Gaya Island: The Story Behind
Gaya island is one of the largest island, located near Kota Kinabalu town which is protected by Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. The only way to get in the island from the main land is by passenger boat. Its consumed approximately 10 minutes to reach there. If you like to traveling for leisure, Gayana Resort is suits you. Its located along Western shores of the island where boasts some beautiful coral and un-spoilt beaches.
We decided to travel the other side of the island, called Lok Urai village, its located at the eastern shores. Our visit was well received by the villagers, there were very friendly and welcoming people. Even though to the outsider or photographer.
- A fascinating view of Lok Urai Village. This shot was taken from the hill side of Gaya Island”
Its over 1000 floating people has dominated by Bajau and Filipino, still live the traditional way of fisherman. As their population grew, new floating houses has been built and spread along the shores. They don’t regard about sanitation. The position of their houses is approximately 3 – 5 meter distance to each neighbor. All is linked together by a series of wooden walkways. Imagine from the top view, you’ll see the network bridge scattered above the sea shores whereas their houses were placed in between. That’s why each family is well recognized each other, every of them. This things are unique for me and introduce you to the local and custom culture.
- A boy pass through on wooden walkways as he heading to playing area.
- Their houses has connected each other by the series of wooden walkways, forming a huge network bridge scattered around
Facilities And Lifestyles..
According to the villagers, there are only a few basic amenities such as well water supply system, schools, nurseries, mosques, retail stores and grocery. For those who needed medical treatment, they had to fetch to the main land. Most houses are well-equipped with television, set sofa and kitchen. Like the old times, this village has no electricity facilities. In order to powering up their electrical utilities, they had invested some small generators.
- The villagers power up their electrical utilities using small generator as seen at the right hand side
Most of them as fisherman. Some of them work in the city, while their wife becoming a housewives. There are also unemployed, especially of young people and youth. For speedboat owner, seems they are kept busy ferrying schoolchildren, then they traders, then housewives who would like to get some goods and daily needs at the market in town. That things happened in the whole day.
- A women who preparing “Kue-Tiaw” soup to her customer. The price for a bowl of soup is RM1
- A 70 year old women spending time with her grandchildren at balcony
For the children who don’t attend school, usually spend their daily lives together with playing the classic outdoor games, playing soccer on the other dry land area and always actively swimming regardless of time of day. Taking shower with seawater is normal and fun for them, that’s why they became a good swimmer as young as 4 years old. Either for unemployed youth, they also spend time together with playing “pool”, “pukas” and guitar. They seem to live in peace and harmony as no worries to the outside world.
- A couple of boy shows his action during taking shower in the morning
- A couple of children and youth are playing “Pukas”. One of the main local games in the Gaya Island
- One of they favorite entertainment is cock fighting. Two boys seems happy control his rooster by holding tight to its tail as seen above
- A youth shows his performance by aiming a pieces carrom using cue. The game known as “pool”. Consists with 4 hole, they just follow the number that appeared on the card to accomplish one complete game
- A couple of children are playing small portable “Pool” on the dry land area where a tons of garbage lying on the ground
- A thick smoke comes out from the bamboo cannon as his blow into the firing hole. Once the air and kerosene fuel mixture up, he would be pass the lit stick over the firing hole to make an explosion
- A couple of children are playing cards on wooden walkway. The boy seen patted to the floor in order to blow card away
PhotoStory: Gaya Street (Sunday Market), Kota Kinabalu
- Old coins for sale where displayed on the ceramic tray
old money for sale
- local handicrafts
pet is ready for sale
rubbish bin are provided along the pathway
Niah Cave Trails (Video)
- The Mouth Of Great Cave
The journey consumed about 1 hr and 30 min drove from Miri Airport to Niah National Park Headquarters. Accommodation facilities is quite comfortable, it consist of chalets units and hostel-style rooms, all with electricity and piped water. It took approximately 4 hrs on average to spent you time visiting caves, it depends on the how many caves that you wish to visit. In total you may spending about 7 hours including travel time for trekking about 3.5 km from Niah River to The Great Cave.
- Niah Cave Map
[Image/map via Sarawak Forestry]
I never seen this kind of cave before. Like the other people said, It’s very huge cave and can fit a few aircraft (Boeing 747) inside it. Have a look the video about our trail to Niah Cave on day 2. More incoming pictures inside the cave soon..stay tuned and enjoy!..
Kota Kinabalu Trip
Kota Kinabalu Town at night
Kota Kinabalu is situated on the island of Borneo. Here there is i attached a few fact about Kota Kinabalu from wikipedia:
Kota Kinabalu (pronounced [ˈkɔtɑ kɪnɑbɑlʊ]; Chinese: 亚庇, formerly Jesselton[1], is the capital of Sabah state in Malaysia. It is also the capital of the West Coast Division of Sabah. The city is located on the northwest coast of Borneo facing the South China Sea. The Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park lies on one side and Mount Kinabalu, which gave the city its name, is nearby. Kota Kinabalu proper has a population of 617,972 while the larger urban area has an estimated population of 900,000. It is the largest urban centre in Sabah and the sixth largest in Malaysia.[2]
On my recent trip to Kota Kinabalu, i took several photograph about must-go places were you should find with:
Lok Kawi Wild Life Park
Tanjung Lipat, Likas
One of the restaurant at Jalan Sembulan
Kota Kinabalu City Mosque
Handicraft market, also known "Philipine Market". One of the famous local market in Borneo
The situation inside the "Philipine's Market"
100 Photos Of PhotoGame
Photograph by Manjuzri
Happy Chinese New Year
Venue: Main Hall of One Borneo Mall, Kota Kinabalu
