Samuel's Blog

18/9/2011 Black and White at Batu Ferringhi

2011-09-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

Woke up at 5:30 AM this morning for just one purpose, Sunrise photography. Destination - Batu Ferringhi.

After 30 minutes drive from my home to Batu Ferringhi, the sky was still dark when I reached my destination, so I just sit in the car, listen to radio and waiting for the right time. After 20 minutes, the sky started to turn bright, so I went to the beach and setup my gear to prepare for some photo shooting with my new bought B+W 10 stops ND filter.

Unfortunately, the Sunrise today seems not as I expecting as well, so Black and White photos was in my mind. After chosen the spot and did some exposure metering, I set the camera to Manual focus and screw in the ND filter.

Below are 2 of the results of 30 seconds exposure.

16/9/2011 Imperfect Sunrise

2011-09-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

I have been woke up early today for one purpose, to capture the moment the Sun rises. I have not went out for Sunrise photo shooting for quite sometimes already, since it's holiday today, so I decided to take this time for Sunrise photo shooting.

I woke up at 6:20 AM, after brush up and packed my gears, I departed and drove to Jelutong Expressway. I revisit the place I visited before. By the time I reached my destination, the Sun begin to rises, after setting up all my gears and tested a few shots, I wait for the golden moment. Unfortunately, the Sunrise today seems imperfect, the color of the sky is not as what I expect. Anyway, I still taken a few shots, and converted it to black and white in PS.

By the way, this is my first time, using a black card for the photos, which use to make the exposure between the sky and the foreground more balance.

30/8/2011 Butterfly Farm, Penang

2011-08-31T05:59:00.000-07:00

It has been long time since I posted my last post for the blog, partly due to my workload is heavier this year, but mostly is due to I have been laid back from photography for quite some times. So I have decided to pick up my gears and reignite my passion for photography again.

Yesterday was the beginning of the 3 days of public holidays, so I decided to revisit the Butterfly farm located in Teluk Bahang, Penang for some macro photos shooting. Due to it's long holiday, there're many visitors from other states visiting the Butterfly farm as well, that makes photo shooting a bit tough, so I guess I will not make another visit next time during long holidays. Anyway, after spending 3 hours there, my effort was not wasted, below is the result of my works.

16/11/2010 Hong Kong 6D5N Free and Easy Tour - Day 6

2010-11-25T03:00:00.000-08:00

Finally, it came to the last day of the trip. Woke up at 8 something, after brush up and packing, we went to the Mickey Cafe for breakfast.

Some snap shots in the hotel:

After that, we checked out from hotel and left our luggage for the hotel to take care of it temporary while we go to Disneyland again. Today I decided to play rather than just shooting photos, thus there are not much photos have been taken. Among all the attractions, I enjoyed the 4D movie - Mickey's PhilharMagic and the Jungle Cruise.

After spending few hours in the park, we went for lunch in the park.

I ordered a set lunch with appetizer and main course

My appetizer - Caesar Salad

My bro-in-law's main course - Seafood Noodle, he enjoyed it

My main course - Spaghetti Bolognese

Outside the window, some nice plants

After finished our lunch, we stayed a while in the park then we left at 2:30 PM back to our hotel to claim our luggage and head to the airport, thus, that's end our 6 days 5 nights free and easy tour in Hong Kong.

15/11/2010 Hong Kong 6D5N Free and Easy Tour - Day 5

2010-11-24T03:33:00.000-08:00

Fifth day of the trip, I woke up quite late, so as my dad. After wash up and packing, we checked out from the hotel. While my family made a move to Disneyland and drop the luggage at the Disney's Hollywood Hotel first, I had to go to the Sony Service Center nearby to apply the International Warranty for my camera.

The Sony Service Center's business hour starts from 11:00 AM, so I will have to wait. I had my breakfast in McDonald's and I would say, it's nice, at least much nicer than the breakfast provided in McDonald's Malaysia.

Macaroni with Pork Burger, Egg and mixed vege cooked in soup, served with Milk Tea and Hash Brown

After I finished my breakfast, I went to walk around Sai Yeung Choi street while waiting for the Sony Service Center to open. After a long hour of walking and looking around, I decided to go back to McDonald's for a drink, as my legs are very tired.

I orderd a Mocha Ice Blended from McCafe, it's not bad, though not as nice compared to Starbucks or Coffee Bean

After a refreshing drinks in McDonald's, I went to the Sony Service Center to apply the International Warranty for my camera, which is F.O.C. It took just 10 minutes to complete the whole thing, it's quite effective. After that, I headed back to hotel to retrieve my luggage and depart to Tung Chung to meet my family.

I arrived at Tung Chung earlier than expected, so I have to wait for my family. This is Tung Chung Citygate Outlets, there are many branded outlets like Nike, Adidas, Puma and so on in it

After met with my family, we went in to the Citygate Outlets' food court - Food Republic for lunch.

My lunch - Pork Chop with Pasta in Portugal style

After lunch, my sister and bro-in-law do some shopping in the mall, while I just looked around since I don't plan to buy any apparel. We spent around 2 hours in the mall before we depart to the Disneyland.

Sunny Bay's station, waiting for the train to Disneyland

The train arrived, one of Mickey shape window of the train

Interior of the train

Arrived at the Disneyland station

After arrived at the Disneyland station, we took the free shutter bus to the Disney's Hollywood Hotel.

Some snapshots of the room:

Bathroom

After resting a while in the room, it's time to visit the Hong Kong Disneyland.

The buttons of the lift

Some decoration at the lift area - 101 Dalmatians

Saw Goofy in the hotel lobby, my nephew took a photo with him

Then we took the shuttle bus from hotel to Disneyland, which just 5 minutes distance from the hotel. After reached the entrance of Disneyland and went through the security checking, I finally enter Disneyland.

Mickey and Minnie and visitors

Christmas tree

Balloon seller in Disneyland

Lot of balloons

Candy shop, just for display

Cinderella's carousel

Sleeping Beauty Castle

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Pooh's gift shop

One of the rides in the World of Tomorrow

Fantasia

Adventureland

Tarzan Tree House

Me and bro-in-law busy walking around snapping photos while my sis, nephew and dad walked around in Disneyland and play. During 7:00 PM, we went to the front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle to wait for the fireworks display which will stars at 8:00 PM.

After waiting for 1 hour, finally, the show starts. Begin with some previous Disney animation projected on the castle's wall, and the scores of those animation, the fireworks display begins.

End of the fireworks display

After the fireworks display, we started to head back to the hotel for dinner.

Finally, back to the hotel for dinner, I was so hungry

We have had a very nice buffet dinner

After dinner, we went back to our room, wash up and rest. That concludes another day.

14/11/2010 Hong Kong 6D5N Free and Easy Tour - Day 4

2010-11-22T15:50:00.001-08:00

It's the most relaxing day of the trip, we just visit a few places before we went back to hotel.

In the morning, we went to a restaurant nearby for some Hong Kong style breakfast.

Breakfast set, customers may choose 2 types of meat/egg together with the type of soup and noodles, free tea/coffee with extra charge if wanna change to cold drinks

Cold Honey Lemon

Milk Tea aka 奶茶

My warm honey lemon

My breakfast - Marinated vege with sliced pork and ham with tomato soup and instant noodles, the soup is nice with the tomatoes

My bro-in-law's breakfast

My sis' breakfast

A lot of double deckers in Hong Kong

Dessert after breakfast

After breakfast, we went to Chater Road for a walk before my sister started to shop. There are a lot of Phillipinoes gathering there, they just sit at the road side, chatting, having meals, singing, dancing, it seems so relaxing for them

Some ceremony was happening there, to remember the dead during the World War

My dad, nephew, sis and bro-in-law

My sis and bro-in-law

I don't have the chance to take this tram this round, but I will when I visit Hong Kong again

A classic looking scooter saw at Mosque Street

After that, we went to a shopping mall for some window shopping and lunch of course.

We went to The Great Food Hall for lunch, the price of the food is kinda expensive, so we only ordered a pizza

The pizza was nice, so as the price

After lunch, we went back to our hotel and grabbed some food from the convenient store and rest. After that, my sister went out to shop alone at the Ladies' Market (女人街). During dinner time, my sister, nephew and my father went to shopping mall at the Avenue of Stars; while me and bro-in-law went to Sai Yeung Choi Street South aka 电器街 (Din Hei Kai) to buy camera.

Saw this guy at Sai Yeung Choi Street. Though he's disabled, yet he's able to use his mouth for calligraphy, very impressive

Sai Yeung Choi Street is very happening even in the evening

Lots of people

There are some performers performing there

After I bought my camera, me and bro-in-law headed back to the hotel before we went out again for dinner. After I set up my new camera in the hotel, we went to the restaurant nearby to have our dinner.

碗仔翅, Hong Kong famous local delicacies, but I still prefer Malaysia one

My bro-in-law's 车仔面, he chose curry fish balls, mushrooms, egg and fat noodles

My 车仔面, I chose two different types of vegetables, white radish, curry fish balls with fat noodles

After dinner, we revisit Temple Street again.

After that, we went to 许留山 for Mango dessert again.

Mangoes with coconut, yummy

Snapped this while on our way back to hotel

After a walk in Temple Street and had a nice supper at 许留山, we went back to our hotel and rest.

13/11/2010 Hong Kong 6D5N Free and Easy Tour - Day 3

2010-11-21T23:04:00.000-08:00

Day 3 of the trip, we went to have some Dim Sum in the morning before we started our trip of the day.

We went to 得如酒楼 for Dim Sum, the Dim Sum is not so bad, but I think there should be better place for Dim Sum somewhere else

Layers cake, it doesn't look tempting, but it's not bad

Big Bun, but not as big as the one I can have in KL

Lo Mai Kai, glutinous rice, my family prefer Malaysia's glutinous rice, but I think it's not so bad

Fish ball

Char Siew Bun, this one is nice

Chu Qiong Fun, we chose the prawn one, not as good as I expected

Having Dim Sum must have Chinese Tea as well, we have Pu Er with our Dim Sum

Har Gao, prawn's dumpling

Siu Mai, this is nice as well

The restaurant looks old, and there're many aunties and uncles there having breakfast. Some of them reading newspaper, some of them talking about Hong Kong's news, not many tourists there

While walking down from the restaurant, passed by the window with this view. It looks like the old Hong Kong

After breakfast, we walked back to our hotel to meet my sister. This is a restaurant nearby the hotel we stayed

Saw this in the MRT station, it's cute and reminding the users of the escalator to hold the handrail and stand still, what a friendly reminder

Next stop - Ngong Ping

Many people are going to Ngong Ping

A very long queue behind us

Ngong Ping cable car ticket counters

Waiting area for inconvenient people

We took the Crystal Cabin with glass bottom

Ngong Ping, lots of tourists

The landmark of Ngong Ping, the buddha statue

My nephew as an emperor of the ancient China

First thing to do in Ngong Ping - having our lunch. Ngong Ping is famous with its vegetarian lunch

Our dessert after lunch - Tao Fu Fah, it's quite nice

Having our dessert under this tree

Some snapshots in Ngong Ping:

the buddha statue

Going back to the Ngong Ping village

There's Parkour performance during the day we visit Ngong Ping

After the Parkour finished, we took the Crystal Cabin back to the foothills and go to our next destination - Avenue of Stars. The purpose that we went to Avenue of Stars is to watch the Symphony of Light.

