Category Archives: Travelling

In Sing, Part 1

I was in Singapore July 11th to 14th 2011, and here are shots from around town! This is the great Davis Guitar Music Center in Peninsula Shopping Complex.

This I’d never seen – a double-necked ukulele. I asked the storegirl what the difference was between the necks. I don’t think she understood that it appeared to have the same tuning (which makes it pointless.)

The rare Minolta 1x-3x F2.8 Macro zoom! It actually auto-focuses – the Canon MP-E 65mm 1x-5x F2.8 does not auto-focus.

McDonalds in Singapore serves a Chicken McGrill Salad. Interesting! This is the same meat from the Chicken McGrill Burger, known as the Grilled Chicken Burger in Malaysia.

A spire!

This is the St. Andrew Cathedral. Grand!

Elvis has left the building!

A busker with a twelve-string.

Most shots were with the NEX-5 with 16mm F2.8. Here’s one that is cropped.

Times like these I wish my NEX-5 had built-in GPS. I left the A55 at home.

Scotts Square.

Stayed at Movenpick Heritage Hotel, on Sentosa Island. Modern 5-star hotel. Nice!

It was always sunny, and I had the most fulfilling breakfasts there. Now I have a craving for pork bacon, croissants, cinnamon buns and sausages for breakfast!

Imbiah Station, on Sentosa Island.

The MRT is well connected, snaking under shopping malls, with exits marked alphabetically e.g. Exit E.

The walls of Dhoby Ghaut.

Far East Plaza. Most reminiscent of Malaysia, Sg. Wang Plaza to be exact, from the shops inside. Also the design is very plain and Malaysian whereas Singaporean shopping malls on average tend to have more curvy, strange designs.

Inside. I also saw the most Malays there. It made me wonder – do racists in Singapore tell Malays to go back to Malaysia?

Reserved Seating. I’m sure some creative Malaysian couples would take the bottom-left picture as a license to sit – and the bottom-right picture is that of a merman.

This is, after all, Singapore, where the mascot is a merlion. So a merman and mermaid goes.

Merlion by night.

Man, does Malaysia’s bus system have a long way to go or what?

Putrajaya Walk

Pastblaster

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Shots from the past, past enough that I know that they shouldn’t be there anymore. Which is the beauty of them old photos – something might be gone.

I remember as a kid going for Grade 1 organ lessons at Yamaha Music Section 19 and it ended there. Primary school compulsory music education and that was it – I’ve been self-taught as far as musical theory goes. Go on, ask me to form a chord not exceeding 7 letters in length!

City Square/Plaza Yow Chuan (now demolished), home to a cool basement Toys R Us and a cool top floor model shop. Here they had a clearance sale on organs.

The old colors of Midvalley Megamall. It is now painted white.

Okay, a far more recent one, but I regret not noting the pun immediately and framing my camera just a bit lower!

Masjid Jamek RapidKL LRT interchange station. Old-timers know it as the Masjid Jamek STAR LRT station, not the Masjid Jamek RapidKL Ampang line station.

Somewhere in Pavilion, I think. Then again, this might still be there.

The ever-changing graffiti of the Klang river, below the Pasar Seni PUTRA LRT station. There I go again.

Simon Yam does not know how to use the vertical grip. 😀

Bukit Jalil. The drapery falls.

Malaysian Thousand Brands – what an epic fail. It had prime position next to the KLCC PUTRA LRT station, and yet it closed down. Same went for the one at Masjid Jamek and Sungei Wang. All at high traffic places. All selling only Malaysian brands with very limited kosher Halal Coca Cola-type drinks. Like Coca Cola isn’t halal already.

Sometimes I wonder how true these allegations are, that we receive in emails. Or are these allegations made up by competitors so we buy the Halal Coca Cola (whatever it is called) instead?

This mural might be modified already. I haven’t been to Bukit Kiara since.

Fullhouse in NZX, a little open-air complex with food and boutiques. The location was bad and it was hard to find. So everything quite failed, with this being the only reason to go there.

Pity though, it was pretty!

Fortunately they have moved but I have not been to their other outlets.

The corner of Solaris Dutamas, from Menara Kenchana Petroleum’s lift lobby. Something big is coming.

Hartamas Square! Oh one place I spent many wasted nights of youth at. I will remember the wood-crusted pizza (which lived on across the street, at Pizza Bravia.) I will remember the huge Chinese Tea for RM2.00 (when every other drink costed more and was tiny!) I remember the shisha, the white chicks, bumping into shitloads of random people, hanging out there after gigs at Jamasia and Groove Junction, hanging out there after getting a lift from somebody to here (so I could take a cab home.)

The lesser half. Yeah.

I always gave it love, though – I’d always walk through this section to go to the toilet at the back.

