I bet I am the last to blog about this, but better late than never. I was at Kota Kinabalu (KK), last weekend attending the Borneo Colours B2.0 event. Was going to say a word or two about the bloggers community I am building, called the Sarawak Bloggers. As I said in my earlier post, I was kind of nervous because no one knew Sarawak Bloggers, and I was as nervous as ‘a guilty snatch thief caught by the police’ the next day, when I was suppose to present my part. Well, I tried my best, but I guess it was obvious I was nervous. I ended up not saying what I already planned to say because my time was cut short. Spent less than 20 minutes talking because my session was shared with other community leaders from Brunei and Kalimantan.
Anyway, I did get a few questions during the Q&A session. I guess, people are interested to know what Sarawak Bloggers was all about. The next few hours of the whole dialogue was about how to earn money online, building a social network, saving Sabah, engaging in online events, online protection and law and many more. It was very interesting, such as the fact that removing one’s watermark, and using a photo without crediting the source can land you in huge trouble!
That night, the guys (Dex, Eddie, Marul, Reedha, Addy, Dell) and myself when to the KK Waterfront for a short meeting cum chill-out where lots were discussed. We stayed there while listening to this English guy named Shane play the English and Malay tunes on the piano to our delight. He was amazing! I mean, Malay speaking ‘Orang putih’ is common, but this guy was singing his lungs out at ‘Belaian Jiwa’, and some song from Samson (an Indonesian Band).
We left for our hotel after finishing our drinks. I dozed off the minute my head hit the pillow.
The next day was all about paintball. If last night was more for us ‘outsiders’, this was when me got to mingle with the local Sabahan. Daniel divided us into groups for a simple paintball tournament. I was expecting to go water rafting (which was canceled), so I didn’t bring sport shoes or proper attire for Paintball. I decided to go to see the rest play anyway, but ended up playing myself with beach shorts, short sleeves, and my old time favorite Reebok slippers. Mind you, before the game, the guys came up to me and said “You’re not gonna leave this place spot-less”, which I believe was their way of saying “You are not fully equip, so be prepared to feel the PAIN balls which will be shot at you.”
So, to cut a long story short… the rest got their body marked, but I left unscratched. Yep. Not even a single dot on my body. Imagine that! I must have some sort of invincible shield or protective outer layer or something 😛 Anyway, my team came in third. This event brought me closer to the rest with us cracking jokes at each others inability to stay ‘alive’ during the game.
Night came fast after a good rest, with all of us traveling to a new club called Sam Tsui Club in KK Times Square. The Award Dinner was held in a private room with free flow of drinks, and Marul immediately made his presence felt by dressing up as a convict. Oh yeah, it was Halloween. He’s such a sport! Unfortunately for him, he left empty handed as the Borneo Bloggers Award was won by Arti Ilharmna from Kalimantan, while Flenegan walked away with a new Blackberry.
Made more new friends that night, and ended having pork soup at midnight with Eddie, Lim and John at a coffee shop in Lintas.
During the next day, I had breakfast with Dinoza, Daniel and Rob as we discussed on the future on our communities over a bowl of Ngui Chap. More ideas poured in on how I could develop Sarawak Bloggers during this session.
To sum up, the B2.0 was a huge success, and I believe that a lot of us who attended ended up having more ideas and a bigger networking. In fact, a lot of those attending said they can’t wait to see Sarawak Bloggers do a bloggers gathering, because they would love to come.
Like I said, the B2.0 was more than just a dialogue. It was cementing friendship and networking.