Kota Kinabalu Bloggers Meet

Author: Gallivanter

16 Jul

It was JACQ’s idea, and my enthusiasm to make it a reality, with the help of Debbie, we did. Behind the scenes were intense, (Jewelle made an entry on this) mainly because we were separated by distance, and the task of getting 50 people to surface (will-they-won’t-they) was challenging.

Toscani’s was the original venue, and I envisioned at least 20 bloggers. After having spoken to Timothy of Nuffnang, who helped with the mass e-mail, the numbers began to puff up. Toscani’s hesitancy made us change the venue.

Cue Pirates of Borneo! The venue change was last minute but one that had to be made. While I was out in la-la land sitting for my exams, Jacq & Debbie joined forces. The questions were, will bloggers fork out RM50 at the last minute? Will they be okay having it on a cruise ship? I lowered the numbers promised to 30. Why? Because if 30 didn’t show up, Jacq and I would have to pay the differences from our pockets.

44 pax - what a relief! I met up with the Pirates person-in-charge at 3pm prior to the meet, checked out the ship, and then headed off to buy a laptop cable. I frantically spent 3 hours selecting some 200 songs out of 4200 to be used for the meet on the night before. The sound system was pathetic, but Wei Chuen and I got it working after a while (damn that loose cable!).

Then, Jacq rings me to say that there will be an additional charge of RM6 per person for some port charges. So I had to speedy Gonzales over to meet the person-in-charge and I didn’t take no for an answer. And they gave way. Maybe my menacing cock stare with one eyebrow raised got the job done.

By 8pm-ish, the ship was inhabited with bloggers, and I went around mingling as much as I could, though I was under the weather. I was hoping my chitchat would help break the ice. Armed with San Miguel beer, I threw caution to the wind and hosted the meet. I met loads of plebs, 43 to be exact.

The 6 exam papers in 3 days took its toll on me mentally and physically, looking at the photos, I have lost a lot of weight and muscle mass too. Blech.

Nuffnang sponsored some amount (Thanks Tim!), and I took advantage of it by getting Bon Jovi’s LOST HIGHWAY CDs (the album’s number 1 for a third week in a row on the Billboard Rock Charts by the way) as lucky draw prizes. And the rest were 1GB thumbdrives.

Though I didn’t sample the buffet during the meet (except the garish prawns), I spent most of the night socializing. Throw me in a ring with a bunch of strangers and in a few moments we’ll all walk out as friends.

Thank you Sabah bloggers for welcoming me, this event wouldn’t have been a success without you. Now, I wonder how are we gonna top the cruise ship bloggers meet? We have already set the date for the next meet (in July too). There, you have your one year’s notice.

I shall leave you with photos and other entries on the meet.

Kota Kinabalu Bloggers Meet
Mr Badak & Family

Kota Kinabalu Bloggers Meet

Kota Kinabalu Bloggers Meet
Jacq & I (that was the cruise ship behind us)

Kota Kinabalu Bloggers Meet
Jacq, myself & Riduan the man

Kota Kinabalu Bloggers Meet
Loretta & I

Kota Kinabalu Bloggers Meet

Jacq, Gallivanter, Jewelle
Jacq, Galli & Jewelle

KK Bloggers Meet
Me, Wei Chuen & Julian Sabah

KK Bloggers Meet
Me & Ned

Kota Kinabalu Bloggers Meet
Donna, Feley, Me & Debbie

Papajoneh & Gallivanter
Papajoneh & I

Pairacy & Gallivanter
Me & Pai

Kota Kinabalu Bloggers Meet
Showing KK Bloggers How KL Bloggers Woo the Ladies (courtesy of Mr Badak)

Kota Kinabalu Bloggers Meet
BED After-Party - Yolanda, Melissa, Me, Papajoneh & Wei Chuen

Jewelle’s KK Bloggers Meet : Jewelle’s Version

Caneeliea’s KK Bloggers Meet

Papajoneh’s Sabahan Bloggers Meeting

Jefferi’s Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Bloggers Gathering

Pai’s KK Bloggers Gathering 2007

Mr Badak’s KK Bloggers Meet Update

Melissa’s The KK Bloggers Meet

Julian Sabah’s KK Bloggers Meet

Anthony Lam’s KKBloggers Gathering Rocks!

