Thursday 18 October 2007

We have moved!

This blog has been migrated over to a new location.

Check out the new blog at http://www.MarkLeo.net/blog.

Thursday 11 October 2007

Two Videos to make you laugh

The Raya holidays are here and here are two videos to send you off with a huge smile on your face.

This one here is especially for you Bollywood fans out there. I am sure most of us have a little bit of Bollywood in ourselves don't we?


And this one is a little preview of what is to come with the local TV gameshows, human tetris. What will the Japanese think of next? Human jenga?


Have a great Raya holidays this weekend!

Thursday 4 October 2007

Basic Studio Lighting with Ted Adnan - Part 2

As mentioned in my last post, here are more photos I took during my workshop with Ted Adnan. I've gotten brutal criticism so far, but I am loving it as I can improve my shots and think deeper before just snapping away. I guess the perfectionist in me would want me to be able to take stunning photos and not mere sub standard quality ones.


Ok, well the shot above was just a shot of the participants trying to get certain angles and shots right and working with the pocket wizard.

Hair tossing in action? Man I need to get the lighting correct as well. Comments I have received is that the hair and background blended too well. Perhaps it would be better against a white background.

A smiling portrait for everyone.

This pose looked a little familiar but I just can't nail it on where have I seen it before. Comments received for this shot was that there was too much empty space above her head and at the sides which I totally agree.

Haven't received any comments for this picture yet though. Perhaps that is a good sign.

Of course, a nice group picture of us all who participated in the workshop including the model and Ted of course.

And finally, a picture together with the model as well. Please note that the camera I was holding was not my camera. Ted used my camera to take this shot.

More exciting things to come including a whole new blog as well as my online portfolio.

Stay tuned.

Monday 1 October 2007

Basic Studio Lighting with Ted Adnan

Over the weekend, I was one of the 6 participants in a workshop on studio lighting workshop held by Ted Adnan at his studio in Saujana Impian, Kajang. Traveling there was actually a worry for me as I was totally unfamiliar with Cheras and Kajang altogether so I practically Googled my way there. I definitely need to get a map of KL and Selangor.

The workshop started at about 11am and it started off with Ted teaching us about the basics of studio lighting by showing us slides of pictures he took and asking us questions on how many light sources are there in these pictures. His photos were awesome and it was amazing, especially the outdoor on location shots where we can't bring any studio lighting and had to rely on portable flashes.

Next, we were thought the basics of the lighting equipment and what each equipment does and how do we use the various filters and softboxes for studio lights. It was rather interesting and I definitely did learn a lot yesterday as I never had any prior experience shooting in a studio. Studio equipment is definitely expensive.

After many hours taking loads of shots and trying to get the perfect composition, the workshop came to an end with my being extremely tired as I had little sleep the night before but brimming with excitement and taking home more information about the whole field of photography.

The good thing about this workshop was that not only did I learn something but I also met other budding photographers and enthusiasts, both professional and hobbyists. The networking between the participants were great and we exchanged our name cards and gotten to know each other's photography background. Who knows, if one of them makes it big, I might be able to get some jobs from them.

Of course we didn't shoot any products but we had Hayda as our model of the day. She was extremely professional about it. I don't think that this picture is the best one I took but since I took most of my shots in RAW, I got plenty of post processing ahead of me tonight. I still owe Ted some of my best shots to see whether I made the cut to produce the best image during the workshop.

I definitely can't wait to learn more about shooting people and event as that is my goal in the area of photography. Wedding photography is never easy although some professional photographers feel that it is just photojournalism but to me, all of this is still a challenge.

More photos from the workshop to come!

Check out Ted Adnan's blog here.
Check out Ted Adnan's online portfolio here.

Thursday 27 September 2007

Lionel & Gek's Wedding

Last weekend I had the pleasure of helping Lionel and Gek Sim on their wedding day shooting photos for them and helping them run stuff during the dinner banquet. Believe me, it was extremely tiring, waking up at 5.30am and then heading over to the bride's house and only to sleep at 2.00am the following morning.

I took this shot at the church hoping to capture in the best man holding the rings as well.

