pandai dia mau guyang kan, tapi ini inda mau kan? (wow, that one is moving, but this one wont huh?)

lady : nda (no)
man : nda pandai dia (nope it wont)

inaudible chatter, chills, more giggling

me : cuba kau pigang anu tu, kalau kau pigang dia punya anu tu, kasi kaluar ka dia punya anu tu? (that's me being imprecise..haha.. try touching that thing, if you touch it, will it stick its thingamijig out? my friends hate when i use the word 'anu'... it's a word that refers to anything.. in this case i meant its foot/ muscle/ tail/ whatever)
a bit of poking
lady : kacau-kacau sikit (poke them, move them)
more poking

me : kalau kau (inaudible.. even i cant understand what i said!! haha) dia jalan ka tu ah? (if i did (this?) will it move?)

me : tida mau suda, kalau kacau dia diam (it wont respond anymore, it is shutting down)
lady : diam suda dia (it wont move anymore)
me : ba ok la (ok then)
me : na ni na ni (oh look at this)
man : kalau kau di pulau isuk, tangahari kau puas-puas (inaudible) gambar ni (if you went to the island in the afternoon, you'd have a grand time taking pictures)
me : tida mau suda dia, ok la, thank you ah (it wont move anymore, ok then, thank you)

lady : welcome

inaudible chatter

And this is how it looks like ready to eat. Best grilled and eaten plain. And no mayonnaise! Yukk.