Before the Symphony of Light begins

During the Symphony of Light

After the Symphony of Light, we have a walk around the Avenue of Stars.

We saw the Ice Cream car and we have some ice cream

It's going to be Christmas soon, lots of Christmas decoration have been seen

My tired nephew

After that we went back to the hotel and me and my brother-in-law went to Temple Street for some sightseeing and photo shooting.

We went to 许留山 for some Mango dessert. It's very nice, recommended

Mango Sago, lots of mangoes

The appearance of the shop

Temple Street, this is the first day me and my brother-in-law went to Temple Street, we didn't go too far

After walking a while, we went to buy the supper for my sister - Claypot Rice. We waited 30 minutes for the claypot rice, scary

I haven't try the claypot rice i Hong Kong yet, I will someday

Many people opposite the street are buying 牛什, it's the combination of the cow's internal organs and some other stuff, I never try that, maybe will someday

After we got our claypot rice, we went back to the hotel and rest.

12/11/2010 Hong Kong 6D5N Free and Easy Tour - Day 2

2010-11-20T22:02:00.000-08:00

Woke up at 8 in the morning, after brush up, we're prepared for the trip today. Our destinations of the day are Ocean Park and the Peak.

We went to a restaurant known as Yee Shun Milk Company for breakfast before our journey starts.

The menu

Toasted bread

My breakfast - Pasta with Ham and Egg, not bad

Drinks that served with my breakfast - Milk

Milk mixed with Egg, it's sweet and nice

Dad and bro-in-law's breakfast - Fried sausage, ham and egg, typical western style breakfast

The appearance of the restaurant

After breakfast, we take MRT to Admiralty Station (金钟站) then take Citybus 629 to Ocean Park.

Many passengers queue up to take the bus

The bus station was crowded with people

Entrance of the Ocean Park, as expected, crowded with people and lots of students

Panda in the Ocean Park

The panda looks emotional

Some red flowers among the yellow flowers saw in the Ocean Park

We took the Ocean Express from the Waterfront to the Summit

The Ocean Park Tower

The thrilling rides in Ocean Park

Next, we went to the Sea Jelly Spectacular

The entrance and exit of the Sea Jelly Spectacular

Some prize to be won at the game stalls

More toy bears

We're trying to have our lunch at McDonald's, unfortunately there's a long queue there, end up we just bought our lunch from a snacks stall. We have one Turkey drumstick, one chicken drumstick, four sandwiches, one BBQ cuttlefish, and four hot dogs and the lunch costs us around 300++ HKD

My nephew playing with his toy

Some performers playing musics nearby

The entrance to the Ocean Theater

Some practice before the show starts

The show starts at 3:00 PM where the performers sings a few songs first

Many people opening their umbrellas and blocking the view of the audience behind, kinda bad

The show begins

Dolphin trainer: "Sings, Dolly, sings~!!!!!"

Nike's new spokesperson for Air

My cute little nephew with the Ocean Park mascot

Next stop - The Peak, we had a very long queue and we waited around 20 minutes to reach our turn to take the tram

First thing to do after reaching the Peak - DINNER

My drinks - Coke with Lemon, I like the bottle, it looks classic

My dinner - Fried rice with sliced chicken meat and cabbages

After dinner, we went to the Sky Terrace for night view

Followed by the Madame Tussauds Hong Kong, welcomed by Jackie Chan at the entrance

Andy Lau and Li Bing Bing

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are here too

Nicole Kidman, she's pretty~

Aaron Kwok

Demonstration of the making of wax figure

Leslie Cheung

Gandhi

Luciano Pavarotti

Pablo Picasso

Shakespeare

Sun Yat-sen

Einstein with his E=MC2 formula

Astroboy

Donnie Yen as Yip Man

MJ

Teresa Teng

This is not a wax figure, it's my nephew looking at his new toy double decker

After a long day walk, it's time to take a break in Delifrance with a glass of Orange Juice

and Tuna sandwich

and Vegetables sandwich

After having our supper in Delifrance, we travel back to the Tram station, and it's first time in my life that I have been blown away by the wind as the wind is too strong. After reaching the tram station, there's a long queue there. After a long wait, it's our turn to take the tram to go down from the Peak and we headed back to hotel after that.

11/11/2010 Hong Kong 6D5N Free and Easy Tour - Day 1

2010-11-20T04:59:00.001-08:00

Just back from Hong Kong 4 days ago. Honestly, Hong Kong was never in my list, as Hong Kong is just a city to me, no different from Kuala Lumpur, and I actually prefer places with natural scenery or historical sites like NZ, Australia, Europe and so on. But after the trip, I have changed my mind, it's really not so bad to have a trip in Hong Kong, I like the food there, I like the language there, I like the transportation there.

This is the first time to travel with my sis, bro-in-law and nephew to overseas (second time with my dad), so it's a memorable one.

We departed from Penang on 11/11/2010, Thurs, afternoon with Air Asia. We reached Hong Kong around 8 something. From Hong Kong Airport to the hotel we stayed (The Cityview Hong Kong, located in Kowloon) was very convenient and it's free.

After we checked in and dropped our luggage, we went to the restaurant just opposite our hotel for dinner.

On our way from Airport to the Bus Station with the Express train

Bus station, waiting for bus to The Cityview

After we dropped our luggage, we went to the restaurant opposite for dinner. The restaurant sells Noodles and Porridge

Lettuce with Oyster sauce

My porridge with Fish balls and Meat balls (lots of them)

watercress with honey

Milk tea

Fried fishcake, I like this

Outside of the restaurant

Walking around after dinner, there's a MRT station near to our hotel

Not to mention there's two convenient stores nearby as well, selling varieties of food and drinks

After buying some drinks from the convenient store, we headed back to the hotel and rest to prepare for the journey tomorrow.

12/09/2010 Macro shots in Botanical Garden

2010-09-12T01:46:00.000-07:00

05/09/2010 Some shots from Botanical Garden

2010-09-05T03:07:00.000-07:00

24/8/2010 Full Moon

2010-08-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

The Moon was so big and round today.

24/8/2010 Sony New DSLR + DSLT

2010-08-24T02:20:00.000-07:00

Today is an exciting day as Sony has announced 2 new DSLR - A560/A580 and 2 new DSLT - A33/A55.

A560 and A580 should be the new replacement for the existing A500 and A550, both using the new Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor where A580 equipped with the all new 16.2 megapixels Exmor APS HD sensor while the A560 is equipped with the 14.2 megapixels Exmor APS HD sensor which is currently use by the Sony NEX series camera.

The major upgrades for the 2 cameras are:

1) New sensor - Exmor APS HD CMOS Sensor
2) New 15 points phase-detection AF system
3) Full HD Video Recording
4) Advanced imaging functions: 3D sweep panorama, Auto HDR and Multi Frame Noise
Reduction
5) Simplified Shooting modes on the dial - Auto, P, A, S, M, Sweep Panorama, Scenes
6) Depth of Field preview button added

For details specs of the cameras, please visit: http://www.dpreview.com/news/1008/10082419sonya580a560.asp

Some photos of A560 (from dpreview: http://dpreview.com/news/1008/10082419sonya580a560.asp)

The small round button beneath the lens mount is the DOF button

Simplied mode dial

While for the Sony A33 and A55 are the new camera known as DSLT, which stands for Digital Single Lens Translucent. For DSLR, when the light hit the mirror in front of the sensor, the light will be direct to the Optical View Finder. When the shutter button is pressed, the mirror will be leave up in order for the light to reach the sensor. While for the A33/A55, the mirror is a Translucent mirror, where 70% of the light will direct pass through the mirror to reach the sensor, while 30% of the light will be reflect to the AF system on the top, thus, the mirror will not move while the shutter has been press.

Due to only 30% of light will reach the AF system, so Optical View Finder will not be the optimum solution, thus, OVF has been replaced with the new 1.15 million dots EVF. With EVF combined with the translucent mirror, there'll be no black out during the exposure.

Besides, phase-detection AF is enable during video recording which is quicker compare to contrast-detection AF.

Also, with the Translucent mirror, the new Sony A55 can burst up to 10fps, where it's only possible with the high end pro DSLR like the Canon 1Ds or the Nikon D3S.

Sony A55 - key specifications

* 16.2MP (effective) APS HD CMOS sensor
* Fixed, pellicle-type semi-translucent mirror
* Maximum ISO 12,800 (with a quasi-ISO 25,600 'Multi-frame NR' option)
* 15-point phase-detection AF array with 3 cross-type AF points
* Electronic viewfinder with 1.44 million dot resolution (1.15M dots used)
* Built-in GPS
* Electronic level in EVF/LCD with pitch/roll indicator
* Dual-purpose Memory Stick/SD card slot
* 10fps continuous shooting rate
* 1080p AVCHD movie mode with continuous AF
* Articulated 3in 'TruBlack' LCD with 912k dots
* socket for external microphone
* 2x magnification mode in live view
* Face-detection AF (focus via nearest phase-detection AF point)

For general specs of A33/A55, please visit: http://dpreview.com/news/1008/10082421sonyslta55a33.asp

For the Review of A55, please visit: http://dpreview.com/reviews/sonyslta55/

Some pictures of the A33/A55 (from http://dpreview.com/news/1008/10082421sonyslta55a33.asp):

The Translucent Mirror in front of the sensor, can see the sensor directly through the mirror

The DOF preview button beneath the lens mount

A55 comes with built-in GPS that allows geo tag for the photos

Awesome tilt and swivel 3 inches 921k dots TruBlack LCD

The 10fps burst sound of the A55

The advertisement of A33/A55

A55 looks very promising, and now I am looking forward for the upcoming Pro model, which is the A700 replacement, hope that Sony can again surprise us when it's out.

