Thursday, June 28, 2012

Ngah Ibrahim Fort

Ngah Ibrahim Fort build in 1855 have many stories to tell, from being the residence and administration centre of Ngah Ibrahim and the British to Malay Teaching College,Malay school,Japanese Military Base and back to be a school before it's turned into the Matang Historical Complex.



















A painting of it's glorious past.



Kroh Japanese War Memorial.








A Japanese invasion map of Malaya.



One of the few old wells at the site.







A description of the displays in the museum.





Antique gasoline powered fan.



GE electric fan





Captain Speedy's bungalow.





View Ngah Ibrahim Fort in a larger map

Thursday, June 21, 2012

An afternoon in Sipitang

 Sipitang is a coastal town on the west coast of Sabah bordering Sarawak,
famous for the pulp and paper mill of Sabah Forest Industries,
this quiet town will soon see lots of activities with Petronas
building an Ammonia and Urea plant nearby.
Let us hope it will bring lots of economic reward to the locals here.





The esplanade's jetty viewed from the north.









The Esplanade is in dire need for some shade,
trees will help bring back the crowd
what a silly blunder by the planners, probably they have forgotten
that we 're living here in the tropics.



Anyway the plus point is this beautiful jetty
and let us hope that it will be well maintained.





An older landmark of the town which looks likes a minaret was formerly a clock tower
and is now a water tower
was said to also served as a guide for returning fisherman
with the red  beacon light on all it's four sides.



The old jetty of the town nearby the market is a bit shaky
and there is a high risk of falling off for a new visitor here
even some locals are scare of walking there.



looks like it is in need of further maintenance.









G Mart,the main supermarket of the town which have only 2 banks,
Maybank and Bank Simpanan Nasional besides a KFC outlet.
Satay is a famous local food of the town.



A nice and clean hotel to put up for a night,Hotel Dhiya Esplanad
Tel:-016-8116442 besides Billion Garden Motel,087-822988
and Venture Reach Motel,087-821655.



A view of Haji Hashim Mosque from batu keramat.



A welcome signboard at the speedboat jetty.



The speedboat ride from Labuan passes through two long row of decommissioned ships
mostly oil tanker which post a danger of polluting the whole area
if something bad were to happen to them
since most are left unattended.
Are we such a poor country to let others park
their scraps here for some money?
If Sabah can reject a coal fired power station
to the expense of having frequent blackout here and there,
what about all these dead ships?



View Sipitang in a larger map

Friday, June 15, 2012

Hunchback Rock of Labuan

The Hunchback Rock or 'Batu SiBongkok' in malay
is a rock said to resembled a hunchback man sitting in yoga position
who turned into stone after being called by his wife during meditation,
apparently it's a taboo for him to be called when he is doing his meditation.
It's situated about a km from Kampung Rancha-Rancha Laut
and can be reach during low tide.
Folk story on Batu SiBongkok in malay
 















View Hunchback Rock in a larger map