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travel / landscapes

Hongkong in May

My third trip to Hongkong in as many months. We arrived just in time for the annual Bun Festival on the island of Cheung Chau. EP managed to secure tickets for us to watch the “Bun-snatching” event. Basically, contestents will have to scale the 14m high “bun tower” and snatch as many buns as they can within a stipulated time (I think it’s 2mins). Many of the contestents are either past winners or members of some rock climbing associations. The buns are labeled according to the height they are being placed, with the highest scoring ones placed right on the top of the tower.

The original buns from the stall that made them. On the buns are the words “平安”, which sort of means “peace and safety” in chinese. The buns are quite big and has white lotus fillings in them. The main competition tower has about 9000 buns on it. Many more are found on the traditional towers which are of 13m high, but are not used for the competition because the towers were not as sturdy.

 

Lion dance kicked start the bun-snatching competition. The lion dance is performed on top of a pole (the red pole) and consist of only a sole lion dancer, while the “tail” is held up by another member using a pole. The competition begins on the stroke of midnight.

 

Right after the lion dance, the fire crackers went off to the rousing applause of the crowd.

 

The male contestents clearing the top buns, while one of the 3 female contestents followed behind. The winner of the men’s event was three time champion local from Cheung Chau.

 

Cheung Chau from the top of the hill. The island looks a little like a bone shape. On the right side of the “bone” in this picture is the harbour for the fishing boats.

 

While waiting for the ferry. It’s about 30mins ride on a fast craft and 55mins on a slower boat. You can take the ferry from the “outlying islands pier’.

 

The typical low clouds, lighted up by the bright city lights greeted us when we disembarked from the ferry.

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posted by wansheng on May 23rd 2010 in images, personal, travel / landscapes, voices





Eastern lights

The northern lights, it’s one of the things I would want to see in this lifetime. I remember watching a japanese movie when I was young and it kinda linked aurora to earthquakes. That image was stuck in my brain for the longest time. Since I haven’t earned enough to check out the northern lights, the Eastern lights is a good compromise:) Like EP said, every moment you look at it, it’s different. What an awesome view to sleep and wake up to. All thanks to my hosts in Hongkong:) And next trip in May, there will be a double view:D

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posted by wansheng on May 4th 2010 in images, travel / landscapes, voices





Penang

Woke up today having to do up some maintenence work on my computers. Backing up files and some housekeeping on the computers. So many images from the 2 crazy months of September and October! It’s a good break from all the wedding edits. Also, I would like to thank my clients for their patience and taking real good care of the photographer (me!) during those event packed days. It made the shoot so much easier:) Thank you.

I was in Penang late August for a shoot. Took some time to walk around Penang and savour the mind blowing local cuisines. Besides the famous Char Kway Teow and Laksa, I found the chestnuts really good! Fried the similar way as we have it in Singapore, but I think they break the shell before putting them under the fire. It’s seriously one of the best food I’ve had in recent times (besides the fishball in Hongkong). Even the indian taxi driver can’t help but ask me where I bought them.

Anyway, while backing up the wedding files, I decided to do up one of the images.

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posted by wansheng on November 13th 2009 in images, travel / landscapes, voices





Oct/Nov Bali Day seven and eight: Padang Bai/Candidasa

Final day of diving was spent at Padang Bai. And it’s on one of those fishing boats that I have seen so often but never got the chance to ride on. It’s a really narrow boat with enough space to fit a single file of “not too oversized” people.

Visiblity was pretty bad with strong underwater surges due to the full moon as was told. It seems like there’s alot happening when it comes to full moon here. Saw some interesting critters and also a small school of squids. They look really “spacey” in those cloudy waters, moving in perfect unison. Calamari will never look the same again on my dinner table.

Not wanting to spend too much on hotel stay this time round, I put up at Kelapa Mas at Candidasa at a discounted rate given to me by the dive operator. It was a clean, no frills cottage along the main street of Candidasa, right in front of the beach and breakwater. I was recommended to this Restaurant Rendevous by the money changer. It’s a really cosy restaurant right by the beach with a spectacular view of the waves breaking lit by the full moon. From there, I could see the waves crashing onto the breakwater right outside my hotel. It’s like a symphony of waves, looks something like a digital equalizer on the radio. I stood there for a good 5-10mins, mesmerized by the combined work of man and nature. If only it’s bright enough for images… too bad, it’s not and it’s kinda dangerous (not worried about dying, more worried about getting wet and having to take a shower again) too.

The following day, I took a fishing trip out to sea before checking out of the hotel. Minutes after we left the shore, a huge 5kg red snapper got hooked and I was thrilled!! But watching the fish die after that wasn’t that great a feeling. I had to decline lunch with that fish on the menu offered by the fisherman. I was kinda glad it was the only catch of the trip. Now I have to figure out how I’m going to handle the spear fishing trip.