15/08/2010 Cloudy

2010-08-15T08:13:00.001-07:00

Woke up this morning found that the weather was cloudy, so my photo shooting plan was ruined, end up I just snapped one photo from my balcony.

01/08/2010 Home Photo Shooting

2010-08-02T03:23:00.000-07:00

Some simple shots done at home. :P

Gourmet series:

Toys series:

24/7/2010 Food Photography

2010-07-25T06:43:00.000-07:00

Recently, I rarely go out for photo shooting, due to busying with jobs and also lack of ideas on what to snap, so I decided to shoot some food photos while preparing my dinner yesterday.

I just used two main objects for my photos, tomatoes and broccoli.

03/07/2010 Timeless

2010-07-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, I went to Fort Cornwallis and Peranakan Mansion for some photo shooting with my friends. This was my first time to Fort Cornwallis for photo shooting and my forth time to Peranakan Mansion.

I don't have much ideas on what to snap, so end up with just some random photos.

Fort Cornwallis:

Peranakan Mansion:

05/06/2010 Kedah Day Tour

2010-06-07T07:08:00.000-07:00

Last Sat, I have went to Kedah for day tour with some friends. We didn't visit many places, just Lye Huat Garden, Paddy Museum and Sains Museum. Not many photos was taken though throughout the trip.

First place that we had visited was Lye Huat Garden.

"Lye Huat Garden is a recreational park in Kubang Pasu District, Kedah. It comprises a man-made lake, a miniature landscaped garden, and a terra cotta garden. Visitors also get to enjoy the koi carps in the lake, and view its collection of ceramic figurines.

Lye Huat Garden was founded by Dato Lim Lye Huat in 2002. It was originally called Lye Huat Stone Art Gallery when it was first built in 1994. Dato Lim built it for his personal enjoyment. However, through the suggestion of friends, he decided ton open it to the public. In addition to being a tourist attraction in northern Kedah, Lye Huat Garden was also a venue for several national competitions including the National Flower, Hornfish, Bonsai and Suiseki Competition launched by the then prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, in 2002. In 2004, the International Bonsai and Suiseki Competition was held here, and officiated by the Sultan of Kedah." (exploring-malaysia.com)

Terracotta Army Replica （兵马俑仿制品）

Terracotta Army Replica（兵马俑仿制品）

Terracotta Army Replica（兵马俑仿制品）

Black Swans

Some deers in the Lye Huat Garden

Asian Tiger as well

There're many birds in the garden as well. The pigeon looks like it wanna be free from the cage

Bird that looks like a turkey, but much bigger in size

There're variety of parrots in the garden as well

Some fancy bird with fancy hair

Hornbill

A doorway to a garden

Some antique bicycles in the garden

Antique bicycle bell

A macro was taken while waiting for the gang outside the entrance

After spending one and a half hour in the garden, we went for lunch. After that we went to Paddy museum. There's nothing much to see in the museum other than the revolving gallery visitors can admire the massive 103m mural without moving an inch.

I only captured 2 photos in the Paddy Museum.

A basket that filled with paddy

An equipment that use to catch fish

After 1 hour in the Paddy Museum, we departed to the Science Museum nearby. No photos was taken in the museum as I was busy exploring around, and actually not much to be snap in the museum as well.

We left the museum and headed back to Penang at around 4 something. Though not many photos were taken that day, yet it's another enjoyable journey with my friends.

02/06/2010 My iPhone 3Gs

2010-06-02T07:57:00.000-07:00

After serving my for 5 years, my Motorola E398 finally rest in peace. After done some research for a new phone, I decided to sign on the Digi iPhone package. In fact, I got my iPhone since last month, but I was busy to take the photos of it until today.

This is my iPhone 3Gs 16GB.

29/5/2010 Forest Park, Penang

2010-05-29T07:29:00.000-07:00

It has been merely 2 weeks since my last post, as I am busy recently with my project on hands.

I have went to Forest Park this morning for some macro shots. Forest Park was located at Teluk Bahang, besides the Butterfly Farm. This was my first time there for photo shooting, though I have been there once few years ago.

10/05/2010 A gift from a friend

2010-05-11T05:57:00.000-07:00

Last week, one of my colleague went to Cameron Highlands for vacation, and he bought me a cactus with a bud that's going to bloom. I placed the cactus in the office and snap with my camera to document the process of blooming.

20/04/2010 Butterfly Farm, Penang

2010-04-20T03:34:00.000-07:00

This was the third time that I visited Butterfly Farm since I owned my camera last year, since I was kinda lazy to go into the wild to find the insects for macro shooting, so I opt for the easy way.

So nothing much to say, just some photos sharing. Enjoy ;)

Hibiscus

A drop of water can be so amazing in the world of macro

Lotus with a butterfly rest on it

White lotus

Lotus and Koi

A butterfly laying eggs

Eggs of butterfly

A lizard in the butterfly farm

After spending 3 hours in the butterfly farm, me and my bro-in-law and his sister decided to leave for lunch.

We have been struggled for the place for lunch, in the end, we decided to go to the Japanese restaurant in Tanjung Tokong for lunch.

Ma Bo Tofu, nice, RM8 per bowl

My Terriyaki Chicken set lunch, served with rice, salad, Miso soup, appetizer and fruits, RM 13

13/04/2010 Daorae Korean Restaurant

2010-04-14T22:29:00.001-07:00

2 days ago, me and a bunch of friends went to Daorae for dinner which located at Bayan Lepas. This was the first time I went to Daorae, my friend have told me that it's quite nice, though the BBQ meat is not as good as the Korean/Japanese fusion restaurant "Chang Chun Guan" we went before, but the value of food is much worthy there, especially they provide free cabbage and free side dishes.

Seaweed soup

Sidedish - Kimchi

Some other side dishes

And more side dishes, all of them are f.o.c.

Pork marinated with herbs and ginseng extract, but I can't really taste the taste of herbs and ginseng

Ginseng Chicken with rice that looks like porridge and without the taste of ginseng

unknown dish, nice

Korean Pan Cake, I like this as well

Fried Nian Gao, which is a type of food that was made of glutinous rice

Another BBQ pork

Kimchi Soup, didn't really try those as there're too much food on the table

All the food consumed by five of us. Actually there's one more BBQ chicken which I didn't snap

After the main course, the restaurant provided us watermelon and ginger tea as dessert. I would say it's a satisfying meal (though not satisfying with the ginseng chicken and ginseng marinated pork) and the price is quite reasonable, with so much food, it costs us RM204.50. I will surely revisit this place again.

14/03/2010 Orchid Festival, Penang

2010-04-06T05:18:00.000-07:00

Almost 3 weeks ago, me and my brother-in-law and his sister went to the Orchid Festival near the Botanical Garden, Penang. At first, I thought there will be many Orchids and other floral for viewing and photo shooting, but in fact, it's far from what I expected. The Orchid festival was actually some florist stalls that selling plants and orchids, and some orchid displays.

Well, since it's not so attractive, so only a few photos was taken during that morning.

ps: I am so busy recently with my work, so I don't really have time for photo shooting, sigh...

20/2/2010 Chinese New Year Celebration

2010-03-29T06:53:00.000-07:00

I was very busy recently with the project on hand, so I rarely have time to go out for photo shooting.

Last month, I went to the Miao Hui (庙会) in Georgetown on second day after I back from Yunnan. I didn't snap much photos during this event, as it was so crowded and I was kinda lazy, so just a few shots was taken.

Khoo Kongsi

19/02/2010 - Yunnan, The Province of Mountains, Final Part

2010-03-22T06:36:00.000-07:00

It was the last day of the trip, due to time constraint, there was only one destination today, the flower market in Kunming. Jacky told us that flowers in Kunming are very cheap, 99 roses may just cost 20 RMB, which is about RM 10++ over here.

I didn't take any photos in the market, as I am in a hurry for buying souvenirs and some local tidbits. As I stepped into the market, I saw a promoter promoting a very interesting flower, it was a flower that not yet bloom, but when the promoter sprayed the water unto the flower, it blooms immediately.

After walked through the floral section of the market, I came to the fragrance oil section. I just skipped that section and proceed to the food and tidbits section. I bought some Assam jelly candy as it taste nice. Then I proceed to the souvenirs section. I bought several native instruments, which is actually a type of flute that's used by the native, as the souvenirs to my friend. After paying, I just went back to the bus and wait for others.

After all the tourists were on board, we headed to Kunming International Airport, as our flight will be depart at 11:00 am. Upon reaching the airport, Jacky lead us to the departure hall and helped us to settle on board procedure.

Well, the journey marks an ending here, I am really glad that we have a safe and sound trip. Firstly, would like to thank God for the whole trip, as He's the one that protected us for the whole trip. Secondly, would like to thank Jacky, the tour guide for the whole trip, he had shared a lot to us and being helpful for the whole trip. Not to forget June as well, the tour leader.

In conclusion, the tour gave me a wonderful memory, though I didn't bought myself any souvenirs, but the photos and the experience are good enough for me.

18/02/2010 - Yunnan, The Province of Mountains, Part 6

2010-03-20T07:53:00.000-07:00

It's the last second day of the tour, as usual, we woke up at around 7:00 am for preparation and breakfast, then we departed at around 8:00 am. It was cold today, and Jacky told us that it might be raining today.

The first destination for the day was Shilin （石林）aka Stone Forest in English. Shilin is a notable set of karst formations in Shilin Yi Autonomous County, in the Yunnan province of southwest China, approximately 85 km from the city of Kunming. The tall rocks seem to emanate from the ground in the manner of stalagmites, with many looking like trees made of stone, creating the illusion of a forest made of stone. (from Wikipedia)

That's our tour guide - Jacky, explaining to the tourists

Jacky said that the rock that hangs between the rocks will drop on those who are evil, fortunately, I am still alive

It's raining, and due to the cold weather, the rain drop has became ice. Besides, due to the rain, the floor was extremely slippery, I was nearly fall down a few times

The pavilion on the huge rock was crowded with people, I have to force my way up to the pavilion and then down from the pavilion all the way

The view at the pavilion - the forest of stones

Peach blossoms in Shilin

More peach blossoms

After spending an hour in Shilin, we went to Qi Cai Yunnan （七彩云南） to have our dinner and for some shopping as well, as there're a few shops there which are selling silver ornaments, jade ornaments, food and so on.

Guo qiao mi xian （过桥米线）, for details, please read Wikipedia

Deer meat

Meat balls

After lunch, went out for some photo shooting. The weather was so cold that, my hand was nearly frozen, and I just stood by the lake for a few minutes without doing anything, as I was too cold to even snap a photo

Next, we went to a tea shop to buy some tea, as Yunnan is famous with its Pu Erh.