Nyst.Wyrst’ Having My Dinner at KK Bloggers Meet

Lorna’s Look What I Brought Home from KK Bloggers Meet

Donna’s Sabah Bloggers Meet

Ned’s 1st KK Bloggers Meet

Today in History

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Filed under: Gallivantings

22 Responses for "Kota Kinabalu Bloggers Meet"

papajoneh July 16th, 2007 at 5:55am 1
Oh man, we really have fun after the meeting. Even better, the closing. You come back here soon, ok. Life’s started to get boring… I mean to be kind to my family, started to get routine… kekeke. And here commenting at 5am after just “fixing” my son’s leaking diaper. LOL.
mrBadak July 16th, 2007 at 8:28am 2
hey daniel. Just want to let u know that we appreciate all the hard work and effort from the 3 of you to make it a success. wah i didnt know the pirates tried to get some more $ from us.. but fortunately this west msian pirate meaner than the borneons kekekeke (somehow that makes me worried all of a sudden )
huei July 16th, 2007 at 10:07am 3
cool! so much fun!!! =D
Tine July 16th, 2007 at 10:34am 4
Wow … looks like a lot of fun. I’m waiting for one like this over here. Then I’m definitely going, at least one of ‘em blogger meets
kellster July 16th, 2007 at 11:42am 5
wow u go for alot of bloggers meet yeah?
so semangat!!
Kay Kastum July 16th, 2007 at 1:15pm 6
Sabah people are nice people bah..of course la
visithra July 16th, 2007 at 2:20pm 7
darn that looked fun ;p
julian sabah July 16th, 2007 at 5:09pm 8
RESPECT man for organising this great event! Really had alot of fun. Also a big thank you for saving our “treasures” from pirates! XD

What? next July is it? gonna mark my calendar now!
sabrina July 16th, 2007 at 6:06pm 9
Looks like loads of fun!

Nice shirt
Jewelle July 16th, 2007 at 8:08pm 10
Hope you did well in that exam! Next year, get some Peterpan, you hear! :-p
Gallivanter July 16th, 2007 at 9:58pm 11
papajoneh I’ll be back definitely, and this time, I’m bringing the sunshine. LOL.

mrBadak Thank you. And don’t worry, I’m mean for a good purpose.

huei Well, I definitely had a great time in a company of strangers. Coming this weekend?

Tine You’re in luck, there’s one I’m organizing this Saturday, back-to-basics stuff, please do come.

kellster No, not really, this one in KK I was partially involved in it’s organization.

Kay Kastum That is true, you gonna be the same when I see you this weekend, or have you been “westernized”? LOL

visithra Definitely, on a cruise ship has its plus points.

julian sabah Thanks, I couldn’t have done it without Jacq, Debbie and the support of the Sabahan bloggers.

sabrina It was. Thanks, I bought this shirt simply for that meet. LOL.

Jewelle Exam results won’t be out for another month or so. For you, I’ll dress up as Peter Pan.
Kay Kastum July 16th, 2007 at 10:02pm 12
A Sabahan is a Sabahan where ever he may be… Amen.
clement July 16th, 2007 at 10:49pm 13
i was trapped at home all that time!
Gallivanter July 17th, 2007 at 10:04am 14
Kay Kastum

clement Yeah, I heard. Jacq told me. Well, there’ll always be next year.
penman July 19th, 2007 at 12:20pm 15
WOW!!! this is so cool! What a happening event in my hometown!

GREAT JOB, GUYS!!!

Hope I’ll be able to join any KK Bloggers gathering next time, if I’m back visiting home!

^0^
Gallivanter July 19th, 2007 at 1:09pm 16
penman Well, we’re already planning one next year, and I’m planning to come down to KK in December. We could meet up you know.
Johnny Ong July 19th, 2007 at 1:33pm 17
u travel all over just to meet bloggers here and there?
Gallivanter July 19th, 2007 at 2:54pm 18
Johnny Ong No, Sabah trip was planned (early January) way before the idea of the blog meet was thought of (end of May I think).
netster July 22nd, 2007 at 3:08am 19
This is cool! WoW! The most happening bloggers!
Gallivanter July 22nd, 2007 at 12:39pm 20
netster It was a memorable evening, there were a lot of really friendly bloggers that night. I’m honored to have met them.
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