After the vows were done and the rings were placed, I caught them holding hands while they were listening to the reverend preaching.

This was shot at the bride's house just before the tea pouring ceremony started.

Managed to catch this shot of the bride's gown in the reflection in the mirror.

View of the flowers in the main church hall with the cross in the background.

Considering this to be my first wedding shoot, I really did learn quite a bit from the professional photographer and his two assistants. Watching them shoot and learning their style of communication, it was like a wealth of information for me.

More to come, especially since I shot like over 800+ shots that day.

Thursday 20 September 2007

Bye Bye Modem

After 4 years of serving me faithfully, my ADSL modem went kaput on me. To be honest, last night, I made a call to Streamyx's customer service and spoke to their technician on why wasn't my modem being able to pick up a line. He did some checks and said that they would send a technician over.
Being extremely skeptical, I thought that I might as well fix the problem myself when just a hour ago, I got a call from my dad at home telling me that a TM Net technician is at the house ready to check my phone line and modem.

So after some checks, my guess was just as correct. The modem is dead! Anyway its a bout time we changed the modem as well as change the line splitter. Kudos to Streamyx for quick service. Now if only they might just increase the bandwidth and uncap those lines.

Monday 17 September 2007

Patience with photography

As many might have known, I've recently taken interests in the area of photography and have invested in this new hobby of mine considerably. Definitely not an easy hobby because at some points I do demand a lot from myself especially in the photos I take.

On Saturday, I had the wonderful opportunity to join a group of photography enthusiasts at Batu Caves. I didn't have much time as I had to head towards my colleague's birthday party at 12pm so here I was at 9.50am walking about the courtyard at the bottom of the 100+ steps leading up to the caves.

Complexities of life

By the time the group arrived, it was already 10.30am and I had only an hour to browse through the place. Thanks to that I kind of rushed through many areas and walked up the steps fairly quickly together with Kaz and Visithra while Vignes and Nagen was slowly taking their time learning about cameras and shooting about.

Walking against adversity

I guess every bit of myself wanted to take my own sweet time taking shots of the surrounding area and I am trying my best to take shost in JPEG so that I don't have to rely on post-processing to alter my shots. It is definitely a discipline I need to follow in order to up my game. I know Sze Yoong has been hounding me for a date to take her products as well so I definitely need to make time for that.

The path forward

To sum it all up, Saturday was a busy day for me. Shooting at Batu Caves in the morning, rushing over to New Life church to shoot my colleague's surprise birthday party where I met some photo enthusiasts as well (unfortunately they were from the light side) and finally at night, shooting my good friend's stag night at The Curve.

Another week to go and Lionel's wedding is coming up where I managed to squeeze my way in to help them take photos as well. For free of course but I definitely hope to make a good impression as well as perhaps get some tips from their own professional photographer whom they hired (someone who used to work at Photoz).

Friday 14 September 2007

Everything

Something to watch.



Cheers

Monday 10 September 2007

Complete Worn Out

It's rather rare that I would usually talk about what I did over the weekend. Well, I am going to do just that. Saturday was supposed to be jam packed (schedule wise) for me as I had my company's futsal tournament in the morning and then a model photoshoot from 3.00pm till 10.00pm. A few days before that, I got a sms telling me that the photoshoot has been postponed.

So on Saturday morning as I was all blurry eyed and sleepy, munZ came over in the morning and surprised me with two hash browns and a cup of coffee from McDonalds, sort of like a good luck breakfast. Driving all the way to Endah Parade (near Bukit Jalil), I finally reached the tournament venue only to be told that the Shell team had been drawn against the Petronas and Synergy Drive teams.

Horror to horrors came true, we were drawn up against strong teams and guess what? We got our butt beaten the hell up. At least we managed to draw against Synergy drive but we have been shooting blanks all this while. We lost 2-0 to Averis and lost 7-2 to Petronas who then went on to win the tournament.

By the time I got back home in time for lunch with munZ and hoping to get some DVD's, I was completely wiped out. A quick rest at home and then I headed to out State PJ where I had to drop munZ of at her grandma's place while I decided to drop by this camera shop which is rather popular called J-One at Amcorp mall. There I spent a good amount of time chit chatting with Jason who is the owner and talking to him and getting price quotations from him.

