Bali, a tropical island in paradise where you find just about everything. And I do mean everything - sun, sea, fun, shopping, all kinds of entertainment, historical and sacred places, plenty of activities for nature-lovers such as mountain climbing, jungle trekking, white-water rafting, photography, etc and a favourite rejuvenating activity for most people - the spas. Therefore, 5 days in Bali is just hardly enough to do everything. However, we did manage to cramp a lot of stuff in 5 days. We managed to cover most of the tourist spots like Kintamani, Besakih, Ubud, the infamous Tanahlot, Uluwatu and Jimbaran where we had good seafood by the beach. We also managed to catch a cultural show, spend half a day at a spa, went clubbing, shopping and did body art. Here are some snapshots:

Tawau-Semporna-Mabul Island (29 Sept - 2 Oct 2006)

October 2006 was supposed to be the month we go Beijing. Unfortunately, as much as we wanted to go, we had to postpone it to next year due to personal reasons - lack of money, lack of leave, just changed job, etc.

Our flight to Tawau was on early Friday morning. Dragging ourselves out of bed in the wee hours of morning is never an easy task especially when we have been having 4 hours of sleep in the last few days. We reached LCCT exactly one hour before departure and managed to check-in on time, had a light breakfast and boarded the 2 hour 45 minute-flight. Tawau airport was only 30 minutes away from the Tawau town. The six of us checked into Dynasty-Monaco Hotel for one night.

After lunch, we departed to visit the Madai caves (1.5 hours away from Tawau), famous for bird's nests. For those of you who are not completely sure what bird's nest is, allow be to elaborate. Bird's nest is an authentic delicacy taken from a swiftlet's nest, it is not made out of twigs and straw, mind you. The nest is made of the bird's hardened gummy saliva, apparently wonderfully yummy to those with an acquired taste for it. It is expensive. We were offered RM5,000 for 1 kg of uncleaned bird's nest and I was told that it was cheap. Anyway, the caves left me with a mark of experience for I have to admit, being some sort of a city-girl, I have never been into any caves, except Batu Caves :-) Indeed it also gave us some interesting shots of photography.

We proceeded to a waterfall in Kunak but it closed by the time we got there. Disappointed, we headed back to Tawau and feasted on a sumptuous array of seafood - crabs, fish, crayfish, tiger prawns, jellyfish. I would say definitely much better than a whole kg of bird's nests. Bernard, you should have been there to take photos of all the food. Later, Kwan brought us to a yacht club, where we sat by the deck, drinking and admiring Kwan and Cheah's collection of photographs. Life is good....


After breakfast the next day, we took a 1 hour and 45 minute-ride by van to Semporna. Our speed boat was already waiting for us when we reached and it took us 30 minutes to get there. It was love at first sight the moment we docked Mabul Island. Whatever I described now would hardly do justice to this place. I have never seen such clear sea water, one can just see right through to the corals and fishes beneath. It's almost heaven! The only thing missing in the next few days were blue skies and fluffy white clouds. The haze came as an uninvited guest.

We took our time walking around the Mabul Sipadan Water Village and explored a nearby Bajau village. When it became too hot and we got a little sunburned, we headed back to the chalet to enjoy the view there. We had lunch followed by siesta before heading out again to catch some evening shots.
It wasn't a easy task trying to find a good spot for sunset and when we did find one, it was the haze that did the damage again. Barbecue dinner was considerably good but it was the ambience that was fantastic. Plus we were also graced upon by the Raja Muda of Perlis and his super VIPs who stayed there the same night. The island was well guarded by the police, military and marine, safety wasn't an issue.

A thunderstorm came at 2:00 am. It was a little scary as our chalet faced the open sea. We felt the chalet shook each time lightning struck and thunder rumbled along with strong winds and heavy downpour. Quite an experience, I would say. We woke up slightly before 5:00 am to try our luck on sunrise, hoping the rain would clear the haze and bring back blue skies. Tough luck, the weather was worse than the day before. After breakfast, we took a walk to the resort next door, the Mabul Water Bungalow resort which was just as beautiful, with a spa of its own. We gave up our cameras and went for a dip by the beach. And then it was time to pack up and leave.

We arrived at Semporna and checked into the Seafest Hotel. That afternoon, we chartered a speed boat for a little sea adventure. We were like on a quest to look for the Sea Bajau people. Of course our boatman was very familiar with the surrounding islands and he knew where to take us. To get to Maiga island, we had to pass through certain areas of the sea which was just 3 feet deep. Really interesting, because we could see the deep blue sea in front and at the back of us and here we are, with just 3 feet of water, rocks, corals and lots of starfish. One could of course get down and walk just to experience what it's like to walk in the middle of the ocean but no one wanted to get themselves wet.

