10 Years Since KK Held District-Level Convention

This year, Kota Kinabalu will host the District 87 Toastmasters Annual Convention 2012 (KK2012), which will see the participation of more than 320 delegates from Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia and East Malaysia.

Held on 18th – 20th May 2012 (Friday – Sunday) at Promenade Hotel, the 3-day event is Kota Kinabalu’s fourth district-level convention, with the last one happening 10 years ago.

With a song in their hearts and dance to their step, the Kota Kinabalu Toastmasters Club have planned and organized a weekend of fun, fellowship and educational value.

Datuk Yee Moh Chai To Attend Opening Ceremony

Datuk Dr. Yee Moh Chai, Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah is expected to attend as the Guest of Honour for the event.

Datuk Yee has been a long time supporter of the KK Toastmasters Club and have previously also emphasized the importance of public speaking skills in the government sector in his past address at a Toastmasters event.

Keynote Speaker from the U.S.A. Arrived Yesterday

To pull delegates from all over the region, the organiser invited Toastmasters International past President and 2-time 1st runner-up for the World Championship of Public Speaking from the USA, Dr. Dilip Abayasekara to present his keynote this Saturday.

He will be presenting his keynote on “Your Toastmasters Journey – Stretch – Achieve – Build” on Saturday morning, and also run a workshop on how to “Unleash Your Personal Leadership Power” that same afternoon.

Workshops

In addition, the organiser planned a programme packed with compelling speakers from Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia to present to delegates in both the Mandarin and English tracks.

Speakers will include several Distinguished Toastmasters (DTM) and past District Governors (PDG). You can read about the programme and profiles here.

Talented Toastmasters To Perform Musical On Welcome Night

Moreover, entertaining shows are planned, including a sensational 20-minute original Grease-themed musical skit written by the Organising Chairperson, Ms. Jasmine Leong.

The charming skit will be performed during Welcome Night by KKTMC members. Yup, those guys don’t only learn how to do public speaking, they also sing and dance, as witnessed yesterday at their rehearsals. See for yourselves! FUN! FUN! FUN!

Highlights for the 3-Day Convention

• Keynote Speech and workshop by Dr. Dilip Abayasekara (USA), Toastmasters International Past President and twice 1st Runner-Up at World Championship of Public Speaking.
• Educational Sessions by 3 of our Past District Governors, Datuk Adeline Leong, DTM, Dunstan Chan, DTM and Li Yo Wei, DTM
• Mandarin Workshops by Jamesherd Wee, DTM, Desmond Wong, DTM, and Solomon Chen,ALB
  Combined (English & Mandarin) Team-building Leadership Workshop
• Shade of Blue themed glamourous Gala Awards Night on 19th May’12 (Sat)
• District level International Speech and Table Topics Contest on 20th May’ 12 (Sun)


The KK2012 organising committee would like to thank Sabah Tourism Board, MyCEB, Suria Capital, Sabah Energy Corp, Mega Sunwise, UMS, SriKom, Pharmex S/B (Swabplus), Kopi Cap Kuda, Sabah Tea, Education UK, IEC, Curtin University, Jari-Jari Spa, Ekspedisi Ikhlas, Sabah Credit Corporation, AXA Life, Alliance Bank, Wyeth (M) S/B, Promenade Hotel, Everlasting Bridal House, YYY Properties, Riverson Corp S/B, Ophelia Hearing Specialist, and KKMOI.COM for their sponsorships and support of the convention.

Educational Workshops are open to the public at RM100 per ticket. For more information on the convention and workshops, please visit our website at http://www.toastmasters-kk2012.com or contact registrations@toastmasters-kk2012.com

WHAT IS TOASTMASTERS?


Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organisation, and world leader in communication and leadership development. There are 270,000 members in 13,000 clubs worldwide where members improve their speaking and leadership skills by attending meetings at their local club. There are 150 clubs in District 87.

Now you don’t have to worry about not having enough for kids to do on your watch! For more information, go to http://www.KidsInKK.com.

NO PORK SERVED
Once in a while we hear a piece of news from the grapevine that sounds too good to be true. Like the fact that there is a Salmon Head promotion for RM5 at a Japanese restaurant.

Needless to say (no matter how skeptical), we have to show up just for verification’s sake — people want answers to whether this kind of insanity exists in our plane of reality!

IS IT LEGIT?

Well we went, and to our shocking delight, it really does exist! But Miso, the virtually unknown Japanese restaurant at Karamunsing Capital aren’t the only ones who were crazy tonight.

THE SALMON HEADS

We ordered 5 salmon heads, 3 portions of salmon sashimi, and 3 garlic fried rice for 3 people. Now it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that we ordered too many fish skulls to comfortably pack in, but really, 5 of those babies will only just set us back 25 ringgits. That is the average price of a bento box in KK!

So even if we are to be forced to watch subliminal scenes of hungry Somalians during dinner, we’d probably still be able to live with the decision.

Ya okay, it’s real cheap. So was it any good?

We ordered two versions – the ‘Teriyaki’ variety and the ‘Salt and Pepper’ one. The former was tasty, the latter was a bit bland (this, we communicated to the restaurant.) The salmon heads were very fresh by layman standards and it is reasonable even at their regular price of RM18 per portion. It is however totally fantastic by RM5 standards!!! Salmon head for the price of chicken rice? Give me the bland and some sauce on the side please!

SALMON SASHIMI

Last week, we went to a popular Japanese restaurant in KK and were served sashimi that was not fresh. The salmon sashimi here is so much better… lightyears ahead of that last restaurant. The slices were thick, fleshy, chewy and delicious. Even at their regular price of RM38, it is worth the experience but tonight, we paid the promotion price of RM15 per portion. It was pure bliss. *love*

AMBIANCE

They also have a ‘not-so-private’ private room right by the window by the front of the restaurant. Nice placesetting don’t you think?

