As much as there is so much to be fixed in Kota Kinabalu, I’m very proud to say that DBKK is going forward in the right direction by launching the ‘No Plastic Bag on Monday‘ Campaign.

Today is the official kick-off date, and participating stores which include Parkson, 7-Eleven, Tong Hing Supermarket, Giant hypermarket, Milimewa, Southern Bakery and Popular Bookstore will not be giving out free plastic bags to shoppers at the checkout counter for free.

If you are shopping today without your own bag or basket in any of the stores above, you will be charged 20 cents per plastic bag. Those proceeds will go to fund environmental and cleanliness projects by DBKK and the Enviromental Action Centre (EAC) around the city.

But why stop today? Say no to plastic bags everyday! I guarantee you it’s a much sexier look and you’ll be kind to the earth and all who inhabit it.

So bring your reusable bags to the supermarket today!

If you want a reason to get off your couch, now is the time. The Sutera Harbour 7k Sunset Charity Run is just around the corner. Whether you are going to do it for charity, health and/or fun, this is the hottest active event to go to in Kota Kinabalu! With 10,000 people expected to participate, it’s the ideal event to show off your muscles to a band of screaming kids or prove to yourself that you can hit the distance with the grannies!

The best part of all is that you’ll help raise funds for the Sabah Thalassaemia Society and Special Olympics Sabah.

The run will be held on Saturday 10th July 2010. Registration costs RM25 for adults and  RM 15 for children (comes with a t-shirt). For more details on the run and where to register, visit the Sutera Harbour website. See you there!

This is the last part of Angelina Perete and Roger Wang’s set at KK Twestival 2010. Stay tuned as the videos of the sensational live performance of singer-songwriter Jonathan Tse will be released as they become available in the coming days!!

When my bike started to get really stiff on the pedal, I decided it was time to begin learning how to maintain my bicycle. Since I had no clue how to go about degreasing, oiling, and maintaining a bike I turned to The Complete Bike Book: Choosing, Riding, and Maintaining Your Bike, which I got a year before I bought my GT bike! The book has instructional photographs on how to maintain a bike, which made it easier for me to learn on my own. While it is quite a comprehensive guidebook it lacked recommendations on brands of chain lubes, so I posted a question on Facebook asking for some suggestions.

A few people came back with some ideas ranging from Singer oil to WD-40. Eventually I chose to heed the advice of Clement and headed to Spring Trading to get Pedro’s Lube! While I was there, I realized I needed a couple of more tools to make the maintenance process easier. I got a working stand (RM45), track pump (RM25), cleaning brushes (RM54), and Pedro’s lube (RM 32). The bike shop owner recommended that I use WD-40 (RM 14.90) as a degreaser so I stopped by at the supermarket to pick a can up.

I’m pretty proud to say that my first maintenance session was pretty successful. Pedro’s lube is really silky smooth; took the bike out for a 45 min spin and it rode smoothly and beautifully! Now the next step would be to learn how to maintain the other bike parts and change a flat tire. Wish me luck!!!

To get your bike supplies in K.K., you can head to Spring Trading at Kampung Air:-

Spring Trading Co.
No. 5, Ground Floor, Jln Sentosa,
88000 Kota Kinabalu,
Sabah, Malaysia.
Tel: 088-26 2201

Here’s a video update from me to you.

Jacky Cheung's Jazz Album, released on 29th January 2010

Cantonese superstar Jacky Cheung (張學友), one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Hong Kong’s vibrant entertainment industry has selected to use a song my friend and schoolmate Roger Wang wrote as part of his new jazz album entitled Private Corner (Released: 29 Jan 2010).

Roger composed ‘Love Scale’ for Double Take’s debut album, which was released in 2003 with Mia Palencia taking the vocals for the original English version. Seven years later, the track has been rendered in Cantonese to ‘十二個音’ and is finally having its moment of glory in the international scene.

It just blows my mind to think of the idolatry of Jacky Cheung in school, Roger’s lone madness with the guitar and the hundreds of times we’ve heard wannabes at karaoke bars yelp Jacky’s songs…

The fact that the ‘God of Songs’ is now singing a tune written by Roger is amazing and unbelievable! I bet Roger is pinching himself now; he shares how it happened on his blog. I’m beaming with pride for him. Congratulations Roger… you deserve it!