J-One is located at the bottom floor of the mall, I seriously thought it would be located upstairs so I went everywhere except the ground floor. By the time I found it, there was a customer over there buying the new Nikon D40x and I just went about browsing (tempting myself with the Lowepro Slingshot 200AW and the Manfrotto tripod). Prices were very reasonable and Jason was extremely friendly. I also met two other customers there and started chatting with one of them who swears by Pentax cameras (Malaysia has been dominated by Nikon and Canon).

After leaving the mall, I thought of heading out to Putrajaya/Cyberjaya to take some night shots of the surrounding area but I was totally disappointed by the way how my pictures turned out. I guess I don't have the flair for night landscape shots. Definitely have lots to learn and practice! I definitely won't give up that easily.

Senget shot of the bridge

I think the toughest part about trying to get these shots was that my dad's tripod didn't work too well and I couldn't extend it any higher so some of the images had to have some sort of foreground. Also, walking around lugging all my equipment was not easy since I am a law abiding citizen and all of the proper parking allocations were so far away!

View of the administrative row at night

For now, I shall just relax before writing out what happened on Sunday. It was equally tiring!

Check out more of the Putrajaya photos on my Flickr set here.

Thursday 6 September 2007

1957 Album

After just celebrating our nation's 50th year of independence a week ago, I chanced upon a photo album which contains pictures taken in the year 1957. That means photos taken without the use of DSLRs and everything is in black and white.


Looking through some of these photos really makes me feel that the nation has grown so much and yet the troubles we face right now, thanks to certain individuals, just makes the whole idea of a huge celebration going up in flames.

Image by Tan Swee Lian

There is much bickering in this land and with an ever increasing population who has access to knowledge and a generation that may not necessarily be blinded by false pretense and lies, there is also much to look forward to.

How so can we as citizens of this country attempt to make this country one that is just, fair, technologically advanced and achieve our dream to be a developed nation by the year 2020? Do we still maintain our own pride of "Malaysia Boleh" when that might just be a phrase which has no actual weight in our everyday lives. Or perhaps we are just waiting for this country to fall down flat on its face and then we stand by and say the ever common phrase, "Didn't I tell you so?".

Who knows but do check out the Flickr 1957 Photo Album to browse through this blast from the past.

Image Source: Flickr

Wednesday 5 September 2007

Marketing Gimmick?

I was at Lowyat over the Merdeka weekend browsing through some camera shops as well as trying to find a good deal on DVD+R discs when I chanced upon this store which thought that their marketing gimmick might just attract more customers.


Well, judge this for yourself. Personally, I think this photo eventually made me never want to bring my business to this store again. If you are so curious as to guess which store this is, just look around Lowyat and you will find it yourself. Don't worry, its not hard to find. Just look for the most empty looking store.

Also, their lenses there aren't cheap but they do have a fair range and selection of Tamron and Sigma lenses. If you were in the area looking to buy a camera especially in the DSLR range, I would recommend you either head over to Sungai Wang and look for this store called Boeing. Else, take a drive to Pudu Plaza and search for YL Camera.

Tuesday 4 September 2007

Starbucks Revamped?

My favourite shop has been changed, my usual coffee fix and free wi-fi service has been removed completely. Now the place has become the haven of what used to be a haunt of many things you want forgotten.

I know this image is probably doctored or photoshopped but what if it were true?? I guess I have to stick to my Nescafe 3-in-1 then.

When all planning fails

Trying to surprise someone on their actual birthday is never an easy thing to do without any proper prior planning. Even if it is just to go over to their house and surprise the birthday girl with a nice piece of ice cream cake from Baskins at night.

The rain was really pouring last night and after crawling home from Cyberjaya and getting stuck numerous times on the LDP thanks to heavy traffic and rain, I finally reached home and prepared to head out to surprise the birthday girl.

There we were, all gathering at our meeting point at Centrepoint Bandar Utama and then we get a call.

"I can't get her to stay at home"

"Why not?"

