Early March 2010: it was my first overseas trip in almost 10 years.

The People’s Republic of China – I kept reminding myself: remember, you’re in a communist country. That wasn’t too difficult to keep up: at many buildings the red flag could be seen.

It takes less than 3 hours direct flight via Air Asia from Kota Kinabalu.

5 days, 4 nights – first 2 days were surprisingly warm – only slightly less warm than El Nino shrouded Sabah. Then the last 2 days were cold: must’ve been below 10C at night.

Other tidbits seen/learnt:

I was quite surprised to see a Malaysian connection at Huanghuagang Martyrs Memorial Park in Guangzhou. Amongst the 72 stones representing the 72 people who died in the unsuccessful 1911 uprising by revolutionaries against the Qing Dynasty was one referencing Kuala Lumpur and another referencing Muar:

China is really Feng Shui-land, and Engrish-land:

They really take International Women’s Day seriously, which fell on 8th March, our last day there. Women get preferential treatment, like jumping queues at popular shows, on that day. We ordered takeaway at McDonald’s on Monday morning, and they included FOC what else but tea for my wife.

Rosedale Hotel in Guangzhou (4 stars) had spacious, excellent rooms. The other one at Shenzhen, Malaysian-owned Sunon Holiday Villa had much smaller rooms (like Cititel MidValley KL). But they had astoundingly many channels on the hotel TV: 42 in Guangzhou and 63 at Shenzhen!

Every meal in the tour was heavy. 11-course lunches are the norm. Some dishes are not quite what one would expect in typical Malaysian Chinese cuisine:

They serve local beer with every meal: either Tsingtao or Kingway. There’s another local brand I saw: Pearl River. All very cheap, equivalent of about RM2 even at 7-11.

Some said I could find pork at KFC / McDonald’s there but went I went to check them out – couldn’t find any in the menu.

Went to one of those 3-door-to-go-thru “warehouses” at Lo Wu City, Shenzhen (I’d call them Sarang Tikus Sdn Bhd) where fake (some say “used actual raw material”) designer goods can be bought at probably a quarter of the original asking price, and merely observing negotiations underway is an interesting social experiment in itself, even if you don’t understand a word being said. If I learnt and applied anything in this respect, it’s “stand your ground, no matter what tantrum they throw, then walk away slowly”: most of the time they’d call out and give you what you want.

Another person said prices at Shenzen, probably the fake goods capital of the world, is not like it used to be: much higher now.

Anything and everything was on sale, electronic cigarettes included. But perhaps the most unforgettable sight of the whole trip was seeing, with my own eyes, centipedes and scorpions on sticks being sold on one of the pedestrian streets in Guangzhou.

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When I was small, I remember that many of the houses that I visited had animals heads hung on walls, like so:

Popular animals seem to be the buffalo and the deer – with the horns being the centrepiece.

Definitely adds an exotic touch to the home living room – if ever I get hold of one of those highly sought after Outer banks foreclosures, I’d consider putting one of these babies on them walls.

It seems to be very much “in fashion” now, but amongst younger Sabahans, this is probably not practiced anymore. Modern small kids could be terrified of these heads jutting out of walls with unblinking big eyes staring right at them.

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In the middle of Tuaran there’s a clock tower, and it has been there for as long as I remember.

A few days before Christmas 2009 I noticed that it has become so:

A close up:

Isn’t that a little like thinking murad reviews is all about reviewing persons with the name Murad!

I wonder how long has it been like that, and when it will be fixed.

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Salim Khan Kabor, the proprietor of the Salim chain of restaurants has been inviting lion, unicorn and dragon dance troupes to perform at his premises during Chinese New Year for the past 10 years.

Is he the first, and only Indian Muslim restaurant owner in Malaysia to do this?

This year he did it on the 15th of February. It was supposed to start at 9.30pm, but I was informed that due to one troupe being held back and had to travel all the way from Telipok, the show only started around 10.45pm.

Some photos & videos I took when I was there.