The lady was making tea for us to try

This lady was explaining to us the different type of tea, she's quite humorous

Tea leaves for display

After that, we went to another shop that's selling silk products.

This lady was embroidering a picture with the silk

After spending an hour in the shop, we were heading to the restaurant for our last dinner in Yunnan. Jacky had brought us to a very nice restaurant, which has a nice name - The Swan Lake.

The weather was so cold, I was shivering even in the restaurant, until the waitress served me a cup of warm tea. After a while, our dinner is served.

Fried Bean curd

Winter melon

This was the first time that we managed to finish all the food that was served, firstly was because the dishes are not as much as previous dinner; secondly was due to the cold weather where we need to consume more food in order to keep ourselves warm.

After the dinner, we were enjoying some fireworks display outside the restaurant, it was fantastic, but I didn't managed to capture some nice shots due to my location. When the fireworks displays finished, it's time for us to go back to our hotel to rest and to pack up as we will be leaving Yunnan and back to our warm country tomorrow.

17/02/2010 - Yunnan, The Province of Mountains, Part 5

2010-03-14T06:04:00.000-07:00

Woke up at 8 in the morning, thankfully I had at least 5 hours of sleep. After having breakfast in the hotel's restaurant, it's time to depart again.

The first destination of the day is the lake located in Kunming known as Cui Hu （翠湖）. There's a famous military school near Cui Hu known as Yunnan Lu Jun Jiang Wu Tang （云南陆军讲武堂）.

After staying a while in the military school, we walked to Cui Hu opposite the military school. There were many seagulls in the lake as many of the seagulls will migrate to here at the beginning of the year.

A seagull at flied over Cui Hu

Next, it's time for lunch.

This is the Fried Tang Yuan （炸汤圆）

Some lanterns in the restaurant

After our lunch, the tour guide brought us to visit a crystal shop, well, trying to promote us the crystal products. I was not so interesting in it, so I just went outside the shop to search for some interesting subjects for photo shooting.

Saw this goat that tied outside the shop

Tea time~

Awwww... you look so sad....

Opposite the shop, there were two old folks working; The old lady is clearing the branches

While the old man was cutting woods

Next, we went to Jiu Xiang （九乡） to explore the cave which is full of stalactite （钟乳石）.

The entrance

The words on the stone written, "Without visiting Jiu Xiang, it's wasted for coming to Yunnan"

The valley in Jiu Xiang. The tour guide said that part of Jackie Chan's movie - the Myth was shot here

Time to visit the cave

After finished the exploration of the cave, we headed for our dinner. The dinner was indeed a special one, pictures are better than words.

The sitting place

Roast chicken

Roast duck

Trionychidae （水鱼） and Chicken soup

Deep fried fish (unknown fish type)

Fried mushroom

Some kind of dessert

Deep fried larva and bees' pupa

Hare's meat

The restaurant

This end our journey for day five, after that we were sent to another hotel nearby for resting.

16/02/2010 - Yunnan, The Province of Mountains, Part 4.2

2010-03-05T06:33:00.001-08:00

After lunch, we proceed to our next tourist spot, the Hei Long Tan （黑龙潭） which means Black Dragon Lake in English.

The entrance to the Hei Long Tan

There's a myth saying that, whichever part of your body is sick and you just have to touch on the same part of the body of the lion sculpture, and you will get recover, well, just a myth afterall

Tour group photo

The tour guide said that, if the weather is fine, the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain will be reflected on the lake. Too bad I don't have the opportunity to see that

Next, the tour guide brought us to a shop for some sales talk regarding Spirulina （螺旋藻）. Well, I have expected for some sales talk as the tour guide will earn some commission from the sales the shop gets.

After spending an hour and a half in the shop, we left the shop and headed to our last tourist spot in Li Jiang - Shu He Gu Zhen （束河古镇）, another ancient town that has been preserved in Li Jiang.

Shu He Gu Zhen is not as big and happening as the Li Jiang Gu Cheng （丽江古城, the ancient town of Li Jiang）, and I didn't see many people on the street while we were there. But there were some activities going on when I was there; some native are having their native dances in the town center, and visitors are welcomed to join them for the dances.

The town center of the Shu He Gu Zhen

Some volunteers are performing native dances (sorry for the "spooky" photo, due to the slow sync flash, the dancers have became transparent)

A shop that's selling matches

We spent 50 minutes in the town. Honestly, I have not enough time to fully explore the town. Friendly reminder, for those who will be visiting the town, please watch out when you're walking on the street, there might be excrement of horses on the street.

Then, we went to have our last dinner in Li Jiang before we went back to Kunming.

Last dinner in Li Jiang - Fish steamboat

Shashimi~! Nah, need to be cook before eat it

Deep fried fish skin

After the dinner, we headed to the Li Jiang airport to take the flight back to Kunming. The airport is small and crude, nothing much to see, we reached there at 9 something and our flight was supposed to be ready to board at 11:30 PM. Unfortunately, it has been delayed until 12:20 PM, gosh....

By the time we back to Kunming International Airport, it was already 1:10 AM in the morning, and we reached hotel at 2:00 AM. I just had a quick bath and went to bed as it will be another long day tomorrow.

16/02/2010 - Yunnan, The Province of Mountains, Part 4.1

2010-03-03T06:14:00.002-08:00

5 something in the morning, the air is cold, but I had to leave my very warm bed to get ready for the tour of the day. After preparation and taken my breakfast in the hotel, we headed to the bus. The tour guide given us an extra jacket, as we are heading to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

It was freezing when we reached the foot of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, worst still, I didn't wear any gloves, my hands were so cold that I have to rushed into the bus station to grabbed some gloves for myself, my parents and my grandma. The glove I bought was not in good quality, so it actually didn't keep my hands warm, but it's better than nothing.
another bus taken us from the bus station to the cable car station, we started the long queue. It took us almost one and a half hour to reach our turn to get into the cable car.

Snow~! Finally I reached the top of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

4,506 meters above sea level, actually i feel lack of oxygen. I was a bit blur during that moment, have to rely on the canned oxygen bought from the tour guide

Yunnan, the province of mountains

I didn't climb up the staircase to the higher ground. Firstly, lack of time; secondly, I don't wanna faint on halfway

A cup of hot ginger tea has never been so satisfying after spending 40 minutes outside where the temperature was below 0°C

It's time to leave

After we came down from the Snow Mountain, the tour guide brought us to the tourist spot not far from the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

Lan Yue Gu （蓝月谷）, or known as the Valley of the Blue Moon. The tour guide said that, it's called Lan Yue Gu is due to when the light of the Moon shines on the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, the light will be reflected by the snow on the mountain to the valley, thus, it was know as Lan Yue Gu

A waterfall near the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, this is my favorite shot of the whole trip

Jiuzhaigou National Park （九寨沟） has the lake with 5 different colors, but the lake at the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain also has quite a nice view, though it just has 3 colors within the lake

The Lake of the Blue Moon （蓝月湖）, I guess it's the same as the Valley of the Blue Moon

Gan Hai Zi （甘海子）, it's a huge grassland located at the East of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

After that, we went to the visit the worshiping place of the natives - the race of Nakhi （纳西族） known as Yu Shui Zhai （玉水寨）. There're nothing much to see over here, so just a few random shots over here.

Cherry Blossom

Saw a yak in Yu Shui Zhai again

Next, we went to have our lunch. The restaurant is known as Ma Bang Cai （马帮菜）. Ma Bang are the traders with horses that carried their good to trade through the Ancient Tea Route （茶马古道）.

The Ancient Tea Route was a network of mule caravan paths winding through the mountains of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It is also referred to as the Southern Silk Road. From around a thousand years ago, the Ancient Tea Route was a trade link from Yunnan, one of the first tea-producing regions: to India via Burma; to Tibet; and to central China via Sichuan Province. In addition to tea, the mule caravans carried salt.

It is believed that it was through this trading network that tea (typically tea bricks) spread across China and Asia from its origins in Pu'er county, near Simao Prefecture in Yunnan (Wikipedia)

The restaurant that's selling the dishes of the ancient Ma Bang

Chicken cooked with potatoes, carrots and radishes

Roast duck

Deep fried brinjal

I like pumpkins, but this dish of pumpkins is more like a dessert to me, just not my taste

Some random shots outside the restaurant after my lunch.

15/02/2010 - Yunnan, The Province of Mountains, Part 3.2

2010-02-27T18:53:00.000-08:00

After lunch at the restaurant in the Dali University, we proceeded to our next destination, Yan Jia Da Yuan （严家大院）. It's a mansion that was built in 1920's and owned by Yan's family, and later became the property of the Dali government and opened to the public.

The big white wall is used to reflect the light of the Sun into the houses, it's known as Zhao Bi （照壁）

The whole mansion is connected, it means that once one went in the mansion, he/she can access to any room in the mansion

Another Zhao Bi in the mansion

There's a presentation in the hall of the mansion regarding some traditions of Bai Zu including some dance performance and also the wedding ceremony of Bai Zu. We were treated with teas from the Bai Zu as well, which they called it Bai Zu San Dao Cha （白族三道茶）, which means the 3 cups of tea of Bai Zu.

The first cup of tea is bitter, it represents that life was bitter in the beginning

Following by sweet tea, it means that life will be better after all the bitterness （苦尽甘来）

And the last cup of tea is Hui Wei Cha （回味茶）, which means when one look back at their life with bitterness and sweetness, that's life

The wedding ceremony of Bai Zu, the bride will wear the sunglasses as she will cry during the ceremony, which is a must. Later, the bride will be pinch during the ceremony, the more she get pinched the better it is

The main entrance of the Yan Jia Da Yuan

An ancient looking door while on my way back to the bus

After visited the Yan Jia Da Yuan, we started our long long journey to Li Jiang （丽江） which took us 2 hours. While on the way to Li Jiang, I saw plenty of Canola Flowers' farms, and the Canola Flowers are blooming, how I hope I can go down from the bus to have some shot of the Canola Flowers' farms.

When we reached Li Jiang, it was around 7:00 pm, so the bus dropped us to our hotel first to drop our luggage back to our rooms and have our dinner. We were having Dim Sum （点心） for our dinner. There were 2 local delicacies which I have forgotten the name, though they have some funny name.