"I told her that I didn't allow her to go out but she insisted"

"Oh darn it, looks like we can't surprise her after all"

"Guys, tonight's plan is canceled, let's have dinner instead"

So here we were sitting at Cagayan's (a nice Filipino restaurant) eating pork like nobody's business (ok, I am rather pork deprived in Cyberjaya). Well I guess pretty much that Jon went back home and ate the ice cream cake.

Birthday plan surprise, postponed till Wednesday.

p.s. Eventually we found out that the birthday girl went out on a date. I guess we could have been mean and crashed in on her birthday date but we are gentle souls after all.

Friday 31 August 2007

Happy 50th Merdeka

To all Malaysians who are here in Malaysia as well as those abroad, Happy 50th Merdeka! Continue to strive hard for our nation as we celebrate our golden anniversary as an independent nation.

Saturday 25 August 2007

Dating Wooden Chicks?


Now I just don't know if the name of the shop is hilarious or bamboo and wooden chicks really takes the cake. Call me dense or stupid but what in the world are wooden and bamboo chicks? I think it has something related to this. Maybe not, or it could just be some random item.

Maybe a Google might solve the answer. Anyone out there wants to explain this to me?

Wednesday 22 August 2007

Completely torn up

Recently I have been bogged down by thoughts of whether I should move towards a Mac OS platform and work on my photo editing there or should I stick with the all familiar Windows. I was convinced at one point to actually purchase a MacBook but after this incident, I thought maybe I should be sticking with Windows.

Of course before actually making the final decision, there are two upcoming events which I am eagerly awaiting from both sides of the camp.

Firstly, on the Apple side, the eminent launch of Leopard is due in October and rumours have it that a new MacBook is also due at the end of the year with Santa Rosa.

Secondly, Vista is eagerly awaiting it's first Service Pack which offers vast improvements over it's current state of bugs and problematic driver issues.

What makes Vista appealing is that I don't have to spend a bomb on it and I get a better system. For example, the current price of the MacBook is RM4,999 which is pricey for a small laptop which offers meager performance. For RM3,500, I could actually get a Quad Core desktop system ever since Intel has released the latest pricing for the Q6600 processor which costs RM985.

The question now returns to me, mobility versus desktop processing. With a desktop, you can definitely get better and faster components for a cheaper price and the Apple equivalent of a portable powerhouse comes in the form of the MacBook Pro which is offered at RM7,299 for the lower end model.

Then again the whole idea of being able to work with a Mac, a machine and OS which has proven itself to be strong in the areas of visual and stunning performance and runs with the tag line, "It just works" is something which is of interest to me. I guess it could be because of the whole new environment which I am eager to try out.

At the moment, time can only tell as I continue to do a little bit more research between the two platforms and figure out what are the benefits and pitfalls.

Monday 20 August 2007

Machines offer zombie service?

Every single day you would have read in the papers about complaints of poor service by counter staff, sales clerks or while waiting in a queue. Snobbish, rude or completely useless are the usual types of comments you might receive. Well to me, in the past, I haven't been one to really complain about service, usually shaking each bad experience with the phrase, "Ah, its just Malaysian service la".

Up till the end of last year, when I started work and was working in the area of a service provider (being completely on the other side of the fence), I realised the importance of why providing quality service really matters. It became critical in my job that the quality of service is to always ensure that the customer should always be happy and no matter how bad of a day you might be having, the customer should never get the brunt end of your emotions.

So now, whenever I do walk into shops, I really notice the really nitty gritty details of how poor each store's service is especially when it comes to sales people and dealing with customers. One of these shops I would love to highlight is the Apple Premium Service Provider, Machines located in KLCC.

Launched at the beginning of this month, I opted to drop in to check out the store. Boasting two huge 30" Apple Cinema Displays, the store looked incredible and it was packed with sales staff. Notice, that I bolded "sales staff" because the store was filled with a couple of other customers. To be frank, I was extremely tempted to buy a spanking new MacBook and I checking them out which were on display.

I did my homework on the internet, checking on the pitfalls and downfalls of the MacBook but it just looks incredibly sexy and too irresistible to resist. So I stood next to the MacBook and looked around for a sales staff. One saw me, and instead of coming over to me and being cheerful, he seemed to be frowning as though his Pokemon died on him!

