Monday, October 7, 2013

Couch Surfing & Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2013

We had a very good saturday, starting with Georgetown walk and explore with some Couch Surfers friends that i met few days back. We started off at 7.30am in front of 7-Eleven of Love Lane & Chulia St. Met Monica and Lukasc from Poland, and Alejandro from Mexico, and expecting another one but too bad, he couldn't make it. So we proceed to Chowrasta market to see the morning activities and the locals. It is a interesting place and i come here almost every weekend or two. After the visit, we head to Toh Soon Cafe at Campbell St for the famous toast and half boiled eggs. Good breakfast indeed, although it's not a very local thing :P

And as usual, the visit to Georgetown will not be completed if you don't visit and see all the street arts by Ernest Zacharevic. Unique and the use of real items such as chair, bicycles, motorcycles makes the whole art itself 3D! Look out for some of the street arts that i've shot few weeks back in the previous blog post. Next, was the Chew Jetty and Tan Jetty, which is another Unesco World Heritage Site and of course, coffee and tea as the sun getting higher and hotter! We were joined by Farah, a local CS and we head to Kapitan for lunch. Meet up with Monica & Lukasc's colleague from Intel, Vicky, Michael and Phaik Hoon.

Monika & Lukasc @ Kapitan

Here's some of the dishes that we tried, cheese naan, briyani and tandoori chicken.  Not the best one as the naan is a little bit dry, but the service seems to improve. Hmmm... was it because of the guest? :P After lunch, we proceed to Little India and continue our 'exploration' to Penang Road to try out the famous Cendol and Asam Laksa!

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Time flies when you're having fun and not to mention, the rain that poured on us so many times throughout the day. We have to take a shelter and decided to have a coffee at Sip & Chew Cafe. Oh well, really bad coffee and long waiting time. NOT RECOMMENDED at all! Spend quite a while there waiting for rain to stop and Alex to meet us for the next part of the trip, which is the cendol and laksa! Some of us are suppose to leave earlier, but since we  are having fun and the traffic jams are building up ( it was about 5.30pm).. i've decided to stay for the next event, the Nine Emperor Gods Festival. It was the first day of the festival, and a parade is prepared by thousands of dedicated devotees.

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We meet up at the Hainan Temple, just behind Chulia Street, gather up with some other surfers, Avi, Paulie, Sam, Cat, Ang and John  before heading to Noordin Street where it all started. Rain pours again while we waiting.

Group Photo - Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2013

I'm not very good in explaining what the festival is all about. Perhaps this LINK could help. I'll let the photos tell the whole story. Again, heavy rain hits us, but the parade goes on. This is the first time i've seen this parade and how it started. Interesting and eye opening. The rain doesn't stops anyone and the spirit is high!

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2013

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2013

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2013

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2013

Some of the gods in parade

Dedicated devotees even though rain is pouring cats and dogs!
Heavy rain but dedicated devotees

Dedicated devotees

Dedicated devotees

Young devotees
Young devotees

Dedicated devotees

Interesting parade
Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2013

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2013

Another interesting parade - Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2013

It is indeed an interesting day out, and we ends at the dinner @ Kimberly Street at about 10pm. Tiring, but great day! Thank you so much for those who came, especially the surfers, great to meet up with new friends, had good laughs and chats.. overall, thumbs up! Hope we can do it regularly :)






Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Couch Surfing!

First time hosting couch surfers! Interesting idea where one can make more friends by hosting or surfing when you travels anywhere in the world. I've just joined the CS recently when i received a message from Liz about hosting her and friends in Penang.

It wasn't the best time for someone to stay at my place but i'm able to show them around Penang and try out local foods! We had some great time travelling around Penang island, and i've even tried the local transport, Rapid Penang for the first time! Hahaa.. The first day, we went to Botanical Garden, Penang National Park and Chew Jetty. Here's some photos from that day.

Mother & baby having breakfast Intriguing

Barnacle 'city'
Barnacles City

Ratana and Vicky
Vicky Ratana chilling

The next day, we decided to browse through Sunday morning market at Chowrasta. One of my favourite place to street shoot! It makes me wonder, where's the young one?

