A little problem in Frankfurt city

So, the adventure begins , a Eurotrip as some says, and i've finally landed in Frankfurt Airport on the 2nd June after such a long travel.

Bus from Penang to KL - Took Panther/Super Nice bus (Bukit Mertajam) MYR35 (8€)

KLIA Express train from KL Sentral to KLIA airport. MYR35 (8€)

Vietnam Airlines from KL to Hanoi ; 3 hours flight (and delays for an hour and havoc in the shit airport. Hanoi to Frankfurt (T2) ; 12 hours flight, arrived at 7am in the morning, waited for hours under the long queue waiting to be stamped and allowed into the country. It was a pretty easy ordeal going through the immigration and once again got quoted, your english is good. As i were preparing my documents and explain about my plans, and joked about Octoberfest,  she said, i trust you and stamped! Wee.. much easier than Australia. (well the reason i mention this is because as a Malaysian, it is tough for some of us to travel and somehow, we are always in the suspicious list). The flight cost me MYR1073 (255€)


It was such a coincidence as one of my good friend, Timo is in the same airport flying to Malaysia! We talked on Facebook and set a meeting point for breakfast! It was great to see him and he showed me around and teach me how to buy a train ticket to the city. Thanks Timo!


After he left, i sat down a while to get everything ready before buying my train ticket to the city. Haubanhoft (HBF) is the term of central station in German city. It cost me 4.55€. I've booked a hotel/dorm called Smart Stay Hotel near the HBF and check-in at 2pm. Walked around for a little bit and oh man, such a bad impression. Drug addicts are everywhere here in this area, sort of a red light district! Disgusting seriously. Thankfully the staffs here are friendly and speaks English as most Germans do. Makes everything slightly easier. I've decided to roam around a little more and found the Main (river). Beautiful place and i've decided to sit down here and have some biscuits for lunch.

The Frankfurt Cathedral and the interior. Impressive building!

 

I booked 2 nights at Smart Stay hotel that cost me 29.80€ (8 beds dorm on the 6th floor) and a 2€ deposit for the smart card.

Didn't do much in Frankfurt apart from walking around the city, and a much further one to Bonnheim where the buildings are much nicer. Had my first german food, Currywurst for 2.70€, and some Asian foods as it's cheaper. Korean dinner (twice), Sweet Chilly Chicken Rice for 6.90€ and i found another one next day for lunch, chinese fried noodles opposite HBF for 3.90€! Super cheap for European standard.

Did spend some time along the river Main and talking to some locals who explain some building around and the amount of Museums! Well, I'm not a big fan especially when we need to pay a lot of money to get in.

So that's Frankfurt for me, i left on the 3rd day to visit Timo's dad, Dietmar about 100km down south of Frankfurt. Booked a bus from Flix Bus that cost me 6€ to Mannheim HBF, and a train to Neustadt An Der Weinstrabe for 6.80€. Had some confusion on which terminal to go and a local showed me how to check. Its on a big pieces of paper on the wall. For an easier way, download DB Navigator apps on your phone where it tells you name of every stop in case you went on the wrong train and of course, all other stuff necessary for a train ride in Germany.

Reach Neustadt An Der Weinstrabe after 1-2 hours (due to traffic jam while on Autobahn) where Dietmar picked me up! The next adventure begins in the next post!

Wellington Waterfront

Didnt get a good sunset shots for the whole week i'm here, and i'm leaving tomorrow. So i've decided to have a walk along the waterfront again, expecting some sunset. However, the weather is not good for the whole day already, been cloudy and extremely windy! Cant barely walk against the wind sometimes.

So, while chilling around the jetty.. i saw these dark clouds coming! Decided to shoot another HDR, which is my favourite type of shoots. This one were made by 9 shots as usual.



By the way, the photo is taken on Clyde Quay Wharf, just 5-10min walk from Te Papa Museum

Nikkor 16-35mm F/4 Nano - First Day Test Review

Another dream comes true when finally, i bought AFS Nikkor 16-35mm F/4G ED VRII N lens! Cost me close to RM4K, but believe me, it's worth every cent! The sharpness of this lens is superb, with Nano coating and Vibration Reduction, it claims it's place and replace my kit lens, the cheap and cheerful 18-55mm which i bought for only Rm400. 10 TIMES DIFFERENCES in price, let see if it could deliver 10 times better photos in the future XD (ok it's not fair to the kit, it's all up to me, the person behind the DSLR isn't it :P)

It looks good on my big and trusty Nikon D200 plus grip. Handles very well, and it's pretty long too. Doesn't look like a ultra-wide angle lens to me. Hehe... Anyway, it just feels good! Finally found a good replacement for my kit lens which serves me for over 2 years and will continue to serves me well in macro photography in particular (all the shots you've seen in this blog, 90% comes from the kit lens!)

Minutes after purchases, i went around Penang for some testing. Visited the famous Penang Clan Jetties for a short while as it is getting dark. Manage to get some shots, particularly with the HDRs attempt. Love's the range of 16-35. Very useful as a walk-around lens. The VR works pretty good under low light condition.

Here's some shots from the Tan Jetty:

and here's Chew Jetty;

needed some directions?

Stay tune for more photos to come in the near future! Nikkor 16-35 F/4 rocks!