Nikon Langkawi Photohunt 2008

I was checked in to Frangipani Resort and Spa on the 28th of March 2008 for the event and this is the beach of Pantai Tengah where the hotel is located. The program started immediately after the registration in the first day. We were allowed to turn in by midnight and the next day was awakened by the wake up call at 6am. The photohunt was flagged of after breakfast and lasted until 8pm for many team. A very exhaustive but productive day for everyone participating in the event. We were checked out by noon 30th and I reached home by 5pm. Very sleepy and a very good night...... zzzzzz

Scenic Ride

Taking a scenic drive through "The Kedah Plain" is time honored tradition. It goes all the way back to when the first car cruised through. Older generation used to tell me how they would just find an open field, pull over, and have a picnic. "This land is your land, this land is my land...". These days, there are still plenty of great spots to check out and enjoy and put down a nice picnic if you so choose. Nearly everyone gets an itch to drive "up the line", out into the mountains, or through the vastness of the paddy field, you can find them here right outside our doorstep.

Storm

The rain was torrential yesterday evening. The wind was strong too with thunder and lightning completing the drama. The indication is very clear that the dry spell is over and the rain brought back life to flora and fauna around my vicinity.

This flame of the forest was captured this morning with droplets from yesterday's rain still visible in the image. The Flame of the Forest is a medium sized tree, growing from 20 to 4O feet high, and the trunk is usually crooked and twisted with irregular branches and rough, grey bark. It is seen in all its ugliness in December and January when most of the leaves fall: but from January to March it truly becomes a tree of flame, a riot of orange and vermilion flowers covering the entire crown. These flowers, which are scentless, are massed along the ends of the stalks—dark velvety green like the cup-shaped calices—and the brilliance of the stiff, bright flowers is shown off to perfection by this deep, contrasting color.

Have a nice day!

Election 2008

I am glad that the General Election is over. Glad that all the posters and banners are slowly going down and thus eliminating the eyesores that I have to tolerate for the past two weeks. I am wondering how much longer we Malaysians have to stuck ourselves with this third world mentality even though much progress we have achieved in many ways. I am wondering too, how much does this poster wars actually influenced the voters in deciding who to vote or who not to vote. I began seeing something positive though - more placards have been used this year displaying the candidates' faces. Not only they pose less eyesores, they are also less hazardous to traffic and easily removed after the election.

The power of rain.

The dry season have left this lily in my garden lifeless until the rain starts to fall again in March. The flower came out straight from the ground and the first bloom was spotted and what a beautiful day too. I have captured this under saturated blue sky with sheep-like clouds. A perfect day to be out and a perfect day to cast our vote. Happy voting to all Malaysian!

Busy Month

February have been a busy month for me. So many things needed to be done and now the month is almost over. I was counting on the photo a week project to keep me engaged on this blog! But life gets busy, busy thinking about all the stuff one must do to work, think, play and live out the things that are important to me like family and keeping the finances in order. The month ended with mixed feelings of achievements and some frustrating moments, as always.

Passion

This picture was taken close to the Kuala Perlis jetty going to Langkawi or Thailand.

This is actually the tip of the river estuary with the visible distant islands are actually our neighboring country, Thailand. The location of this shot is in a small town of Kuala Perlis.

Seeing these kids cycling happily around me and politely greeting me armed with camera makes me thinking - the fun everyone had with bicycles. Where have the pleasure of riding these machines disappeared once we get the hand on motorized vehicles. It is ashamed that the love for riding this simple machine (almost zero maintenance) have been lost for some adults in a world where constant grumbles about high price of car's maintenance and fuel price is an everyday topic of discussion.

Of Geese and Turkeys

I was driving my children to a playground near our house and passed by this turkey roaming freely by the rice field. A very common sight for me when I was much younger but not anymore. Everyone from my generation who grew up in kampong will have a story to tell about being chased by geese and turkeys. This image makes me thinking about the disappearance of this birds and other species that we are so used to be living close to us human. Will the future generation be able see what I used to see?

4W

Try answering the following questions:

Why the Moon always shows the same face to the Earth.

Why the Moon's rotation period is the same as the length of time it takes to orbit the Earth (same as number 1, but phrased differently).

Why there are two tides a day.

Why the Earth's rotation rate is slowing.

It has something to do with moon. This one was captured this evening 20th Jan 2008 before sunset. It is a waxing gibbous @ 94% full moon. The blue cloudless sky reflected by the evening sun allowed me to take this moon picture hand-held above the rain tree. Now, I can call that my moon.

Long Weekend Here!

We are having an extra day at home this weekend so the whole family decided to help Sharina tidying up her classroom for a brand new academic year. Armed with hammered drills, scrapers, wall plugs ladder and handful of rags; we set off to her classroom rather early in the morning.

We did pretty good job fixing all the loose ends but the point I'm trying to say here is there are too many loose ends. I'll not go any further than that but I suppose we are all aware of the situation.