The crowd started growing at 9 something, but it would be 1 more hour before the show actually starts. What it was like at 9.30pm:

View from another angle:

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We spent some time at the third beach of Tanjung Aru on the second day of Chinese New Year 2010, and I let my son use the camera. So he went off on a photography excursion.

When I looked through the photos he took later, one of them gave me a shock:

Of course it’s only a photo of someone playing bury-me-in-the-sand (sand is acne medicine?), but with that awkward hand gesture, that non-visible face and the 2 persons seemingly discovering the “body,” don’t you think it looks like somebody had drowned, or that there was a tsunami in Tanjung Aru?

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In early December 2009 I was sitting next to the sushi train at Wagamama Japanese Restaurant, Lintas when I noticed this piece of paper on the wall:

Therefore, I think parents with kids should NOT sit next to the counter. After all, which kid in the world can refrain from disturbing a moving toy train? That’s like saying everybody has read strivectin reviews, no?

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I went to the temporary GXFC market (lasts 22 January – 21 February 2010) at the Kadazandusun Cultural Association (KDCA), Penampang for the second time tonight.

I spent 90 minutes in total.

Missed the lion dance show last night: too tired to go.

There were more attractions than the last time I went there.

These 100-feet-long dragons at the main entrance have been there since before Christmas

Click here if you’d like to learn more about the event.

For the rides, they used tokens with a swastika:

But I’d like to focus on the Ghost House there.

Yes, there are several human ghosts walking around in the converted Murut House until the 21st.

So I wandered inside with my son – RM5 is the fee, kids go in free.

I found the whole thing more funny than frightening, although my son thought otherwise.

The place is apparently not so popular, so people came in trickles. Which made the “ghosts” bored.

So as we were about to go in, the doorman shouted inside “oi, ada orang!” [hey, there are people coming in!]. As I walked in I could see several “ghosts” sitting on the stairs, smoking away. When the “ghosts” saw us, they scampered off inside, presumably to take up their positions at strategic nooks and crannies in order to jump at us as we walk past.

When we reached the top of the stairs, 2 people started to walk behind us, apparently as guides to prevent us from going the wrong way or a dead end. Or to help the “ghosts” should anybody dared to beat them up. These 2 were also smoking all the time while walking behind us.

The Ghost House should be called The Smoke House.

Still, I must say the organisers did quite a good job at transforming the house into a place not unlike a horror movie set.

Well, my son screamed everytime a creature wrapped in white cloth and Halloween mask lumbered across to block our way, or someone in a wig writhed on the floor and touched our ankles.

The 2 people at the back kept reassuring us that these were not real ghosts, as if we didn’t know that.

Then, at the end of the performance, the “ghosts” offered to take photos with us, to which my son replied emphatically: “DON’T WANT!” and dashed off to the exit.

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Towards the end of 2009 I went up Bukit Perahu / Bukit Ruhiang / St Veronica’s Hill in Tamparuli. However, I went late, only reached the halfway point as it was getting dark.

Started around 5.25pm, this is the signboard:

From the main road, the way up looks like this:

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I think it’s time for an update since my last post about this about 2 years ago.

Has he gotten over all things Ultraman? Not in the least! If anything, I am seeing more Ultraman-themed toys lying about.

One of the things I remembered to take a photo of was this keychain.

And an Ultraman gun:

And an Ultraman blowup:

And an Ultraman birthday cake for his 5th birthday:

There was a photo of him beaming with an Ultraman ride which I can’t locate now. Then there was that Ultraman mask. Of course he can play Ultraman on Playstation for hours, has countless Ultraman statues, and there was once an Ultraman watch.

I saw Ultraman underwear in a shop some time back but luckily he didn’t see them.

Probably as a result of all this, now I can see Ultraman everywhere. Heck, I even noticed the name of the following foodstall in Lido recently:

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Growing rapidly in popularity, there’s a few outdoor paintball ranges in Sabah, but in Kota Kinabalu at least, there’s the one and only indoor paintball arena in the shape of the Sabah Survivor Painball Games, at Asia City, next to the food court.

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