After dinner, we went to visit The Old Town of Li Jiang （丽江古城）, it's one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The source of water in the river of the town was from the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, which is very clean and cold

There're quite a number of shops selling silver ornaments, but Jacky told us not to simply buy silver ornaments from the shops, as some of them are not selling ornaments that are made from pure silver

After an hour plus in the town, we headed back to our hotel to rest, as we are going to wake up very early in the morning next day to go to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, which to me, is the best tourist spot in this trip.

15/02/2010 - Yunnan, The Province of Mountains, Part 3.1

2010-02-22T06:13:00.000-08:00

Day 3 - Another morning that I have to wake up very early, before the Sun risen. It's cold and dark outside. After a nice warm bath in the freezing morning and pack up the stuff, me and my family just take a ride on the electric car to go to the main building from our accommodation. Some simple buffet breakfast have been served by the hotel, and I enjoy the warm green tea so much in a cold morning like this.

While waiting for the tour group to depart, I just went outside in hope to snap some nice photos. Unfortunately, I was unable to find myself anything that's interesting to shoot, so I just keep my camera back to the backpack and wait for the tour group to depart.

The first destination of the day is the Dali （大理） Tian Long Ba Bu Studio （天龙八部影视城）, it's the place where they shoot the Chinese series Tian Long Ba Bu, it's originate from the novel written by Jin Yong - Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. The studio cost 1 billion RMB to built. After finish shooting of the series, it has been open to the public to visit. We reached there at 9:00 am in order to watch the gate opening presentation.

The show begins with the soldiers marching out from the castle

The soldiers queue up and waiting for the Emperor to come out

After the soldiers split up, the palace entertainers performed some dance before the Emperor and the Empress came out

After the entertainers finished their dance, the Emperor and Empress came out to welcome the guests, then we're allowed to go into the studio. In the studio, I saw many people are gathering outside a house, for the Emperor will find a husband for his daughter through an activity where the daughter will throw a ribbon made of silk, and the man who caught it will be chosen as the husband.

The Princess was out from her room to the balcony to throw the silk ribbon

A guy had caught the ribbon and has been chosen to be the husband of the Princess. While the Emperor's son-in-law was changing his cloth, the Emperor was making announcement

The Emperor and his new son-in-law, seems like the son-in-law is older than the Emperor

After that we proceed to the center stage, there was a Lion Dance performance over there.

The Lion Dance performers were trying to jump across over a large gap to reach the other stilts

Almost there~

Landed safely, bravo!

After that, I just hang around to search for something interesting.

People here, people there, full of people everywhere

A resting place, many tourists are having a drinks and some snacks over there

Back to the ancient days

A horse-drawn carriage drove past me

A yak （牦牛）. Tourists have to pay 10RMB in order to ride on the yak for photo shooting

After spending one hour in the studio, we have to go back to our tour bus to the next destination. This is the entrance of the studio

Next destination was the Dali ancient town, it was built during the Ming dynasty.

The South gate of the Dali ancient town

An ancient Chinese building in the ancient town of Dali

Yang Ren Jie （洋人街） aka Westerners Street in English, the main reason for having this street is because there are many Westerners that like to come to the Dali ancient town. Thus, this street was named as Westerners Street, in order to attracts more Westerners

Luan Le （乱了）, it means Confused or Mess Up. The name of the shop is interesting, and it's selling clothes

The house of Bai Zu （白族）, the minority in China while majority in Dali. Mostly their houses are painted in white

The fireworks seller, I have never seen so much fireworks being sold openly in my life (it's prohibited in Malaysia)

Japanese Camellia, aka Cha Hua （茶花） in China. Can be seen everywhere in the town

Another gate in the town

The are 18 strange things in Yunnan, and 2 of them are Shao Er Kuai （烧饵快） which is baked rice cake and Kao Ru Shan （烤乳扇）, which is a thin piece of cake that was made from milk and toasted with charcoal. There're 3 flavors for Shao Er Kuai, which is salty, sweet or spicy; I have chosen the salty flavor, which is quite nice. While the Kao Ru Shan taste a bit like cheese

Before went back to the bus, I saw this tree planted on the wall of the town

After spending an hour in the ancient town of Dali, it's time for us to have our lunch. The venue for lunch is kinda unique, as we're having our lunch in a restaurant located within the only university in Dali, and the restaurant is located on a hill.

The restaurant on the hill in the university of Dali

Some dishes we have for our lunch:

Pork with Chinese pickles

Specialty - Tea Leaf that was wrapped with flour and deep fried

Chicken soup

BBQ Pork

Steam cooked freshwater fish, I don't really like it, as there're too many bones for this fish

After I finished my lunch, I went to a small garden besides the restaurant for a walk.

There are some gooses in the garden

14/02/2010 - Yunnan, The Province of Mountains, Part 2

2010-02-21T04:23:00.000-08:00

Day 2 - We woke up early in the morning, around 6:30 am, since we will be departing at around 8:00 am. After a morning bath, me and my family went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast buffet.

After finished my breakfast, I went outside the hotel for some photo shooting before the tour begins.

The hotel we stayed for the first night - Uchoice Hotel, a 4 stars hotel

After a few shots, it's time to depart for the day tour. The first destination is the ancient gate located within Kunming.

Jin Ri Lou （近日楼）

Next, we visited the Jin Ma Bi Ji Fang （金马碧鸡坊） located at the town center.

Vivid flowers blooming near the Jin Ma Bi Ji Fang

Jin Ma Bi Ji Fang is actually two archways, one is known as Jin Ma Fang （金马坊） and one is known as Bi Ji Fang（碧鸡坊）. The two archways are actually destroyed once, and was rebuilt later according to the destroyed archway.

Bi Ji Fang （碧鸡坊）

Jin Ma Fang （金马坊）

After visiting the Jin Ma Bi Ji Fang, we went to our next destination, Xi Shan （西山）。Xi Shan is one of the landmark in Kunming, there's a few tourist spot on Xi Shan. The most famous one is known as Long Men （龙门）, known as the Dragon Gateway in English. Jacky said that we should hike until the Long Men, because there's a Chinese Idiom saying:"一登龙门，则身价十倍" (yi deng long men, ze shen jia bai bei), it actually means that once one get the honor, the social status will be greatly improve. But the people there believe by going through the Long Men, one will get charm and honor.

Xi Shan was crowded with people when we reached there, I saw many families hike from the bottom of the hills, which is 7 KM from the Long Men. Thankfully, I do not have to hike for such a long distance.

The trees at the parking area of Xi Shan

On the way to Long Men

Dian Chi （滇池）, the largest lake in Yunnan province, unfortunately it has been polluted

Long Men, the Dragon Gateway. There's a dragon ball underneath the wording, they believe touching it will bring them good luck

Crowded with people

After visited the Long Men, we headed back to our bus and prepare to leave Xi Shan to have our lunch. While on the way back to the foothill, we were caught in the jam for almost 1 hour 30 minutes, that's pretty scary for just a short distance.

Anyway, after we freed from the traffic jam, it just took us around 15 minutes to reach the venue for our lunch. The lunch for the day is Mushrooms Steamboat.

5 different types of mushrooms and more veges for the steamboat, great!

Mix your own sauce~

Herbal chicken soup, yummy

Mushrooms~!!!!!! How I love thee~

The red packet is the powder made from Panax pseudoginseng, aka San Qi （三七） or more commonly known as Tian Qi （田七）. Mix it into the soup and it taste nice

After lunch, we have to get ready for the 4 hours trip from Kunming to Dali （大理）. Within this 4 hours, what I have done can be summarize into 3 words: sleep and toilet.

After 4 hours of trip, finally we reached Dali. The first destination is - Restaurant for dinner.

Venue for dinner - Feng Hua Xue Yue Gong （风花雪月宫）, what a beautiful name

The restaurant is just part of the hotel

BBQ Pork

Chicken cook with potatoes, onions, capsicums, chillies

More mushrooms

Yu-sang （鱼生）, provided by our tour guide

In fact, there're more dishes, but I didn't manage to capture all.

After dinner, we headed to our hotel, it's a hot spring hotel, where each room will have a big bathtub with hot spring water supply. It's so nice to soak myself in the hot spring water in such a cold weather. After the hot spring water bath, it's time to rest to prepare for another day of long trip.

13/02/2010 - Yunnan, The Province of Mountains, Part 1

2010-02-20T23:40:00.002-08:00

It's one day before Chinese New Year, I was waiting for the flight to Kunming (capital of Yunnan) with my family in Penang International Airport. Every year, me and family will be in Penang during Chinese New Year, to visit relatives and rest; but this year was the first time that me and my family went to travel during Chinese New Year and this is also my first time to go to China.

We reached airport around 11:00 am, while the flight will be arrived at 3:00 pm, so I spent 4 hours in the airport, luckily I have my magazines and MP3 player with me.

2 something, our tour guide arrived at the airport, after helping us to check in the luggage and taken our flight ticket, we just gathered with some other people who joined the tour to listen to the instructions of the tour guide. The tour guide's name is June, after some simple self introduction and brief instruction, we just headed to the boarding hall to wait for boarding.

The flight arrived on time, after all the passengers are on the flight, the flight is ready to take off. From Penang to Kunming takes around 3 hours plus, so I just slept after the flight take off.

After 3 hours plus, around 7 something, the flight reached Kunming and ready to land. Due to Kunming is in windy season, so the flight takes longer time to land.

After landed on the Kunming International Airport, we met up with another local tour guide over there - Jacky. After reclaimed our luggage, Jacky brought us head to our tour bus. Once step out from the airport, I can feel the coldness of the wind that blew towards me. It's around 16°-17°C, yet thankfully to the fat that stored on my body, I am able to withstand it without a jacket yet.

The first destination that Jacky brought us to was a restaurant. The name of the restaurant has been forgotten, I just snapped some photos of the dishes during the dinner.

there are 3 kinds of pork, though i forgot the name of the dish

Fish rice noodles, it's freshwater fish because there's no sea in Yunnan but there's numbers of lakes in Yunnan. The different of freshwater fish and saltwater fish is that, freshwater fish has more bones than saltwater fish

Dragon fruit prawns

Chicken, but have forgotten the name of the dish as well

Pork with Mei Cai (梅菜), Chinese marinated veges, with Man Tou （馒头）. The pork was so tender, once put in the mouth, the fat melted by itself, thumbs up!

I think it's Gou Bu Li Bao Zi（狗不理包子）, bun with pork filling

This is kinda special dish, it looks like pea, in fact, it's some kind of shell with Salted Egg yolk filling. High cholesterol food though it's nice to eat.

