Treasure in Penampang

2009-07-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

Donggongon Town

I am basically grew up in this town and I know Donggongon town can offer you a lot of exciting stuff. Some who never or rarely go down to this town will have confusion of pronouncing 'Donggongon'. May be its because of the letters in that word are all the same, n,g and o. Anyways we Penampang folks are used to it. Facilities such as library, sports complex, government offices and coming up is the longest shopping mall in Sabah, Mega Long will be on operation can be found around the town area. Although fast development going on, we never forget and will continue to have our extra ordinary tamu ground all the time :).

You can find numerous sundries around such as Soon Seng and Chin Guan mini market. Old brand and old style products such as the "adidas kampung" (local people use this shoe to go hiking or to their farm) still sell these type of things. Well at the moment the only super market around is Chua Kah Seng (CKS) super market.

Restaurants offering the best of Penampang such as the Sangavian, Hinompuka cafe (offers traditional food and beverages) and the best ngui cap you can find around, the Loi Hin Ngiu Cap. sslluurrpp!! just thinking about it make me hungry (caution: too much meat can make your blood preasure go up, so be moderate on eating ngiu cap :) ). One more restaurant wich has been doing business for more than a decade is the Penampang Chicken Rice restaurant, their chicken rice is still as good as before. Ahh..not forgetting the malay restaurant around such as senario cafe.

Aramai ti! (local phrase on telling others to have fun). There are also numerous pubs and karaokes in this town such as RAWK !!, CHEERS, FRIENDS, EGYPT and a lot more, offering locals for a place to have a good time with friends or families. If you just want to drink+ good pusas (food you take while drinking)-entertainment, kedai kopi such as TOP 10 and Raja Wang serve various types of beers and beverages :).

Last but not least, Donggongon is a very important town because daily necessities can be found and this town also provide job employments for the locals.

L: Donggongon Library
m: CKS & Library
r: Mega Long under construction

L: CKS supermarket
m: Donggong town center
r: Donggongon Square

l: Police station
m: Futsall center
r: Majlis daerah old building

l: tamu ground
m: sports complex
r: adidas tambunan :-)

2009-07-07T20:22:00.001-07:00

Tamu Donggongon

Hey..its been a while since my last write up. Just deliver a beautiful baby girl and here I am again trying to share anything under the sky about Penampang :).

You will definitely not missed this spot if you ever go down to Donggongon. Tamu or Tomu as pronounced by the local people is an interesting place to visit actually. I don't know how many more youngsters will go to tamu now a days. hhmm..must teach my children to go to this place when they are big enough. For me, I'm looking forward to visit the tamu ground every week. By the way my grandma sell local vegetable there :). I just don't know why I really like the atmosphere. Ahh..the sound of the gong beating...the smell of the fresh fruits and kuih...who can resist not to look around? The tamu will start operating on Wednesday evening and end on Friday evening.

You can find almost everything in the tamu ground from vegetable to fish to fruits to local cakes and so on. I will never miss to pass by one of the corner which is the traditional handicrafts and accessories corner (some where in the middle of the tamu ground). Other than that you can also see some traditional medicine or herbs being sell around this corner.

Now a days not only the local people do business in the tamu ground but established company such as Digi, Celcom, Nestle and many more are trying to penetrate the purchasing power of tamu folks.

Here are some shoots I took some time ago in tamu ground. Enjoy it!