So, he might have had a day. I didn't mind that and smiled at him. Gesturing towards him, he came over with the face of a living zombie and the stance of a slouching chimpanzee. I asked him how much would it cost to bump the MacBook from 1Gb to 2Gb and his only answer was to not say anything but to grab a calculator. He started punching out some numbers and then after much consideration, he showed me the price, RM6,299.

The original price of the MacBook (White & 2.16GHz) is RM4,999 and the extra 1Gb would cost more than a thousand ringgit extra. Hoping to strike a conversation with him or maybe find out why did it cost so much, all he could do was shrug his shoulders and say, "yeahlor, that is the price". After that, he just left and went on to ignore me while giving me the 'you cannot afford that' look since I asked him why was it so expensive (that really took the cake!).

Wow, I thought that the Apple store which boasts superb design (it did look great) and friendly staff would have been a great experience. I guess this is only exclusive for Apple Stores as Machines is just an Apple Premium Reseller. I wonder how they managed to get their Premium status.

Ok, maybe I was having a bad day that day. No, I went to the Machines store at Mid Valley over the weekend and was faced with the same problem. Well, same in terms of getting poor quality of service. Not a single staff attended to me, I guess they were busy entertaining some rich looking dude.

I guess I would probably take my service to MacAsia.

Other experiences on the Apple Store:

Saturday 18 August 2007

I've been tagged, again..

I was busy minding my own business and then I came across this site telling me that I was tagged. Oh wow, another tag. Well, if it weren't for these tags, you all wouldn't have known me any better right?

[one] what is your natural hair color?
honestly:- Black

[two] where was your default picture taken?
honestly:- Unfortunately, I do not have a default picture

[three] what's your middle name?
honestly:- Cheng Phang, no wait, does that even count as a middle name?

[four] your current relationship status?
honestly:- Attached :)

[five] does your crush like you back?
honestly:- I sure hope so

[six] what is your current mood?
honestly:- Feeling a little sleepy but thirsty

[eight] What makes you happy?
honestly:- Being a little more carefree and less pressured

[ten] if you could go back in time and change something, what you would change?
honestly:- Nothing, everything happens in God's perfect plan for me. How can we improve on something that is already perfect?

[eleven] if you must be an animal for one day, what would you be?
honestly:- I would love to be an eagle to enjoy what it means to fly about naked

[twelve] ever had a near death experience?
honestly:- Well, considering there are plenty of near death experiences like the world almost exploded. That counts right?

[thirteen] something you do a lot?
honestly:- Surf the web, watch TV series, relax and work

[fourteen] the song stuck in your head?
honestly:- Hey Hey You You, I don't like your PM

[fifteen] who did you copy and paste this from?
honestly:- James

[sixteen] name someone with the same birthday as you?
honestly:- No one I know

[seventeen] when was the last time you cried?
honestly:- Can't remember when exactly la. Also I don't want to sound like a girl online

[Eighteen] have you ever sung in front of a large audience?
honestly:- yes of course, just in March 2007 in front of my drunk colleagues. Thank God they were drunk to listen to my horrid voice!

[nineteen] if you could have one super power what would it be?
honestly:- Shape shifter

[twenty] what's the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
honestly:- Their face, usually the eyes first and then see what comes out of her mouth.

[twenty-one] what do you usually order from starbucks?
honestly:- My two favourites, mocha latte (hot) or a mocha frappucino

[twenty-two] what's your biggest secret?
honestly:- I have a secret, that is my secret.

[twenty-three] favorite color?
honestly:- Blue, see the theme of this blog?

[twenty-four] when was the last time you lied?
honestly:- I think I lied too many times to even remember. Now I did say that I liked nasi lemak but in fact I like chicken rice more.

[twenty-five] do you still watch kiddy movies or tv shows?
honestly:- Well, only if there isn't anything showing on the telly.

[twenty-six] what are you eating or drinking at the moment?
honestly:- Drinking 100 plus

[twenty-seven] do you want to learn to speak any other language? if so, what?
honestly:- First up is to learn my native tongue, mandarin. Second, another chinese dialect (hainanese). Other than that, maybe some Italian, Dutch or French

[twenty-eight] what's your favourite smell?
honestly:- Would you believe if I said my own fart? Nah, its McDonald's banana pie!