We ate on our way home and after hitting the shower, everyone except me were flat out in deep afternoon nap. I was a beautiful afternoon with sheep like white clouds against the stunning blue sky so I decided for a quick ride with my camera.

It's harvesting season here and the weather is scorching hot. The rice straws left by combined harvesters are good playground for bird, butterflies, grasshoppers and dragonflies. I was back in an hour a happy man after looking at the loot in my lappy.

Have a wonderful weekend because I do!

Batik : From Now to Eternity

Starting today and any other coming Thursdays have been made an official Batik for the civil servants in Malaysia. I will have to wear colorful and authentic batik every Thursday instead of the usual twice a month which I rarely remembered. More importantly, I’ll have to look for Made in Malaysia batik which I can probably find them printed on the chest - do they have them?

Anyway, I heard that all the departments and government agencies will have to design their own batik attire and they will be provided free to the civil servants. It’s a form of uniform for them to wear every Thursday – is that true?

Since it will be Malaysian batik, I hope they’ll provide the maintenance cost of weekly dry cleaning too.

Birds Collection

Friday Morning

Friday is an off-day for people in Kedah. It always make me feel wild and free. I made good start by walking around the compound with Sharina kicking off by washing both our cars - Thanks Dear!

A decent trip to the wet-market under the clear blue sky with my freedom machine was pleasurable. As I got home, my two young ones wanted to go for a ride; a two minutes trip to the playground at the nearby recreation center (a cave). Along the way, I spotted a few good subjects for my lens’ breakfast. Once dropping them back at home, I picked up my camera and headed back the same way. I was busy shooting sparrow which rarely came down low and these two birds were close by inspecting the architecture on the bridge. This pair rather candidly inspecting the leak pipeline in our community. Enough pictures to fill up my digital shoebox for the day and I am here writing my blog after giving my bike a good shine; and Sharina is cooking our lunch. Thanks Again, Dear!!!

My Proud Swallow

Awal

"You've got to get to the stage in life where going for it is more important than winning or losing." Arthur Ashe

I think I lost a lot this year but I am thankful that I never lost faith and love inside of me. I got the New Year and much great stuff to look forward to.

Wishing all of you a prosperous Awal Muharram!

Cave of Darkness

My family and I decided to take a drive to the bank but to our disappointment, the Bank Islam of Kangar was closed for renovation. The journey ended further to a well known cave in Perlis called Gua Kelam or Cave of Darkness. I find the name rather humorous because I’ve yet to see a cave that’s not dark.

Gua Kelam, Kaki Bukit refers to the 370-metre long limestone cave at the small town of Kaki Bukit. Its name literally means "at a foothill (Kaki Bukit) lies a dark cave (Gua Kelam)". Access to the cave is by way of a suspension bridge. The uniqueness of approach, as well as the experience of walking along the bridge, makes a visit to this place an intriguing and adventurous experience.

On our way back; about 30m to the exit, we spotted this about one meter creepy crawly at the edge of the suspension bridge which I managed to catch on camera. Fear for the safety of the visitors, I showed the picture to the security officer at the entrance. To our amazement; his reply was “Don’t worry about it; he’ll do no harm to anyone”.

Freaking Cool!!

My Catch

First Light Eidul Adha

This picture was taken in front of my mother's house while waiting to leave for the Raya's prayer. Beautiful cloud formation of the first light.

Vacation

I got to see a lot of beautiful things while on vacation. Malaysia is filled with beautiful scenery; you just have to look for it. Melaka is one of the most beautiful cities. It is definitely in my top 10 in the world - I just love it.

But let's face it sometimes the hardest part of taking a family vacation is trying to figure out where to go and what to do. I've heard it many times before from my own family and I'm sure you have too. "Should we go camping? Let’s go to a theme park. Let’s go shopping in the big city. Do you want to visit your aunt and uncle?" It gets tiring doesn't it!


Melaka offers something new and fun to do with my family! From finding a great theme park to enjoying a relaxing time at the beach, taking time-off at many museums, road trip or simply walk down those narrow streets was so much fun. The two extended nights stay were well worth it.

There was so much more that we did, but it was just a blast!!


p/s: Thanks Miza and Jawahir for your kind hospitality - appreciated!

Chasing Dragonfly

I was taking pictures in the field of padi and all of a sudden, a dragonfly came to view – bringing back my childhood memories. That childhood memory of mine I will always cherish. I think one of the greatest things about being human is that we have memories that are reasonably persistent throughout most of our life-spans. Our memories provide continuity between our past experiences and the current moment. You can never get too far away from your memories because everything you now experience is focused by lenses either scratched or polished by previous experiences. How you "see" things is unique because the sum total of your experiences is unique.

Our greatest adult fears were created by childhood memories. Our greatest adult anxieties were produced by childhood memories. Our most negative adult views of ourselves are the product of childhood memories. Our most important adult goals have their roots in childhood memories. Our most powerful adult drives have their roots in childhood memories. Our adult attitudes, adult perspectives, adult expectations, and adult view of life are all powerfully influenced by our childhood experiences and memories.

