Chinese New Year Lion Dances in KK

Chinese New Year in Kota Kinabalu! It seemed to be even noisier this year - wonderful fireworks and lots of trucks driving around town full of lion and dragon troupes.
Before the start of New Year itself - which is a two week event! - there is a Lion, Unicorn and Dragon festival in KK. It's a wonderful opportunity to see the skill of these young men as they prance and jump and rear up and seem to nearly fall off the poles they leap over. It's quite an amazing display of talent and strength. You can see the poles in some of the pictures in the collage above. They're quite high and are tested carefully by the lion dancers before they begin to make sure they are stable. Some groups even have members sitting around the bottom of the poles to keep the whole structure steady.

The heads of the lions are beautiful to see and the dancer inside can give a lot of character to his lion by the way he moves the ears and eyelids, as well as the tilt of the head and the position of the leg.

Amazing how the lions can be both cute and powerful - the dances are so gymnastic!

Truckloads of lions and sometimes dragons drive around KK during the two weeks of Chinese New Year, visiting temples, homes and business places. They bless the altars, produce scrolls from their mouths that contain best wishes for the year to come, and amaze and delight with their antics on the poles! You can really hear people ooh! and aah! as they watch the amazing techniques that the skilled pair of lion dancers has.

When a new lion's head has been made and is ready to be worn in a dance, someone with status is invited to draw in the centre of each eye - giving life to the head. Quite an inspiring idea. Perhaps one that would make you think twice if you were invited to do this!

These pictures were taken by Helen Morgan and Yap Cheen Boon at the Lion, Unicorn and Dragon Dance Exhibition in KK earlier in February. There are also a couple that I took at other places.

If you have any questions or comments, we would love to hear from you. Don't hesitate to get in touch with us at: ron@astsabah.com or jude@astsabah.com

New Year's Day 2010

What better way to start a New Year than going out into the countryside with good friends, a delicious picnic and cameras to the ready!

Four of us set out in the morning – three of us with cameras set to go! We drove through a beautiful part of Sabah and were delighted when we came upon a spot where we could look down into a valley of terraced padi. It was an idyllic scene – the golden padi, the dark green hills and the sparkling water.

Padi has two stunning moments – first, when it is planted out and is a vibrant green, shimmering with its own potential, and then when is it ready to harvest and is a glowing gold, heavy with rich ripeness.

On New Year’s Day, the padi was golden and ready to harvest.

And there were people doing just that! They were harvesting by hand, using the traditional short, curved blade. These were small groups of people who saw us and waved and shouted greetings,holding their fistfuls of padi in the air for us to see. And then photographing us photographing them!

They were also threshing by hand and, somehow, we felt privileged to see them.

The air bubbled with fun!

As evening came, the scene was cast in a particularly beautiful light.

These photos were taken by my friends, Boon and Jessica, and me.

Our day-long trip took us from Kota Kinabalu to Ranau (on Mt Kinabalu) and then from Ranau to Tambunan, through the Crocker Range. We then crossed back over the Crocker Range from Tambunan to KK.

If you have any comments or questions, please get in touch with us.

We'd love to hear from you at jude@astsabah.com or ron@astsabah.com.