The Sea Bajau people were originally from southern Philippines who moved to these islands because of a separatist movement. The island was like a lost paradise, lined with endless rows of tall coconut trees, sand and clear emerald water. There were 2 settlements on the island, one closer to land and the other further out into the shallow waters of the sea. Their huts were made of wood and built on stilts as high as 5 feet. Harvesting seaweed seemed to be their source of income.

Time did not permit us to visit another island so we had to return to Semporna. The next day, we decided to cancel our boat trip to explore other islands. The weather was turning on us and the haze had worsened. We went to the jetty instead and took shots of fishermen turning in their catch for the day. We had an early lunch and departed for Tawau in a hired van. Our flight was only at night, so we had a whole afternoon to kill. We walked around the Tawau town and found a place to eat, drink and hand around. The place served many varieties of "Pan" mee and I had a plate of fried "pan" mee (this is not found in KL) which was really tasty. Kwan and Cheah took us for a hearty dinner and we had the pleasure of meeting with Louis Pang, who joined us for dinner. Kwan and Cheah also drove us to the airport after dinner.

To Kwan and Cheah, thank you so very much for taking the time to bring us around and helping us with all the arrangements for this trip. Overall, we were a little disappointed with the weather but the whole experience made up for it. We will return some day for better photographs.

It's really been ages since I have last posted anything on this blog. From then till now, I've already been to Seoul (Korea) and back, plus a few photography outings and an adventure-cum-photography thingy called Photorace which ended with a model shoot at MTC. This coincided with the launch for Visit Malaysia Year 2007. I was never interested in model shoot for lack of equipment ;-) and skill.


But this model shoot was different, held outdoors in the garden, fantastic and creative costumes and make-up and of course getting my hands on a VR lens make a whole lot of difference. Right equipment increases the level of skill definitely. And of course, outdoor lighting makes a whole lot of difference, wonderful for a beginner like me.


There were a few other photography outings I went for this year, one was Pulau Ketam and the other was my 2nd visit to the bird park in lake gardens. Well, one of my submissions got picked during the photography meeting...here it is...

Wesak Day, 12 May 2006

We were quite excited about Wesak Day's photo outing because Meow decided to join us for her first photo outing and ITAF tagged along with her compact camera. We got up rather early and had a good roti canai breakfast at an indian restaurant just across the Thai Buddhist Chetawan temple in Taman Jaya. This is the best roti canai ever....served on banana leaf, so delicious even without sambal, I am definitely going back there again!

The weather was superb for photography. The crowd grew as our shadows grew shorter. I could hear continuous sound of bells ringing (devotees ringing each of the 36 bells as they walk along the circle as this believed to bring luck). There were many rituals going on, though I did not fully understand its purpose till I read about some articles in the newspapers the next day. Apart from bell ringing, the crowd were lighting lotus candles and oil glasses, making offerings to a long line of golden statues with donation bowls, pasting golden leaves onto a statue, lighting joss sticks and praying. If you moved to the back of the temple, there was a long queue waiting to bath a Buddha statue. It was all very interesting. I've never been to a temple on Wesak, did not know there were some many interesting things to watch and photograph.

When the sun became too hot and we were tired out, we decided to get some water and food before leaving. Green curry noodles tasted really authentic, though we couldn't understand why it wasn't vegetarian. Well, I'll be back next year and hopefully with a better camera ;-)

Fashion Shoot at KLCC

Last Sunday, I decided to go with my hubby to KLCC to try my hand at fashion shows. It was my most frustrating photo shoot...ever... We covered 3 fashion shows from 1:00 - 4:30 pm, except for the I. Kartini show, the rest of the apparel were just boring, not at all close to the fashion shows we watch on TV. I tried RAW mode again but it was a disappointing turn out...noise, hazing, fuzzing, whatever you call it. Well, I guess one needs DSLR to do fashion shows, not some prosumer number. But I can't part with my G5 yet, I still feel I'm not good enough with the basics and don't fully understand the concept and techniques yet. Patience!

Putrajaya on a raining Sunday morning

Hi, I'm back. The reason I have not blogged on this site for ages is because I haven't been on any photography outing. Why does it always rain whenever we are free to go get some shots? We wanted to go for sunrise in Putrajaya but it was raining cats and dogs, so we slept till the rain stopped. Of course the weather wasn't fantastic, overcast or whatever you photographers call it. Gloomy, sunless, wet morning....and only a handful of the club members turned up. I guess the rest are enjoying the cold, lazy morning sleeping.