Some images for the two days.

Agung and beyond

The classic photographer’s self portrait. Tried to kill my shadow by putting it in the middle of the road. Didn’t quite work.

The cute little bugger. Still trying to ID it. We had fun playing hide and seek… for awhile.

Trumpet fish (me thinks)

“We come in peace… please don’t put us in the deep fryer!” Don’t they look like alien spacecrafts? How different when deep fried… better alive than dead really.

And they decided to come into my “photo booth”.

School of yellowtails (I think… based on visuals) fighting the current. I was swept all over the place. It was nature’s rollercoaster ride. One word, FUN!

The breakwater in front of the hotel. A few hours after this was taken, the crashing waves went up like 5 meters when they hit the breakwater. Amazing amazing sight! (ok, maybe I come from land of swaku, but you get the idea…)

Hope: the name of the fishing boat. Not the one I went out with though:P

Made (pronounced as Mar-day, means 2nd child of the family) with his 5kg red snapper!

The Kuta dog. This time, a rottweiler. These so called “dangerous dogs” (in Singapore) roam freely on their crowded beaches. Maybe maybe if you walk them enough everyday, they aren’t that dangerous. Geddit?

My favourite ship. Where are you sailing today? Gets more dramatic everytime I see it.

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posted by wansheng on November 4th 2009 in bali, Diving, images, personal, scuba diving, travel / landscapes, underwater photography, voices





Oct/Nov Bali Day six: SHARKS!

Sharks: a type of fish usually seen on the dinner tables at chinese weddings.

I couldn’t hide my excitement when I saw them about 30m at Coral garden on my 2nd dive. The first one was playing with the remoras when we spotted them. I was told they were the resident Black Tip sharks at the Drop Off (even though I’ve never seen them there). I was in a happy daze after that… floating around till my tank went empty. And I meant 0 bar.

Earlier in the day, Ziggy and Powell, both whom I met at the dive at Nusa Penida arrived at Tulamben after taking a day off diving at Kuta. Ziggy have been sharing alot about diving in Bali since he has 10 years experience diving on this island. Two days ago, he told me the deepest he went to was 102m. I asked, “so what did you see at 102m?”. “My dive comp.” was his reply. Very honest and very funny.

The tide was very high as we approached full moon. Ziggy and Powell had left for a village to watch the full moon celebrations. I know I’m having a date with Z monster after all that diving. Nitrogen makes one sleep I think. As I sat at the restaurant, I can’t help but wonder, when will I be back again. Strange feeling since this is the 3rd time this year that I’ve been here. Soon I hope.

Here are some images from the day.

When I stepped out of my room, half asleep, clad in my sleeping clothes and lugging the camera along… I thought I was in jail. Beautiful lighting nonetheless:)

Sunrise at the Drop Off. Fishing boats out for their early catch.

I felt it, so I took it.

The resident barracuda staking outside the wreck. Visibility was pretty bad, good thing I didn’t run into it. It won’t be pretty.

I was taking the picture of the cleaner shrimp (below) and when I turned around, I saw this fella watching me. I pointed the camera at it and it flared it’s fins before swimming away while eyeballing me.

The cleaner shrimp doing it’s work at the cleaning station. It’s quite interesting to watch them work.

Red or Blue? The two Harlequin shrimps fighting over a piece of starfish. Red one won the fight.

The resident black tip shark at the Drop Off. They swam past the Coral Garden… lucky bump there!:D

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posted by wansheng on November 4th 2009 in bali, Diving, images, personal, travel / landscapes, underwater photography, voices





Oct/Nov Bali Day five: Harlequins

I am now sitting in front of the beachside restaurant of Paradise Resort with my laptop and a cup of hot honey ginger lemon tea. The horizon is still visible at this hour as we are approaching full moon on a cloudless night. If I haven’t had a good 2 hour nap earlier, I’d have fallen asleep right here with the cool sea breeze. Just about more than a month ago, I was in this same spot. Not a bad spot to be in really:)

The trip had been rather nice so far. Sure, there were some screw ups here and there, but nothing mood dampening. There’s no internet, so I am forced to enjoy the cool sea breeze out there instead of facebooking in the hotel room. I’m not here with anyone else, so I am forced to talk to other people and found out interesting experiences that they went through. I was bored to tears on my long journeys to the dive sites so I managed to put in some thoughts on my photography. So far, the flip sides have been rather good, at least the way I see them.