L: Buying mee bungkus for breakfast! (Mee si Gemuk is the best!)
mid: Plastic products
R: Fruits plan lets

L: Some handicrafts
M: Ikan bilis anyone?
R: My favorite corner

L: old ladies selling tinggaton stuff ..hehehe..
M: Fresh local vege. I can see my favorite pakis on the right XD
R: Sigup (tobacco) section

L: Ikan bilis lagi (testing my skill on taking picture, ada ok ka?)
M: Tobacco corner
R: closed up on one of the sigup

The core ingredient of Moginggat

L: Gambir
M: Daing
R: Tapou

2008-12-10T20:11:00.000-08:00

Tomui Integrated Farm

Hero, Tomui Integrated Farm emblem
The Oldest and Biggest goat on the farm

I am so excited about this post of mine, hehehe... I will share with you about my experience to Tomui Integrated Farm. Located in Kampung Tomui, some where along Inobong road. In order to get to Jalan Inobong, you will have to take the Jalan Papar Lama route. The junction to Jalan Inobong is at the left side from the main road (Jalan Papar Lama) and it is about 3 minutes drive from Donggongon Town. Along the way, you will pass by few more kampungs before you reach the junction of Kampung Tomui which is at the left hand side of the road (Jalan Inobong). There is a new housing (flat) development on going right before the Kampung Tomui junction. Hope the direction thing is good enough, I tried my best. :) ..ooo..those of you who have been to St. Theresa Church Inobong, I am sure you will know which junction it is.

Ok, back to the farm. I got to know this farm from a friend of mine, Ms. Fanny Kinajil, which is also the owner of the farm. Tomui Integrated Farm is mainly doing goat farming. According to Fanny, the setting up of their farming project was in October 2006 and business implementation started only in January 2007. They started only with 5 young goat to rear and it was quite a tough time for them in the early stage of the business where they lost 4 of their goats and spend a lot of time learning and experimenting on how to take good care of their goats. All of these paid off at last for now they have manage to multiply their herds to 120 and still counting. :)

One thing which I need to express here about this farm is that, the moment I am out of my vehicle, I did not actually get that uneasy smell of an animal poo poo.. not until Fanny ask me " ada kau tecium bau tai itu kambing ka bila ko sampai?" Only then my brain started to tell me that I was suppose to smell the bau tai kambing. :) Actually, this incident tells me indirectly that they are very particular about the cleanliness of their farm. I have to step on the antiseptic liquid before I can go in and out of the goat house. Well, I have to give them credit for the cleanliness of their farm when I visited Fanny that day.

The exciting part about this farm is that, some of the goats here actually have a name! As I when in to the goat house, I notice that the goat are separated in to a groups by a partition. If I am not mistaken they are separated according to what breed they are. They have their maternity ward for goat as well. hehehe...its sound funny but its true, any mother goat that need to deliver baby, they will be put into a cage just for themselves up until they deliver and their kid is independent enough to feed themselves then only the mother goat can join the others.

At the moment, they have few type of breed such as boers, ferrel and local breed. They never actually let their goats out from the goat house. This is because they don't want the goat to get infected by deceases out there. They feed their goat with napeir leaves (rumput gajah) which they grew themselves, local leaves, soy meals, corn and other concentrate. When I listen to Fanny on how exactly she take care of the goats, it is actually not easy because they do need a lot of TLC (tender loving care) like human. hehehe... oo..and one more thing, in lay man words, goat also need pedicure. :)

These goats are mainly breed to satisfy the goat meat industry locally. Tomui Integrated Farm only sell live goat and it cost around RM 25.00 per Kilo (Boer goat). I have learn that boers's meat are more tender. hhmm.. hope this post of have been informative enough for you. If you wish to have more info about the farm or just feel like wanna post something on this post regarding to the topic, please post your comment on the comment box.

Enjoy the pictures below :)

Our welcoming drink ! hehehe.. not only in Kadai Kopi..in the farm also got...

Fanny telling me to step on the antiseptic puddle before going in to the goat house.

Left: The goat house. Ada jaring lagi rumah kambing ni...
Right: pregnant women in the house !

Left: Ferrel goat. How to identify which breed are they? You got to learn how to look at their ear. (long, short, floppy and so on)
Right: All the goats in this farm have that yellow thing on their ear. That is for injecting some medicine or health supplement for the goat.