Well, I shot in RAW mode for the first time. I haven't adjusted the photos yet, hopefully they could be of use. Keeping fingers and toes crossed. If this is good, I will use RAW mode more often then.

By the way, I was not at all satisfied with the shoot that day because of the weather. Will definitely go back there for sunset shots. Till then, over n out.

Cambodia Day 7 : An Experience That Lasts a Lifetime 

We had breakfast at the coffee shop just across our guest house at 6:30 am - half-boiled eggs, delicious fried mee hoon and coffee again. Today, we will be visiting a site that would never be found in any tourist guidebook nor would it be in the list of places to visit. This will be our last place before we fly back home this afternoon.

We stopped by the city and bought two big bags of bread to take with us. The streets were already buzzling with morning activities and monks can be seen moving from shop to shop getting donations from shop-owners. When we reached our destination, smoke and stench greeted us as we alighted from our van.

Steung Meanchey Municipal Waste Dump (yes, it is a dump site, for those of you who can't believe we actually visited one) is located in southern Phnom Penh, more than 30 minutes away from where we stayed. This dump site covers 100 acres and about 2,000 people live and work here, of which 600 of them are children. Thanks to KK's friend for recommending this place for photography, we got to witness and experience this ourselves.

There was an article written about this dump site which said an adult rubbish picker earned an average of 4,000 to 5,000 riels (US$1.00 to US$1.25) a day and children earned half as much. They built makeshift huts to live in the landfill and had to pay rentals to the landowners, as the lands were privately owned. Some children attended school but most did not, as the adults needed them to help contribute to the family income.

The dump site was filled with very thick smoke, which prevented us from seeing clearly. I did not see many makeshift huts, perhaps they were located on the other side of the hill. But I did see many children, some playing, some eating while others were picking rubbish. There were food stalls in the dump site - fruits, ice-kacang and noodles, and the people just ate there, surrounded by garbage. It was a sad sight for again this reminded us of the many privileges we have waiting for us at home.

As each garbage truck approached, the adults would get ready, eagerly await for the truck to unload. Then, they would move in to grab as much as they could find. That's their way of earning a living.

We gave away the bread we brought with us. Little hands and big hands that reached out were black with dirt but the owners didn't seem to mind at all. Not being able to withstand the situation any longer, Cat and I were one of the first ones to leave the site, just couldn't take any more photos there.

We waited for everyone to finish and headed back to the city. With extra time to kill, we stopped by the Russian market to look at souvenirs. We returned to our guest house, did our final packing, showered and checked out for good, then off to the airport.

The soles of my favourite Reebok shoes (heartache) gave way and I decided to leave them behind, wearing my slippers to fly home...haha...

I hope you guys have enjoyed reading this as this was a truly experiential week for me - the many ancient sites of a once lost kingdom, floating village, dump site, new friends, ample supply of photography tips. As someone mentioned somewhere, "imagination is more important than knowledge", I'll be bold enough to add "it is also the experience that counts".

A tribute to:

• Uncle Lee, our almost 70-year old veteran photographer who managed to climb the steep hill of Phnom Bakheng and withstand our craziness
• KK, for planning this entire trip, from doing reservations for our air-tickets to providing us useful information to coordinating until the last day, our sincere gratitude
• Lillian, for being able to carry that very heavy camera bag with all the lenses wherever you go, we kept wondering how you deal with that weight
• Bernard, Irene and Cat for providing all the fun throughout the trip
• My hubby, for bringing me...*muacks*...heh heh...

Hey guys, next trip...Beijing.

(Photograph courtesy of KK Tan)

Cambodia Day 6 : Tonle Sap Lake 

This was the first time we got to sleep-in a little and woke up at 6:00 am (haha...later...) as compared to the last four days. Of all people, I think our driver must have been the most thankful one having to wake up at a more decent hour, after having to cope with us wackos since we invaded his country on the 12th. Our communication with him was limited to very basic English words and lots of hand movements but we were quite sure he thought we came from a land where sunrise and sunset never existed. He must be thinking...What a bunch of nuts! 

We had a yummy breakfast which we ordered last night, a variety of omelettes, bread and the pancakes which Cat and Irene ordered were really good - banana and pineapple. 