Chicken with Jiao Zi （饺子）, the soup is kinda oily. I guess the people there will have to take oily food to keep them warm

It's Chu Xi （除夕）, the day where family will be having reunion dinner together. Since the employees can't make it back home, so they are having dinner together as well, so I just snapped a photo of their dishes before the gather together for dinner

After dinner, we headed back to our hotel to rest. There's nothing much to see outside the hotel, other than a river known as Pan Long Jiang （盘龙江） outside the hotel, there's nothing more. So I just snapped some nightscape of the Pan Long Jiang before I went back to my room to rest.

The city was bustling with fireworks due to Chinese New Year

Another side of the Pan Long Jiang

After some photo shooting, I just went back to my room for a bath and went to bed.

12/02/2010 Happy Chinew New Year

2010-02-12T08:08:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year is just around the corner, so I would like to wish everyone a Happy and Healthy Chinese New Year, may God bless you all.

PS: Will be in Yun Nan, China from 13/02/2010 till 20/02/2010.

12/02/2010 New Year Present

2010-02-11T17:48:00.001-08:00

Chinese New Year is just around the corner, so what did I bought for myself for this Chinese New Year?

A Manfrotto 190XPROB Tripod

Some facts regarding Manfrotto 190XPROB Tripod:
Max Load Capacity: 5 KG
Minimum Height: 8.5 CM
Maximum Height: 146 CM
Weight: 1.8 KG

The center column can be used horizontally

A Manfrotto 498RC2 MIDI BALL HEAD W/ RC2

Some facts regarding Manfrotto 498RC2:
Height: 12.5 CM
Weight: 0.61KG
Max Load Capacity: 8 KG

The Pan lock, when unlock, allow users to pan the camera mounted. The Friction lock is to control the smoothness of the ball head movement when unlock

The Ball Head lock, to lock the movement of the ball head

Sigma AF10-20mm f/4-5.6 DC EX

Merrell Moab Gore-Tex XCR Trail Shoes

Bought all the things above just for one purpose, travelling, as I am going to Yun Nan on 14/2 to 20/2 with my family, so I hope to have a pair of comfortable shoes that enable me to walk around for long period of time. While the Ultra Wide Angle lens will allow me to take more landscape photos, and a steady tripod to support the camera when necessary.

07/02/2010 Kek Lok Si - Display of Lights

2010-02-11T05:28:00.001-08:00

Kek Lok Si is a Chinese temple that located at Air Itam. Every year during Chinese New Year, it will held an event known as Display of Lights; approximately 230,000 light bulbs and 10,000 lanterns will be lighted up every night for 33 days. This year the Display of Lights is starting from 7/2 untill 14/3.

This time the ceremony started too early, though there is fireworks display, but due to the brightness of the sky, I was unable to capture the fireworks display.

Hundred thousands of light bulbs

And ten thousands of lanterns

The landmark of Kek Lok Si, the pagoda

More lanterns

And more lanterns

And more lanterns....

Panoramic shot of Kek Lok Si which consists of 8 photos

07/02/2010 Sunrise at Jelutong Expressway

2010-02-10T07:21:00.000-08:00

The photos was taken at the Jelutong Expressway at 7:00 AM.

01/02/2010 The Moon

2010-02-09T05:37:00.000-08:00

A week ago, my friend sent me a SMS and informed me that the Moon was kinda close during that day and suggested that I should snap a photo of it. I was kinda excited as I always wanna snap the photos of the Moon, though I tried before, but it was not so successful with my 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 tele kit lens. Anyway, this doesn't stop me from trying again, and at 300mm f/8, I managed to capture the photo of the moon which is quite soft; after some touch up in Photoshop, the result is as below.

And by looking at the Moon, it reminds me of what written in the Bible.

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
(Genesis 1:14-19)

It also reminds me of an old hymn.

All creatures of our God and King,
Lift up your voice and with us sing,
Al–le-lu-ia! Al-le-lu-ia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
Thou silver moon with softer gleam,
O praise Him! O praise Him!
Al–le-lu-ia! Al-le-lu-ia!
Al–le-lu-ia!

Thus, I named this photo: Silver Moon with Softer Gleam.

31/01/2010 Gurney

2010-02-08T06:27:00.000-08:00

2 weeks ago, me and my brother-in-law went to Gurney for some photo shooting. We arrived at Gurney around 6:50am in order for sunrise photo shooting.

The beginning of the Sunrise

The shore of Gurney drive is full of mud during low tide, though million of EM (Effective Microorganisms) mud balls have been thrown into the mud which believe will clean up the mud, unfortunately, it seems like not so effective afterall

While shooting this bird, I was standing on the shore. In fact, I was close to the drain where the sewage will be drain off from into the sea. The sea was polluted and release the unpleasant odor. I hope that all the Penangnites (including me) will learn to take care of the environment before we lose all the beautiful beaches.

30/01/2010 Some Random Shots

2010-02-08T02:41:00.000-08:00

30/01/2010 was the day of Thaipusam, the celebration of the Indian gods. At first, I have planned to go for event shots. But after much considerations and my friends' decisions, we decided not to go for the Thaipusam event photography, firstly is due to too crowded; secondly is the traffic congestion. In the end, we have traveled around Balik Pulau and Kek Lok Si for some random shots.

Unfortunately, there was nothing that interested me, so I only managed to get 3 shots. 2 of the shots are the sunrise at Penang Bridge, which I took before I met up with my friends. While one more is a statue that I saw in Kek Lok Si which contrast with the vivid blue sky.

A statue in Kek Lok Si that contrast with the blue sky

Though I didn't get much photos, yet, it's kinda glad to hang out with my friends. And in the end, we have went for some nice Laksa and Chicken Rice. Afterall, it still worth my time. =P

04/02/2010 New External Hard Disk

2010-02-05T07:36:00.000-08:00

Recently my hard disks spaces have decrease tremendously due to the photos that stored in the hard disk are large in size. So, before my hard disks run out of space, I decided to get an 3.5" External Hard Disk. After some survey on the web, Buffalo DriveStation 1TB is my choice, though I have been considering about Western Digital My Book Essential 1TB for all this time, but the price of the Buffalo DriveStation seems to be cheaper (I bought it at RM 329); plus, the reviews on the Buffalo DriveStation are not bad.

In fact, the Buffalo DriveStation doesn't offer the actual 1TB, as this is normal, as some space in our hard disk is inaccessible, so what I have in actual is 931GB. The amount of the disk space is still huge for me, I guess I can still save many thousands of RAW images in it.

The hard disk comes with 3 years warranty, which I am really please with.

One special features of the DriveStation is known as Turbo USB, which is a software that can help to boost up the read/write speed of the hard disk with USB 2.0. Though the speed don't seems to increase much (according to the reviews from the Web), but it's better than nothing.

Below are the two images that I snap for my DriveStation.

17/01/2010 Portraiture - Christina Tan

2010-02-03T05:20:00.000-08:00

It was my last day in KL, and my friend Siu Keong asked me to join him for some portrait photography. Well, I am not good in portrait photography, due to I rarely take portrait and my interests are more on landscape, animals, macro and travel photography. Anyway, I just went with Siu Keong.

The model of the day is Siu Keong's friend, a lovely young lady - Christina Tan. Christina is not a professional model, so as camera man, we have to try our best to take nice photos.

I wanna thanks Siu Keong for bringing me out for photo shooting that day and intro me a new friend as well and would like to thanks Christina for being our model of the day. =)

16/01/2010 Edmond and Wing - When Two Become One Part III

2010-02-02T05:53:00.000-08:00

The wedding dinner of Edmond and Wing was held at 喜来登海鲜酒家 (Hee Lai Ton Restaurant) in Shaw Parade, Pudu, Kuala Lumpur. The dinner started at around 8:30 (as usual, the invitation card stated 7:30, typical Malaysian culture =P), and I would say the dinner was nice, as the food is good and I was having a good time with a bunch of my ex-college mates.

Three of my college mates

My best friend during degree and the one who provided me accommodation and transportation for my three days stay in KL, thanks =)

Jacy and Daniel, married last year

Jacy, Siew Kean and Siew Hoon

Soon Yik (one joker XD) and Siu Keong

Siu Keong, Daniel and Jacy

Wing and Edmond, ready to walk into the restaurant

Wing looks a excited =P

The bride, the groom and the parents of the groom

Cheers~! But the bride is not looking at me.

The couple and the family members are ready to toast with the attendees

YUM................ SENG~! (what Malaysian Chinese normally shout while toasting in wedding dinner)

The groom and the bride toast with the attendees again

The groom and the bride will attend each table to toast with the attendees

Wing, wish you and Kit Kit have a happy marriage life. Take care~! =D

16/01/2010 Edmond and Wing - When Two Become One Part II

2010-02-01T04:05:00.000-08:00

The bride groom and his "brothers" gang has arrived, the "sisters" are "defending" the main gate

The bride's brother went out to car's door for the groom, but was held captives by the "brothers" to threaten the "sisters". Nice try! but better luck next time.

The groom, his gang and the "hostage"

The groom is getting "ang pao" (red packet with money inside) to the "sisters" as they requested

大妗姐 in cantonese (pronounce as "Dai Kham Jeh" in cantonese), the person that will take care of the wedding ceremony

After received the Ang Pao, the "sisters" requested the "brothers" to perform some stunts, like drinking specially made drinks and playing hoola hoop at the same time

Next, the "sisters" requested the groom to help his gang to make up while blindfolded. Well, word of advice, never use cheap lipstick, it breaks easily.

The "sisters" requested the groom and his gang to post on next mission

The groom must be very touched, as this guy sacrificed himself for this "AWESOME" post

The groom and his gang are allowed to go into the house, and they have to face their next test

The "sisters" have prepared some romantic "love" declaration that requires the groom to read out for the bride

The "brothers" will help to read out as well

groom: "Wing, Wing, I Love You~"

The sweetest moment, hope that they will live happily ever after

The bride's father is putting a golden bracelet unto the bride's hand

The bride kissing her mother

The bride and groom kissing the bride's father

After the ceremony, the groom and his bride are going to the groom's house to continue the ceremony, but me and my friends didn't follow due to we're tired. So, me and my friends decided to head for lunch instead. =P

The next part (which is also the last) is the wedding dinner which I will be posting up tomorrow.

16/01/2010 Edmond and Wing - When Two Become One Part I

2010-01-30T21:25:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago, my college classmate Yuen Ying (aka Wing) and her husband just get married. It's a joyful moment for both of them, and me and few other friends also share her joy as well. I am thankful that even after so many years we rarely contact with each others, yet YY (Yuen Ying) sill remember me and invited me to her wedding.