I especially liked the way they roll their napkins. It’s trendy and different.

Total bill? RM95.90 with 10% discount. Can somebody say amazing?!

So if you’re looking for a clean restaurant with an insane bargain, wait no more and head to Miso before the promotion ends!

Promotion Period

Mother’s Day Promotion – 9 May – 31 May 2012

How To Get There

The restaurant is next to the former Fatty Chef at Karamunsing Capital.

View Japanese Restaurants in KK in a larger map

Miso Japanese Restaurant

Address: F-0-5 & F-0-6, Karamunsing Capital, 88300 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
Phone: 088 448 229
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Miso-Japanese-Restaurant/201111263247138
Business Hours
Monday to Friday – 10am – 2:30pm, 6pm – 11pm
Saturday & Sunday – 10am – 11pm

For more information on giant clam conservation, please visit http://www.bungarayaresort.com

The tour began in Semporna on 27th April 2012 and have been going on for a few days with cyclists going from Semporna to Tawau, Lahad Datu to Sandakan. Some teams have come from as far as Australia, New Zealand, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan to participate in this inaugural event.

So far, Australian team mates Earle and Giacoppo from Genesys Wealth Advisers have bagged Stages 2 and 3, while Stage 1 was won earlier by the New Zealand Pure Black Racing team.

Results for today’s Stage 4 leg, which is a grueling 214.8km ride from Sepilok to Kundasang have not been announced yet, but details will be published on the official TOB website as soon it is available.

So if you are anywhere between Kundasang and Kota Kinabalu tomorrow, keep a look out for these endurance superhumans as they finish the last leg of their 758.4km race.

P/S: Start training for it now if you’re thinking of doing the tour anytime soon.

Note: Pictures shared on this post are taken from the official TOB website from the Stage 3 race. For more information and recent pictures of The tour of Borneo 2012, visit http://www.tourofborneo.com

In KK, the term Kopi-O lesen is a derogatory term to describe people who shouldn’t be driving or be given a driver’s license.

Caption: One of our favorite shots is of this white car, hanging off a huge drain.

It is unclear whether there are more pictures of drivers with bad attitudes or bad skills. What’s clear though, is that more than 5,600 people are fans of this curated photo database.

Caption: A sticky situation it seems.

To see if you’ve been caught parking like an outlaw or enjoy more entertaining pictures, head on to the KK Kopi-O Lesen Facebook Page.

According to our correspondent Melanie, she shares that she was told that the rickshaw service will start in the KK area tomorrow (1st May 2012).

This is interesting from more than one angle.

Is It Bornean?

For one, while rickshaws are a Malaysian heritage, they are not specifically remembered to be a Sabahan or Bornean phenomenon. At least nobody remembers it as being common. But to be totally fair, there is that one famous historical rickshaw artifact at the Sabah Museum on display, which obviously shows they existed in Sabah before some of us were even born. If the rickshaw once existed as part of our city’s heritage, it is interesting to note that there have been no effort by both the state and federal tourism ministries to emphasize its importance.

Is It Practical?

For seconds, the central business district of KK is famed for traffic gridlocks during the work week, which brings into question the practicality of having tourists in rickshaws under the hot sun and traffic. Perhaps tourists who have tolerated the heat and messy traffic in other, busier South Asian countries might tolerate the experience for novelty’s sake. But we can’t help but wonder if this is at all practical without bicycle lanes in KK?

Is KK City Interesting Enough?

For thirds, is the city interesting enough for tourists to suffer the heat and traffic fumes on a rickshaw? Wouldn’t tourists, who usually come to Sabah to escape the stresses of urban living prefer countryside or beach side rickshaw rides instead? I imagine views of water buffaloes against coconut trees would be more fitting, but that’s just me.

While I think the rickshaw experience would be more pleasant in the kampung area, those who champion less carbon footprint think it’s a great idea to have more of these and less cars in KK.

What are you thoughts about this? Do share them on the comments section below.

As of now, no price have been set for the rides. For more information on how to get on one, just head to Warisan Square.

To learn more about MERC and “Save the Giants,” please visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/bungaraya.gayana

Don’t worry… we made sure that we documented everything so that all of Ronan’s fans, regardless of how busy, oblivious, far or poor, gets to see his performance at “Save the Giants.”

Here is the first video of many to come. See you guys at the Beach Party in a few hours!

He was very passionate about the fact that as an artiste, he should use his voice as a celebrity (not just his singing voice) to spread the message that Giant Clams are going extinct. Ronan expressed a genuine concern and that he is happy to be “spreading the word” not just in Sabah, but that he hopes to take the message home to the U.K. and to Europe. He also seemed serious when he half-joked about being an ambassador for Giant Clams.

In answer to a question posted by Joanna Funk of Sabah Songs, Ronan shares that he will be playing one song from his “When Ronan Met Burt” album tonight, and a few more on the main event tomorrow. After the press conference, Ronan proceeded to plant a coral!

The planted coral was tagged with his name, so hopefully it will still be there for all to see long after he is gone.

To end the press meet session, Ronan signs the MERC guest book before departing Gayana Eco Resort (where MERC is) to the event venue Bunga Raya Resort. If you wish to attend tomorrow’s Beach Party event (22nd April 2012), tickets can be purchased at the Gayana office at Jesselton Point for RM200 per person.

For more information about the event, please refer to our post about “Save the Giants.” To learn more about MERC and their Giant Clams project, you may read the post we published yesterday.