[twenty-nine] if you could describe your life in ONE word what would it be?
honestly:- Random

[thirty] when was the last time you gave/received a hug?
honestly:- Less than an hour ago

[thirty-one] have you ever been kissed in the rain?
honestly:- No, unless if it is raining and I am indoors.

[thirty-two] what are you thinking about right now?
honestly:- How many more questions I have to answer

[thirty-three] what should you be doing?
honestly:- Sleeping I guess or chilling out since I have an early day ahead tomorrow.

[thirty-four] what was the last thing that made you upset/angry?
honestly:- Some stupid argument

[thirty-five] how often do you pray?
honestly:- Every day and whenever I am desperate and in need. Sounds awful right?

[thirty-six] do you like working in the yard?
honestly:- I don't have a yard

[thirty-seven] if you could have any last name in the world, what would you want?
honestly:- Leo is pretty special already to me

[thirty-eight] do you act differently around your crush?
honestly:- I try to be more patient and loving.

[thirty-nine] name one song that reminds you of an ex?
honestly:- That Japanese song which was sung at JVC. It reminds me of my ex company :S

Anyway, I won't tag anyone but if you feel like writing something about yourself, feel free to post it up on your blog. Now, back to my own personal reading time online.

Tuesday 14 August 2007

If only I could do this

After watching this clip on the net, I found a new desire to play a piece such as this.



If you are a serious musician, you must check this out. Else, just check it out for the sake of checking it out.

Tuesday 7 August 2007

How do you react in an Emergency?

When facing an emergency situation, the first reaction one might do is look around for a phone or pull out your hand phone. The next thing one might do is then dial the wrong number! Apparently I find this article a little weird.

A customer at the shop said the old man had just called out to one of the workers in the shop for a cup of coffee and suddenly went limp before falling on the floor.

A police team from the Muar police station was rushed to the shop to investigate the incident before taking the body to the Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital for a post-mortem.

If you see a man falling on the floor and being completely limp, would you call the police or call the ambulance? Looks like the people in the coffee shop did the former.

Either that, the people in the coffee shop must have thought that the old man was trying to make a run without paying his tab.

Read the full article here.


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Monday 6 August 2007

Photo Updates

Here are some photo updates for the mean time. I took these pictures at KLCC Park but from the comments I've been getting about them, I definitely need to improve.







More updates to come soon!

Friday 27 July 2007

8 Things About Me - I've been tagged

If you noticed in my previous post, Gracey has tagged me with a title called, "8 Things About Me". Well there are rules to it and I would have to tag 8 other people, etc, etc, I've decided just to write 8 things about myself and tag the other people next time.

  • I've recently found a passion in photography but am seriously trying not let my over addictive impulsive nature to control me and buy so many equipment such as a new camera body, lenses and other items. I need to learn how to master with what I have at the moment first before buying more stuff. Favourite subjects are nature/landscapes and street photography.
  • I'm currently lost between wanting to upgrade my old PC or getting a MacBook or MacBook Pro altogether. I know that I would only use a computer to watch movies and TV series as well as practice my post processing with Photoshop and Lightroom.
  • I just renewed my bet with Seng to see if I can lose weight till I reach 77kg by next year January 2008.
  • I've just signed up to run for the Mizuno Wave Run (10km) in September, and I need to submit my form for the Subang Jaya 10km run at the end of August (26th).
  • I love to eat "char siew & siew yuk" rice at the chicken rice shop in Sri Kembangan.
  • I play the guitar once in a while now depending on how much time I have. I have quite a number of guitars at home but my favourite one would be my acoustic guitar.
  • I am a rather techy kind of guy, not too detailed on programming stuff and web based stuff but more on a higher level scale.
  • I love to drink coffee, mainly from Starbucks. My favourite coffee from Starbucks would either be the Banana Frappuccino on a hot day or a nice hot Mocha Latte on a cold day.
Well now you know a little bit more about me.

Wednesday 25 July 2007

When the Thought of Fear Grips You!