It is a fundamental characteristic of being human.

My Daemon

I am a Carpenter

The toothache was bad last night even after a couple of painkillers Sharina bought me. To my surprised, the pain was gone after an extended sleep. Went to see my dentist who was out for lunch and kenduri, finally got to see her by 3.30 and I came out grinning. Just some filling and I still got to keep the tooth.
Went to see my mother before a friend called so I had to hurry home. Captured the shot above with the picnic bench in the foreground before I left. I must have built that bench about seven years ago and made me thinking how my Industrial Arts lessons came to have significant effect on my daily life. We used to learn woodwork, metalworks and engines. My woodworking skills and knowledge about engines can be considered above average according to my egoistic rating. Many thanks to Cikgu Zainal, Mr Lai and John (who was my basketball coach as well) for teaching me all those skills.

Childhood Revisited

Being a lazy driver as I am always has the advantage of having all your limbs at your disposal. Our sunset cruise looking at the Indian Ocean brings back memories of my childhood. This picture taken from our moving vehicle is Sungai Berembang which was once a picnic spot for the locals. The silhouette structure is a bridge crossing the river and that distant island was once so close that we can send catapult’s marble right to the island. What I saw now was once a school, mosque and houses swallowed by the Indian Ocean. What was once a swampy area now turned into rocky retaining wall. What a sight of a swallow flying over the island trying to tell us something here. Whatever is happening, my main concern now is that I'm suffering from severe toothache.

Pride & Glory

~my backyard collection~

Can anyone spot the little one eating our pride and glory?

Silver Lining

There is a silver lining in every cloud, so don’t get mad - get glad. One of the unexpected bonuses to thick cloud is the silver lining you can see when the sun's shining behind the cloud.

I guess the same goes with life!!

Strange!

This 1966 VW Beetle was with me for five years and this spot under the two cherry trees has always been the parking spot during the day before it slipped into the porch at night. This exact picture was placed on eBay in 2004 and a guy who won the bid took a six hours nonstop ride home. A few months after the bug left, both the cherry trees strangely enough, died. Maybe both the trees missed the companionship - Who knows!

Judgmental Part II

OK, it’s been too long since my last “real” post. Posting on weekends gets harder and harder with working all weekend, kids, sleep, and the many other weekend activities. One thing still keep on bugging me this week so I decided to channel it here.

Never mind about the previous posting on this issue. It seems to me, that when most people meet another person they either treat them with love or judgment. It's like we have taken a side with each person. We have become their judge and we give them love and acceptance or judgment based on our whims. How many times do you hear other people tear someone else down? How many times do you do it? We have decided to judge them.

If we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, how can we be so judgmental and hard on them? We want love and mercy for ourselves, why can't we give it to the ones we meet every day? Instead we size them up and pick out their flaws - as if we have none of our own. We notice every sin of theirs, but gloss over our own. Yes, we are sinners that need Maker's grace and blessings. They are sinners that need our Maker's grace and blessings. Aren't they just like you and me? The only difference is we are adding judgment to our list of sins and are ignoring most other positive characters in a person

Blessing in Disguise!

What would you do if your car won’t start after work? You pulled out the key - get your camera – look for interesting object – pray that you get a good shot – post it to Blogger. That was what exactly happened to me after work. Afraid that the engine would flood, I walked around the green area outside my office with camera in hand. I spotted this beautiful flower protruding to the sky that I never noticed before and took a few shots. So here it is and my car started the first time after that. Looks like the flower is pointing up there telling me everything happens for a good reason – and in a mysterious way too.

Holy Cactus!!!

Driving home from Kenduri in Alor Star, we decided to stop by our regular Auntie’s Nursery to get bigger pots for our overgrown pandanus. Sharina was browsing for the right pots and I was looking around for appropriate plants for the house – just in case. My eyes caught something wicked and I really have to blog this. The picture above explains everything (I hope) and we walked away with two bigger pots – without any plants.

My Photo Page

I've just created my photo page at FLICKR. You can browse through my pictures by clicking the LINK on the right frame. If you like the picture above, you might like to see the rest of the album. Most pictures were taken around the vaccinity of my hometown - Kodiang.

Green is Sexy!

I was walking down the corridor towards our washroom on a very dull gloomy day but the view in front of me caught my attention. A huge green trash-can complemented by a greener view ahead – trash free. Make me thinking how sexy the green can be even without the blue sky or streaks of white cloud.

It’s been said that if we like something, we’ll tell 3 people, but if we hate it, we’ll tell 12. Needless to say, I like this view so much that I walked back to the office (postponing my nature calls) and capture this shot so that I can blog this. Trash has always been a major problem in public places in Malaysia. Sometimes our favorite products are like adorable pets that pee on the furniture: we love them, but we don’t love their filthy habit. Wasteful packaging is annoying, unnecessary and more expensive to produce. Plastic bottles, Styrofoam containers, canned drinks and plastic bags are just a few of the long list of harmful items if not disposed properly.

Please think again before you toss out another trash – Green is really Sexy!!!