We left for Tonle Sap Lake at 7:15 am. Today was a different experience altogether, different from the last few days of the Angkor empire. Here we saw the daily lives of the Cambodian people as we passed through village after village on the way to Tonle Sap Lake, as poor as can be - simple, worn-down wooden huts, no electricity or piped water, hot and dust everywhere. It reminded us of how privileged we are to have brick houses, lots of clean water to waste, plenty of electricity to supply the many appliances at home.

We made a stop at Kompong Phluk, located just before the jetty. It was a fishing village where boats were coming in at that time, bringing in their catch. Villagers were busy sorting out fish, weighing and transporting their catch to where I could only guess, the local markets.

Children running around, mothers carrying their babies, little pink piggies in cages, children and adults gambling with make-shift dice - we managed to capture the daily activities of this fishing village and its villagers but the smell was rather unbearable for some of us. Irene, don't complain, it's not as bad as the dump site!

We reached the jetty eventually and got on to our boat, which cost us US$50 per hour. Immediately, our cameras went to work. Homes on this floating village ranged from barges to rafts to covered fishing boats. The villagers use small rowboats to get about and the younger ones to school. There was a school (Chong Khneas Elementary School), some shops, restaurants and a Catholic church, all built on barges. Hmmm... I wonder if the floating school changes its location occasionally.

As our boat drew nearer to a floating restaurant, we were "attacked" by little "pirates". These are young boys rowing around in plastic or metal basins with a piece of wood as an oar. They grabbed on to our boat as they did with any other boats that passed by (with tourists) and asked for money - 1 dollar. 

At the floating restaurant, one could get refreshments and souvenirs. We tried some boiled small prawns sold in plates, and had a cold drink each. At 11:00 am we returned to Siem Reap's local market for an early lunch. There we did our last-minute souvenir shopping. Yes, Bernard, I remembered to mention your girlfriend, Ah Ling. We bought many things from her shop - bags, Cambodian shirts, wood carvings, shawls.

We returned to our guest house to shower, pack-up and check out. At 2:00 pm, we loaded our van and left for Phnom Penh. Back to the road where we came from, the view was again filled with never-ending paddy fields, horse carts and bullock carts, skinny buffalos working, skinny cows grazing whatever grass that was left due to the dry season, motor-carts carrying slaughtered pigs or chickens, road signs with name of places written on it but struck across with a red line (didn't understand what that's about).

Understanding our obsession for sunsets, our good driver stopped us at a nice location by the side of the road to witness another magnificent sunset. He took peeks at our pictures and joined us in taking some sunset shots with the mobile phone camera. PSPJ, you have a potential Cambodian member!

Our driver drove us to a local restaurant to have dinner. He gave us a thumb's-up sign, indicating good food. We were on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, about another hour's drive away and it was already getting dark. We continued our journey with our bellies filled and finally reached Spring Guest House, the place where we stayed when we first arrived. 

After checking-in, we wanted to do a little tour (too early to sleep) and look for a place to hang out. Unfortunately, our tired driver had already happily gone home. We decided to be a little adventurous and did some walking. We didn't know the directions and the map board was confusing, but we continued walking. Uncle Lee was worried about his camera bag left at the reception, so he headed back to the guest house with KK and Bernard. Oops, not a good idea continuing our journey with five girls and just one guy. We hardly saw anyone walking on the streets, and some guys were hanging around and looked like they were up to no good. Ok, everyone, balik! We found a coffee-shop that was still open and had drinks there until they closed.

Cambodia Day 5: Final Day at the Kingdom of Angkor

Yup, it's our final day at the Angkor empire, our passes will expire after today. We woke up at 4:30 am for our last sunrise session and we had decided to spend it at Angkor Wat again. There was more mist/fog than the first day and it was less crowded with tourists. We walked through the darkness in Angkor Wat for the second time, with my dear hubby limping a little from yesterday's sprain.

We finished around 8:00 am and went for breakfast. Uncle Lee dropped his glasses on the ground and they broke, so we went back to the hotel to get his spare. While waiting for Uncle Lee, we discovered that our guest house served food and drinks, and cheap too! Hahaha...we thought we were smart... looking around everywhere but our guest house for cheaper meals.

Our next destination, Ta Prohm, the site where Tomb Raider movie was shot. Ta Prohm is an abandoned temple that was discovered in the midst of the jungle. Surrounded by endless groups of tourists, there lies piles of ancient ruins with gigantic tree roots covering from roof to the grounds of the temple. Amongst the heaps of stones seen in the courtyards and around the galleries of the temple, one still finds beautifully sculpted devatas on the wall panels.