On the 3 hour ride to Seraya, I spoke to Steve, an aussie who’s heading for Tulamben for a day dive.He used to be a dive instructor for quite a number of years around the world before moving on to something else. He shared the same enthusiasm as me about diving when we started. At that point, it wasn’t the fishes nor the colorful reefs that got us hooked. It was just the sensation of being weightless, freedom in another dimension. It’s an indescribable feeling to a non-diver. Alot of my diver friends would agree to that feeling. He gave up on expanding the career in the industry when his wife got pregnant. Same old story. The world revolves around the family, the Mafia knows best. I don’t need to remind myself how many times I heard “it’s a life changing experience”.

The dive at Seraya was good. Saw two Harlequin shrimps towards the end of the dive. It seems there are some people that kept moving them around and building “houses” for them. The dive guide would usually consult the locals who will tell them their “last location” (eg. Today it’s at 9m near the rope). According to my diveguide, some dive operators move them so they will have the exclusitivity of their locations. Can’t imagine moving houses every other day. Even moving between hotels is a pain, let alone a house.

2nd dive was at Coral garden at Tulamben. Nice little gem situated between the more famous sites (USS Liberty wreck and Drop Off). Saw a couple of ribbon eels, coral crabs, shrimps, the usual suspects.

Here are some images for the day.

Double #1: The ornamental Harlequin shrimps.

Double #2: Anemone shrimp with baby

Double #3: Nudibranchs

Moray eel living within a huge colony of shrimps.

Blue ribbon eel.

“stargazing”

“one voice”

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posted by wansheng on November 4th 2009 in bali, Diving, images, personal, scuba diving, travel / landscapes, underwater photography, voices





Oct/Nov Bali Day four: Fast and Furious

Had a rather good night’s sleep at Mutiara Villas at Nusa Lembongan. The entire restaurant had only one set of cutleries prepared on the table, which convinced me that I am indeed the only guest in the house! I very much prefer Tanis Villas which I stayed in the last time round.

The day’s dives were alright, nothing quite worth the photography effort as both were drift dives. First at Pat, second at SD. Nothing quite as fast as Lembongan point which we did yesterday, but still an effortless drift through the reefs.

Checked back at Kuta because of some logistics mix up on the dive center’s part. It’s ok, as long I get my internet access. Tomorrow, I’ll be heading Seraya and Coral garden at Tulamben after some recommendation by a fellow diver. Let’s hope we get something good tomorrow.

Here are some images I got today.

A lone surfer catching the morning waves at Nusa Lembongan against the backdrop of Mount Agung.

That’s approxmately 40m worth of bubbles.

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posted by wansheng on October 30th 2009 in bali, Diving, images, personal, scuba diving, travel / landscapes, underwater photography, voices





Oct/Nov Bali Day three: Murky Manta

The night’s sleep wasn’t too good. Dozed off in front of my computer before waking at at 3am in the morning to have my stuff packed and got my gears ready. Managed to nap another 2 more hours before the day began. I took a little time off to take some pictures of the resort villa again under the much softer morning light. That way, I was able to get a proper reflection off the pool.

The guys from Pro Dive Bali picked me up and together with a group of spanish divers, we headed towards Nusa Penida. Water conditions were good, nothing like that rogue waves we encountered the last time round.

The trip there was pretty quiet for me as I literally concussed at the back of the boat from the lack of sleep. Once on site, we wasted no time to get into the water, only to find ourselves immersed in murky green water. Visibility was at best 5 meters.

The thing about low visibility was thaat everything seem to happen very quickly. The huge manta rays literally appear out of nowhere right in front of me, often catching me by surprise. Nonetheless, it was still a good dive.

After lunch, we headed towards Lembongan point for some kickass drift diving. The current was nice, fast and predictable. There was hardly any way I could stop to take any pictures, so I did some videos instead. Looks like fast and furious underwater. I will have to wait till I get back to Singapore before I can post them up. It’s quite an amazing dive I thought.. .

By the time I reached the resort, I was totally spent. Took a shower, had a quick snack and napped for a good 3 hours before waking up for dinner again. And I seem to be the only occupant in the entire resort. No kidding. I wonder why.

Here are some images from the day.

Reflection of the villa.

The small cottage that I actually booked, but 2 of them were being renovated and were not updated on the website.

I really love the cottage by the pool. But I’m not complaining about the upgrade:)

The only pair of mantas on this trip. They seem to be larger than the ones I’ve seen the last time round.

They appeared right before me from nowhere, crossing my path as I struggled to get both in frame and in focus.

At times, they’ll come straight at the divers.

Snorklers hovering on top of the cleaning station. I wonder how’s the view up there.

The white stripe of bubbles were formed by the waves which crashed against the cliff.

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posted by wansheng on October 30th 2009 in bali, Diving, images, personal, scuba diving, travel / landscapes, underwater photography, voices





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