Kyan!me 2011 at Kuching, Sarawak

It was 2 years back since i last went to Kuching for the Rainforest World Music Festival in 2008 and this time it's for my first visit to Kyan!me, Sarawak :)

Kyan!me in a nutshell is an Anime Convention which consists of Anime, Comic, Games and Japanese Culture Expo. Since BB and I have been organising Hobbycon for the past few years now, it's a part of our 'ritual' to travel and learn from similar events to further improve Hobbycon for the better.


Upon reaching Kuching, Kimberly, the hardworking and adorable organiser kindly fetched us at the airport. We met Sakuya, Amber, Sharrif and the rest much later for dinner at Kim Bay Restaurant (halal food served, fyi) before studying the event schedule.


On the next day, all of us went to explore rows of shops in Kuching right after breakfast.
I was happy that i finally get to take pictures with the neko statue in Kuching (haha.. jakun~) :P Well, my last trip in Kuching was kinda rush.. so i didn't manage to explore Kuching much that time :)


Ok now... Back to the mini event coverage...

Day 1 of Kyan!me was just for an introduction.
There was the official opening ceremony, preview of cosplay, some stage performances and my favourite would be the Wasabi Sushi competition sponsored by Sushi King.


Since wasabi is never a problem for BB, he decided to participate in the competition for fun (and for free dinner too :P) lol!


Indeed, wasabi was never a problem for him.
THE ONLY problem that he faced was to chew and swallow the food fast enough to beat the 1st winner XD
I was worried seeing him stuffing lots of sushi in his mouth two at a time and looked like he was choking =_="
At the end, he got 5th place instead and gave the reason for the girls to win their bet... that is to call him "Julie-Chan" lol.


Booktown participated for the lady's category as well.
And surprisingly, she got no. 1! *wohoo*
Talk about girl power XD


After Kyan!me - Day 01 finished, we proceeded to a surprise 'supper' belated birthday party organised by Sakuya for Chiaki (Nana).
Since Chiaki's flight only arrive at 11pm from KK, we had no choice but to wait approximately 2 hours for the bday girl to reach the venue :)
Oh! Did you know that while we were waiting, we apparently got lectured by one uncle mat salleh (who passed by our table) for not interacting with each other, other than with our mobile phones?
"Guys... If i were to take a photo of all of you right now... you will see everyone of you are with your own mobile phones~ Wouldn't it be better to talk to each other? It's the simplest concept of hanging out~~~ bla222 yappp222" he blabbered...
=_="
Apparently the uncle missed our fun interactive activities during the first 1 1/2 hour .. geez... *sebooook betul*


Anyways, Nana eventually reached the venue at 11.30pm...
As expected, she didn't expected any of it and was tremendously surprised and cried XD


*tweet*tweet* Little birdy told me got mata-mata that night...
Aww that's alright... tak lama lagi juling lah tu *lol in high pitch*

After helping David to serve the cake (and decided to let some ppl to self-service), i headed back with some of the girls and call it a night.

+++++

Day 2 of Kyan!me is when all the fun began.
In support of the event, i cosplayed as Grell from Kuroshitsuji, courtesy of my anata Marissa :-*
It was a perfect fit and i had fun walking around with Amber (who cosplayed as Madam Red from the same anime) and stopped few times for photographs.
To be honest, I had trouble with the wig initially.
Was lucky that all of the girls helped me even when they are busy with their own costume *thank u ladies*


*thank you all for the photos... David... Ren Getsu... and whoever tagged me*

Aside from Cosplay Competition event, there were also live video game tournament such as Counter Strike and Dota competition on the first floor of the mall, Aikido demo, Japanese language competitions and Know Your Anime competitions.


Day 3 of Kyan!me is when i thoroughly studied the event AND took the opportunity to take photos of other cosplayers =D
Amber crossplayed for the first time, and i'd say she did a good job.


Oh! Did i mentioned the MC was superb?


Naza is the kind of MC i've been looking forward to have in Hobbycon.
He's Independent, Smart and Brilliant.
He can speak very fluent Japanese too ;)


Right after BB and I judged the kids cosplay competition and group cosplay skit, we headed off to the Spring Mall just to kill some time.


After the closing ceremony by Kimberly and the invited VIP, BB was invited to give a closing speech representing Dino from Breeze Mag.
As suggested by Kim, Julian also promoted Hobbycon to invite all Kuching citizens, hobbyists and cosplayers to come down to KK for our Hobbycon event on the 10th & 11th December 2011.


During his speech, i swear i heard some fly buzzing near me *heh :P*


We also met Mr. Takahashi , a traveling blogger from Japan covering anime / hobby/ japenese related events around the globe.
We invited him to Hobbycon too :)
I was surprised that he was in KK the week before Kyan!me and learned all the places he visited.. such as the Tg Aru Beach, the waterfront and some restaurants in KK.
Thank goodness he didn't choke from eating some food.
I know he's not fond of durian.. *well most Japenese ppl don't*


Talking about food, Station One Cafe is also available at The Hills Shopping Mall where Kyan!me held its event.
I've always heard about this cafe/restaurant in radio but unfortunately it's only available in West Malaysia.


They say, you haven't been to Kuching if u haven't tasted Kuih Lapis sarawak *I have* and Laksa Sarawak...
On our last day in Kuching, the organisers brought us for brunch at Madam Tang's Cafe to try out one of the famous Kuching Laksa in town (This is the Halal one)

I must say that I absolutely love the Teh-C special.
*Fret not, KK Sugarbun is serving the same thing only smaller portion :)*
As for the Laksa, BB and I ordered the one with 3 fat prawns.
It was good BUT it would've been better if i put in the sambal *How could i forget???!! =_=*


Gordon then brought us to the Waterfront and there, we met Mr Takahashi again.
Kimberly wanted to take us for a Sampan ride, but we wouldn't want to risk missing our afternoon flight back to KK...
Fyi, i reached the check in kiosk 3 MINUTES before it closed! *phew!*


All in all, I had fun at Kyan!me and learned a lot.
We have traveled covering other hobby events such as in KL, but i gotta say, Kyan!me had more similarity to Hobbycon.
And just like Hobbycon, there will ALWAYS be a minimum of 2 bad apples who just LOVE LOVE LOVE to point fingers when things go wrong /want to take credits for themselves.

Well, all i have to say is, nothing beats strong will, efforts and teamwork.
So go go GO Kyan!me & thank you so much for your kind hospitality to us!!! :D
Be strong and strive to improve for the better.
I'm very sure you guys will surprise everyone in the 3rd year.
We did it, so can you ;)

*aih~ scratching head for 5th Hobbycon*
.