Yuen Ying is my classmate during I studied for my degree in TAR College, KL. She's a sweet girl, and smart as well. While Kit Kit (aka Edmond, actually his real name is not Kit Kit, but that's how I called him =P), though I didn't mix with him much in my college year, because we're in different course and we rarely met, but he gave me the impression that he's smart and capable. Both of them are a perfect couple, they have been together for years (actually I do not know how many years, but they have been couple since I knew YY.

I would like to wish them happy marriage, and hope that they will support each others in the coming days, and living happily ever after whether they're in England or other places in this world. Take care =D.

Below are some photos taken during the wedding ceremony in the morning, and some photos during the wedding dinner.

The morning wedding ceremony

Aunties are busy preparing the stuff for the wedding ceremony

The bride's friend is preparing the "drinks" for the bride groom and his gang

The bride's sisters gang tied the artificial flower on their hands

Some special drinks prepared by the sisters gang, SOYA + LEMON TEA + CHRYSANTHEMUM? Anyone wanna try?

The sisters gang

The bride and the make up artist

To be continue....

15/01/2010 The Pavillion

2010-01-30T02:20:00.000-08:00

2 weeks ago, I went to KL to attend the wedding of a college friend, I have never been to KL for almost 2 years. I reached KL on Friday, while the wedding of my friends falls on Saturday, so I managed to meet a few friends on Friday night for dinner at the Pavillion.

I depart from my friend's house which located at Kepong at 6:30 PM and having some traffic congestion while on our way to PJ to fetch another friend and to the Pavillion. Well, I guess the traffic jam is very common in KL.

We reached The Pavillion at 8:30 PM, and we headed to the Ichiban Boshi restaurant to meet my friends who were waiting there.

The sashimi rice that served with my friend's set dinner with raw salmon, raw tuna and i assume the white one as raw saba fish

My dinner set - Cheese Chicken set

My friend's Black Pepper Chicken rice

The Salmon sashimi that served with my dinner set

Overall, the food is not bad and the price is quite reasonable.

After the dinner, we went to the famous fountain of the Pavillion to have a look since I have never see it before (though I saw it on the magazine before).

The 3 bowls represent 3 major races in Malaysia as my friend told me

As Chinese New Year is drawing close, the building is decorated with many red lanterns

The Pavillion is consider a high class shopping complex to me, as most of the shops in it are selling branded stuff. Yet, I don't have the time to walk around in the Pavillion because it was late and the shops are closing after I finished my dinner with my friends.

27/12/2009 Walk around in Georgetown again

2009-12-31T21:57:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, me and a few friends have been hang around in Georgetown. I have been there for a few times, so this time, I tried to snap somethings that I miss previously.

We reached Little India around 8:45 AM, and then we started our tour.

This cat is the first subject I came across, lying under a car

The same cat, aware that I am shooting its photo

There are cycling event around Little India, even the police is cycling with the other cyclists

The windows of this old house attracted my attention

The windows of the olden days

A bird cage, hang outside the windows

The floor tiles are very nice, it's hard to find this type of floor tiles nowadays

Ren Ai Tang in Chinese pronunciation, it's an old Chinese medicine and herbs shop in Georgetown

The color of the door of the Indian house is very interesting

Look through the windows of the Chinese house from the previous photo

Accidentally discovered this huge grasshopper on a plant outside the Chinese house, so I just grabbed my SP90 to snap it

A pretty flower planted outside the Chinese house

As we walked past the Peranakan Mansion, I saw this ornament placed on a pillar

After 2 hours of shooting, we just went to the Sri Ananda Bahwahn restaurant nearby to have our breakfast. I ordered 2 pieces of Roti Canai, not bad.

After our breakfast, we continue to walk around.

Lastly, we came to our final destination, Guan Yin Temple. I saw two different birds are like looking at each others, so I just changed to 75-300mm tele zoom to snap this picture.

Some people feed the pigeons at the Kuan Yin Temple

I have waited quite some times for all the pigeons to fly, I even asked my friend to help me to shoo the pigeons, unfortunately, one of my friend is afraid of birds, so I just managed to capture a few pigeons flying away. Well, need to try again next time.

After that, we just left Georgetown and go for lunch.

PS: My Optical Viewfinder has been intruded by dust after this tour, so I just sent to Sony Service Center for service, no photo shooting for me for this week. =(

Blessed New Year 2010

2009-12-30T23:27:00.000-08:00

As year 2010 is approaching (in fact 2010 is just tomorrow), I would like to wish everyone a Blessed New Year.

Looking back at year 2009, many had happened, both good and bad, just hope that we all have learned from the past and not to keep pondering on what had past.

Once again, I wanna thanks for all the people that supported me all this while, and I also wanna apologize to the people that I have hurt.

Blessed new year 2010 to everyone!

25/12/2009 Revisit Chew Jetty

2009-12-28T04:01:00.000-08:00

It has been quite some times since my last post, due to I am quite busy recently. Last Fri, I have went out with 2 friends to Chew Jetty for some photo shooting. Since I was there last time, I was kinda out of idea what to shoot at first, so I decided to shoot some details I can find at Chew Jetty.

A clock tower from afar that viewed from Chew Jetty

A flower that planted by resident of Chew Jetty

Pillars that supporting the houses and the bridge are covered with lots of sea shells

Mudskipper

More mudskippers

After hours of shooting, 3 of us went to the store nearby and found this Egg Jelly, so we just gave it a try; taste normal, just that it looks special

Some interesting wording on the pillar, red one means get prosperous at first sight; while the yellow one says, fall in love at first sight

Some interesting drawing found on a wooden door

A poor beggar was thinking over there

Taking this photo using Sony 75-300 f/4.5-5.6 at 200mm

A lion sculpture outside a temple

After spent hours shooting at Chew Jetty, we went to Dai Dong restaurant at Cintra Street, Georgetown for lunch.

Egg Tarts

Oyster Fried Egg

Hong Tu Mee （鸿图面）, taste like Shark Fin's soup, taste even better with vinegar added

Fried Raw Noodle （煎生面）

29/11/2009 Tropical Spice Garden

2009-12-07T04:00:00.000-08:00

2 weeks ago, I went to the Tropical Spice Garden with a big group of photographers. The group had set a theme for the outing, which is Macro and Ecology, so I just brought my macro lens with me, though I did bring along the Sigma 17-70mm as a backup.

We were there at 9 something. After paying the entrance fees and apply some of the local made mosquito repellents, we started our photo shooting trip.

I was in the pond while shooting the frog. First time I get quite close to a frog.

The only shot using Sigma AF17-70mm to shoot.

27/11/2009 Georgetown - Heritage City

2009-12-01T05:03:00.001-08:00

It has been 2 weeks since I updated my blog, as I was busy with works, photo shooting and touching up photos, and finally I can now update my blog.

Last Friday, I have went out with a group of 15 peoples and walk around Georgetown for some photo shooting and the theme was Georgetown - Heritage City. We gathered in front of Penang State City Hall which located at Esplanade at 8 am, and started to walk around in Georgetown.

(to view larger size for the photos, just click on the photos, sorry for inconvenience caused)

The first building is the Penang City Hall which was built in 1903 in the typical British Palladian architectural style, the building has been listed as a national monument since 1982 under the Antiquities Act 1976. The design of the City Hall building bears a resemblance to the nearby Town Hall, which features the balcony as a main element overlooking the Esplanade. (From Wikipedia)

And besides the City Hall is the Town Hall. The Old Town Hall was the oldest Municipal Building in Penang and its foundation was first laid on 1st January 1879 by Lt. Governor Sir Archibald Edward Harbord Anson. Located at Lot No. 70, Section 19, Georgetown, North-East District, Penang Island, the building occupies a land area of 70,711 square feet along Jalan Padang Kota Lama, facing the famous Esplanade. Upon completion in 1880, the building was officiated by Frederick Weld, the Governor of the Straits Settlements (Khoo, S.N., 1998). (from Penang.biz)

After taking few photos at Esplanade, we started to walk to St George's Church.

On the way to St George's Church, I saw this pink flower, which is attractive to me.

After 5 minutes, we reached the St George's Church. St. George's Church is the oldest Anglican church in Southeast Asia and is located in George Town, Penang, Malaysia. It was completed in 1818 on the initiative of the Penang Colonial Chaplain, Rev. Robert Sparke Hutchings (who also went on to found the Penang Free School) and consecrated on 11 May 1819 by the Bishop of Calcutta, Thomas Fanshawe Middleton. On 6 July 2007, the church was declared one the 50 National Treasures of Malaysia by the Malaysian government. (from Wikipedia)

After the St George's Church, we walked to our next destination, the temple of goddess of mercy, or known as Kuan Yin temple is doubt as one of the oldest Chinese temple in Penang. With history dated back to 1800. (from Penang-vacation.com)

The birds in the cage are waiting for people to buy and then set free, this is claim to be a "good deed".

Next, we went to the mosque which is not far away from the temple, which is the Masjid Kapitan Keling. Kapitan Keling Mosque is a mosque built in the 19th century by Indian Muslim traders in George Town, Penang, Malaysia. It is situated on the corner of Lebuh Buckingham (Buckingham Street) and Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling (Masjid Kapitan Keling Road). (from Wikipedia)

After spending 2 hours of shooting, we went to a cafe at Pitt Street for some breakfast. The koay teow t'ng there is very famous but they're going to move to Carnavon Street soon.

After our breakfast, we went to Khoo Kongsi. The Khoo Kongsi (邱公司) is a large Chinese clanhouse with elaborate and highly ornamented architecture, a mark of the dominant presence of the Chinese in Penang. The famous Khoo Kongsi is the grandest clan temple in the country. It is also one of the city's major historic attraction. The clan temple has retained its authentic historic setting, which includes an association building, a traditional theatre and the late 19th century rowhouses for clan members, all clustered around a granite-paved square. It is located in Cannon Square in the heart of the oldest part of the city of George Town, in the midst of narrow, winding lanes and quaint-looking pre-War houses exuding a palpable old world charm. (from Wikipedia)

This is a house located in the Khoo Kongsi.

The ancestors' hall in Khoo Kongsi.

The Khoo's genealogy records.

A performing stage in Khoo Kongsi

Too bad that I am not able to snap the Khoo Kongsi's Temple, because I will be shooting against the Sun, which will be hard for me to shoot.

After that, we started to walk back to Esplanade to end our photo shooting, while on our way, we also encountered some interesting scenes.

An antiques shop just near the Khoo Kongsi.

Mamak(Indian Muslim) selling mutton.

And that's the end of my photo shooting trip for the day.