Check out 十二個音 (Love Scale) here:-

Taken from Tanjung Aru

It all started on Facebook when Phyllis woke up to this view from her bedroom.

Mount Kinabalu from Jalan Tuaran

Then I looked out my bedroom window, headed downstairs and took this shot. (I was actually closer than Phyllis to Mt. Kinabalu but my camera was crappier.)

Mt Kinabalu from where Bob is. Yea, with his toy heli.

Bob flew his toy heli in front of his view and took this one. The helicopter almost looks real doesn’t it?

Cornelius took this from Pekan Nabalu from his mobile

Last but not least, here’s a shot of Mt. Kinabalu this morning from Cornelius Chua. Isn’t that just breathtaking? Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos with me.

P/S: If you would like to share your Mt. Kinabalu shot with me, email your picture to me with the time, date and location of where it was taken to jackiemiao.my(at)gmail.com. Remember to let me know how to credit you.

Vote for #3 Jordan

The Phonecall

According to Jordan, when he got the call from the folks at Female he thought they were telemarketers trying to sell him an Astro package. Annoyed with their aggressive solicitation, he hung up on them. It wasn’t until they kept calling back and managed to explain themselves that he realized that they were trying to get him featured on the magazine. He tells me that this happened because one of his friends had grabbed some pictures of him from Facebook and sent it in to the publisher weeks earlier.

“At first, I didn’t want to do the photo shoot, but then I thought what the heck… it’s only a weekend in K.L,” said the spotlight-shy Jordan.

However, when he got to Kuala Lumpur, doubts about it being a good idea started to creep in, but his friend Cheryl managed to strong arm him into having a bit of fun with the shoot.

What Do Women Want?

Can he be any cuter?

During the interview with Female, the former British policeman was asked who he would like to trade places with. He had recounted the story to me saying that he would love to do what Mel Gibson did in the movie What Women Want, where he gets to go inside the mind of women and understand how they think.

“Women baffle me sometimes,” he added.

Every year, hundreds of Malaysia’s eye-candy unsuspectingly gets flogged to Female as potential features by their friends. Fifty of the best looking candidates are then selected and featured to readers to feast their eyes on, and vote for the title of “most gorgeous.” This year, the prizes are said to be worth RM 10,000.

Why You Should Vote for Jordan

Although he’s gorgeously confident as a person, Jordan claims he’s an introvert and is pretty shy when it comes to women. That makes him an interesting subject to observe moving forward because therein lies a bit of mystery for Malaysian women to peel and unravel. With brains, brawn and a personality to boot, I’ll be voting for Jordan as my favorite gorgeous person.

Besides, don’t you girls want to see Jordan’s pecs? If you can’t imagine what a shirtless Jordan spread across a print magazine might look like, here are some motivational shots for you.

Yes, a hottie and single at it!

If you want to get to know him better, vote for Jordan as your favorite gorgeous man.

Here’s how to vote for Jordan:-

1. Buy a copy of the November 2009 issue of Female Magazine (Malaysia Edition).

2. Go to this page featured below:-

Vote for Jordan #3

2. Follow the instructions on this page and cast your vote for #3 Jordan.

Hopefully your votes will get Jordan into the follow-up issue as Malaysia’s Most Gorgeous Guy of the year!

P/S: Feel free to leave fan messages for him on my blog.

DJ Fine China doing his thang!

DJ Fine China (Jonathan Ngu) is an international DJ who made himself a name in Western Australia’s night scene. Recently relocated back to Kota Kinabalu, Jon has also played in various cities around the world including Kuala Lumpur, Vancouver, Brisbane, and Melbourne. Recently nominated for the Best Breaks DJ at the PDMA’s (Perth Dance Music Awards), his own style of mixing breaks with a charm that inspires sideliners to take to the floor is every reason you should show up in dancing shoes!

DJ Fine China | Photo credits: Amie Stan

After an extended hiatus, I thought I’d be way too blasé and over the clubbing hill to enjoy the thumping, but Jon mixed some boxfresh beats with retro tunes and memories from my raving youth came rushing back to me. Now I wonder if I’m just too old to deal with systematic maltunes instead!?