And now, all of it, wiped out, including Brewball, another place for misspent youth, to build a big police station. Desa Sri Hartamas was never the same after that.

Solarchery

Monkey Thoughts

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13th March 2010: I went up to Bukit Malawati, in an outing by Sony Malaysia for Alpha users!

When we reached the hilltop, we were greeted by what I thought were the former four-legged residents.

They were everywhere!

So many, and yet some were lonely and deep in thought.

I found it interesting to observe them – what do animals think about?

What do they fight about? Protection? Ownership? Territory? They are interestingly communal and yet have a mind of their own. They will follow the crowd but also do their own thing.

So I’m not really sure what makes us humans think we are so far apart from other animals. Animals learn and can be trained, and they can assert ownership over territory. We just have it a bit more advanced to throw in barter trade and the concept of currency.

Animals can make tools – we just do it better.

So we’ve invented a few languages. Do you ever wonder if animals talking among themselves, wonder what we humans are saying?

What defines humans as being more advanced, anyway?

Now I ask this in seriousness, and I don’t want an answer spewed out from a book, but an answer that you yourself have thought about.

Ants can communicate by just touching antennae. Isn’t that advanced? Heck they can walk on ceilings!

What about the Vulcans? (A fictitious race from the Star Trek series.) If they can communicate by mind meld (touching one’s temples to transfer thoughts, emotions and memories), doesn’t that make humans distinctively primitive?

Then how about the Borg? Again, a fictitious race from the Star Trek series, who are cyborgs (half human, half machine) who are all connected together via an electronic network. They share information altogether and if one Borg learns something, every other Borg learns the same thing!

Humans are probably the largest species that is not in random danger of being killed by another animal, intentionally, just because we were annoying. We can kill mosquitoes and cockroaches and ants and they won’t know what hit them. What are the chances of anyone being squashed by an elephant, intentionally?

Meanwhile, this was a stealthy ninja!

Monkey on your back?

Like a boss.

Curious monkeys want to reach out for my fisheye!

Obviously, trained.

A random grab shot that worked in so many ways!

I wonder if they wonder why we stick cameras in their faces.

Shot with the Opteka 85mm F1.4.

OOF!

A baby.

Cutting queue.

I observed the monkeys – they initially were all at the bottom of the hill, waiting for us to come by bus.

And yet, as I took pictures of them on the railing, they were slowly travelling up the hill. Some would sit around. Some would steal bananas and hop on humans.

And yet, none of them were going down the hill.

So if the monkeys were following each other, how did they all end up downhill? Who started going down?

Following the group is a survival instinct – if you do what the majority does, you think you will be safe. Though following is also not the smartest thing to do – ever joined a long queue to see an empty lane on the right? And there is a person manning the lane, but nobody goes there, for some reason!

So much for human intelligence and being advanced.

Could it be that we led their exodus up, and we called them to come down with our loud buses?

Perhaps, they were bored with us, and went on up to the trees. Yes, Bukit Malawati is where this picture came from!

Ho with his new sports telephoto.

Apparently, across the sea was Indonesia. (The hazy bit, not the nearer river!)

And then, we were led elsewhere.

A self-portrait for the competition where we’d submit our pictures from the trip.

Cool Ching!

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Rewind to 12th to 15th July 2008, when I was down in Kuching for the Rainforest World Music Festival 2008!

I’m on a boat! Uh… boat.

I’m on a bus! I saw this tree too many times.

Kuching is literally the land of cats!

Funny thing is, they have really cool garbage trucks that have automated slot loaders…

…but there is only one cinema in town, and the tickets are manually written! (The show? Wanted.)

Left: Finally found tuak, pretty sweet stuff! Right: My Minolta 70-210mm F4 beercan next to tin cans in the beercan form factor.

On to the Sarawak Cultural Village! Scary stairs made of trees.

They had many houses showing you what each culture was into.

Up in one of the attics.

Yeah, he looks wooden.

The Sarawak Cultural Village is a nice place to just chill and get in touch with nature. See even Yoda likes it!

Tall, tall, tall houses!

Then we snuck over to the Damai beach.

It was pretty much empty except for this girl… until a guard came over and asked where we were staying.

So I made up something about staying with Noel and that I’d forgot my pass.

And suddenly, Noel appeared out of nowhere! (Well, after the guard left.)

Waifon’s pet turtle.

Kenny Sia tugging on my hair. Wow it still had highlights then!

Another spy shot of the couple he spy-shot from afar.

Sigh advertisement-pimpin’ bloggers!

Coca Cola.

Roxy-Quiksilver!

More here:
Rain For Us
Sunny East Side

View from Cyberview

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View from the Cyberview Lodge, Cyberjaya, one 25th-26th November 2008 ago.