16/11/2009 Busy...busy....busy

2009-11-16T05:19:00.000-08:00

I am busy recently and don't really have time for some photo shooting, especially last Sunday just helped my friend's brother for some photo shooting during his registration for marriage.

Anyway, the coming Sunday should be able to go out for some photo shooting again (hope so).

By the way, I have re-customize my blog, hope that it looks better compare to the previous version. =P

8/11/2009 Chew Jetty Portrait Photography

2009-11-09T17:22:00.001-08:00

Last Sunday, I had a nice outing portrait photo shooting with a big bunch of other photography enthusiasts and a few models. This is the second official portrait shooting since I bought my A200, and the first was already 5 months ago.

The location for the portrait shooting was Chew Jetty which I had visited not long ago. http://samuelcheah.blogspot.com/2009/09/2392009-chew-jetty-georgetown.html

Below are some of my photos. (Due to larger photo size failed to display in my blog, please click on the photo in order to view the photo in larger size)

30/10/2009 Mean Machine 2009 Part 2

2009-11-03T08:03:00.000-08:00

BMW M3

An engine of the Nissan Fairlady 350Z

I came across a Nissan Skyline GTR, unfortunately I not manage to capture a nice shot for the whole car, only certain parts of the car were captured.

After that, a car drawn my attention, Porsche Cayman S. Unfortunately, again, there was no space for me to stand in order to capture a nice shot, and I do not have a lens that's wide enough to capture the photo of the car, while the widest angle I have is just 17mm.

30/10/2009 Mean Machine 2009 Part 1

2009-11-02T08:37:00.000-08:00

It's the Mean Machine 2009, an event which consist of cars, modified cars and models. The event was held at Autocity, Juru, Penang from 29/10/2009 to 31/10/2009.

I have been busy taking photos of modified cars this time, and I haven't taken any photos of the models.

So, less talking, just sharing some photos here.

The first car I came across with, Nissan Fairlady 350Z, the modification is quite fine to me

Did some editing of the photo with PS

Nissan Fairlady 350Z

Mazda 6

Another Nissan Fairlady 350Z

I have no idea what car is this

BMW M Series, but I wondering whether this is M3, M5 or M6?

To be continue.......

30/10/2009 Sunset at Balik Pulau

2009-11-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

Not much to share, just one photo to share. The photo was taken at the mountain peak while on the way from Bukit Jambul to Balik Pulau.

Balik Pulau is at the West of Penang Island, it's an rural area in the past, but recently, there are many development being carry out there. Yet I hope that the Penang state government will preserve that area to prevent over develop, as there are not many green area in Penang Island remains.

25/10/2009 Penang Hill

2009-10-25T07:33:00.000-07:00

My brother-in-law asked me whether I'm willing to join him and a gang of photographers to go to Penang Hill for Sunrise photography, after a short consideration, I decided to go with him.

It was 5:20 in the morning, after I preparation and fetching up my brother-in-law, we reached the Penang Hill tram station at 6:10. When we go into tram, many photographers was already in the tram.

At 6:30, the tram started to depart. After spending 30 minutes in tram, we finally reached the peak of Penang Hill. Well, the weather doesn't seems good, as it was cloudy, but hey, photographers are not restricted by not so perfect weather, isn't it?

So after finding a spot and fixed the tripod, I started my Sunrise photography.

The Sun is rising

The Sun has rose and the light of the Sun turned the sea into gold color

Cloudy

After the Sunrise photography, I saw a monkey with its baby, so I just follow it in order to shoot the photo.

The mother is performing stunt with its baby

And there's a dog resting near me

After that, the big group just walked around and came to a fountain, and started to shoot the fountain.

Tried photograph water with slow shutter speed many time, so this time try to freeze the movement of the water

After spending some time at the fountain, we continue to move around and we came to a nice gate. As there's a No Entry sign outside the gate, so we just snap some photos outside the gate.

Top of the gate

Side of the gate

Part of the gate

Besides the gate, I found an interesting looking bug on a leave near the gate.

After this, me and my brother-in-law left the Penang Hill for breakfast. Though I'm very tired after the photo shooting session due to lack of sleep, but the results are satisfying.

Looking forward for shooting night scene of Penang at Penang Hill next time.

3 Random Macro Shots

2009-10-20T08:32:00.000-07:00

I have been busy for last week, thus, not manage to go out for some photo shooting. Anyway, as I went out with my friends to be their tour guide in Penang, I managed to snapped some macro shots which are shown below.

The fly was found in Botanical Garden, Penang.

A flower found on Penang Hill, Penang.

Another flower macro shot which was found on Penang Hill, Penang.

11/10/2009 Photo Shooting in Botanical Garden with 90mm

2009-10-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

I went to Botanical Garden last Sunday as I wanted to capture some Macro photos. As I reached my destination, I changed my lens to Tamron SP90mm Macro, even though I brought the Sigma 17-70mm along with me, I tried to limit myself with just the Macro lens.

After spending 2 hours plus in the Botanical Garden, I manged to capture some photos shown below, though the result is not so satisfying as some macro shot like the spider won't stand still and I can't get too close to it, as it keeps moving away from me. Well, I guess I still have much to learn in Macro Photography.

An unsatisfying shot of the spider

This shiny bug was so shy that I can't approach it too close, as it keeps fly away whenever I get too close

Well, I guess I still have to learn to be a better stalker in approaching insects so that I will not scare them away.

Other than some macro shots, I also used the Tamron SP90 to capture some scenery.

04/10/2009 Church Street Ghaut

2009-10-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

Some photos taken at Church Street Ghaut, Georgetown, Penang on yesterday. The main theme of the photos is dereliction or known as abandoned buildings. I have tried to captured the photos in black and white and increased the contrast in order to bring out the details, and at the same time add in some mood for the photos. The outcome is what I had expected, and it's just nice to me.

What's behind the gate?

The original look of the building using 35mm (which is 50mm equivalent on full frame)

The building became distorted at 17mm (25mm equivalent on full frame), adding some mood to the photo

23/9/2009 Tropical Spice Garden

2009-09-28T03:48:00.000-07:00

After the photo shooting at Chew Jetty in the morning, I moved to the next venue for photo shooting - the Tropical Spice Garden in Teluk Bahang, Penang.

Tropical Spice Garden opens from 9 AM to 6 PM daily. The admission fees are divided into 2 categories - Self guided tour or guided tour. Self guided tour will cost RM14 for adult, RM5 for children or RM28 for family package which includes 2 adults and 3 children. While the guided tour will cost RM20 for adult, RM5 for children and RM 45 for family package.

When I arrived at the Tropical Spice Garden, I was greeted by a friendly receptionist. After paying the admission fees, the receptionist asked me whether I would like to purchase a copy of the map, which cost RM5. Though I turned down the offer, the receptionist has been kindly pointed me the directions of different trails, as there are 3 different trails in the garden - the Spice Trail, which has over 100 varieties of tropical spice and herbs plants; the Ornamental Trail, which has a huge collection of exotic flora; and the Jungle Trail, which has a showcase of ferns, wild orchids, palms and other significant jungle flora. After that, the receptionist offer me the mosquito repellent, which is made of lemon grass and some other herbs without any cost. After applied the repellent at the counter, I started my journey.

I first took the Jungle Trail, as I wanna take some photos of insects. While I was at the Jungle Trail, I was attacked by mosquitoes, I guess I have not applied enough mosquito repellent. So, later on, I would have to bear with the itchiness while photographing.

The Red Dragon Fly besides the pond which located near the entrance

A nymph of a Praying Mantis that I discovered at the same place

After a few photos taken at the pond, I moved on to the Jungle Trail.

A fat grasshopper in between the leaves, it was so steady that even I move the leaves closer to my lens, it didn't move at all

A withered fern at the Jungle Trail

A Chinese Hut with an antique Chinese door which was found in an antique shop in Teluk Bahang

The Chinese antique door, the wording on it is Health and Mountain, which means Longevity as the Nan Shan, a mountain in Hainan

A shining and hairy bug found in the Jungle Trail

An upside down fly

After spending nearly 2 hours at the Jungle Trail, I continue my photo shooting at the Spice Trail.

A hut with the globe at the Spice Trail

Some spice for display, from the top is Cinnamon, Star Anise and Lime

More spice, from the top: Lemon Grass, Ginger Buds which mostly use to cook curry and Ginger

An insect that's standing on the ginger

After the last photo, the sky turned dark and started to rain, so I rushed back to my car before the rain turns heavy, thus, that's the end of my visit to Tropical Spice Garden.

23/9/2009 Chew Jetty, Georgetown

2009-09-23T07:28:00.000-07:00

It was the last day of my holidays, so I decided for some photo shooting.

I had woke up early in the morning, earlier than my working days, as the alarm started beeping at 6:30 am, I just quickly rush to the balcony to check on the weather. Thankfully the weather was nice with just some clouds. After washed up and packed up my camera, I just depart to Chew Jetty, which is just 15 minutes of driving from my house.

As I arrived Chew Jetty, the Sun already broke out and the sky begun to turn bright. Without much hesitation, I just walk into Chew Jetty and prepare for some sunrise photo shooting.

Chew Jetty, or Seh Chew Keo, is the biggest of the waterfront settlements in George Town. It was created in the middle of the 19th Century, in a very different Penang from what it is today. The last community jetties, the Peng Aun and the Chap Seh Keo, were only established in the 1960's (http://www.penang-traveltips.com/chew-jetty.htm). Chew Jetty

After I reached the end of the jetty, I started my photo shooting.

Chew Jetty Traveler's Lodge

21/9/2009 National Park, Teluk Bahang

2009-09-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

It was holiday yesterday and the weather was fine in the morning, that's the sign for photo shooting. So, after I packed my camera and accessories, I just fetched my brother-in-law and depart to our destination - National Park of Penang.

This was my second time there within this month. Some additional information regarding National Park of Penang, it was located at Teluk Bahang, North of Penang Island, and it's second in size to National Park (which spans across 3 states - Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang) within Peninsular Malaysia which only occupy 1,266 hectares of land. It's consists of hill dipterocarps, mangroves, beaches and rocky shores. There are several places of interest within the National Park like Monkey Beach, the Light House in Muka Head, Turtle Hatchery Center in Pantai Kerachut, Meromictic Lake and etc.

Me and my brother-in-law had been to Pantai Kerachut 2 weeks ago and we were so exhausted for the hiking, so we both decided to go for an easier trail this time by picking the trail to Monkey Beach, though we didn't reach Monkey Beach, but we enjoyed the trip as we spent more time on shooting photos than jungle tracking.

The cloud formation was so interesting

Blue sky and sea with white clouds, I like the weather like this