Good to see friends!

What made the night even better was the fact that I bumped into quite a few friends!

I was really happy to see the spirited Ben Nair, a fellow British-repatriat who started the newly formed events company with Jon Ngu and Eric Wong called the Renaissance of Borneo (will tell you about their awesome plans in the next post!). I just had to get our good friend Mr. Drunken He-man to take a pic of us since we missed each other in the U.K. a few months back! (P/S: He-man was so drunk we had to drive his car home for him. He also hurled on the way home!)

I also bumped into other friends as well. For most of the night I was so busy catching up with people I barely took my cam out for the snappy-snaps. Thanks to the lovely Amie Stan, who was kind enough to take a few pictures for me (in addition to the official photos she was taking for the event). Get her for your event… she’s a great person to work with and an all around fabulous girl!

Amie Stan and Jackie Miao | Photo Credit: Amie Stan

Last but not least, what good would this post be if I didn’t have a photo op with the talented and very fine DJ Fine China at the end of the night?

Jackie and DJ Fine China

Right before we had to send He-man home, Amir Yussof came over and said something so unexpectedly uplifting to me that it changed the dynamics of how I will now use my Best Job in the World experience. One day I hope to be able to share with you what he said since there is no context in which a contrast can be observed at the present moment. For now, enjoy your Tuesday wherever in the world you are!

28th July 2009 Sin Chew Daily Bio Feature

I don’t think I highlighted the fact that the Chinese media in Malaysia has been my biggest supporter. In fact they were the first ones on the scene when I got into the Best Job Top  50 shortlist.

MY REACTION

The first thing I thought when I saw this article was, if Andy Lau is on the margin I must be doing something right! Woo! I mean we’re talking about the legendary Hong Kong superstar Lau Tak Wah here, sidelined to make space for some worm-eating blogging trotter called Miao-who?

Second thing I thought was boy I wish I was fully literate in Chinese. My half-baked kindergarten comprehension skills have caused much of the article to be lost in translation. Naturally the next thing that came to mind was that I have to rectify this annoying handicap as soon as possible. I want to embrace the Han in me but English is my first language and I’ve been brought up very western by my parents!

INSPIRATION TO CHANGE THAT

Gary Chaw - Supermarket

Nevertheless, I won’t raise my white flag just because my mom fed me chops and chips while I was growing up. I’m gonna Sinocize myself (if there is such a thing.)

Did you know that Taiwan heartthrob, composer and lyricist Gary Chaw didn’t read or write a word of Chinese before? When I asked him many years back he told me that writing English songs wasn’t going to get him anywhere near anything resembling true success. Determined to make it in the music industry, he took intensive Chinese courses.

Today he doesn’t only speak like a native Taiwanese, he writes his own songs and some more for other famous Chinese popstars as well! Watch him speak about his new album Supermarket. Look at him tackle the media! If that’s not inspiring, I don’t know what is… Google him and go get yourself a copy of Supermarket. Gary is a great songster and an awesome human being.

With Gary as inspiration, I’ll  be looking for some Chinese classes that teach reading, writing and diction. I  figured if I can speak a little bit of Mandarin and have some basic foundation to Chinese characters the battle is probably half won.

In an attempt to get used to my Chinese media presence, I googled my Chinese name 繆姮娥 yesterday and found some old articles about my Best Job campaign. Here’s three of them if you can read in Chinese.

1. 陳慧嬌‧繆姮娥，繼續加油! Sin Chew
2. 澳大堡礁哈密尔顿岛「看护员」 沙巴缪姮娥未能晋16强 See Hua
3. 澳昆士蘭砸巨金聘大堡礁看護員 兩百國三萬四千人爭夢幻職業繆姮娥成功入圍 Overseas Chinese Daily News

So I’ve been getting a few emails from people who read the Sin Chew article above. Unfortunately I don’t have your email addresses and can’t reply to you so you’ll have to email me again at jackiemiao.my at gmail dotcom.

Last but not least, to the Chinese media in Malaysia 谢谢! 我感谢您的支持 (I’m hoping Google translator is a good place to start )