Sometimes we have a fixed image or mindset which send forth a feeling of fear. For example, when we think of prison or a nightmare which we may have, this thought causes us to fear things and this feeling of fear can grip a person and cause intense emotional stress. So how do we overcome it?

Let this video below do the teaching for you!


With this in mind, we don't have to fear anything!


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Tuesday 24 July 2007

Fun at the Rainforest World Music Festival 2007?

From my past two posts it is rather obvious that I was at the Rainforest World Music Festival 2007 held at the Cultural Village in Sarawak, which is about a 30 minute drive from Kuching.

The crowd was mad!

Of course as expected, I am sure there will be plenty of people blogging about it but here is another person's account of the festival. Me and my friends took a night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching Sarawak aboard our trusty low cost carrier airlines, Air Asia. The flight was on time and thank God it wasn't delayed.

By the time we touched down in Kuching, we took a cab straight to our Inn where we quickly dumped our stuff and headed out to a nearby "makan" area to grab some supper. We ended up eating by the waterfront which was pretty cooling but of course, the food wasn't that superb.

Everyone was hungry!

The food was rather interesting because they served something called "Nasi Lemak Goreng" which I thought was some concoction thought up by one of my friend back in PJ.

But enough about food, let's get back to the Rainforest Music Festival. Arriving at 11am at the Cultural Village (yes, our good friend Andrew thought that the workshops started at 9.00am), I was extremely surprised to see the place entirely empty!

No crowd at all?

People were setting things up around the place, and it was pretty clear that we were there too early! On the bright side, this allowed us to actually tour around the cultural village itself to take a look at the traditional homes and enjoy the peace and quietness.

Well after 10 minutes of doing so, I got a little bored with that and was feeling quite tired from all the walking and heat. It isn't too fun walking about lugging a huge bag filled with mineral water and my camera.

How Ulu was this?

The workshops only started at 2.00pm and there was plenty of time to kill. By the time the workshops started, I decided to attend the one which was located in a super packed theater with minimal air conditioning which made the entire place so stuffy that I nodded off a couple of times.

Guitar workshop

The only workshop I enjoyed was about guitars and stringed instruments, well, they were mainly guitars there. It was truly refreshing to see the various styles and music from different cultures, it really broadened my view of how the guitar is played in different continents!

Now when you decide to go to a event way too early, this is what you find, an empty stage.

After a couple more hours, more people start to arrive at the place.
And of course, by the time the concert starts, the place is extremely packed!

Till the next post, more pictures and stories to come!

Related posts:
- Kuching, Sarawak - Part 2
- Kuching, Sarawak

Check out the entire photo collection here.


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Saturday 21 July 2007

Kuching, Sarawak - Part 2

I've finally gotten around to converting one set of photos from my point and shoot camera and uploading it to Picasa Web albums as well. Well, its not much but I plan to convert the photos I took with my Nikon D40 later tonight to JPEG form.

Tuesday 17 July 2007

Kuching, Sarawak

I finally managed to edit a couple of photos which I took over the last weekend when I was in Kuching to attend the 10th Annual Rain Forest Music Festival. Work has been extremely tiring and busy for me so trying to find the time to edit these photos while working on a super slow PC (it takes about 5-10minutes to edit one photo due to the slow loading times) has not been easy.

This shot was taken at the Kuching Waterfront during the day time on my final day in Kuching.


Another shot taken at the Waterfront during the day time on my final day in Kuching. I waited for the boat to come in a little closer before I took the shot. Man, do they travel slowly on water.

Took a picture of this flower outside the Inn where we stayed on Green Hill Road. The beauty of the flower cannot be compared to the "beauty" of the surrounding area. For those who are from Sarawak and is familiar with that area would know what I mean.

A shot of Hilton during the afternoon after visiting the Chinese Museum. I thought it was a pretty good shot and I was wondering if I could sell it to Hilton. Nah, they probably got more interesting pictures of the hotel to use.

I took this last shot as I just arrived in Kuching on the first night, after flying with Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur. I can't remember why I took the shot, but oh well, here it is.

Stay tuned for more pictures to come of the Rain Forest Festival!