The place is full of greenery, quite like the rest of Cyberjaya. I am pretty sure there was a bridge somewhere there.

Ah yes, did I say a bridge? We had to go out to Putrajaya for this, though.

With my formerly-working Sigma 17-35mm F2.8-4 EX – it’s now got a case of gear stripping.

Beats me why these kids are bicycling around this area!

It was one of those team-building company trips. I love doodling during such activities!

Joshua Choo, in rectilinear.

Rames, in fisheye.

Jason Ding, in fisheye.

Jason Goh, in fisheye.

Thani the aviator!

Our mystery superstar!

Irene wants to be an umbrella girl.

Jepf, resident cartoonist.

Zalizan, fellow metalhead.

This shot was used in the papers and magazines to signify the 1st year anniversary of Murai. Which would make it 3 years now.

Not So New Builds

Eye On Titiwangsa

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Back in 31st October 2007, my then new Sony Alpha 700, a fish-eater and me went down to Titiwangsa Lake Garden to check out the Eye On Malaysia!

Business was pretty slow on a hot Wednesday afternoon.

Here’s a de-fished image from the Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye.

The walkway to the Eye On Malaysia.

The Tamron 200-400mm F5.6 makes a rare appearance, stalking buildings at 400mm.

Another 400mm shot. Through the window I needed a lot of sharpening.

Down on the ground at 330mm.

How To Get To Pudu Plaza By Public Transport!

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Everybody in KL knows Pudu Plaza as the serious place to go for some camera pr0n – Digitalsmania‘s accessories, YL Camera‘s second-hand lenses, Studio Zaloon‘s Sony Alpha lens/camera range, E-Six‘s slide film support…

First, here’s a quick overview using Google Maps – you need to walk from the Pudu RapidKL (STAR LRT/Sentul/Ampang/Sri Petaling line) station. You’d go out, follow the back of the shops, come out at Maybank, and pass by the shops.

Circled in red is Digitalsmania, a camera accessories shop. It is on the Lower Ground floor, meaning when you get there you take a floor down. They carry lots of interesting bits and ends!

Circled in green is YL Camera, a second-hand lenses/cameras and camera/lenses shop. It is on the First floor, meaning when you enter you take a floor up.

Circled in blue is Studio Zaloon, a camera/lenses shop. They’re having a launch this Saturday 9th January 2010, 12 Noon, of their Sony Alpha Pro Shop. Come by if you’d like to try some of the more exotic Sony Alpha lenses!

Not circled, but covered by the “A” label, is E-Six, a film processing shop. This is the only place in Malaysia that still processes positive slide film using the E6 method! Every other shop can only do C41 for standard negative film.

(Edited 12th January 2010: Singapore does have places that will process E6.)

And now, for a fisheye walkthrough with my A700, Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye and Kenko 1.5x teleconverter (for a 180 degree diagonal fisheye effect!)

You’d need to be at the correct Pudu LRT station – some people have mistakenly gotten off at the Hang Tuah LRT station which is next to Pudu Jail, and some others get off at Plaza Rakyat LRT which is next to the Pudu Bus Station.

Alternatively, if you get off on this side, you can probably spot a corner of Pudu Plaza from this side.

Anyway, exit the LRT station and turn left.

Walk along the passageway…

…until you find this shaded lane, between the two Sek Yuen Restaurants.

Here’s the tricky part – cross the road, then go right to find the opening in the fence, then cross again and go left along the Maybank.

Or you could go left (not shown in picture) and take the overhead bridge.

You should find yourself in a quiet street. Keep going forward.

And there it is! Pudu Plaza! Head to this corner…

Go up the stairs to go to the Ground floor (and take the escalator up to YL Camera) or go diagonally across the building to reach Studio Zaloon. Alternatively, following the blue arrow you can go downstairs, walk through the arcade.

The moment you exit the arcade, Digitalsmania will be on your left.

Hmmm, I need to get a picture of the actual Pudu Plaza map; if not refer to the second picture for the relative positions of the shops – should be quite easy to find!

This is probably the most famous second-hand lens/camera shop in KL. Not that I know of anywhere else even in PJ!

I don’t have a proper picture of Digitalsmania, because they will be moving!

I don’t have a proper picture of Studio Zaloon, because they just renovated! Did I mention that there is a launch?

What: 1st Alpha Pro-shop launch
Where: Studio Zaloon, LE-4 Lower Ground, Pudu Plaza, 51, Jalan Landak, 55100 Kuala Lumpur
How Much: Free Entry
When: Saturday, 12 noon, 9th January 2010
Why: There will be door gifts, a lucky draw, a photo competition, food and beverages and workshop registration (for Sunday).
Tel: 03-21411355

Glaring Notebook

Pressed For Words