Left: Waiting for their food to come
Right: Because its school holiday so Fanny got some extra helper to help her out on the farm :) Good exposure for the young ones.

Left: One of the goat doing small business :)
Mid: This goat really know how to pose! He did not move an inch while waiting for my sister to take his picture.
Right: Sherry feeding goat with corn.

Left: Goat eating corn
Right: If I am not mistaken, his name is Percieval..hehe.. but he look really cool.

Left :This is the rumput gajah, grow freely around the farm.
Right: Can you see any one?

Left: Fanny reading some health material
Right: Luke playing with dog

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2008-12-03T05:15:00.000-08:00

Traditional Costume Gallery

Bangkad Tolumis means beautiful clothes in Kadazan or Lotud. This is a must visit place for those who want to know more about the local traditional costume. It is situated at Hongkod Koisaan (KDCA) Penampang. Bangkad Tolumis offers you a chance to wear your favorite traditional costume and have your photos taken as a remembrance. Photo session will took place at the Hongkod Koisaan ground which feature a myriad of authentic traditional houses for you to choose from. Costume Renting are available for any occasions such as wedding, company annual dinner and so on. If you wish to have your own traditional costume, you can also get it from Bangkad Tolumis.

Those who have been away from home and wish to get your traditional costume to bring back with you, don't hesitate to drop by. Just by getting one costume, you will get more knowledge about some other costumes which offers by Bangkad Tolumis.

Some of the traditional houses which can be your photo session back ground.

Some of the traditional costume which you can choose from traditional costume gallery.

Some other souvenir which you can consider to bring back with you.

So if you happen to be in Kota Kinabalu or specifically in Penampang, do visit Bangkad Tolumis for traditional costume adventure. :)

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2008-11-19T21:25:00.000-08:00

My Kampung

Kampung means Village in malay language. Here in Penampang, we have so many interesting kampung (KG.) which offers their own uniqueness and beauty plus the villagers are very friendly.

I have been living in Kg. Pogunon for as long as I can remember. Plus minus the years that I when to futher my study at UUM, its actually not that long. I'm sure some of you will know were exactly is this kampung but for those who never heard about this village, you will want to come and visit us once you finish reading this blog. hehe..

In order for you to reach Kg. Pogunon, you have to follow the Tambunan Road. In about 10 minute drive from Donggongon Town, you will reach the kampung jucntion which is at the right side. A map to show the jucntion to Kg. pogunon. Kg. Pogunon is also a part of crocker range (we are just at the crocker range foot). There are two rivers runs though the kampung. One is the Timpango river and the other is Moyog river and these rivers was actully one of my best play ground when I was younger. hehe.. budak kampung mandi sungai moyog...Our usual activities will be of course bathing in the river, main gakit (bamboo rafting), catching some fish or shrimp with my grandma's siud (local fishing net) and bathing together with my grandma's buffollo. hhmmm..those were the days.

a map of the whole Kampung

the junction to Kg. Pogunon (took this picture when election time, so thats explain the banners and posters on this picture)

My child hood playground, the Moyog river! weee!! (it was cleaner and better looking way back)

According to my grand parents, Kg. Pogunon use to be a burial ground. I think this must be way back in the 18th century or more. You can still see a lot of stone as a symbol of some one's grave around the kampung area. Last month, the kampung people found at least 13 jars of an ancient burial jars near the St Joseph Chapel. Our family house is actually just next to an old grave yard.

The old grave yard next my cousin's house. You can see a stone as a mark of some one's tomb.

Most of the people here are working in town or city area but the older generation still doing the old fashion way to find a living, such as my grandma (and I'm proud of her). They go to the river to catch fish (pancing ikan pakai rangawan no) and go to the jungle or to their kebun (farm) to find whatever vegetables or fruits to sell in the Donggongon Tamu ground on Thursday & Friday (well, actually the tamu stared on Wednesday evening).

My grand aunt is cutting some soko (bamboo shoot) to sell.