It was quite difficult to photograph the many tree-covering sites without wanting any tourists to appear in our photographs. This place was really packed with tourists who came in bus loads, led by tour guides who explained historical events in different languages, I heard English, Korean, Japanese and Mandarin. The heat that afternoon was rather unbearable, the light-coloured gigantic trees reflected more light and made the place crazy hot.

We returned to our guest house for lunch, took a short rest and recharged our batteries. All I remembered was that it took ages to serve drinks (the fruit shakes were good though) and lunch for all eight of us, cutting into our nap time.

We left the guest house at 4:00 pm, dropped KK off at the balloon field and headed for Tammanon. Unfortunately, we never got there because we had a little "detour". Our driver returned to pick his "sir" up and drove us to Ta Keo for our sunset shots. Not all of us climbed up to the top, except KK.

Ta Keo looked like an enormous stone monument with barely any carvings on its walls, come to think of it, I don't remember seeing any. History has it that the temple was struck by lightning which was interpreted as bad omen and therefore abandoned uncompleted. The steps were the usual very steep and narrow ones, we climbed up half way (the sunset scenery wasn't that fantastic anyway) while Uncle Lee decided to stay on ground. You didn't miss much, Uncle Lee!

Dinner wasn't as good as the two previous nights as we decided to try out a different shop, but it was cheap, so nothing much to complain about. After dinner, we went to Angkor Market which sold liquor and cigarettes cheap, much cheaper than duty-free shops at the airport. With so frequent use of this word "cheap", it wasn't a surprise that our driver learnt a new vocab - "cheap-cheap".

We returned to our guest house and had fruit shakes, and also ordered breakfast for the next morning. Oh and the banana shake was so delicious...

Cambodia Day 4: Power-packed Day 

5:00 am on a Sunday morning, a new day, a new sunrise - same sun, different place.

Srah Srang, which is located opposite Banteay Kdei, was built on a artificial lake in the 10th century and remodeled at the end of 12th century by Jayavarman VII. It was said to be used for ceremonies and royal baths. Well, we didn't find more than a handful of tourists watching sunrise here as compared to the crowd in Angkor Wat. There were many young pedlars who kept pestering us to buy their coffee and wares since the time we arrived. We also managed to spend a few minutes outside Banteay Kdei before adjourning for breakfast.

Our driver took us to a local place to have cheap but good breakfast - Cambodian pao, beef noodle soup, fried noodles, really yummy! And then, off to Banteay Srei, a 37km drive according to our driver. We made a little detour when we passed by Pre Rup, While some of us had to use the toilets, the rest of us took the opportunity to capture some Pre Rup shots.

Banteay Srei - an exquisite temple covered with beautiful, fine carvings on every inch of its walls and intricate figurines. It is classified as the "finest example of classical Khmer art". We could see many ropes being put up to keep tourists from standing too near the 1000-year old carvings. It is such a beautiful place for photography but the heat prevented us from staying too long. A few of us went shopping at some stalls outside the temple while the rest chose to cool-off by having iced coconut. Thank God for coconuts and ice! 

Then we left for a quick tour to Preah Khan, our last stop before a late lunch. We didn't spend much time at Preah Khan, only about 20 minutes (must be our record time in one place!) as we wanted to reserve our afternoon for Angkor Thom. Lunch was steamed white rice and stir-fried pineapple with pork, quite good actually, for all of us except Uncle Lee who had stir-fried beef and steamed rice.

Angkor Thom has five huge gates that led to the city - North, South, East, West and Victory Gate on the east. During our stay, we travelled between the South and Victory gates frequently. The main attractions at Angkor Thom are the Elephants' Terrace which we walked on, the Terrace of the Leper King (which we saw but did not walk on), Phimeanakas and Baphuon temples which we only took pictures from outside. But we did stand on the large open space, the terrace of the palace where the king used to check on his troops before they left for battles.

Located inside Angkor Thom, Bayon is a Buddhist temple that has 54 towers with carved faces on four sides and many bas-reliefs carved on its walls. Most of us climbed up the towers to get better angles of these carved faces, like the ones we saw in books and on website. On the way down those narrow steps, my hubby sprained his ankle. It was swollen after that, and prevented him from walking much more than he would have.

We made a 15-minute stop by the South Gate to take some evening shots. Then we headed out to the Angkor Balloon field as KK wanted to purchase his ticket for a hot-air balloon ride the next day. While we were there, we maximised our time by taking sunset shots, beautiful magenta skies. Photographers, never a moment to lose!

We headed back to the same stall for dinner and returned to our guest house like a bunch of farmers who had been working out in the fields all day.