Kelapa Bakar

Since WS Pang was in town recently and during the Wesak holidays, we took him and his wife out to try some kelapa bakar. We got there thanks to directions from our friend Roger.

Hmm...sorry for the blown background. Heheh

The coconuts are 'cooked' in a metal drum for around 30-45 minutes...looks disgusting

Ready to drink.

This batch will be made into coconut jelly. They will pour the agar agar inside and cool it.

Lokan. Some kind of shell thing.

Lokan panggang.

And the finished product. Ginger is added into it and it is served with a lime+chili dip.

At the end of it all, it was probably a mistake to drink kelapa bakar at 2pm on a very sunny afternoon. We were the only ones around who probably ordered the kelapa bakar at that time. Anyway, some things are worth trying at least once.

Kambeck

Had a nice time in Miri/Brunei! Just wished that it could have been a longer trip though...It was great catching up with some of the old long lost classmates as well -we'll go for burgers next time yea.

This is a HDR shot at the 6-star (some say 7-star) Empire Hotel in Brunei. Fantastic place...Around B$250/night during promotion rates,lol.

Lion Dance

Last Friday I was informed that a very famous lion dance team would be performing at a mooncake festival celebration nearby. Apparently these guys from Inanam are so famous that they are always invited overseas to perform their thing. Of course I had to check it out...

The 'bait' for the lion

Guy at bottom: 'Unngghhh!! WHO SAID HE'S NOT HEAVY??!'

The Lion ...er...releasing a huge fireball of gas...

The Lion swallowing some leaves to soothe its stomach.

A healthy Lion is a happy Lion.

Kids who attended the event will always listen to their mommy and eat their vegetables from now on.

MIFC: Team Global (Merdeka Day)

Ok as promised, here are the pics from Team Global. Having gained experienced from my virgin shots of fireworks the night before, I decided to 'apply' them. I got there late though and managed a couple of test shots from my locations.

Immediately after I shot this pic above, people were shouting 10, 9, 8.... So judging from the first shot I took during Team Japan's performance, it is too near. I quickly pulled back a bit and was rewarded for doing so in my next shot.

Just in time.

Overall, the performance was quite disappointing. I've heard people saying that its not worth going for Team Global's performance, but they do have the wind to their advantage compared to Team Japan. Probably because the performance was 7 mins long only too, so not much smoke generated.

Tried doing a vertical shot.

This is my favourite one though. It reminds me of rambutans.

MIFC: Team Japan (Merdeka Eve)

This year may be the 50th Merdeka for Malaysia (or 44 as many people would argue), but it is quite a hollow occasion for me with certain things going on in our country. Anyway, putting all that aside, on the eve of Merdeka I went to Putrajaya to shoot Team Japan in the Malaysia International Firworks Competition (MIFC). I also met Kwan FM and Clement there as well.

The fireworks started at midnight and lasted for half an hour. I arrived quite late, 8pm. Apparently people were already setting up their cameras and waiting at the good locations since 5pm...kiasu-nyer.

Having seen some of the previous teams photos on an online forum, I knew I had quickly take the shots before the smoke settled in. This means I have to get it right first few times. This is my first time shooting fireworks, so I set up my tripod and camera at 11pm and spend around an hour waiting and taking test shots.

In the end this was the view that I decided on. Not too high that you can't see the bridge, and not too low that you can't see the fireworks. After the fireworks started I immediately regretted it.

It was too low! Crap! This could've been quite a nice shot!

I quickly re-adjusted the camera and continued shooting. This one above reminded me of flowers.

Then the smoke started getting in the way...

Smoke again...

Yet more smoke...

A heart-shaped one.

Another heart-shaped one.

The fireworks finished at12.30am and it was jammed all the way home. I reached home at around 4 something in the morning and slept at 5am. It was really frustrating sitting in the car for 4 hours. As a photographer, I did what any other photographer will do. Go again the next day for another shoot. Heheh... Watch out for pictures of that in the next post.

An evening with Brad

I've never told anyone this because I am ashamed... My half brother, Brad Pitt, yesterday dropped by KK for a visit. In our family he's probably the most useless one...

Me: How you doing brother?

Brad: Not so good lah...

Me: Why leh...?

Brad: You know lo...that Iron Lady at home...I always can't go out and have some fun one.

Me: Oh you mean Angelina 'Mata Juling'?

Brad: Abothen?

Me: You really useless you know? When i dating Angelina in high school that time I already told you what kind of person she is...dowan listen your fault la.

Anyway... as the evening went on, we discussed more about how our lives were going and he heard that I was into photography at the moment. So he asked me to take a shot of him. Here's the result...
Dei! Dei! Laugh what laugh! You think funny meh...kemaluan saya besar you know...

400D with 28-105mm

Here are some shots from the Canon 400D, all shot with 28-105mm f/4-5.6 USM lens.
These are all shot at Sutera Harbor, Kota Kinabalu.

Nice blue sky

Toys for the rich

You like blue blue sky no?

More blue skies

The helipad

Twins

The 400D is a very handy and light camera and the 28-105mm lens focuses quite quickly. Overall a very good SLR I must say for its price range.