My grandma going to the kebun and on the right picture, she was cutting and packing it in the plastic bag for sale.

My grandma is cleaning the local vegetable on the lokos (little stream). Better buy veges from my grandma, very very organic. hehhe...

Here are some pictures that I captured about my kampung and some interesting things that happen in my kampung lately.

Left : A mini museum for the ancient burial jar which was found around the kampung area.
Right : St Joseph Chapel

Not in the picture : Tadika Kemas building (A kindergarten school)

Left: My brothers and some friends having a moginum (drinking) session. Aramai tii !!

Right: My family members having BBQ party on Hari Raya Eve. hehee (tulak tu anjing ah..orang lain punya tu)

Here is the lates discovery in Kg. Pogunon. The ancient burial jars and some

Left : An ancient burial jar, a big one which contain few valuables stuff. We have one of this at home. It was a hantaran (dowry) for my grandma.

Right : A Limpogot (a belt made from coins dated way back in 18th century). You can actually see clearly the date written on some of the coins.

Left: Old coins found in one of the jars. (I'm not really good in history but according to these coins, its actually use in the British East India Company era.

Right : An ancient jar with the remains. I found this is a bit unusual because the bones are really big. Hmm..who ever this is, he or she must be tall and big.

Left: Another jar with bones.

Right : A gagabang flower. I don't really know whats the real name of this flower, nama kampung saja la.You can see it every were around the kampung area. (I actually like this picture ;-) )

So if you need any more info about Kg. Pogunon, don't hesitate to post your comment on this blog. Will try my very best to assist.

2008-08-22T01:18:00.000-07:00

PENAMPANG TOURISM COUNCIL (PTC)

This topic here is very short and simple. I am very happy because Penampang have at least move one step ahead to try and make tourism as one of it economy generator. By setting up the Penampang Tourism Council, it will open more door to the people of Penampang to venture in to this industry hence preserving our culture at the same time. I congratulate those who have been working so hard to initiate and materialize this council. Hope to hear or learn more from PTC and together we preserve our beloved home. Make Penampang as the next tourist pit stop. :)

2008-08-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

STESEN AKUAKULTUR AIR TAWAR BABAGON PENAMPANG

Me standing next to the signboard (Signboard need some touch up :))

Hello again, its been quite a while since my last post... hhmmm.. getting malas :).. Not really la.. but been busy with kids and things around me.

So this will be about fish..yeah..:), I got the chance to visit this place not so long ago some where in Kampung Babagon Penampang and thought of sharing some pictures here on my blogspot. The reason why I want to share the fish topic with you is because of Tagal system where by the people in Babagon Village managed to run it successfully. If I'm not mistaken, not long ago, Babagon has launch their Tagal Tourism Centre. Tagal system is basically a system where by the community of an area used to manage their river or water resources. My own assumption about Tagal system is that kampung people (participants) rear fish along the river and they can only catch it in a certain time agreed by the participants of the Tagal system.

Allow me to express myself in Malay :)

** Kalau kau nampak itu ikan di sungai Babagon yang dalam kawasan Tagal... macam ko mau pigi curi tangkap saja itu ikan... tapi tidak buli...abis nanti kana saman sama orang kampung :). Tiada ikan yang kici-kici, semua macam tapak tangan dan lebih besar lagi.

Back to the main topic, as I step my foot on the hanging bridge, I was amazed by the beautiful nature especially the river. I can't find any word to describe how wonderful it is. Panas pun tida rasa o :). Babagon is actually famous for its sweet pineapple and the Babagon Dam. If you happen to travel along the Tambunan road, when you reach Kampung Babagon, you definitely will see the famous fruits stall selling variety of fruits from the local farmers or fruits from the jungle such as tarap and the bulunu.