This is how some vendor dried their chopsticks :P In an old basket on 2 motorbikes
Drying Chopsticks

Pity the 'model' huh... caged and locked inside. Lifeless..
Caged & Locked

We walked pass a local food store, where one guy sells this local breakfast called "Mang Chang Kueh". It's made of flour, sprinkled with sugar, peanuts, canned corns and cooked to perfection under hot plate on a charcoal. "Mang Chang Kueh"

They love it!
Ratana (Cambodia), Liz (US) & Vicky (Canada)

We walked around Georgetown, exploring and visit the street art-drawings on the old buildings by the famous artist, Ernext Zacharevic. Here's some of them. Street Art - Ernest Zacharevic

Street Art - Ernest Zacharevic

Oh and look at this cute little girl.. and i'm disturbing her having breakfast.. sorry!
Dont Disturb me eating laaaahh!

After Georgetown, we head over to Butterfly Farm for a short visit before rushing back to town to catch the bus to KL. They almost missed the bus due to bad public transport and traffic but thankfully, managed to catch the bus on time with the help of a taxi driver.

Hope you guys enjoyed the trip and tour in Penang, and i'm looking forward to visit you guys in Cambodia one day.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

The STARE!

Here's a series of well, the Stare or "what you looking at" face photos taken recently in the morning market of Chowrasta. Two photos that tells different story. Caption? :)

What you looking at? 1
This is quite obvious i would say.. it's either he is naturally grumpy looking? Hot weather? No business-customers? You decide!

What you looking at? 2
This is kinda weird or awkward in a sense, where, he is a monk or could it be, 'questionable monk' if you're looking from that couple point of view. The body language of the couple seems to be showing some contradiction. I dont know the whole story, but you tell me!

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Street Shooting @ Georgetown, Penang

I'm back to Penang, and back to street photography on our very own Unesco World Heritage Site, Georgetown! There's always something to shoot here, peoples, old buildings, bicycles and trishaws, and recently, wall painting by Ernest Zacharevic which spice up Georgetown and bring heaps of tourist from all over the world here.

I'm glad i have such a site weekly to snap some street shooting and improve myself in both composition and guts to get closer. Hahaa..

Here's some of the photos i've shot in the weekends.
Iconic look

Most of the local residents here still resort to bicycles as their main mode of transportation
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and of course, motorcycles!
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This guy is famous for his rice paper
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This guy is still making the traditional sign for houses
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Here's the famous painting from Ernest, with 2 new 'models' posing :P
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Little kid reaching for something.. of course, another famous painting from Ernest
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Houses of Tok Aka Lanes. Note: The photos is not distorted. The ancient construction are not that precise and this is the result. Unique though :)
Faces of Tok Aka Lane

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

16th World Guppy Contest

Another great contest held by Malaysia Guppy Club (MGC), hosting an international event in conjunction with Petworld Exhibition at Mid Valley Exhibition Hall. The contest managed to attract over 350 entries from all over the world. Judges from America, England, Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia are invited to judge the contest, giving valuable points to worthy fish in the tank.

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Brand new tanks!

Here are the categories;

I.  Ribbon
II. Swallow

1. DELTATAIL
a. Albino
b. Snakeskin/Lace
c. Mosaic
d. Grass
e. Tuxedo/Bi-color
f. Red Delta
g. Blue Delta
h. AOC

2. DOUBLESWORD
3. TOPSWORD
4. BOTTOMSWORD
5. SPEARTAIL
6. ROUNDTAIL
7. LYRETAIL
8. VEILTAIL
9. PINTAIL
10. SCARFTAIL
11. COFFERTAIL

And here's the judges;

Frank Chang from America
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Wang Zuo Wei from China, Akihirou Satou from Japan
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Frank Liao from Taiwan, Stephen Elliot from England, Yap Vui Soon from Malaysia
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and not forgetting, guppy legend from the States, Mike Khalid & Joe Mason from the States comes to Malaysia to participate and have fun!
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Benching in and waiting to be judged!
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Here's some of the results - winners photos after judging. Not categorised yet. Information will be updated soon.

World Champion
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Grass
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Albino Solid Color
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Doublesword
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Speartail
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Crowntail
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Yellow Tuxedo/Bi-Color
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Roundtail
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Red Lace
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Mosaic
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Topsword
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