Borneo Rugby Sevens, the event that came & went without any fuss and anyone noticing it.

23-25 Sept., 2011 at Likas Sports Stadium, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

I thought I would like to do something completely different. Rugby in motion instead of  frozen action. Not a bad turnout, huh? At least it’s different from the usual rugby photo fares.

Rugby Sevens- the men version ©

Nothing to add to my previous comments about rugby, here & here. I thought I would give the big medallion men a big break.

Who vs Who?

Didn’t bother to look at the time. Too busy gulping down my big juicy burger. Sorry!

Rugby Sevens, the Women World, here and here. Be sure to see it!

Rugby Sevens as happened at Likas Stadium from 23-25 Sept.,  2011.

The tackle………………

Women Rugby Sevens ©

…………… And the Touchdown!

Tonga v Malaysia

What’s the score, mate?

Embarrassingly low for Malaysia

42-0 to Tonga

If rugby can keep the suspense on for just long enough, I am sure it can be a popular and exciting sport. As it is, I am afraid not. Too frequent start-n-stop spoils the fun. Watching cricket gives me that same feeling. My mind tends to wander away looking for just that little bit more interesting thing to do.  I know you groupies would disagree with what I have just said. You are entitled to your own opinion, my dear. It’s no skin off my nose. (<:

Rugby Sevens for the men, here

Rugby Sevens for the Women I, here

Rugby sport event as happened on 23-25 Sept., 2011 at Likas Stadium, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

Here comes Xena, the Warrior Princess

Women Rugby Warrior ©

Malaysia Vs Tonga

42-0 to Tonga.

I find rugby has got that missing ingredient somehow. Not quite sure what. Maybe the excitement is somewhat missing somewhere. The game needs to be electrified, you know,  rougher and bloodier. Yeah, I think that’s what’s missing. I could be wrong but then again I rarely veer on the wrong side.

Rugby Sevens for the men, here.

Rugby Sevens for the women part II, here.

This is one mean beach you would rarely hear any mention of.

Let’s be honest here! It’s actually part of a stretch of beach stretched into three. Collectively they are referred to as Tanjung Aru beach.  And for the locals’ convenience & ease of referring to for rendezvous purposes, they name them first, second and third beach. Easy. Now you know where I am, right? And where am I?

That’s correct. The second after the first.

The second beach is situated just right after the Prince Philip Park. It is a self -contained park. There is a food canteen on the site as well as a roller skating rink. Except the rink has now fallen into disrepair due to lack of maintenance culture being drilled into the local authorities here.  They prefer to lay the blame squarely on the public for any defects that may occur as a result of years of neglect. We may well one day do without any local councils if everything can be self-maintained forever. Better still, we may well do without any government if all humans can be well-behaved and full of unselfishness. Cut out all the costs & expenses of governing. Wouldn’t that be nice? No taxes to pay. And no overbearing bureaucrats to breathe down on your neck. Of course, that is not possible; but it’s nice to dream on.

Tanjung Aru Second Beach ©

The second beach can be quite a nice quiet spot to be in except during the weekends.

For more info, please go here. They are all the same beach and can be reached along the same shoreline.

Festival of the Purification After Completing the Fasting Month.

Officially, 3 days of celebrations over here in Sabah starting Aug 30- the first day of the Islamic month Shawwal (tenth).

Bornean Hari Raya ©

A Raya cultural dance as pictured at 1Borneo Megamall recently.

# The above image does not signify anything and holds no significant connotations whatsoever, religious or otherwise, and implied or otherwise.

It is not our intention to do so. Please do not read too much into anything.

Unravelling the mystery of a fancy bird. Getting to the bottom of a jigsaw puzzle. The final revelation to be unveiled. Come on in!

Would you have guessed it reading from the previous two posts, here and here?

Non? Ooh la la!

Here it is, the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle to be pieced together.

This particular bird species is especially fond of the tropical fruit ‘rambutan’. A fruit that can sure get me rambling on and on no end. I am sure you don’t want to hear about it, especially from me. The bird derives its name from its trademark label of having a large, long bill. Fortunately, it’s not a big-nose hallmark. That would be a shame. The bill, however, is not as heavy as it appears. It is not made of solid bone but of a honeycombed tissue. Black and white minstrel show may just about sum up the typical colour of this bird.

Breeding season

The female bird during the breeding season will be sealed inside a hole of a tall tree with plaster of mud and fibres. A small slit is then left open for the male to do its obligatory chivalry & civic duty, as ever, and faithfully deliver food to the female companion and her new-born chicks. It just goes to prove that the age of chivalry is still intact & truly well and alive, insofar as in the bird kingdom is concerned. What have women’s libs got to say to this? I wonder? Would that come under the category of sexism?