As far as I'm concern, this station is belongs to the Jabatan Perikanan Sabah. If you ever thought of doing a fish pond for commercial purpose, its good that you seek advise from them. By visiting this station, I gain better knowledge about fish breading, kasi kawin ikan and etc. Here are some pictures that I would like to share with all of you.

Beautiful & relaxing scenery of the Moyog River

Crossing the hanging bridge before you can reach the station.

Moyog River and the fish ponds

Talapia merah (Red Talapia) and Talapia Hitam (Black Talapia) Sure sangkut one or 2 in your rambat although your rambat kacut. :)

The station workers busy kasi kawin the fish and some big fish in a special ponds (all of it actually really big but don't know if nice to eat or not la)

This is the lampam jawa pond and some frogs in a special pond. (Frogs!? hhmmm)

This is where i got stuck for a long time while my visit in this station. A giant Arapaima agigas which the fishery department cougth from a pet shop selling it without any permit and they took this fish and put it here in the station. Its actually bigger then me! no joke. I think it can swallow the whole me.

Basically this is the most important thing if you happen to do a commercial fish pond. The water system. This is the most basic system they use here because water source is so near to the station. Just like you make a water gravity system la if in kampung.

2008-07-18T07:30:00.000-07:00

PAINTBALL !!!!

Hei guys this is pretty cool. Paintball in Penampang and its only take you less then 10 minutes from Penampang town to reach there. Penampang Point Paintball is located in Kg. Tanaki Penampang. Got to know this place from a good friend of mine Murphy. This place is actually located just right in front of their house. Hmm.. I wonder why...:) . Well Lest get back to the topic, seriously I never been to this place (I had my second baby and no chance to go, sibuk jaga anak ba :)) or have I any clue about paintball. So as usual I did my little checking and got to learn some new stuff. I can see that few Sabahan bloggers have shared their adventure in Penampang Point Paintball Field. I'm hoping to experience the fun soon. Ba Murf, bila buli timbak-timbak?

According to Lost Valley Paintball, paintball is one of the most exciting outdoor recreational sports in the world and was started in 1981 by a group of 12 people in New Hampshire. If you wanna learn more, you can just click on the high lighted Lost Valley Paintball.

Here are some pictures of the Penampang Point Paintball.

Front & close up view of the paintball field.

Tivung & the gun (what a combination :) )

Show time & ready for some actions

Well this is what I can conclude about this game, you can shoot your friend any time and will not be angry at you. What a game huh. :). Who knows in the future this paintball field can produce a team representing Sabah or even Malaysia in a competition. Good luck guys. Penampang rocks!

Jatropha Curcas for Bio Diesel

2008-07-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of Jatropha before? I bet most of you won’t know what is Jatropha. I got a chance to visit a Jatropha nursery in Penampang last week so I as usual I will share my experience with you. J. By the way, the local name of this plant is called pokok jarak. If you happen to notice in our news paper or event on the net, its ability to produce biodiesel has been proven and some countries are actually using it right now. Besides the oil, I understand that jatropha also has its medicinal value especially for skin dieses. O and it is actually poisonous. Hhmm.. complicated yet very interesting. According to the owner of the nursery, the purpose of him setting up this jatropha nursery is to starts of a commercial planting here in Sabah. He added that they used specific fertilizer to enhance the growth of the plant.

Front view of the nursery, very simple set up yet a lot to offer.

One month old seedling, very healthy and ready to be transfer and to be prune. If I'm not mistaken the seedling cost RM1.30 per bag. The fertilizer is really working well on the seedling eii...what do you think?

This picture show an inter cropping between jatropha and local vegetable. If you have an abounded land and would like to plant some jatropha, this is one of method that you can do while waiting for your jatropha to produce its real money.

Three months old jatropha. Its really growing well and started to produce flower.

Discussion with the owner.

My buah tangan (souvenir) from the nursery. The owner's father have been very kind to me.

If you have any inquiry about Jatropha, you can write and email to these contact below.

