01 Notifications
For the first time the reunion was held in Kota Kinabalu. All previous functions were held in Sandakan, where the school is located.
Venue
Programme
02 Welcoming Brunch
12 December 2016
Most of the outstation participating classmates arrived from Sandakan on the morning of the 12th. Two others (from Perth and Kiningau) had arrived earlier. They were all treated to a simple brunch at the Cafe Gathering at 88 Commercial Area (Austral Place).
(Click on photos to enlarge)
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| LOCATION OF CAFE GATHERING |
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| A CLOSER VIEWS OF THE CAFE |
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All participants were pretty punctual for this first activity. (This cafe serves mainly HK-style noodles.)
Unfortunately, the delivery system was rather irratic. First-come first-served policies were lacking!
These early birds were still waiting for their noodles to be served.
03 Main Dinner
The function room of the Sabah Golf and Country Club, Kota Kinabalu was reasonably decorated for the occasion. Classmates had started arriving at 6 p.m.
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| (BACK DROP) |
As with all previous reunion functions, we rang in the occasion with the singing of the first song we were taught when community singing was introduced by Fr. Joseph Hiu in our last primary year in St. Mary's (1957). [Sadly, JH had passed away at age 93 earlier on in the year.]
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| (CLASSMATES LINED UP FOR THE SINGING OF "THE END OF THE ROAD") |
N.B. You can view this karaoke-video by clicking the following link:-
https://youtu.be/9A0519Je3SE
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| (FARES FOR THE EVENING) |
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| Lee Kok Chee presenting his karaoke number |
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| (Paul Chang in singing mood) |
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| Singing a Christmas carol in unison |
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| David left another function early to join us. Nevertheless, he still missed out on the Group Photo (above). |
Who is who at the Reunion
A total of 27 participants were at this dinner function, consisting of 18 classmates and 9 spouses/friend. The classmate who travelled the farthest distance to get to KK was Michael Tan Tiong Sim (aka Chin Loi Fatt), from Perth, Australia. Mou Kon Chang and his wife joined us from Keningau. Five participants came from Sandakan.
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| (Click to see details) |
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04 Breakfast at Mei Ngah
13 December 2015 (Sunday)
This morning, the participating classmates were treated to breakfast items which were very familiar to them -- springy noodles from Sandakan. The venue for the gathering, Mei Ngah in Damai, was run by one of the sons of the original Mei Ngah in Sandakan.
The session was scheduled to start at 9:00 a.m. and most of the participants arrived well before that.
Because of the punctual start to the breakfast session, the participants were able to embark on the trip to the next destination in good time.
05 Visit to the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park
Lok Kawi Wildlife Park was located some 25 km from KK. It was a relatively short distance, but due the ongoing major re-construction work for the old KK-Papar Road, careful driving through several hazardous stretches was essential. There was also a lack of clear, well placed, direction sign boards to guide visitors to the facilities. When everybody in the group finally arrived at the park it was close to 11:00 a.m.
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| The Layout Plan of the Park |
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| Group-photo of Participating Classmates (accompanying spouses did not join in for this shot ) |
Being a Sunday, the park was quite crowded. As we proceeded to join in the long queue, some of the Park officers present, noticing that we were all senior citizens, led our group to an adjacent turnstile and admitted us into the park. This was a very kind consideration on their part, as the long queuing time would have tired us prematurely! (Admission to this park for Malaysian seniors citizen is free. You need to show your IC.)
Some local inhabitants....
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| BIRD OF PARADISE |
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| HORNBILL |
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| "LIEW-KO" |
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| SUN BEARS |
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| AT THE TIGER DEN..... |
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| THIS WAS WHAT THEY WERE LOOKING AT - A MALAYAN TIGER |
More exhibits....
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| ORANG UTAN |
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| SABAH'S PYGMY ELEPHANTS |
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| SPOTTED DEERS |
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| GIBBON |
The park is small compared to other such parks in the region. Still, to cover all the cages/dens/herbal gardens, etc, you will need the whole day. After about one and half hours of walking the trails there, this group of old men had decided to call it a day.
The party then drove back to the 88 Commercial Area and adjourned for a simple lunch at the Cafe Fook Lim, courtesy of Fung Ket Wing.
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Over to you, Fung... to organize the 55th Anniversary Reunion in 2017
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