Endangered Species

The oriental pied hornbill is listed under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The area that this bird was spotted was not usually known, as far as I know, to be a common playground for this bird species. Somehow it must have taken a liking to the conducive environment that this place presents. Once it was spotted, plenty of bird watching activities then came into play and the place was buzzing with clicking activities all through the next few weekends. We had photographers swamping around the ground with all the latest showy photographic gadgets on display. What were they trying to do? Putting me to shame with my midget, ordinary looking DSLR photographic equipment? Damn! Damn! Damn! I had never felt so small and inadequate as to be like that time. Damn show-off cameramen .

Funny, when I first spotted the bird, I got some funny looks from some onlookers, thinking I must be a nutter clicking away at the bright blue sky. They weren’t to know, were they? There was a celebrity in and around the area. I must have been one of the first few to have spotted this bird. An honour for me, nonetheless.

Tanjung Aru Beach

That’s right! The place where this extraordinary sight occurred was in Tanjung Aru beach, the main beach. And, you know what, it was perched right above the place where everyone congregates to savour their food delight of the day. Right outside the food hall. And not a single one had spotted it. Too busy chomping through their food, I bet.

Here’s the picture of the oriental pied hornbill hopping from tree to tree. The bird has not been spotted for quite a while now. I am not even sure if it is still around. He and the female companion with grown-up chicks may have decided to hop it and migrate to somewhere else.

But you will never know, they may still be around. That’s the mystery of life as we know it.

Oriental Pied Hornbill ©

© All images are subject to Copyright terms and condition.

Revealing the secret of Sabah’s treasures hidden away since time began. Some fantastically gorgeous pictures in the Daily Telegraph of UK, here. Be there! Or be dumb!

A quote, supposedly from César Pelli, the architect of Petronas Twin Towers.

And so here we begin a tour of the twin towers of Kuala Lumpur, the colonial administrative headquarters, also goes under another name of Federal Administrative Territory of Malaysia.

Taking a break from all the fancy birds we’ve been goggling at .

Some interesting facts about the Petronas Twin Towers

1. Designed by Argentine architects César Pelli and Djay Cerico. Both are of foreign origins.

2. Engineering designs on structural framework were contributed by Haitian engineer Domo Obiasse and colleagues Aris Battista and Princess D Battista. More outlanders onboard.

3. Masterbuilders

Tower 1 : Hazama Corporation- a Japanese consortium

Tower 2: Samsung C&T and Kukdong Engineering & Construction- Korean   contractors.

Essentially, Made (in) Overseas, imported to KL.

Source: Wikipedia

Petronas Twin Towers ©

You may also like to pose yourself this question. What was the reasoning behind the twins having 88 floors on each side? For that we may need to consult a Feng Shui master to arrive at the modal logic. I honestly do not have an answer to that, that its not being a round figure of, say, 90 or 100.

Luke Skywalker

That’s the skybridge.

The towers feature a skybridge between the two towers on 41st and 42nd floors, which is not attached to the main structure, but is instead designed to slide in and out of the towers to prevent it from breaking during high winds. The bridge is 170 m (558 ft) above the ground and 58 m (190 ft) long, weighing 750 tons.  Visitors are only allowed on the 41st floor as the 42nd floor can only be used by the tenants of the building. Another far-fetched foreign idea. (Wiki source)

Pride & Joy

That’ right. The towers were/are the pride and joy of a former Malaysian prime minister. He goes by the name of Tun Dr. Mahathir, alternatively and cynically referred to as the Maestro of Mega Projects. But I must say I had no objection to this mega structure. Come to think of it , it was built courtesy of Sabah and Sarawak, no less. The maestro also had/has a comical run-in with Singapore over the Crooked Bridge mega project. The name itself is already generating tremendous amount of  laughter on both sides of the causeway. But that’s a long story I would rather leave to others to navigate through.

Maxis, Astro, make no difference to me

The building to your right is the Maxis Building, by the way. A tight-fisted corporation.

Lovebirds.

Onward journey into the flight of a Mohigan bird. Peeling off the layers one by one of a mysterious tropical bird.

Read the previous post on this enigmatic bird, here.

Here’s another clue about this bird: love to flap from tree to tree with nothing better to do other than cackling away all day long. Any the wiser yet?

A Mohigan Dive ©

Have no fear! All will be revealed in time to come. Just stay the course, and we shall see.

The final revelation, here.

A great revival of a bird species. And it’s in flight.

Would you be able to guess what kind of bird species this is? Its plumage is typically black and white. In fact, I have never come across this bird in real life and in the wild on top of that, until, that is, quite recently. It has now become quite a celebrity in the place where it was sighted.

What is it, do you think? Watch this space. All will be revealed in future posts.

Flight of a Mohigan ©

Meanwhile, take a break, have a kitkat.

The next revelation here.