Mr. Francis Wong - franciswong73@gmail.com

Mr. Alexander K - 1alexandermail@gmail.com

Hope this post of mine have been helpful.cheers!

J Borneo Native Village

2008-06-26T18:44:00.000-07:00

J Borneo Native Village (JBNV) is a new eye-catching place in Penampang. Located just next to Lokawi Zoo and as a must stop center for everyone who just had a long walk around the zoo area. Consist of Cafeteria and chalet. Cafeteria is open for business everyday and they serve variety of delicious food. Where as chalet area, it is still under construction.

My visit to J Borneo Native Village was fabulous because I got to sit down and have a mug of milo with the owner of the place who then told me how this place actually started. Of course this is all started from a dream to visualizing it to materializing it. Personally I think he have been visualizing this concept for more then 10 years. Just imagine collecting all the wooden materials from the jungle to other building material waste as part and parcel of the cafeteria. The creativities of this place are amazing.

If you can’t imagine it, here are some pictures that I took to tell you some of the story behind JBNV.

Front view of the JBNV most of the plants surrounding the cafeteria are edible. Hehe that’s why you can’t hardly see any plants yet cause sayur baru mau tumbuh ba.

Main entrance of JBNV café, love the big pillars, materials are from the house of a well known person in Sabah. The owner collected these materials when he did the renovation work for the well known person’s house some where in Likas.

Those chairs are made from jungle wood which the owner collected from his kebun. Admire the smooth finishing of the chairs.

Food counter, nicely set up.

Need a different environment to relax? Cocktails and some shots anyone? Wait ah, bar is still under construction.

The emblem of J Borneo Native Village, a gorgeous lady on a water buffalo. Guess who is that lady?
Answer : ask the owner or the staff there if you happen to be in J Borneo Native Village. :p

Flowing water from the water fountain makes this place feels so relaxing. Second picture are some red talapia swimming freely in the pond and the third picture is a view of the Lokawi zoo (part of the building and the entrance).

Incredible idea here! Ravage railway tracks as partition...hhmm...

A lower part of an old sewing machine which converted to a table. (Guys feet never look good as a model) hehe..

Chalets area is still under construction. Perfect for team building activities.

Last but not least the man behind J Borneo Native Village. (Candid punya picture)

So, I hope this post of mine have been very informative and do visit J Borneo Native Village ya.

Hongkod Koisaan (KDCA)

2008-03-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

The grand entrance of Hongkod Koisaan

The unique design of Hongkod Koisaan building

I can say that who ever live in Penampang will definitely know this building because of its unique design. You can say it is one of the land mark in Penampang. What makes the Hongkod Koisaan (utility hall) building outstanding is that the traditional gongs on its wall. This building was build by KDCA, an association that contain 40 indigenous ethnic communities of Sabah registered under the ROS.

Another special thing a about Hongkod Koisaan is that the high light of the Kaamatan or Harvest Festival (starting 28th - 31st of May) will be held here every year. We celebrate Kaamatan in the whole month of May. You can get most of the information through Sabah Tourism Board or Malaysia Tourism.

Some other attraction which can be found in the Hongkod Koisaan area are the Traditional houses ( must see), Traditional Costume Gallery, Kaandaman Spa and the Souvenir shop.

Lotud Traditional House

Rungus Long House

Dusul Tindal House

Don't hesitate to stop by even if you just want to kill your time. :)

HARVEST FESTIVAL MAY 2008

Some pictures from the harvest festival in KDCA

Bisaya gentleman & Penampang gong players

Dusun Tindal lady holding ritual pot & Murut musician

Sago making , Azmi, triping! :-) & Man and Women showing their Lotud costume

Cheerful Bisaya boy & Butud (sago worm) yum! yum!

Papar boys & Bonggi gong players

Tambunan lady & Dog??!! (mau kana gonit ni)

Celebration ended up very happening. I was so tired entertaining customers coming in to Bangkad Tolumis.